The DISCLOSE Act, and perhaps a Wee Betrayal

It's been a long day, and I'm not quite up for a full throttle rant. Perhaps later. Or perhaps Stingray of Atomic Nerds and his amazing command of invective will beat me to it. He's rather better at such things than I.

Essentially, the proposed DISCLOSE act might be termed the "Muzzle Folks Obama & Charlie Schumer Don't Like Act" - utilizing onerous mandatory content requirements, disclosure, documentation, and regulatory tools to accomplish the task. The NRA was doing just fine as the 800lb gorilla torpedo'ing the vile piece of unconstitutional garbage - right up till House leadership brokered a back-room deal and carved out a special exception for the NRA from the muzzle (oddly, JPFO, Tea Party Activists, bloggers, SAF, and a variety of others would still get the full measure of harassment).

At that point, the NRA proceeded to effectively throw everyone else in sight under the bus (in classic Obama style) having gotten theirs, they retired to the sidelines...never mind supporting everyone elses freedom of speech and the press, they've gotten theirs.

Sebastian, in a take resembling that of an apologist for the NRA, posts on the topic over at Snowflakes. To my eye, Tammy Bruce does a rather more comprehensive job of critiquing the NRA's actions and the repellent DISCLOSURE Act itself.

The Washington Independent graciously publishes the NRA's statement. A statement that rather supports my initial comments that the NRA's position on the 1st Amendment seems to be "I got mine, so screw you!". Not amused.

In looking at all this, RobAllen posts a reasonably good analogy that should get the point across to even the scatterbrained lackwits that fail to understand why the NRA's self-centered position of appeasement (as well as the Disclose Act itself) is a very bad thing. That it coincidentally has the effect of obliterating other pro-gun organizations communication, public-relations, political, and fund-raising efforts...doesn't precisely shower the NRA with the aura of selfless nobility.

Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) provides a relatively genteel exploration of what the effect of the Act would be on bloggers. The shorter explanation is that if any of us persist with political commentary in our blogs, we look to be in deep and nasty stuff...or so burdened with disclosures and disclaimers as to make blogging vastly burdensome.

Time to write a congress critter - and call, and fax, and email them. And write a nasty letter to your favorite newspaper on the topic.

Stop DISCLOSE/HR5175. Stop it NOW.

Free speech is worth a bit of crankiness. Time to send a message...and point out to the NRA that to protect the 2nd, we kind of NEED the 1st - and not just for the "official NRA message".