In today’s highly polarized world, anytime conservatives and liberals agree on anything other than perhaps the sun rises in the east and chocolate is very good, everyone should stand up and pay attention.
Today is a day we should stand up and pay attention because today conservatives and liberals agree on something.
What is it?
We agree that the two new laws Congress is considering are really bad ideas. They are the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and its counter part in the Senate, the PROTECT-IP act.
In fairness to those who support those acts, many in the entertainment industry, they do have a legitimate complaint. Many of them, from Hollywood moguls in LA to country songwriters in Nashville are loosing a lot of money to online piracy.
The Constitution provides that artists and inventors shall be allowed Copyrights and Patents for a limited time to enjoy the fruits of their labors.
None of us disagree with that.
Intellectual piracy should and must be stopped.
However, SOPA and Protect IP are not the answers. SOPA and Protect IP impose solutions that are worse than the problem. The proposed solutions include the ability for the Attorney General or even private individuals to sue and have a website “disappeared” before the website owner gets his day in court. No real level of proof is required for this. The possibilites for incompetence or even malicious action are unbelievable.
Not only that, services such as Mastercard, Visa and Paypal are directed to withhold payments to the website owner. For an owner of a small website, cutting off funds will destroy the business and deny them any opportunity to hire an attorney to try and save their business.
Liberals and conservatives have united in a rare show of political unity to say SOPA and PROTECT-IP are bad ideas. If you are looking for some of your favorite websites today, you can forget about it. Wikipedia is not there. Other sites have a front page with a blackout message today in opposition to SOPA and PROTECT-IP.
Much as we should fear the authorization to hold Americans indefinitely with NDAA, without a trial, we should also fear SOPA and PROTECT-IP. Giving the government the kind of power these bills do is a very bad idea, even if a President claims they will not use the power.
Please take a moment to call your Congressman and your Senators today! Tell them that SOPA and PROTECT-IP are bad ideas and strongly encourage them to vote against those bills. Encourage your Senators to support a filibuster in the Senate to stop PROTECT-IP.
Today, many Internet websites are doing a blackout to protest SOPA and PROTECT-IP. Fortunately it is only a protest today. We must fight and stop SOPA and PROTECT-IP to make certain this bad law never has the chance to blackout websites just because someone does not like the content of that website.
The Internet is the greatest advance in freedom of speech since the invention of the printing press. We cannot let a bad law kill freedom of speech.
Call your Congressman and Senators today.
Tags: Protect-IP, SOPA, STop, blackout, internet
Permalink Reply by Lynda Fox on They can spin this any way they want. It's stripping US of OUR rights. I'm proud of the sites that are speaking out on this....especially the Oath Keepers, who just announced that their site, also, would be dark for the day.
Permalink Reply by Thomas Angle on Darken sites will not stop this encroachment.
Permalink Reply by Abbe Allen on If only they would think before they act. There are laws to protect the world from perverts and there are copyright laws. Why not just enforce the existing laws and stop writing contradictory garbage!
Permalink Reply by OneCitizenOfTheRepublic on AMEN, and let's take it a step further...
God started mankind out with only 10 Commandments
Today, our government is trying to strike them from
every government building, every public loction.
“The more corrupt the state, the more laws it has.”
Tacitus, Roman historian
I think Tacitus was right!
I am pretty sure we would all be better off
if we just went back to following those 10!
Permalink Reply by Charles H. Sims on Abbe, I couldn't agree more. Enforcing current laws would fix the immigration problems, hand cuff DOJ, etc'
Permalink Reply by Thomas Angle on They are thinking. They are always thinking about how to more control us. An we are thinking they are not thinking.
Permalink Reply by Ray A. Gilmore on Amen !
Permalink Reply by M. V. Griffin on Right on.
Permalink Reply by Helen Simon on First Lamar messed up the Patents, and now Copyrights. The man thwarts creativity under the guise of protecting it, and it's time for Texas to send him home...after this, I betcha they will, I guaran-darn-tee-ya! Texans rock!
BTW, how'd you like Sarah saying for SCers to vote for your boy Newt last night? She was singing @ Haley, Bondi, foxnews, GOP, ~How ya like me now? How ya like me now?~ Think you're gonna' stick us w/ a moderate when we're screaming we don't want him? I say VOTE NEWT! ~How ya like me now?~
Permalink Reply by Vern Shotwell on Yep, Lamar is one of the bad ones. So is Corker. Our 2 RINO Senators here in Tennessee!
Where Do Your Members of Congress Stand on SOPA and PIP? Who gets campaign monies from the industries involved?
At present 80 supporters, 31 opponents!
Overview page at http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/
Then check your state. My state of Tennessee stinks! Serious RINO support.
Contact your Congressman and Senators. Tell them No to SOPA, Yes to Freedom of Speach!
© 2013 Created by Judson Phillips.
