fantastic_jackie | Entries tagged with controversy posts

If you've somehow made it to now without at least seeing Kony 2012 somewhere on the internet, I would be surprised. You may not have dedicated 30 minutes to watch the video to find out what it is, though. Link to video.

I don't want to watch a 30 minute video: What is Kony 2012?
It's an awareness campaign to make Joseph Kony infamous, thereby ensuring via citizen concern that the US government continues to carry out its non-combat military support in order to help find and bring Kony to justice. Joseph Kony is the leader of a violent organization called the LRA. Originally in Uganda, it's now spread to a handful of other African nations. He's the #1 international criminal in the world for the atrocities he's committed: namely kidnapping 30,000+ young children, forcing the girls to be sex slaves and the boys to be soldiers - forcing these children to mutilate people and kill their own parents. Ultimately, the goal is to finally stop Kony after 25+ years of bloodshed and horror.

That's sick! He should be stopped! So... what's the controversy?
In a nutshell, it is the organization pushing the campaign: Invisible Children. Naturally, there are several facets to consider.

( Emotions vs Logic )

What do you think, Jacks? Do you support IC and the Kony 2012 movement?
At this point in time, yes. As I said above, this is a developing story, so we shall see. For now, I feel like the organization has done a TON to further this very important issue. Supporting the campaign itself will only allow further light to be shed on the entire situation, and I'm a fan of that, too. If Invisible Children gets rich off it... Well, that's between them and God in my honest opinion. I do not have a problem with it; part of me thinks they would deserve such a thing, especially if the movement is ultimately successful. As for the concerns over the Ugandan military... The way I see it, getting one really bad guy out of the picture is infinitely better than standing on (very valid) principles and allowing ALL the bad guys to remain. And who's to say this thing stops with Kony, anyway?

I plan on participating in the April 20th Cover the Night event. I'm not purchasing anything yet, though; there's still time for me to sit back and take in more news articles regarding the IC organization.

Fancy sore
Crossposts: http://patriot-jackie.livejournal.com/441472.html

After all the LJ entries, Facebook links, forum posts and articles, and Youtube videos that explain dire consequences of what would and could happen to you and I should this bill pass, (actually, these bills), I decided that I needed to know more. They're pretty scary claims, ranging from Uncle Sam and Big Hollywood/Record Labels unilaterally blasting sites off the internet for tiny infractions to individual users facing felony charges and being fined and jailed for Youtube fanvideos and violating a site's TOS.

The question is, are they actually true? Should we really be panicking?

As a conservative, my knee-jerk reaction is to believe whatever the government is doing is bad, so I have to work against that bias. After researching the bill further, I don't think that's quite the case, but I have to admit that I do still have reservations about it. After all, good intentions often pave the road to destruction.

If this is a bill you're concerned about, I'd suggest reading at least the links provided below, if not my commentary that accompanies them. I am just some chick on the internet, after all.

For me, this is a topic of legislation I've followed off and on, pretty much just whenever it gets into the news. I have read the bills in addition to articles, both for and against the legislation. My intention with this post is not to sway you one way or another: just to help those of you concerned find out the facts of the bills.

( You keep saying bills. How many are there? )

( Are there any differences between them? )

( So Jacks, what's the big deal? What are these bills about? )

( Will Uncle Sam and Big Hollywood/Record Labels be able to nuke websites they don't like unilaterally? )

( Does the bill result in attacking fans like me who like to watch/make fanvids, make covers of my favorite songs, or even write fanfic? )

( So overall Jacks, do you support the bill? )

Below are a very few of the articles I read. I uh… lost the document that had all my other sources. Epic fail? Yes. >.>

http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2011/11/legal-analysis-of-sopa-protect.php
http://www.techspot.com/news/46381-sopa-loses-backing-of-tech-giants-amid-policy-concerns.html
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111026/12130616523/protect-ip-renamed-e-parasites-act-would-create-great-firewall-america.shtml <--An article AGAINST the bill

The Senate Protect IP Act
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s112-968

The House SOPA/E-PARASITE Act
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-3261

Fancy contemplative

I finished this two days ago: it's partially for my Texan friends, but mainly myself to have a central place to look over everything. Don't you hate it when Election Day arrives, and you see the ballot thinking you're so informed only to find out that you don't know who half of the people are, let alone what the races were about? You even may not have known everyone who was campaigning for a particular office. Well, I'm not waiting until a few hours before voting this year to find out!

There won't be any Districts - House or State Representatives - included here, or any Judicial positions, but the other major statewide positions are included below. (Most of the local ones have no opposition, anyway...) I have linked to their websites and included some brief commentary...

That said, I have been keeping track of a couple of Texas H.R. races Here -including the hottest one (TX-17)- and some of the other members of that comm have included other states, as well. Your race or a race you're curious about may be there or in the post preceding it, and I'm open to any requests to pick up a race for research. (I'm on staycation! I don't mind not having to play video games all day to entertain myself...)

Races Included: Governor | Lieutenant Governor | Attorney General | Comptroller | Commissioner of the General Land Office | Commissioner of Agriculture | Railroad Commissioner

( Dude! There's an anarchist running?! And will I vote for a Democrat? )

The most irritating thing about these state elections is that candidates commonly state what they promise to do, but never explain how they'll do it. Believe me, I looked; I wanted details, and there are next to none. To that extent, it makes these elections, I think far more than the national elections, about the Party System more than what the candidates themselves believe or say.

Interesting about the Libertarian candidates, by the way. Aren't they always the ones harping on those of us who usually vote republican or democrat that we just rely on the "R's" and "D's" next to names? Yet TWO of them in these races didn't even supply a solitary shred of information about themselves for voters to read about their stances. Seems like relying on "LIB's" next to names to me... Even the Green Party candidates had a central website up!

Fancy accomplished

With my head buried in Washington for the past week, I imagine y’all think I’ve been oddly silent. The passage of the health care bill being lauded as on par with the founding of the nation and the civil rights movement by the left and decried as the equivalent of Pearl Harbor and the financial disasters that are Medicare, Medicaid, and SS by the right would surely inspire more than a post regarding procedure from me, wouldn’t it?

Cha’ it would. And here it is – all packed into one. I’ll debate any aspect of this post with anyone, but the purpose of the post is to as objectively as possible explain what’s in the bill. However, I can’t guarantee objectivity because I do have an agenda, and also, I admittedly am only going to include the negative things. … Not that I can think of anything positive about this bill, though. Really. It sucks hardcore. If you’ve been paying attention to the debate, then you should probably know a lot of this.

Note: I'm not an economist, so I can't begin to explain to you how the numbers are calculated. I do know, however, that they can be found in multiple sources, and that has to do for me.

( Sources )

( The National Costs )

( The IRS - New & Improved )

( The Cost in $$$ to you )

( The cost in $$$ to employers )

( Effect on Doctors )

( The Stupak Deal )

LIBERTIES LOST
I suppose I could break this bill down a million different ways - and I didn't even touch the education portion of it. I didn't even touch half of it. - I think the two most important individual liberties lost are those of choice and property.

Only big government liberals would march into your home, tell you they know best, and demand you purchase a product "for your health" with the legalized threat that they will confiscate thousands of your hard earned dollars/send you to jail if you don't. Only big government, socialist, redistribute-the-wealth liberals would call that liberty.

Nancy Pelosi had the unmitigated gall to mention the Founding Fathers in this. She couldn't even quote the Declaration of Independence! Gee, Madame Speaker. When was the last time you touched anything written by our founders, let alone READ anything they wrote?! Somehow I have a hard time believing Madison, Jefferson, Washington, Adams, Franklin, or Paine would celebrate imposing upon the American people punitive taxation for not purchasing a particular prized product.

Somehow, I think they would be mightily offended by the arrogance of the democratic party to partisan-ly equate itself with GOD to create rights! That is HIS authority, and HIS only!

Equivalent to the Civil Rights Movement of the 60's?! Those people refused to move to the back of the bus! They refused to leave the counter! They marched! They relied on GOD and each other, not government! They were fighting AGAINST the government, which was keeping them oppressed for majority opinion! They were beaten and hosed and KILLED in that movement! You're going to compare the most corrupt, leftist piece of legislation that has ever been partisan-ly passed in our country's history to the men and women of color who stood up in defiance to the majority and THE GOVERNMENT? How DARE you?! Is their fight and sacrifice so trivialized that you would dance on their tombstones?

It is sickening and disgusting that this administration has spit in the face of the American people. "Sit down and shut the #($)# up! We're doing whatever the ^#$&! we feel like, and there ain't nothin' you can do about it!"

Well dems, there is something we can do about it. There's a magical month known as November, and it's coming in 7 1/2 short months. We are coming to the polls in droves, and we are going to kick your arrogant butts to curb. "GET OUT."

Congress' approval rating on Monday was 11%. ELEVEN PERCENT! And they want to shove that steaming crap in our face and tell us, "It was for you!" Bogus! It was for government! The almighty government that we should, by their estimation, bow down and efface ourselves before.

Screw. That.

Unless Obama really is a dictator as I previously explained, we still have the RIGHT to VOTE. And vote we shall! If we allow liberty to die on our watch to the thunderous, arrogant applause one party, how will we ever face the next generations? How will America be the home of the FREE and the BRAVE? Where will people go when America no longer has the prized health care system of the world? - And don't you dare tell me that it's not. If it wasn't, people wouldn't come from across the globe to get treatment and specialized procedures! It wouldn't happen!

The question before us is thus: Are we Americans or are we Europeans?

Close allies as we are, there were very specific reasons America revolted against the British. We are still the most free and prosperous country in the world, and we believe that government has a LIMITED role.

So the President might want me and those like me to sit down and shut up, but I'm not going to. I've been missing on LJ because I'm looking for new ways to ACT. The Tea Parties are great for expression, but the government doesn't give a flip what the people think.

I am going to be involved, and I encourage you to be involved with me as much as you can. This is a war for the heart and soul of what liberty is in the United States of America! We cannot lose this war! We WILL NOT lose this war!

Fancy bring it, socialists

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) won't use the tactic of deem and pass for healthcare reform.

Instead there will be two separate votes, one on the Senate bill and one on the reconciliation bill.

Engel said that Pelosi told a whip meeting Saturday that members should be proud of their "yes" vote because it is as historic as the social security vote.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MGY3MTRiNGI3NjMwMmIxOTllY2E0ZDYyMWQyY2JhZDA

In case you're unfamiliar with the process, here's what it all means:

Tomorrow at 1:00PM EST, the House will take two separate Roll Call votes on two separate bills: the Senate bill, which has already passed the Senate, and the Reconcilliation bill, which has not passed the Senate but fixes the other bill.

If passed, the Senate bill will go to the President's desk to sign and become law.

The reconcilliation bill will go to the Senate in order to be possibly passed. However, a reconcilliation bill that began in the House has not passed in over 30 years. There is no reason for the Senate to bring that bill to a vote, especially with the public perception of the reconcilliation process.

Since the Democratic leadership has called for two separate votes for the bill rather than attempting to sneak it by through Deem and Pass, there are two possibilities:
1) The Democratic leadership realized the Deem & Pass process was far too controversial to attempt, even in the case that the vote fails. In order to save political face & credibility, as well as avoid the scores of Constitutional lawyers lined up with lawsuits to challenge the bill's legitimacy, they chose to actually vote on the bills.
2) They have the votes, and they see no reason to attempt to disguise the vote any longer.

I'm going with #2. Fox's estimated count stands at 217-214 in favor of the bill tomorrow - it needs 216 to pass.

Fancy anxious

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. Partly it stems from the healthcare debate, but I’ve also found myself swaying libertarian on economic and scope-of-government issues as I continue on a personal quest to truly examine my actual beliefs and ask the question why.

In the healthcare debate, I’ve found myself faced with the contention that healthcare is a right, and I had to ask myself, “Is it?” My gut always told me no, but I had to stop and really ponder why that was and whether it was really true. If it wasn’t right, then what is a right and what defines one? These are the conclusions I’ve drawn:

( Is healthcare a right? You’ll probably be surprised by my answer. )

I decided to share this line of thought for a couple of reasons, one of which was to answer the implied questions that all start at the contention that healthcare is a right, as well as to answer that specific question. I also wanted to stress how much thought I put into my political beliefs.

For anyone who has been convinced and even asserted that I simply take my marching orders from talk radio, right wing blogs, Fox News, and a measure of paranoid fears and delusions with no consideration or thought for myself, I hope this post can serve as a measure of proof that such is not the case. These thoughts and all others I’ve made the case for are my own and are not some plagiarized, talking point inspired, half-baked assumptions I’ve stolen for myself with no deliberation.

I put a lot of thought into what I believe, state, and defend; it’s sad I even have to say this. My assumption therefore is and always has been that every person does the same, and I would hope that by choosing to believe such repeatedly, eventually I’ll be paid the same respect and courtesy for my beliefs.