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US Senate & House Create YouTube Channels

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the can't-wait-for-them-to-do-something-that-matters dept.

eldavojohn writes "Following an election in which online videos played an important role, the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate have opened YouTube channels (or 'hubs') advertised to be a 'backstage pass to your government.' Ideally this will bring transparency to citizens and inform them of their senators' & representatives' positions and ideas."

32 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. oh goodie by Zashi · · Score: 4, Funny

    This we be watched as much as c-span! ....
    >_

    --
    Skiffy is Spiffy, but Ort is tort.
    1. Re:oh goodie by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Which is unfortunate but true. Most people do not care about their government.

      Even more unfortunate is that I cannot download these videos, at least not without violating the TOS, and so I cannot store my own copies of those proceedings.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    2. Re:oh goodie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Here is a nice human interest video from Pelosi:
      http://youtube.com/watch?v=wtOW1CxHvNY

    3. Re:oh goodie by jellomizer · · Score: 2, Informative

      Cspan and this is not meant to be popular. But government transparency. So you know there is a bill on something you feel strong about you can watch the debate, see who is for it who is against it. And not just go those damn republicans or damn democrats. But see who of those voted where, and if the opposition actually gave a good reason or not.

      I doubt everyone will watch it like a TV show, but if something you feel important then you just may watch it.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    4. Re:oh goodie by Tdawgless · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Some people care about parts of our government. CSPAN doesn't get watched because you have to watch all the parts you don't care about just to get to the parts you do care about. At least now, I can search the videos for the stuff I care about. Like legalizing retroactive abortion...

    5. Re:oh goodie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Here is a nice human interest video from Pelosi: http://youtube.com/watch?v=wtOW1CxHvNY

      That one's good but even better is this video on equal rights for women from Senator John:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfLAv3JHRwY

    6. Re:oh goodie by alvinrod · · Score: 3, Informative

      Why let something as silly as a little TOS stop you, when it's so utterly pointless and stupid given the ease of acquiring a copy of the video. No one is going to begrudge you for trying to be a better citizen. Except for the politicians perhaps.

      For those curious about how to download videos from youtube, this site will give you an easy method of doing so.

    7. Re:oh goodie by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 2, Informative

      Or you can copy it from your /tmp/ folder. Or your ~/.mozilla/firefox/randomgibberishhere.default/Cache/ folder.
      Although your link notes that his method yeilds a higher-quality video than coping from cache.

    8. Re:oh goodie by causality · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Part of the reason for the United Stated Democratic-Republic. Is the fact that most people don't have time for full involvement in the government. While network neutrality may be a big issue for you for others they will take it or leave it. As for all the stuff that goes on. What I find more annoying is the people who we hire to take care of our government is not there to vote for every bill that goes across, and it is widely accepted that they don't.

      What bothers me is that in Congress, the senators and representatives routinely vote on bills that they have not even read. They rely far too heavily on their staff to process and condense this information for them, which is flawed because we voted for and elected the representative, not his assistant.

      Not only do I think they should be required to read every bill on which they vote, I also think that each year they should be forced to copy down the entire tax code, by hand, before they are allowed to take any other action (I wish I could remember where I heard this idea). When that proves impossible perhaps we would see some improvements to the way things are done.

      --
      It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
    9. Re:oh goodie by FredFredrickson · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I also think that each year they should be forced to copy down the entire tax code, by hand, before they are allowed to take any other action (I wish I could remember where I heard this idea). When that proves impossible perhaps we would see some improvements to the way things are done.

      The first improvement would be removing the "Write the tax code by hand" requirement.

      --
      Belief? Hope? Preference?The Existential Vortex
    10. Re:oh goodie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What I believe would be a good idea would be a mandatory maximum lifetime for any law. Say 10 years max. After that, if they are not reinstated, they fall away. Problem being is nobody would agree on a lifetime, nor would that want to let any not that important laws go away. Spending too much time keeping up with all the laws etc when it should be getting easier.

    11. Re:oh goodie by deraj123 · · Score: 2, Funny

      I had assumed it means that, 20 years down the line, when we realize a fetus should have been aborted, we can take necessary steps to do it "retroactively".

    12. Re:oh goodie by Shakrai · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The first improvement would be removing the "Write the tax code by hand" requirement.

      Why? Maybe it would give them an idea of just how ridicious the tax code really is. According to this the Federal tax code consists of 3.7 million words. By contrast, all seven Harry Potter novels only clock in at around 1.1 million words.

      What's wrong with that picture? It really requires that much complexity to fund the Federal Government?

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    13. Re:oh goodie by FiloEleven · · Score: 5, Informative

      There is a bill being aggressively pushed by DownsizeDC, the Read The Bills Act, which requires not just that the congressmen read the bill, but requires each bill to be read aloud in session before it can be voted on. This ensures that all congressmen voting on the bill will have heard its text, and it will also do a lot to cut the size of these monstrosities.

      In addition, the bill must be posted online 7 days in advance, and no changes may be made without resetting that 7-day period, ensuring that the public can see and react to exactly what will be passed.

      Everyone whose heard of this thing (and is not in the political class) is for it, and there's been enough pressure that the House Minority Leader requested the 7-day full-text posting of Obama's stimulus package. It's a great step, and it shows that the pressure from the electorate's phone calls and messages is working, but there's no reason that it should only be applied to a single bill.

      The other bill they're pushing for, which I'll mention here because it also represents another process to improve our quality of legislation, is the One Subject at a Time Act. It's pretty self-explanatory, and would end the use of "riders" - sneaking unpopular chunks of legislation (or pork) into other popular or necessary bills.

      If you want to see these changes made, one of the best things you can do is to raise awareness of these bills, call your congressmen, and convince your friends and family to do the same.

      --
      Your brain is not a computer.
    14. Re:oh goodie by cayenne8 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I hope they put the cameras just outside the doors of the senate/house of reps.

      Wasn't it a few years ago that some lady senator got into a fight with a guard and started hitting him? I think it caused her not to get re-elected.

      Stuff like that would be fun to have on Youtube...

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  2. Coming Next: by eln · · Score: 2, Funny

    United States Congress: After Dark

    1. Re:Coming Next: by Beat+The+Odds · · Score: 2, Funny

      United States Congress: After Dark

      Don't you mean:

      United States Congress: In The Dark

  3. I'll be impressed by MikeRT · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When the federal budget is released in a well-documented, well-designed XML file format.

    1. Re:I'll be impressed by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 5, Funny

      Heck, I'll be impressed when I find a well documented, well designed XML file format from anyone..

      --
      Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
    2. Re:I'll be impressed by dmayle · · Score: 4, Informative

      If that's what you're waiting for, than you might want to have a look at this article about http://www.usaspending.gov/... It's an eye opener...

    3. Re:I'll be impressed by RulerOf · · Score: 4, Funny

      You sir, have won in a way I would have never, in my entire life, imagined possible.

      Bravo!

      --
      Boot Windows, Linux, and ESX over the network for free.
  4. Hmm by invisibleairwaves · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ideally this will bring transparency to citizens and inform them of their senators & representatives positions and ideas.

    +5 Funny.

  5. I just saw one by paiute · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Check out the A bill to provide authority for the Federal Government to purchase and insure certain types of troubled assets for the purposes of providing stability to and preventing disruption in the economy and financial system and protecting taxpayers, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide incentives for energy production and conservation, to extend certain expiring provisions, to provide individual income tax relief, and for other purposes remix featuring Bun B and Lil Wayne.

    Killer!

    --
    If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
  6. there needs to be a "save" mechanism by johnny+cashed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If youtube is going to start carrying government videos, presumably funded by taxpayers, the videos need to be public domain and youtube needs to have a built in mechanism to allow views to save the video. I know there are ways of saving the videos already, but youtube does not provide this functionality.

  7. Plan B by pak9rabid · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sweet...I need a good plan B for when melatonin doesn't work.

    1. Re:Plan B by genner · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wait, Congress causes abortions?

      No the Supreme Court does.

  8. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  9. Re:Well, that's nice. by Utini420 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm not sure what you're complaining about here. The first bit, I get -- YouTube looks like crap and its a pain to save. Got it. But is the second bit:

    1. The signs have too many languages
    2. The signs are written poorly
    3. The card at the counter doesn't contain these other languages

    or (and I suspect its this one)

    4. The person at the counter only speaks English

    If it is 4, I will pull up just short of saying, "Folks living in America really outta learn English," and instead I'll go with, "My tax dollars can and should be better spent on things other than multi-lingual DMV clerks."

    I'm all about government transparency, but I'm also all about folks speaking English in America.

    --
    A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.
  10. Why hasn't anyone posted Pelosi's video? by DangerTenor · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ....in which she rickrolls the taxpaying public 37 seconds into her Cat Cam video?? (Kudos to TC for posting it...)

    --
    Check out our infosecurity industry blog: http://securitymusings.com/
  11. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  12. Re:Something wrong with hosting it themselves? by DragonWriter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Any particular reason they can't host this content on a .gov server that I could possibly get to from work?

    Having it hosted on YouTube doesn't cost the taxpayer anything for hosting and distribution, whereas hosting it on a .gov server would have a cost to the taxpayer.

  13. How to get the tax code rewritten by Doghouse+Riley · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ....enact both of these.

    1. No more withholding. Everyone has to pay their full taxes to the IRS by check or plastic.

    2. Change the tax due date from April 15th to the first Monday in November.