It is almost like Big Media is an abusive spouse who can’t understand that more threats and violence will not engender greater loyalty and respect.
Is there a way for the EFF or ACLU or somebody to author some proactive bills which, if passed into law, would make it much harder to do these kinds of shenanigans with the internet? Constantly being on the defensive side seems silly. Surely we can do better?
ACLU isn’t in the business of authoring bills. They just use lawsuits against infractions of rights and the constitution. At least as far as I know.
What are the chances for Fast Track authorization passing at all?
The current House can barely manage to pass the measures necessary to authorize borrowing of money to fund the payments they have already authorized. Only Senate approval is required to ratify a treaty but it looks like the House has to get involved to pass fast track unless certain folk are grandstanding.
What are the ideological points that might block passage?
Gumming up the Senate is usually pretty easy. Particularly for a treaty where the Senate requires a 2/3rds vote. The Senate has rejected a whole slew of treaties that are much better for the US than any other power, including the UN law of the sea treaty update which the US has not ratified but still uses against other countries.
But even rolling rocks downhill requires that the people doing the pushing are going in the right direction.
With this ‘fast track’ stuff, has anybody even bothered to come up with some implausible but-if-we-don’t-agree-to-the-trade-deal-within-12-hours-penury-and-doom scenario, or is it purely in the realm of ‘because we want it, that’s why!’ at this point?
All it might take to kill it could be a well-placed rumor on a few conservative boards that this will give our rights away to a shadowy private party, was negotiated in secret, and Obama desperately wants it passed. Huh, some rumor.
Harry Reid has has been against the bill for a while, something he reiterated today, so the chances of fast track passing are pretty slim, I would imagine. Dude controls the Senate floor pretty tightly.
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