I hope this doesn't pass, but if Congress passes it, then Obama will sign it into law:( Never believe a word he says.

Anyway, Happy Holidays to all:)

I believe Obama as much as I do any other politician or any other person I don't know in real life.

Anyway the bill discussion has been put off to the new year, so congress was blocked up talking about this drivel rather then things that might help America. One more reason it is a load of bollocks.

Why would Obama even try any form of lobbying reform? He's one of the biggest 'crony capitalists' out there. Someone said this stuff has been around for about 2 years... the Democrats controlled Congress from 2007-2011; they still control the Senate and have had the White House since 2009. It's not the eeevil corporations that are to blame. It's people who go into government with a desire to social engineer who are to blame.
Look at the Solyndra debacle, the Chevy Volt (a $250k car you can get for only $40k of your own money). The ban on normal lightbulbs. Obamacare's health insurance mandate. The newly formed Consumer Financial Protection agency. It isn't eeevil corporations who want to social engineer the world; it's the corruptocrats and socialists in government who do.

The Congress can pass all kinds of unConstitutional bills; it's up to the Supreme Court to knock them down. I don't like it either; I think the Supremes should have to review every law for Constitutionality, before it becomes law.

But, the Obama administration circumvents even this, by granting legislative power to regulatory agencies. He just made a recess appointment to that abomination of an agency... when Congress was not in recess. And his own party controls the Senate that would have to "advise and consent" on the appointment!

Lobbyists aren't the problem. Corrupt politicians (like Obama and too many lifetime Congresscritters) are. You want to fight this kind of thing? Vote against incumbents in Congress. Don't support the party favorites (like, in the current Presidential election, Romney or Gingrich). Nobody needs to hold office for the lifetimes these people do, and lifetime positions were not what the Founding Fathers had in mind for them.

^^^Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahaha.

That is all. Oh no wait one of these too :picard:

The whole American system is simply corrupt for one reason only...lobbyists. Legalised bribery in it's purest form. Oh and if you don't like socialism better get rid of that Army and those police, no more roads for you no going to a public school or a private school that gets tax money as well. I could go into a long discussion about how nearly everything you have said is exaggerated misinformation or just out right lies but this isn't a political forum if you want to argue that go find some site that caters to your tastes. Plus this discussion is doubly not about politics but about the SOPA law, a law being pushed by lobbyists.

Lobbyists can't bribe politicians who won't be bribed; it's that simple. SOPA is just a variation on the grab for control of the internet by the SOCIALISTS in government. You can't talk about law, particularly SOPA, w/o bringing politics into it, because that's what it's about.

A lot of us would like to get rid of that army; we're not supposed to have a standing army. We don't need socialism for roads, police or firefighters, and we SURE as hell don't need "public" education, and no, private schools shouldn't get tax dollars either.

We have a government, and have had for some time, whose members think it's their job to make America better; to make people better. The Consumer Financial Protection agency is an example of this nonsense. They stick their noses in and regulate something, then when the regulations don't work out (due to lack of enforcement, idiocy in policy, lack of need for regulation), they try to apply MORE regulation. A long time ago I was taught that there's no such thing as perfect software protection; so long as you want someone to be able to run your software, someone else will be able to hack it. Likewise, there's no perfect regulation; so long as you want people to engage in an activity, some will find ways to do it profitably, regardless of your regulation.

The internet has managed for two decades without regulation. So why do we need regulation in the form of SOPA now?

If those "lobbyists" you decry didn't A) know they could buy legislation and regulation and B) weren't convinced it was a better way to make money than by competing with better products at lower prices, they wouldn't be backing SOPA. Again, the problem is corrupt politicians, not people trying to make money.

Well... At least we can all agree that SOPA is A Bad Thing.

The rest of this I'm not touching with a ten foot pole :)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/...-online-piracy

And they respond in a good way. Guess there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Well, what they're saying is that they're open to "hearing ideas" (through what channel?), but that they want one or more of the already proposed laws or similar ones to pass.

A lot of the backing down seem to be about the ability to force American ISPs to block DNS servers, since it is not effective and lowers internet security for real users. But the RIAA and some others still seem to think this is the only way to go, as well as blocking search engines from showing these sites. For some reason they think this will block people from finding these sites...once again showing that the people pushing for this have little understanding of the internet and no respect for the people who actually buy their product.

On that Spain thing...come on America get your government in line, it is not cool to do crap like that. Sneaky moves to try and force something onto another population is in no way Democratic nor spreading it. Show that you don't like it, send a letter or email to your representative and tell them to cut it out and if they wont don't vote for them.