Why I'm Seeking a New Independence Day
by Shah Gilani .. full article .. Here
Dear Reader,Independence Day is coming!
This year July 4th falls on a Wednesday, and, of course, America will be celebrating good old Independence Day.
That's right, we'll celebrate old Independence Day - that day in 1776 when we declared our freedom from oppression and went on to fight, win, and build the greatest country on earth.And we built it on the foundation of two of the most magnificent cornerstones ever to be laid in the history of nation-building: the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.
So while we are looking forward to celebrating our old Independence Day, let's not forget to keep looking for our New Independence Day.
Yeah, you know, the New Independence Day that's coming, eventually, but just keeps getting further and further away in the meantime. You don't know what I'm talking about? Yeah you do. If you're anything like me, you don't want to admit it, but you see it and you're starting to get scared and probably a little angry. In my case, I'll tell you, it's a lot angry.
We believers in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are seeing their protections being eroded in the name of "freedom."We are seeing Congress after Congress and president after president aid and abet the dilution of our guaranteed freedoms. And they're doing it by instilling fear in us, and telling us that they're making us safer in an increasingly unsafe world and that they know what's best for us and how to protect us.
They're doing a lot of bad stuff we can't even see. Like watching us. Oh yeah, Big Brother is all grown up. He lives in our computers, on the Internet, across satellites and landlines, and through the pipes that deliver and send our voices and the personal data that makes up our lives.
He's there in the cameras that catch us in our cars, when we're transacting private business with our banks, when we travel through every airport and mass transit hub. He'll be following us with drones in our own neighborhoods soon (already). But that's all for our own good, you know.That is, until you're declared a "terrorist" or "terrorist sympathizer" by somebody who has the power to label you like can of soup gets labeled. Then you may get "renditioned" to some off-shore safe haven where it's safe to torture you in the name of freedom.
But, of course, we can always speak up and change these things that we're scared about, that we're angry about. We can always protest because we have freedom of speech, right? Oh, sorry, no, you didn't get the memo, did you? It's about that First Amendment; you know the one that kind of goes like: "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. "Yeah, that one. You know it.
Well, start waving goodbye, because it's being railroaded out of town, your town, my town, the "We the People's" town - America.
I'm talking about the recently signed into law (in March) bill titled the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011.
No, it's not an appropriations, pork-barrel, dole out to your friends and yourself some more taxpayer money kind of bill. And it's not going to clean up old buildings and overgrown gardens around the Capitol.
It's also known as H.R. 347 (HR as in House of Representatives), and it reconciled itself with Senate Bill 1794. It's now the law of the land. It makes it a federal offense to knowingly (and without authority) enter the White House grounds, or any building or grounds where the President or anyone under Secret Service protection will be visiting, or any such event restricted due to some national significance. Link .. Here's what's especially nasty about it...
