More political crap! Turn your head away if you don't want to read.
Just got this letter a week later from Sen. Durbin (woo hoo, 2 for 2 on Senator replies)...
This one wasn't as concise, especially about the money Durbin collected from lobbyists who were in support of the SOPA bill.
Durbin writes:
Dear Mr. Bolek:
Thank you for contacting me about the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). I appreciate hearing from you.
The bipartisan PIPA bill (S. 968) was introduced to rein in foreign-based websites that have no purpose other than to sell or distribute pirated or counterfeit goods. U.S. law enforcement agencies already have authority to seize and shut down domestic websites that are dedicated to violating copyright or counterfeiting laws, and hundreds of sites have been shut down in recent years. However, our law enforcement agencies lack effective tools to stop foreign-based websites that are dedicated to the same illegal behavior. These websites deprive American innovators and businesses of revenue and result in the loss of American jobs.
PIPA aims to close the gap in our laws that enables rogue websites to simply locate themselves overseas in order to avoid accountability for stealing American intellectual property and selling pirated and counterfeit goods to Americans. The legislation would authorize the Justice Department to seek a court-ordered injunction against a foreign website if the court found the website to be dedicated to illegal piracy or counterfeiting. If an injunction were issued by the court, it could be served upon third-party payment processors, advertising networks, search engines and other companies who would then be obligated to take reasonable steps to cease doing business with the infringing website.
The drafters of this legislation tried to address the serious problem of foreign rogue websites in a way that respects due process, protects freedom of legislation, and preserves the vitality of the Internet. However, I have heard from many constituents that PIPA and a more expansive bill introduced in the House of Representatives, SOPA, fail to strike the right balance between the goals of combating illegal piracy and protecting the Internet. Both the House and
the Senate have postponed consideration of these bills in order to engage in more discussion with stakeholders and achieve more consensus on a legislative approach. I support these efforts and hope that stakeholders can agree on a reasonable solution that addresses these important issues.
I will keep your concerns in mind as the Senate continues to consider these matters. Thank you again for contacting me. Please feel free to keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator
RJD/bc
Looks like he still wants to support SOPA - and who could blame him with lobbyist money that comes his way?
I guess it feels good getting some feedback from my first political activities in forever. Still wish I never have to write these items.
Hopefully this keeping active thing will produce some positive results. Hopefully I'm not being delusional.
No Debate...
You watch a Republican debate this year - what do you see?
A couple of guys (Gingrich & Romney) basically stripping the other naked with accusations and calling the other on falsehoods, etc. The kind of thing you'd expect from two girls in high school who hate each other and start pulling each other's hair in the cafeteria.
Except the hair pullers in this case have an unusual habit that is often seen in politics but not with the high schoolers.
Once the fight is over, they unite and try fighting the bigger "bitch" in the room.
In this case, the bitch is Obama (although this isn't the point of my story to call him that). I find both parties to be equally repulsive and it's one reason why I have subscribed to either team's newsletter.
I didn't really start following primary season closely until 2008, when Hilary Clinton was thought by many to be the favorite to win the Democratic nomination. I remember hearing some publicity about a young senator from Illinois who was making some noise and threatening to win some of the early primaries.
Turns out, that guy not only won the early primaries, but also took the Democratic nomination for president. Along the way, his opponents (mainly Hilary but also John Edwards) critiqued anything and everything that they could about the man, especially about his inexperience.
No worries - the Senator from Illinois rolled with the punches and became the front-runner for the Democratic ticket. One would think with this harsh debating between the two that the nominee would have hard feelings about what happened.
Nope - this nominee (let's call him Bobama) goes on the campaign trail and has the person who was just critiquing him months ago campaigning for him. Lord knows Hilary doesn't want a Republican winning the ticket - so why not have the guy who she was basically calling inexperienced and unfit to lead become president?
He becomes president of course, and she becomes his secretary of state.
Enter 2012. The top Republicans are doing similar attacks, saying nearly the same things that Hilary & Obama (err, Bobama) were bickering about. These two seem like they'd never campaign for the other.
You'd be delusional to think that Romney wouldn't support Gingrich or vice versa when the presidential nominee is announced (my apologizes to Ron Paul, who doesn't look like he will win the nomination).
The same stuff that happened in 2008 will happen this year. The loser will support the winner by the time the Republican National Convention comes into play.
It'll be as if the mudslinging never happened. Only in politics.
No wonder why people are so disillusioned by the process.
To bring a sports metaphor into it, it'd be like a Bears fan actively rooting for the Packers after they lost to their hated rival in the playoffs. How could you do it? Only a fair-weather "Bears" fan would do that.
Not the same for politics. In this game, people who are Bears fans will root for Packers fans when their team is out. It makes no sense, but that's what it is.
I don't know how people can continually buy into this cycle on a 4-year basis or at least allow it to happen. I'm not even a political person and I see this coming a mile away.
I'd respect these politicians a lot more if they didn't support the people they just spent 3 months bashing across the nation.
Luckily for me, the words "respect" and "politicians" are far enough apart in the dictionary so they don't contaminate all the words in between.
Very truthful and straight to the point. Even professor's I've had in the political science arena roll their eyes at this circus. There are still plenty of things to study or take note in the process. But yes, it is a circus and the metaphors all line up well. The one funny note I will tell you; my adviser would tell me at family functions or whatever gatherings he attended, he would never talk about "politics" or "political science". Mostly because people were way off-track, or it wasn't worth the aggravating conversation. -JC
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