Surprise, Surprise! Boehner falls for it again with CISPA
Timothy Birdnow
I've made it quite clear that I think the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is a bad idea. Granted, unlike SOPA which would have granted the President a "kill switch" to shut down those who he deemed as terrorists or whatnot, this bill makes a voluntary "sharing" arrangement, but to what end? Having a social security number was voluntary at first, too, and we can see how well that worked out.
The ostensible purpose of CISPA is to make the internet secure from cyber attacks. I suppose threats from Iran or North Korea sparked the effort. But I am not sure how this actually serves net security, and it puts in place the machinery to put government paws on the web.
The Heritage Foundation led the cheerleaders for this bill.http://blog.heritage.org/2012/04/25/cispa-is-ready-for-prime-time/ and it was pushed by the GOP in the House, with the tan crier (John Boehner) leading the charge. It passed with bipartisan support, and a threat from the Obama Administration to veto.
As usual, the GOP stepped in the excrement they themselves had previously plopped; they derided the SOPA bill as a power grab, then write a version of their own and push it forward. Even if this bill is a good one (something I don't concede) to push it through at this juncture is, uh, tin-eared to put it mildly. The public is mad about spending, about taxes, about a host of economic problems, and the GOP is busy advancing cyber security bills that do not appear to be sorely needed. We elected those guys to come to grips with the financial mess and they are wasting time on this nonsense. And nobody is going to believe that this bill is any better than Sopa, which the GOP killed. It appears that Boehner and and his friends are merely playing politics.
This could have waited until after the election, but the clueless GOP and Speaker Boner just couldn't wait.
Of course, now they are fighting the Democrats efforts to "improve" this bill. Sheila Jackson Lee, the Congressional intellectual powerhouse of the Democratic party, has put forward an amendment to:
http://netrightdaily.com/2012/04/sheila-jackson-lee-i-believe-in-privacy/
"have authorized the Secretary of Homeland Security “to acquire, intercept, retain, use, and disclose communications and other system traffic that are transiting to or from or stored on Federal systems”.
End excerpt.
Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, called it "Big Brother on Steroids".
But what did the fools in the GOP think they would get? The Democrats have lusted in their hearts (aka Jimmy Carter) over such a tool, and they will naturally seek to subvert this bill to their own censorious purposes. Obama can come in as the champion of privacy but let the bill stand should it pass through the Senate (which I have little doubt it will do) and it will become law, handing government another way to close our mouths. Our heroes in the GOP walked right into this, and no doubt are still not even aware that they have poo on their shoes.
Boehner and his chums need to go. He has repeatedly been caught by surprise, time after time, and yet he keeps humming along, a sort of legislative Mr. Magoo. He is killing the coalition that put him in the Speakership. We must get that guy out of power.
Yet another gift for Obama in an election year - and another thumb in the eye of those who love liberty.
I've made it quite clear that I think the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is a bad idea. Granted, unlike SOPA which would have granted the President a "kill switch" to shut down those who he deemed as terrorists or whatnot, this bill makes a voluntary "sharing" arrangement, but to what end? Having a social security number was voluntary at first, too, and we can see how well that worked out.
The ostensible purpose of CISPA is to make the internet secure from cyber attacks. I suppose threats from Iran or North Korea sparked the effort. But I am not sure how this actually serves net security, and it puts in place the machinery to put government paws on the web.
The Heritage Foundation led the cheerleaders for this bill.http://blog.heritage.org/2012/04/25/cispa-is-ready-for-prime-time/ and it was pushed by the GOP in the House, with the tan crier (John Boehner) leading the charge. It passed with bipartisan support, and a threat from the Obama Administration to veto.
As usual, the GOP stepped in the excrement they themselves had previously plopped; they derided the SOPA bill as a power grab, then write a version of their own and push it forward. Even if this bill is a good one (something I don't concede) to push it through at this juncture is, uh, tin-eared to put it mildly. The public is mad about spending, about taxes, about a host of economic problems, and the GOP is busy advancing cyber security bills that do not appear to be sorely needed. We elected those guys to come to grips with the financial mess and they are wasting time on this nonsense. And nobody is going to believe that this bill is any better than Sopa, which the GOP killed. It appears that Boehner and and his friends are merely playing politics.
This could have waited until after the election, but the clueless GOP and Speaker Boner just couldn't wait.
Of course, now they are fighting the Democrats efforts to "improve" this bill. Sheila Jackson Lee, the Congressional intellectual powerhouse of the Democratic party, has put forward an amendment to:
http://netrightdaily.com/2012/04/sheila-jackson-lee-i-believe-in-privacy/
"have authorized the Secretary of Homeland Security “to acquire, intercept, retain, use, and disclose communications and other system traffic that are transiting to or from or stored on Federal systems”.
End excerpt.
Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, called it "Big Brother on Steroids".
But what did the fools in the GOP think they would get? The Democrats have lusted in their hearts (aka Jimmy Carter) over such a tool, and they will naturally seek to subvert this bill to their own censorious purposes. Obama can come in as the champion of privacy but let the bill stand should it pass through the Senate (which I have little doubt it will do) and it will become law, handing government another way to close our mouths. Our heroes in the GOP walked right into this, and no doubt are still not even aware that they have poo on their shoes.
Boehner and his chums need to go. He has repeatedly been caught by surprise, time after time, and yet he keeps humming along, a sort of legislative Mr. Magoo. He is killing the coalition that put him in the Speakership. We must get that guy out of power.
Yet another gift for Obama in an election year - and another thumb in the eye of those who love liberty.
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 11:29 AM
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