Ignore the Divertions

[Joe_in_RP]

While you were busy looking the other direction:

A pair of bills introduced in the U.S. Senate would grant the White House sweeping new powers to access private online data, regulate the cybersecurity industry and even shut down Internet traffic during a declared "cyber emergency."

Senate bills No. 773 and 778, introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., are both part of what's being called the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, which would create a new Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor, reportable directly to the president and charged with defending the country from cyber attack.

A working draft of the legislation obtained by an Internet privacy group also spells out plans to grant the Secretary of Commerce access to all privately owned information networks deemed to be critical to the nation's infrastructure "without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule or policy restricting such access."

http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=93966

Folks these are bills. Soon they will be law.

[Woody]

No wonder we need more and more warships for that tiny raft of pirates.

[carolaa]

Are you saying the pirate situation is an intentional diversion?

[phkrause]

A diversion for what?

pk

[Joe_in_RP]

Folks they have legislation pending, that would create a new cyber Zar.

This person would have unlimited power. He can even totally shut down the internet.

What if he decides that those Adventists are a fundamental religious group that could harm the nation. He could decide to shut down every Adventist website and email. Including this one.

What would we do? Call our congressmen? Under this legislation he does not answer to congress. Sue for a first amendment violation? He has power over all laws "without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule" .

In effect he is the pope of the internet.

And what if the president appointed a Catholic to this position?

When they have these sensational stories on the tv its time to look around and see what the other hand is doing.

[phkrause]

Yes I did, and I'm suppose to believe that this was staged! I have a bridge in alaska that never got built to sell. dgrimm unless one is always checking what's going on in congress you wont have any idea what bills are up for a vote. There are many sunday law bills just sitting there also. So I would suppose than that if I turn around and look over yonder they will pass those while I'm not looking. I this that this is an invasion in privacy, but so is racial profiling. All these things come out of the termole that this world is in. Eventually with the financial problems we are having, can't you see the "neither sell or buy" coming into play.

pk

[Joe_in_RP]

Who staged it or if it was staged is irreverent. The fact that the media is focusing attention away from whats really going on.

As far as proposed legislation sitting around, we have never had stuff like this before. Not stuff that completely disregards the constitution.

Even the GC is taking notice of the change in the wind.

I warned people about a month ago of the UN resolution against other religions.

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27 Mar 2009, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States

ANN Staff

Adventist Church Legislative Affairs Director Barry Bussey listens to debate on religious defamation last week at the United Nations in Geneva. [photo courtesy IRLA]

Seventh-day Adventist religious liberty proponents worry a new United Nations resolution that broadly seeks to protect religious ideologies may do so at the expense of individual freedoms of expression.

The non-binding measure, passed by the United Nations Human Rights Council yesterday, is the latest in a series against hate speech and "defamation of religion" that began in 1999 when Pakistan first called for such a resolution.

Pakistan remains the leading sponsor of "defamation of religion" resolutions, International Religious Liberty Association ! (IRLA) officials said.

Yesterday's resolution passed by a vote of 23 yes's, 11 no's and 13 abstentions, a less enthusiastic endorsement compared to previous years that suggests growing opposition against such measures, IRLA officials said. Several non-governmental agencies, including the IRLA, The Becket Fund and UN Watch, continue to raise awareness of the potential fallout the resolution could have.

"In international law, if a custom is followed long enough it can become a norm," said Barry Bussey, director of Legislative Affairs for the Adventist Church. "Such norms then become codified and become law."

With their decade-long history, resolutions against "defamation of religions" seemed well on their way to legal entrenchment, Bussey said. But several years ago when Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad incited attacks on Danish embassies in several Muslim countries, Western countries began rethinking the resolution's free rei! ns, he said.

"We are concerned that [the resolutio! n] will limit freedom of expression," IRLA secretary-general John Graz said from Geneva after the vote.

Most troubling is the resolution's vagueness, said Bussey.

Last year, IRLA experts met to discuss the emerging issue of hate speech and "defamation of religions." With no universally acceptable definition of "defamation of religions," the group concluded that any attempt to enforce the then proposed resolution would be arbitrary and subjective, depending largely on sensitivities of the hearers.

"Who determines when a religion is defamed?" Bussey said after the vote. "[This resolution] is simply too fraught with possibilities of abuse of power," he added, urging more concerted opposition when the resolution comes up for renewal next year.