Senate Bill 1 (S. 1) 'Victory'

From the GOA:

Friday, January 19, 2007

Congratulations! You have, once again, whupped the anti-gun zealots!

As Constitution-hating senators like California's Dianne Feinstein whined and complained, the Senate -- by a narrow largely-party-line vote of 55-43 -- struck language which would have required GOA to monitor and report on its communications with its members and friends (like you).

GOA has heard reports that there was an outpouring of calls against this anti-speech language on Capitol Hill, and that it made a huge difference. In addition to the massive wave of grassroots opposition, GOA was also working in concert with key Hill players (many of them trained by GOA) to hammer out a legislative strategy that would either result in the death of the entire bill or, at a minimum, kill the dangerous Section 220.

The good news came late on Thursday night when the Bennett amendment-- which deleted this unconstitutional "grassroots lobbying" reporting language contained in S. 1 -- was adopted by the narrow margin mentioned above.

The war is not over. The House has yet to produce its bill in this area -- and no one is betting that the House will "do the right thing." But we have won what perhaps will be the most important battle.

My Hero

His name is Ed Brown. He was just on Fox News. He’s got “many” armed supporters with him barricaded in his home, but he’s talking to the press. He just said “somebody’s got to stand up to these government oppressors, and it’s going to start with me” or something like that. “Federal marshals have no plans to storm his home.” We’ll see how long that lasts. My guess is it’ll come down to a siege.

Oh, and the article I linked refers to his house as a "compound". That pretty much seals the deal.

Update on Senate Bill One (S.1)

It's not just the AFA that sees a problem with this. Here's what the GOA had to say (in an email to me:

"The legislation (S. 1) would regulate "grassroots lobbying" by requiring groups like us to monitor and report the amount of money we spend to exercise our First Amendment rights on behalf of gun ownership.
Suffice it to say that a government which can force us to monitor and report on our "grassroots" activity could just as easily force us to provide even more sensitive details of these efforts.
This could include demands for our membership list -- that is, attempts to get REGISTRATION lists of gun owners' names -- and the specifics of communications with our friends!!!"

ACTION: Contact your two Senators and ask them to support Senate Amendment #20 to S. 1. You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Senators a pre-written e-mail message. And, you can call your Senators toll-free at 1-877-762-8762.
---- Pre-written letter to your Senators ----
Dear Senator:
S. 1 is an effort to intimidate organizations, like Gun Owners of America, that work with members and friends to encourage Congress to support the Second Amendment. Thankfully, Senators McConnell and Bennett are offering Senate Amendment #20 -- to be voted on later this week -- that will knock Section 220 out of S. 1.
I urge you to support that amendment. And if the amendment is defeated, then I would strongly urge you to oppose the underlying bill. Gun Owners of America will be rating both of these votes.
Just as the Second Amendment guarantees our right to keep and bear arms, the First Amendment protects our rights to petition the government for redress of grievances. And the power to regulate and monitor our grassroots activities on behalf of gun ownership is, ultimately, the power to destroy those rights.
Please know that this is as much a Second Amendment issue as direct efforts to seize our guns from our hands.
Sincerely,

A nice church to visit

We are a congregation which is Unashamedly White and Unapologetically Christian... Our roots in the White religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a White worship service and ministries which address the White Community.

Trinity United Church of Christ adopted the White Value System written by the Manford Byrd Recognition Committee chaired by Vallmer Jordan in 1981. We believe in the following 12 precepts and covenantal statements. These White Ethics must be taught and exemplified in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Whites are gathered. They must reflect on the following concepts:

1. Commitment to God
2. Commitment to the White Community
3. Commitment to the White Family
4. Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
5. Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence
6. Adherence to the White Work Ethic
7. Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
8. Disavowal of the Pursuit of "Middleclassness"
9. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the White Community
10. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting White Institutions
11. Pledge allegiance to all White leadership who espouse and embrace the White Value System
12. Personal commitment to embracement of the White Value System.

Actually, that's Barack Obama's church. Oh, and I replaced "black" with "white". Think anybody with a "white" church like that could ever get elected?

Update:
Just made the title a link to the church's website.

For what it's worth

For reasons unknown, I happened to listen to Dobson on the way to work this morning. He was pissed. Mind you, I normally take the upsettedness of the AFA with a grain of salt, because I find them just as likely to advocate government intervention as freedom, but this morning's alarm was different.

He's pissed about Senate Bill number one (S.1). He and his panel agreed that it was unclear as to how the bill might be applied, but when a bill is unclear you can expect the feds will use it to take as much power as they possibly can. Okay, okay, what's it all about?

Well, according to Dobson and co., there's a provision in this "ethics reform" bill that will require groups like the AFA (and likely NRA, GOA, JPFO, and a host of other grass-roots organizers) to report quarterly any contact with its members on the subject of pending legislation (be it email alerts, speeches, radio shows, whatever). What it amounts to (according to Jim) is a muzzle on groups who specialize in mobilizing regular folks to call their congresscritters. So much for free speech. So much for keeping track of what's going on on the Hill.

I looked at the text, and had a hard time making a lot of sense of it because it's a lot of "replace this with that" and I couldn't find the revised code all put together.

So, if Dobson's alarm is valid (and I certainly wouldn't put it past the Senate), the ol' bus analogy may prove true. The Democrats have been revving the engine, and with their first bill they're going to dump the clutch. Buckle up, cause this buss is headed for trouble.

What to think

For reasons unknown, I happened to listen to Dobson on the way to work this morning. He was pissed. Mind you, I normally take the upsettedness of the AFA with a grain of salt, because I find them just as likely to advocate government intervention as freedom, but this morning's alarm was different.

He's pissed about Senate Bill number one (S.1). He and his panel agreed that it was unclear as to how the bill might be applied, but when a bill is unclear you can expect the feds will use it to take as much power as they possibly can. Okay, okay, what's it all about?

Well, according to Dobson and co., there's a provision in this "ethics reform" bill that will require groups like the AFA (and likely NRA, GOA, JPFO, and a host of other grass-roots organizers) to report quarterly any contact with its members on the subject of pending legislation (be it email alerts, speeches, radio shows, whatever). What it amounts to (according to Jim) is a muzzle on groups who specialize in mobilizing regular folks to call their congresscritters. So much for free speech. So much for keeping track of what's going on on the Hill.

I looked at the text, and had a hard time making a lot of sense of it because it's a lot of "replace this with that" and I couldn't find the revised code all put together.

So, if Dobson's alarm is valid (and I certainly wouldn't put it past the Senate), the ol' bus analogy may prove true. The Democrats have been revving the engine, and with their first bill they're going to dump the clutch. Buckle up, cause this buss is headed for trouble.