Posted on 01/12/2007 11:18:34 AM PST by pctech
Hmmmmm, good point. I wonder if Dobson has seen this as well.
"I suspect it's because some of the Senators got their phone systems
in melt-down after Dobson put our an appeal earlier this week.
I can't remember the exact day (Tuesday?), but even though Dobson
and his co-host forgot to give out the phone number for calling
their Senators....
Dobson said a few days later that word had gotten back to him that
some of the Senate offices had their phone systems overloaded with
citizens calling in their displeasure with the censorship provision
of SB1."
Ahh, that makes sense. Thanx.
Thanks are due you also for bumping the Open Season video on another thread: I would not have come across it otherwise (;
bump!
Sorry for being ignorant - what'a a ninety-niner?
A FReeper who signed up in that year!
First Amendment bump!
BUMP!
Actually, Jim Robinson was the first to tell us about this, in his opening article of the first FReepathon Thread.
God bless you, Jim Robinson!
From the link (Jim Robinson's post):
"As a matter of fact, their immediate desire is to further clampdown on our rights to free speech and freedom of assembly. If you loved McCaine/Feingold, you're really going to love Pelosi. It's aimed directly at grassroots organizations and could all but neuter political forums like FR.
Under Pelosi, any grassroots organization that reaches 500 people or more and asks them to communicate with their representatives regarding political issues would be required to register with the government as lobbyists and report quarterly on finances and expenditures and report separately on each individual issue they're advocating.
Huh? What happened to the first Amendment? Between McCain/Feingold and Pelosi, it's gone. Free speech and freedom of assembly would be history. Regulated to death. Forums and grassroots organizations like FR would be completely under the government thumb.
But it's not just the feds. The states are clamping down too. We're currently locking horns with the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia, the home of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison and the cradle of American Liberty itself now has a law they're trying to apply to Free Republic. Their state law requires charities that raise more then $5,000 per year in Virginia to register and report audited financials to the state. And even though we're a California company and clearly not a charity (we raise money to fund our operations, not for charitable purposes), they want to cross state lines and regulate our activities."
If this doesn't motivate us to call our U.S. senators, I don't know what else will.
New Congress Proposes Drastic Legislation to Impact Churches
Stretch Pelosi hasnt been Speaker of the House for two weeks yet and there is already proposed legislation which would be the most significant encroachment ever into the affairs and ability of churches and other organizations to communicate. Under the guise of lobbying reform, Speaker Pelosi and others have proposed legislation greatly expanding the scope of lobbying regulation which would have a significant impact on churches, pastors, religious denominations, public interest organizations, civic organizations and other nonprofit groups. Even private individuals who voluntarily pay for media to distribute important messages to the general public on political matters would be impacted.
So draconian is the proposed Lobbying Reform Bill that it would actually impose registration and reporting requirements on churches and other nonprofit organizations. This is because the definition of lobbyist and lobbying firms includes specifically grassroots-organizing efforts. Under this broad-based regulatory scheme that Stretch Pelosi is advocating, many churches, especially larger churches with TV and radio ministries, would be subject to registration as a lobbying organization. Failure to comply with these lobbying requirements could result in fines and even criminal sanctions.
Churches and their pastors who address the social issues of the day and encourage members and non-members alike to mobilize for action, including communications with Congress, would be required to make certain initial and quarterly disclosures to the United States Congress about their activities.
Under the House version of the Bill, a church or organization would be considered a grassroots lobbying firm subject to this law if the group attempted to influence the general public to voluntarily contact federal officials in order to express their own views on a federal issue. Furthermore, many large churches and ministries utilize mass media to communicate their message. Under this House Bill by Stretch Pelosi, these communications, as long as they are directed to at least one person who is not a member of the church, would fall under this new Bill. Finally, if the church spends an aggregate of only $50,000 or more for such efforts in a quarterly period, they are now required to register as lobbyists. Many ministries spend $50,000 or more a month for air time.
-----SNIP-----
What we need to do now is exercise our existing First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, freedom of association and the ability to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Our grievance is simple: Congress cannot silence churches and other organizations from grassroots involvement in critical issues of our day. Let us now petition the government aggressively and support an amendment to this proposed legislation by Senators Bennett, McConnell, Kyl, and Cornyn that would eliminate the provisions of this lobbying reform dealing with grassroots efforts. This way we can ensure that churches and many other public interest organizations would not have to register as lobbyists. Click here to sign the petition.
excerpted from: http://www.aclj.org/TrialNotebook/Read.aspx?id=437
Also, here's a petition you can sign:
http://www.aclj.org/
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