Posted on 01/13/2007 9:14:29 AM PST by joanie-f
Edited on 01/13/2007 10:59:19 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
It was nearly 4 AM when I wrote this, and I was suffering from a spate of insomnia. It’s hard to sleep when you’re spitting nails. You probably are too, or soon will be …
See if you can wrap your mind around the latest travesty that is seeking to pass itself off as Constitutional legislation. I’ve been having a lot of trouble absorbing the extent of the evil embodied in the democrats’ most recent assault on my, and your, inalienable rights. My mind prefers to be in a state of denial about this one. Accepting it would be tantamount to an admission that I no longer wield any power at all in the political arena, and that the final nail has been driven into the coffin of government ‘of, by and for the people’.
As if the McCain-Feingold ‘Campaign Finance Reform’ bill weren’t a despicable enough example of the left’s determination to suppress the voice of the average citizen in the political process, the new democrat-controlled senate has introduced yet another assault on the First Amendment -- at least that portion of it that guarantees free speech to the average citizen, and those grassroots organizations that attempt to work in his behalf. As is generally the case, the big guys are exempt from the chains that are being prescribed for you and me.
The ‘grassroots lobbying’ section of newly introduced U.S. Senate Bill 1 (Section 220) contains burdensome reporting requirements, mandatory on a quarterly basis, for just the kinds of grassroots groups that have organized to look out for you and me. And there are civil fines of up to $100,000 if they fail to comply with the new federal dictates.
Under Senate Bill 1, any grassroots lobbying organization -- i.e., again, most of the groups that you and I support, and to whom we look for information that the media choose not to publicize or disclose -- would have to report the issues, the names and specifics of their employees, and how much they spend on what is called ‘paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying’ (note that the vagueness of that particular phrase is cavernous).
The groups affected are defined as ‘any organizations that encourage five hundred or more members of the general public to contact Congress’ (*gasp!* -- we can’t have the American people contacting Congress! That would lead to the dreaded ‘A-word’ – accountability).
This massive and burdensome reporting requirement will kick in if the organization plans to do one of two things: (1) request a face-to-face or written communication, regarding a question or concern about public policy, with someone in the executive or legislative branch, or (2) encourage citizens to contact the executive or legislative branch (again, ‘encouraging’ is not defined, so the wording leaves significant room for interpretation by those on the Hill, and their buddies in the judiciary, who want to silence any opposition, or any group that seeks to make public what is going on within the walls of the senate, house, or the administration).
There is no minimum dollar spending floor. Any grassroots organization that attempts to arouse the citizenry to thought or action, or merely seeks to inform, will be expected to jump through a myriad of expensive and time-consuming bureaucratic hoops -- so many of them that a significant number of these groups will become severely financially strained. They will be forced to keep detailed records of expenditures on informing the public about any issue: their consulting fees, printing or broadcast/telecast costs, postage, advertising, personnel, etc.
Obviously, the cost of meeting these bureaucratic regulations will be prohibitive. And that is precisely the reason for this proposed legislation: to keep you and me from learning those tyrannical, unconstitutional legislative travesties of which the 'powers that be' would prefer we remain ignorant.
Perhaps the unkindest cut of all is contained in the fact that the bill makes broad exemptions for larger, organized groups who employ paid lobbyists – those who don’t rely primarily on grassroots communication to get their messages out (i.e., unions, large corporations, etc.) The Teamsters, the NEA, AARP, moveon.org, and other leftist ‘membership’ groups will not fall under the bill’s bureaucratic mandates.
Ain’t that convenient for those in ‘leadership’ positions who believe the Constitution is outmoded – i.e., would-be tyrants, one-world agenda adherents, and elitists?
This offensive bill was introduced by Harry Reid along with seventeen co-conspirators, three of them 'republicans':
Sen Robert Bennett [R-UT]
Sen Sherrod Brown [D-OH]
Sen Maria Cantwell [D-WA]
Sen Susan Collins [RINO-ME]
Sen Dick ‘Our Troops are Nazis’ Durbin [D-IL]
Sen Diane ‘Not-So’ Feinstein [D-CA]
Sen Frank Lautenberg[D-NJ]
Sen Patrick ‘Leakin’ Leahy [D-VT]
Sen Joe Lieberman [D-CT]
Sen ‘Traitor’ Lott [R-MS]
Sen Mitch McConnell [R-KY]
Sen Robert Menendez [D-NJ]
Sen Barbara Mikulski [D-MD]
Sen Ken Salazar [D-CO]
Sen ‘Chuckie’ Schumer[D-NY]
Sen Debbie Stabenow [D-MI]
Sen Jim ‘Porn Writer’ Webb [D-VA]
I would suggest that we all also call or e-mail our own senators and voice our outrage, but it will take a major activist movement to stop this particular steamroller. And, since most of the grassroots movements that will be suffocated (some of them even extinguished) under this bill came into being precisely because the media is failing to inform, you can bet that this particular bill will be kept under tight wraps by those very same media. Negligent journalism, at best – conspiratorial, more likely.
Welcome to Amerika.
P.S. An interesting side note, for anyone who may not be aware of it:
hy-po-cri-sy -- noun – insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have
Nancy Pelosi promised that an ‘ethics overhaul’ would top the agenda in the new congressional session. Well, the ‘Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007’ has just increased the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over the next two years. But ... oddly (or perhaps not so) ... the only exemption to the law is American Samoa. Why? Because StarKist Tuna is the largest employer on the island. And Starkist’s parent company, Del Monte Corporation, is headquartered in Nancy Pelosi’s district. Nancy appears to have a different definition of ‘ethical’ than the rest of us.
~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed
FYI, if you're not already aware of it.
Thanks. I know they plan on shutting any opposition down, but, I didn't know it went to that extent. I cry for my country's future and it pisses me off that I do.
Those who will not be constrained by the Constitution of the United States will not be constrained by anything.
If only the Democrats were the only ones who are led by constitutional morons.
I agree with your general point, EV, but they are not "constitutional morons." They just don't respect the document and are on a decades long crusade to bury it.
Good article. Thanks for writing it and posting it.
Great post, lass. I'm gonna use your links this afternoon when I can come up with the right scathing wording.
Boon we'll be forced to print handbills on manual printing presses in our basements under the threat of execution if caught.
Correction:Boon = Soon
I hope your well chosen words and style will create more interest in this most recent attack on our God given, Constitutinally guaranteed rights than has been previously shown. I won't be holding my breath gal.
Keep up the fight.
FGS
Clever; thanks for the chuckle...
Lott is a (R), although I agree he doesn't deserve the letter after his name...
I now thank God my pop is dead and never lived to see what's happening to the country he fought for, 'twice'.
Doing some further research into the sausage-making process at the Senate, it seems like Section 220 was added as an amendment to S.1 by Harry Reid on Jan 9th. He had the following co-sponsors, so the idea that the three republican co-conspirators weren't aware of Section 220 is now toast.
McConnell [R-KY], Feinstein [D-CA] Bennett [R-UT], Sen Lieberman [D-CT], Collins [R-ME], Obama [D-IL], Salazar [D-CO], and Durbin [D-IL].
The amendment was discussed on Jan 10th without a quorum present.
It was discussed again on the 11th, with a quorum this time, but after reading as much of the Congressional Record as I could stomach, I could find no discussion of Section 220 at all. My eyes glazed over while reading Robert "Sheets" Byrd's senile rant on the Iraq war, which somehow the old geezer managed to force the senate to listen to. I think everybody just wanted to go home at that point.
Then 43 democrats and three republicans (Lott, Voinovich, and Bennett) tried to table the amendments and summarily pass the bill. They were outvoted by 51-46. They tried again several times later that evening until senators drifted away to attend to more important matters (football game?) and a quorum was no longer present.
It was that close to passing with absolutely no discussion, folks...
~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed
Thanks for the alert. That is a typo, of course. Wish I could fix it. :(
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed site-bookmarked.
Bears repeating, and very careful consideration by those who are more interested in what Rosie and Donald are doing than in their own ability to voice their grievances.
Not really as far-fetched as some might think. Give it a few years.
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