Without a central authority, even this is dangerous: simply print out a fake card with a fake phone number on it. [wish I cared enough to inveigh for or against bitcoin or ssl at this point.]

I propose that a control group would have to be one of children that have not built up a tolerance to refined sugars, and that such a control group is nearly impossible to find in the US today.

Or a decade ago: http://m.slashdot.org/story/18188

The anger and misogyny in your post is getting in the way of communicating the (in my opinion accurate and justified) content of your message.

I can't believe I typed that poorly on a full sized keyboard. *hangs head in shame*

1. Possibly. How big and rich is the district? (Okay, turns out I was born there. Median income $70k with 600k people...)
2. We own those air waves. We should not relinquish that.
3. Posted in the government section and meeting pretty much all of the criteria in the FAQ (well, certainly not neutral.) Other than broadcast media being a little on the old-guard for technology, I think this is reasonable.

There are ample peer reviewed studies showing that doctors medical decisions are influenced by things as simple as free dug samples for their patients. "Just take the money" is a very bad idea.

(Here's one of those studies, for example: http://baywood.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,9,13;journal,49,167;linkingpublicationresults,1:300313,1 )

If the argument is that tracking users furthers commerce and getting in the way of it is Luddite, shouldn't they start by railing against the evils of cash?

This is just funny. I think "If you think that ANYONE has the right to harrass and intimidate people, for any reason, you are a complete fuckwad" is a wonderfully self-referential phrase that should not soon be forgotten.

While I'm no fan of Jack Thompson, I'm suddenly a little scared of the CAN-SPAM act. It's one thing for an elected official to stop accepting my calls, return my mail unread, and filter my email into the trash. It's another, much scarier, thing for that official to threaten me with fines and imprisonment for trying to influence legislation in the most accessible method available. We're not talking about fraud or bribery here, just annoying, obnoxious, and protected speech.