Looks like while the SOPA was delayed in USA, ACTA was just signed in EU: http://bit.ly/sVF07v More on ACTA: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/11/acta-trade-... https://www.eff.org/issues/acta http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBWLVbcjq50
I don't think it was actually signed yet, but they've agreed on signing it. So yeah, it's a foregone conclusion, a matter of days - if not hours - before the Commission signs it. The Parliament is a separate matter. I think they're just going into holiday recess, then in January they'll vote Schultz as the new Speaker and then they'll vote on ACTA. There's still a chance to stop it, especially since the Parliament is…
Unfortunately Canada plans to support this too, and our current Conservative government steamrolls any and all legislation on their agenda right through the house. Our senate is functionally useless, so it's essentially a foregone conclusion.
Lamar Smith needs to be sent a very clear message, in the form of a landslide defeat in the next election to someone along the lines of Darrell Issa. What would it take to make that happen? How do we (the tech community) recruit someone that has the poise and fundraising ability to win an election? What do we do once we find someone? Smith seems to be Public Enemy #1 on this issue, and I believe he represents a part…
This is a tough seat to go after because it's a reliable Republican district (around 2/3) and Smith has held his seat since way back in 1986. He's extremely entrenched, so the Republicans aren't going to be particularly tolerant of a challenger (edit: in the Primary), and the Democrats probably can't win the district. I'm not sure who exactly lives in that weirdly-outlined subset of Austin, but unless something drama…
These areas are primarily known as Westlake, Westlake Hills, and Lake Travis. These are the upper class areas of the city, where MANY well to do tech entrepreneurs reside (Michael Dell probably being the most prominent).
I'm sure if a large group of said entrepreneurs spoke up, at least some impact would be made.
I do appreciate that to fully understand a situation you must look it from all angles. But what is the kind of evidence you are looking for?
I can't say for sure. It would depend on the particular line of reasoning of the congressperson, and how that changes depending on what they do or do not learn about the technical infrastructure from talking with me.
It's usually difficult to have a candid one on one with a congressperson. You may have to votebased on what your gut says.
I fail to understand why taxpayers pay $174,000 as a salary to Congressmen given that 261 of them are millionares. Furthermore, I don't get why they're given a wage when dozens of them are being handed this salary or more on a single issue . McCain got paid almost 12 times as much on this bill as his wage.
The one way to ensure that all Congressmen are millionaires is to take away their pay. Honestly, the salary is already too small, they have to maintain a second residence in DC, which is one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. In all seriousness, $174,000 is not enough money to support a family in a middle class lifestyle in DC. A townhouse in a safe neighborhood is $5,000/month, most of the pub…
This is complete FUD. My wife and I make ~100k, and live inside the beltway, quite comfortably, within a 30 minute drive to Capitol Hill.
Fairfax and Montgomery County have some of the highest rated public schools in the nation.
"Update.... Or not. Despite the fact that Congress was supposed to be out of session until the end of January, the Judiciary Committee has just announced plans to come back to continue the markup this coming Wednesday. This is rather unusual and totally unnecessary. But it shows just how desperate Hollywood is to pass this bill as quickly as possible, before the momentum of opposition builds up even further."
Lamar Smith needs to be sent a very clear message, in the form of a landslide defeat in the next election to someone along the lines of Darrell Issa. What would it take to make that happen? How do we (the tech community) recruit someone that has the poise and fundraising ability to win an election? What do we do once we find someone? Smith seems to be Public Enemy #1 on this issue, and I believe he represents a part…
This is a tough seat to go after because it's a reliable Republican district (around 2/3) and Smith has held his seat since way back in 1986. He's extremely entrenched, so the Republicans aren't going to be particularly tolerant of a challenger (edit: in the Primary), and the Democrats probably can't win the district. I'm not sure who exactly lives in that weirdly-outlined subset of Austin, but unless something drama…
This is a tough seat to go after because it's a reliable Republican district (around 2/3) and Smith has held his seat since way back in 1986. He's extremely entrenched, so the Republicans aren't going to be particularly tolerant of a challenger (edit: in the Primary)
That's what they said about the Tea Party challengers to Republican incumbents. It can be done, with the right challenger.
I fail to understand why taxpayers pay $174,000 as a salary to Congressmen given that 261 of them are millionares. Furthermore, I don't get why they're given a wage when dozens of them are being handed this salary or more on a single issue . McCain got paid almost 12 times as much on this bill as his wage.
McCain got paid almost 12 times as much on this bill as his wage.
This is a tough seat to go after because it's a reliable Republican district (around 2/3) and Smith has held his seat since way back in 1986. He's extremely entrenched, so the Republicans aren't going to be particularly tolerant of a challenger (edit: in the Primary), and the Democrats probably can't win the district. I'm not sure who exactly lives in that weirdly-outlined subset of Austin, but unless something drama…
This is a tough seat to go after because it's a reliable Republican district (around 2/3) and Smith has held his seat since way back in 1986. He's extremely entrenched, so the Republicans aren't going to be particularly tolerant of a challenger (edit: in the Primary) That's what they said about the Tea Party challengers to Republican incumbents. It can be done, with the right challenger.
I'm pretty sure the Tea Party is an instrument of the same folks running the Repub Party. It's intent was to capture/keep a chunk of redneck voters who would otherwise be disaffected with or embarrassed by voting for Republicans, post-Bush, without losing them entirely to the Dems or some other non-controlled organization. A pretty large chunk of Republican mom-and-pop voters appear to be racists or poorly educated middle-class, for example, and the Repub leadership wanted to create a safe harbor for them to vent that was still somewhat directable. A sort of temporary but loyal opposition. They don't want to lose the guns/bible/redneck demographic permanently because they'd lose the ability to get majorities in elections. If all working middle-class and poor people in country could get behind a single party, the aristocracy/oil/military/banking interests would lose control of Congress.