[kattracks]

NRA Will Take Shays-Meehan Bill To Supreme Court If It Passes

FEC Chairman Says Shays-Meehan is 'Unworkable' And 'Unenforceable'

[gore_sux]

Why do these people waste time and resources to pass laws that they know are unconstitutional? Isn't this against their oath of office?

[Jethro Tull]

41 Republicans voted for this?

And the GOP continues it's morphing process....

[Flyer]

Can money buy an election? Ask Steve Forbes and Ross Perot.

[EternalVigilance]

Traitors to liberty, every one.

I have a long memory.

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

[kassie]

I'm amazed, sickened, and numbed by this. What on earth is happening here?

[Psalm 73]

Let the counter-attacks begin.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

This morning on the radio, I accidentally got on to a CNN affiliate. They praised it as a landmark piece of legislation. CNN loves it, that's all I need to know.

[Skooz]

John Sweeney - Kingmaker

Welcome to big labor's utopia. You can bet Mr. Sweeney has a big smile on his face this morning.

[who knows what evil?]

I have stated several times on this forum that I believe the democrats will pick up thirty seats in the house this fall. Passage of this bill simply reinforces my belief. Karl Rove expressed dismay that millions of Christians sat out the last Presidential election. Watch how many people join them in this year's congressional races.

[Piquaboy]

They only want to hep us. This is for our own good and has nothing to do about protecting the encumbrents so they can continue to screw us.

[dtom]

Dose anybody know if the amendment banning non-U.S. citizens from making campaign contributions was passed.

[concerned about politics]

Also bear in mind that Democrats, Libertarians, and Constitution party members are here trying to sway your vote.Remember the other things they DO STAND for! Unconservative issues galore!

Fight this Bill, but not the party! Why else would these people come to a conservative web site? Why aren't they at their own right now ????

"A house divided will not stand." So try to keep focused, folks.

[2banana]

Dear Editor,

Every two years, my congressman, James Greenwood, puts his hand on a Bible and takes the following oath of office; "I, James Greenwood, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same...So help me God"

In his time in congress, Greenwood has incessantly and relentlessly attacked the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution. Somehow he believes that it is his job make it harder and harder for law abiding Americans to arm and defend themselves despite the plain meaning of the US Constitution and the guidance of Founding Fathers.

Now, Greenwood has set his sights on the 1st Amendment. He is a main supporter of the so called "Campaign Finance Bill" which has just passed the house (with both his vote and help) last night. Greenwood believes there should be an "electioneering blackout" and that no one but the "established media" and the candidates themselves should be able to run political ads 60 days prior to a general election. That no one, other than candidates or the media, should be able to report on a candidates voting record or criticize pending legislation during the blackout period without jumping through federally mandated bureaucratic hoops based on the content of the advertisement. If you want to take out an ad in this newspaper or a TV spot, you better get a lawyer because now you must comply with a host of regulations (based on the political nature of your advertisement) any one of which can result in huge fines (and even jail) if you violate them. This does not sound like "supporting and defending" the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution where congress will "make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." It sounds like an attack on the very liberties that Americans treasure.

We used to have a name for people like this; traitors, scoundrels and liars. Now we just call them shrewd politicians.

Regards,

[RFP]

However, the CAPITO (R-WV) "even playing field"/ "millionaire" amendment PASSED!!! What this means is that candidates who contribute over $350,000 of their personal money to their own campaigns allow their poorer opponents to allow supporters to TRIPLE their Hard Money contributions. Some senators may not like this.

ALSO, President Bush won't like the fact that this doesn't go into effect this year (the amendment to do so was not passed), so he may VETO it on this ground alone.

[ilgipper]

I am confused as to why this came to a vote in the house right now. They just killed this awful bill last year in the house, and now the Hastert-led Majority leaders allowed it up again.

In days past, I understood that the Speaker has complete control over bills coming to the floor. Alternatively, the Senate rules allowed the minority leader to bring bills to the floor. Now, we have a weak Republican house leadership that does not control the House agenda, while the Dem majority leader (by one vote) has absolute control over Senate bills arriving on the floor. How did this happen?

[Dan from Michigan]

This is the NRA AMENDMENT

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 24(Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined)
H R 2356     RECORDED VOTE     13-FEB-2002   6:47 PM
AUTHOR(S): Pickering of Mississippi Amendment
QUESTION: On Agreeing to the Amendment

	AYES	NOES	PRES	NV
REPUBLICAN	187	31		4
DEMOCRATIC	21	187		3
INDEPENDENT	1	1
TOTALS	209	219		7

--- AYES    209 ---

Aderholt	Gordon	Pence
Akin	Goss	Peterson (MN)
Armey	Graham	Peterson (PA)
Bachus	Granger	Petri
Baker	Graves	Phelps
Ballenger	Green (WI)	Pickering
Barcia	Gutknecht	Pitts
Barr	Hall (TX)	Pombo
Bartlett	Hansen	Portman
Barton	Hart	Pryce (OH)
Bereuter	Hastert	Putnam
Biggert	Hastings (WA)	Radanovich
Bilirakis	Hayes	Rahall
Bishop	Hayworth	Regula
Blunt	Hefley	Rehberg
Boehner	Herger	Reynolds
Bonilla	Hilleary	Rogers (KY)
Bono	Hilliard	Rogers (MI)
Boozman	Hobson	Rohrabacher
Boswell	Hoekstra	Ros-Lehtinen
Boyd	Holden	Ross
Brown (SC)	Hostettler	Royce
Bryant	Hulshof	Ryan (WI)
Burr	Hunter	Ryun (KS)
Burton	Hyde	Schaffer
Buyer	Isakson	Schrock
Callahan	Issa	Sensenbrenner
Calvert	Istook	Sessions
Camp	Jenkins	Shadegg
Cannon	John	Shaw
Cantor	Johnson (IL)	Sherwood
Capito	Johnson, Sam	Shimkus
Carson (OK)	Jones (NC)	Shows
Chabot	Keller	Shuster
Chambliss	Kelly	Simmons
Coble	Kennedy (MN)	Simpson
Collins	Kerns	Skeen
Combest	King (NY)	Smith (NJ)
Cooksey	Kingston	Smith (TX)
Cox	Knollenberg	Souder
Cramer	Kolbe	Stearns
Crane	LaHood	Strickland
Crenshaw	Largent	Stump
Cubin	Latham	Sununu
Culberson	LaTourette	Sweeney
Cunningham	Lewis (CA)	Tancredo
Davis, Jo Ann	Lewis (KY)	Tanner
Davis, Tom	Linder	Tauzin
Deal	Lucas (KY)	Taylor (MS)
DeLay	Lucas (OK)	Taylor (NC)
DeMint	Manzullo	Terry
Diaz-Balart	McCrery	Thomas
Doolittle	McHugh	Thornberry
Dreier	McInnis	Tiahrt
Duncan	McKeon	Tiberi
Dunn	Mica	Toomey
Ehrlich	Miller, Dan	Upton
Emerson	Miller, Gary	Vitter
English	Miller, Jeff	Walden
Everett	Mollohan	Watkins (OK)
Flake	Moran (KS)	Watts (OK)
Forbes	Myrick	Weldon (FL)
Fossella	Nethercutt	Weller
Gallegly	Ney	Whitfield
Ganske	Norwood	Wicker
Gekas	Nussle	Wilson (NM)
Gibbons	Osborne	Wilson (SC)
Gillmor	Otter	Young (AK)
Goode	Oxley	Young (FL)
Goodlatte	Paul

--- NOES    219 ---

Abercrombie	Gutierrez	Neal
Ackerman	Hall (OH)	Northup
Allen	Harman	Oberstar
Andrews	Hastings (FL)	Obey
Baca	Hill	Olver
Baird	Hinchey	Ortiz
Baldacci	Hinojosa	Ose
Baldwin	Hoeffel	Owens
Barrett	Holt	Pallone
Bass	Honda	Pascrell
Becerra	Hooley	Pastor
Bentsen	Horn	Payne
Berkley	Houghton	Pelosi
Berman	Hoyer	Platts
Berry	Inslee	Pomeroy
Blagojevich	Israel	Price (NC)
Blumenauer	Jackson (IL)	Quinn
Boehlert	Jackson-Lee (TX)	Ramstad
Bonior	Jefferson	Rangel
Borski	Johnson (CT)	Reyes
Brady (PA)	Johnson, E. B.	Rivers
Brown (FL)	Jones (OH)	Rodriguez
Brown (OH)	Kanjorski	Roemer
Capps	Kaptur	Rothman
Capuano	Kildee	Roybal-Allard
Cardin	Kilpatrick	Rush
Carson (IN)	Kind (WI)	Sabo
Castle	Kirk	Sanchez
Clay	Kleczka	Sanders
Clayton	Kucinich	Sandlin
Clement	LaFalce	Sawyer
Clyburn	Lampson	Saxton
Condit	Langevin	Schakowsky
Conyers	Lantos	Schiff
Costello	Larsen (WA)	Scott
Coyne	Larson (CT)	Serrano
Crowley	Leach	Shays
Cummings	Lee	Sherman
Davis (CA)	Levin	Skelton
Davis (FL)	Lewis (GA)	Slaughter
Davis (IL)	Lipinski	Smith (MI)
DeFazio	LoBiondo	Smith (WA)
DeGette	Lofgren	Snyder
Delahunt	Lowey	Solis
DeLauro	Luther	Spratt
Deutsch	Lynch	Stark
Dicks	Maloney (CT)	Stenholm
Dingell	Maloney (NY)	Stupak
Doggett	Markey	Tauscher
Dooley	Mascara	Thompson (CA)
Doyle	Matheson	Thompson (MS)
Edwards	Matsui	Thune
Ehlers	McCarthy (MO)	Thurman
Engel	McCarthy (NY)	Tierney
Eshoo	McCollum	Towns
Etheridge	McDermott	Turner
Evans	McGovern	Udall (CO)
Farr	McIntyre	Udall (NM)
Fattah	McKinney	Velazquez
Ferguson	McNulty	Visclosky
Filner	Meehan	Walsh
Foley	Meek (FL)	Wamp
Ford	Meeks (NY)	Waters
Frank	Menendez	Watson (CA)
Frelinghuysen	Millender-McDonald	Watt (NC)
Frost	Miller, George	Waxman
Gephardt	Mink	Weiner
Gilchrest	Moore	Weldon (PA)
Gilman	Moran (VA)	Wexler
Gonzalez	Morella	Wolf
Green (TX)	Murtha	Woolsey
Greenwood	Nadler	Wu
Grucci	Napolitano	Wynn

--- NOT VOTING    7 ---

Boucher	Kennedy (RI)	Traficant
Brady (TX)	Riley
Fletcher	Roukema

---

[concerned about politics]

One of the amendments passed during debate was a proposal by Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., that would expand the voting rights of military personnel. The proposal would prohibit states from disqualifying ballots from military personnel that lack of a proper postmark."

[Godfollow]

One has to hope that the Republican stratagy is to allow the bill to pass. And then for the President to sign... stating his reservation regarding his concern for free speach.

Then to be challanged, sending it to SCOTUS with the hope of having it striken down as unconstitutional. Thereby allowing the Pres to collect politcal points and giving him a more powerful platform to redesign the bill acording to his time-tabel and removing that hairy beast from the media's grasp of control.

[cleancutguy]

I just emailed my congress critter (the vermin). Don't let up on the letters and calls even though it passed. There's still the conference report to vote on. Here's a copy of the note I just fired off:

Dear Representative Inslee,

I’m writing to express my great dismay and disappointment in finding 
that you voted for the Shays-Meehan bill.  It's an assault on the First 
Amendment of the highest order.  No matter how you stretch the Constitution, 
it can never be construed to allow the muzzling of Americans about the 
voting records of their elected officials through letters, publications and
the media.  If the Sierra Club wants to tell me about legislation that you 
support or have voted for, even the week of an election, they have the right 
to present their message and I have a right to know and hear about it, even 
if I dissagree.  The same is true concerning the AARP, the NRA, my local PTA, 
or any other group or person.  Shays-Meehan limits the free expression of 
political thought, exactly the kind of speech the Framers intended to protect.  

King George arrested, as dissenters, people for pamphleteering about the 
abuses of the crown in order to protect his power.  How is this bill any 
different?  

This can not stand.  

I've never been very politically active, but I promise that I'm going to be 
knocking on a lot of doors come this election season, telling people about 
how you voted and why it is so wrong.  

Respectfully,
Chris Edstrom