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I was, of course, offended by the Military Commissions Act, and the JW Defense Authorization Act, and a whole slew of other laws recently passed to extend the power of the government. I've sent letters to my congressmen as well as post on this and other sites. Today I found myself writing the Senate representatives from Texas (Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn.) You can find your Senate representative by visiting http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

I wrote my nasty-gram this morning which explained my amazement at the lack of respect my representatives have shown to the supreme law of the land, and the contempt they show for their constituents by their voting actions. I also mentioned the dishonor they show to those that died in the creation and defense of the constitution. Lastly, I mentioned that in the next election I will cast my vote for the devil I don't know.

Basically, I'd like to encourage everyone to contact their representatives and let them know how they make you feel when they assume that your liberty is worthless.

I doubt the cloture vote itself could be considered treason. I would be in favor of punishing anyone voting in favor of a grossly unconstitional bill like the MCA though. Sadly a number of blue-dog Democrats voted for that, and Chafee was the only Republican not to. Disbarring all 65 of those "yea" votes from ever serving in public office again would be appropriate

110th Congress (2007-2009)
Majority Party: Democrat (49 seats)
Minority Party: Republican (49 seats)
Other Parties: 1Independent; 1 Independent Democrat

Total Seats: 100

Note: Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut was reelected in 2006 as an Independent, and became an Independent Democrat. Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont was elected as an Independent.

http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/partydiv.htm

Yes, I hear that becoming a senator commands a higher salary.

Flamebait? Democrats have a long history of brutal repression of free speech: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention#Protests_and_police_response. The person who declared the state of emergency at Kent State was a democrat as well: http://speccoll.library.kent.edu/4may70/8.html. Bull Connor was a democrat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Connor. I'm now inclined to suspect that the police officer who stepped towards the kid early instigated the scene, but don't cut Kerry too much slack. He voted for the patriot act: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=1&vote=00313.

Using "An Inconvenient Truth" as a basis for chastising the media coverage of Global Warming (or cooling, or climate change, or whatever it's being called today) when the very study they used was already 4 years out of date and was based on a survey of reports that are now up to 15 years old (the search was done on papers covering from 1993 to 2003) and done at a time when climate studies were really just starting to get real funding does not give you a very stable ground from which to throw stones.

The fact is that after the exact same search parameters were used on more recent data (examining papers published between 2004 to present) only 7% outright endorsed the Global Warming hypothesis, 38% accepted it without explicit endorsement, 6% rejected it and the rest were neutral. (link)

Even more interesting is that of all the papers published only one predicted catastrophic outcomes due to climate change. That's 1 out of over 500 published papers.

So perhaps in this case the media you've been watching/reading (which from what I've seen are almost too happy to report that all weather related catastrophes as being caused by man-made global warming) are actually closer to the truth than you'd care to admit.

Short of Edwards I don't have a chance of being able to see/hear a candidate speak other than filtered through a news organization because my state isn't worth visiting because we're just to toe the line the rest of the states do.

That's not true. For one thing all of the candidates have been invited to appear on Meet the Press and be interviewed by Tim Russert. That's at least 30 minutes of national coverage per candidate. Frankly that's as much time as most people are willing to spend considering each candidate. In addition they make appearances on The Daily Show, Real Time w/ Bill Maher, etc. If they're a senator then you can also watch them make speeches on CSPAN2. You can also read transcripts on the candidate's website (such as this page for Biden).

As for feeling disenfranchised, there are things you can do in addition to voting, such as donating money to your favorite candidate or volunteering for them. This would have a much greater effect than your single vote.

Or, does the video game industry have enough power (read: money) yet to get government to change the rules?

Obviously not, or some senators wouldn't be calling for probes into video games. They don't seem to have a problem with their buddies in Hollywood, though...

Whoops! I accidentally left out the link to the EPW Senate blog page I referenced. Sorry about that, I'm not trying to hide the sources.

The playing field could be leveled by forcing China to stop artificially lowering the Yaun, which makes China appear more competitive on the global market. This practice alone has decimated U.S. manufacturing sector and is why we have a nearly 1 trillion dollar trade deficit - with no end in sight.

1) Force people to work for a pittance
2) Allow children to make toxic toys for Americans
3) No minimum hours per week, no overtime
4) IP theft
5) Lax environmental regulations

But most of all, at least relating to America's 850 billion dollar trade deficit (as of 2007), is the fact that China artificially lowers the Yaun to appear more competitive on the global market. This practice alone has decimated U.S. manufacturing sector and is why we have a nearly 1 trillion dollar trade deficit - with no end in sight.

I don't know why senate.gov doesn't have the vote up yet. It should be 00309, but the list ends at 00308. In the meantime, http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/4/04858/2 9657 lists the Senate democrats who voted for the bill. No republicans voted against it.

We've come to expect this crap from the Republicans in the House and the Senate. But the Dem base is livid that the politicians they worked hard to elect, like Klobuchar, McCaskill, and Webb, just voted not just for fascism, but for incompetent fascism. The people in charge of this operation will be guys like Gonzalez, who despite shredding the Constitution on surveillance and torture and endless detentions are too fucking stupid to know when an Arab company is about to take over the largest ports in the U.S. And before some muslim, mexican hating wingnut suddenly starts crying racism, the problem wasn't an Arab company coming into the U.S., it's that the Administration didn't know it was happening. But back to the Democrats.

They are fools because they just rolled over to placate the 28% who will never vote for them anyway, while pissing off the millions that actually do vote for them. They are fools because they enable the Big Lie from the administration that we need to cut back on liberties and oversight because they endanger us.

They are cowards because 6 years after 911, they still roll over for the most unpopular president since Nixon when Bush accuses them of being weak. And they still haven't gotten it through their thick fucking skulls that by giving into the right wing rather than standing up to them, Democrats are epitomizing weakness, not strength.

And lastly, they are traitors for egregiously violating their oath of office, in which they promise to defend the Constitution. Not the country, though the right wing talking point that this is "to protect us" is bullshit. The Constitution. And this is why I hold Webb especially responsible: how many government jobs has the man had? How many oaths of office has he taken? He just broke those oaths and sold us out.

Senator Bill Nelson (D- FL) 202-224-5274 202-228-2183

http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm

Senator Mel Martinez (R- FL) 202-224-3041 202-228-5171

http://martinez.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAc tion=ContactInformation.ContactForm

Representative Tom Feeney (R - 24) 202-225-2706 202-226-6299

http://www.house.gov/writerep/ (use ZIP CODE 32899).

Senator Bill Nelson (D- FL) 202-224-5274 202-228-2183

http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm

Senator Mel Martinez (R- FL) 202-224-3041 202-228-5171

http://martinez.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAc tion=ContactInformation.ContactForm

Representative Tom Feeney (R - 24) 202-225-2706 202-226-6299

http://www.house.gov/writerep/ (use ZIP CODE 32899).

Sens. Stevens and Inyoue had a similar hearing last year. Not much happened.

This year, they heard fewer witnesses. A summary:

• Lauren Nelson, "Miss America 2007": "I am here today to ask you to please implement mandatory education on Internet Safety for all of our children."
• Dr. David Finkelhor, Director, Crimes Against Children Research Center Horton Social Sciences Center, University of New Hampshire: "Online Sex Crimes against Juveniles: Myth and Reality" -- "Our research with youth suggests that giving out personal information is not what puts kids at risk. Nor does having a blog or a personal web site or frequenting My Space. What puts kids in danger for these crimes is being willing to talk about sex online with strangers, and having a pattern of multiple risky activities on the web -- going to sex sites and chat rooms, and interacting with lots of people there."
• Ernie Allen, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: Our mission: to follow the money. This new initiative is the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography. First, we will aggressively seek to identify illegal child pornography sites with method of payment information attached. Then we will work with the credit card industry to identify the merchant bank. Then we will stop the flow of funds to these sites.
• Christine Jones, General Counsel, GoDaddy: We do use our Universal Terms of Service broadly to cancel privacy when the Go Daddy Abuse Department determines it is being used for ANY improper purpose.

The witnesses heard are reasonable ones. We used to see a big presence from the religious right at these things, but that's not happening this time. Nobody was asking for much on the legislative front.

Sens. Stevens and Inyoue had a similar hearing last year. Not much happened.

This year, they heard fewer witnesses. A summary:

• Lauren Nelson, "Miss America 2007": "I am here today to ask you to please implement mandatory education on Internet Safety for all of our children."
• Dr. David Finkelhor, Director, Crimes Against Children Research Center Horton Social Sciences Center, University of New Hampshire: "Online Sex Crimes against Juveniles: Myth and Reality" -- "Our research with youth suggests that giving out personal information is not what puts kids at risk. Nor does having a blog or a personal web site or frequenting My Space. What puts kids in danger for these crimes is being willing to talk about sex online with strangers, and having a pattern of multiple risky activities on the web -- going to sex sites and chat rooms, and interacting with lots of people there."
• Ernie Allen, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: Our mission: to follow the money. This new initiative is the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography. First, we will aggressively seek to identify illegal child pornography sites with method of payment information attached. Then we will work with the credit card industry to identify the merchant bank. Then we will stop the flow of funds to these sites.
• Christine Jones, General Counsel, GoDaddy: We do use our Universal Terms of Service broadly to cancel privacy when the Go Daddy Abuse Department determines it is being used for ANY improper purpose.

The witnesses heard are reasonable ones. We used to see a big presence from the religious right at these things, but that's not happening this time. Nobody was asking for much on the legislative front.

What really happened was a committee hearing by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The witnesses were either people against child pornography (Miss America, the Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, and the president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children) or experts ("experts" ?) on technology (the Assistant Superintendent for Technology and Human Resources of the Virginia Department of Education and the General Counsel/Corporate Secretary, of the Go Daddy Group, Inc).

After the hearing, they decided to draft a measure to:

• direct the Federal Communications Commission to identify industry practices that can limit the transmission of child pornography;
• require schools that receive E-Rate funds to provide age-appropriate education to their students regarding online behavior, social networking and cyberbullying;
• require the Federal Trade Commission to form a working group to identify blocking and filtering technologies in use and identify, what, if anything could be done to improve the process and better enable parents to proactively protect their children online; and
• add the selling or purchasing of children's personal information in connection with a criminal offense in the criminal code as an indictable offense.

For those who believe Stevens' lack of knowledge will only cause harm, the day before this hearing he cosponsored the Community Broadband Act of 2007.

What really happened was a committee hearing by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The witnesses were either people against child pornography (Miss America, the Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, and the president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children) or experts ("experts" ?) on technology (the Assistant Superintendent for Technology and Human Resources of the Virginia Department of Education and the General Counsel/Corporate Secretary, of the Go Daddy Group, Inc).

After the hearing, they decided to draft a measure to:

• direct the Federal Communications Commission to identify industry practices that can limit the transmission of child pornography;
• require schools that receive E-Rate funds to provide age-appropriate education to their students regarding online behavior, social networking and cyberbullying;
• require the Federal Trade Commission to form a working group to identify blocking and filtering technologies in use and identify, what, if anything could be done to improve the process and better enable parents to proactively protect their children online; and
• add the selling or purchasing of children's personal information in connection with a criminal offense in the criminal code as an indictable offense.

For those who believe Stevens' lack of knowledge will only cause harm, the day before this hearing he cosponsored the Community Broadband Act of 2007.

What really happened was a committee hearing by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The witnesses were either people against child pornography (Miss America, the Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, and the president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children) or experts ("experts" ?) on technology (the Assistant Superintendent for Technology and Human Resources of the Virginia Department of Education and the General Counsel/Corporate Secretary, of the Go Daddy Group, Inc).

After the hearing, they decided to draft a measure to:

• direct the Federal Communications Commission to identify industry practices that can limit the transmission of child pornography;
• require schools that receive E-Rate funds to provide age-appropriate education to their students regarding online behavior, social networking and cyberbullying;
• require the Federal Trade Commission to form a working group to identify blocking and filtering technologies in use and identify, what, if anything could be done to improve the process and better enable parents to proactively protect their children online; and
• add the selling or purchasing of children's personal information in connection with a criminal offense in the criminal code as an indictable offense.

For those who believe Stevens' lack of knowledge will only cause harm, the day before this hearing he cosponsored the Community Broadband Act of 2007.

While it doesn't add much more, TFA doesn't link to the actual press release it cites throughout the body of the article which is here. When will politicians and parents for that matter learn that in many cases sheltering your children rather than educating them is a mistake? From personal experience my parents censorship only made it all the more thrilling when I finally decided to do break their rules by first watching TV shows they banned and later engaging in underage drinking and other forbidden activities.

Senator SYMINGTON. Let me ask you a couple of questions? Are you an American citizen?
Mr. HENDERSON. Yes, sir.
Senator SYMINGTON. Well, now, if you are a member of the Communist party today, why are you not proud of it, instead of being ashamed of it and ducking these questions the way you are ducking them?
Mr. HENDERSON. I must refuse to answer that question on the same grounds, sir. I do not know where you are taking me.
Senator SYMINGTON. I do not know where you are heading us, either, a lot of us.
Mr. HENDERSON. And I don't want to incriminate myself, sir.
Senator SYMINGTON. I think you are anxious not to incriminate yourself, but it appears to me that you are incriminating other people.
Mr. HENDERSON. It is the last thing I want to do in this world.
Senator SYMINGTON. I think the last thing you want to do is come in here and implicate others as members of the Communist party.
Mr. HENDERSON. That is the last thing I want to be.
Senator SYMINGTON. To be perfectly frank with you, it appears to me that is what you are doing.
Senator JACKSON. You admit you know certain people, and when questioned about another name you exercise your privilege, and the inference is that in distinguishing between the two, one group falls in a Communist category and the other group falls in a non-Communist category.
Mr. HENDERSON. Well, that is your inference, not mine, sir.
Senator JACKSON. Is that your inference?
Mr. HENDERSON. I wouldn't say so.
Senator JACKSON. You would not say so. That is what I am concerned about, if you are going to put some people who are innocent in a bad light.
Mr. HENDERSON. I think perjury is a bum beef, and I won't finger anybody. It is just that simple. And I am not going to incriminate myself if I can help it.
Senator SYMINGTON. It looks to me, using your own language, that in order not to incriminate yourself, you are putting the finger on other people.
Mr. HENDERSON. That is certainly not my intention, and I think you are absolutely mistaken in drawing such an inference.

You're right. It was just reported out by the Commerce committee, not passed by the senate. http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAc tion=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=248882&M onth=7&Year=2007 Interestingly, the bill is co-sponsored by Ted "Tube" Stevens and one of the Commerce committee members is David Vitter, friend of the working girl. The senate site didn't give any information on how he felt about bad words on the radio.

Sec. 5. For those persons whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order who might have a constitutional presence in the United States, I find that, because of the ability to transfer funds or other assets

instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures to be taken pursuant to this order would render these measures ineffectual. I therefore determine that for these measures to be effective in addressing the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13303 and expanded in Executive Order 13315, there need be no prior notice of a listing or determination made pursuant to section 1(a) of this order.

Sec. 6. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, is hereby authorized to take such actions, including the promulgation of rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this order. The Secretary of the Treasury may redelegate any of these functions to other officers and agencies of the United States Government, consistent with applicable law. All agencies of the United States Government are hereby directed to take all appropriate measures within their authority to carry out the provisions of this order and, where appropriate, to advise the Secretary of the Treasury in a timely manner of the measures taken.

1. Contact your House Rep
2. Contact your Senator
3. Forward this article to your local paper.
4. Send it to your local radio station, especially any drive-time station.
5. And forward this to your local TV station, and national stations.
6. Write clear and concise e-mails about how bad this is to your friends and family urging them to do the same.

For what it's worth...

I was also very skeptical of any effect I would have on a congressman, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. A few weeks after I sent an email (the scripted one, plus a few lines of my own for a personal touch), I received no reply from an intern, but Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) proposed and backed legislation with Sam Brownback (R-KS) to go along with the IREA. Can't say that I singlehandedly got his attention, but it made me momentarily feel like we live in a democracy or something..

http://wyden.senate.gov/media/2007/Print/print_051 02007_Internet_Radio.htm

Thanks for listening, Ron Wyden!

1. Voted NO on disallowing an oil leasing program in Alaska's AMWR. (Nov 2005)
2. Voted NO on $3.1B for emergency oil assistance for hurricane-hit areas. (Oct 2005)
3. Voted NO on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025 (instead of 5%). (Jun 2005)
4. Voted NO on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Mar 2005)
5. Voted YES on passage of the Bush Administration national energy policy. (Jun 2004)
6. Voted YES on implementing Bush-Cheney national energy policy. (Nov 2003)
7. Voted NO on raising CAFE standards; incentives for
     alternative fuels. (Aug 2001)
8. Voted NO on prohibiting oil drilling & development in ANWR. (Aug 2001)
9. Voted NO on starting implementation of Kyoto Protocol. (Jun 2000)
10. Voted NO on $100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives. (Mar 2005)
11. Voted YES on making it a crime to harm a fetus during another crime. (Feb 2004)
12. Voted YES on banning partial-birth abortion except to save mother's life. (Oct 2003)
13. Voted YES on funding for health providers who don't provide abortion info. (Sep 2002)
14. Voted YES on banning Family Planning funding in US aid abroad. (May 2001)
15. Voted YES on federal crime to harm fetus while committing other crimes. (Apr 2001)
16. Voted YES on banning partial-birth abortions. (Apr 2000)
17. Voted YES on barring transporting minors to get an abortion. (Jun 1999)
18. Rated 0% by NARAL, indicating a pro-life voting record. (Dec 2003)
19. Discontinue affirmative action programs. (Nov 2002)
20. Voted YES on recommending Constitutional ban on flag desecration. (Jun 2006)
21. Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)
22. Voted YES on Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage. (Sep 2004)
23. Voted YES on constitutional amendment prohibiting flag desecration. (Jun 2003)
24. Voted YES on banning gay adoptions in DC. (Jul 1999)
25. Supports anti-flag desecration amendment. (Mar 2001)
26. Rated 7% by the ACLU, indicating an anti-civil rights voting record. (Dec 2002)

I didn't know South Carolina had such a big problem with drug smugglers, is it worse than COLOMBIA?

ACLU THREATENS TO SUE SCHOOLS OVER GRADUATION PRAYER

Also, here's a 51-page report that details these kind of incidents: http://www.cornyn.senate.gov/LLI.pdf

ACLU THREATENS TO SUE SCHOOLS OVER GRADUATION PRAYER

Also, here's a 51-page report that details these kind of incidents: http://www.cornyn.senate.gov/LLI.pdf

I saw someone else's comment on here that there wasn't a vote on this issue in the senate. SO I went and Looked it up:
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_li sts/vote_menu_110_1.htm
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_thr ee_sections_with_teasers/active_leg_page.htm

Not only has it not had any vote on the floor, it isn't even listed as active legislation.

And for the people wondering about law enforcement and what-not(from the bill S.701):
(ii) SPECIFIC EXEMPTION FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES OR COURT ORDERS- The regulations required under subparagraph (A) shall exempt from the prohibition under paragraph (1) transmissions in connection with--
          (I) any authorized activity of a law enforcement agency; or
          (II) a court order that specifically authorizes the use of caller identification manipulation.

So as long as someone gets a court order or it is law enforcement, then this law wouldn't apply (assuming it goes anywhere.)

I'm kinda wondering why this was even posted. Neither houses of congress have voted on it and it was originally introduced back in February.

I saw someone else's comment on here that there wasn't a vote on this issue in the senate. SO I went and Looked it up:
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_li sts/vote_menu_110_1.htm
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_thr ee_sections_with_teasers/active_leg_page.htm

Not only has it not had any vote on the floor, it isn't even listed as active legislation.

And for the people wondering about law enforcement and what-not(from the bill S.701):
(ii) SPECIFIC EXEMPTION FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES OR COURT ORDERS- The regulations required under subparagraph (A) shall exempt from the prohibition under paragraph (1) transmissions in connection with--
          (I) any authorized activity of a law enforcement agency; or
          (II) a court order that specifically authorizes the use of caller identification manipulation.

So as long as someone gets a court order or it is law enforcement, then this law wouldn't apply (assuming it goes anywhere.)

I'm kinda wondering why this was even posted. Neither houses of congress have voted on it and it was originally introduced back in February.

If your from Texas then you can contact Senator John Cornyn http://cornyn.senate.gov/. Senator Cornyn serves on: Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Subcommittee on the Constitution Civil Rights and Property Rights Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee on Immigration Border Security and Citizenship

The research was flawed in the first place. http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=238617&cid=195 29259 quotes http://epw.senate.gov/fact.cfm?party=rep&id=259323 . ''Oreskes entire argument is flawed as the whole ISI data set includes just 13 abstracts (less than 2%) that explicitly endorse what she has called the 'consensus view'''.

Actually, there are numerous problems with Oreskes' study. Some are described here. (I know that link will get an ad hom response, but what the hey.)

Ah. I see. Which would be why Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has named the proposed PIRATE ACT thus: the "Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation" act.

*cough!*

The American people are nowhere near mature enough to be trusted with foolish ways to lose money! I, for one, demand that this motion be defeated by moralizing elites with the power to regulate our vices! Such measures always work as planned!

Latest Major Action: 5/16/2007 Passed/agreed to in Senate.

Status: Submitted in the Senate, considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent.

Here is the entire text of the debate surrounding this bill, including the text of the bill itself, which seems to be aimed at "promoting awareness" of "online bullying."

• The Real 'Inconvenient Truth'
• Climate Momentum Shifting: Prominent Scientists Reverse Belief in Man-made Global Warming - Now Skeptics
• The Deniers
• New findings indicate today's greenhouse gas levels not unusual
• Global Warming as a Religion
• I Was On the Global Warming Gravy Train (By David Evans)
• GREENIE WATCH
• (Streaming video) The Great Global Warming Swindle - Documentary Film
• 'The global-warmers were bound to attack, but why are they so feeble?'

On Tuesday, Enzi introduced a bill that would usher in mandatory sales tax collection for Internet purchases.

In 1996, gay marriage was nowhere near as widely accepted as it is today. DOMA passed by 85-14 in the senate[1] and 342-67 in the house[2]. President Clinton -- a Democrat -- signed the bill into law.

As Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson has been a strong supporter of gay rights. He expanded New Mexico's civil rights laws to include sexual orientation, he extended health care benefits to same-sex partners of state employees, and he's on the record for supporting civil unions and gays in the military. In fact, he stopped DOMA-like legislation in NM by threatening to veto it.[3]

As for flag burning, Google turned up nothing about his position on this. Would you care to cite a source? I agree that a ban on flag burning would be ridiculous, but I also think it's pretty irrelevant to the big picture. Richardson's positions on Iraq, energy, foreign policy, trade, education, etc. are all dead-on and his record proves he can get things done. His ability and willingness to engage in diplomacy even with our enemies -- and his experience in doing just that -- is exactly what we need right now. Besides, flag burning has been affirmed as a constitutional right, and an amendment would obviously never be passed, much less ratified.

Meanwhile, other politicians won't even tell us their policies. Compare the "issues" section of Richardson's site with Barack Obama's or Hillary Clinton's. Notice how Richardson's site is full of specific action items whereas Obama's and Hillary's are full of wishy-washy "This is bad, but I can fix it. Really I can." statements.

I remember back in the 80's when people first noticed that the FCC was serving the interests of companies more than the populace. Everything else that has followed since from fighting for the rights of large media companies to merge to seeking to suppress internet content at the behest of AOL Time Warner started then with Regan's appointees. Now the FCC openly behaves as a tool of the conglomerates. Or in the case of the illegal wiretapping, a tool of the NSA.

A similar lack of complaint was heard when the food and drug administration reevaluated aspertame for the third time and declared it safe despite their own warnings to the contrary see here. Thanks again Donald Rumsfeld.

Then the Food and Drug administration recently was accused of stepping down enforcement of many complaints and 'streamlining' the process of approval for the drug companies.

Now this. Realistically speaking I would hope that sooner or later events like this, you know large companies committing fraud and spying on people for money, lying, etc. and being given only a slap on the wrist, would say piss people off so much that they would Write their Congressional Representative, and Their U.S. Senator, and even The President. A few e-mails saying, either this is a government of by and for the people or we'll vote for someone else. A few e-mails saying, I pay my taxes why are they being spent to harm me? A few e-mails just reminding them that we are paying attention. Lacking that they can do whatever they want and we're no longer the greatest nation on earth.

Ahem:

http://politechbot.com/docs/enzi.sales.tax.bill.05 2407.pdf

"Thank you Hilary and the Dems for destroying the last bits of American competitiveness, and thank you to the American people for voting these imbeciles in."

It would appear that the likes of YOU voted these particular imbeciles in:

http://enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction =AboutWyoming.WyomingDelegation

You want to hear from scientists? Perhaps you should go read what these scientists have to say (The scientist's comments are a little way down the page.)
Suffice it to say that the scientific community is not unanimous on the issue of anthropocentric warming.

That's funny, I was going to say the same thing about you. In this corner we have 10,000 scientists of various employment that say global climate change is a fact and is significantly caused by human activity. In that corner we have a small handful of scientists mostly employed by the oil industry that say global climate change or at least the contribution by humans is a myth.

Point: Your numbers are wrong.

Point: Your characterizations are wrong.

Not every scientist who says "no" to human-driven change is employed by the oil industry.

Not every scientist who believes climate change is occuring, believes it is man-driven.

Take a look a look at this list of significant scientists that are now abandoning the "man-driven" idea. Some even say they felt pressured to lend their voice to the "man-driven" cause because that was the side their bread was buttered on.

The fact is, this argument has now become a religious argument and the science is actually second, or even third to the argument and agendas.

Do try to step back and become a dispassionate.

I am assuming you wanted a real list of scientists. Now this is only a partial list. Many of these scientists fought to have Canada leave the Kyoto treaty and are firm Global Warming skeptics.

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction= Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=927b9303-802a-23ad -494b-dccb00b51a12&Region_id=&Issue_id=

Some of these scientists are dyed in the wool environmentalists as well, not a big oil employee.