The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet AlethoNews / 11,20,2010 This is hardly a surprise but, this morning (as previously announced), the lame duck Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to move forward with censoring the internet via the COICA bill - despite a bunch of law professors explaining to them how this law is a clear violation of the First Amendment. What's really amazing is that many of the same Senators have been speaking out against internet censorship in other countries, yet they happily vote to approve it here because it's seen as a way to make many of their largest campaign contributors happy. There's very little chance that the bill will actually get passed by the end of the term but, in the meantime, we figured it might be useful to highlight the 19 Senators who voted to censor the internet this morning: Patrick J. Leahy - Vermont Herb Kohl - Wisconsin Jeff Sessions - Alabama Dianne Feinstein - California Orrin G. Hatch - Utah Russ Feingold - Wisconsin Chuck Grassley - Iowa Arlen Specter - Pennsylvania Jon Kyl - Arizona Chuck Schumer - New York Lindsey Graham - South Carolina Dick Durbin - Illinois John Cornyn - Texas Benjamin L. Cardin - Maryland Tom Coburn - Oklahoma Sheldon Whitehouse - Rhode Island Amy Klobuchar - Minnesota Al Franken - Minnesota Chris Coons - Delaware This should be a list of shame. You would think that our own elected officials would understand the First Amendment but, apparently, they have no problem turning the US into one of the small list of authoritarian countries that censors internet content it does not like (in this case, content some of its largest campaign contributors do not like). We already have laws in place to deal with infringing content, so don't buy the excuse that this law is about stopping infringement. This law takes down entire websites based on the government's say-so. First Amendment protections make clear that if you are going to stop any specific speech, it has to be extremely specific speech. This law has no such restrictions. It's really quite unfortunate that these 19 US Senators are the first American politicians to publicly vote in favor of censoring speech in America. Any bets that the marijuana reform sites are the first to go? And their top contributors: * Patrick J. Leahy - Vermont Lawyers/Law Firms $1,422,432 TV/Movies/Music $757,156 Lobbyists $580,585 Computers/Internet $405,791 Securities & Investment $260,356 * Herb Kohl - Wisconsin Self financed with very few contributors * Jeff Sessions - Alabama Lawyers/Law Firms $1,009,054 Retired $780,694 Health Professionals $708,973 Real Estate $579,738 Insurance $544,527 * Dianne Feinstein - California Lawyers/Law Firms $2,892,984 Retired $1,483,591 TV/Movies/Music $1,267,337 Real Estate $1,152,255 Women's Issues $1,135,577 * Orrin G. Hatch - Utah Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $1,525,398 Lawyers/Law Firms $1,323,226 Securities & Investment $725,195 Insurance $722,821 Health Professionals $560,244 * Russ Feingold - Wisconsin Lawyers/Law Firms $1,913,268 Retired $1,811,384 Health Professionals $742,545 Education $648,232 Pro-Israel * Chuck Grassley - Iowa Insurance $1,090,294 Health Professionals $1,057,159 Lawyers/Law Firms $697,801 Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $615,830 Securities & Investment $600,952 * Arlen Specter - Pennsylvania Lawyers/Law Firms $6,316,533 Securities & Investment $1,936,334 Health Professionals $1,814,090 Real Estate $1,681,068 Retired $1,534,855 * Jon Kyl - Arizona Retired $1,588,035 Real Estate $1,309,148 Lawyers/Law Firms $1,162,945 Health Professionals $1,154,350 Securities & Investment $650,512 * Chuck Schumer - New York Securities & Investment $8,729,722 Lawyers/Law Firms $5,840,805 Real Estate $3,880,812 TV/Movies/Music $1,421,535 Insurance $1,293,600 * Lindsey Graham - South Carolina Lawyers/Law Firms $1,975,058 Retired $817,059 Real Estate $674,146 Health Professionals $622,041 Electric Utilities $575,227 * Dick Durbin - Illinois Lawyers/Law Firms $3,700,674 Securities & Investment $1,117,582 Pro-Israel $847,659 Health Professionals $781,693 Real Estate $757,430 * John Cornyn - Texas Lawyers/Law Firms $2,026,602 Retired $1,698,758 Oil & Gas $1,693,900 Health Professionals $1,437,628 Misc Finance $1,145,801 * Benjamin L. Cardin - Maryland Lawyers/Law Firms $1,265,352 Health Professionals $895,040 Real Estate $781,524 Insurance $657,587 Retired $636,969 * Tom Coburn - Oklahoma Health Professionals $1,062,444 Republican/Conservative $645,116 Oil & Gas $513,463 Retired $456,609 Leadership PACs $390,042 * Sheldon Whitehouse - Rhode Island Lawyers/Law Firms $1,029,002 Securities & Investment $630,249 Retired $386,706 Real Estate $324,859 Leadership PACs $229,102 * Amy Klobuchar - Minnesota Lawyers/Law Firms $1,285,842 Retired $804,094 Women's Issues $794,931 Leadership PACs $279,800 Securities & Investment $239,925 * Al Franken - Minnesota Lawyers/Law Firms $1,189,129 Democratic/Liberal $1,033,040 Retired $896,352 TV/Movies/Music $798,323 Securities & Investment $482,052 * Chris Coons - Delaware Democratic/Liberal $354,499 Lawyers/Law Firms $221,484 Leadership PACs $191,900 Industrial Unions $31,000 Retired $31,000
It is probably being influenced by Homeland Security in an effort to stop the various organizations using the internet for recruitment and fund raising. But that is the same way they got the "sneak and peek" searches to be allowed and 90% of the searches have been for drug enforcement,usually cannnabis grows. We know Kerli,Moe(Obama) and Larry(Holder) cannot give our congress any scientific evidence of harm for marijuana or any proof of even the slightest success in reducing the demand for drugs.so to slow the legalization of cannabis down they must remove the critics that are always so eager to point out their lies and failures. After all,Kerli must do "anything necessary" to prevent any schedule 1 drug from being legalized. (12) shall ensure that no Federal funds appropriated to the Office of National Drug Control Policy shall be expended for any study or contract relating to the legalization (for a medical use or any other use) of a substance listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812) and take such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use of a substance (in any form) that-- (A) is listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812); and (B) has not been approved for use for medical purposes by the Food and Drug Administration; Such actions as necessary covers a lot of ground.
FUCK Russ Feingold!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank god his ass will get booted out of here in Jan. Ron Johnson, folks.
There's a fine line between someone wanting to keep cannabis illegal, and someone censoring the internet. The former is a resultant of overzealous political action, and the latter directly infringes on our 1st amendment rights. I really don't want people like this in powerful positions when i'm raising kids in the future. I'm going to dedicate at least 90% of my parenthood teaching my kid how to detect bullshit in life and what to do about it.
Looks like the usual suspects. this here is a list of socialists, both democrat and republican. they would all refer to themselves as progressive, or "centrists" of their respective parties. this is big government coming at us (yea yea.... i know its already here). the internet is our version of Cronkite, and as we all know, you lose Cronkite, you lose the war. these people fear the "frenzied youtube culture". this goes ALOT deeper than ending marijuana websites.
HAHAHA, Censor the Internet? they are getting desperate which means we (cannabis users) are winning and they know it.
If they can they'll take down Wikileaks first of all, and then later Grasscity, etc., and then through new deep internet profiling technology they will know who the 30% of the population is to come after to send to the genocide prisons now being built in Arizona. Just my optimistic 2pmx.
And the sneak and peek searches were for stopping terrorist cells from building bombs,thanks to 911. Except that since it was enacted 90% of the searches authorized were to search for meth labs and marijuana grows.
exactly, we all know the government lies about everything if they say "we are going to Iraq to find Nukes" it translates into "we are going to Iraq to take their Fucken Oil". But then again I am being paranoid, America would never lie to its people about their motives right?
This has nothing to do about Iraq, and yes you are being paranoid. The government isn't some big group of people trying to make your lives hell and they don't lie about everything. And yes, there was WMDs in Iraq. Iraq and weapons of mass destruction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Anyways that's not the point, this bill is solely made to combat piracy. It's called the 'The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act'. That doesn't mean that they couldn't use it for other purposes though.
Damn I guess I know what I can be thankfull for this thanksgiving. My completely free Adobe Photoshop CS 5 extended. The one they charge 4 digits for on adobe's website.