Lawmaker reads crude Web posts at school
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A state senator used foul language in a talk to high school students in his district, but defended himself by saying he was just repeating what some students wrote about him on a Web site.
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By Blackwell Thomas  SPRINGFIELD - A plan to change how septic tanks are inspected in Illinois has some rural lawmakers raising a stink.
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An Atlanta man told a local television station and newspaper that former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley sent him sexually suggestive messages after he served as a congressional page 10 years ago.
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A Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday proposed legislation to stop network providers from playing traffic cop on the Internet.
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Just letting off steam  ...  it's incredulous that former House Speaker Thomas Finneran has a radio gig.  Found guilty of  obstruction of justice, probably guilty of making self-interested political deals, Finneran shouldn't even get a job cleaning bathrooms.
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Social networking sites too Social networking sites and message boards face the same regulatory burden as internet service providers (ISPs) in a new bill proposed by ex-US presidential candidate John McCain. McCain wants sites to report all child pornography to authorities.â¦
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By Ashley Tusan Joyner, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.  Dec. 13--Rep.
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(InfoWorld) - Many of the Web sites for members of the U.S. Congress lack basic information such as information on office hours or where to go if the reader has problems with a federal agency, according to a report released Monday. The overall state of congressional Web sites is "disappointing," said the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonprofit group advocating for a more effective Congress. The group gave only about 14 percent of the 615 lawmaker and congressional leadership Web sites it surveyed A grades for user friendliness. The top group of A-graded sites earn CMF's Gold Mouse award. Thirteen percent of the congressional sites received F grades, and another 25 percent received D's. "It's things that are missing, things that aren't updated," said Beverly Bell, CMF's executive director. In many cases, congressional offices seem to see Web sites as one-way communication mediums, she said. About 49 percent of the sites did not include sufficient information on how to contact the office about a problem with a federal agency, CMF said in its report. Just over 26 percent told visitors the best way to communicate with their offices, and 32 percent did not include links to sponsored or cosponsored legislation. Just 11 percent of House Web sites and 5 percent of Senate Web sites posted their office hours. "It's how you view your Web site," Bell added. "Are you seeing your Web site as a service center for constituents? There's not as much of that as we'd like to see. Or, are you seeing it as one big press release for yourself?" CMF produced two previous reports, in 2002 and 2003. Only three lawmakers have received awards in each of the Gold Mouse Reports: Representative Mike Honda, a Democrat representing part of Silicon Valley in California, Senator Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, and Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat known for his interest in tech issues. But overall, Republican sites scored higher than Democratic sites, with 66 percent of Republican sites scoring at least a C compared to 56 percent of Democratic sites. In some cases, lawmakers seem to believe that Web sites create more work for their staffs, and congressional staffs haven't substantially increased in size since the 1970s, Bell said. But a well-designed Web site can reduce workload by cutting telephone calls from constitutions about information such as sponsored legislation or visitor tours, she said. The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the University of California-Riverside, and Ohio State University assisted CMF with the report.
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U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday proposed  requiring sex offenders to register their e-mail and instant  messaging addresses with law enforcement authorities in a bid  to protect children using popular social Internet sites like  MySpace.
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House Speaker Dennis Hastert has asked the Justice Department to investigate how lawmakers handled allegations that Rep. Mark Foley exchanged sexually explicit messages with teenage congressional pages. The move comes after Democrats questioned whether the House's GOP leadership had squelched concerns about Foley, a Republican who now has resigned.
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By Tom Breen  An e-mail to state lawmakers that began "Dear Registered Sex Offender" has prompted calls for a probe into whether child pornographers are using crime fighting resources as marketing tools.  Sen.
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New US media reports on politician Mark Foley's e-mails to young men dog the Republican Party.
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A look at what lawmakers are saying about the Iraq war:
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A group of state legislators in New York has introduced a bill calling for the state government's IT director to study the issue of using open document formats within agencies.
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Â· Speech posted on liberal Anglican websiteÂ· College principal under fire from some staff
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House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert faced intensifying questions about the RepublicansÂ response to Representative Mark FoleyÂs messages to a page.
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By Jeffrey Gaunt  jgaunt@@dailyherald.com  So much for those trips to a computer lab or visits to the school library.  Huntley High School students in a "smart" classroom would just have to open their desks if they wanted to conduct a little research.