Planting a garden, free e-books and DISCLOSE Act (HR 5175)

Happy Spring to you all. I have been very busy lately building a chicken coop, raising a bunch of baby chicks (for food and eggs) and getting by back yard tilled up, edged, fenced so the dog doesn't trample everything and planted with delicious heirloom vegie seeds. Yumm. I have been BUSY. My neighbors have been giving me some weird looks and make comments like "wow that's a big garden what are you going to put in it"? My first thought is "everything I can"! They are happy to buy a few sickly genetically modified Frankenstein plants and call it good. It is a strange feeling to have your neighbors look at you like you have two heads when all you are doing is planting a garden and raising a few chickens. It is so far from their comfort zone to see something being done that a few years ago everyone did. I have to say that at first I was feeling, honestly, like i was doing something wrong. Breaking free of the social conditioning we all grew up with can be difficult. I had a mantra i found myself repeating as i went about digging and planting--"what i am doing is good, wholesome and normal. what i am doing will feed my family, I do not care how weird they think i am"! Poor things just don't know or care to know the kind of storm that is coming. I will put up some pictures of before and after soon.
Well as we are all aware things are turning sour all over the globe. I hope you are all preppin as fast as possible. It seems the more I do and the more I feel I am prepared the less I feel prepared! Sometimes you have to just stand back and take stock and know that you can't do everything.
Today I am posting a link with free how to books to download. APN (American Preppers Network) is offering 21 free How-To e-books on building chicken coops, gardening, recipe books, survival manuals and more! Please go to http://www.americanpreppersnetwork.com/2010/05/21-free-prepping-e-books.html and check it out. Very helpful and timely and we all need to know these things.
I ran across an article yesterday that applies to all of us bloggers and big mouths that just infuriated me. This article is written by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) on a new bill called DISCLOSE Act (HR 5175), this bill essentially strips you of your first amendment right to free speech unless you are an approved media outlet! So beware-they are comming after the bloggers soon. Seems we are having too much of an impact and we are scaring them!
Bloggers Beware – They’re Coming After You!
by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)
Just when you thought it was safe to start expressing your right to free speech, Democrats in Congress are gearing up for a vote on a new piece of legislation to blatantly undermine the First Amendment. Known as the DISCLOSE Act (HR 5175), this bill – written by the head of the Democrats’ congressional campaign committee – is their response to the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In short, the Supreme Court found that the government could not restrict the free speech rights of individuals or other entities wishing to participate in the political dialogue.
It is hard to see how establishing a level playing field for free speech – as our Founding Fathers did by making it a right under the Constitution and which the Supreme Court upheld – is a threat to our democracy. Nevertheless, the White House and their allies on Capitol Hill see honest criticism as a threat to forcing their big government, liberal agenda through Congress. So, there is no time like the present – namely five months before an election – to start putting the muzzle on those individuals and organizations not sticking to the Democrats’ talking points.
Under the DISCLOSE Act, certain incorporated entities would be restricted in how they can exercise their free speech rights. There is an exemption for some in the media sphere like newspapers, TV news, and the like. However, there is one driving force in today’s public debate that is NOT exempt. Bloggers will not have the same exemption provided to other media sources. Never mind that the Supreme Court’s opinion in the Citizens United case stated, “Differential treatment of media corporations and other corporations cannot be squared with the First Amendment.”
For many bloggers to exercise their free speech rights, they would have to jump through the same onerous new hoops as many businesses, nonprofit groups, and even such threats to democracy as your local chamber of commerce. If this sounds like an absurd overreach by one party in power, I invite you to take a look at their government takeover of health care, taxpayer-funded bailouts, and general hostility to private sector economic growth.
The Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats have not racked up a stellar record of transparency and openness. For a White House that touted its willingness to engage critics openly in hopes of staving off greater partisan rancor, Obama’s team has endorsed backroom deal-making, special giveaways to garner support for their agenda, and a closed-door decision-making process that has the American people more fed up with Washington. Now, under their brand of leadership, they stand ready to stifle free speech via legislative fiat.
Democrats should not be allowed to give themselves carte blanche to shut down the ability of those in the blogosphere or elsewhere to participate in our nation’s collective dialogue. That flies in the face of our most sacred rights as American citizens.

Keep on preppin folks!
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