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- From: Anonymous <[email protected]>
- Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 19:29:39 +0200
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On Feb. 1, 1996, the US House of Representatives
voted to pass the Telecommunications Reform Act.
This Act included the Communications Decency Act,
which sought to criminalize posting to the
Internet any material deemed indecent and patently
offensive, with no exception for socially
redeeming material.
On Sept. 11, 1998, the US House of Representatives
voted to release the Referral of Independent
Counsel Starr on the Internet.
365 individuals were Members of Congress during
these two votes, 196 Republicans and 169
Democrats.
Of that total, 284, or 77.6%, voted Aye both
times.
185 of the Republicans, or 94.4%, voted Aye both
times.
96 of the Democrats, or 56.8%, voted Aye both
times.
Had the Communications Decency Act withstood
judicial review (which it did not), posting the
Starr report to the Internet arguably would have
subjected the posters to fines of $250,000 and 5
years in prison.
The question of who voted for both the CDA and the
release of the Starr report is not cut-and-dried,
because Congress did not record a roll-call vote
for the CDA in isolation, but only for its vehicle
the Telecommunications Reform Act. Also, the vote
Friday to post the Starr report was primarily a
vote to start up impeachment machinery.
Nevertheless, if accountability to the voters
means anything in this democracy, the Congress
members who voted "Aye" on both February 1, 1996
and September 11, 1998 ought to come in for a bit
of uncomfortable public exposure.
<href=http://www.tbtf.com/resource/hypocrites.html>http://www.tbtf.com/resource/hypocrites.html</a>