Quotes

"Fascism and communism both promise "social welfare," "social justice," and "fairness" to justify authoritarian means and extensive arbitrary and discretionary governmental powers." - F. A. Hayek"

"Life is a Bungling process and in no way educational." in James M. Cain

Jean Giraudoux who first said, “Only the mediocre are always at their best.”

If you have ten thousand regulations, you destroy all respect for the law. Sir Winston Churchill

"summum ius summa iniuria" ("More laws, more injustice.") Cicero

As Christopher Hitchens once put it, “The essence of tyranny is not iron law; it is capricious law.”

"Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." Ronald Reagan

"Law is where you buy it." Raymond Chandler

"Why did God make so many damn fools and Democrats?" Clarence Day

"If I feel like feeding squirrels to the nuts, this is the place for it." - Cluny Brown

"Oh, pshaw! When yu' can't have what you choose, yu' just choose what you have." Owen Wister "The Virginian"

Oscar Wilde said about the death scene in Little Nell, you would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh.

Thomas More's definition of government as "a conspiracy of rich men procuring their own commodities under the name and title of a commonwealth.” ~ Winston S. Churchill, A History of the English Speaking Peoples

“Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.” ~ Jonathon Swift

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Bet they wished they could do it to private guns and Kindle Books too! Zombie internet 'kill switch' bill back to haunt the Senate

Zombie internet 'kill switch' bill back to haunt the Senate | Andrew Ian Dodge | Opinion Zone | Washington Examiner

Reminding free speech advocates and libertarians that bad bills are like zombies in DC, the “internet kill switch” will be revived in the Senate. Still sponsored by Maine Sen. Collins and Sen. Lieberman, the Sen. Snowe supported bill has been revised and will presented once more.

Cnet reports on the “improved” bill. But first we need a bit of history.

"A draft Senate proposal that CNET obtained in August 2009 authorized the White House to "declare a cybersecurity emergency," and another from Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) would have explicitly given the government the power to "order the disconnection" of certain networks or Web sites. House Democrats have taken a similar approach in their own proposals.”

As The Hill pointed out when this idea was first proposed. Those in support of the bill bawk at calling it a “kill switch” and think its merely a clarification.

“At the heart of the issue is whether the president already has the authority to intervene in private-sector networks in the event of such an emergency. Collins and other supporters of the bill contend the president has had that authority for some time under a little-known provision of the Communications Act passed one month after the December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor."

Some might question this wisdom of the timing of such an idea considering the fact that Egypt has just shut off the internet (and mobile phones) in order to aid in their crackdown on street protests. Tea party and other activists will see this as hint of what could happen here with an over-zealous President. HuffPo reports the following.

“Internet and cell-phone services were disrupted across Egypt starting overnight and throughout the day as authorities used extreme measures to hamper protesters from organizing the mass rallies called after Friday prayers.“...

What should be most concerning is that this “kill switch” is being proposed and is backed by two Republican Senators. No doubt freedom and liberty activists country-wide will be melting the phones when this hits the Senate floor again.