MetaFilter posts tagged with Senate and law

A defeat for "death tax" propagandists.

maud — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 15:31:58 -0800

GOP Senators have lost their bid to kill the currently-defunct estate tax. This defeat of the permanent repeal effort is a major triumph for the 98% of Americans who've never been in danger of having to pay the tax.

Conservatives Win Big With Fetus Bill

SpaceCadet — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 11:42:49 -0800

Conservatives Win Big With Fetus Bill

Big FCC rollback vote this Tuesday.

skallas — Mon, 15 Sep 2003 13:24:52 -0800

Big FCC rollback vote this Tuesday. I know a lot of mefites are passionate about this issue and it looks like Senators Byron Dorgan (D–ND) and Trent Lott (R-MS) are doing something about it. More info, free faxes, etc at the ACLU. Read S.J. res 17 here.

Orrin Hatch, your Big Brother

mr_crash_davis — Tue, 17 Jun 2003 16:43:56 -0800

Senator Orrin Hatch [R-Utah] , chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, favors legislation allowing copyright holders to remotely destroy the computers of illegal file traders. Hatch, an accompished songwriter in his own right, is quoted as saying that damaging someone's computer "...may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights." Apparently the good Senator is forgetting that our legal system is based on the presumption of innocence.

This why the Federal Government has more than one branch

Bag Man — Thu, 13 Mar 2003 09:30:30 -0800

The Senate bans "partial birth" abortions, but a similar law was struck down in Stenberg v. Carhart . Memo to Mr. Bush: there are other branches of the U.S. Federal Government.

scottandrew — Mon, 29 Jul 2002 16:42:29 -0800

Drop the marker and back away from the CD-RW drive. Add Senator Joe Biden (D - Delware) to the list of politicians eager to put the brakes on technology, kowtow to Hollywood and otherwise stop the Earth from turning: Biden's new bill would make it a federal felony to try and trick certain types of devices into playing your music or running your computer program. Breaking this law--even if it's to share music by your own garage band--could land you in prison for up to five years. And that's not counting the civil penalties of up to $25,000 per offense. Biden's bill is on the fast track and not getting the same press attention that Sen. Holling's CBDTPA bill had earlier this year.

Red58 — Fri, 26 Jul 2002 11:23:14 -0800

House likely to approve homeland security bill that erodes labor protections "But the Senate, which likely takes up the matter next week, so far has pursued a much different course. On Thursday, the Democratic-led Senate Governmental Affairs Committee crafted legislation that would protect all current civil service protections and make it more difficult for the president to move workers out of unions. Bush and other Republicans said the measure would give the president less authority than he has now."

The House seems to be so much more conservative and extremist than the Senate. Heck they're still working on trying to ban selected types of abortion procedures even when there's a strong chance it won't pass constitutional muster and the Senate isn't likely to support them.

Is it your perception that the House is more conservative? If so, why do you think that's true?

Ty Webb — Sat, 09 Feb 2002 11:40:37 -0800

Senator Hollings makes the case for a special council to look into the Enron affair. (NY Times link). San Antonio columnist Jan Jarboe Russell argues for the same. Here's a Guardian article on the situation.

thescoop — Tue, 25 Sep 2001 14:22:27 -0800

Silicon Valley backs Senate bill that would allow companies to report computer network attacks to the government without having to worry about the public finding out. The reasoning: it would encourage more companies to report the problems and help the government track down the culprits. A similar bill is in the House.

gleemax — Fri, 03 Aug 2001 15:58:02 -0800

So Help Me God : "Ninety-five percent of the people believe in God. An invocation of his name, in conjunction with the seriousness of telling the truth, has an importance beyond mere legal requirement," Sessions said Thursday. [via NextDraft]

zempf — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 12:53:26 -0800

Senate passes amendment withholding money from schools that deny use of their facilities to the Boy Scouts on the grounds of their exclusion of homosexuals. Says Jesse Helms, sponsor of the amendment to Bush's education bill, this is meant to combat "the organized lesbians and homosexuals in this country of ours." Is this justified in light of the Supreme Court's ruling that the Scouts have the right to exclude whomever they wish, or just flat out anti-homosexual?

aaron — Tue, 27 Mar 2001 13:51:50 -0800

A giant loophole in McCain-Feingold will give oil companies a total exemption from all its propsed spending restrictions. This is levelling the playing field?

aaron — Tue, 13 Feb 2001 10:40:49 -0800

The obvious next step has been taken: An Oregon state senator introduces a bill that will expand the definition of hate crimes to include ecoterrorism and illegal actions motivated by anticapitalism. Block a street, go to jail?

m.polo — Tue, 20 Jun 2000 17:17:10 -0800

US Senate approves hate crimes legislation as an amendment to a military spending bill. All of the Democrats (minus Byrd) and thirteen Republicans brought the tally to 57-42. As was recently discussed here, this is a contentious issue, even among those who support some type of increased punitive power based on the perpetrator's state of mind and opinions.