Oath Keepers Joins the Fight Against SOPA - Blackout ofOathkeepers.org Jan. 18

from Oathkeepers:

Oath Keepers Joins the Fight Against SOPA - Blackout ofOathkeepers.org Jan. 18     On January 18th, 2012, from 8am to 8pm Eastern, the Oath Keepers website will go dark to protest the looming SOPA (House) and PIPA (Senate) Bills.  We are joining with many other websites across the internet who are also going dark in protest.  On Jan 24th, Congress will vote to pass internet censorship in the Senate, even though the vast majority of Americans are opposed.  We need to kill the bill - PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House - to protect our rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity. Our First Amendment protected right of free speech is now directly under assault by a berserk U.S. Congress and White House. Our voluntary black-out is being done in conjunction with countless other websites to help the public understand the serious dangers in SOPA and related bills awaiting passage in Congress right now.

SOPA and PIPA are to the First Amendment what the NDAA military detention and trial provisions are to the Fourth, Fifth, And Sixth Amendments - allowing for the "black bagging" and "disappearing" of websites on a mere accusation alone.   If such laws are enacted, the following may as well be posted by the government when they shut sites down: "NOTICE: THIS SITE HAS BEEN DECLARED AN UNLAWFUL BELLIGERENT SITE BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT OR ONE OF ITS CORPORATE PARTNERS.  THIS SITE HAS BEEN BLACK BAGGED AND DISAPPEARED IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITY, AND IS NOW INTERNED IN GITMO.  Your attempting to access and associate with this site has been noted, your IP address has been recorded, and you too are now being evaluated as a possible candidate for unlawful belligerent designation.  Have a nice day." That is the kind of Orwellian world the internet will have become, under SOPA/PIPA or other such nonsense. The First Amendment is first for a reason. Without it, peaceful redress, correction, and removal of oath breaking officials becomes impossible, leaving you with only the Second Amendment to secure your rights.   The internet is our most powerful weapon of free speech, which is exactly why the powers that be want to shut it down.   With a free internet, they no longer have a monopoly on the exchange of ideas and the spreading of information, and that scares the hell out of them.  So, we can expect them to do all they can to find a way to shut the internet down or to tightly control it.   Thus, the same "bi-partisan" pack of traitors and useful idiots who passed the NDAA now want to kill the internet.   We must defend it with as much dedication as we would defend our right to bear arms.   Over the weekend, the Obama administration issued a statement on the blacklist bills, saying it would oppose PIPA and SOPA as written, and said that it "will not support" any bill "that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet" (whatever that means - surely the people pushing this will not admit it does those things).   But remember, Obama said he would veto the NDAA, and then turned around and signed it.   By dong so, he joined in on the treason of Congress.  Obviously, if he cannot be trusted to keep his oath when it comes to the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments (or the Article Three, Section 3 Treason Clause), he should not be trusted to protect the First Amendment either.  Do not rely on such promises from Obama or from any of your congress-critters.  And even if they "table" these bills for now, you can bet they will try to cram them through under some other name, or buried within some other bill (like the NDAA).  Keep the heat on them all and get the word out.    This will be an ongoing fight, until all of these oath breakers are removed from office.  Read more about this issue at EFF.ORG  And spread the word!  We must defend all of the Bill of Rights, for all Americans.  Period.   Stewart Rhodes  Founder of Oath Keepers  PS - our members forum will still be online during this blackout, and you can discuss SOPA/PIPA there.