NEW RIGHT DE-FANGS SENATE ETHICS BILL, YET DANGER REMAINS

By Rev. Ted Pike
 

               Last week massive calling by the religious and political right made the difference in stripping freedom-threatening legislation from the Senate's lobby reform bill, S.1. Sec. 220 would have imposed stifling registration and reporting requirements on small Christian/conservative grassroots lobbying organizations.  These would include many politically motivated evangelical churches. The fine would be up to $100,000 if they did not satisfy government demands for accountability.

               Yet the threat of Sec. 220 remains. 

            The Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007, free of Sec. 220, now goes from the Senate to the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, confident of Democrat power, will probably attach the wording of Sec. 220 to the House version. Liberals want this legislation very badly because it withers grassroots activism from the religious and conservative right. Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21 represents the liberal Jewish activism of Sen. Carl Levin and Joseph Lieberman, original sponsors of Sec. 220. He publicly expressed dismay at rejection of Sec. 220 by the Senate but lets Jewish-owned The Washington Post speak for him on his website (www.democracy21.org):

            We should be aware that even if Sec. 220 is not re-attached to the House bill, Pelosi still has power to handpick the majority of House conferees who will later, in conference between the House and Senate, craft the final form of the lobby reform bill. Such liberal conferees can be counted on to do their best to reattach Sec. 220 and triumph in the end.

Hate Bill: An Even Greater Threat

            The federal anti-hate bill, The David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act, H.R. 254, also looms in the House. I was told by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee's office that H.R. 254 will be referred to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security as soon as Pelosi appoints its members. This, according to Pelosi's office, will take place within the next two weeks.  Jackson-Lee's office also told me that since the hate bill passed the House in the previous Congress a simple vote in the subcommittee on crime may be all that is necessary to send it to Judiciary and, if approved, on to a vote of the full House.

            How do patriots respond to these frontal assaults on freedom? By continuing the same tactics in the House that worked so well last week in the Senate:

1. Even if you called previously, call the House member from your district again. Urge a "no" vote to the hate crimes bill, H.R. 254, and legislation that restricts grassroots lobbying. 
   
   Here's what to say: "Please don't vote for The David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act, H.R. 254. Hate laws have taken away free speech in Canada and many European countries. Also, please take out restrictions on grassroots lobbyists from the lobby reform bill. Grassroots lobbyists have no history of abuse. They should be encouraged, not restricted."
   
    
2. Make about 30 copies each of the two flyers at www.truthtellers.org, "Anti-Hate Laws Will Make You a Criminal" and "Lobby Reform Bill: Attack on Grassroots Freedom." Send them to the House member from your district plus their influential legislative aides. These are listed at www.truthtellers.org.
   
    
3. Come to www.truthtellers.org for the complete list of members of Congress. Continue a regular program of calling 15 members every day but especially those in the House of Representatives. The battle has been won for the moment in the Senate. We must now overwhelm the House with calls and flyers, prejudicing them against the hate bill and grassroots-persecuting legislation. This will also encourage freedom-defending members of Congress to take a stand, confident their constituency will stand behind them. 
   
   The ideal scenario would be for members of Congress critical of the hate bill to demand congressional hearings, investigating how similar hate crimes legislation has persecuted Christians and ended free speech throughout the western world. Broad-ranging hearings like this have never been held since ADL first submitted their "Hate Crimes Prevention Act" in 1998. One additional benefit: Such hearings would dramatically slow down passage of the federal hate bill.

            Everyone who loves freedom must act today! Next week may be too late. Democrats, intoxicated with power, are trying to quickly pass as much freedom-stealing legislation as possible. We must resist them at every turn with a resounding No! Removal of Sec. 220 was another stunning success, proof that when the people speak out loudly even a hard-of-hearing liberal Congress may bend enough to give us victory.

            Unfortunately, the great majority of Christians and conservatives remain on the sidelines. Like picnickers on surrounding hills, they sympathetically watch us fight this great battle in the valley yet do nothing to help. To all I say:

            Abandon any skepticism or fatalism. Get up! Join the fight! Take action! God is with us, giving another victory against great odds. If we do our part now, more triumphs will come.   

            We can still take back America.

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            For the full story on how ADL has ended free speech in Canada and intends to do so in America, watch Rev. Ted Pike's gripping video: Hate Laws: Making Criminals of Christians, showing free of charge at video.google.com.

            TALK SHOW HOSTS: Interview Rev. Ted Pike about the present threats to freedom in Congress.  Call 503-631-3808.