Hate Crimes Legislation
First, Congress passed a $680 billion Defense Spending Bill. This bill had an unrelated hate crimes amendment added to it and was signed into law by President Obama on Wednesday. This hate crimes law broadens protection for lesbians, gays, and transgender individuals.
Health Care Legislation
Health care legislation is being reconsidered in Congress and a vote is expected on it in the next couple of weeks. The new bill is almost 2,000 pages long. I was unable to find a text for this bill as it stands now. Nancy Pelosi insists that we must have a “public option” in this bill. A leading democrat in the Senate wants to change wording in the bill so that individual states can opt out of having the public option if they wish. From what I heard, the new bill is worse than the old and will have the option to provide funding for abortion for low-income mothers.
One problem with this legislation is that the politics are backwards. “Reforming health care” should not be the job of the federal government. Individual states should be allowed to decide on health care reforms for themselves. Any legislation going through the federal government should be subject to due checks and balances by the constitution and other measures provided for us by the founding fathers.
Swine Flu Vaccines
I will not go into detail here but will cover a few things briefly.
One of the concerns of many individuals is whether or not such a hastily developed vaccine is safe. It supposedly has been developed rapidly for this “new” strain of flu just within this year. However, some claim that the patent for this vaccine was actually acquired 3 years ago. I’m not sure how that would be possible as this strain of flu was supposedly unknown until this year.
One lady, seeking to find out what was in the vaccine, contacted the CDC (Center for Disease Control) herself instead of trying to find the information from various sources outside the CDC. The vaccine does contain thimerosal, a much argued against preservative that contains mercury. It also contains squalene, an adjuvant partly responsible for “Gulf War Syndrome” in members of the military who were vaccinated against certain illnesses before being sent off to fight in the Gulf War.
Pregnant women and those with young children can ask their doctors for vaccines that do not have these preservatives. However, apparently only the vaccines with the preservatives will be available from the health department.
Another concern about the vaccines is that they are not all uniform. Some of them contain live virus, some contain dead virus, and some contain attenuated (weakened) virus. Live virus and weak virus vaccines can lead to serious problems in certain individuals. It would be hard to find out if what kind of virus a particular vial of vaccine might contain.
Some states will require mandatory vaccines (possibly enforced by military or police) in the case of a serious emergency. To find out your state’s plan, go here http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/states/stateplans.html
I cannot find where I put the information, but one state has already passed legislation requiring mandatory vaccination in case of an emergency. The problem with this legislation is that it allows officials to come into the home of uncooperative parents and remove children and take them to be vaccinated against the parents’ will and without a warrant. This is a direct violation of the parents’ constitutional rights. The Constitution expressly states that officials are not allowed to come in and search or seize property without a warrant. Another problem with this is that some people cannot receive the vaccine because of other health concerns - for example, if they are allergic to eggs. Eggs are used in the processing of the vaccine. The legislation in this state did allow adults to opt out of the vaccine as long as they agreed to be placed under quarantine if they became sick. Those who refused would face a fine of $1,000 per day as long as they refused quarantine. (By the way, if the illness is truly deadly, and a person has it, it is not unreasonable to expect them to submit to quarantine. According to the laws listed in the book of Leviticus, quarantine for a serious, contagious disease is a Biblical principle. Those with swine flu should only have to be quarantined for a few days.)
More on Freedom
For a humorous but informative video on freedom in America, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDWcgnEPdEo&feature=player_embedded
and watch the video entitled, “Make Mine Freedom.”
On the International Scene
The Organization of the Islamic Conference proposed to the U.N. a resolution that would prevent anyone from “defaming” the religious beliefs of another. This sounds good but could ultimately be used as a “Global Blasphemy Law.” This is very serious. Even Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has spoken out against it. She sees it as a potential for serious restriction of freedom of speech.
“Clinton said that while some claim so-called defamation of religions policies would help protect freedom of religion, she ‘strongly disagree[s].’
“’The United States will always seek to counter negative stereotypes of individuals based on their religion and will stand against discrimination and persecution,’” Clinton stated. “’But an individual’s ability to practice his or her religion has no bearing on others’ freedom of speech.’”
Information from http://www.christianpost.com/article/20091027/clinton-denounces-defamation-of-religions-proposals/index.html