In this week’s address, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan discusses the House Republican Budget, The Path to Prosperity. It is a responsible budget that tackles our fiscal crisis and protects future generations from a crushing burden of debt. This weekend (April 29) marks exactly 3 years since the Democrat-controlled Senate last passed a budget. That’s inexcusable. We must stop Washington’s reckless spending to save our country from fiscal collapse.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Cyber Information and Security Protection Act late Thursday despite concerns over user privacy, the specter of SOPA/PIPA, and a veto threat from the Obama administration. The idea behind CISPA is to empower the government and corporations to work together to better protect American infrastructure from foreign attacks. But many civil liberties groups say the bill is too broad and threatens user privacy.
The Center for Democracy and Technology said it is “disappointed that CISPA passed the House in such flawed form.” And the Electronic Frontier Foundation condemned the vote, saying it “would allow companies to bypass all existing privacy law to spy on communications and pass sensitive user data to the government.”
There’s little doubt that online security is a serious issue for large corporations. Recent reports of online security breaches have involved such high-profile targets as Google, security firm RSA, Verisign, and credit card processing company Global Payments. But whether CISPA is the right legislation to tackle those concerns is hotly debated.
So what is CISPA? Should you be concerned about this legislation? Here’s what you need to know.
CISPA allows the government to share classified information about security threats with select American companies. These corporations can then use that information to better protect their infrastructure such as computer networks containing intellectual property and trade secrets. The bill also allows corporations to share information relating to cyber security with the authorities and protects those companies against privacy lawsuits. Critics say an Internet Service Provider would be free to share a customer’s private communications such as e-mail and instant messages without a court order if the information related to a cyber security concern.
CISPA allows this information to be used not only to protect against cyber attacks, but also to protect individuals from bodily harm, protect children from sexual exploitation, and for general American national security.
CISPA would shield companies from privacy-related lawsuits brought by customers. And corporations could share information relating to cyber security with each other without fear of the government bringing an antitrust suit against them.
Congresswoman Virginia Foxx talks with Neil Cavuto on FOX Business about student loans, and President Obama’s bully pulpit at UNC- Chapel Hill. She points out that the people he was speaking to, would not even be affected by the hike in interest rates coming in July. (Talk about misleading!)
What do you think? Is there any reason college students should voluntarily pile themselves down with debt? Do you believe keeping the rates artificially low if profitable for Americans?
Five candidates are seeking the Republican nomination, among them Forsyth’s Rep. Dale Folwell. The Journal has long admired Folwell’s practical legislative service. For most of his career, he has eschewed flamboyant issues, choosing instead to seek helpful ways of improving state government and services. His ideas range from a later start date for kindergarteners to programs to increase organ donations.
Maybe to curry favor with his party’s right wing, Folwell moved into social issues this term, and that was disturbing. Should he win his party’s nomination for lieutenant governor, we trust he will tack back to the middle. The Journal endorses Dale Folwell for the GOP’s second spot.
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Three Republicans are seeking their party’s nomination to challenge Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, a Democrat who is running uncontested in his primary. Former state Rep. Richard Morgan, the House co-speaker for two tumultuous years, was an effective legislator who led with moderately conservative stands. Morgan’s wide range of government experience would make him a viable challenger to Goodwin. The Journal endorses him for his party’s nod.
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Four Republicans seek their party’s nomination to challenge Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, a Democrat who is running uncontested in her primary. Kenneth Gardner, a former Wake County commissioners’ chairman, had a strong record in the capital county. A conservative with good business sense, Gardner knew how to work across party and ideological lines to help his community. The Journal endorses Gardner for the GOP nomination.
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Five Republicans seek to challenge Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson, who has no challengers in the Democratic primary. Ray Martin, a Garner middle- and high-school teacher for the past 24 years who is a retired U.S. Navy veteran with almost 20 years of service, is a strong believer in public education who would well represent his party’s conservative leanings to improve, not destroy, public schools.
As a group, NC TEA Party endorses-
– Limited Government
– Lower Taxes
– Eliminate Wasteful Spending
– Free Markets
– Individual Responsibility
In the spirit of endorsing individual responsibility, as a group we will never endorse an individual candidate. We believe each citizen must be responsible for their own vote. Each citizen must seek out the candidates running and make up their own mind. We seek to provide information to help citizens with that decision but ultimately, that decision is an individual one. Especially considering the extremely diverse nature of the tea party as a movement.
With all that being said-
Who are you looking to personally endorse for the NC Council of State positions come May 8th? Take our survey- http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/52PGDVR
Not very sure? Check out the video coverage from our council of state debate in March here.
The Buffett Rule, a proposed tax hike on hardworking Americans, would only further complicate our tax structure and do nothing to reduce our rising deficits. In fact, if enacted, it would only reduce our annual deficit of $1.2 trillion by less than half of 1%. It’s time for real solutions–not pointless tax hikes. House Republicans are committed to cutting spending and instilling meaningful, pro-growth tax reform.
“The draft bill (PDF) to demand NC noncompliance with ICLEI Agenda 21 is finished and ready for introduction, but we need your help! We can only introduce this bill in the NC State House in May if we have 2/3 approval of a resolution to suspend the rules of the Short Session and allow it to be introduced.
We need you and all your friends who care about opposing the UN ICLEI Agenda 21 to contact their House Representatives and tell them to:
Support the Joint Resolution authorizing the 2011 General Assembly to consider a bill to be entitled “An Act to provide that North Carolina shall not comply with ICLEI/Agenda 21, relative to the RIO Declaration on Environment and Development and the Statement of Principles for the Sustainable Management of Forests.
SOPA and PIPA were about intellectual property, and allowed courts to remove DNS listings for any website hosting pirated content. CISPA is meanwhile about security, and makes it possible for companies to share user information with the U.S. government (and vice versa) if the parties believe it is needed for the greater cyber security good.
As with many bills, CISPA has room for abuse. It “means a company like Google, Facebook, Twitter, or AT&T could intercept your emails and text messages, send copies to one another and to the government, and modify those communications or prevent them from reaching their destination if it fits into their plan to stop ‘cybersecurity’ threats,” an EFF spokesperson said in a statement. “Worst of all, the stated definition of ‘cybersecurity purpose’ is so broad that it leaves the door open to censor any speech that a company believes would ‘degrade the network.’”
That’s the main point, but CISPA also includes portions about protecting intellectual property, reminding many of SOPA and PIPA. If an IP thief is considered a threat to cyber security, then his website, or where he posted the content, could technically be blocked by CISPA. If a government agency believed you were planning a cyber attack, and were discussing it on Facebook, it could ask the social networking giant for every piece of information about you.
“Parts of the proposed legislation specifically state that cybersecurity purpose includes protecting against the ‘theft or misappropriation of private or government information’ including ‘intellectual property,’” an EFF spokesperson said in a statement. “Such sweeping language would give companies and the government new powers to monitor and censor communications for copyright infringement. It could also be a powerful weapon to use against whistleblower websites like WikiLeaks.”
CISPA currently has over 100 co-sponsors in Congress and 28 corporate supporters (full list), one of which is Facebook. I asked Facebook for a statement regarding its support, but the company declined to comment on this article. Instead, a spokesperson pointed me to Facebook’s letter about the bill (PDF).
Additional reading for the curious: The Coming Age of Internetocracy: “Internetocracy is a new political movement whose mission is to empower each citizen to directly table and decide legislation by enabling them through social networking, personal broadcasting, and other internet technologies.”
(NC TEA Party is not endorsing this movement.)
