Hensarling-Paul "Bill" and Blog Freedom of Speech

Here is a moment that Liberals, Conservatives, people of all Religions, atheists and so on can and must rally behind. The Hensarling-Paul Bill we ensure Freedom to blog on politics without threat of being closed by a disgruntled government or candidate. The government already has made manipulated religion by monetary threat. Any 501c non-profit organization, whether it be Christian, Jewish, Mohammedan, Buddhist, charitable or whatever cannot allow the espousal of politcal causes from their pulpits. The consequences are not criminal, the government knows that would be unconstitutional. The consequences are the loss of IRS non-profit status from the government rendering contributions as non-deductible on the old tax form.

There are some politicians in Congress that have began to fear the Word of Mouth of Blogs. They wish to come as close as possible to bypassing Freedom of Speech and actually making it a crime that will result in a blog being shut down SIXTY DAYS prior to an election! This has the potential to affect every spectrum of thought on the Blogosphere.

Call your Congressman to KEEP the Internet FREE!

Below is the same pitch from conservative Gun Owners of America. Forget the Conservative or find your liberal contact info and contact your Congressman.
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U.S. House Will Vote Soon on Whether to Ditch John McCain's Internet Regulations

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
Wednesday, March 15, 2006

The U.S. House of Representatives will vote, as early as Thursday, onlegislation introduced by Texas Congressmen Jeb Hensarling and RonPaul. This bill (H.R. 1606) will exempt the Internet from regulationunder federal "electioneering" laws.

Unless the Hensarling-Paul bill is successful, many major blogs andweb sites could be shut down for 60 days before any general election-- and for 30 days prior to any primary -- making it much moredifficult for groups like Gun Owners of America to criticize
anti-guncandidates.

How did we arrive at such a dismal state?

You may remember that, a half-decade ago, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) pushed a McCain-Feingold bill which, as enacted, prohibitsorganizations from engaging in major "broadcast communications" whicheven mention a candidate in a favorable or unfavorable light within60 days of a general election (30 days of a primary).

Senate Republicans rolled over -- and George Bush signed the bill --based on the assumption that the Supreme Court would surely save themfrom their unconstitutional legislation. But, in McConnell v.Federal Election Commission, 540 U.S. 93 (2003), the Supreme Court,by a five-to-four decision, upheld McCain-Feingold, almost in its entirety.

To its enormous credit, the conservative Federal Election Commission(FEC), in the wake of the McConnell case, moved to narrowly interpretthe statute -- exempting the Internet entirely from McCain-Feingold.But in Shays v. Federal Election Commission, 337 F.Supp.2d 28 (D.C.,20004), a federal judge ordered the FEC to regulate the Internet.

The FEC is doing everything in its power to minimize the impact ofthe Shays ruling.

But, there is certainly a danger that, if Hensarling and Paul areunsuccessful in exempting the Internet from FEC regulation, manymajor blogs and web sites will be construed to be engaged in"electioneering communications" because they praise or criticizecandidates. And, if this happens, they could be shut down for 60days prior to an election -- or, at least, subject to a "gag rule" onwhat they are allowed to say.

ACTION: Contact your congressman. Ask him to vote for H.R. 1606, a bill to exempt the Internet from McCain-Feingold. Time is short, so please CALL rather than e-mail your representative. (You can use the sample text below to help direct your comments.) The toll-free number to call your representative is 877-762-8762. If you can't get through, the Capitol Switchboard number is 202-225-3121.

----- Sample phone text -----
The U.S. House of Representatives will soon vote on H.R. 1606, a bill by introduced by Texas Congressmen Jeb Hensarling and Ron Paul to exempt the Internet from regulation under federal "electioneering"laws.Unless the Hensarling-Paul bill is successful, many major blogs and web sites could be shut down for 60 days before any general election-- and for 30 days prior to any primary.
Please support H.R. 1606.