Anyone who has the nerve to attack free speech in America and due process of law had better step down from public office. That’s all there is to it.
We Americans are “Lame” for just plain lying down and doing nothing but complain in writing on the Internet about the Thought Crimes Bill. As if complaining will do any good.
Let’s write the newspaper editors, give talking points* about the Thought Crimes Bill, and ask both Sen. Collins (who introduced the bill to the Senate) and Rep. Harmon (who drafted the bill and introduced it to the House) to step down.
Civil Rights Attorney Bruce Fein writes** that the bill was “voted” for under suspended rule in the House: The first amendment, said Nancy Pelosi, should not interfere with Congressional business. Oh my. So the bill was passed in an hour, 404-6, while 23 House members were out of town for a conference.
On that basis, it should be argued that this bill is not legally binding and neither is the so-called “vote” for it. It needs to be overturned based on “Foul play”.
I also want to report the results of a phone conversation I had with Aides at Rep. Harmon’s office:
I was explaining in a fact-based way what the concerns of the bill are. Guilt- by-association loopholes, the Government itself conducting hearings of American citizens. The Aide interrupted me: “You do realize that they conduct hearings all the time, and that many government panels do that?”
It seems that Americans are in need of basic civics education. As if the system of checks and balances, and the role of the judiciary in that system, is not basic to American law? I REALLY THINK OPEDNEWS SHOULD PLUG FOR THIS CAUSE, AS SHOULD WRITERS ON THIS FORUM.
Another Aide in Harmon’s office also interrupted me repeatedly, saying things like “ you do realize that the Commission will only study terrrorism” and “you have to be aware of the spirit of this bill”.
Both Aides at Rep. Jane Harmon's office who I spoke with interrupted me, argued with me, and while they said they would pass my comments on their tone of voice indicated that they would do nothing of the kind. And I had not even been rude to them or insolent of the Congresspeople. I was merely presenting facts. I had not even raised my voice.
But after the second Aide made the lame excuse that Government panels conduct hearings all the time, and I said that was unconstitutional, I did tell him that he was not “The Decider”, that I pay taxes to fund his salary, and he’d better report back to Jane Harmon because it was his job to represent the people, not his own will. I did raise my voice and he hung up on me.
It’s understandable that people become frustrated but in a job such as a Congressional Aide’s position, they’d better be able to take some heat. And I gave him very little of it. Are those Aides asked by Harmon to block input?
We've got to remind Congressional Aides that their job is to be liason to the American people, not to "serve their master". We PAY them: WE are their masters, not the Congresspeople they "work for" ! Maybe this is an important function for Opednews and citizens like us to undertake as an ongoing work?
Never do I want to see America getting to the point that it was behind the Iron Curtain, in which it was dangerous to even breathe the word “government” in public, and sometimes even one’s own living room was tapped. My sister said the fatal g-word, in a public café, and our friends jumped all over her: “SSSSHHHHHH!!!!”
If Americans can now be dubbed “terrorists” for “facilitating” homegrown terrorism and violently radicalized violent acts against the USA (which rarely exist anyway---and they can claim anything they want), then such is the state of affairs to be “facilitated” by this bill. If infiltrators will be stomping our college grounds and making “recommendations” to the government, then that too will be a call for the big “SSSSHHHHH!!!!” After all, the Patriot Act’s loose definition of “terrorist” and “terrorism” includes activists, religious and peace groups in its definition. And after all, there is no probable cause required for FBI arrests to occur, at the agent’s own whim.
Everybody: “SSSSHHHHH!!!”
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