First, a disclaimer, I've been a Republican activist for many years [he says while getting out the silver flame suit]... I have worked with Norm Coleman and Tim Pawlenty for several years, I can't say I've ever heard their stands on the Open Source Community issues. I started to come up with a list of issues that I could bring to them when I ran into trouble. What are the issues of the Open Source community? Not sure we could all agree what they are. Of course there's the RIAA/NetCaster issue. Lack of progress toward broadband access for rural areas? Gates bashing? I would venture a guess that the Republicans will side with less government, less regulation, less law, in general. Of course there are exceptions, so save your flames. The Democrats will tote their fight for rights, corporation bashing, and special interests. That having been said, I'd be glad to bring a list of questions to my contacts at both campaigns. At least that way I will have some confidence in the answer. A pro-gun rights friend of mine had a conversation with Roger Moe at the State Fair. Mr. Moe was adamant that he was for gun ownership, emphasizing that he had several himself. Knowing his voting record on the issue makes me believe that either he wasn't exactly truthful about his views, or that he was a terrible hypocrite. Halon extinguishers ready... -----Original Message----- From: tclug-list-admin at mn-linux.org [mailto:tclug-list-admin at mn-linux.org]On Behalf Of John J. Trammell Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 10:35 PM To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org Subject: Re: [TCLUG] Election Time On Mon, Sep 23, 2002 at 06:41:19PM -0500, Christopher J. Carlson wrote: > Tim Pawlenty was the Chief Author of the Internet Privacy Bill > which would make spammers put ADV in the subject (ADV-ADULT for > adult mailings) and impose some pretty impressive fines for those > that didn't. Bah -- subject line tagging is a milquetoast "feel good" solution. Once the email is in the inbox, it's already done half the damage. What I'd like to see is legislation that: - cranks up fines for UBE, period - explicitly categorizes blocklists as protected first amendment expression (no more bogus MAPS lawsuits) - doesn't have exceptions, e.g. nonprofits and political campaigners (don't hold your breath kids) Anything less is just kowtowing to moneyed interests (i.e. the DMA, major political parties, etc.). But (s)he who has the gold, makes the rules these days. My guess is that Independent or Green is going to have the most overlap with free software ideas. Tell you what -- as an experiment I'll volunteer to write to the gubernatorial and senatorial candidates and see what happens. Place your bets. -- trammell at el-swifto.com 9EC7 BC6D E688 A184 9F58 FD4C 2C12 CC14 8ABA 36F5 Twin Cities Linux Users Group (TCLUG) Mailing List http://www.mn-linux.org Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota irc.openprojects.net #tclug _______________________________________________ Twin Cities Linux Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list