US threatening to censor internet

[Jetrel]

http://demandprogress.org/blacklist/?source=df

They (mostly hollywood/content-rights-holder types) are trying to pass an outright blacklist, which is basically what china has.

We need to do everything in our power to stop this.

[Pentarctagon]

That it's gotten this far already is just plain scary.

[Joram]

[rant, not targeted at anyone here]
Some people get really mad when their government tries to do stuff like this. But if you have a problem with it, why vote for people that might potentially do it? You're not attacking the root cause, and so all it does is delay the time that it will be implemented. If we keep people like this in office, they'll just bring the matter up again some time in the future, and again, and again, and eventually it will get implemented when people have moved on to protest something even more extreme. We thus progress into undesirable amounts of government control/interference/whatever you want to call it.

I hate it when people vote for "the lesser of two evils". All it does is guarantee that evil wins.
[/rant, not targeted at anyone here]

DISCLAIMER: I am not attempting to belittle the views of anyone who approves of increased government control/interference/whatever. This rant is solely directed at those people who don't approve, but refuse to address root causes.

[ancestral]

Some people get really mad when their government tries to do stuff like this. But if you have a problem with it, why vote for people that might potentially do it? You're not attacking the root cause, and so all it does is delay the time that it will be implemented. If we keep people like this in office, they'll just bring the matter up again some time in the future, and again, and again, and eventually it will get implemented when people have moved on to protest something even more extreme. We thus progress into undesirable amounts of government control/interference/whatever you want to call it.

Joram, there are legislators we don't vote for or can't vote for or against who bring up legislation like this. You make a valid point in that people are responsible for their elected leaders, but living in Minnesota I don't get to choose who the senator is in Vermont, or Utah, or anywhere else.

And although you make the distinction of "two evils" I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that this is a direct result of the evils of one party or another.

Don't fret, plenty of awful legislation never makes it out of committee, or will easily get thwarted in discussion.

[Eleazar]

...already signed a petition.

It should be a no-brainer: We have both Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech enumerated, but as usual the Constitution has little effect on lawmaking.

[Iris]

I'm stunned.

[boru]

The bill sponsor: Sen. Patrick Leahy [D-VT]

Cosponsors:
Evan Bayh [D-IN]
Benjamin Cardin [D-MD]
Thomas Coburn [R-OK]
Richard Durbin [D-IL]
Dianne Feinstein [D-CA]
Lindsey Graham [R-SC]
Charles Grassley [R-IA]
Orrin Hatch [R-UT]
Amy Klobuchar [D-MN]
Herbert Kohl [D-WI]
Charles Schumer [D-NY]
Arlen Specter [D-PA]
George Voinovich [R-OH]
Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI]

The bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by (stop me if you've heard this one): Sen. Patrick Leahy [D-VT]

Ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Committee:

Jefferson Sessions [R-AL]
Benjamin Cardin [D-MD]
Thomas Coburn [R-OK]
John Cornyn [R-TX]
Richard Durbin [D-IL]
Sen. Russell Feingold [D-WI]
Dianne Feinstein [D-CA]
Al Franken [D-MN]
Lindsey Graham [R-SC]
Charles Grassley [R-IA]
Orrin Hatch [R-UT]
Edward Kaufman [D-DE]
Amy Klobuchar [D-MN]
Edward Kaufman [D-DE]
Herbert Kohl [D-WI]
Jon Kyl [R-AZ]
Charles Schumer [D-NY]
Arlen Specter [D-PA]
Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI]

Mostly the same guys who cosponsored it are sitting on the committee where they decide if it will go forward to be voted on.

[Captain_Wrathbow]

This is utterly ridiculous.

[Mica]

If it gets passed, this'll probably be what causes a revolution

[Captain_Wrathbow]

Well... this or too much gun control, but that's a completely separate topic...

Still, I can't even imagine this actually getting passed.

[Dixie]

Senate is such an abheration!... We've got it on the federal level here in Canada (not provincial, thank god), and it's utter non-sense. Seriously, how can you call yourself democratic when you have a senate, i.e. a bunch of non-elected old timers who are there for life and get to do a bunch of legislative stuff. Seriously, the people don't have a say in who goes there at all, and you can't even get rid of them if they just do stupid stuff. In the best of cases, it's a total waste of money...

[Pentarctagon]

well at least we can probably count on a veto from Obama if it does somehow pass both houses.

[Golden_Soldier]

what is our gov't coming to...

[Zerovirus]

See, this is why we can't have anything good. Now they're going to ruin the internet just because of a few unsavory sites. Then again, I suppose if Obama doesn't try to veto it his approval's going to go to [censored].

Why doesn't the press have a field day with this? Oppression of constitutional rights and all that? I was under the impression that television existed to oppose and ridicule our government.

[Mica]

Off Topic:

:

The purpose of the press is to make people feel depressed and invade celebrity's privacy at any and all seconds of the day.

If Obama doesn't veto it, everyone will realize they made a mistake. Nothing fires up people more than not being able to view their favorite (porn) sites.