So if the SOPA bill is passed tomorrow:
I love you all so much.
You are all such good, strong people, and you deserve the best the world has to offer.
Thank you for listening to my rants and dealing with my spam.
You are amazing.
……………………………………….
Okay friends, it’s time for another “know what’s going on in your government” lecture from Ryan. I did this after the debacle over the NDAA, with concerns that the “new” law would give President Obama the authority to round up people and put them in camps (the NDAA only codifies what presidents have been able to do ever since the George W. Bush Administration issued some executive orders), and so now I must describe how bills work in Congress.
SOPA is a bill being considered in the United States House of Representatives. After a bill is authored (in this case, by Rep. Lamar Smith, a Republican of Texas) and sponsored and co-sponsored and yadda yadda, it is introduced. Bear in mind, the introduction is entirely dependent on the mood of the Speaker of the House and the House Majority Leader.
In any case, SOPA was introduced in October and then referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where it remains. The committee held hearings on the bill and planned to add things to it, but the acrimony present in the committee (a staunch opponent of the bill, California Republican Darrell Issa, happens to serve in the Judiciary Committee and the subcommittee that specifically dealt with SOPA) made it untenable to go forward. And so the issue has been tabled until at least February.
It should be noted that, according to Congressman Issa, House Majority Leader (and frequent source of my ulcers) Rep. Eric Cantor has said the bill will not come up on the House floor until an agreement can be reached.
On the other hand, PIPA, the Senate version of the bill, is going to be presented on the Senate floor on January 24th. But that’s a whole different story, considering the Senate has a wonderful tool that I hate, the filibuster, that could very well be applied. Plus, for any bill to actually become a law, it has to go through the House (where they can’t reach a consensus) and be signed by the President, who has stated his opposition to both SOPA and PIPA.
Remember, this whole “government by the people” thing is great, and I’m pleased to see that so many people are aware of pending legislation that obviously will have a big impact on the way things work in this country, but please, read up on these matters.
(Source: p-4-r-i-a-h, via roseamortentia)
