Author: Jared Fallon

Nevada Senator John Ensign has a true love/hate relationship with convicted felons. Within the same proposal, he wishes to improve federal felon’s job training and life skills preparation while requiring them to work a minimum of 20 percent more than the average American. Despite the fact that a 50 hour work week is generally not viewed favorably, the irony of Ensign’s Senate Bill 3695 is that if Congress decides to hold hearings for the proposal he is likely to see rapid pace due to lack of attendance. His 22 page proposal is currently in Committee on the Judiciary, and is certain to liven up the debates on felon’s work protocol.

When reading through the proposal, it is clear that Ensign sees the federal work system as becoming a well-oiled machine, including provisions “to provide products and services that are market quality and competitively priced”. John’s restructuring approach offers an intriguing approach: “We help you by improving work standards, making you work a hell of a lot, and then if you ever get out of here you should find your vocational and life skills greatly improved”. Personally, I like Ensign’s approach.  If it were to pass, let’s just hope for John’s benefit that he never ends up becoming a convicted felon – I wonder why Ted Stevens didn’t cosponsor the bill. 

Author: Jared Fallon

Despite the fact that it can be fun to find you’ve won $5,000,000 inheritance from your now deceased uncle in Nigeria or are offered to buy a 2008 oil tanker, there is currently a bill on the table that would make such emails a civil crime. According to Gartner, Inc., an IT industry research and advisory company, “between August 2006 and August 2007, roughly 3,500,000 United States computer users were victims of phishing scams, and suffered losses totaling $3,200,000,000.” Spam is something we all hate to love, but despite the fact that it can be…fun… several US senators are trying to make such acts worthy of a conviction and hefty crime.

Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), backed by Bill Nelson and the convicted felon/Congressmen Ted Stevens, are proposing S.2661, a bill that would allow the FCC to determine and enforce whether or not you’ve been “phishing”. Senator Snowe estimates that 59,000,000 phishing emails are sent per day with nearly 1/6 actually being opened by the recipients. Under section 3 of the bill, “Phishing; Related Deceptive Practices” the enforcement outlines up to $2,000,000 in penalties if a person is found knowingly identifying false or misleading information. The bill seems to weigh especially heavy if a person is found misrepresenting a government division, despite the fact that non profits, business, and other entities are covered. In addition, the jail time for such a conviction can last up to 5 years – a long enough time to make people think twice as to whether or not it’s truly worth the risk to offer Viagra at cost. Even though it’s always nice to see you can make free long distance calls to your aunt in China or that Mike Smith (a long time friend of everybody’s) has found a new job for you and only requires your birthdate and social security number in return, your inbox may not be quite as full a year or so from now.

Author: Jared Fallon

Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens has been convicted of corruption as of October 27, offering the most difficult challenges the longest continually serving Republican Senator has faced in a race to date. Maintaining his innocence, Stevens continues to deny the 7 corruption charges found in reference to his lying about free home renovations and other favors received by a wealthy oil contractor, to the tune of over $250,000. The gifts were found to be given from friend and VECO Corp chairman Bill Allen who, in turn, reportedly expected political favors over the next coming years.

Since 1968 Theodore has maintained an extensive track record, earning him respect for the wide breadth of topics that he has covered over his political career. These topics range from lobbying huge sums of funds from Washington to telecommunication and global warming bills, to heavy state-level topics such as logging, oil industry affairs, and pretty much everything else the Alaskan government has had to address since officially becoming a state in 1949. The real question to ask as a result of these politically damaging developments is what will be the hole left if Stevens doesn’t win on November 4 AND does not get expelled by the Senate on a possible two-thirds vote that may take place. Despite the fact that Stevens is now a convicted felon, there are no laws that bar such people from serving in Congress.

Steven’s Girdwood, Alaska home (pictured left) was modernized and given updates such as a wine cellar, wrap around porches, and a hot tub in 2000.

Pending legislation highlights

Currently Senator Stevens has 29 sponsored bills that are in the committee phase. The bill topics have a wide spectrum, ranging from fuel economy and ocean exploration teams to prevention of child pornography. There are 3 major topics of interest that appear to be the most likely devastated the fastest if Stevens does indeed get booted out (whether by voters, the judicial system, or the Senate). In terms of pending legislation, they include telecommunications, oil/energy efficiency/fuel economy standards, and child pornography prevention.

Telecommunications

Stevens has made considerable progress in the area of internet, network neutrality, and the internet in such a way that should shock most readers simply because of his age. Among his greatest achievement was the Communications, Consumer’s Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006 – an effort assisted by North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan. The act reorganized and cleaned up various provisions by law, including the Federal Radio Act of 1927. Similarly, Dorgan is currently supporting Steven’s S.2919, which seeks to amend the same act to increase compliance with industry standards and ensure that modernization is transitioned within the bill due to the increasing use of telecommunications services. The bill’s official goal is “To promote the accurate transmission of network traffic identification information.” Stevens has been serving long enough that it is safe to say that he is, all factors considered, the most experienced senator working towards telecommunications compliance and provider standards.

Oil/Energy efficiency/fuel economy standards

Currently Ted has 5 pending sponsored bills that fall under this category. Being so close to some of the richest oil fields (and ANWR) black gold is something he is very used to addressing on a daily basis. Ted has one of the most seasoned records in Congress in terms of oil, experiencing the challenges the US has faced with OPEC, the introduction of the foreign-policy shaping Carter Doctrine, and all of the developments up until the highest prices experienced yet by Americans. The 5 pending bills include a resolution directing the Secretary of Energy to develop standards for efficient lighting, a 23 page to tighten Federal agency energy use, a bill to provide tax credits for new buildings that utilize incandescent lamps, increased CAFÉ standards, and a bill that prohibits price gouging by gasoline merchants during market disruptions.

Child pornography prevention

The first of the 2 bills Stevens is sponsoring runs along the same vein as S.2919, amending the Communications Act of 1934, but aims to “prevent the carriage of child pornography by video service providers…and to restrict the sale or purchase of children’s personal information in interstate commerce. So far his effort in this particular proposal is not being co-sponsored by anyone else, however S.1965, Bill’s second proposal, has gained momentum garnering 20 supporters thus far.

S.1965 was received in the House last June and outlines a comprehensive plan to promote a “safe internet for children”. The bill’s highlights include directing the FTC to carry a nationwide program to increase awareness and education against child pornography, direction the government to evaluate industry standards and efforts, and to yet again amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require elementary schools with internet access to educate their students about safe online behavior.

Other bills of interest

Senator Stevens’ efforts affect many other areas of public policy, ranging from a proposal to assure compliance with basic standards for ATV vehicles to directing the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an avalanche protection program that increases education and forecasting capabilities. One surprising bill displays his eco-friendly(?) side, establishing a coordinated national ocean exploration program that serves as an addition to a bill aiming to limit whaling in US waters (S.3333).

Theodore Fulton Stevens truly has a lot to bring to the table for the future if his recent conviction does not stop in him dead in his tracks. According to what he demonstrated in the court room and the amount of intensity he claims his innocence, it appears that he is dedicated to let nothing stop him in his efforts for public policy reforms. To see a complete list of his pending legislation, click here.

AUTHOR: Crystal Fontaine

We’ve all been warned by our parents time and time again as children that talking to strangers is bad. Of course, there are the exceptions. Your friends at school had once been strangers. In a time where technology has brought us the computer and then the internet, one of the scariest things that parents may face is their child ignoring the “Don’t Talk to Strangers” advice and making online “friends”. Sometimes, these so-called friends are not who they said they were. When a child decides to meet their online “friend”, there are times when that child goes missing.

The internet is probably the hardest area to regulate, especially to protect our children. Senate bill number 1965, also known as Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act, proposes an effort to protect our children from such cybercrimes produced by online predators and to educate parents in protecting their families from inappropriate materials online. In order to educate the public, the Federal Trade Commission would carry out a nationwide program that provides awareness as well as promoting strategies in safe use of the internet for children. The Commission would provide a yearly report to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation describing the activities carried out by the program.

The act also proposes to establish an Online Safety and Technology working group comprised of representatives from the business community and other appropriate groups to evaluate efforts to promote online safety and the practices of service providers in preserving the law in connection with crimes against children. After the first year that this group would convene a report will be submitted to the Committee on Science, Commerce, and Transportation and the Assistant Secretary that would give details of their findings. The report is to also include recommendations to increase effectiveness of any strategies or technologies.

Despite the efforts of the government, there is only so much they can do. It is up to the parents to make sure that their children are practicing safe ways to surf the internet.