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Who Writes the Bills Anyways?

December 2, 2011 - by Donny Shaw

Ahead of the December 15 Judiciary Committee markup, the corporate sponsors of the SOPA web censorship bill are making some last minute tweaks to the legislative language:

The Motion Picture Association of America is willing to change some of the language to tone-down the controversial, much-maligned Stop Online Piracy Act that it supports, according to a report in the New York Times late Wednesday.

MPAA exec Michael O’Leary said in an afternoon press call that the agency “will come forward with language that will address some of the legitimate concerns,” of those opposed to the bill, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Zynga and myriad other Web companies and advocacy groups.

Back in the old days, Congress was a branch of the federal government, separate from corporations, that wrote and passed laws to defend the general welfare of the United State. These days, however, that work is being outsourced to private interests while the actual members of Congress, quaint as they are, spend their time fundraising for their next re-election campaign.

I don’t know about you, but an alarm still goes off in my head when I read that a corporate trade groups is talking openly about being willing to change legislation and that they will be bringing new legislative language to the table. But that’s increasingly the reality of how legislating in Congress works. In the current session of Congress, the number of lobbyists working as congressional employees has increased by more than 100 percent from the previous session. Until we achieve comprehensive electoral reform, including public financing of campaigns, the intertwining of Congress and corporations is only going to get more extreme.

Pictured above is Sen. Chris Dodd, who retired from the Senate last year and is now working as Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America. 

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Intellectual Property Chris Dodd Revolving Door revolving door intellectual property MPAA SOPA PIPA internet policy
 

Comments

  • Spam Comment

  • CurtisNeeley 12/02/2011 5:52pm
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    Since the Representatives are 1 Rep per 709,760 citizens of America should no longer expect a representative democracy to magically exist. If we include the Representatives and Senators and recalculate it for 308,745,538/535 it becomes 577,094 per Congress-person.

    Using UnReguLated wire communications (URLs) you can see this portrayed in visual art on a graph at Compare-Democracy_1790-2010.html . Democracy has been a HOAX for over a century in the United States. The effects of this are just now beginning to be communicated to the masses quickly enough to be noticed. Thanks OC!

    The graphics above are VERY representational and can be used or modified as needed. The Article of the First had a simple mathematical error. – -
    Until there are 6000 representatives, this USA Democracy experiment has FAILED.

    CENSOR THE INTERNET like TV!

  • CurtisNeeley 12/02/2011 7:26pm
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    CENSOR THE INTERNET like TV! as requested ordered by the Eighth Circuit Court.
    Google Inc opposes. Hmmph they are et al btw
    Neeley v NameMedia Inc., et al, (5:09-cv-05151)(11-2558)
    *"PDF(56 pages)":http://www.curtisneeley.com/NameMedia/2011-2558/08_11-2558_Docket_files/2558%20APPEAL%20BRIEF.pdf     APPELLANT BRIEF
    PDF APPELLEE BRIEF of NameMedia Inc
    PDF APPELLEE BRIEF of Google Inc
    PDF APPELLANT REPLY BRIEF
    Read them yourself and you decide.

  • Comm_reply
    tammigr21 02/06/2012 5:18pm
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    CondoforRentBangkok 02/11/2012 9:53am
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  • CurtisNeeley 12/02/2011 7:28pm
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    CENSOR THE INTERNET like TV! as requested ordered by the Eighth Circuit Court.
    Google Inc opposes. Hmmph they are et al btw
    Neeley v NameMedia Inc., et al, (5:09-cv-05151)(11-2558*)

    PDF APPELLANT BRIEF
    PDF APPELLEE BRIEF of NameMedia Inc
    PDF APPELLEE BRIEF of Google Inc
    PDF APPELLANT REPLY BRIEF
    Read them yourself and you decide.

  • Comm_reply
    updater 05/12/2012 8:27am
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    “bobsweep reviews:”http://bobsweepreview.zoomblog.com/

  • Spam Comment

  • CurtisNeeley 12/02/2011 9:48pm
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    Egypt: “This week’s vote, held in nine provinces, will determine about 30 percent of the 498 seats in the People’s Assembly, parliament’s lower house. Two more rounds, ending in January, will cover Egypt’s other 18 provinces.” Source My Way News

    9 provinces for 498 seats is roughly 55 seats per province.
    If the other 18 provinces are similarly represented there will be a total of 1488 seats in the People’s Assembly.

    Egypt will be starting off more democratic than the United States has EVER been.

    The Ultraconservative party believes only “God” should write laws and that people should not be allowed free reign to write laws. Would they oppose MPAA writing laws?

    Muslims believe “God” wrote laws via Muhammad in the Holy Qur’an.

    Christians believe “God’s” prophets did in the Holy Bible .

  • Spam Comment

  • molonlabe 12/04/2011 8:13pm
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    CurtisNeely,

    The United States is a republic NOT a democracy. Although the 17th Amendment (which was a huge mistake IMO) made the US more democracy-like. There is a huge difference between a republic and a democracy.

  • Moderated Comment

  • Moderated Comment

  • byanonymous 02/07/2012 5:23am
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    Beyond the riders, the overall bill shows how far even the reasonable center of Congress has been pulled to the right. The total spending levels are roughly 10 percent lower than they were in 2010 because of budget deals negotiated this year with Republicans who threatened to shut down the government or default if they did not get their way. Domestic discretionary programs were particularly hard hit, meaning less money for education, environmental protection and health programs.
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