I'm not going to GBR IV. Between fixing my boat and saving money ahead of an offshore trip, the funds aren't there.
If I WERE there, I would try to get some conversation going on a subject near and dear to my heart - just where IS that line in the sand these days. You all know the one, the line, that when crossed, means that the Federal Government has completely tossed the Constitution, and it would then be our decision of whether to let them trash it, or fight them to restore it.
I think I know where that line is now.
The (D)onks probably have the clout to ram this bill down our throats (especially with the help of RINOs like Olympia Snowe), and when they do, they have armed the bomb of their own destruction. That's NOT to say that they have set off that bomb, they've just enabled, or armed it.
Let's face it. There are ZERO hypothetical situations where an attack on the cyber security of the USA would be so severe as to require shutting down the entire Internet from public use in order to "save the Republic". The ONLY situation which fits that scenario is if said public is actually at war with the Federal Government. In other words, if a Civil War is in progress and the revolutionaries are using the Internet as a vital means of communication.
One would almost expect the Feds to do that, though, and in the case of a civil war, they probably wouldn't need any such bill to do it, it would just be done.
No, this bill is in the works because the Federal Government wants to have the capability to HEAD OFF what they perceive as a civil war against their authority. If you believe Speaker Pelosi, and others, that "civil war" is CURRENTLY in progress against the leadership, you would want this bill. It dovetails perfectly with this information. What we obviously have here is a multi-pronged attack on the First Amendment, and it's not just an attack contemplated by the (D)onk leadership, it's an attack in progress. For them, it's not enough to lie their way into positions of leadership. Having done that, they now want to make that leadership into a dictatorship by silencing the opposition and by shitcanning the Constitution.
If the First Amendment goes away, the Second Amendment will be next. With the two primal conditions of the Bill of Rights gone, the Bill of Rights is dead, and the Constitution with it.
My line in the sand is easy: the day the Internet goes off, my opposition to the Federal Government goes active. Let's make it even clearer: the day the Internet goes off is the day I declare war against my Government.
I'm no cyber-warrior. With the Internet gone, I may have one less method to communicate with, but I can still move and shoot. If I go to war with the Federal Government to restore the Constitution, it will be because those same Feds have already declared war on that same Constitution.
I am not going to do a "first-strike" on the Federal Government, but with this bill, it is obvious that the Feds want to be able to do one on me.
For my entire warrior-life, I have fought from the decided disadvantage of having to shrug off the enemy's first blow before dealing my first blow back. This war won't be any different, but I can at least ask that others consider beforehand what the Government's first blow might be.
So, all you gunnies at GBR-IV: where is YOUR line in the sand?