Obama's Proposed Reg. Czar Would Like E-mail Control

Just yesterday I posted a link to an article claiming that Pres. Obama would like more control over the Internet. It looks like his proposed Regulatory Czar, Cass Sunstein, would like control over your e-mails too. That's right America. According to WorldNetDaily, he would like to check your e-mails to make sure they are civil. If not, you will receive a warning asking if you want to continue. If you do, Mr. Sunstein thinks you should have to wait 24 hours to send it so that you can cool down. And the intrusion into your private life doesn't end there. He wants us bloggers to submit to a "fairness doctrine" where we post not only our opinions but also the opinions of those who disagree. Oh, and non-profits like National Right to Life for example should be forced to link to Planned Parenthood (or some other abortion promoting site).

On other issues, Mr. Sunstein is equally anti-freedom. For example, he claimed in 2007 that hunting should be banned in America. He also thinks that the second amendment has nothing to do with the individual right to bear arms. HELLO! I thought that was the whole point.

He is also something of an animal rights extremist claiming that animals should not even be used in the entertainment industry and agriculture.

God help us if this man is given any position of power.

Hate Crimes Bill

The House and Senate are poised to pass the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. It is HR 1913. This bill adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of attributes that qualify for "hate crime" penalties. It seems very innocuous, but in other countries this has lead to mere words being hate crimes. If this passes, it will be a great challenge for the church. Will our leaders be willing to go to jail for speaking the truth about homosexuality? The bill could be law in as little as two weeks. I also think that hate crimes laws are poor legislation because they give penalties for thoughts. Other than self defense, does the reason for the crime really matter? If you hurt or kill someone, you deserve to be punished. And there are already libel and slander laws for written and spoken offenses. True justice is applying the law the same regardless of station, race, gender, etc. It is unjust for certain people to be counted as more important or valuable before the law.

Obama in Charge of Internet?

HT: Religious Freedom Coalition

It appears that a couple of Senators would like Pres. Obama to be in charge of the Internet and even the San Francisco Chronicle thinks it is a bad idea. Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. VA) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) have introduced the Cybersecruity Act of 2009. It is SB773. Here is a quote from the Chronicle by James G. Lakely.

The bill's language also allows the commerce secretary to "access all relevant data" on those "critical" networks "without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access." The bill as currently written provides zero structural oversight over the proposed broad new executive branch powers.

I seem to recall people such as Sen. Rockefeller being troubled about granting such vaguely defined surveillance powers to President George W. Bush, even when targeted only at suspected terrorists in wartime. Yet Rockefeller said in a statement after introducing the bill, "We must protect our critical infrastructure at all costs - from our water to our electricity, to banking, traffic lights, and electronic health records. The list goes on."

If protecting America's "traffic lights" is on that list, it's an absurdly long one. Al Gore may take credit for inventing the Internet, but it does not belong to the federal government.

Good grief. Is there no end to where our government is willing to reach? This is a terrible, terrible idea.

Random Links

Here are some links to things that I found interesting over the past few days. I don't remember how I came upon them all hence the lack of hat tips on some items. Sorry.


Judge Andrew Napolitano's comments on the somewhat notorious “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment”. Here is a summary quote:

My guess is that the sentiments revealed in the report I read are the tip of an iceberg that the DHS would prefer to keep submerged until it needs to reveal it. This iceberg is the heavy-hand of government; a government with large and awful eyes, in whose heart there is no love for freedom, and on whose face there is no smile.

HT: Family Journey
This is a long, boring scientific document about the midwifery model of care being better than the medical model. The plain language summary is worth a read. To quote, "Midwife-led care was associated with several benefits for mothers and babies, and had no identified adverse effects." According to this the main circumstance that would make medical care desirable is if you go into labor 16 weeks (or more) early. The study was produced by the Cochrane Library.


Lacrae
I am not really big on hiphop. But I did like the lyrics of this song. If you are a fast listener, give it a whirl. The song is called "Don't Waste Your Life".




Another artist from the same label, has an interesting post about offending without remorse.


Mona Lisa Project

The ladies at Live Action have made another undercover video of the Planned Parenthood cover up of statutory rape. This time in Memphis, TN.





And last but not least, a man in the Netherlands has built a 1/2 scale Noah's ark. I had heard of this before, but had never seen pictures.

Rick Warren and Miss California

If you don't read Caffeinated Thoughts, I highly recommend it. Here is a link to a recent post comparing Rick Warren to Miss California. I must say bravo to Miss California. I am sure you have all heard about her stand for traditional marriage (though it might have cost her an earthly crown), but I thought I would post it just in case there is someone like me who doesn't watch TV.




She seems to fumble it slightly, but (considering the circumstances and how long she must have worked to get to this point) I think it is awesome that she chose to make the stand.

Walter Williams on Leaving the Union

Walter Williams wrote a column, "Parting Company". In it he answers the question, "Is it treasonous to suggest leaving the union?" (I guess Gov. Perry has come under fire for alluding to such.) He gives several examples from ratification documents that clearly show that the original states saw it within their rights to take back the powers they had given the general government. He also discusses intermediate actions that come shore to secession with this quote from Thomas Jefferson: "Whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force." He suggests that one response would be for a state to refuse to enforce a federal law that the state finds unconstitutional. He goes on to talk about the nature of compacts and how they give both sides the ability to interpret. So the states have as much right to interpret the Constitution as the federal government does. He ends the article with this quote:

Which is a more peaceful solution: one group of Americans seeking to impose their vision on others or simply parting company?

So is it ever preferrable for a state to dissolve the bonds between itself and the USA and go its own way? If so when?

And also, is it more our patriotic duty to follow the Constitution or follow the current laws? And what is the proper response when they confilct?

UPDATE:
Thanks to OneMom's question (see comments) I did some research and found that she was right. Gov. Perry's comment that caused a stir was from one of his TEA Party speeches.

Texas Closes Four San Antonio Planned Parenthood Locations

According to OneNewsNow, Texas has shut down four PP facilities in San Antonio for distributing abortion pills without a license. Because of this, some state lawmakers are trying to block PP's state funding. Apparently, Texas doesn't allow any location that provides an abortions to receive state funds. So now that they are not so sure if PP is being on the up and up about where they do abortions, legislators do not want them to get any money. That would be just awesome to me. For the moment, the unlicensed PP facilities are abiding by the cease and desist order. Praise God for a respite from the killing.

P. S. In the last year's budget, $917,483 went to the Planned Parenthood Trust of San Antonio and South Central Texas. That makes me want to go to another TEA party.