Now for something completely different(from my "isolationist", "cowardly", "bs" ideas, according to sources who shall remain anonymous[;)])

I don't know if anybody has ever heard about this, but for some laws and regulations, like building codes, you can't get them from the state government. You have to PAY(usually an massive amount) to get it from a private company. Now this is stuff that if you don't follow you could go to jail for.

Well, finally, this got struck down. Read more:

[url]http://www.townhall.com/columnists/phyllisschlafly/ps20020702.shtml?Copyrights and the Constitution[/url]


EDITED BY THE EVIL RBAD TO FIX THE LINK [;)]
(GREAT news BTW!)

That is good news.

I have a part-time gig authoring software for college medical clinics, and the AMA charges significant fees to use their procedure and dianostic codes (CPT and ICD/9 codes). If you want to use them on a network, it can get very expensive.

It's a real rip off because the insurance companies and Medicare require that you use the codes, but you have to buy them from the AMA just so you can comply with the law.

AFAIK, the AMA still sells the codes, so I don't know if they heard the news (or care).

The "EVIL RBAD" should have fixed the link so that it would actually work in everyones' browsers:
[url]http://www.townhall.com/columnists/phyllisschlafly/ps20020702.shtml?Copyrights%20and%20the%20Constitution[/url]
[:p]