Not sure what to make of this, as it's rather weird, ambiguous, and flying totally under the radar...
A couple of weeks ago, Dennis Kuccinich submitted [url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-808]H.R. 808[/url] to the House. This bill would set up a rather Orwellian named "Department of Peace and Nonviolence" as a cabinet-level Federal agency (think BATFE, DEA, FDA, etc..) to regulate "violence." The bill covers international violence, criminal violence, domestic violence, imaginary violence, violence against animals, and, well, pretty much anything.
By (for lack of a better word) commoditizing the abstract concept of violence, this would, in theory, allow the agency to define then regulate/censor/ban things by bureaucratic fiat much like the BATFEDEAFDAWTFBBQETC.. And much like the other alphabet-soup-departments, it would no doubt be backed by armed Federal agents to make damn sure you're thinking happy fuzzy bunny thoughts. Because, you know, thoughts affect Interstate Commerce, right? :rolleyes:
Towards the middle of the bill in the responsibilities and powers section, there's this:
[quote](e) Media-Related Responsibilities- Respecting the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States and the requirement for free and independent media, the Secretary shall--
(1) seek assistance in the design and implementation of nonviolent policies from media professionals;
(2) study the role of the media in the escalation and de-escalation of conflict at domestic and international levels and make findings public; and
(3) make recommendations to professional media organizations in order to provide opportunities to increase media awareness of peace-building initiatives.[/quote]
Translation: "While pretending to respect the Constitution, we'll tell the media what they can and cannot say." Hell, they didn't even respect the First Amendment enough to capitalize it...
And later on, there's this in some other newspeak-ishly titled section:
[quote](4) research the effect of violence in the media and make such reports available to the Congress annually[/quote]
Isn't the CDC already doing this? Why make another department within another department to do it again? :confused:
Now, this could all just be a giant feel-good money pit to throw taxes into so as to give the appearance of doing something. I'm not sure what that "something" is though. Or it could be the first step to a Demolition Man flavored future. Either way, it's totally insane. :mad: