WebWarriors: Fireworks and Tea: Once again, it’s time for a #TeaParty

This Saturday’s the Day! We’re celebrating Independence this year, not just from Great Britain, but from our own government legislators that seem to have no problem with mortgaging our great-grandchildren’s future to promote their strange little social experiments (aka “progressivism”). So, find a tea party near you - go, and let your voice be heard. As usual, the parties are mostly being organized online. The Twitter hashtag is #teaparty.

Here are some other resources:

• Find a Tea Party near you (also here)
• Tea Party Google Map
• The Tea Party Shuffle
• Freedom Ain’t Free! American Tea Party - Song by Lloyd Marcus (Video and Lyrics)
• Pics and info from previous Tea Parties
• WorldNetDaily.com - Senator echoes Tea Party rally cry: ‘People have to show that they’re not going to take it anymore’

Have we missed your link? Put it in the comments below, and we’ll get it added to the post as time allows. Thanks!

Drew Edmondson is at it again

From Oklahomans for Responsible Government:

Drew Edmondson, a man who wants to be the leader of Oklahoma, is once again using his powers as Attorney General to confuse voters by changing language of ballot initiatives set to be up for a vote in 2010. You may remember that Edmondson changed the language of the term limits ballot measure making it sound like it did not allow any re-elections. Well, he’s done it again with two other measures.

Senate Joint Resolution 13 passed overwhelmingly in the Senate (42-2) and the House (78-17) and is now known as State Question 750. It changes the calculation for the number of signatures needed to put a measure on the ballot, basing it on the last race for Governor in stead of alternating between the last presidential election and the last gubernatorial election. Here’s what lawmakers wanted you to see on the ballot…Continue reading on OFRG.org >>

 

Is the ‘Generation Gap’ Widening?

Bobby Eberle has an op-ed piece on GOPUSA’s The Loft today called The Crazy World of LOL, BRB, and :

I had an interesting conversation with my daughter on the way to one of her softball games this past weekend. We were talking about technology and all the new inventions and devices that have sprung up during my lifetime. From VCRs and CDs to cell phones and DVDs, the list goes on and on.

Technology is no longer something foreign to younger people. It is part of their lives. Where older folks may run and hide if they are asked to use a computer, the younger generation embraces technology. They also embrace a mindset that is increasingly different from older Americans. At least that is what one study is indicating. Let’s check it out…Continue reading on The Loft >>

 

‘Citizen Journalism’ vs. Journalism

Dan Wooding has an article today on GoodNewsDaily.net entitled, ‘Citizen Journalism’ is transforming the news business. But is it good or bad?

When I first entered secular journalism in London, England, back in the late sixties, my colleagues warned me against the dangers of “Citizen Journalism.”

In those days, you had to have a National Union of Journalists (NUJ) card to even been get a job on a newspaper and the perks of being a union member were terrific.

We “worked” a four-day week and were pressing for a three-day week because of the “stress” of the four-day week. We got seven weeks paid vacation and wanted even more time off.

My newspaper, the Sunday People, wouldn’t allow us to use electric typewriters as that would make it too efficient.

While on assignment, reporters were not allowed to take photographs as that would deprive our unionized photographers of their living.

No wonder, we didn’t want “Citizen Journalism” as we just wanted “professionals” to ply our trade and, because if they did, we would lose much of our power in shaping the thinking of our readers.

But Rupert Murdoch changed everything in Fleet Street, the center of British journalism, where I “worked.”

His transformation was called the “Wapping Revolution” and in 1986, the owner of News International, moved production of his major titles (The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and The News of the World) from Fleet Street to Wapping, set in London’s Docklands area, and in so doing, he set about an irreversible chain reaction in the structure of journalism in the UK.

It was one of the most dramatic industrial disputes of the last century…

[...]

Reading the tweets from the streets of Tehran as protestors rail against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmedinajad, and the intractability of the theocracy of the mullahs, is like entering an entirely new category of reporting. It goes beyond the ground-level observations and interviews of even the finest reporting to deliver something close to a longitudinal study of mass consciousness…Continue reading on GoodNewsDaily.net >>

Also, be sure to follow @GoodNewsDaily on Twitter.

Links to Learn about the New Iranian Revolution…Online

As we all know by now, there is a dispute over who won the most recent presidential election in Iran, and this dispute has turned into the “last straw,” for many of the people who are fed up with the oppressive Islamic regime that has been in Iran for the last thirty years. As commonly happens in oppressive governments, Iran shut down the free media, and also the peoples’ access to social networking sites like Facebook and FriendFeed (very popular in that region), but they underestimated Twitter.

So, the Iranian protesters, along with help from Twitter and the rest of the world), have been able to continue to get the news out about what is happening inside Tehran, Shiraz, and other cities where students and other protesters are rising up within the country of Iran.

Following are some links to learn about how this incredible online revolution (the first of its kind) is happening. Feel free to add your own in the comments, and we’ll add them to the post as time allows:

• Mr. Arasmus: How to Turn Your Avatar Green To Show Solidarity with People of Iran (and learn the rules and etiquette for keeping the Iranian bloggers safe)
• Iran, Twitter, and Freedom
• Twitter Search Feed (#IranElection)
• Twazzup: Iran
• SC Magazine: Iran election protesters use Twitter to recruit hackers
• Twitter Links Iran Protesters to Outside World
• Anderson Cooper: State Department to Twitter: Keep Iranian tweets coming
• Mashable: We’ve Got Tools to Undo Censorship in Iran and China. Let’s Use Them
• TechCrunch: Twitter Reschedules Maintenance To Allow Iranian Protests To Continue
• TechDirt: Twitter, Data Center Delay Upgrades Rather Than Cut Off Iranian Communications

 

How Unconstitutional is Barack Obama? Maggie Thornton Counts the Ways…

Maggie is counting the unconstitutional acts of our Bogus POTUS* and his TOTUS over at Maggie’s Notebook. She’s thinking of the list as a “living breathing document,” and requesting suggestions for additions to it, so go check it out, HERE.

*Also, for more info on on the “Bogus POTUS” visit Arlen Williams, at Investigating Obama

 

Governor Henry Vetoes Common-sense Reform

Rejects bill that passed by a combined 128-1 vote!

From Oklahomans for Responsible Government:

Governor Brad Henry showed how out-of-step he is with the average citizen in the state Friday by vetoing a bill that passed by a combined 128-1 vote in the legislature - House Bill 2246, a common-sense reform that would have improved the ability of citizens to petition their government.

HB 2246 would have extended the period for a citizen-led initiative petition to gather signatures from 90-days – currently the second-shortest period in the country – to one year. It also would have provided protections for those gathering the signatures from being harassed by opponents.

“For the Governor to veto a bill which could have easily been overridden if the legislature was in session goes beyond petty politics,” said Brian Downs, Executive Director of Oklahomans for Responsible Government. ““With his action, Governor Henry delivered a slap to the face of citizens who want to petition their government and leaves Oklahoma with one of the highest barriers for citizens to put a measure on the ballot in the country.”

In his veto message, Governor Henry claimed that a provision to protect petition circulators from being harassed or intimidated by opponents has, “the effect of discouraging and even criminalizing such basic constitutional rights as free speech and freedom of assembly.”

“Apparently Governor Henry doesn’t care about the rights of citizens to be free to petition their government without being intimidated or threatened by opponents,” said Downs.

“In a year when initiative petition reform bills got overwhelming support in the legislature, Governor Henry decided that he would play Supreme Court Justice with his veto pen,” said Downs. “It continues to amaze that the Governor thinks he knows what is constitutional and what is not when a bill he signed last year was declared unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court.”

OFRG will continue to fight for the rights of the average citizen to petition their government despite the actions of Governor Henry to maintain the status quo.

 

On Sovereignty Alliance: Stealth Anti-Federalism

We received this from Sheridan Folger, of The Sovereignty Alliance on Ning.com today:

Attention, 10th Amendment fans, Here’s a little lesson in how laws get subtly rewritten - Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY)

[Read the entire article on The Volokh Conspiracy]

Excerpts:

The end result: In the last two years, Congress has essentially gutted the idea of computer crimes that are beyond the reach of the federal government.

If a computer is involved — any computer — it’s very likely to be a federal issue.

An interesting question is, how did this happen without anyone noticing?

I’m not entirely sure, but here are two possibilities. First, the press isn’t too likely to pick up on a subtle change like this. In a bill, the language is easy to overlook: it will be something like, “insert ‘or affecting’ after the term ‘used in’.” You would need to be pretty sharp to see the issue. Second, there are no natural constituents to object to Congress gutting federalism provisions in criminal law. These sorts of changes are generally framed as efforts to help the feds catch the bad guys by getting rid of annoying technicalities. Framed in that way, the legislation is likely to have broad popular support.

[Read the entire article on The Volokh Conspiracy]

 

Call Governor Henry; Let Oklahoma Vote

From Norma Sapp, Executive Director of Oklahomans for Initiative Rights:

Here in Oklahoma we have the toughest ballot initiative process in the country. With only 90 days to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures, it’s no wonder that only three initiatives have made the ballot in the last ten years! Right now, we have a historic chance to change that, but only if you contact Governor Brad Henry today.

Ask Governor Henry to do his part to clean up the initiative process and give Oklahomans time to petition by signing two important initiative reform bills that passed the legislature overwhelmingly.

These bipartisan bills—Senate Bill 800 and House Bill 2246—make important improvements to the initiative process. HB 2246 increases the 90 day time limit for circulating a petition to one year, giving citizens enough time to collect signatures. SB 800 streamlines the process and protects citizens from having petitions unjustly thrown out on a mere technicality.

I have traveled all over the state in the past few weeks talking to citizens at the grassroots level about the initiative process. After going to 70 cities and towns and braving nearly as many tornadoes, I can tell you firsthand that the people of Oklahoma want an accessible initiative process. Right now we can have it.

Both of these bills are on the governor’s desk waiting for his signature. These changes are desperately needed to give Oklahomans back a voice in government. Pick up the phone right now and call the Governor’s office at (405) 521-2342. You can also email the governor by clicking here.

 

Another Reform to Oklahoma’s Initiative Petition Laws Passes

From Oklahomans for Responsible Government:

Common-sense bill makes ballot more accessible to citizens

Oklahoma’s very restrictive laws governing ballot initiatives will be opened up under House Bill 2246 which got final approval in the Senate last night and is now going to the governor for his signature. It’s the third major reform to the system which allows citizens to come up with laws and put them up for a vote.

“It’s a fundamental right of Oklahomans to petition their government,” said Brian Downs, Executive Director of Oklahomans for Responsible Government. “But the laws limited that to the point where only well-funded and well-organized groups could mount such an effort.”

There are several provisions to HB 2246, but the main components will:

• lengthen the amount of time to gather signatures from 90-days to one year
• require legal challenges to petition language be handled before signatures are collected
• create a Task Force that will look at other aspects of the initiative and referendum process

HB 2246 is the third measure to deal with the initiative petition process this session. Senate Joint Resolution 13, which already passed both houses, will ask voters to change the law so that the number of signatures needed to put a measure on the ballot is based only on the last election for governor. Senate Bill 800 deals with the legal challenges to ballot initiatives. It got final approval earlier this week and also awaits the governor’s signature.

“Changing the initiative petition process has been a major policy agenda issue for OFRG this session,” said Downs. “We commend the legislators for supporting the initiative petition process and encourage the governor to sign them into law.”

 

Jenn Sierra and Duane Lester on RFC Radio, Bloglines Today

Listen live, at 5PM Eastern, here.

Attorney General Keeps Biased Language in Term Limits Ballot Question

From Oklahomans for Responsible Government:

Despite calls for change, Edmondson refuses to take out misleading sentence

The Attorney General’s Office has submitted the final language for State Question 747 and despite calls for biased language to be removed, it will remain.

Oklahomans for Responsible Government pointed out earlier this month that the Attorney General was changing the proposed language for the ballot measure to impose term limits on statewide elected officials. Specifically, the Attorney General’s version included the following sentences:

It limits the ability of voters to re-elect statewide elected officers. It limits the number of years a person may serve in each statewide elected office.

Now, despite calls for the elimination of the first sentence which is biased and misleading, the final language has been submitted. The only change was combining the two sentences into one:

It limits the ability of voters to re-elect statewide elected officers by limiting how many years those officers can serve

OFRG believes term limits will pass despite the political retaliation of Attorney General Drew Edmondson. Voters overwhelmingly supported legislative term limits in 1990 and polls indicate it’s a winning issue for statewide elected officials, too. It’s just a shame that the Attorney General, who personally lobbied against such a measure last year, would again try to interject politics in an attempt to defeat the ballot measure by confusing voters.

TechCrunch: Watch Out Google, Obama’s Antitrust Chief Is Looking To Make An Example Out Of You

From Erick Schonfeld, of TechCrunch:

The Obama Administration’s new chief antitrust enforcer at the Department of Justice, Christine Varney, is making it very clear that she is going to be much more aggressive in bringing antitrust actions against large, American corporations. The Bush Administration took a hands-off approach to antitrust enforcement, and that is about to change. Varney needs a high-profile case to make her name, and all indications are that she is eying Google. After all she needs to make an example out of a big powerful corporate “predator” and in this limping econmy there simply aren’t that many powerful companies to chose from.

Google, quite literally, is the new Microsoft when it comes to antitrust scrutiny (although, Microsoft itself is also still under the magnifying glass, as is Intel, at least in Europe). Even under the Bush Justice Department, last year Google had to drop its advertising deal with Yahoo because of antitrust issues. Today, Google is dealing with an antitrust investigation over to its book-scanning settlement, the newspaper and magazine industries are rattling their sabers, and every other industry facing disruption by the internet is lining up to blame Google for their woes. Varney will be encouraging competitors of all potential antitrust targets to file more complaints, so you can be sure that anti-Google lobby will grow.

Google makes a nice, juicy target and it is one of the few companies with cash on hand to pay a large fine…Continue reading on TechCrunch >>