Missouri House Passes Guernsey Bill, Three Others Combating Outside Encroachment

The Missouri House passed four bills combating what they see as outside encroachment, including one written and passed by State Representative Casey Guernsey of Bethany. Jerry Drake sent a letter to local legislators Guernsey, Mike Thomson, and Senator Brad Lager asking if they had voted for three bills that were attacked by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Board. They were House Bill 436, Senate Bill 267, and Senate Bill 265. Drake's letter reads as follows:

Gentlemen:
Enclosed is an editorial from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch dated May 10, 2013. I am a member of the Sheridan Express newspaper cooperative and intend to submit it to the editor of the newspaper with the suggestion that it be published in the edition of May 22, 2013. He will be interested in knowing if you voted for any of the three bills cited in the article (HB 436, SB 267, SB 265). 

Yours Truly,
Jerry Drake.

As of Monday, May 20th, Casey Guernsey wrote back a handwritten note as follows:
Yes, I voted for all three and will do so every time. In addition, I sponsored, wrote, introduced, and passed HB 170. I'll stand by the Constitution every day.

Guernsey attached a copy of a summary of HB 170.

Information about the following three bills was taken from the House and Senate websites.

House Bill 436 is known as the Second Amendment Preservation Act. It rejects all federal acts which infringe on Missouri citizens' rights under the Second Amendment of the Constitution.

Senate Bill 265 prohibits the state and any political subdivision from implementing any policy recommendations that infringe on private property rights without due process and are traceable to Agenda 21 adopted in 1992 by the United Nations or any other international law or ancillary plan of action that contravenes the federal or state constitutions. In addition, this act prohibits the state and any political subdivision from entering into an agreement with, expending any money for, receiving funds from, contracting services from, or giving financial aid to any organization accredited and enlisted by the United Nations to assist in the implementation of Agenda 21.

Agenda 21 is a voluntary UN action plan relating to combating poverty, conservation and management of resources for development, and strengthening the role of children, youth, women, indigenous peoples, and farmers. The US is a signatory; the action plan has been in existence since 1992. But since it is a voluntary action plan and not a treaty, the US Senate never voted on ratification and it is not legally binding.

Senate Bill 267 is the Civil Liberties Defense Act. It mandates that any court, arbitration, tribunal, or administrative agency ruling is unenforceable if based on a foreign law which is repugnant or inconsistent with the Missouri or US Constitution. It makes contract provisions that choose to apply a foreign law to contractual disputes void and unenforceable in Missouri if it is repugnant or inconsistent with the Missouri or US Constitutions.

House Bill 170 by Guernsey, according to the summary sheet provided by Guernsey, relates to firearms laws and enforcement. It changes the age that a person can be issued a concealed carry endorsement from 21 years to 19 years. It also specifies that it shall be unlawful for any officer or employee of the state, any political subdivision, or any licensed federal firearms dealer to enforce or attempt to enforce any federal act, law, statute, rule, or regulation relating to a personal firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition that is owned or manufactured commercially or privately in the state that remains exclusively within the boundaries of the state. It makes it a felony for any federal official, agent, or employee to attempt to enforce any federal act, order, law, statute, rule, or regulation created on or effective on or after January 1, 2013. It also declares any federal law, rule or regulation created on or effective on after January 1, 2013 unenforceable if it attempts to ban or restrict ownership of a semi-automatic firearm or any magazine of a firearm accessory or requires any such item to be registered in any manner.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board said in the headline of their May 10th editorial that the House had won the "triple crown" of "right-wing porn;" below it, they ran a picture of Republican legislator Brian Nieves (R-Washington) brandishing a gun. The Post-Dispatch argued that House Bill 436 would be ruled unconstitutional on multiple grounds and would seek to nullify even the 1938 Federal Firearms Act, which makes it illegal for criminals to transport weapons across state lines. The Dispatch editorial said that Senate Bill 267, while never specifically mentioning it, notes that it was directed against the possible application of Sharia law.

The Post-Dispatch accused the House of focusing on stuff like Agenda 21 which does not have the power of law in the US while ignoring stuff like education reform. "But speaker Tim Jones didn't bother to start the education discussion until after taking meaningless votes on fantasy bills that will never have any effect on a single job or constitutional right for any Missourian, ever," said the editorial.

The laws in question are aimed at curbing what Missouri legislators see as increasing federal and foreign encroachment on Missouri sovereignty. Nullification as a political weapon died out following the Civil War. However, state legislatures have revived it as a weapon to combat what they see as excessive federal and foreign encroachment on state sovereignty. A bill similar to the one passed by Guernsey passed the state of Kansas as well. It is now the target of a major court battle between the Justice Department and the State of Kansas.

Obama Accused of Morphing Into Cheney

Michael Klare in Tom's Dispatch compares Obama to Bush in his appetite for military action. He quotes foreign policy people as calling him "George Bush on Steroids."
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Obama protested the Bush involvement in Iraq, saying he was not against all wars, but against "dumb wars." In his view, Bush expended thousands of American lives when he could have used technology -- drones, targeted strikes, assassinations, covert operations -- to accomplish the same objectives.
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Obama's rationale is clear -- he rationalizes that he is saving lives through these methods by using technology and black ops that would have required a multiple-front war in previous times. Or Vietnam on a worldwide scale.
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As for energy policy, Cheney believed that oil was so fundamental to the world's economy that it was sometimes necessary for the US to go to war to prevent someone else from controlling the world's oil supplies. He was one of the pushers for war against Saddam both times.
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This sort of thinking has led to out of control deficits; after all, the ends justified the means in Cheney's view.
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The unemployment problem could be solved tomorrow if we wanted to solve it. Simply take all the money that is being waged on all these covert wars and use it to rehire every teacher, policeman, and firefighter laid off since Bush/Cheney took office in 2001 and the unemployment rate would drop below 7.
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Obama is now mimicking Cheney's geopolitical oil games in many respects, such as his boasting about more and more offshore drilling. In fact, we have opened more than 75% of our potential offshore oil and gas resources for drilling under Obama, as he himself said this year in his State of the Union Address.
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The article goes on to talk about Obama's plan of expanding our network of bases and alliances surrounding China. It is ironic that Vietnam is included in this network, given that we fought a war against them just one generation ago.
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This is dangerous brinksmanship on Obama's part, given the fact that the UN was formed by the five major powers after World War II -- the US, UK, France, USSR, and China. It was formed to prevent a third world war and was set up in a way that requires the Big Five to cooperate in order to get things done. While we can and should take a stand against human rights abuses in China and everywhere, we must also engage in a cooperative relationship with our other four partners.
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Klaire concludes:

But as history suggests, engaging in aggressive global geopolitical confrontations with other determined, well-armed players usually leads to friction, crisis, war, and disaster.
In this regard, Cheney’s geopolitical maneuvering led us into two costly Middle Eastern wars while heightening tensions with both China and Russia.  President Obama claims he seeks to build a more peaceful world, but copying the Cheney energy blueprint is bound to produce the exact opposite.
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Brinksmanship over cooperation and reliance on oil over developing new forms of energy means less and less money domestically to build roads and bridges, maintain adequate funding for our schools, and preserving our national infrastructure, and hiring more teachers, firefighters, and police. But that has been the Washington Way since 1945 even as it fundamentally undermines our way of life.

McCaskill Leads Bipartisan Effort to Prevent Foreign Regulation of the Internet

Senator Claire McCaskill is spearheading an effort in the U.S. Senate aimed at blocking the United Nations or foreign governments from regulating the internet.

Citing the potential impacts on internet freedom and on technology jobs in the U.S., McCaskill has joined with Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, in taking leadership on this issue. The two have introduced a Senate resolution to make clear that the United States opposes allowing any international body or foreign country to have jurisdiction over internet management or regulation.  

Non-profit, non-governmental entities currently regulate and oversee the Internet, keeping the global network out of reach of any one government or international body. However, recent proposals—including some by the governments of Russia, China, and Iran—would turn some of the most critical Internet functions over to the United Nations, which could negatively affect innovation and dramatically expand the power of foreign countries to limit or censor speech within their borders.

“The technology sector is a true bright spot in our economy today, and now is no time to impose international regulations that could restrict growth,” McCaskill said.  “And beyond the economic impacts, I’m not interested in giving oppressive regimes an even greater ability to restrict what their citizens can see, hear, share, and communicate.”

Similar resolutions have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, affirming that the United States should preserve, enhance, and increase access to an open, global internet.

The resolutions come ahead of a December meeting of the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations agency responsible for communication technologies. The conference is tasked with renegotiating the International Telecommunications Regulations, which provide a framework for global telecommunications, and have not been amended since being written in 1988.

A copy of McCaskill’s bipartisan resolution is available on her website, HERE.