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Two SOPA Writers Become Entertainment Lobbyists
schwit1 writes "According to Politico, 'A pair of senior Hill aides at the center of a brewing battle between Hollywood and Silicon Valley are packing their bags for K Street, where they’ll work for two of the entertainment lobby shops trying to influence their former colleagues in Congress on the very same issue. Allison Halataei, former deputy chief of staff and parliamentarian to House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), and Lauren Pastarnack, a Republican who has served as a senior aide on the Senate Judiciary Committee, worked on online piracy bills that would push Internet companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook to shut down websites that offer illegal copies of blockbuster films and chart-topping songs.' Techdirt adds, 'Pastarnack went to the MPAA where she'll be "director of government relations" and Halataei to the NMPA (music publishers and songwriters) where she'll be "chief liaison to Capitol Hill." The Politico article linked above notes that this kind of "revolving door" is all too common. It may not be directly corrupt, but to the public it sure feels corrupt.'"
It's way to easy to "encourage" someone to write bills in your favor as a company. And politicians wonder why so many people don't even bother to vote anymore.
MidnightBSD: The BSD for Everyone
Directed by money.
...that "sopa" means "trash" in Swedish? :)
And politicians wonder why they get less respect than the IRS.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
I looks like Allison Halataei was paid $120k in 2011 as the Deputy Chief of Staff/Parliamentarian on the House Judiciary Committee. First, what justifies this huge sum? And second, I wonder how much her new employers offered her...
http://www.legistorm.com/person/Allison_Elizabeth_Beach_Halataei/36180.html
Wow. Can anyone say "conflict of interest?"
Pancreatic cancer, instead of people like Steve Jobs ?
Perhaps there is a reason, but all I can think of at the moment is the
old saying : "only the good die young".
how many more times do you need to be shown that governments' ability to regulate business is only a way to steal and sell power?
You can't handle the truth.
The Politico article only states that this act is completely legal, not that it isn't directly corrupt. There's a difference between the two.
It may not be directly corrupt, but to the public it sure feels corrupt.'"
Incorrect. This is an inherently corrupt practice, much like when Michael Moore pointed out (in the film Sicko) that the politicians who supported the big medical corporations at the expense of health care also got executive level positions after their corrupt legislation was approved by congress.
I will correct the quote:
It may not be directly illegal, but to the public it is corrupt.'
60 Minutes: Jack Abramoff on Lobbying and Gov Corruption http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMMppBhOLXA
Yes, always has been. Just the one commie party, but vote you can do !! The more things change, the more they stay the same !!
This should be the sole focus of the Occupy movement: a law that makes it illegal to engage in any business with the private industry which you have recently helped regulate, for a period of 10 years. Additionally, make it a law that you cannot regulate an industry where you have worked in the previous ten years. (This includes voting in the chamber: it's called a conflict of interest for a reason.) Make the conviction penalty for lawmakers their immediate termination and a complete dissolution of their government pension.
When people complain that the only way it would work is if government had to disclose all of their now-private meetings, you say, "You're damn right they would." When they say that half of Congress couldn't vote because they're lawyers, you say, "You're damn right they couldn't." That, of course, is the whole problem: we've got hundreds of millionaire lawyers pretending that they care about working class Americans. But instead, they're taking away our rights and giving them to corporations who put money in their campaign coffers.
I don't want any more secret meetings between the companies picking my pocket and the government I pay to employ. No more Vegas style parties on the taxpayer dime. No more loopholes for outrageously wealthy corporations shipping our livelihoods overseas so they can rake in profits while we bail them out. Openly perform your duties as a public servant, or get the hell out of our government.
First, in some countries this would automatically spark an ethics investigation or be deemed corrupt. It may not be "corrupt" in the US, but I suspect that's more of a relative definition of corrupt than an absolute one.
Second, the US is ranked 24th in the world on corruption. I'd therefore argue that the standards the US government holds itself to is not only nowhere near what it could be, but isn't even anywhere near as good as other nations are managing on a day-to-day basis. This isn't great for smaller nations, though you can understand that they don't have the resources to be equal and of high quality. They also don't have much influence and the impact of corruption is necessarily limited. A fair number are also very new and don't have much experience. A nation like the US is a different matter. They've plenty of resources, they've had three centuries to work out the flaws, and they've far too much power to not be responsible with it.
The fact that New Zealand, Denmark and Finland are first and joint second respectively (none of whom are permanent members of the UN Security Council, hold nuclear weapons, dominate either the IMF or World Bank, or control vast swathes of international trade) is worthy of great respect. They don't have to be as good as they are, they just are because they by-and-large want to be. Not saying they're perfect, this is a ranking system not a measure against a fixed standard, but it is highly commendable none-the-less.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Just an idea...
Occupy The Pirate Bay.
Someone creates a text file that embodies the disgust and derision of the masses towards SOPA (and all that it represents), then uploads this file to TPB. Everyone that feels sympathetic to the contents of the file can then download it and seed it. The idea is to get a running total of seeds as high as possible--a petition, if you will. Those numbers--seeds and peers--can then be used as an argument against SOPA (or anything like it). Perhaps a "declaration of consumer rights" as we consumers would create one...
I'd love to see such a thing at the top of TPB listings.
Now that I think about this, perhaps such an idea could be used to nominate actual laws and bills for consideration by governments.
I ask, shouldn't lobbying be forbidden?? The meaning by itself is corrupt, people elect officials that after are subject to influences, its a reipe to tragedy, i don't get it!!
...Join em.
Any sensible person can see that this is a corrupt practice, and Slashdot readers have seen it all before. Is Soulskill trying to incite more useless rants?
The only useful comment here would be a pointer to someone who could/would resolve the problem.
If your comment can't offer useful information, please keep it to yourself.
...omphaloskepsis often...
World English Dictionary
corrupt (krpt)
— adj
1. lacking in integrity; open to or involving bribery or other dishonest practices: a corrupt official ; corrupt practices in an election
2. morally depraved
3. putrid or rotten
4. contaminated; unclean
5. (of a text or manuscript) made meaningless or different in meaning from the original by scribal errors or alterations
6. (of computer programs or data) containing errors
— vb
7. to become or cause to become dishonest or disloyal
8. to debase or become debased morally; deprave
9. ( tr ) to infect or contaminate; taint
10. ( tr ) to cause to become rotten
11. ( tr ) to alter (a text, manuscript, etc) from the original
12. ( tr ) computing to introduce errors into (data or a program)
[C14: from Latin corruptus spoiled, from corrumpere to ruin, literally: break to pieces, from rumpere to break]
This is getting silly, the soapbox and ballot box have failed, it's time for the ammo box.
The only reason two of them received positions is because there were only two positions available. Had there been three, then three of them would have been in the headlines. I feel for the ones that didn't get hired. There were so many "good" candidates.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
Corruption in USA is now so widespread that it starts to look like 3rd word country
Any 3rd party. That way, congress will know that you are disgusted, and not just lazy.
I honestly think that since they get full pension after they have served in for even 1 term, it makes this perfectly fair.
Anyone who has served as a congressman or senator will be bared from any other job from that point on, doesn't matter if it is as a company CEO or flipping Burgers as McDonalds after you have served for the Government in them positions you are not working as anything else, you are already getting paid your full salary with full benefits for life.
First SOPA, now this: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-711747
It's a coup.
Most countries have election rules that mandate that a certain percentage of the population HAS to show up to vote. If say less then 50% of people who can vote, vote, then the elections are void.
Another option is the "none of the above", which can be done by casting an invalid vote, which could be used in countries where only votes are counted.
The rules vary a lot and are difficult to trigger because those that drafted them were probably smart enough to realize that "None of the above" is the only way for a the plebs to REALLY change the system. Well, other then armed revolution followed by a REAL leadership change (see the arab revolutions that so far have not yet resulted in any real changes (economic reform)).
But I have been thinking about how to reform the political process in Holland. Unlike the US, we got a LOT of small parties. The problem is that all this does is create a LOT of old boys networks. Even pure protest parties like the SP (Socialist Party), Pim Fortyun (killed by Muslim terrorist) and PVV quickly become entrenched in old style ivory tower politics where backroom deals are how the game is played.
Forming a new party that has no policy and a leader who signs a binding contract NOT to become the leader if elected and then getting the majority vote WOULD be a way to FORCE a change. The vote not being for party X or Y but being for a complete reform of the party system.
I personally think that for democracy to survive we must go to a non-party system of referendums. In Holland we had a referendum on the EU. The dutch said no and EVERY SINGLE PARTY ignored it, even the party (D66(6)) that is supposed to be the party in favor of referendums. Referendums are apparently fine, as long as the plebs vote as their leaders want them to.
England is a good example of why the current party system just doesn't work anymore. The plebs really want nothing to do with either Labour or the Tories as they seem to trade the title of "sleeziest party" every week with the libdems trying desperately to proof that just because you are small doesn't mean you can't sleeze it up as hard as the big boys.
The biggest reform of democracy would be a simple, "none of the above" and mandatory voting. But no current party would go for it because they know damn well what the result is going to be.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
It may not be directly corrupt, ...
It is directly corrupt. What it may not be is illegal, but I wouldn't put serious money on that either.
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
I said it before and I say it again: corruption is legal in the USA. Maybe not on paper but in practice it has been since a long time.
-- Cheers!
It looks like those that offer the content are free of blame, but those that take the content are guilty. I cannot help but wonder how lobbyists for Drug Cartels, and Sexual Perversions would not benefit from this.
I question the legality of Lobbyists.
And NO, businesses are not people, and money does not have a voice. If so, why was there no Homicide investigation for the Upper Big Branch 29? Why are Super Pac's allowed to even exist. And influence from the Unknown is Tyranny.
Lawyer for the RIAA goes on to become vice president and helps to legislate for more internet censorship/takedowns.
-]Phreak Out[-
At least in Washington D.C. The Whore Capitol of the world.
When the people whose job it is to create law that serves "ALL AMERICANS" are pandering for fat executive positions from the very people they should be regulating, there is no possibility of equitable law being written or enforced.
It is time to separate government and corporation, and change the laws that define corporation and "Human Beings". We can expect nothing but corporate slavery and the continued erosion of our human rights as long as corporations have the power to create laws in their favor.