Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act of 2007 (H.R. 643/S. 638)

The Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act would allow tax-deductible charitable contributions given to educational foundations (such as the national educational foundations for fraternities and sororities) to be used to make improvements to housing owned and operated for the benefit of college students. This bill would make it substantially easier for students nationwide to raise the money needed to install critical life-safety improvements in student housing, expand housing capacity, and otherwise modernize the housing students are delegated to.

This one should be a no-brainer.

Sub-contracting Laws Need a Fix

Apparently, if you hire a contractor to do home improvement and he sub-contracts out the work, and then doesn't pay those sub-contractors, you are liable for paying them instead of the contractor, the Consumerist reported yesterday.

Sounds like we need to plug this loophole with a new law...

Payday loans victimize the neediest

The Center for Responsible Lending, a Washington, D.C.-based non-partisan research and policy organization recently announced that "predatory payday lending now costs American families $4.2 billion a year in excessive fees ... eleven states ban payday lending and as a result they saved their citizens a total of $1.4 billion."

I call on our representatives here in Kentucky to join those eleven other states in banning these businesses that harm our citizens and our economy.

Source

Poor Standardized Test Questions

This question is a practice question for the ERB (fourth-grade standardized) tests in America:

Sara wants to measure how much applesauce she made this fall. If she uses metric, which unit should she use?

A) gram
B) liter
C) kilogram
D) centimeter

See the discussion here on just how bad of a question this is. It really reflects poorly on how good of an understanding even the writer has of the SI system of measurement (which has been taught in the US since the passage of the Education Amendments in 1974).

Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act of 2007

Passage of the "Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act of 2007" will eliminate the threat of unfair and discriminatory taxes that would limit the consumer choice, delay innovation, and prevent some from accessing the Internet.

You Can Make a Difference Today! Urge your elected officials in Washington to Keep Access Taxes Off of the Internet by Supporting the "Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act of 2007".