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With each passing day, society plunges ever deeper into the digital age. The number of people not participating in the era of instant communication and absolute choice in media is dwindling to a few holdouts most probably due to fear, a lack of desire, or habit. The Internet has become the tool of ordinary people, both rich and poor, worldwide. And then there’s the US Senate…
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Our friend Liz Mair from GOPProgress reports:
Great. I thought we were done with this nonsense about certain Senators placing secret holds on legislation that might cause them a spot of bother, back last year when this site, together with Porkbusters and TPM, helped rumble Ted Stevens and Robert Byrd as the Tweedle Dum(b) and Tweedle Dee who put secret holds on the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act– you know, that thing that allows you to find out where government spends your money, using a Google-like database..
Turns out I was wrong. There’s this bill out there, sponsored Russ Feingold, and co-sponsored by 13 Republicans, that would require electronic filing of Senate campaign finance reports– or, otherwise put, for Senate candidates to file the same way everyone else in the entire universe does these days, which just happens to be using a method that allows for greater citizen scrutiny of candidates’ financial doings. Some lame-o Senator has put a secret hold on it.
Liz is digging hard to find out which "honorable" Senator used this arcane rule to stymie citizen access to how exactly they spend campaign cash. Click here to read what she’s learned. Some are saying that there is no secret hold and the bill will come up. Has the "heat" caused them to withdraw it? Even so, it is critical to all users of the New Media that they urge their Senators to vote for the bill and join the rest of the world.
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Why wouldn’t they wish to join the technological age? Are they cavemen? Or do they have something to hide? I’ll bet they all wish for the good ‘ole days when the old-guard main-stream media was the only game in town. If they didn’t report it, people didn’t know it.
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[UPDATE] Liz has more on this. As noted above, it wasn’t a "secret hold", but it still appears someone wants it slowed….