Slashdot Mirror

Excellent.

As long as Democrats keep acting like Republican light, the people will keep voting for Republicans.

The next time anyone meets Gov. Rendell, ask him where his testicles are.

Sounds like if the city formally requests that their local provider give them a certain level of broadband speed, and the provider doesn't comply within 14 months, then the city is free to offer such services.

Read the bill here

I was wrong on the vote. It was Senate Resolution 98. It wasn't a 98-0 vote.

It was a 95-0 vote.

Here's a little ditty from the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, quoting the US Senate's vote.

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/BI/BT/1997/0/ SR0134P1678.HTM/

Or just google on +senate +kyoto +95 to find out more on the Byrd/Hagel Resolution, as it's known.

My future father-in-law works for the Lt. Governor of PA. I'll be doing my best to raise this issue to him and have him talk with her about it, which will hopefully get this idiotic and corporate-centric bill defeated.

I hate penndot. So much. For exactly this reason. The companies that got the contract to build the new stadiums in Pittsburgh got that shit done almost overnight.... yet penndot does nothing but sit on their ass and occasionally repave a small chunk of road. During rush hour.

Oh, and PA has some of the worst roads in the country. These guys could actually WORK a full shift and they'd never have to worry about running out of things to do.

That is a pretty strong statement to make and not include any facts or figures.
You got any real numbers for this or did you pull this out of the air?

You seem to be making your opinion based on the evening news. They cover every person that gets shot in a drive by or performs an armed robbery in the city. They do not have a cover story on every person that defends himself by pulling out a gun, every person at the gun club that is shooting at the range, the skeet shooters, every person going hunting and I'm sure there are far more examples that do not involve a crime.

These numbers might be a little off but it is a start.
The state of PA issued 158,817 muzzle loader hunting licenses in the 2002-2003 hunting season, that number only includes one style of gun hunting that includes using a muzzle loaded gun. They also issued 750,000 adult hunting licenses. There were actually more licenses then that total but I'm not going to waste my time doing the math. There is NO WAY in hell there were 950,000 crimes commited in PA that involved a gun, using your figure of vast majority of guns are used for crimes would put the number of gun related crimes at what 10-15 million in PA alone? Add in the non hunting use of guns and your number would have to be much higher.

I am not some gun freak zealot trying to prove a point, in fact the only gun I have shoots BB's.

On the other hand, I religiously practice landings. Nowhere else in flying is there near the level of concentration or skill required.

More and more states are making these available, some on a shall issue basis, as they see the benifits of lower crime in other states that have done so.

Ahh, well...I live in a commonwealth founded by Quakers. In 2002 we ranked 44th in the country for violent and property-related crimes per 100,000. We do allow CCW, as well as abortions for some and miniature flags for others.

No throwing your vote away is voting for someone just because you don't think anyone else can win. It's a self fullfing prophecy.

You read Slashdot and didn't get the Simpson's reference? What kind of nerd are you, anyway? ;>)

From the SNPP:

Here's the scoop from the PA Milk Marketing Board the agency that regulates the dairy industry. My sons also drink more milk than I want to think about, we're running low if we have only 2 gallons in the fridge.

Min Wholesale Price for whole Milk, per gallon:

2000 2.48
2003 2.64
2004 2.78

2% Milk is a bit higher, probably to pay for the extra refinement costs.

I quick check showed that retail prices are usually .02 to .05 higher, not much of a mark-up. At the retail level, I didn't see any price controls, so the grocer can sell it for much more. There's data in there for butter, cream, cheese, ice-cream and the like, I'm not motivated enough to dig any deeper for other pricing trends.

I would say the inflation rate for milk looks pretty reasonable, about 10% over 4 years. The prices are ahead of general price inflation, or dollar deflation depending on your point of view, but not that much. Think about the price inflation of educational or medical services by comparison

To continue my post: Is it me or do you just wanna run over those damn cones/barrels/card-type things? Your stuck in traffic next to a perfectly good road that's blocked off by those damn traffic control devices. And you just want to yank the wheel over, plow through a couple of them and take off.

Maybe it's me. Maybe it's because I live in the land of perpetual road construction

Assuming you mean the Susquehana River in Pennsylvania, you have to deal with DEP permits. A quick glance at the regs indicated you'd need

a) Dam Permit - application fee of $1500-$3000
b) Environmental Assessment Approval - free
c) Limited Power Permit for Hydroelectric - $5 application fee and $10-10000 annual fee (depending on capacity)

Not to mention any local or federal regulations (did you check the EPA yet?) or the permits you'll need for construction, etc.

There's also a 30-day public comment period before the DEP rules, and they estimate it will take 220 days or so to complete the paperwork.

Reference is from the massive PDF found at Department of Enviromental Protection

In short, you probably don't want to build a dam.

Interestingly enough about this list is that PA, home of Homeland Security Lord, Tom Ridge, has had a program just like this before they signed into MATRIX.

It's called JNet and it was one of the earliest such systems built in the US for law enforcement.

So not only does MATRIX have you, but now JNet too.

The big issue for me is that law enforcement is now getting this data without having to use a warrant. They used to have to get a warrant to check public sources of data. This made sense, because they have more authority and power than, say, a private investigator. But systems like MATRIX and JNet remove the necessity of getting a warrant, which removes judicial overview from the process, and keeps police searches of your records more secret.

That's what I don't like.

Smallest visible features are not the same as the size of each pixel though.

Let's work out just how big each pixel is:

The largest image there has about 2240 pixels from the top of jupiter to the bottom. According to this website at NASA, jupiter has a diameter of 142,800 km.

142800/2240 is 63.75 km per pixel.

Oh, this works out the same as what it said on the website. Whoops. Ah well, at least you have an independent confirmation.

Just for the record, Pennsylvania is 309 miles long and 174 miles wide. That's 497 km x 280 km. Let's assume a square Pennsylvania of the same area, and we get 373 km per pixel.

If you want the largest audience possible, then using the latest web standards, such as promoted by Zeldman, is not what you want to do. The reason for this is because not all web browsers in current use work with these standards. And there are many reasons people won't or can't upgrade those browsers.

There is a way to make web pages so that they can use standards, and still work on older browsers. However, you might not like the end result. What you get on the older browsers is a very poor presentation. For example, if you define the look of your page in cascading stylesheets, when viewed on a browser with no support for CSS, you get crap.

Boundary conditions are even worse. If the browser is a version that tries to support something, and does it wrong, you can get even worse that crap. It might not work at all.

Mixing standards can cause problems as well. Here is an example. Lots of designers seem to like blue backgrounds for the side rail menus. But lots of web browsers default to blue for hyperlink text. If you specify the color of the text in a stylesheet, but specify the background color of a table cell (or worse, the whole page), in HTML, then you can end up with a situation where some of what you specify is acted on, and some is not. You'd end up with blue text on a blue background, and therefore unreadable.

It would be great if everyone could upgrade to the latest browser. But if you are trying to reach the widest audience possible, you do have to consider that many in that audience will be using older computers which have smaller drive space, smaller RAM space, slower CPUs, and can only run older versions of operating systems and browser software. While Linux might well be a great replacement for old versions of Windows on those machines, you still have the problem if shaving a recent version of some Linux distribution down to fit, and getting a huge obese browser to run on a tiny, slow, machine.

Here is an example of a real web site done in a way that displays terrible on some browsers. You can see what it looks like in Netscape 4 in PNG, or JPEG, or true color GIF (works on Netscape 2 and later) formats. If you scan very close in the blue area on the left (this does not work with the JPEG image), you can see that the colors are #5a61a9 for the background, and #5b61a9 for the text (specified by their HTML in the body tag, so they intentionally did this). By radically exaggerating the red plane (e.g. everything #5a and below is made #00, and everything #5b and above is made #ff), you can see (PNG, JPEG) the text was really there. And you'd think that a state government would be concerned enough about making their site available to all audiences, including the economically disadvantaged who can just barely even get a computer and internet access. But no, they don't actually care (I talked to these people, and they really don't care). Here is another crappy web site. By comparison, this site and this site look fine in this older browser.

Well, it's actually not a horrible argument, though. If substantial amounts of people are driven to do something irrespective of laws passed regarding that thing, then is it a good law in the first place?

Keep in mind that there are two generally accepted sources of law, those generated by behavior that is inherently criminal, and those generated for other societal reasons (check here for the definitions of mala in se and mala prohibita) and that we're talking about the second kind when we are talking about copyright law. Clearly, a large chunk (I don't know if it's a majority or not) of society doesn't agree with the law on the books. So, by that reasoning, maybe it should not be a law, Congress just hasn't caught up with society yet.

But I think the reasoning of the person you were replying to is not so much that, but that many of the violators are violators only because they lack the resources to buy legislators. Given a level playing field in monetary terms, the RIAA would lose out in a heartbeat, which does offer a whiff of moral justification to the traders.

They require a site maintainer to exist, who will be responsible for upkeep of the site. Sites may exist for no more then 3 years before they must move.

All very reasonable rules, and I applaud PA for endorsing this.

If we consider the anti-fax-spam law to be a good one, it should simply be extended to the email age due to the close similarities. Spammers have been successfully sued based on the fax laws.

Can you provide a reference to this?

At the very least, the PA Superior Court just ruled that the ban on unsolicited faxes in the TCPA can't be applied to email. I'm not aware of anyone successfully arguing otherwise in court, but it might be nice to hear otherwise.

The PA version also makes it illegal to shoot at buildings and sniff glue. Odd.

I'd've voted for the guy if he were even slightly not a Republican.

Here's an image of a kick-ass beowulf cluster of these.

(rimshot)

Who needs the silly grammar checking anyways.

Not I, says this grammar wonk. I've got a better grasp on grammar than Word does (not hard, if you actually understand things like gerunds and subjunctives), and I'm tired of having to argue with it constantly. Why not switch? Because my project boss won't switch, so my hands are tied.

In fact, Word has very silly grammar checking, and its spell-checker blows diseased goats, too...especialy from the point of view of someone who professionally must keep a dictionary or two AND a thesaurus underhand constantly, and who may have to consult numerous specialized glossaries on any given day besides.

Nasty partisan shot: I like Word Perfect because it's the perfectionist's tool: It shuts up and leaves you alone. (If I have to fix those "you must really want..." MS 'regenerating' defaults one...more...time...)

I Go To Bed Angry and Wake Up Angrier the Next Morning, just like Harlan Ellison, and here're the reasons!

Pennsylvania just passed a law that could make telemarketers liable for up to $3000 for each call. The new law allows residents to be placed on a "Do Not Call" list. The list will be made publicly available to telemarkets, and if they make the call then they get zapped with the fine. Here is the press release.

The reason that Socialist countries have the worst pollution is that the government is too involved in the polluting industries, and thus faces a conflict of interest when citizens are harmed by the pollution they emit.

It is true that some of the most pristine forests are in private hands, but what about all the pristine forest that was in private hands, and was decimated? It is also true that our government manages our forests in a horribly irresponsible way, effectively paying companies to log them, but that would seem to be a good argument for better regulation and governmental reform.

You seem very happy to end the EPA, but what happens when the power companies down the road decide to end their pollution controls and we have another incident like what happened in Donora, Pennsylvanis in 1948, where, over the course of a week, over 20 people were killed, and over 7000 hospitalized by air pollution? This incident was one of the early influences on the first Clean Air Act, and without government regulation of polluting industries, it could easily happen again.

I strongly support private land trusts and other individual efforts to protect the environment, but everyone is hurt by environmental destruction, and we need broad public action to keep the public safe.

From the article, now that I've RTFA (BTW - what's up with your rules for using "RTFA"?):

At issue is whether Proetto's e-mail and instant messages to the girl should have been suppressed at trial. Proetto claims police violated the state's wiretapping law by looking at the messages without first obtaining a warrant. Proetto also claims his Fourth Amendment privacy rights were violated.

1. Wiretap without a warrent (potentially valid)
2. Infrigement of privacy (bogus)

There doesn't seem to be a federal issue in the case...[and]...There is nothing in the article which points to a fourth ammendment issue.

-sk

Every state does have its own unique domain, though: state.xx.us (e.g. state.pa.us, state.mn.us, and so on, though some are migrating to statename.gov). It's been that way for a long while.

Uh, scuze me but most (if not all) states put the burden of paying sales tax on sellers, not buyers, and whether they are liable for a tax bill depends on the extent to which they do business in a given state.

If you purchase taxable merchandise from an out-of-state mail order business and no New Jersey sales tax is collected, you owe 6% use tax on the purchase price of the goods. Use tax is due within twenty days after the merchandise is delivered into New Jersey. Shipping charges separately listed on the bill are exempt from tax. NJ

Q. How are out-of-state purchases/sales taxed?
A. In Pennsylvania, the responsibility to pay Sales Tax is ultimately placed on the consumer. When a resident purchases a taxable item outside of Pennsylvania and does not pay Sales Tax at the time of purchase, the tax is then due to Pennsylvania in the form of Use Tax at the same 6 percent rate. The Use Tax is due and payable when the item is brought to or received in Pennsylvania, and it is up to the purchaser to remit the tax to the Department. Out of state sales are not subject to Pennsylvania Sales Tax when the item is shipped directly to an out of state location. PA Tax

(B) From Other States -- When Sales Tax Does Not Apply. Sales tax does not apply when the order is sent by the purchaser directly to the retailer at a point outside this state, or to an agent of the retailer in this state, and the property is shipped to the purchaser, pursuant to the contract of sale, from a point outside this state directly to the purchaser in this state, or to the retailer's agent in this state for delivery to the purchaser in this state, provided there is no participation whatever in the transaction by any local branch, office, outlet or other place of business of the retailer or by any agent of the retailer having any connection with such branch, office, outlet, or place of business. CA Tax [Note: in this case there is no tax]

Are sales over the Internet taxable? Sales made over the Internet are subject to the same sales tax application as mail order sales. If the seller is required to be registered to collect Maine Sales Tax, then the seller should collect the tax on the sale. If the seller is not required to be registered, then the seller is not required to collect tax on the sale. The purchaser, however, would still owe a Maine Use Tax, payable directly to Maine Revenue Services, based on the sale price of the goods. Most Maine taxpayers report this use tax liability on their Maine 1040. Maine Tax

Lots of manufacturers, but the products are all cheap, heavy and shift poorly. Having ridden one, I can tell you that they shift at the wrong times, and operate dangerously when you stand up out of the saddle. The newer push-button activated shifters manufactured by Shimano, Campagnolo and SRAM are far superior.

Back on topic, for short distances I'd rather walk. For longer distances, I'd rather ride my bike. I'm a longtime bicycle commuter who has ridden in the worst traffic in Albuquerque, Phoenix, El Paso and northwest England (Manchester). I know that I can legally use the roads on my bicycle, as a vehicle driver, more quickly and safely than I could as a "rolling pedestrian" on a Segway.

PA's Website

If you buy items that are subject to Sales Tax, for which the seller does not charge and collect the tax on the invoice (or receipt), you are personally responsible for remitting the tax directly to the PA Department of Revenue. This tax is called USE TAX.

Purchases made over the Internet, through toll-free numbers (800, 888, and 877), from mail order catalogs, or any other purchase from an out-of-state location are generally examples of purchases that would be subject to USE TAX. The tax rate is the same as the Sales Tax, 6% state and 1% local tax, if the purchaser is located in Philadelphia or Allegheny County. The tax is to be reported on an Individual Use Tax Return, form PA-1, that can be obtained from any Department of Revenue district office, or see Forms Ordering.

Hmm...we must not be talking about the same state. The Pennsylvania I know has a 6% sales tax, as listed in #5 on this page.
---------------

I think you make some interesting and accurate points. But I saw something last week that would have convinced me in the utter ubiquity of the Internet, if I hadn't been already.

The new Pennsylvania license plates advertise the state's website (www.state.pa.us). License plates!

If they're putting URLs on license plates now, I have to believe that most people know how to venture beyond the confines of AOL.

You can take a look at the Pennsylvania web site http://www.state.pa.us for ideas. Pennsylvania has their web page printed on all vehicle license plates. For this kind of exposure, the web site would have to be appealing and useful for everyone.

Look at it from another perspective-- that of Pennsylvania.
Now Pennsylvania has been described by various and sundry political analysts and campaign managers as having Philadelphia on one side and Pittsburgh on the other, with Alabama (or Mississippi even) in the middle. Philadelphia and its surrounding counties voted overwhelmingly for the Democratic candidate in '92 and in '96, with the end result being that Clinton won the state both times even though he lost the rest of the state.
In 2000, it happened again. Gore won only four counties in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and the surrounding counties of Bucks, Chester and Montgomery), with a margin in those counties of approximately 400,000 votes. Gore only beat out Bush for the state by 200,000 total.
Four counties in one state decided the outcome of 23 electoral votes. Had those electoral votes gone to Bush, I seriously doubt we'd be having this conversation about Florida.
We can talk all we want about the power of the One Voter, and the value of direct election, but as the Pennsylvania experience shows, it is possible to set one bloc up, focus heavily on that bloc, and to hell with the rest.
The presence of the Electoral college prohibits that, as it forces candidates to campaign to all blocs, not just the majority.
If for nothing else, the value of the Electoral College lies in its ability to prohibit the majority from ignoring the minority completely. If you assume that the strength of the United States depends on its tolerance of diversity, than you must accept the Electoral College for embracing that diversity.

For those of you interested in reading the text of House Bill 1817 you can see it here.

William Clinton President The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, District of Columbia 20500 United States of America phone 1-202-456-1414 fax 1-202-456-2886 or 1-202-456-2461 (busy, keep trying) e-mail president@whitehouse.gov webpage http://www.whitehouse.gov/

House Majority Leader House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

House Minority Leader House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

Speaker, House of Representatives House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

Senate Majority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, District of Columbia 20510 United States of America webpage http://www.senate.gov/

Senate Minority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, District of Columbia 20510 United States of America webpage http://www.senate.gov/

Governor Don Seigelman State Capitol, 600 Dexter Ave. Montgomery, Alabama 36130 United States of America phone 1-334-242-7100, fax 1-334-242-4541 webpage http://www.state.al.us/

Governor Tony Knowles P.O. Box A Juneau, Alaska 99811 United States of America phone 1-907-465-3500, fax 1-907-465-3532 e-mail office_of_the_governor@gov.state.ak.u s webpage http://www.gov.state.ak.us/

Governor Jane Dee Hull State House Phoenix, Arizona 85007 United States of America phone 1-602-542-4331, fax 1-602-542-7601 webpage http://www.state.az.us/

Governor Mike Huckabee 250 State Capitol Bldg. Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 United States of America phone 1-501-682-2345, fax 1-501-682-1382 e-mail mike.huckabee@state.ar.us webpage http://www.state.ar.us/governor/gover nor.html

Governor Gray Davis State Capitol Sacramento, California 95814 United States of America phone 1-916-445-2841, fax 1-916-445-4633 e-mail hometeam@ca.gov webpage http://www.ca.gov/s/

Governor Bill Owens 136 State Capitol Denver, Colorado 80203-1792 United States of America phone 1-303-866-2471, fax 1-303-866-2003 webpage http://www.state.co.us/

Governor John Rowland State Capitol, 210 Capitol Ave Hartford, Connecticut 06106 United States of America phone 1-860-566-4840, fax 1-203-524-7396 e-mail governor.rowland@po.state.ct.us webpage http://www.state.ct.us/governor/

Governor Thomas Carper Legislative Hall Dover, Delaware 19901 United States of America phone 1-302-739-4101, fax 1-302-577-3118 e-mail ssnyder@state.de.us webpage http://www.state.de.us/governor/index.htm

Governor Jeb Bush State Capitol Tallahassee, Florida 32399 United States of America phone 1-850-488-4441, fax 1-850-487-0801 e-mail page http://www.state.fl.us/eog/govmailform. html webpage http://fcn.state.fl.us/gsd/

Governor Roy Barnes State Capitol Building, Room 203 Atlanta, Georgia 30334 United States of America phone 1-404-656-1776, fax 1-404-657-7332 e-mail governor@gov.state.ga.us webpage http://www.state.ga.us/

Governor Benjamin Cayetano State Capitol, Executive Chambers Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 United States of America phone 1-808-586-0034, fax 1-808-586-0006 e-mail gov@gov.state.hi.us webpage http://gov.state.hi.us

Governor Dirk Kempthorne State Capitol PO Box 83720, 700 West Jefferson, Fl. 2 Boise, Idaho 83720-0034 United States of America phone 1-208-334-2100, fax 1-208-334-2175 e-mail governor@gov.state.id.us webpage http://www.state.id.us/gov/govhmpg.htm

Governor George Ryan 207 Statehouse Springfield, Illinois 62706 United States of America phone 1-217-782-0244, fax 1-217-524-4049 e-mail governor@state.il.us webpage http://www.state.il.us/gov/

Governor Frank O'Bannon Statehouse, Rm. 206 Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 United States of America phone 1-317-232-4567, fax 1-317-232-3443 e-mail page http://www.ai.org/gov/gov_mail.html webpage http://www.ai.org/gov/index.html

Governor Thomas Vilsack State Capitol Des Moines, Iowa 50319 United States of America phone 1-515-281-5211, fax 1-515-281-6611 e-mail general.office@igov.state.ia.us webpage http://www.iowaccess.org/

Governor Bill Graves State House Topeka, Kansas 66612 United States of America phone 1-913-296-6240, fax 1-913-296-7973 e-mail page http://www.state.ks.us/public/g overnor/comment.html webpage http://www.state.ks.us/public/governor/

Governor Paul Patton State Capitol, 700 Capitol Ave. Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 United States of America phone 1-502-564-2611, fax 1-502-564-2517 e-mail governor@mail.state.ky.us webpage http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/go v/govmenu6.htm

Governor Murphy Foster, Jr. State Capitol, P.O. Box 94004 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70804 United States of America phone 1-504-342-7015, fax 1-504-342-7099 e-mail page http://www.gov.state.la.us/governo r/contact2.htm webpage http://www.gov.state.la.us/

Governor Angus King, Jr. State House Station 1 Augusta, Maine 04333 United States of America phone 1-207-287-3531, fax 1-207-287-1034 e-mail page http://janus.state.me.us/govoffice/ gov_form.htm webpage http://janus.state.me.us/govoffice/ homepage.htm

Governor Parris Glendening State House Annapolis, Maryland 21401 United States of America phone 1-410-974-3901, fax 1-410-974-3275 e-mail governor@gov.state.md.us webpage http://www.gov.state.md.us/

Governor Paul Cellucci State House, Room 360 Boston, Massachusetts 02133 United States of America phone 1-617-727-6250, fax 1-617-727-9725 e-mail goffice@state.ma.us webpage http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/gov/gov.htm

Governor John Engler State Capitol, PO Box 30013 Lansing, Michigan 48909 United States of America phone 1-517-335-7858, fax 1-517-335-6863 email page http://www.state.mi.us/MIGOV/ gov/ContactGovernor.shtm webpage http://www.state.mi.us/migov/

Governor Jesse Ventura 130 State Capitol, 75 Constitution Avenue St. Paul, Minnesota 55155 United States of America phone 1-651-296-3391, fax 1-651-296-2089 e-mail Governor.JesseVentura@state.mn.us webpage http://www.mainserver.state.mn.us/gover nor/

Governor Kirk Fordice P.O. Box 139 Jackson, Mississippi 39205 United States of America phone 1-601-737-9540, fax 1-601-737-9507 e-mail governor@govoff.state.ms.us webpage http://www.state.ms.us/

Governor Mel Carnahan Missouri Capitol Building, P.O. Box 720 Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-0720 United States of America phone 1-573-751-3222, fax 1-573-751-1495 e-mail page http://www.gov.state.mo.us/guest.htm webpage http://www.gov.state.mo.us/

Governor Marc Racicot State Capitol Helena, Montana 59620 United States of America webpage http://www.mt.gov/governor/governor.htm

Governor Mike Johanns State Capitol, Executive Suite, PO Box 94848 Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-4848 United States of America phone 1-402-471-2244, fax 1-402-471-6031 e-mail jodee@mail.state.ne.us webpage http://www.state.ne.us/

Governor Kenny Guinn State Capitol Carson City, Nevada 89710 United States of America phone 1-702-687-5670, fax 1-702-687-4486 webpage http://www.state.nv.us/

Governor Jeanne Shaheen State House Concord, New Hampshire 03301-4990 United States of America phone 1-603-271-2121, fax 1-603-271-2130 e-mail nhgov@nh.com webpage http://www.state.nh.us/

Governor Christine Todd Whitman Office of the Governor State House, 125 West State St., CN-001 Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0001 United States of America phone 1-609-292-6000, fax 1-609-292-5212 e-mail page http://www.state.nj.us/governor/govmail .htm webpage http://www.state.nj.us/governor/officeo .htm

Governor Gary Johnson State Capitol Santa Fe, New Mexico 87503 United States of America phone 1-505-827-3000, fax 1-505-827-3026 e-mail gov@gov.state.nm.us webpage http://www.state.nm.us/

Governor George Pataki State Capitol Albany, New York 12224 United States of America phone 1-518-474-8390, fax 1-518-474-1513 e-mail gov.pataki@chamber.state.ny.us webpage http://www.state.ny.us/governor

Governor James Hunt, Jr. State Capitol Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 United States of America phone 1-919-733-4240, fax 1-919-733-2120 webpage http://www.sips.state.nc.us/

Governor Edward Schafer 600 E. Blvd, State Capitol, Fl. 1 Bismark, North Dakota 58505 United States of America phone 1-701-328-2200, fax 1-701-328-2205 webpage http://www.ehs.health.stat e.nd.us/gov/governor/index.htm

Governor Bob Taft State House Columbus, Ohio 43215 United States of America phone 1-614-466-3555, 1-614-466-9354 webpage http://www.state.oh.us/gov/

Governor Frank Keating State Capitol Bldg., Rm. 212 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105 United States of America phone 1-405-521-2342, fax 1-405-521-3353 e-mail governor@oklaosf.state.ok.us webpage http://www.state.ok.us/

Governor John Kitzhaber State Capitol Salem, Oregon 97310 United States of America phone 1-503-378-4582, fax 1-503-378-4863 webpage http://www.governor.state.or.us/

Governor Tom Ridge 225 Main Capitol Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120 United States of America phone 1-717-787-2500, fax 1-717-772-8284 e-mail governor@state.pa.us webpage http://www.state.pa.us/PA_Exe c/Governor/overview.html

Governor of the Commonwealth Commonwealth of Puerto Rico San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936 United States of America webpage http://fortaleza.govpr.org

Governor Lincoln Almond State House Providence, Rhode Island 02903 United States of America phone 1-401-277-2080, fax 1-401-273-5729 webpage http://www.doa.state.ri.us/info/exec.htm

Governor James Hodges State House, PO Box 11369 Columbia, South Carolina 29211 United States of America phone 1-803-737-9540, fax 1-803-737-9507 webpage http://www.state.sc.us/

Governor William Janklow State Capitol, 500 East Capitol Ave Pierre, South Dakota 57501-5070 United States of America phone 1-605-773-3212, fax 1-605-773-5844 e-mail sdgov@gov.state.sd.us webpage http://www.state.sd.us /state/executive/governor/governor.htm

Governor Don Sundquist State Capitol Nashville, Tennessee 37243 United States of America phone 1-615-741-2001, fax 1-615-532-9711 e-mail dsundquist@mail.state.tn.us webpage http://www.state.tn.us/governor/

Governor George W. Bush State Capitol, P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711 United States of America phone 1-512-463-2000, fax 1-512-463-1849 webpage http://www.governor.state.tx.us/

Governor Michael Leavitt 210 State Capitol Salt Lake City, Utah 84114 United States of America phone 1-801-538-1000, fax 1-801-538-1528 e-mail governor@state.ut.us webpage http://www.governor.state.ut.us/

Governor Howard Dean 109 State St. Montpelier, Vermont 05609 United States of America phone 1-802-828-3333, fax 1-802-828-3339 e-mail governor@state.vt.us webpage http://www.state.vt.us/

Governor Jim Gilmore State Capitol Richmond, Virginia 23219 United States of America phone 1-804-786-2211, fax 1-804-371-6351 e-mail page http://www.state.va.us/governor/govmail .htm webpage http://www.state.va.us/governor/

Governor Gary Locke State Capitol, P.O. Box 40002 Olympia, Washington 98504-0002 United States of America phone 1-360-902-4111, fax 1-360-753-4110 e-mail governor.locke@governor.wa.gov webpage http://www.wa.gov/governor

Governor Cecil Underwood State Capitol Charleston, West Virginia 25305 United States of America phone 1-304-558-2000, fax 1-304-342-7025 e-mail governor@state.wv.us webpage http://www.state.wi.us/governor/default .htm

Governor Tommy Thompson State Capitol, Room 115 East Madison, Wisconsin 53707 United States of America phone 1-608-266-1212, fax 1-608-267-8983 e-mail wisgov@mail.state.wi.us webpage http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/

Governor Jim Geringer State Capitol Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002 United States of America phone 1-307-777-7434, fax 1-307-632-3909 e-mail governor@missc.state.wy.us webpage http://www.state.wy.us/gove rnor/text_governor_home.html

William Clinton President The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, District of Columbia 20500 United States of America phone 1-202-456-1414 fax 1-202-456-2886 or 1-202-456-2461 (busy, keep trying) e-mail president@whitehouse.gov webpage http://www.whitehouse.gov/

House Majority Leader House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

House Minority Leader House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

Speaker, House of Representatives House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

Senate Majority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, District of Columbia 20510 United States of America webpage http://www.senate.gov/

Senate Minority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, District of Columbia 20510 United States of America webpage http://www.senate.gov/

Governor Don Seigelman State Capitol, 600 Dexter Ave. Montgomery, Alabama 36130 United States of America phone 1-334-242-7100, fax 1-334-242-4541 webpage http://www.state.al.us/

Governor Tony Knowles P.O. Box A Juneau, Alaska 99811 United States of America phone 1-907-465-3500, fax 1-907-465-3532 e-mail office_of_the_governor@gov.state.ak.u s webpage http://www.gov.state.ak.us/

Governor Jane Dee Hull State House Phoenix, Arizona 85007 United States of America phone 1-602-542-4331, fax 1-602-542-7601 webpage http://www.state.az.us/

Governor Mike Huckabee 250 State Capitol Bldg. Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 United States of America phone 1-501-682-2345, fax 1-501-682-1382 e-mail mike.huckabee@state.ar.us webpage http://www.state.ar.us/governor/gover nor.html

Governor Gray Davis State Capitol Sacramento, California 95814 United States of America phone 1-916-445-2841, fax 1-916-445-4633 e-mail hometeam@ca.gov webpage http://www.ca.gov/s/

Governor Bill Owens 136 State Capitol Denver, Colorado 80203-1792 United States of America phone 1-303-866-2471, fax 1-303-866-2003 webpage http://www.state.co.us/

Governor John Rowland State Capitol, 210 Capitol Ave Hartford, Connecticut 06106 United States of America phone 1-860-566-4840, fax 1-203-524-7396 e-mail governor.rowland@po.state.ct.us webpage http://www.state.ct.us/governor/

Governor Thomas Carper Legislative Hall Dover, Delaware 19901 United States of America phone 1-302-739-4101, fax 1-302-577-3118 e-mail ssnyder@state.de.us webpage http://www.state.de.us/governor/index.htm

Governor Jeb Bush State Capitol Tallahassee, Florida 32399 United States of America phone 1-850-488-4441, fax 1-850-487-0801 e-mail page http://www.state.fl.us/eog/govmailform. html webpage http://fcn.state.fl.us/gsd/

Governor Roy Barnes State Capitol Building, Room 203 Atlanta, Georgia 30334 United States of America phone 1-404-656-1776, fax 1-404-657-7332 e-mail governor@gov.state.ga.us webpage http://www.state.ga.us/

Governor Benjamin Cayetano State Capitol, Executive Chambers Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 United States of America phone 1-808-586-0034, fax 1-808-586-0006 e-mail gov@gov.state.hi.us webpage http://gov.state.hi.us

Governor Dirk Kempthorne State Capitol PO Box 83720, 700 West Jefferson, Fl. 2 Boise, Idaho 83720-0034 United States of America phone 1-208-334-2100, fax 1-208-334-2175 e-mail governor@gov.state.id.us webpage http://www.state.id.us/gov/govhmpg.htm

Governor George Ryan 207 Statehouse Springfield, Illinois 62706 United States of America phone 1-217-782-0244, fax 1-217-524-4049 e-mail governor@state.il.us webpage http://www.state.il.us/gov/

Governor Frank O'Bannon Statehouse, Rm. 206 Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 United States of America phone 1-317-232-4567, fax 1-317-232-3443 e-mail page http://www.ai.org/gov/gov_mail.html webpage http://www.ai.org/gov/index.html

Governor Thomas Vilsack State Capitol Des Moines, Iowa 50319 United States of America phone 1-515-281-5211, fax 1-515-281-6611 e-mail general.office@igov.state.ia.us webpage http://www.iowaccess.org/

Governor Bill Graves State House Topeka, Kansas 66612 United States of America phone 1-913-296-6240, fax 1-913-296-7973 e-mail page http://www.state.ks.us/public/g overnor/comment.html webpage http://www.state.ks.us/public/governor/

Governor Paul Patton State Capitol, 700 Capitol Ave. Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 United States of America phone 1-502-564-2611, fax 1-502-564-2517 e-mail governor@mail.state.ky.us webpage http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/go v/govmenu6.htm

Governor Murphy Foster, Jr. State Capitol, P.O. Box 94004 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70804 United States of America phone 1-504-342-7015, fax 1-504-342-7099 e-mail page http://www.gov.state.la.us/governo r/contact2.htm webpage http://www.gov.state.la.us/

Governor Angus King, Jr. State House Station 1 Augusta, Maine 04333 United States of America phone 1-207-287-3531, fax 1-207-287-1034 e-mail page http://janus.state.me.us/govoffice/ gov_form.htm webpage http://janus.state.me.us/govoffice/ homepage.htm

Governor Parris Glendening State House Annapolis, Maryland 21401 United States of America phone 1-410-974-3901, fax 1-410-974-3275 e-mail governor@gov.state.md.us webpage http://www.gov.state.md.us/

Governor Paul Cellucci State House, Room 360 Boston, Massachusetts 02133 United States of America phone 1-617-727-6250, fax 1-617-727-9725 e-mail goffice@state.ma.us webpage http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/gov/gov.htm

Governor John Engler State Capitol, PO Box 30013 Lansing, Michigan 48909 United States of America phone 1-517-335-7858, fax 1-517-335-6863 email page http://www.state.mi.us/MIGOV/ gov/ContactGovernor.shtm webpage http://www.state.mi.us/migov/

Governor Jesse Ventura 130 State Capitol, 75 Constitution Avenue St. Paul, Minnesota 55155 United States of America phone 1-651-296-3391, fax 1-651-296-2089 e-mail Governor.JesseVentura@state.mn.us webpage http://www.mainserver.state.mn.us/gover nor/

Governor Kirk Fordice P.O. Box 139 Jackson, Mississippi 39205 United States of America phone 1-601-737-9540, fax 1-601-737-9507 e-mail governor@govoff.state.ms.us webpage http://www.state.ms.us/

Governor Mel Carnahan Missouri Capitol Building, P.O. Box 720 Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-0720 United States of America phone 1-573-751-3222, fax 1-573-751-1495 e-mail page http://www.gov.state.mo.us/guest.htm webpage http://www.gov.state.mo.us/

Governor Marc Racicot State Capitol Helena, Montana 59620 United States of America webpage http://www.mt.gov/governor/governor.htm

Governor Mike Johanns State Capitol, Executive Suite, PO Box 94848 Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-4848 United States of America phone 1-402-471-2244, fax 1-402-471-6031 e-mail jodee@mail.state.ne.us webpage http://www.state.ne.us/

Governor Kenny Guinn State Capitol Carson City, Nevada 89710 United States of America phone 1-702-687-5670, fax 1-702-687-4486 webpage http://www.state.nv.us/

Governor Jeanne Shaheen State House Concord, New Hampshire 03301-4990 United States of America phone 1-603-271-2121, fax 1-603-271-2130 e-mail nhgov@nh.com webpage http://www.state.nh.us/

Governor Christine Todd Whitman Office of the Governor State House, 125 West State St., CN-001 Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0001 United States of America phone 1-609-292-6000, fax 1-609-292-5212 e-mail page http://www.state.nj.us/governor/govmail .htm webpage http://www.state.nj.us/governor/officeo .htm

Governor Gary Johnson State Capitol Santa Fe, New Mexico 87503 United States of America phone 1-505-827-3000, fax 1-505-827-3026 e-mail gov@gov.state.nm.us webpage http://www.state.nm.us/

Governor George Pataki State Capitol Albany, New York 12224 United States of America phone 1-518-474-8390, fax 1-518-474-1513 e-mail gov.pataki@chamber.state.ny.us webpage http://www.state.ny.us/governor

Governor James Hunt, Jr. State Capitol Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 United States of America phone 1-919-733-4240, fax 1-919-733-2120 webpage http://www.sips.state.nc.us/

Governor Edward Schafer 600 E. Blvd, State Capitol, Fl. 1 Bismark, North Dakota 58505 United States of America phone 1-701-328-2200, fax 1-701-328-2205 webpage http://www.ehs.health.stat e.nd.us/gov/governor/index.htm

Governor Bob Taft State House Columbus, Ohio 43215 United States of America phone 1-614-466-3555, 1-614-466-9354 webpage http://www.state.oh.us/gov/

Governor Frank Keating State Capitol Bldg., Rm. 212 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105 United States of America phone 1-405-521-2342, fax 1-405-521-3353 e-mail governor@oklaosf.state.ok.us webpage http://www.state.ok.us/

Governor John Kitzhaber State Capitol Salem, Oregon 97310 United States of America phone 1-503-378-4582, fax 1-503-378-4863 webpage http://www.governor.state.or.us/

Governor Tom Ridge 225 Main Capitol Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120 United States of America phone 1-717-787-2500, fax 1-717-772-8284 e-mail governor@state.pa.us webpage http://www.state.pa.us/PA_Exe c/Governor/overview.html

Governor of the Commonwealth Commonwealth of Puerto Rico San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936 United States of America webpage http://fortaleza.govpr.org

Governor Lincoln Almond State House Providence, Rhode Island 02903 United States of America phone 1-401-277-2080, fax 1-401-273-5729 webpage http://www.doa.state.ri.us/info/exec.htm

Governor James Hodges State House, PO Box 11369 Columbia, South Carolina 29211 United States of America phone 1-803-737-9540, fax 1-803-737-9507 webpage http://www.state.sc.us/

Governor William Janklow State Capitol, 500 East Capitol Ave Pierre, South Dakota 57501-5070 United States of America phone 1-605-773-3212, fax 1-605-773-5844 e-mail sdgov@gov.state.sd.us webpage http://www.state.sd.us /state/executive/governor/governor.htm

Governor Don Sundquist State Capitol Nashville, Tennessee 37243 United States of America phone 1-615-741-2001, fax 1-615-532-9711 e-mail dsundquist@mail.state.tn.us webpage http://www.state.tn.us/governor/

Governor George W. Bush State Capitol, P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711 United States of America phone 1-512-463-2000, fax 1-512-463-1849 webpage http://www.governor.state.tx.us/

Governor Michael Leavitt 210 State Capitol Salt Lake City, Utah 84114 United States of America phone 1-801-538-1000, fax 1-801-538-1528 e-mail governor@state.ut.us webpage http://www.governor.state.ut.us/

Governor Howard Dean 109 State St. Montpelier, Vermont 05609 United States of America phone 1-802-828-3333, fax 1-802-828-3339 e-mail governor@state.vt.us webpage http://www.state.vt.us/

Governor Jim Gilmore State Capitol Richmond, Virginia 23219 United States of America phone 1-804-786-2211, fax 1-804-371-6351 e-mail page http://www.state.va.us/governor/govmail .htm webpage http://www.state.va.us/governor/

Governor Gary Locke State Capitol, P.O. Box 40002 Olympia, Washington 98504-0002 United States of America phone 1-360-902-4111, fax 1-360-753-4110 e-mail governor.locke@governor.wa.gov webpage http://www.wa.gov/governor

Governor Cecil Underwood State Capitol Charleston, West Virginia 25305 United States of America phone 1-304-558-2000, fax 1-304-342-7025 e-mail governor@state.wv.us webpage http://www.state.wi.us/governor/default .htm

Governor Tommy Thompson State Capitol, Room 115 East Madison, Wisconsin 53707 United States of America phone 1-608-266-1212, fax 1-608-267-8983 e-mail wisgov@mail.state.wi.us webpage http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/

Governor Jim Geringer State Capitol Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002 United States of America phone 1-307-777-7434, fax 1-307-632-3909 e-mail governor@missc.state.wy.us webpage http://www.state.wy.us/gove rnor/text_governor_home.html

Criminal Courts involve the State (one of the 50, or the United States) vs. an individual. There is a prosecutor and a defendant.

Criminal courts can also involve Commonwealths, of which there are 4, not just States (46). For instance, if you were in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, or Virginia, your case would be known as Commonwealth of KY/MA/PA/VA v. Joe Schmoe. Everywhere else, it's The People of the State of California v. John Doe.

One example of the status of Commonwealth for these four states was one famous case in the 1920s: Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.

I know it's nitpicky, but I just felt like pointing that out.

awkwardone

Here's the full text of the PA bill as it was signed.

I had submitted this to /. two days ago when it was signed - go figure.

Read the full text of the law .

Interesting to note that unwilling transmitting information is illegal. So the Real Networks scanning your drive and uploading information is a 'virus'. Or microsoft sending reg info without your permission is illegal.

-RossB

For just a moment, don't heed the party line you've been fed. Now, note the maximum sentence for this crime. Seven years. Are you trying to tell me that the maximum sentence for rape (more serious than aggravated assault) is less than seven years? How a judge and jury rules on a case is up to them. That's the judicial branch. This law was proposed by the legislative branch (PA legislature) and written into law by the executive (the governor). Don't lay the blame on one governor who just happens to be Republican.
By the way, if you really feel so strongly, why don't you tell Tom Ridge that yourself? Contact info is here.

I suppose this is marginally better than the current plates that say "You've got a friend in Pennsylvania". And (offtopic rant) much better than the scary signs hanging all over the Philadelphia airport saying "Philadelphia - the city that loves you back." Ewwwwwwwwww!

And hey, Pennsylvania is a commonwealth too! So why not www.commonwealth.pa.us?

yeah, Penna's got some ugly plates, but that's not the most annoying thing...

ok, fine. Virginia gets to be the "Internet C@pital". sounds pretty l33t if you ask me. ;)

but anyway... guess what Pennsylvania's drivers get to put up with? Our new plates will have the URL of the state's web page (which is ugly as sin, btw). and They(tm) are trying to say it's a good thing that PA will have the first license plate in the world to have the web site address on it. woohoo. a billboard on every car. you might think I'm just saying that, but those are the words of our Governor in the press release...

bleh. luckily, I think I can get classic plates since my car is old enough. ('83 Honda Accord. yeah! :)

yeah, Penna's got some ugly plates, but that's not the most annoying thing...

ok, fine. Virginia gets to be the "Internet C@pital". sounds pretty l33t if you ask me. ;)

but anyway... guess what Pennsylvania's drivers get to put up with? Our new plates will have the URL of the state's web page (which is ugly as sin, btw). and They(tm) are trying to say it's a good thing that PA will have the first license plate in the world to have the web site address on it. woohoo. a billboard on every car. you might think I'm just saying that, but those are the words of our Governor in the press release...

bleh. luckily, I think I can get classic plates since my car is old enough. ('83 Honda Accord. yeah! :)

The worst of which, from the standpoint of recognition, is the Pennsylvania "Flagship Niagra" plate. It has white lettering on a pale brown image, giving very little contrast between the lettering and the background. The State Police were opposed to this design for good reason, but I gather that PennDOT or the state legislature ignored that practical matter and made the decision on aesthetic grounds.

I just visited the PennDOT web page to try to link to a picture of this plate, but it appears not to be available these days. I wonder why...