Citizens of the Greater Los Angeles Area:

Let’s take part in the Nationwide Chicago Tea Party http://www.nationwidechicagoteaparty.com/

The local Facebook event page is here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=131230090601

Friday, February 27, 2009 9:00 – 10:00 AM

Gather at the very edge of the Santa Monica Pier, to say to our local, state and federal governments: Enough is enough with taxation without representation!!!

If you are fed up with LA City Hall, Capital Hill in Sacramento, and/or DC’s waste of your hard earned tax dollars, join us at the Santa Monica Pier on Friday morning, 9:00 AM. At that exact time other citizens across the nation will be ‘tea partying’ to protest our governments’ irresponsible use of the powers WE have granted them.

This tea party at the pier, like most others,is not organized by an established political ‘apparatus’ – it’s all grassroots! We’re just law abiding, hardworking, taxpaying citizens like you…

Few simple rules, :

NO: breaking the law (e.g., loitering, vandalism)
NO: violence (physical or verbal)

JUST: good cheer & a positive sense of public engagement & a smile.

Feel free to pass the word around in any way you can. We can at least make a tiny ripple in the vast ocean!

That’s all folks!…

The nitty gritty details:
MC – Tony Katz (@tonykatz on twitter)
Speakers TBA

TheColonel Trailer

“A couple of weeks ago, we posted an update to our Terms of Use that we hoped would clarify some parts of it for our users. Over the past couple of days, we have received a lot of questions and comments about these updated terms and what they mean for people and their information. Because of the feedback we received, we have decided to return to our previous Terms of Use while we resolve the issues that people have raised. For more information, visit the Facebook Blog.”

I know Jason pays attention to numbers since part of his business is watching the numbers. Jason’s an industry leader using SEO to promote his business, Mahalo. So, when Jason tweets about something other than his dogs, or poker, I usually pay attention.

Some of you are probably wondering, “So what?”. I understand. For many people this wouldn’t matter. However, there’s more than one use case for Twitter. Some people really do use Twitter for business. In this realm, more followers means more bragging rights and the appearance of more credibility. The number of followers matters to some of us.

I started looking into this and found quite a few accounts acquiring these bogus followers. For example: @veronica, @techcrunch, @anamariecox, @nytimes, @nprpolitics, @wilw, @ijustine, @mashable, @guardiantech, @pennjillette, @algore, @cnnbrk, and @wholefoods. Looks like whoever is following likes liberals and tech nerds. Just one more thing to offend my conservative sensibilites.

Here’s a few screen captures of the follower graphs from Twitterholic to show the massive trend in follower counts starting on the 11th of February, 2009.

@ijustine:

@nytimes:

@guardiantech:

How did they do it? Someone is automating/scripting the creation of fake Twitter profiles and then following a select group of people. I looked at each of the aforementioned Twitter accounts to see what their followers looked like, . Almost every follower on every new page of followers had an account like this following (given the numbers on Twitter, it would have to be most of the followers on each page for these kinds of numbers – we’re talking about 5000 followers a day, that’s 250 pages of fake followers – every day!):

None of the fake accounts has a profile picture. Most of these accounts are following 20 accounts (I’m sure once the word gets out they will change their script). The pool of people being followed appears to be less than 50, however. This is an automated script that randomizes the 20 people being followed out of the pool of 50 at the time the account is created.

Who’s behind this? Dunno, but if Twitter captures the IP address of the person creating the accounts, they could easily determine who is behind this gaming approach.

What was the primary tip-off here for me? Other than the fact that people currently don’t get followers this fast? The fact that Mike Arrington (@techcrunch) and Pete Cashmore (@mashable) don’t get along at all, yet both are acquiring these same fake followers.

I was trying to do a quick analysis of this to see if there was one account that was followed more than others to determine the source. After looking at 50 pages of these bogus followers, I found that @guardiantech was at the top of the list. This seems to be corroborated by the numbers on Twitterholic. I don’t know who @guardiantech is, or if they have the resources to be behind this, but it’s worth noting.

I’ll update this as I find out new information. Please Digg this blog post. Follow me, I’m @brooksbayne.

The oral argument session will be held in the Supreme Court’s Courtroom, Earl Warren Center, Fourth Floor, 350 McAllister Street, San Francisco, as part of the court’s regular monthly calendar session in March 2009. The complete March 2009 oral argument calendar is available at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme/#cal .

In the cases before the court, the court has issued an order listing the following three issues to be briefed and argued:

1. Is Proposition 8 invalid because it constitutes a revision of, rather than an amendment to, the California Constitution?
2. Does Proposition 8 violate the separation of powers doctrine under the California Constitution?
3. If Proposition 8 is not unconstitutional, what is its effect, if any, on the marriages of same-sex couples performed before the adoption of Proposition 8?

The three cases before the court were filed directly in the California Supreme Court on November 5, 2008, the day following the voters’ approval of Proposition 8 at the November 4, 2008 election.

On November 19, 2008, the court agreed to hear the cases, denied a request to stay the operation of Proposition 8 pending the court’s resolution of the cases, granted the motion of the official proponents of Proposition 8 to intervene in the action, and established an expedited briefing schedule. Briefing in the Supreme Court was completed on January 21, 2009.

In an order issued today, the Supreme Court specified the amount of time each of the
petitioners, the Attorney General, and the interveners will be allocated for oral argument.

ACCESS TO ORAL ARGUMENTS

To increase public access to the court session, the Supreme Court has designated the
California Channel, a public affairs cable network, to provide a live TV broadcast of the
session and to serve as the “pool” channel. California Channel will provide a press pool
outside the State Building to facilitate coverage of the oral argument by television and radio stations. For a list of cable companies that carry the network, see
http://www.calchannel.com/carriage.htm .

Oral arguments also will be broadcast in an overflow viewing auditorium in the Milton
Marks Conference Center, Hiram J. Smith State Office Building, Lower Level, 455 Golden
Gate Avenue, San Francisco. In addition, the Supreme Court has announced that all briefs in the Proposition 8 cases are now posted to a special section of the California Courts Web site at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme/ .

Under the applicable court rules, the Supreme Court generally issues a decision, through a written opinion, within 90 days of oral argument. For more information on the cases, including the attorneys of record, please see the Supreme Court’s online Case Information System at http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search.cfm?dist=5 .

Public and press seating in the courtroom will be extremely limited. Press seats will be
available on a first-come, first-served basis, with one seat to be allocated per media
organization. To reserve a seat, please e-mail Lynn Holton (lynn.holton@jud.ca.gov) or call 415-865-7726/7740.

The following video shows two men attempting to rob a jewelry store. When these two boobs mace the store owner, he pulls his gun and enters the self defense portion of his day.

I love the fact that the criminals got locked in and couldn’t get out. I can only imagine the thought of, “Oh sh*t, this was a mistake”, when these two bums realized, in that split second, they were trapped and might suffer immediate consequences at the hands of their intended victim. [killer realization when you learn that the other person brought a gun to your spicy aerosol fight. oops!]

Although the two morons were shot, fortunately, neither was killed. You can see the cops show up and arrest the thugs at the end of the video.

It’s interesting that the video was edited at the end. I wonder what was cut. This video was released today by police in Phoenix, AZ.

Props to the store owner for keeping his wits and defending himself.

2nd Amendment FTW!!!

Many of you know that I sometimes melt faces utilizing molten riffs on guitar. However, today I’m asking you to join the “Melt The Phones” groundswell and call your representatives to oppose the pork barrel “stimulus” bill. This bill is bad news for America. Check out some commentary of the Congressional Budget Office’s review of this bill here.

You only have a couple hours to call. So do it now!

ALL AREA CODES ARE (202)

Senate Main Number: 202-224-3121

House of Representative Numbers are listed below in alphabetical order:

Representative State District Phone Room
Abercrombie, Neil HI 1st 225-2726 1502
Ackerman, Gary L. NY 5th 225-2601 2243
Aderholt, Robert B. AL 4th 225-4876 1433
Adler, John H. NJ 3rd 225-4765 1223
Akin, W. Todd MO 2nd 225-2561 117
Alexander, Rodney LA 5th 225-8490 316
Altmire, Jason PA 4th 225-2565 332
Andrews, Robert E. NJ 1st 225-6501 2265
Arcuri, Michael A. NY 24th 225-3665 127
Austria, Steve OH 7th 225-4324 1641
Baca, Joe CA 43rd 225-6161 2245
Bachmann, Michele MN 6th 225-2331 107
Bachus, Spencer AL 6th 225-4921 2246
Baird, Brian WA 3rd 225-3536 2350
Baldwin, Tammy WI 2nd 225-2906 2446
Barrett, J. Gresham SC 3rd 225-5301 439
Barrow, John GA 12th 225-2823 213
Bartlett, Roscoe G. MD 6th 225-2721 2412
Barton, Joe TX 6th 225-2002 2109
Bean, Melissa L. IL 8th 225-3711 432
Becerra, Xavier CA 31st 225-6235 1119
Berkley, Shelley NV 1st 225-5965 405
Berman, Howard L. CA 28th 225-4695 2221
Berry, Marion AR 1st 225-4076 2305
Biggert, Judy IL 13th 225-3515 1034
Bilbray, Brian P. CA 50th 225-0508 2348
Bilirakis, Gus M. FL 9th 225-5755 1124
Bishop, Rob UT 1st 225-0453 123
Bishop, Sanford D. Jr. GA 2nd 225-3631 2429
Bishop, Timothy H. NY 1st 225-3826 306
Blackburn, Marsha TN 7th 225-2811 217
Blumenauer, Earl OR 3rd 225-4811 2267
Blunt, Roy MO 7th 225-6536 2229
Boccieri, John A. OH 16th 225-3876 1516
Boehner, John A. OH 8th 225-6205 1011
Bonner, Jo AL 1st 225-4931 2236
Bono Mack, Mary CA 45th 225-5330 104
Boozman, John AR 3rd 225-4301 1519
Bordallo, Madeleine Z. GU Delegate 225-1188 427
Boren, Dan OK 2nd 225-2701 216
Boswell, Leonard L. IA 3rd 225-3806 1427
Boucher, Rick VA 9th 225-3861 2187
Boustany, Charles W. Jr. LA 7th 225-2031 1117
Boyd, Allen FL 2nd 225-5235 1227
Brady, Kevin TX 8th 225-4901 301
Brady, Robert A. PA 1st 225-4731 206
Braley, Bruce L. IA 1st 225-2911 1019
Bright, Bobby AL 2nd 225-2901 1205
Broun, Paul C. GA 10th 225-4101 325
Brown, Corrine FL 3rd 225-0123 2336
Brown, Henry E. Jr. SC 1st 225-3176 103
Brown-Waite, Ginny FL 5th 225-1002 414
Buchanan, Vern FL 13th 225-5015 218
Burgess, Michael C. TX 26th 225-7772 229
Burton, Dan IN 5th 225-2276 2308
Butterfield, G. K. NC 1st 225-3101 413
Buyer, Steve IN 4th 225-5037 2230
Calvert, Ken CA 44th 225-1986 2201
Camp, Dave MI 4th 225-3561 341
Campbell, John CA 48th 225-5611 1507
Cantor, Eric VA 7th 225-2815 329
Cao, Anh “Joseph” LA 2nd 225-6636 2113
Capito, Shelley Moore WV 2nd 225-2711 2443
Capps, Lois CA 23rd 225-3601 1110
Capuano, Michael E. MA 8th 225-5111 1414
Cardoza, Dennis A. CA 18th 225-6131 1224
Carnahan, Russ MO 3rd 225-2671 1710
Carney, Christopher P. PA 10th 225-3731 416
Carson, André IN 7th 225-4011 425
Carter, John R. TX 31st 225-3864 409
Cassidy, Bill LA 6th 225-3901 506
Castle, Michael N. DE At Large 225-4165 1233
Castor, Kathy FL 11th 225-3376 317
Chaffetz, Jason UT 3rd 225-7751 1032
Chandler, Ben KY 6th 225-4706 1504
Childers, Travis W. MS 1st 225-4306 1708
Christensen, Donna M. VI Delegate 225-1790 1510
Clarke, Yvette D. NY 11th 225-6231 1029
Clay, Wm. Lacy MO 1st 225-2406 2418
Cleaver, Emanuel MO 5th 225-4535 1027
Clyburn, James E. SC 6th 225-3315 2135
Coble, Howard NC 6th 225-3065 2468
Coffman, Mike CO 6th 225-7882 1508
Cohen, Steve TN 9th 225-3265 1005
Cole, Tom OK 4th 225-6165 2458
Conaway, K. Michael TX 11th 225-3605 1527
Connolly, Gerald E. VA 11th 225-1492 327
Conyers, John Jr. MI 14th 225-5126 2426
Cooper, Jim TN 5th 225-4311 1536
Costa, Jim CA 20th 225-3341 1314
Costello, Jerry F. IL 12th 225-5661 2408
Courtney, Joe CT 2nd 225-2076 215
Crenshaw, Ander FL 4th 225-2501 440
Crowley, Joseph NY 7th 225-3965 2404
Cuellar, Henry TX 28th 225-1640 336
Culberson, John Abney TX 7th 225-2571 1514
Cummings, Elijah E. MD 7th 225-4741 2235
Dahlkemper, Kathleen A. PA 3rd 225-5406 516
Davis, Artur AL 7th 225-2665 208
Davis, Danny K. IL 7th 225-5006 2159
Davis, Geoff KY 4th 225-3465 1108
Davis, Lincoln TN 4th 225-6831 410
Davis, Susan A. CA 53rd 225-2040 1526
Deal, Nathan GA 9th 225-5211 2133
DeFazio, Peter A. OR 4th 225-6416 2134
DeGette, Diana CO 1st 225-4431 2335
Delahunt, William D. MA 10th 225-3111 2454
DeLauro, Rosa L. CT 3rd 225-3661 2413
Dent, Charles W. PA 15th 225-6411 1009
Diaz-Balart, Lincoln FL 21st 225-4211 2244
Diaz-Balart, Mario FL 25th 225-2778 328
Dicks, Norman D. WA 6th 225-5916 2467
Dingell, John D. MI 15th 225-4071 2328
Doggett, Lloyd TX 25th 225-4865 201
Donnelly, Joe IN 2nd 225-3915 1530
Doyle, Michael F. PA 14th 225-2135 401
Dreier, David CA 26th 225-2305 233
Driehaus, Steve OH 1st 225-2216 408
Duncan, John J. Jr. TN 2nd 225-5435 2207
Edwards, Chet TX 17th 225-6105 2369
Edwards, Donna F. MD 4th 225-8699 318
Ehlers, Vernon J. MI 3rd 225-3831 2182
Ellison, Keith MN 5th 225-4755 1122
Ellsworth, Brad IN 8th 225-4636 513
[Emanuel, Rahm ] IL 5th 225-4061 1319
Emerson, Jo Ann MO 8th 225-4404 2440
Engel, Eliot L. NY 17th 225-2464 2161
Eshoo, Anna G. CA 14th 225-8104 205
Etheridge, Bob NC 2nd 225-4531 1533
Faleomavaega, Eni F. H. AS Delegate 225-8577 2422
Fallin, Mary OK 5th 225-2132 1432
Farr, Sam CA 17th 225-2861 1126
Fattah, Chaka PA 2nd 225-4001 2301
Filner, Bob CA 51st 225-8045 2428
Flake, Jeff AZ 6th 225-2635 240
Fleming, John LA 4th 225-2777 1023
Forbes, J. Randy VA 4th 225-6365 2438
Fortenberry, Jeff NE 1st 225-4806 1535
Foster, Bill IL 14th 225-2976 1339
Foxx, Virginia NC 5th 225-2071 1230
Frank, Barney MA 4th 225-5931 2252
Franks, Trent AZ 2nd 225-4576 2435
Frelinghuysen, Rodney P. NJ 11th 225-5034 2442
Fudge, Marcia L. OH 11th 225-7032 1513
Gallegly, Elton CA 24th 225-5811 2309
Garrett, Scott NJ 5th 225-4465 137
Gerlach, Jim PA 6th 225-4315 308
Giffords, Gabrielle AZ 8th 225-2542 1728
[Gillibrand, Kirsten E.] NY 20th 225-5614 120
Gingrey, Phil GA 11th 225-2931 119
Gohmert, Louie TX 1st 225-3035 511
Gonzalez, Charles A. TX 20th 225-3236 303
Goodlatte, Bob VA 6th 225-5431 2240
Gordon, Bart TN 6th 225-4231 2306
Granger, Kay TX 12th 225-5071 320
Graves, Sam MO 6th 225-7041 1415
Grayson, Alan FL 8th 225-2176 1605
Green, Al TX 9th 225-7508 236
Green, Gene TX 29th 225-1688 2372
Griffith, Parker AL 5th 225-4801 417
Grijalva, Raúl M. AZ 7th 225-2435 1440
Guthrie, Brett KY 2nd 225-3501 510
Gutierrez, Luis V. IL 4th 225-8203 2266
Hall, John J. NY 19th 225-5441 1217
Hall, Ralph M. TX 4th 225-6673 2405
Halvorson, Deborah L. IL 11th 225-3635 1541
Hare, Phil IL 17th 225-5905 428
Harman, Jane CA 36th 225-8220 2400
Harper, Gregg MS 3rd 225-5031 307
Hastings, Alcee L. FL 23rd 225-1313 2353
Hastings, Doc WA 4th 225-5816 1203
Heinrich, Martin NM 1st 225-6316 1505
Heller, Dean NV 2nd 225-6155 125
Hensarling, Jeb TX 5th 225-3484 129
Herger, Wally CA 2nd 225-3076 242
Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie SD At Large 225-2801 331
Higgins, Brian NY 27th 225-3306 431
Hill, Baron P. IN 9th 225-5315 223
Himes, James A. CT 4th 225-5541 214
Hinchey, Maurice D. NY 22nd 225-6335 2431
Hinojosa, Rubén TX 15th 225-2531 2463
Hirono, Mazie K. HI 2nd 225-4906 1524
Hodes, Paul W. NH 2nd 225-5206 1317
Hoekstra, Peter MI 2nd 225-4401 2234
Holden, Tim PA 17th 225-5546 2417
Holt, Rush D. NJ 12th 225-5801 1214
Honda, Michael M. CA 15th 225-2631 1713
Hoyer, Steny H. MD 5th 225-4131 1705
Hunter, Duncan CA 52nd 225-5672 1429
Inglis, Bob SC 4th 225-6030 100
Inslee, Jay WA 1st 225-6311 403
Israel, Steve NY 2nd 225-3335 2457
Issa, Darrell E. CA 49th 225-3906 2347
Jackson, Jesse L. Jr. IL 2nd 225-0773 2419
Jackson-Lee, Sheila TX 18th 225-3816 2160
Jenkins, Lynn KS 2nd 225-6601 130
Johnson, Eddie Bernice TX 30th 225-8885 1511
Johnson, Henry C. “Hank” Jr. GA 4th 225-1605 1133
Johnson, Sam TX 3rd 225-4201 1211
Johnson, Timothy V. IL 15th 225-2371 1207
Jones, Walter B. NC 3rd 225-3415 2333
Jordan, Jim OH 4th 225-2676 515
Kagen, Steve WI 8th 225-5665 1232
Kanjorski, Paul E. PA 11th 225-6511 2188
Kaptur, Marcy OH 9th 225-4146 2186
Kennedy, Patrick J. RI 1st 225-4911 407
Kildee, Dale E. MI 5th 225-3611 2107
Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. MI 13th 225-2261 2264
Kilroy, Mary Jo OH 15th 225-2015 1237
Kind, Ron WI 3rd 225-5506 1406
King, Peter T. NY 3rd 225-7896 339
King, Steve IA 5th 225-4426 1131
Kingston, Jack GA 1st 225-5831 2368
Kirk, Mark Steven IL 10th 225-4835 1030
Kirkpatrick, Ann AZ 1st 225-2315 1123
Kissell, Larry NC 8th 225-3715 512
Klein, Ron FL 22nd 225-3026 313
Kline, John MN 2nd 225-2271 1210
Kosmas, Suzanne M. FL 24th 225-2706 238
Kratovil, Frank Jr. MD 1st 225-5311 314
Kucinich, Dennis J. OH 10th 225-5871 2445
Lamborn, Doug CO 5th 225-4422 437
Lance, Leonard NJ 7th 225-5361 114
Langevin, James R. RI 2nd 225-2735 109
Larsen, Rick WA 2nd 225-2605 108
Larson, John B. CT 1st 225-2265 106
Latham, Tom IA 4th 225-5476 2217
LaTourette, Steven C. OH 14th 225-5731 2371
Latta, Robert E. OH 5th 225-6405 1531
Lee, Barbara CA 9th 225-2661 2444
Lee, Christopher John NY 26th 225-5265 1711
Levin, Sander M. MI 12th 225-4961 1236
Lewis, Jerry CA 41st 225-5861 2112
Lewis, John GA 5th 225-3801 343
Linder, John GA 7th 225-4272 1026
Lipinski, Daniel IL 3rd 225-5701 1717
LoBiondo, Frank A. NJ 2nd 225-6572 2427
Loebsack, David IA 2nd 225-6576 1221
Lofgren, Zoe CA 16th 225-3072 102
Lowey, Nita M. NY 18th 225-6506 2329
Lucas, Frank D. OK 3rd 225-5565 2311
Luetkemeyer, Blaine MO 9th 225-2956 1118
Luján, Ben Ray NM 3rd 225-6190 502
Lummis, Cynthia M. WY At Large 225-2311 1004
Lungren, Daniel E. CA 3rd 225-5716 2262
Lynch, Stephen F. MA 9th 225-8273 221
McCarthy, Carolyn NY 4th 225-5516 2346
McCarthy, Kevin CA 22nd 225-2915 1523
McCaul, Michael T. TX 10th 225-2401 131
McClintock, Tom CA 4th 225-2511 508
McCollum, Betty MN 4th 225-6631 1714
McCotter, Thaddeus G. MI 11th 225-8171 1632
McDermott, Jim WA 7th 225-3106 1035
McGovern, James P. MA 3rd 225-6101 438
McHenry, Patrick T. NC 10th 225-2576 224
McHugh, John M. NY 23rd 225-4611 2366
McIntyre, Mike NC 7th 225-2731 2437
McKeon, Howard P. “Buck” CA 25th 225-1956 2184
McMahon, Michael E. NY 13th 225-3371 323
McMorris Rodgers, Cathy WA 5th 225-2006 1323
McNerney, Jerry CA 11th 225-1947 312
Mack, Connie FL 14th 225-2536 115
Maffei, Daniel B. NY 25th 225-3701 1630
Maloney, Carolyn B. NY 14th 225-7944 2332
Manzullo, Donald A. IL 16th 225-5676 2228
Marchant, Kenny TX 24th 225-6605 227
Markey, Betsy CO 4th 225-4676 1229
Markey, Edward J. MA 7th 225-2836 2108
Marshall, Jim GA 8th 225-6531 504
Massa, Eric J. J. NY 29th 225-3161 1208
Matheson, Jim UT 2nd 225-3011 2434
Matsui, Doris O. CA 5th 225-7163 222
Meek, Kendrick B. FL 17th 225-4506 1039
Meeks, Gregory W. NY 6th 225-3461 2342
Melancon, Charlie LA 3rd 225-4031 404
Mica, John L. FL 7th 225-4035 2313
Michaud, Michael H. ME 2nd 225-6306 1724
Miller, Brad NC 13th 225-3032 1127
Miller, Candice S. MI 10th 225-2106 228
Miller, Gary G. CA 42nd 225-3201 2349
Miller, George CA 7th 225-2095 2205
Miller, Jeff FL 1st 225-4136 2439
Minnick, Walt ID 1st 225-6611 1517
Mitchell, Harry E. AZ 5th 225-2190 1410
Mollohan, Alan B. WV 1st 225-4172 2302
Moore, Dennis KS 3rd 225-2865 1727
Moore, Gwen WI 4th 225-4572 1239
Moran, James P. VA 8th 225-4376 2239
Moran, Jerry KS 1st 225-2715 2202
Murphy, Christopher S. CT 5th 225-4476 412
Murphy, Patrick J. PA 8th 225-4276 1609
Murphy, Tim PA 18th 225-2301 322
Murtha, John P. PA 12th 225-2065 2423
Myrick, Sue Wilkins NC 9th 225-1976 230
Nadler, Jerrold NY 8th 225-5635 2334
Napolitano, Grace F. CA 38th 225-5256 1610
Neal, Richard E. MA 2nd 225-5601 2208
Neugebauer, Randy TX 19th 225-4005 1424
Norton, Eleanor Holmes DC Delegate 225-8050 2136
Nunes, Devin CA 21st 225-2523 1013
Nye, Glenn C. VA 2nd 225-4215 116
Oberstar, James L. MN 8th 225-6211 2365
Obey, David R. WI 7th 225-3365 2314
Olson, Pete TX 22nd 225-5951 514
Olver, John W. MA 1st 225-5335 1111
Ortiz, Solomon P. TX 27th 225-7742 2110
Pallone, Frank Jr. NJ 6th 225-4671 237
Pascrell, Bill Jr. NJ 8th 225-5751 2464
Pastor, Ed AZ 4th 225-4065 2465
Paul, Ron TX 14th 225-2831 203
Paulsen, Erik MN 3rd 225-2871 126
Payne, Donald M. NJ 10th 225-3436 2310
Pelosi, Nancy CA 8th 225-4965 235
Pence, Mike IN 6th 225-3021 1431
Perlmutter, Ed CO 7th 225-2645 415
Perriello, Thomas S. P. VA 5th 225-4711 1520
Peters, Gary C. MI 9th 225-5802 1130
Peterson, Collin C. MN 7th 225-2165 2211
Petri, Thomas E. WI 6th 225-2476 2462
Pierluisi, Pedro R. PR Resident
Commissioner 225-2615 1218
Pingree, Chellie ME 1st 225-6116 1037
Pitts, Joseph R. PA 16th 225-2411 420
Platts, Todd Russell PA 19th 225-5836 2455
Poe, Ted TX 2nd 225-6565 430
Polis, Jared CO 2nd 225-2161 501
Pomeroy, Earl ND At Large 225-2611 1501
Posey, Bill FL 15th 225-3671 132
Price, David E. NC 4th 225-1784 2162
Price, Tom GA 6th 225-4501 424
Putnam, Adam H. FL 12th 225-1252 442
Radanovich, George CA 19th 225-4540 2410
Rahall, Nick J. II WV 3rd 225-3452 2307
Rangel, Charles B. NY 15th 225-4365 2354
Rehberg, Denny MT At Large 225-3211 2448
Reichert, David G. WA 8th 225-7761 1730
Reyes, Silvestre TX 16th 225-4831 2433
Richardson, Laura CA 37th 225-7924 1725
Rodriguez, Ciro D. TX 23rd 225-4511 2351
Roe, David P. TN 1st 225-6356 419
Rogers, Harold KY 5th 225-4601 2406
Rogers, Mike MI 8th 225-4872 133
Rogers, Mike AL 3rd 225-3261 324
Rohrabacher, Dana CA 46th 225-2415 2300
Rooney, Thomas J. FL 16th 225-5792 1529
Roskam, Peter J. IL 6th 225-4561 507
Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana FL 18th 225-3931 2470
Ross, Mike AR 4th 225-3772 2436
Rothman, Steven R. NJ 9th 225-5061 2303
Roybal-Allard, Lucille CA 34th 225-1766 2330
Royce, Edward R. CA 40th 225-4111 2185
Ruppersberger, C. A. Dutch MD 2nd 225-3061 2453
Rush, Bobby L. IL 1st 225-4372 2416
Ryan, Paul WI 1st 225-3031 1113
Ryan, Tim OH 17th 225-5261 1421
Sablan, Gregorio MP Delegate 225-2646 423
Salazar, John T. CO 3rd 225-4761 326
Sánchez, Linda T. CA 39th 225-6676 1222
Sanchez, Loretta CA 47th 225-2965 1114
Sarbanes, John P. MD 3rd 225-4016 426
Scalise, Steve LA 1st 225-3015 429
Schakowsky, Janice D. IL 9th 225-2111 2367
Schauer, Mark H. MI 7th 225-6276 1408
Schiff, Adam B. CA 29th 225-4176 2447
Schmidt, Jean OH 2nd 225-3164 418
Schock, Aaron IL 18th 225-6201 509
Schrader, Kurt OR 5th 225-5711 1419
Schwartz, Allyson Y. PA 13th 225-6111 330
Scott, David GA 13th 225-2939 225
Scott, Robert C. “Bobby” VA 3rd 225-8351 1201
Sensenbrenner, F. James Jr. WI 5th 225-5101 2449
Serrano, José E. NY 16th 225-4361 2227
Sessions, Pete TX 32nd 225-2231 2233
Sestak, Joe PA 7th 225-2011 1022
Shadegg, John B. AZ 3rd 225-3361 436
Shea-Porter, Carol NH 1st 225-5456 1330
Sherman, Brad CA 27th 225-5911 2242
Shimkus, John IL 19th 225-5271 2452
Shuler, Heath NC 11th 225-6401 422
Shuster, Bill PA 9th 225-2431 204
Simpson, Michael K. ID 2nd 225-5531 2312
Sires, Albio NJ 13th 225-7919 1024
Skelton, Ike MO 4th 225-2876 2206
Slaughter, Louise McIntosh NY 28th 225-3615 2469
Smith, Adam WA 9th 225-8901 2402
Smith, Adrian NE 3rd 225-6435 503
Smith, Christopher H. NJ 4th 225-3765 2373
Smith, Lamar TX 21st 225-4236 2409
Snyder, Vic AR 2nd 225-2506 2210
Solis, Hilda L. CA 32nd 225-5464 2421
Souder, Mark E. IN 3rd 225-4436 2231
Space, Zachary T. OH 18th 225-6265 315
Speier, Jackie CA 12th 225-3531 211
Spratt, John M. Jr. SC 5th 225-5501 1401
Stark, Fortney Pete CA 13th 225-5065 239
Stearns, Cliff FL 6th 225-5744 2370
Stupak, Bart MI 1st 225-4735 2268
Sullivan, John OK 1st 225-2211 434
Sutton, Betty OH 13th 225-3401 1721
Tanner, John S. TN 8th 225-4714 1226
Tauscher, Ellen O. CA 10th 225-1880 2459
Taylor, Gene MS 4th 225-5772 2269
Teague, Harry NM 2nd 225-2365 1007
Terry, Lee NE 2nd 225-4155 2331
Thompson, Bennie G. MS 2nd 225-5876 2432
Thompson, Glenn PA 5th 225-5121 124
Thompson, Mike CA 1st 225-3311 231
Thornberry, Mac TX 13th 225-3706 2209
Tiahrt, Todd KS 4th 225-6216 2441
Tiberi, Patrick J. OH 12th 225-5355 113
Tierney, John F. MA 6th 225-8020 2238
Titus, Dina NV 3rd 225-3252 319
Tonko, Paul NY 21st 225-5076 128
Towns, Edolphus NY 10th 225-5936 2232
Tsongas, Niki MA 5th 225-3411 1607
Turner, Michael R. OH 3rd 225-6465 1740
Upton, Fred MI 6th 225-3761 2183
Van Hollen, Chris MD 8th 225-5341 1707
Velázquez, Nydia M. NY 12th 225-2361 2466
Visclosky, Peter J. IN 1st 225-2461 2256
Walden, Greg OR 2nd 225-6730 2352
Walz, Timothy J. MN 1st 225-2472 1722
Wamp, Zach TN 3rd 225-3271 1436
Wasserman Schultz, Debbie FL 20th 225-7931 118
Waters, Maxine CA 35th 225-2201 2344
Watson, Diane E. CA 33rd 225-7084 2430
Watt, Melvin L. NC 12th 225-1510 2304
Waxman, Henry A. CA 30th 225-3976 2204
Weiner, Anthony D. NY 9th 225-6616 2104
Welch, Peter VT At Large 225-4115 1404
Westmoreland, Lynn A. GA 3rd 225-5901 1213
Wexler, Robert FL 19th 225-3001 2241
Whitfield, Ed KY 1st 225-3115 2411
Wilson, Charles A. OH 6th 225-5705 226
Wilson, Joe SC 2nd 225-2452 212
Wittman, Robert J. VA 1st 225-4261 1318
Wolf, Frank R. VA 10th 225-5136 241
Woolsey, Lynn C. CA 6th 225-5161 2263
Wu, David OR 1st 225-0855 2338
Yarmuth, John A. KY 3rd 225-5401 435
Young, C. W. Bill FL 10th 225-5961 2407
Young, Don AK At Large 225-5765 2111

Further info can be found at:
http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/mcapdir.html
(202) 225-7000 | info.clerkweb@mail.house.gov

yahoo pipes

Occasionally, you’ll want to manipulate the data you’re working with in Yahoo Pipes. Utilizing Regular Expressions can make the task fairly simple. Here are some great references I found while recently working on such a task. Enjoy! Oh, and if you find any errors, please let me know so I can update this document. **

++ Regular Expressions in Yahoo Pipes

* [http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/docs?doc=operators#Regex official Yahoo Pipes RegEx documentation]

+++ The basics

The RegEx module is one of the most powerful modules in Yahoo Pipes. You can do all kind of data transformations with it. This wiki page here would like to give you a short overview.

**Please note**: Like in the Yahoo Pipes discussions, I put RegEx patterns within square brackets. That way, you can distinguish for example [] and [ ] easily. Please omit the square brackets unless noted otherwise.

+++ The Modifiers

You might have noticed four checkboxes next to each RegEx line. Those are used for modifying the way the RegEx behaves and succeeded the so called “embedded pattern-match modifiers”. But they did not completely replace them.

In fact, you can use the modifiers “I, M, S and X” in embedded notation, while the checkboxes offer the options “I, M, S and G”. So there’s no X for checkboxes while there’s no G for the embedded notification.

The answer is taken from the [http://discuss.pipes.yahoo.com/Message_Boards_for_Pipes/threadview?bn=pip-DeveloperHelp&tid=3410&mid=3414 Yahoo Pipes Discussions] and updated with information from [http://discuss.pipes.yahoo.com/Message_Boards_for_Pipes/threadview?m=te&bn=pip-DeveloperHelp&tid=4840&mid=4840&tof=1&frt=2#4840 RegEx documentation started].

**What they do**

* **g** allow global matches. set=match every occurence; unset=match only first occurence.
* **i** be case insensitive. set=’A’ equals ‘a’; unset ‘A’ and ‘a’ are treated differently
* **m** treat string as multiple lines. set=’^’ matches every start of string after a \\n and/or \\r . unset=’^’ matches only the very first character in the string.
* **s** allow ‘.’ to match new lines as well. set=’.’ matches ‘\\n’. unset=’.’ does not match ‘\\n’.
* **x** allow white spaces and comments within an expression.

**Embedded Notation**

[http://discuss.pipes.yahoo.com/Message_Boards_for_Pipes/threadview?m=te&bn=pip-DeveloperHelp&tid=4415&mid=4415&tof=131&frt=2#4415 Hapdaniel] from the Yahoo Pipes Discussions points out, the original form of specifying those flags is the “embedded notation”. If you prefix your RegEx with a (?x), you’ll set the X-modificator. You cannot set a (?g) that way, though.

**Checkbox Notation**

To activate one of the checkbox-flags, just tick it. You can tick as many flags as you like. Except the X-flag, which apparently is not available as checkbox.

+++ Common patterns

**Matching empty**

What, if you want to match “nothing”? [http://suggestions.yahoo.com/detail/?prop=Pipes&fid=96717 Hapdaniel] has the solution:

* [^(?!.)]

**Matching not empty**

And here’s the opposite, again from the suggestion thread.

* [^(?=.)]

**Removing whitespace**

Sometimes, you’d like to remove all the linefeeds and unwanted spaces out of a field. I usually use a three- to fourfold approach to that. For each of the following replacements, use +g (the global flag)

# replace [\\n] (line feed) with [ ]
# replace [\\r] (carriage return) with [ ]
# (as needed) replace all [
] (html break) with [ ]
# replace [\\s+] (all whitespace occurrences) with [ ]

With 1 and 2, you remove all hard linefeeds. With 3, you remove all “logical” linefeeds (the ones that only get rendered, when the field is interpreted as html). with 4, you make the result more compact. If for example you have 3 or more spaces in a row, those will be reduced to just one space.

**Using reserved characters**

In RegEx, some characters are “reserved”. That means, they are not used literally, but instead used as functions. Examples:

* [.] — one arbitrary character. if +s flag is set, this includes the new-line character (\\n). if +s flag is unset, the dot does not include the new-line character.
* [\\d] — one digit. (0..9)
* [\\n] — new line, like in C
* [\\r] — carriage return, like in C
* [\\s] — one space character. Includes ‘ ‘ and tabs (\\t)

* [^] — beginning of string. If +m flag is set, this matches every start of a line. a line is then defined as something at the very start of the string or something after a new line (‘\\n’). If +m flag is unset, this matches only the very first character of the string.

* [$] — end of string. If +m flag is set, this matches every end of a line. if +m flag is unset, this matches only the very last character of the string.

* [()] — groups. You can use the groups matched in the replacement field. For example replace [(\\d)] with [0$1] results in a leading zero added.
* [[]] — character groups. For example, [123] matches 1, 2 or 3.

* [!\\d] — combination. ! means not, \\d means digit. So one character, being everything but a digit, is matched here
* [\\d*] — ‘*’ means: 0 to n matches. This would match no or up to infinite digits.
* [\\d+] — ‘+’ means: 1 to n matches. At least one. This would match one or more digits.

To “escape” reserved characters, that is to match them literally, you put a backslash in front. For example, matching [http://discuss.pipes.yahoo.com/Message_Boards_for_Pipes/threadview?m=te&bn=pip-DeveloperHelp&tid=4832&mid=4832&tof=3&frt=2#4832 (twitter)] is possible by using \\(twitter\\).

**Removing html tags**

From a post in the [http://discuss.pipes.yahoo.com/Message_Boards_for_Pipes/threadview?m=te&bn=pip-DeveloperHelp&tid=4813&mid=4813&tof=5&frt=2#4813 Yahoo Pipes Discussion].

* [<[^>]*>] – please note that this translates to something like <[^>]*> . matches every term that’s within <>.
* [<.*?>] – similar to the first statement, but “lazy match”. Not as efficient.

**Showing Images**

From a post in the [http://discuss.pipes.yahoo.com/Message_Boards_for_Pipes/threadview?m=te&bn=pip-DeveloperHelp&tid=4654&mid=4654&tof=26&frt=2#4654 Yahoo Pipes Discussion]. Sometimes, one of your field contains just an image URL. You’d like to replace that URL with an image tag, so it is rendered as an image.

* Replace [(.*)] with [<img src="$1" alt="" />]

**Prefixing something**

Sometimes, you’d like to add something in front of a field. For example, to add a “Yahoo: ” in front of every title, you could

* Replace [(^)] with [Yahoo: $1]

$1 matches the first group used (we have only one group in this example). And ^ matches the beginning of the expression.

Source: [http://discuss.pipes.yahoo.com/Message_Boards_for_Pipes/threadview?m=te&bn=pip-DeveloperHelp&tid=4840&mid=4840&tof=1&frt=2#4840]RegEx documentation started]

**Postfixing something**

And to suffix something, you’d use a $ instead of the ^.

* Replace [($)] with [Yahoo: $1]

Source: [http://discuss.pipes.yahoo.com/Message_Boards_for_Pipes/threadview?m=te&bn=pip-DeveloperHelp&tid=4840&mid=4840&tof=1&frt=2#4840 RegEx documentation started]

**Translating dates**

What, if you want to change a date of format mm/dd/yy to the ISO equivalent of yyyy-mm-dd ? You could use an expression like this one:

* Replace [(\\d\\d)\\/(\\d\\d)\\/(\\d\\d)] with [20$3-$1-$2]

Here, we have three groups. In the result, I also prefix a “20″ as the year was specified only with two digits.

**Convert to Uppercase**

Also from a [http://discuss.pipes.yahoo.com/Message_Boards_for_Pipes/threadview?m=te&bn=pip-DeveloperHelp&tid=4349&mid=4349&tof=159&frt=2#4349 Yahoo Pipes Discussion]. You can use the \\U flag to convert something to uppercase. For example

* replace [(.*)] with [\\U$1]

**Convert to Lowercase**

No surprise here, you can use the \\L flag to convert something to lowercase

* replace [(.*)] with [\\L$1]

**from a text file online

The short: I didn’t hear anything from the Twitter folks until I posted on GetSatisfaction.com, a public customer service website where twitter has a presence. Within a couple days I was miraculously back in the timeline. Kudos to services like GS. Here’s the link to the thread at GS: http://cli.gs/6LyL2j

When I was finally contacted by Twitter, I received an email from them. They didn’t reply to the thread at GS. Twitter claimed I was reported as a “spammer” and it took them over a month to “research” whether or not I was a spammer. So, either a.) it’s all B.S. and people in the Twitter San Francisco HQ are sympathetic to liberal causes, will censor you, and then will drag their heels to resolve an issue like this until you make your grievance public or b.) Twitter’s system is easily gamed, whereby if enough people block you, you get blacklisted and then Twitter’s support will…drag their heels to resolve an issue like this. I mean, we’re talking about people living and working in San Francisco. It’s not really a bastion of conservative thinking in NorCal is it? Sure, have a good laugh at the conservatives being censored, right?

What prompted me to post a followup today was the fact that I just received an @ reply on Twitter from Michael Johns (@michaeljohns), a former speechwriter for George H.W. Bush, in which Johns states that he’s missing from the timeline. This happened shortly after Micheal called out Barack Obama publicly on Twitter for lying. Here’s the link to all of Michael’s tweets in Twitter’s search index: http://search.twitter.com/search?from=michaeljohns You see, there are only a few tweets in the public timeline out of his 65 ( the # at the time of this writing) tweets.

I’m going to recommend that Michael piggyback on my thread at GS and post a description of his problem publicly. I’d encourage any other conservatives to do the same if they find themselves in the same situation of being censored, either by “bug”, happenstance, or intent.

“He who controls the news controls the views.”

Twitter, you need to get this corrected ASAP. It’s really starting to look suspect – even if it isn’t. #fail