

Save the Internet - the pressure is working - mruocco
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?cl=1425589399&v=11332

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jasondavies
Even at a rate of 1 name per second, this would take almost 11.5 days to read
out all the names non-stop. Is there some kind of time limit for this kind of
thing?

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dfreidin
There's no time limit, but a 60% vote can force him to stop.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster_in_the_United_States...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster_in_the_United_States_Senate)

Edit: That's 60% of all Senators, not just those currently there.

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younata

      Edit: That's 60% of all Senators, not just those currently there.
    

Also known as 60 Senators are required to vote to force him to stop.

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Brajeshwar
Is it just me but the website title aptly means "voice" in Hindi (an Indian
language).

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kaybe
"About us: Avaaz - meaning "voice" in several European, Middle Eastern and
Asian languages - ..."

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inconditus
On a semi-related note, has anyone signed up for them? They don't comply with
the CAN-SPAM act by not giving an unsubscribe link in the emails they send
out.

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willyt
I just checked and the last few emails I have _do_ have an unsubscribe link.
It's right at the bottom in 8 or 9 pt text.

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wesleyd
The filibuster: it's a feature, not a bug.

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portentint
Just curious: Who's going to read them?

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mruocco
Ron Wyden, senator of Oregon.

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mahmud
Yep! And when he's done with it, he will read The Great Gatsby.

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indecisive1
Lets all sign please!

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fjarlq
I agree. Signed.

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peterhunt
While it's awesome that it works against SOPA, this is an illustration of the
type of thing that is wrong with our political system.

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marshray
It's a feature, not a bug.

The founders of the USA when they wrote the constitution intentionally put in
a fair amount of paralysis because they preferred a weak Federal government.
For things truly needing quick action, there's the office of the President.

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jodrellblank
Its a stupid feature. It should not take 11 days of all available senators
time to register an objection. It is an unjustifiable waste of expensive
people's time and effort/opportunity cost.

Put aside "its always been this way" and work out something better - shorter,
and to similar effect. As important as SOPA is, its not as important as many
other things going on in the world right now, wasting senator time in this way
is so daft.

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JadeNB
> It is an unjustifiable waste of expensive people's time and
> effort/opportunity cost.

I guess you mean (expensive (people's time)) rather than ((expensive people)'s
time), but it still doesn't make much sense to me. Why is their time
expensive? Because they've got so many other valuable things to do?

I read (though I can't remember the source) a report from one congressman who
said that most representatives simply don't have time to read all the bills on
which they have to vote. This means that a lot of votes are passed not based
on the representative's understanding of them, but based on what the loudest
voices _tell_ him or her—an understandable but frightening lacuna, when
considering whose the loudest voices are. Isn't anything, even political
theatre, valuable if it allows those of us with less political clout
nonetheless to wield a louder voice?

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jodrellblank
_Why is their time expensive? Because they've got so many other valuable
things to do?_

No, because the tax payer pays a lot above average salary for them.

"The current salary (2011) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate
is $174,000 per year" - about.com

 _Isn't anything, even political theatre, valuable if it allows those of us
with less political clout nonetheless to wield a louder voice?_

Maybe, better than literally dropping it, but I wasn't suggesting that, I was
suggesting taking what it does and making it simpler to do. If it's useful for
a senator to filibuster for days until they collapse of exhaustion, instead
make it so a senator can register a million vote petition, show it as
evidence, and put a delay on the bill as if he was talking, but have everyone
involved do something else instead.

