House Judiciary Committee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX) has vowed to resume his markup hearings in February. (Thanks, Adam!)

  • Antinous / Moderator

    Maybe the hearing will be on February 15th; since that’ll be 28 Days Later.  Washington loves a zombie.

  • http://www.zachstronaut.com/ zachstronaut

    Let it go, Lamar.

    • Fnordius

      I think this is the main reason, that Lamar is taking it personally. The actual merits of the bill are now moot – this is now a question of HONOR for him.

      • Andrew Singleton

        If by Honor you mean ‘payday contingent on this bill passing.’

        • Fnordius

          @google-c5868c47252dbe2d7b51541d5f7b6f51:disqus I am sure that also plays a role, but I think this is more a case of ego. That, and the way President Obama threatened to veto the bill must also have played a role in his decision.The size of the anti-SOPA protest and the large number of defectors must have stung, and his behaviour fits the stereotype of the modern conservative Texan politician: winning trumps being right, compromise is for sissies.

          • lafave

            Link for the Obama veto threat please?

            IIRC, Obama expressed dislike for IP/DNS blocking, but no veto threat.

          • Fnordius

            @lafave:disqus Since you’re too lazy, here’s the first I found after only 10 seconds of searching: 
            http://www.dailytech.com/Obama+Admin+Declares+War+on+SOPA+SOPA+Author+Caught+Stealing+Work/article23783.htm 

            Remember, he only has to express disapproval, as too many in the Republican party have chosen “opposite of Obama” as their only tenet.

          • lafave

            quoted from the article to which you linked:

            “It remains to be seen, amidst this sweeping bribery of public officials, if the Obama administration would truly be willing to veto a bill like SOPA/PIPA.”

          • Andrew Singleton

            Scumbags like Lamar Smith who would rather sell our country’s interests for personal gain do not have any honor.

      • Cocomaan

        Good point. David Graeber described honor as “excess dignity”.

  • Geekized

    *sigh*

  • imag

    It seems pretty clear that this jerk’s retirement is based upon passage of this thing.  I’m sure if he gets it through, he gets a nice cushy do-nothing job for the rest of his days.

    He is not going to give up easily.  None of them are.  What a completely fucked up system we have.

    • http://twitter.com/LambdaCalculus Robert Menes

      Well, no one else is going to give up easily to make sure SOPA doesn’t go through.

  • Rindan

    Those bribes are not free.  If congressmen don’t do their job and pass industry written laws that are completely against their constituents wishes, what exactly are they bribing them for?  It seems pretty reasonable that Lamer is willing to get on with it and get that law passed.

  • zarray

    looks like I have to bug all the Texas people I know to start a recall petition.

    • IronEdithKidd

      If you’re going to bug your Texas folks about something, bug them to find someone to oppose him in the R primary.  Call his bill “big government run amok”.  That should pull the baggers out of their hidey-holes.

  • TheMudshark

    It´s so absurd how this is the exact opposite of what his job supposedly is, namely to represent the people. The people´s voice has been raised and the message is unmistakeable. It doesn´t get much more clear-cut than this, shithead.

    • http://tommorris.org/ Tom Morris

      You forget that since corporations are now people, he’s representing the people really well.

      • http://www.zachstronaut.com/ zachstronaut

        Corporations are people. But they are people that cannot die. And they are people that suck the life out of other people.

        OMG! Corporations are VAMPIRES!  SHARPEN YOUR STAKES!  BLESS YOUR WATER!  COVER YOUR NECKS!

  • bluest_one

    What’s that saying about how democracy breaks down when the people realise they can just keep voting themselves free money?

    A similar thing happened with Capitalism; the corporations discovered their wealth could be used to ensure greater and continued wealth by buying the politicians and circumventing that pesky ‘one person one vote’ thing.

    What we seem to keep experiencing of late, is democracide at the hands of the corporations.

  • http://www.eff.org/ deaduncledave

    Not the news I was hoping to read this morning. -_-