Government Registration Of Bloggers?

Well, we knew the day had to come when they would require us to register for one thing or another, but who would have thought it would be for exercising our right to speak freely? Politicians are posed to pass Senate Bill 1, (go figure that this particular piece of crap would be the first thing they attempted to ramrod through) in an attempt to further muzzle free speech in this country. This particular bill would require bloggers who communicate with at least 500 people to register and make quarterly reports to the Congress. Those who choose to be refuseniks may well face fines and/or jail time.

“Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill currently before the Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to 500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to Congress the same as the big K Street lobbyists. Section 220 would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive intrusion on First Amendment rights ever. For the first time in history, critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself.

“The bill would require reporting of ‘paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying,’ but defines ‘paid’ merely as communications to 500 or more members of the public, with no other qualifiers.

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“On January 9, the Senate passed Amendment 7 to S. 1, to create criminal penalties, including up to one year in jail, if someone ‘knowingly and willingly fails to file or report.’
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While there is currently an amendment out there to remove section 220 from the bill, it should be noted that one of the bills sponsors is involved with that. Knowing politicians as we do I can only assume that he would rather see his bill passed than amended out of existence.

Those of us who belong to or are even on the mailing lists of an organisation which may lobby Congress will likely find ourselves behind the 8-ball on this one. And, lest some think this is solely the hideous stepchild of the leftists in Congress, I'd urge you to look at the list of co-sponsors. This crosses back and forth across the party lines in an almost orgiastic disregard for freedom, liberty and our rights. When you see both Trent Lott and Diane Feinstein on the same bill you know that there is truly no difference between the "two parties" and that you are well and truly screwed. Those so-called "libertarians" who think that siding with Republicans because "we" are more like them than the left had best check their premises.

Of course the Leftists have yet to raise a cry over this. Wonder what Kos and MoveOn think about this? Probably loving it, since it "can't possibly apply to them". Heh...maybe they should check their history books and call up the ghosts of some of their Marxist forefathers.

Will this be the final straw for libertarians and others? Doubtful, given the previous depredations foisted upon us. It'll likely be business as usual until people are hauled away to some Halliburton built kampf and most people won't even raise an eyebrow. Then again, bloggers may just surprise me and break out their torches, pitchforks and nooses. I'm not going to hold my breath, tho even if blue doesn't look all that bad on me. I wonder what colour star they'll make us wear?

UPDATE: Section 220 was amended out of existence by a Senate vote of 55-43 (all 43 were Democrats and were the "usual" suspects such as Kennedy, Biden, Rockefeller, Byrd, Boxer, Obama, Kerry, etc...). There is always a chance that the House could "re-invent" section 220 or that El Presidente' could add a signing statement to replace it. The government is unlikely to rest until the people who blog are reined in.


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Libertarian, Free Speech, Blogging, Senate Bill 1
Republicans, Democrats

To Switch Or Not To Switch?

Now that Blogger has come out of the beta period for the "new and improved" version of their site/operation I need to figure out whether to switch or not. One assumes that the switch will have to come at some point, regardless of my wishes on the matter. Have any of you who read here and use blogger made the switch? I'd really like to know if anyone has run into serious unresolved issues with the change. Losing links and having to redo even the few add-ons I have are truly unappealing to me. So...any ideas, comments or suggestions? Advantages? Disadvantages?

Given the limited amount of information Blogger gives in their "See What's New" tour I don't see huge advantages that outweigh the potential risk of losing things and the aggravation of repairing them. If I have a blog with a custom template (I am associated with one that does have a custom template) am I going to have issues that will require mental health duct tape? Inquiring minds really, really want to know.

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Blogger, Blogger Beta, Switching

Until It's One Of Their Own

Indianapolis is in the midst of a crime wave now that a State Senator was mugged, of course that didn't seem to be the case last year when there were over 190 homicides in that city. Suddenly it's a crime wave when a politician gets robbed at gun point, forget the average Joe and Jane on the street. Now their mayor is proposing new taxes to combat crime, but truly has no plan to tackle the actual crime problem. Imagine my surprise.

Most of the plan seems to hinge on paying off retiring cops pensions, which have been raided numerous times over the years apparently. That's unlikely to address anything but retired cop crime. Of course folks are all up in arms about crime now that the political criminals are going to reach into their pockets and extract more of their hard earned cash.

Here's my suggestion for reducing crime in Indianapolis. Open up a dozen more public firing ranges and encourage people to defend themselves. 'Fess up to the fact that cops are just history takers and have no legal or contractual obligation to protect people and move on from there. Indianapolis should become a "free gun zone", as opposed to a "gun free zone" which some "experts" would like it to be. Make it a city where the maximum number of people openly carry firearms as a true deterrent. Embrace the Atlanta Declaration and the 2nd Amendment as a way of life and watch crime plummet to unheard of lows. Start a discount gun program for seniors and low income families for self defence weaponry. Take the libertarian road, not the statist path.

Throwing more money into law enforcement, who will then use it to become "proactive" enforcers, will have no impact on crime. Some libertarians would contend that expanding police numbers and powers in the name of public safety is a justifiable function of government. I'm not one of them. Expanding the police state, as this country has done, has created an environment where crime flourishes. The "Wars On" have made crime a lucrative business for cop and criminal alike. There's no stake in reducing crime for police forces. As long as they are not liable for anything they can continue to scream for more money to fight the crime problem which never seems to get better. It's a vicious cycle. Less crime would mean less money. More crime means more money and at the end of the day it's all about the Benjamin's for the Thin Blue Line Gang. And power.

Arm the people of Indianapolis. Encourage ownership and open carrying of firearms so that they can do the job which people erroneously think should be done by the police. It's not the job of the police to protect people. Their task is to enforce the laws of the state and to attempt to solve crimes once they have happened. You are the first line of defence, folks, not the "public safety" people. All that will come of this is higher taxes, more police powers, less freedom and the same or more amounts of crime. There is no public safety where crime is concerned, only individual safety and that starts with us.

Technorati Tags:
Libertarian, Indianapolis, Crime, 2nd Amendment

Busy Little Statist Bees

Here it is, January 7th, 2007 and already the state politicians in Indiana are hard at work drafting new laws that will have far reaching effects for the people of the state in which I reside. I stopped in today to take a look at Mike Kole's blog, as I often do and 'lo and behold he had posted a link to information on what the locally elected thugs politicians were up to. No sooner did I get a look than I began to look outward from the local boys and girls clubs to see what was going on in Indiana.

Five days in and these people are already hard at work attempting to further complicate our lives. 179 Senate bills and 41 house bills have already been submitted and more will come along this week, (at least 2 or 3 of which are likely to be infringements on the 2nd Amendment). These new bills run the gamut of the political spectrum. At least two are bills to increase the minimum wage, up to at least $9/hr. One local politician, (a supposed liberal), wants to tie Selective Service registration to Drivers License renewal for 18 year olds. So much for Democrats being anti-war, eh?

At least two bills wish to make it a felony to spit on virtually anyone who is a minion of the state. They're calling it battery by body waste. Another bill wishes to lower the bar on what constitutes a "criminal gang" from 5 people to 3, (this sounds kind of familiar to me....maybe they'll just split the difference?). More pro-life "sex education" and interference. Two state Senators actually wish to make it a crime for a parent to give their child a glass of wine with dinner. How about making the State a victim which is due restitution for prosecuting criminal cases? One of the best, in my opinion is the bill which wants to make clerics of all legislators, the Governor and Lt. Governor, able to preside over marriages!

And there are so many more things they are wishing to do to us. We truly aren't safe when these people are "working". There are a couple that would be of some benefit to people. The one which would insure that people not be disarmed by anyone in an emergency, gun purchase records would no longer be sent to the State Police, lowering of the bar for annexation remonstrances and licensing people who actually know a subject to teach it. By and large, tho the vast majority of things which are going to come forth from these people are going to further erode liberty with their actions. Of course they don't care, they were elected to rule over the people in this state and they're going to damned well do it, regardless of the consequences.

What a way to start the New Year, eh?

Technorati Tags:
Libertarian, Politics, Indiana