Library of Congress Threatens Washington Watch Wiki

BackRow writes "Washington Watch, a site devoted to tracking the cost of federal legislation, has raised the hackles of the Library of Congress with a new wiki that makes an unfavorable comparison to the LOC's THOMAS legislative search engine. After Jim Harper, Washington Watch's creator and the director of information policy at the Cato Institute, announced the wiki, he received a nastygram from the LOC." Quoting: "After the announcement, he was contacted by Matt Raymond, the Director of Communications at the Library (and the author of the Library of Congress' blog). Raymond said that he possessed 'statutory and regulatory authority governing unauthorized use of the Library's name and logo and those of Library subunits and programs,' and he asked that Harper stop using the names 'Library of Congress' and 'THOMAS' in his marketing materials."

Comments

Re:Cato Institute? Eh, whatever.

[WilliamSChips]

A "free market in the field of government" rarely lasts, and only once that I can think of(maybe twice) has it lead to the second government not being a thousand times worse than the previous.

Re:Cato Institute? Eh, whatever.

[qbzzt]

It's my country. *I have a right to change it.*

You have the right to try. You may or may not succeed.

"Love it or leave it" is just more facist crap. Stop trying to strip me of my constitutional rights.

I didn't realize I was doing that. I didn't write this .sig as a reply to you. I wrote it in 1998, as I was leaving Israel to build my life in the US. I hated conscription (I consider it a form of slavery), so I moved to a country where the government isn't as likely to vote my children into uniforms. Since then, I haven't seen anything that changed my mind (US citizen as of two weeks ago).

I wrote it as a way to tell people that if they don't like something their government does, and they don't think they have a snowball's chance in hell of changing it, they can still make a difference in their lives by finding a better package deal from another government. I apologize if you think that pointing out you have a right to leave the country strips you of any of your constitutional rights.

Love it or leave it.

[hotsauce]

1. "Love it or leave it" nowhere suggests he should try to change it before giving up. You're missing an important step.

2. He may not be free to leave it. Some countries do not allow you to leave without authorization, and most do not let you enter and settle down without authorization.

3. Leaving nation by nation for the corporatocracy to overrun will result in a domino effect. "When they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me..." and all that stuff.