Slashdot Mirror

Ok, people, we all know this sucks and all, and we'd hate to see Linus deported and blah, blah, blah.

How about we do something about it? The legislature has the power to reform the system, but they won't do it if they think it's more important to be declaring a national standing-on-your-head-and-blowing-bubbles-out-your -ass day. Tell them about the problem. Yes, you red-blooded Americans who can or will soon be able to vote. Even you skilled immigrants who can not yet vote have some influence, since most politicians like to have friends with the tech crowd (people with money) and besides, you could be voting before too long if all this paperwork gets cleared, should you desire to become full citizens.

Before you go running off spamming your local representatives, please remember a few things:

1) Be polite.
2) Write a real letter, don't expect hyperlinks to explain themselves, as a recent story on slashdot revealed that our Senators and Representatives may not be very adroit with e-mail, and they may be seeing it on paper. Or, if you can bring yourself to it, snd it snail-mail. They read those things.
3) Don't dis the U.S. It won't be received kindly.

Now, here are your links:

To find and contact your Congressional district representative, go to http://www.house.gov/writerep/

For a full list of Senators and their websites/e-mail addresses, go to http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.c fm

So let's stop standing on our heads, blowing bubbles out our asses, and help these people out.

I smiled when I read this. Naturally many grandiose arguments can be made about the relative importance of discovering new planets circling distant suns (that is to say, confirming something we all more of less knew anyway) versus keeping, for example, several million impoverished families in warm clothes, food, and medicine for a year (that would be the 'useless liberal fedbloat' I suppose).
-- -
Thats all good and well, until you realize that the US goverment damn well spends its money where it wants to. With its billion dollar budget, don't you think they could do both? Instead, the EPA tries to spend $19 MILLION studying COW FARTING (search the senate text linked above, for "$19 million"), $375 MILLION earmarked by Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss) for a helicopter carrier the military DOESN'T WANT, and a myriad of other wasteful programs. So the point is that the government HAS the money to do both fund NASA projects and feed hungry and homeless, but instead decides that fart studies and other useless projects are far better uses of resources.

The NASA program, with all the studies and tests they do that directly benefit the private sector, (zero-g studies/experiments on materials, etc) far outweigh any drawbacks from losses.

Water vapor causes 98% of the Earth's greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide gets called "major" because environmentalists love water and can't do anything about it. Imagine what the next ice age will do to the present environment.

Go to the US Senate site and look for yourself using the onsite search engine. Get the bad news for yourself.

Hint: his Internet platform is so far, based on Federal censorship to "SAVE THE CHILDREN FROM EVIL [fill in the block]". IIRC, he authored "Son of CDA".

He's just another drooling tard with delusions of adequacy. His sole virtue is that he might make clinton look good, but is that a reason to vote for him?
y2k info - http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html

Wouldn't it be neat if we e-mailed the MPAA, their attorneys, and our representatives in The Senate and The House with the following?:


To Whom It May Concern,

I am in posession of the css-auth code, the supposedly-illegal DVD decrypting programming code. I hereby turn myself in.

Respectfully,
Waldo L. Jaquith


"You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin' a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is, the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the guitar." - Arlo Guthrie

...is what I want to know. Must not have much to do with who your local political pull. In MS, the only two schools with I2 are Southern Miss and Msstate. Olemiss, alma mater of Trent Lott and countless other tenured politicians doesn't have it, according to the I2 website. Makes sense, though. USM and MSU have the more well developed CS departments. Glad to see that southern pork barrel politics hasn't yet tainted this area of computing.

We shouldn't just sit around and let the US government trample over our rights. This flies in the face of independent research and 'garage inventing'. It's already impossible to find chemistry supplies as an individual. From the looks of this, it will soon be impossible to find electronics supplies as well. If this continues, research will soon be the exclusive province of large corporations, government, the military, and educational institutions. We won't see any more people come up with an Apple in their garage, or figure out a way to vulcanize rubber in their kitchen. I urge you to call, write, or e-mail your congressman and tell him how you feel about this. You can find their contact information for the House here and the Senate here. Don't let this issue go almost un-noticed. Make sure your Congressman is for science and freedom.

The sad state of affairs is that there aren't that many good hacks anymore. The people who break into computers nowadays tend to be too stupid to realize what a good hack would be. Creativity and the script kid tend to be an Xor situation.

If you take a look at Attrition.org's mirror of web page defacements you'll notice that both the Senate's Teleconferencing Server( Mirror ) and Michigan Public Sexual Offender Query ( Mirror )were broken into in the past week or so. Imagine the fun that could be had with the two servers. Imagine the damage. But these geniuses (rackmount and ieet respectivly) decided the best use of access to these systems was to replace the homepages.

I hope that there will be hacks worth hearing about, instead of what seems to be the standard defacement. I guess actually programming is too hard for these script kids.

--

Have you thought about sending this suggestion to a US congressman? I'm sure that Senator Patrick Leahy (D - Vermont) would take an interest in this idea.

He has been one of the opponents of the CDA since day 1. Perhaps we should bring something from Slashdot to the Senate floor. Wouldn't Taco be proud??

I just spent a few minutes and emailed my Senator about the awful state of the US Patent Office. This Y2K patent is a a) topical and b) grievous example of this.

As far as I remember from civics class, each US Citizen has two Senators and a Representative. The Senate has a Web site that lists all of their addresses (they seem to mostly have email addresses, too). The House of Reps shouldn't be too hard to find. Outside the US, you're on your own.

I doubt any of them are aware of the regularity of these awful patent grants or the effects that they have on the Internet and the entire computer industry.

The patent process is probably long overdue for some kind of overhaul - we know it, but do the people who can actually change it know that?

This is probably a better use of /.ers' time than Mac bashing. Or for that matter, posting jokes about bad patents (post them after).

Scott

• Time Magazine and CNN on Project Exile
• Va. Governor's Comments on Project Exile
• Charlton Heston of the NRA on Project Exile
• NY Times Article about Project Exile
• Homepage on Project Exile
• Republicans in the Senate on Project Exile

While I do think civil disobedience is a fine and noble thing, and I wouldn't oppose this idea, have any of you tried writing your congresspersons and senators a letter? A letter writing campaign will have much more effect than an act of civil disobedience. A friend of mine once worked in a congressman's office. I asked him how many letters they had to get on a subject before it would actually be brought to the congressman's direct attention. He said four. Four!!! (Note that there are exceptions, like gun control and abortion which generate mail like crazy, but on some garden variety issue, not on the "radar", it takes four letters).

I'm sure this varies from issue to issue and from congressperson to congressperson, but I still urge you (and everyone else who cares about this) to write an original letter and put it on paper, sign it, and send it to each member of your delegation.

It *does* have an effect.

The "special interests" control the process in no small part because we don't exercise our freedoms. Want freedom of speech? Say so!

See http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm for a list of senators, follow through to their mailing addresses.

See http://www.house.gov/zip/ZIP2Rep.html to find out who your House member is. Follow through to their web pages which should offer an address.

Use your rights and let freedom ring (okay, I know I'm souding hokey, go rent Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and get all hokey too!)

Everybody, we stil live in a democracy!

If you are not happy about the idea of taxes call your senator and register your opinion! Send an e-mail! Tell them what you think! Sometimes it does work!

This bill at this point is in the Senate Finance commite. Go here for a list of representatives on that committee. If enough calls are made the bill can be killed at the committee level.

Believe it or not our reps do listen to what we say. So make sure you make your opinion know if your reps doing something you don't like.

Introduced by Sen. Hollings from South Carolina and currently before the Finance Committee:

S.1433 Sales Tax Safety Net and Teacher Funding Act

Note that this is only a bill, and has not passed committee. There is nothing at this point to distinguish this bill from any of the other hundreds of proposals submitted by "our" representatives every year. No need to panic just yet, unless you are from South Carolina. Here is the contact info for Senator Hollings:

Ernest "Fritz" Hollings

And here is the webpage for the Finance Committee so you can see whether your senator might be influential in this process. If so, please contact him or her!

Senate Committee on Finance

Introduced by Sen. Hollings from South Carolina and currently before the Finance Committee:

S.1433 Sales Tax Safety Net and Teacher Funding Act

Note that this is only a bill, and has not passed committee. There is nothing at this point to distinguish this bill from any of the other hundreds of proposals submitted by "our" representatives every year. No need to panic just yet, unless you are from South Carolina. Here is the contact info for Senator Hollings:

Ernest "Fritz" Hollings

And here is the webpage for the Finance Committee so you can see whether your senator might be influential in this process. If so, please contact him or her!

Senate Committee on Finance

1600's Calvinist totalitarians (Pilgrims on a journey my ass) escape the wrath of Catholic totalitarians

Salem. Nuff said.

1770's Unpopular Declaration of Independence discussed behind closed doors. All who wanted to be in had to sign. This meant if they were found or the war lost they would be shot.

Big debate on women voting too.

'Course it wasn't too long before we pulled a Columbus on Indians, Mexico.

So don't be surprised. We need a more direct response to this.

When Germany ordered Jews to wear yellow markers, all of Denmark wore them without even thinking twice. It was obvious what they had to do.

So start encrypting long repetitititions of "Mom, I'm at the store. I'll bring my commie friends home tonight."

Check out

Freenet

Ompages

Link Farm

They're trying to reinvent the Earth and conquer it before people get their rightful share. If you really don't want to see pedophiles on the net, your best bet is to claim some part of the net and get over your fears. Otherwise we're guaranteed to see the net auctioned off to superpowers and rampant with crime. There's too much power in it for the assholes to pass up.


Go see Senate on the net and House on th net

But, there is a legitimate possibility of a tax being levied on the Internet and that is a sales tax. Senator Fritz Hollings has introduced legislation that would levy a national sales tax of 5 percent on every interstate sale. While this covers mail-order catalogs and telephone sales, there is no doubt that its main focus is e-commerce.

You can read the text of the bill here.

The bill would take the money generated by the national tax and fund grants to pay teachers' salaries. It flies in the face of Rep. Chris Cox's Internet Tax Freedon Act, which called for a three-year moritorium on taxation of the Internet.

A side note
While nobody likes new taxes, they may eventually be neccessary. The primary beneficiary of sales taxes are state and local governments, not the big, bad feds everyone loves to hate. Sales taxes represent more than 36 percent of the budget of state and local governments.

That pays for things like schools, police and firefighters. We have to have those services. If the economy moves more and more to the e-commerce model, local governments will either tax this new economy or die.

But, that being said, I think we are a while off before taxation becomes neccessary. While e-commerce is growing at an incredible rate, it is still a small part of the total economy, and we don't want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

We do not have an absolute right to a tax-free Internet. Intellectual freedom? Yes. Academic freedom? Yes. Freedom from taxation? It is up to us to look at the situation and use our heads. No one likes new taxes, but we all like things like roads, schools and the ability to walk on the streets late at night.

HipNerd

If you are concerned about your civil liberties being chipped away by the government, who wants to "protect the children" or some such nonsense, and furthermore seems to think that we're ALL children, the least you can do is voice your opinion. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is one of the major proponents of this bill. WRITE or call and let her know what you think about The Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act.

(from http://feinstein.senate.gov/cal ifornia_offices.html)
This is her SAN FRANCISCO office, for other offices follow the above link.
Jim Lazarus, State Director
525 Market Street, Suite 3670
San Francisco, CA 94105
415/536-6868

You Utah-ites (Utahns? Utonions? Utizens?) can call up Orrin Hatch and give him a piece of your mind too.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Now then, I realize that much of this e-mail will never be seen by the Senators, but the noise on the mail servers will be. That said, however, don't even begin to think about sending flames to these addresses. These are not the people we want to alienate -- these are the ones who can prevent Senator Hollings mistake from ever seeing the legislative light of day, e.g., killing it before it even has a chance to breathe. So if you are going to write, clarity and sanity counts, vulgarity and rants don't!!

Here's the addresses for the Senate Finance Committee Members:

• Roth(DE)
• Moynihan NY)
• Chafee (RI)
• Baucus (MT)
• Grassley (IA)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Hatch (UT)
• Breaux (LA)
• Murkowski (AK)
• Conrad (ND)
• Nickles (OK)
• Bob Graham (FL)
• Phil Gramm (TX)
• Bryan (NV)
• Lott (MS)
• Kerrey (NE)
• Jeffords (VT)
• Robb (VA)
• Mack (FL)
• Thompson(TN)

The full list of pages and addresses can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm.

Contact your Senators and Representatives.

I have included my own letters below if you are interested in using them.

For Congresscritters:

Dear Representative,

I just heard the news that the House Appropriation Committee voted to severely curtail NASA's FY 2000 budget. I would like to register my strongest objections to any such cut in NASA's budget.

For Senators:

Dear Senator,

I just heard the news that the House Appropriation Committee voted to severely curtail NASA's FY 2000 budget. Given that the Senate committee will soon vote on a similar issue, I would like to register my strongest objections to any such cut in NASA's budget.

(rest of the letter)

Space research contributes practical, life-saving discoveries and useful commercial applications far out of proportion to investment. NASA is not just a simple "pie-in-the-sky" organization with esoteric, useless goals, and any cuts to NASA funding will drastically affect our future returns.

Budget cuts on the order of those approved by the House will dramatically effect NASA's research in earth and space sciences, studies which are directed towards better understanding of the Earth itself. We can ill afford such short-sighted thinking. I find special irony in the juxtaposition of the House Committee's vote with the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing.

As a [insert your state here] citizen, I implore you to support our nation's space program. Much of our modern world would be unrecognizable without the breakthroughs engendered by NASA's research, many of which have had a direct impact on the economy of our great state.

Sincerest regards,




Regards,

You've all taken time to read/post here, so why not write to your senators and congressmen?
Go to www.senate.gov and www.house.gov. Both make it exceptionally easy to write the people representing people. All you need to know is your state and zip code!

For the first time in my life, I've written to Congress. (It took less than five minutes.) I think you all should too, whether you support or hate the proposed cuts. If you choose to write, please be civil (i.e. avoid swears and direct insults.)

I think it's about time that our boys and girls in the House, and the Senate, felt the full brunt of being Slashdotted. Follow those links to immediately find your local Representative and Senators' home page (don't forget each state has two senators, write them both). Email addys shouldn't be but three clicks away.

I'm not talking about flames, mind you. But let's show them how digital democracy can work. If everyone reading my comment were to email their congressman, maybe even send some snailmail (that may actually recieve more attention) perhaps they'd get the message. I suppose non-US citizens could email too, the more the merrier. (My only concern is that such folk aren't their constituents, ie, hold no power over them, but it never hurts to try)

I pay pretty close attention to politics, and not to try and start party wars with other /.ers, but I expect this is a Republican thing here. Since part of their party platform is tax cuts, they have to pay for it somehow. The surplus is needed for Social Security & maybe Medicare, but if the Repubs want to have a hope at passing the size cut they just did ($700 billion, which Clinton has declared he will veto) the Appropriations committee is likely looking for any way it possibly can to scrape together more funds. The fact that Republicans have never liked any public works doesn't help. Remember when they wanted to slash funding for PBS? They think the private sector (one of their main voting bases) can do everything. I don't agree, which may explain why I'm a card carrying Democrat. If any Democrats on the committee were involved, though, I'm just as disgusted at them.

Just as a closing point, to me this underlies the very reason why nerds need to stop living in such an insular world, ignoring things that aren't directly very techie. This comes as no surprise to me, but perhaps does to others. I wonder how many Slashdotters knew the reasons before I put forth my explination, or how many others have realistic explinations of their own. Perhaps if we all got more involved in politics, then such incidents would occur less often. At the very least, we wouldn't be be bowled over by them.

http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html

or

http://www.senate.gov

BTW - is there a feminine form of Senator?

http://www.senate.gov/

Select your favorite senator from the list, surprise!

Or, just open http://www.senate.gov/index.cfm.

http://www.senate.gov/

Select your favorite senator from the list, surprise!

Or, just open http://www.senate.gov/index.cfm.

The Washington Times article implies that simply typing your name at the bottom of a document or affixing an image of a fingerprint could be considered an electronic signature. This makes cut&paste forgeries easy for anyone :) . The Senate bill dosen't clarify if this would be so. I assume that any court would rule that only a cryptographic signature (like PGP) that isn't vulerable to cut&paste is valid, but I'd like to see it written into the bill anyway.

Oh - the link for the text of the House bill (it's HR1714) dosen't work, and thomas.loc.gov says that the text of HR1714 has not been entered into the database yet.

The point is, spread it around! We've seen the slashdot effect with servers, yes? Well, the only person to experiance a Slashdot effect with email has been Mr. Katz, which hardly seems fair. Get the word out! If enough people have the truth shoved in their faces, they have to listen to reason.
And let's all do it before it's too late for our little version of reality. I like being a geek. At this point in my life, I don't think I could start over.

ACTION:

MS Product and Corporate Questions: Waggener Edstrom at (503) 245-0905
MS email contact info is at http://register.microsoft.com/regwiz/regwiz.asp

The USPTO phone number is 800.786.9199 (800.PTO.9199). They say they are "not yet equipped to handle general email correspondence". What a shock.

US Asst. Attorney General for Antitrust: Joel Klein.
* "If your comments relate specifically to the Antitrust Division's suit against Microsoft Corporation, please direct your correspondence to Microsoft.atr@usdoj.gov". Seems like this qualifies, eh?
* Other DOJ email contact info is at http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/contact/emails.htm
* DOJ Antitrust phone contact info: http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/contact/phoneworks.htm

Vice President Al Gore (cheerleader for hi-tech and, um, less distracted than others at the White House)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Mail/html/Mail_Vice_P resident.html
Or email direct at vice.president@whitehouse.gov

US Senate Commerce, Science, And Transportation Committee
John McCain, chairman: John_McCain@McCain.senate.gov
http://www.senate.gov/~commerce/
508 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510-6125
(202) 224-5115
http://www.senate.gov/committees/committee_detail. cfm?COMMITTEE_ID=419 -- lists all members, with links to their homepages.

The House Committee on Commerce
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2927
Commerce@mail.house.gov

House Committee on Science
2320 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-6371

Bogus Patent petition:
http://ethepeople.com/affiliates/national/fullview .cfm?ETPID=0&PETID=98938 &ETPDIR=affiliates/national

INFO:

W3C copyright terms: http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice

W3C software license: http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-softw are.html

"Microsoft Awarded Style Sheet Patent"
Reprinted from The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing, Vol. 4, No. 19, February 4, 1999
http://webreview.com/wr/pub/1999/02/05/style/index .html
This article apparently broke the story.

Wired News: "MS Wins Patent for Web Standard" by Chris Oakes
2:05 p.m. 4.Feb.99.PST
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/17 741.html

WEB STANDARDS PROJECT CALLS FOR CLARIFICATION OF WHETHER PATENT GIVES MICROSOFT CONTROL OVER TWO KEY WEB STANDARDS
(press release: Feb. 4, 1999)
http://www.webstandards.org/patent.txt
(Also discussed at http://webreview.com/wr/pub/1999/02/05/style/index 2.html)

At this writing (11:30pm PST Feb. 5), nothing on this story has appeared in/on:
* C|Net
* ZD Net and all related publications/sites
* CNN
* NY Times, et al.
* Seattle Times (www.seattletimes.com)

ACTION:

MS Product and Corporate Questions: Waggener Edstrom at (503) 245-0905
MS email contact info is at http://register.microsoft.com/regwiz/regwiz.asp

The USPTO phone number is 800.786.9199 (800.PTO.9199). They say they are "not yet equipped to handle general email correspondence". What a shock.

US Asst. Attorney General for Antitrust: Joel Klein.
* "If your comments relate specifically to the Antitrust Division's suit against Microsoft Corporation, please direct your correspondence to Microsoft.atr@usdoj.gov". Seems like this qualifies, eh?
* Other DOJ email contact info is at http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/contact/emails.htm
* DOJ Antitrust phone contact info: http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/contact/phoneworks.htm

Vice President Al Gore (cheerleader for hi-tech and, um, less distracted than others at the White House)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Mail/html/Mail_Vice_P resident.html
Or email direct at vice.president@whitehouse.gov

US Senate Commerce, Science, And Transportation Committee
John McCain, chairman: John_McCain@McCain.senate.gov
http://www.senate.gov/~commerce/
508 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510-6125
(202) 224-5115
http://www.senate.gov/committees/committee_detail. cfm?COMMITTEE_ID=419 -- lists all members, with links to their homepages.

The House Committee on Commerce
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2927
Commerce@mail.house.gov

House Committee on Science
2320 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-6371

Bogus Patent petition:
http://ethepeople.com/affiliates/national/fullview .cfm?ETPID=0&PETID=98938 &ETPDIR=affiliates/national

INFO:

W3C copyright terms: http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice

W3C software license: http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-softw are.html

"Microsoft Awarded Style Sheet Patent"
Reprinted from The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing, Vol. 4, No. 19, February 4, 1999
http://webreview.com/wr/pub/1999/02/05/style/index .html
This article apparently broke the story.

Wired News: "MS Wins Patent for Web Standard" by Chris Oakes
2:05 p.m. 4.Feb.99.PST
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/17 741.html

WEB STANDARDS PROJECT CALLS FOR CLARIFICATION OF WHETHER PATENT GIVES MICROSOFT CONTROL OVER TWO KEY WEB STANDARDS
(press release: Feb. 4, 1999)
http://www.webstandards.org/patent.txt
(Also discussed at http://webreview.com/wr/pub/1999/02/05/style/index 2.html)

At this writing (11:30pm PST Feb. 5), nothing on this story has appeared in/on:
* C|Net
* ZD Net and all related publications/sites
* CNN
* NY Times, et al.
* Seattle Times (www.seattletimes.com)

ACTION:

MS Product and Corporate Questions: Waggener Edstrom at (503) 245-0905
MS email contact info is at http://register.microsoft.com/regwiz/regwiz.asp

The USPTO phone number is 800.786.9199 (800.PTO.9199). They say they are "not yet equipped to handle general email correspondence". What a shock.

US Asst. Attorney General for Antitrust: Joel Klein.
* "If your comments relate specifically to the Antitrust Division's suit against Microsoft Corporation, please direct your correspondence to Microsoft.atr@usdoj.gov". Seems like this qualifies, eh?
* Other DOJ email contact info is at http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/contact/emails.htm
* DOJ Antitrust phone contact info: http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/contact/phoneworks.htm

Vice President Al Gore (cheerleader for hi-tech and, um, less distracted than others at the White House)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Mail/html/Mail_Vice_P resident.html
Or email direct at vice.president@whitehouse.gov

US Senate Commerce, Science, And Transportation Committee
John McCain, chairman: John_McCain@McCain.senate.gov
http://www.senate.gov/~commerce/
508 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510-6125
(202) 224-5115
http://www.senate.gov/committees/committee_detail. cfm?COMMITTEE_ID=419 -- lists all members, with links to their homepages.

The House Committee on Commerce
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2927
Commerce@mail.house.gov

House Committee on Science
2320 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-6371

Bogus Patent petition:
http://ethepeople.com/affiliates/national/fullview .cfm?ETPID=0&PETID=98938 &ETPDIR=affiliates/national

INFO:

W3C copyright terms: http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice

W3C software license: http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-softw are.html

"Microsoft Awarded Style Sheet Patent"
Reprinted from The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing, Vol. 4, No. 19, February 4, 1999
http://webreview.com/wr/pub/1999/02/05/style/index .html
This article apparently broke the story.

Wired News: "MS Wins Patent for Web Standard" by Chris Oakes
2:05 p.m. 4.Feb.99.PST
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/17 741.html

WEB STANDARDS PROJECT CALLS FOR CLARIFICATION OF WHETHER PATENT GIVES MICROSOFT CONTROL OVER TWO KEY WEB STANDARDS
(press release: Feb. 4, 1999)
http://www.webstandards.org/patent.txt
(Also discussed at http://webreview.com/wr/pub/1999/02/05/style/index 2.html)

At this writing (11:30pm PST Feb. 5), nothing on this story has appeared in/on:
* C|Net
* ZD Net and all related publications/sites
* CNN
* NY Times, et al.
* Seattle Times (www.seattletimes.com)

ACTION:

MS Product and Corporate Questions: Waggener Edstrom at (503) 245-0905
MS email contact info is at http://register.microsoft.com/regwiz/regwiz.asp

The USPTO phone number is 800.786.9199 (800.PTO.9199). They say they are "not yet equipped to handle general email correspondence". What a shock.

US Asst. Attorney General for Antitrust: Joel Klein.
* "If your comments relate specifically to the Antitrust Division's suit against Microsoft Corporation, please direct your correspondence to Microsoft.atr@usdoj.gov". Seems like this qualifies, eh?
* Other DOJ email contact info is at http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/contact/emails.htm
* DOJ Antitrust phone contact info: http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/contact/phoneworks.htm

Vice President Al Gore (cheerleader for hi-tech and, um, less distracted than others at the White House)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Mail/html/Mail_Vice_P resident.html
Or email direct at vice.president@whitehouse.gov

US Senate Commerce, Science, And Transportation Committee
John McCain, chairman: John_McCain@McCain.senate.gov
http://www.senate.gov/~commerce/
508 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510-6125
(202) 224-5115
http://www.senate.gov/committees/committee_detail. cfm?COMMITTEE_ID=419 -- lists all members, with links to their homepages.

The House Committee on Commerce
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2927
Commerce@mail.house.gov

House Committee on Science
2320 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-6371

Bogus Patent petition:
http://ethepeople.com/affiliates/national/fullview .cfm?ETPID=0&PETID=98938 &ETPDIR=affiliates/national

INFO:

W3C copyright terms: http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice

W3C software license: http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-softw are.html

"Microsoft Awarded Style Sheet Patent"
Reprinted from The Bulletin: Seybold News & Views on Electronic Publishing, Vol. 4, No. 19, February 4, 1999
http://webreview.com/wr/pub/1999/02/05/style/index .html
This article apparently broke the story.

Wired News: "MS Wins Patent for Web Standard" by Chris Oakes
2:05 p.m. 4.Feb.99.PST
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/17 741.html

WEB STANDARDS PROJECT CALLS FOR CLARIFICATION OF WHETHER PATENT GIVES MICROSOFT CONTROL OVER TWO KEY WEB STANDARDS
(press release: Feb. 4, 1999)
http://www.webstandards.org/patent.txt
(Also discussed at http://webreview.com/wr/pub/1999/02/05/style/index 2.html)

At this writing (11:30pm PST Feb. 5), nothing on this story has appeared in/on:
* C|Net
* ZD Net and all related publications/sites
* CNN
* NY Times, et al.
* Seattle Times (www.seattletimes.com)

In particular, push it to Senators who've been very "pro-internet", particularly "pro-internet-shopping", since many of the patents have been "I know own the complete rights to on-line shopping" or "I own the digital 'Shopping Cart'".

My first suggestion would be Senator Leahy from Vermont. His bills (some passed into law) have already acknowledged his interest into protecting online rights (from a copyright standpoint). He should be the easiest to convince that the Patent system now is doing the exact opposite of promoting true development on the web.

Obviously, this should wait until after the Clinton fiasco is finally out of "public thought" and Congress is ready to do something approaching "real work" again.