NetChoice unveiled an updated version of out Internet Advocates’ Watchlist for Ugly Laws (iAWFUL)  where we track the ten instances of state and federal legislation that pose the greatest threat to the Internet and e-commerce. Our efforts so far this year have helped to remove two of the worst offenders from the February 2010 iAWFUL list, including a federal bill giving the Federal Trade Commission more powers to make new rules for online activity without Congressional guidance, and a Maine law restricting online marketing to teenagers.

In our second update for 2010, NetChoice identifies new legislation that has the potential to stall Internet commerce. Our top two are Congressional bills:

    Number 1:  Federal online privacy efforts such as Rep. Rush’s “Best Practices Act” (HR 5777) and the staff discussion draft from Boucher / Stearns.

    Number 2:  The expansion of Internet taxation HR 5660, the “Streamlined Sales Tax Bill”

This iAWFUL list targets federal privacy proposals that would curtail the continued development of ad-supported content and services that consumers have come to expect from the Internet. No one’s saying that privacy isn’t important or that we shouldn’t be concerned with our personal information. However, one federal privacy proposal would regulate small websites that don’t collect personally identifiable information but add just 100 users a week, even when users provide only a nickname and password.

Find the full post here. For more depressing reading as to the level of federal and state attempts to regulate, control and otherwise undermine Internet speech and commerce, see NetChoice's iAWFUL site.

•   The establishment of an Infrastructure Bank to leverage federal dollars and focus on investments of national and regional significance that often fall through the cracks in the current siloed transportation programs;

• The integration of high-speed rail on an equal footing into the surface transportation program to ensure a sustained and effective commitment to a national high speed rail system over the next generation;

• Streamlining, modernizing, and prioritizing surface transportation investments, consolidating more than 100 different programs and focusing on using performance measurement and “race-to-the-top” style competitive pressures to drive investment toward better policy outcomes.

• Expanding investments in areas like safety, environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness, and livability – helping to build communities where people have choices about how to travel, including options that reduce oil consumption, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and expand access to job opportunities and housing that’s affordable.

The president promises that the infrastructure bank will "leverage" federal resources to maximize the productivity of transportation investments. As the President said in Milwaukee,

"This is a plan that will be fully paid for.  It will not add to the deficit over time -– we’re going to work with Congress to see to that.  We want to set up an infrastructure bank to leverage federal dollars and focus on the smartest investments.  We’re going to continue our strategy to build a national high-speed rail network that reduces congestion and travel times and reduces harmful emissions.  We want to cut waste and bureaucracy and consolidate and collapse more than 100 different programs that too often duplicate each other.  So we want to change the way Washington spends your tax dollars.  We want to reform a haphazard, patchwork way of doing business.  We want to focus on less wasteful approaches than we’ve got right now.  We want competition and innovation that gives us the best bang for the buck."  

But, as I pointed out in testimony before the House Ways & Means Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee on May 13, 2010, how the bank is structured will be fundamental to determining whether these funds will be squandered or productively add to the transportation network. A key component will be whether its set up as a true revolving loan program, without ongoing subsidy from general taxes, so that it has to survive on the merits of the programs it funds.

Of course, imbedded in the president's remarks is a remarkabley shallow understanding about how some of these investments will actually improve the transportation network. An intercity rail system-high speed or slow speed-will not reduce congestion in a meaningful sense, nor will it have a meaningful impact on air quality. 

As always, the devil is in the details. Stay tuned.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) will likely be forced out of her party leadership position should she decide to launch a write-in or third-party candidacy, a Senate Republican said Wednesday.

Murkowski, who conceded the GOP primary last month to Fairbanks lawyer Joe Miller, could announce as soon as Thursday whether she will continue her campaign for re-election as a write-in candidate. She has also held talks with the state’s Libertarian Party leaders about running under their flag.

Although Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and other GOP leaders have not yet formally discussed what to do if Murkowski does run, the Senate Republican said there is likely no scenario in which she would be allowed to remain Republican Conference vice chairwoman.

Is the Libertarian Party acting as short-sightedly with Sen. Lisa Murkowski now as they did with Rep. Bob Barr in 2002? The LP stands at a crossroads: decide they want to come into the light as a "real" political party or continue as a debating society ad infinitum. The Libertarian Party of Alaska has the opportunity to meet with a sitting senator and potentially put one of their own in the upper chamber of Congress. Predictably, the LP national and state parties are rushing to judgement.

To be sure, Sen. Murkowski has a mixed record from a libertarian perspective. Unfortunately, the naysayers focus exclusively on the negative side and ignore the common ground. Many in the LP have an unfortunate predilection to engage in the circular firing squad where no one else is as libertarian as they are. And after several decades, the party has not grown appreciably

As I've written regarding Bob Barr and the response to 9/11, I was very active in those debates testifying before the House on the bill that became the USA PATRIOT Act and before the Senate on a National ID proposal as well as privately and in the press. I remember fondly having allies like Rep. Barr and Sen. Murkowski standing up to the Republican leadership and protecting our rights and liberties. We are all better off thanks to their efforts.

It seems as if she and those reloading in the circular firing squad have more in common than they realize. Will the LP take the dead end path or take a step to grow the party and convert more members?

I’ve always been a big fan of Gene Simmons and KISS — was one of my first “favorite bands” when I was a kid. At the age where todays kids are listening to Hannah Montana, Justin Bieber, and the Jonas Brothers, I was rocking out to “Detroit Rock City” and “Shout It Out Loud.”

We’ve watched the Gene Simmons Family Jewels show on A&E on-and-off for several years, and I gotta admit, I’m a fan of Gene Simmons and his family.

Gene considers himself a “Libertarian Republican,” and obviously has a great deal of respect for the troops, too.

Gene Simmons was born Chaim Witz in Haifa, Israel, and immigrated to New York City in 1957 with his mother — a Hungarian immigrant and the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust — after his father, Feri Witz, abandoned his family.

GOVERNOR – MAINE (PPP)
Paul LePage (R) 43%
Libby Mitchell (D) 29%
Eliot Cutler (I) 11%
Shawn Moody (I) 5%
Kevin Scott (I) 1%

The outgoing Democratic Governor, John Baldacci, is even less popular with a 57% disapproval mark and only 31% of voters happy with the job he's doing.

The former Republican governor is mulling a run for president, and his libertarian views and small government platform fit the disenchantment many voters feel toward Washington. Among his supporters is Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul, who drew a committed following in his 2008 campaign for president and was quoted in the conservative online website The Daily Caller as saying if he didn't run again in 2012, the best candidate would be Johnson.

Johnson says he knows most people have never heard of him, but he's hoping to change that.

"There are two courses of action. One would be to do nothing and the other would be to burn some shoe leather and see what happens," Johnson told The Associated Press during a recent stop in Davenport. "I'm burning some shoe leather."

Johnson, who served as governor from 1994 to 2002, supports slashing government spending, including big cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. He also calls for simplifying and reducing taxes.