Rhode Island Republican gubernatorial nominee Allan Fung released the first TV attack ad of the fall campaign this week taking aim at Democratic rival Gina Raimondo for supporting repayment of the 38 Studios bonds.

The ad describes Raimondo's support for paying back the bonds related to the 38 Studios deal as the taxpayers bailing out "Wall Street investors" who "took a risk and went bust." The ad also claims that Raimondo is "looking out for Wall Street, not Main Street."

While FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has put forth some interesting changes that he'd like to see rolled into the Open Internet Order of 2010, fellow Democratic commissioners are publicly calling for even stricter regulations on broadband and mobile providers.

The Providence Journal reports that Cumberland, Rhode Island mayor Daniel J. McKee has won a three-way Democratic primary race for lieutenant governor against the Rhode Island secretary of state A. Ralph Mollis and a State Rep. Frank G. Ferri who represents Warwick. McKee won just over 43 percent of votes, compared with 36 percent for Mollis and about 21 percent for State Rep. Frank G. Ferri. McKee will face Republican primary winner Catherine T.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler (PDF) Monday calling for a ban on "fast lanes" and urging the commission to regulate broadband companies like traditional phone companies (categorize them as "common carriers" under Title II of the Telecommunications Act).

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House technology subcommittee, is asking Reddit to "rebrand" net neutrality. The contest, found here, seeks to repackage and rename the concept of equal treatment for online content and to "bring some clarity to an otherwise muddy legal debate before the FCC finalizes its proposed open Internet rules."

Rhode Island lieutenant governor candidate Dan McKee (D) has vowed to launch an online petition later this week calling for an independent counsel to review at "arm's length" the failed 38 Studios deal.

The current Cumberland, Rhode Island mayor says this particular effort is an attempt to pressure elected officials to do more to get answers. McKee has been highly critical of current elected officials over their handling of the 38 Studios deal and subsequent investigations into it.

A new Senate bill may force lawmakers to agree to expand the reach of sales taxes on out-of-state retailers, or see the end of a law that forbids states and cities from imposing a tax on internet access. As the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, this choice for lawmakers is due to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s handling of a bill called the Internet Tax Freedom Act.

Republicans in California have been relatively quiet about a trio of Democratic state legislators who have been in the news this year for various unethical and illegal behavior - but, according to Fresno Bee, that may be about to change.

Republican leadership in the state have begun throwing around the names of certain lawmakers who have either been charged with a crime or convicted.

A new report from Libertarian publication Reason, "Millennials: The Politically Unclaimed Generation" (PDF) finds that a majority of young people it surveyed believe that government is "inefficient, abuses its power, and supports cronyism."

East Bay Express has an interesting article on a California Congressional race where votes for the National Security Agency's budget and the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) are taking center stage. Eric Swalwell (pictured, left), the current U.S. Representative of California's 15th District (D), is taking heat from his opponent Democratic State Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett.

An old colleague from San Francisco - now in a much higher office in California - has called for State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) to resign. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has joined the chorus of California lawmakers calling on the Senator that wrote the 2005 anti-video game law to step down for the good of the "institution" in which he currently holds a seat.

Did the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) spy on Senate staffers in an effort to stymie an investigation into illegal torture tactics being used by the agency during the Bush Administration? CIA Director John Brennan said that the agency does not spy on Congress and that such an allegation is beyond the scope of reason and simply not true.

Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota) has come out strongly against a proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable. In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, Sen. Franken said that there is already not enough competition in this [we assume he means broadband and cable television] space and this deal goes in the wrong direction. He also said that he is thinks this deal will increase cable prices and decreased the quality of service for Time Warner Cable customers.

A new attack ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) pays homage to the classic Nintendo light gun game Duck Hunt while assailing Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. The ad features the famous backdrop of the Duck Hunt game and displays ducks marked with various issues - such as Obamacare, energy, taxes, and 12,000 jobs for the Gulf Coast - that Sen. Landrieu "misses" on. At the end of the 41-second ad, a familiar dog laughs at all of the antics.

Representatives Anna G. Eshoo (CA), Rush Holt (NJ), Janice Schakowsky (IL) and Adam B. Schiff (CA) have written a "Dear Colleague" letter coming out strongly against the current version of CISPA, saying that the bill "has major shortcomings and would undermine the interests of citizens and their privacy."

While (most, not all) Republicans seems to largely embrace and support the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISP) sponsored by congressman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), Politico provides a ray of hope for those who oppose what rights groups are calling a slick "government surveillance" bill.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said that the National Rifle Association (NRA) and gun manufacturers are to blame for what she categorized as the "disconnect between the broad public support for gun control and the reluctance in Congress" to support legislation that would ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines." Feinstein made her comments at a gathering of about 500 people in San Francisco on Wednesday.

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) pounced on a New York Daily News report published on Monday about the investigation into Sandy Hook Elementary school shooter Adam Lanza. Rockefeller, who has long been a critic of video games has been pushing for a study on the impact of violent video games on children, said that most of the popular titles played in America contain “often obscene levels of violence."

Rockefeller also hinted that it might be time for something the government enjoys doing - some good old fashioned censorship:

The top executives of over 100 U.S.-based tech companies have sent a letter to President Barack Obama and U.S. lawmakers imploring them to reform immigration and address skill shortages by issuing more special visas so that talented individuals outside the U.S. can come here to work.

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA.) defended the call for more research related to the alleged effects of violent media on the youth of America as it relates to gun violence. Both Democrats and Republicans in both houses of Congress have been quick to pounce on violent media and gun control as issues that need to be addressed in the wake of the December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

Taking aim at Lamar Alexander's (R-Tenn.) seat in the United States Senate in the 2014 election, U.S. Senatorial candidate (D-Tenn.) Larry Crim says that the Senators recent comments about video games are just a political game to avoid tough questions. Crim, who filed federal papers this morning to oppose Alexander in 2014, was referring to the Senator's recent comments on MSNBC when he told Chuck Todd that "video games are a bigger problem than guns because video games affect people."

House lawmakers are criticizing federal prosecutors involved with the Aaron Swartz case, who killed himself in New York City after the U.S. Government refused to give the internet activist a plea deal. Earlier in the week the Justice Department officially dropped the case. Lawmakers blasted prosecutors for pushing aggressive hacking charges against Swartz, and vowed to look into the details of the case.

While Microsoft's presidential debate live stream had a lot of problems, apparently they were able to glean some data from the event. An Xbox Spokesperson tells IGN that Mitt Romney was declared the winner of the debate by the Xbox Live audience.

In an opinion piece on Politico, Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA.) and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA.) make the case for open internet policies. They open the opinion piece by noting that both political parties have some language paying homage to the concept of a "free and open Internet" and explain what it all means in terms of what is going on in Washington. You may remember that Congressman Issa was at the forefront of fighting against SOPA when it was in committee.

Like Republicans last week at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, Democrats are adding a new set of ideas to their national platform as they kick off their own convention this week in Charlotte, North Carolina: Internet Freedom. Of course, neither Democrats or Republicans believe in real Internet Freedom (you know, just leaving the Internet the way it is and not trying to regulate it).

Earlier this month we wrote a story on the President's re-election campaign invading Westport Connecticut to take part in a fundraiser hosted by movie producer Harvey Weinstein. We thought it was simply a bad case of timing for a number of reasons (it caused chaos in the city and because he was pushing hard for passage of the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 in the Senate).

Internet advocacy group Demand Progress launched a campaign this week to urge Democrats and Republican lawmakers to make a commitment - in writing - that they will protect internet freedom when creating new legislation and to make the issue part of their respective platforms.

Senators Frank Lautenberg (NJ), Barbara Boxer (CA), Jack Reed (RI), Bob Menendez (NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Schumer (NY) and Dianne Feinstein (CA) submitted an amendment to the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 which would limit real-world gun rights. The language intends to make ownership or transfer of magazines (and other ammunition-feeding devices capable of holding ten or more bullets) illegal.

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has launched a song online attacking U.S. President Barack Obama and urging supporters not to vote for him in November. The song and video on YouTube is called "Mr President" and offers dire warnings to U.S. voters about the President such as "don't vote for those who would take us back in time."

In another line from the song he says"what about free speech Mr President, what happened to change Mr President." 

Senate Democrats are tweaking their versions of cybersecurity legislation to gain more support from Republicans, according to a report from The Hill. The reason they are doing this, says the publication, is because they lack the 60 votes needed to bring the bill to the floor.