Response from Johnny Isakson about the TPP

Dear Mr. Smith:
 
Thank you for contacting me about the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  I appreciate hearing from you and am grateful for the opportunity to respond. 
 
As you may know, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is an agreement between the United States and Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.  Combined, these eight countries make up the fourth largest export market for the United States.  There have been several issues raised in the nine rounds of negotiations, including intellectual property rights and regulatory coherence.
 
Even though the United States has signed onto this agreement, Congress still must approve it as well as any implementing legislation.  I will continue to work with my colleagues in the Senate to ensure that legislation related to the Trans-Pacific Partnership is crafted openly in a way that will be advantageous to both American industries and American consumers. 
 
Reducing barriers to trade with other countries not only allows for greater diversity within the American marketplace, but opens up new and bigger markets for American goods and services.  I believe that we must work to grow the U.S. economy at home as well as abroad.  As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I am keenly aware of the need for the United States to be politically and economically engaged with other nations as we grow our economy, bolster national security, and maintain and increase our influence. We cannot afford to waste any time in this increasingly competitive, interconnected, and global economy.  Rest assured, I will keep your thoughts in mind as the Senate works on issues related to U.S. trade relations. 
 
Thank you again for contacting me.  Please visit my webpage at http://isakson.senate.gov/ for more information on the issues important to you and to sign up for my e-newsletter.

Sincerely,
Johnny Isakson
United States Senator

Reason.tv video - Too Much Copyright

Drew Curtis: How I beat a patent troll

Patent trolls are a huge problem these days, they are one of the many reasons the patent system needs a change.
This TED.com video pretty well covers patent troll problem and how he dealt with it.

Online meet and greet via IRC

This Thursday (4/12/2012) at 9 PM EST we are going to have an online meet and greet, please RSVP via facebook or friday you can log into the IRC via this link or the following if you have an IRC client:
irc.pirateirc.net
port 6667 (clear) and 6697 (SSL)
Channel – #uspp

Rob Reid: The $8 billion iPod

http://www.ted.com/ Comic author Rob Reid unveils Copyright Math (TM), a remarkable new field of study based on actual numbers from entertainment industry lawyers and lobbyists.

2012 Voting Dates

In the coming months we will have two more elections:
The State Primary:Tuesday, July 31st

The General Election:Tuesday, November 6th

Visit ga.electionland.com, votesmart.org and rockthevote.com to find out more about the upcoming elections and to make sure that you are prepaired to vote!

The REAL Voter Fraud

If you ask people about voter fraud, most will admit it's a serious issue, and it IS. People casting votes they're not entitled to is a serious problem around the country, and something needs to be done about it. What's currently being done is NOT the solution though. Current Voter Fraud proposals don't address the issue, they just disenfranchise people, and that's not only bad, that's utterly unacceptable.