Congress turns University into P2P snitches at Texas League of the South

What in the blue blazes is the hired help in CONgress up to? is a question that we often have to ask. Like many employees, they will take advantage of your distraction, and busy themselves with all kinds of mischief. In the latest bout, an Education Bill (College Opportunity and Affordability Act, or COAA,) has been proposed with some twists. The evil CONgress Critters have embedded the new proposals into a higher education reauthorization bill so that it has a greater chance of passing.

The saying the devil is in the details is very true for this bill. The bill turns colleges and universities into snitches concerning copyright violations. Who is pushing such lunacy? CONgress Critters George Miller from California and Ruben Hinojosa of Texas.

Who is supporting Hinojosa? Well for 2008 and 2006 election cycles, lawyers are in his top 5 contributors. Among PAC contributions, the communications industry is #2 of his supporters. Could those contributions be influencing his decisions?

This same Ruben Hinojosa proposed legislation for federal monies to be given to La Raza (the Race)

(H.R.1999 -Title: To authorize appropriations for assistance for the National Council of La Raza and the Raza Development Fund. If a non-minority proposed such support for a race based organization, they would be chastised by the media and politicians into next week. There are some who say that La Raza isn’t a racist group. I encourage you to read for yourself and think through the events it is describing, then consider the question. Why can’t La Raza raise funds like other groups? There is no need for a Federal hand out. )

The main mover and shaker behind the Education bill is Harry Reid. He is the one who authored the peer to peer items that want the universities to clamp down on copyright infringements. Although some California CONgress critters proposed HR 1689 to stop downloading back in April. This latest assault on freedom slips the new changes into the overall authorization bill. This way anyone who opposes it is labeled as being ‘against education’. Part of what is sad, there are some CONgress Critters like Kucinich that claim”We are losing democracy“, when he and members of both parties are taking away freedoms right and left. They have already given away the right to hire and fire who you want, surrendered our rights to the UN, taken steps to remove gun liberties and now this. The double talk about blaming one party while their own party removes freedoms is part of the shell game.

I always thought that the Universities and Colleges were for education, not for policing the music and viewing habits of its students. If the new purpose is policing, then they are no longer educational institutions, but rather indoctrination centers. It is clear that the Democratik leadership is more about indoctrination and control than it is about freedom on the College campuses.

Harry Reid’s newest modification requires “a plan for offering alternatives to illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property as well as a plan to explore technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity.” Read it and think about it. It requires the colleges to provide entertainment to the students. It wants them to be high-tech snitches. The bill also seeks to maintain a list of the 25 most flagrant violators based on statistics provided to them by the entertainment industry. This bill sounds like someone is brown nosing Hollywood and the recording industry to me.

This legislation is a threat to privacy. It is a threat to intellectual freedoms. It changes the purpose of educational institutions into something they were never designed for. This is nothing more than arrogance on the part of Democratic leaders in CONgress. If the universities refuse to comply, they will loose all their federal aid. Federal monies always come with strings attached, and this is no exception. If CONgress did their job, rather than meddle, there would not be such legislation in the first place. From a Southron perspective, this is NONE of the business of CONgress.
League of the South