Yay Congressional Bipartisanship! To Subvert The 4th Amendment! Yay??

Logo for the National Security Agency

There are actually times when Democrats and Republicans in Congress set aside their partisanship and work together. One is naming post offices and the other allowing the government to subvert our 4th Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure. In defending the NSA collecting phone numbers telecom members used, Congress members couldn’t give any specific examples that such intelligence collection actually stopped any specific attack and just said not to worry about it. When Congress tells us not to worry then we should worry especially when our civil rights are involved.

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Seculars, Young And Old, Need To Work Together

clipart showing a reading circle
How I imagine older Humanists passing on their knowledge to younger Humanists

It has been almost 20 years since I officially chucked religion once and for all and identified as an Atheist and Humanist. Getting rid of the irrational belief system called religion was the most liberating thing that had happened to me in my life to that point and I wanted everyone to know it. I became an evangelist for rational thought and if you didn’t agree with me you were a moron. Now 20 years and many battles later I don’t feel the fire in my belly as much. I’m still a non-believer but I am more selective about what gets me cranked up. Is it my age? Have I gained some kind of wisdom as I got older that mellowed me out. Maybe it is some kind of secular menopause.

*Editor’s note* Since this post was originally published and after some good feedback in the comments below I have rewritten a couple of paragraphs to clarify my thoughts. I didn’t intend to offend any reader young or old. This post was mainly an expression of my thoughts on the subject and how I need to do better. I expressed the thoughts I know are not productive as means of illustrating that it was not productive. If you read the entire post you should see that my point as set in the title is that all of us seculars, young and old, need to work together. We all have different things we can bring to the movement. Thanks again for the feedback and reading this post.

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The Right To Vote: One Of The Best Ideas For An Amendment

sticker with the words I voted today

It seems like every recent election season there are the stories of Republicans trying to make it as tough as possible to vote. I mean if you can’t win on the issues the best alternative it to prevent as many of people from voting as possible. Did you know the US Constitution has no affirmative right to vote in its text? Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) want to change that. Aside from the Equal Rights Amendment, this is probably the best idea for an amendment since the Bill of Rights.

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Tell Your Senator: Just Say No To CISPA

image says Stop CISPA

Last week the US House passed the The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) and like all of these types of bills that have come through Congress, this bill only seems to protect businesses at the expense of people’s rights. It also gives more power to the Government to violate your 4th amendment rights in the name of “cybersecurity”. The White House has threatened to veto the law but now is the time to contact your Senator and tell them to say no to CISPA.

What is CISPA and why is it a bad law. Let the Electronic Frontier Foundation explain:

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Why Republicans Love State’s Rights

image of the top of the Bill of Rights document

A major Republican talking point I hear quite often is to let state’s decide some policy issues – like same-sex marriage or voting rights. The implication is clear. Republicans want states to deal with those policy issues because Republicans control more state legislatures than Democrats. It is the GOP way of subverting the Federal government when they don’t control it.

Read this post on ThinkProgress today:

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