Obamacare for the Internet!

One of the three tenets of the Palm Beach County Tea Party is “Constitutionally Driven Limited Government”. Unfortunately, we have a legislation brewing in our country that literally smacks this tenet down! We, the tea party, a group of concerned citizens must work to understand this legislation and let our congress know how we feel about it. Most of the information that I am sharing here comes from research done by the Tea Party Patriots, a national organization with which the Palm Beach County Tea Party is associated. Herein is the situation:

SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and its Senate cousin (PROTECT IP) are government solutions in search of a problem. Created under the false flag of piracy protection, SOPA allows unelected bureaucrat US Attorney General (Eric Holder) to close down without due process, any site listed in a complaint. SOPA grants the federal government the right to restrict search engine results, freeze merchant accounts and force your internet provider to block any site branded in violation of SOPA. An unelected bureaucrat will decide which sites qualify.

What does this mean for you? Under SOPA, if a single complaint is filed against YouTube alleging pirated materiel, the entire website can be shut down while the claim is investigated. If a single complaint is registered against Google claiming they link to pirated materiel in search results, the entire site can be shut down during the investigation. If a single complaint is logged against Amazon.com claiming pirated goods are being sold, the entire site can be shut down and their online payment service frozen!

Who thought this was a good idea? SOPA is sponsored by Representative Lamar Smith, A Republican from Texas who has been in Congress for over 25 years. It has 31 co-sponsors and is currently moving through the House Judiciary Committee (chaired by Lamar Smith).

Outside Washington D.C., bloggers and experts across the political spectrum have warned against this legislation. SOPA is sponsored by a Republican, PROTECT IP is sponsored by a Democrat. It’s becoming clear that this battle is not about partisan politics or liberal vs. conservatives. This is the Washington elite, using overblown piracy fears to control our internet.

What can you do? First, click here to contact your congressman and let them know SOPA (H.R. 3261) has no place in America. This is not a bill that can be amended into something acceptable, it must die completely.

Next, click here to contact members of the Judiciary Committee specifically and urge them to defeat SOPA by any means necessary.

If you or someone you know lives in Wisconsin, North Carolina, California, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Iowa, Utah, Arkansas, Pennsylvania or South Carolina, please forward this alert to them. These states have congressional members on the Judiciary Committee, see below for the complete list of committee members with their contact information. Simply click on the red link and you will be on their contact webpage.

Thank you for your efforts and remember, we surround them!

GOP Lamar Smith (R-TX) [Chairman] F. James (Jim) Howard Coble (R-NC) Elton Gallegly (R-CA) Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) Dan Lungren (R-CA) Steve Chabot (R-OH) Darrell Issa (R-CA) Mike Pence (R-IN) J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) Steve King (R-IA) Trent Franks (R-AZ) Louie Gohmert (R-TX) Jim Jordan (R-OH) Ted Poe (R-TX) Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) Tim Griffin (R-AR) Tom Marino (R-PA) Trey Gowdy (R-SC) Dennis Ross (R-FL) Sandy Adams (R-FL) Ben Quayle (R-AZ) Mark Amodei (R-NV) Members DC Phone DC Fax E-mail
202-225-4236 202-225-8628 http://lamarsmith.house.gov/Contact/
Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI) 202-225-5101 202-225-3190 http://sensenbrenner.house.gov/email_zip.htm
202-225-3065 202-225-8611 http://coble.house.gov/Contact/ZipCheck.htm
202-225-5811 202-225-1100 https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
202-225-5431 202-225-9681 http://goodlatte.house.gov/contacts/new
202-225-5716 202-226-1298 http://lungren.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=84§i …
202-225-2216 202-225-3012 https://chabotforms.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=58& …
202-225-3906 202-225-3303 http://issa.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&vi …
202-225-3021 202-225-3382 https://forms.house.gov/pence/IMA/webforms/contact_fo …
202-225-6365 202-226-1170 http://randyforbes.house.gov/Contact/ZipAuth.htm
202-225-4426 202-225-3193 https://forms.house.gov/king/webforms/issue_subscribe …
202-225-4576 202-225-6328 http://franks.house.gov/contacts/new
202-225-3035 202-226-1230 http://gohmert.house.gov/Contact/
202-225-2676 202-226-0577 http://jordan.house.gov/Contact/
202-225-6565 202-225-5547 https://forms.house.gov/poe/webforms/zipauthen_contac …
202-225-7751 202-225-5629 https://chaffetz.house.gov/contact/email-me.shtml
202-225-2506 202-225-5903 https://griffin.house.gov/contact-me/email-me
202-225-3731 202-225-9594 https://marino.house.gov/contact-me/email-me
202-225-6030 202-226-1177 http://gowdy.house.gov/Contact/
202-225-1252 202-226-0585 https://dennisross.house.gov/Contact/
202-225-2706 202-226-6299 http://adams.house.gov/Contact/
202-225-3361 202-225-3462 http://quayle.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=58§io …
202-225-6155 202-225-5679 https://amodei.house.gov/contact-me/email-me

Democrat Members DC Phone DC Fax E-mail
John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) [Ranking Member] 202-225-5126 202-225-0072 http://conyers.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact …
Howard L. Berman (D-CA) 202-225-4695 202-225-3196 http://www.house.gov/berman/contact/
Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) 202-225-5635 202-225-6923 https://jerroldnadler.house.gov/Forms/WriteYourRep/de …
Bobby Scott (D-VA) 202-225-8351 202-225-8354 chttp://www.house.gov/berman/contact/
Mel Watt (D-NC) 202-225-1510 202-225-1512 https://forms.house.gov/watt/webforms/zipauthen_conta …
Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) 202-225-3072 202-225-3336 http://forms.house.gov/lofgren/webforms/landing.html
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) 202-225-3816 202-225-3317 http://www.jacksonlee.house.gov/Contact/
Maxine Waters (D-CA) 202-225-2201 202-225-7854 https://watersforms.house.gov/Contact/ContactForm.htm
Steve Cohen (D-TN) 202-225-3265 202-225-5663 https://cohenforms.house.gov/Forms/WriteYourRep/
Hank Johnson (D-GA) 202-225-1605 202-226-0691 https://hankjohnsonforms.house.gov/contact-form.shtml
Pedro Pierluisi (D-PR) 202-225-2615 202-225-2154 http://pierluisi.house.gov/english/contact-us.html
Mike Quigley (D-IL) 202-225-4061 202-225-5603 https://forms.house.gov/quigley/contact-form.shtml
Judy Chu (D-CA) 202-225-5464 202-225-5467 https://forms.house.gov/chu/contact-form.shtml
Ted Deutch (D-FL) 202-225-3001 202-225-5974 https://deutchforms.house.gov/Forms/WriteYourRep/defa …
Linda Sanchez (D-CA) 202-225-6676 202-226-1012 https://forms.house.gov/lindasanchez/webforms/issue_s …
Jared Polis (D-CO) 202-225-2161 202-226-7840 https://polisforms.house.gov/Forms/WriteYourRep/defau …