Attaching Bitcoin-related legislation to an unrelated bill.

[Coincomm]

Do we have people reading new bills for anything Bitcoin-related in its back pages even if the bill's label is totally unrelated e.g. "Protect the Children Act"?

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[JDBound]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxT7QjlvDqM

The nature of the political process (in the U.S. at least) probably precludes any chance of the scenario you describe. Any politician worth his salt would be very loud about the inclusion of bitcoin into a bill. Do you have some reason to think otherwise?

[Coincomm]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxT7QjlvDqM

The nature of the political process (in the U.S. at least) probably precludes any chance of the scenario you describe. Any politician worth his salt would be very loud about the inclusion of bitcoin into a bill. Do you have some reason to think otherwise?

Numerous pieces of legislation that included hidden taxes and regulations that we didn't find out about until the bill was passed.

The Affordable Healthcare Act is an example of this.

We have failed to pass a law that can end this problem: https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/one-subject/

[Coincomm]

Here are two examples of specific bad bills that OSTA would have prevented from becoming laws . . .

EXAMPLE #1:

The REAL ID Act did something Americans have always rejected. It created a national identification system. This idea had so little support it couldn't even be brought to a vote in the Senate. But Congressional leaders got it passed anyway. They attached it to a bill Senators were afraid to oppose — the "Emergency, Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief." (May, 2005)

Senators were scared to defeat a bill that funded the troops, so the REAL ID Act became the law of the land.

Is this how you want to be governed? Will you submit to it or fight it?...

EXAMPLE #2:

The Senate Majority Leader believed that gambling was immoral. So he promoted a bill to outlaw online poker. But he lacked the votes to get it passed, so, mere hours before the vote, he attached his unwanted legislation to a Port Security bill that most in Congress favored. The result . . .

Online gambling was outlawed, and a whole industry was destroyed in the blink of an eye!

OSTA would prevent such outrages by requiring that . . .

    Each bill must be only one subject.
   
The courts must view any legislation passed in violation of this requirement to be null and void. This makes OSTA uniquely powerful, because most laws and rules that aim to control Congress, including the Constitution, have no enforcement mechanism. But OSTA has an enforcement mechanism!

[JDBound]

Rant about the political process.

I posed the following inquiry: Do you have some reason to believe that a politician would not be vocal about including "bitcoin related [language]" in a bill? And to answer your original question regarding whether or not "we" have people reading "new bills"... no.

[Coincomm]

Rant about the political process.

I posed the following inquiry: Do you have some reason to believe that a politician would not be vocal about including "bitcoin related [language]" in a bill?

They would have no reason to be vocal about it if they wanted the legislation passed.

The gambling legislation was never vocalized. Tons of other hidden laws were never vocalized.

Politicians are usually not honest people. Best of all, politicians never read the legislation. We have to read it and yell at them not to pass it. The burden is on us.

[Coincomm]

And to answer your original question regarding whether or not "we" have people reading "new bills"... no.

And this is a problem because Bitcoin could be made illegal overnight and we won't even realize it until the feds come to enforce the law.

[JDBound]

Why do you always reply with two posts?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogy

How is Bitcoin like any of the bills you cite? Or, to be more precise, how is Bitcoin like the generalities you cite (e.g. "gambling legislation", "tons of other hidden laws", as to the "Affordable Healthcare Act [sic]", what was slipped in and not vocalized or publicized? The bill was publicly available for a substantial period of time prior to being passed.)?

And this is a problem because... blah blah blah

Yeah, this is a problem just like the federal government enforcing federal drug laws in California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.

[Coincomm]

Why do you always reply with two posts?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogy

How is Bitcoin like any of the bills you cite? Or, to be more precise, how is Bitcoin like the generalities you cite (e.g. "gambling legislation", "tons of other hidden laws", as to the "Affordable Healthcare Act [sic]", what was slipped in and not vocalized or publicized? The bill was publicly available for a substantial period of time prior to being passed.)?

And this is a problem because... blah blah blah

Yeah, this is a problem just like the federal government enforcing federal drug laws in California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.

Bitcoin can be defined legally and interpreted legally just as gambling was. It can be done.

The problem is nobody reads the bills. They just vote on whatever their lobbyists and constituents tell them to vote on. It doesn't matter if its publicity available if 1) the representatives don't care and 2) if the bills are thousands of pages long.

I don't get why are you frustrated with me. Is this too harsh of a reality?

[repentance]

Keep an eye on free trade agreements too.  That's how the US gets other nations to agree to stuff without it being debated in their legislatures (US is trying to sneak a whole heap of nasty copyright and patent stuff into the upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and the negotiations are secret).



http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/27/pacific-free-trade-deal

[HDSolar]

By the way Nevada is working on making online gambling legal.  There is nothing public yet but industry and the political efforts are moving that way behind the scenes.

[repentance]

By the way Nevada is working on making online gambling legal.  There is nothing public yet but industry and the political efforts are moving that way behind the scenes.

One of the conditions of the settlement made between the DoJ and the online poker operators who got blitzed last year was that when online poker becomes legal in the US they will have access to that market.  Could be interesting.

[MoonShadow]

And to answer your original question regarding whether or not "we" have people reading "new bills"... no.

And this is a problem because Bitcoin could be made illegal overnight and we won't even realize it until the feds come to enforce the law.

If that were to happen, what effect upon the Bitcoin economy do you think it might have?

[2112]

By the way Nevada is working on making online gambling legal.  There is nothing public yet but industry and the political efforts are moving that way behind the scenes.

Yeah, this agrees with the recent observations made at the CES'12 in LV.

In the past both NGCB and LVMPD would both follow the leads on some small-time payments being directed (or diverted) to the online games of chance.

This year officers of both NGCB and LVMPD closed small-time investigations immediately upon confirming that the payments are (or could be) used for non-gaming related transactions.

So apparently the winds in Nevada had changed direction.

[HDSolar]

By the way Nevada is working on making online gambling legal.  There is nothing public yet but industry and the political efforts are moving that way behind the scenes.

Yeah, this agrees with the recent observations made at the CES'12 in LV.

In the past both NGCB and LVMPD would both follow the leads on some small-time payments being directed (or diverted) to the online games of chance.

This year officers of both NGCB and LVMPD closed small-time investigations immediately upon confirming that the payments are (or could be) used for non-gaming related transactions.

So apparently the winds in Nevada had changed direction.

That makes sense, the Governors office came to a conference I was at and talked about "when" online gambling takes effect in Nevada.  Also there are some new ventures with mobile software for gambling taking place at the casinos and they are all set up to do full casino gambling.  Now the apps let you make sport book bets with allot of limitations.

[Snapman]

Yep, the united states senate and house of reps is notorious for doing some of what OP was mentioning. They also try make it the biggest joke possible, like adding draconian laws to bill titled "The Patriot Act".

(Notice how i didnt capitalize their shitty names, thats because they are far from deserving.)

Another chicken shit act they attempt to pull is calling representatives & senators they can count on in during the holidays to get unfavorable bills passed without opposition.