Fun while it lasted

Well guys, we had a good run, but the times, they are a changin'

President Obama will be handed the power to shut down the Internet for at least four months without Congressional oversight if the Senate votes for the infamous Internet ‘kill switch’ bill, which was approved by a key Senate committee yesterday and now moves to the floor.
The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, which is being pushed hard by Senator Joe Lieberman, would hand absolute power to the federal government to close down networks, and block incoming Internet traffic from certain countries under a declared national emergency.

The funny thing is they even say what country they modeled the policy after.

“Right now China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in case of war and we need to have that here too,” Lieberman told CNN’s Candy Crowley.

The only difference is that ours also includes a "state of emergency" provision. What does that mean?Well, lets look at the definition shall we.

A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend certain normal functions of government, alert citizens to alter their normal behaviors, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale for suspending civil liberties. Such declarations usually come during a time of natural disaster, during periods of civil disorder, or following a declaration of war

So an emergency can be declared during a natural disaster(oil spill, hurricane, stiff breeze that messes up hair), or civil disorder (look at large push to declare tea partiers as radicals) and you have the makings of a nice soft dictatorship brewing. Could that be happening here? Well, that remains to be seen.

I am sure that some people will say I am over reacting to a small bill that is not meant to usurp civil liberties, but I'll bet the same type of thing( suspension of communications and civil liberties) happened in 1930's Germany, Syria, the Congo, Somalia, 1950's Haiti, and Currently Venezuela. Take your pick, but I'll bet the people there didn't think they were headed down that road until they were lock stepping down the street.