Or Forever Hold Your Peace

Will America Emulate China?

I thought it might be prudent to get this piece out before Attorney General Eric Holder has the power to flip the switch on Sanity Sentinel and ban all of my content. Once AG Holder has that power, he may determine that the links, videos and photographs contained on this site constitute "copyright infringement", and I will be silenced.

Welcome to 21st century America and the era of Obama's Hope and Change. It is rapidly becoming a barren, lugubrious wasteland reminiscent of our worst nuclear-winter nightmares, a once gloriously free and industrious land choked into moribundity by the Progressive Socialist stranglehold. I'm reminded of an old Polaroid that was never properly protected by the felt roller, discovered decades later in the bottom of a drawer, once a colorful, cherished memory now reduced to an ashen image of the past.

So many societies have historically experimented with the philosophy of totalitarianism masquerading as compassion - and failed miserably - that we should know better than to keep trying, but the powerful are a stubborn lot. Then again, the powerful never understood the pain of what they had wrought until they lost. Expend no sympathy on their behalf, however, because whatever they experienced at the end was nothing compared to the devastation left in their wakes.

A few days ago a bill flew through the Senate Judiciary Committee with no resistance, passing unanimously. That bill was the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), and what it will do is to give the United States Attorney General the ability to shut down any website he deems to be in violation of this bill. He will have the authority to simply turn off any website on a whim.

COICA is ostensibly designed to protect Hollywood, music and media from piracy, but it's language is much broader than simply trying to prevent theft of copyrighted material. Yes, the AG will need to obtain a court order before acting, but the parameters for enforcement are so expansive that virtually any site he visits may suffer censorship and banishment. If copyright infringement is deemed to be "central to the site's activity", it will meet the criterion for action.

The chilling aspect of this is, even hyper links to another website may be considered grounds for termination, even if there has been no "crime" committed. For a good example, take a look at The Drudge Report. (Oops, I just did it!)

Matt Drudge's site is hugely popular, generating over nine billion hits in the past year. But his site is nothing more than a news aggregate source, consisting of nothing but links. While he has broken no laws, and while he has not been to sued to the best of my knowledge, it stands to reason that his site would be the first casualty of Lord Holder's reign.

 The good news is that the bill will not go before both full houses for a vote until next year, supposedly. One would think that in the new session of Congress, passage of such a thing would have little chance of success. But just the very idea that our government is even considering placing that sort of power in one man's hands is startling, at best.

Combined with elected officials openly calling for the shutting down of information television and radio stations, this is precisely the sort of thing that we the people must be ever vigilant against. We now live in a country built on freedom and personal responsibility that has been reduced to a government prison. They are taking our property, seizing our finances, and controlling our diets and habits. Now they are attempting to remove our ability to know about it.

The Tea Party movement probably never would have happened without the free flow of information. I maintain that that is exactly the reasoning behind these tactics by the government. If they can isolate us and silence us, we are lost forever. We simply cannot allow that to happen.

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Death Of A Salesman

The federal government is at it again. The Federal Trade Commission is currently reviewing online advertising practices and is eyeing measures that could have a chilling effect on the methods utilized by companies hawking products on the Internet. Equally disturbing are the ramifications this could have for bloggers who assist in the promotion of advertising deemed "untruthful" by the FTC.

Before anyone begins cheering loudly at the prospect of a perceived reduction in spam banner ads, I beseech thee to consider once again the over-stepping by the federal government as originally intended by the founding fathers in regards to the constitution. While many of us roll our eyes at the ridiculous claims made by some of these advertisements, we must seriously weigh their demise against the perils of granting ever more far-reaching powers to Washington. Someday, someone will demand that the government silence you and when that happens, based on the current trajectory of seizure of power, there may be no one left to defend your right to speak.

The new guidelines being explored by the FTC do not target only the purveyors of products on the web, however. If enacted, these new rules will expose bloggers to litigation as well, and what is not yet clear is how far these rules will go. There are ads on this very blog and while I make no contribution as to their content, I could be held liable for damages as a result of their products purchase and consumption if proved detrimental to the consumer.

Perhaps what is most troublesome about this whole affair is the assumption by government that people are too stupid to make judgements on their own behalf and, therefore, need protection from their own decisions. In other words, if someone sees an ad promising that "these new and improved wax wings will enable you to fly like a bird, GUARANTEED!", and that person plunges to their death from the roof of a high rise urban building, the seller and the blogger will both be open to lawsuits by surviving members of the idiot's family. Worse yet is the prospect that someone may post something similar - fully intended as satire - and still be subject to suit.

It is so ironic that politicians in D.C. seem to be moving toward a truth-only society with severe consequences for violations. Irony epitomized, I might add. But I am reminded of the old west travellers who sold their wares and potions along any road or in any town that they felt would yield the greatest sales. Most people knew that the promises were baseless but there were always enough folks in each town to sustain the salesman.

Shame on all those who actually purchased magic elixer from the snake-oil salesman of old, bravo to those who dismissed him with a wave of the hand and a hearty guffaw, but kudos to all who were still free to make that choice on their own. That was America, land of the free. I don't know what we will call her a few years from now. Slayer of free enterprise works for me.

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Why The Pendulum Will Swing In 2010

Remember when health care for all was the mantra of the left, a rallying cry for wanna-be socialists to grab the wheel of America's helm and yank hard to port? Remember how cruel was George W. Bush and every republican in elected life for ignoring the needs of a grossly misreported figure of 47 million "uninsured" Americans? Well, that will soon be fixed by the democrats and the new president's administration.

As part of the stimulus plan just passed by the senate by a vote of 61-37, health care - as envisioned by none other than Tom Daschle - plays a large role, but it's not the all-inclusive version that many wailing liberals had in mind. Betsy McCaughey - New York's Lieutenant Governor under George Pataki - had an excellent article in Bloomberg News on Monday. In it she writes:

Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.

Bearing the brunt means that the federal government may decide that a 75 year-old person may be denied an MRI, e.g., because they may not live long enough to be a cost-effective investment. The language of the rules is more vague than that, however, but basically says that the Government will be making decisions based on the value of treatment on the basis of length of benefit.

That is why the elderly will be susceptible to rejection, but what of someone who is young and with a disease that will curtail longevity, but not kill immediately, who contracts another, more treatable disease? According to McCaughey's assessment of the rules, that person may face rejection purely on a cost basis.

So the plans before us now have everyone "covered", but it doesn't mean they'll get treatment. Sure, they may save a bundle on premiums, but they may not live long enough to enjoy the savings. Sorry.

Today, the stock market was performing blandly despite Obama's speech the night before, but shortly after his new Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, began to speak, the market plunged and closed down 382 points on the day. Following on the heels of the worst January performance in the history of a new presidency, a pattern begins to emerge. The "stimulus package" is destined to fail, and Wall Street hates it.

53% of Americans who voted for Obama also got their first real glimpse of his extemporaneous oratory skills last night. He has only been our president for about three weeks, but people are going to become disillusioned with him rather quickly. Couple that with the behavior of the members of congress who run the show now, and the apparent resurgence of the republican party under Michael Steele's leadership, and as long as we survive the next two years, there will be figurative blood-bath come the elections of 2010. People opposed to what has been either attempted or accomplished will surge to the polls. People who invested all their hope in Obama will be raging in dissapointment, and the decreased "middle-of-the-roaders" will have to wait to see what is offered up on election day.

Anyone standing to the right of center on that day, staring idly at the clouds, had better pay attention because that pendulum will be swinging fast; fast enough to cause bodily injury that may not be immediately treatable unless republicans can undo the damage done by democrats quickly.

And they had better remember to vote this time around.

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