I'm Just a Bill (Schoolhouse Rock!)

One of the best School House Rocks videos ever is "I'm Just a Bill." ▶ this video There are two things missing: 1. Congress can override a Presidential veto with a vote a two-thirds majority in the both chambers. 2. The President can also let a Bill sit for 11 or 12 days (it's really 10, but Sundays don't count.) At that point it becomes law without the President's signature.

in “White House Seems Afraid NSA Defunding Law Could Actually Pass Today” · View on HN

A "law" has been finalized, passed by both halves of Congress, and ratified. A "bill" is an incomplete proposal at any stage of this process. There is a catchy song [1] to help everyone remember this. A bill is the same as a pull request that has not yet been merged. So the statement, "The U.S. [has] yet to pass even a basic internet-era privacy law..." is correct. In other words: The American Privacy Rights Act is just a bill, yes it's only a bill, and it's sitting there on Capitol Hill... [1] ▶ this video

in “The government is making it more difficult to track private aircraft travel” · View on HN

disclaimer: my understanding of the legislative process is based entirely on Schoolhouse Rock's "I'm Just a Bill" ( ▶ this video ). so a citizen's access to a particular DC statute is impossible without that citizen infringing a copyright? I wonder if circumstances such as these would constitute "fair use" (which as i understand it is a valid defense to copyright infringement). also, i'm aware that doing things that would otherwise constitute intellectual property infringement, can be justified by the "Essential Facilities" doctrine--originally an Anti-Trust safe harbor, though it's also been applied to IP. This seems to apply here.

in “You cannot have a digital copy of the DC Code” · View on HN