When they came to take away the guy uptown, I didn’t say anything. When they came for the guy up the street, I didn’t protest. When they came to get my neighbour, I was afraid to say a thing. When they came for me… it was too late!

Well, if Senate Bill #1959 passes that is. At least I’ll be in good company. If this statement is confusing to you let me give it to you straight. No bullshit. No intentional fear mongering at the expense of some defenseless bathroom stall-stalking republican. Not this time.

Senate Bill #1959 or “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007″ is yet another stab in the heart of free speech as we know it today.

HOMEGROWN TERRORISM- The term `homegrown terrorism’ means the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

While the passage above from the actual bill sounds pretty much directed at the Molotov-cocktail-throwing-radical types, the actual bill itself is vague enough to be a legitimate threat to ANYONE who might attempt to impose their belief system on another individual. An example might be someone suggesting on a blog or email that you contact your senator’s and voice your opposition to Bill 1959.

Here are the phone numbers for the U.S. Senate switchboard:

1-877-851-6437
1-800-833-6354
1-888-355-3588
1-866-220-0044
1-866-808-0065
1-877-762-8762
1-866-340-9281
1-800-862-5530

And do us all a favor and be sure you know who your Senators are (Washington State = Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell) before you call. You won’t get a Senator on the line (although that has happened at times) but you can leave a message voicing your opposition to S. 1959. You can also write a letter. You can also tell your friends to do the same thing.

Or you can do nothing. That way you can be sure that the sources of information you have access to now will be disabled, and the authors of that information are jailed for utilizing the 1st Amendment. Remember the 1st Amendment? Well take a long last look because it’s days are numbered.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 7:20 pm and is filed under Bullshit, Cherrybombed, Culture, Politrics, Seattle, Subliminal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.