Nano Nano

Nothing wrong with this, right?

H.R.554 : To authorize activities for support of nanotechnology research and development, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Gordon, Bart [TN-6] (introduced 1/15/2009) Cosponsors (21)
Committees: House Science and Technology; Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Latest Major Action: 2/12/2009 Referred to Senate committee.
Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

uh, yeah, actually there is. Private companies are already doing this. It is PORK! Some day's this is just sooooo easy.

We're The Government, So We're Spppecial :-P

Today's AwfuLaw gives special privileges for the installation of solar power, and only in a vary narrow circumstance.

H.R. 964: To amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to exempt any solar energy project on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management from an environmental impact statement requirement.
Sponsor: Rep Rohrabacher, Dana [CA-46] (introduced 2/10/2009) Cosponsors (13)
Committees: House Natural Resources
Latest Major Action: 2/10/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.

I like that Rohrabacher has been the co-sponsor of a bill in past Congresses to yank funding for federal prosecution of medical marijuana cases in states that have made such use legal, but what is up with this bill? EIR's or Environmental Impact Reports (or statements) are meant to make sure one isn't adversely affecting the environment. We can assume most BLM-land projects are going to be government projects (although there are private users on public BLM land.) The government is the worst polluter of all* as anyone who lives on or near a former military base can tell you. Presumably BLM land consists of our precious wilderness so if the country's worst polluter were going to build a project on that land, one would think they would be held to a higher standard; not lower.

Further, if the goal here is to encourage solar projects, why not exempt all solar projects from EIR's?

* source: http://www.adti.net/environment/congressRecord_pryan102800.html

Bill of Rights Assault Legislation

Monday, action was taken on H.R. 45 which aims to further do damage to the 2nd amendment restriction on government to not infringe on the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I'll let the NRA speak for me.

First, here is the bill summary...

H.R.45 Title: To provide for the implementation of a system of licensing for purchasers of certain firearms and for a record of sale system for those firearms, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Rush, Bobby L. [IL-1] (introduced 1/6/2009) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 2/9/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

Here is what the NRA has to say about the bill...

U.S. Representative Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) recently sponsored H.R. 45, also known as "Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act." The bill is, at its core and as its name implies, a licensing and registration scheme.

The measure calls for all handgun owners to submit to the federal government an application that shall include, among many other things: a photo; an address; a thumbprint; a completed, written firearm safety test; private mental health records; and a fee. And those are only some of the requirements to be licensed!

The bill would further require the attorney general to establish a database of every handgun sale, transfer, and owner's address in America. Moreover, the bill would make it illegal to own or possess a "qualifying firearm" -- defined as "any handgun; or any semiautomatic firearm that can accept any detachable ammunition feeding device…" [emphasis added] without one of the proposed licenses.

Additionally, the bill would make it illegal to transfer ownership of a "qualifying firearm" to anyone who is not a licensed gun dealer or collector (with very few exceptions), and would require "qualifying firearm" owners to report all transfers to the attorney general's database. It would also be illegal for a licensed gun owner to fail to record a gun loss or theft within 72 hours, or fail to report a change of address within 60 days. Further, if a minor obtains a firearm and injures someone with it, the owner of the firearm may face a multiple-year jail sentence.

H.R. 45 is essentially a reintroduction of H.R. 2666, which Rush introduced in 2007. H.R. 2666 contained much of the same language as H.R. 45, and was co-sponsored by several well-known anti-gun legislators--including Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. H.R. 45 currently has no co-sponsors.

I would like to add that this legislation takes extra effort to point out they are relying on the interstate commerce clause as partial justification for this bill. If you aren't familiar with my strong opinions about the perversion of the interstate commerce clause in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, I will write about it soon here or post a link here if I post it elsewhere. The very short version of this is however that the Supreme Court has interpreted the Congressional power over interstate commerce to mean they have powers over anything that even remotely affects, or could affect interstate commerce.

Concentrate - Shun Camps

Today I will lead with the text of today's awfulaw winner...

H.R.645 : To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency centers on military installations.
Sponsor: Rep Hastings, Alcee L. [FL-23] (introduced 1/22/2009) Cosponsors (None)
Committees: House Transportation and Infrastructure; House Armed Services
Latest Major Action: 2/6/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities.

Pay attention.
Homeland sounds a lot like Fatherland.
Centers sounds a lot like Camps.
Military Installations sounds a lot like Martial Law
In conjunction with the signs on the wall for the disarming of American Citizens ala new Attorney General Eric Holder who never saw a gun control law he didn't like.
Nazi Germany had the Nazi Youth, Obama wants an American Youth Corps.

Many will criticize what I just did there saying I am trying to make America out to BE Nazi Germany, or Obama to BE Adolf Hitler; that I am saying they are inherently similar. I am not. In fact, I imagine Obama and the rest of the Capitol Hill gang all have good intentions, or in many cases, don't imagine their bad intentions will lead to serious consequences.

What I am saying is, we ought not lay the conceptual infrastructure to ALLOW a similar catastrophe to occur in the United States. We ought not embrace facism, socialism, communism or any other big, powerful government -ism. We should fight to retain a small government and fiercely independent individuals.

We should make sure the second amendment is restored so that any invading force would have to consider what to do with 300 million armed Americans, but more importantly so the government doesn't get too full of themselves. The founding fathers meant for us to be armed in large part to protect against just such a threat.

We should put an end to the onerous burden being laid on our children in the form of a fake economic stimulus.

We should not be preparing anything that even remotely resembles concentration camps.