The debate over the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 entering the abortion debate. The abortion debate being put into the Cybersecurity Act of 2012. No matter which way you put it, it makes no sense. But one senator is hoping to include an anti-abortion amendment to the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 anyway.
The other day, we discussed the evolution of the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 as it is working its way through the US senate. While the legislation did undergo several amendments to take out some of the biggest privacy related concerns, there are still provisions critics say would open the floodgates for ISPs to begin blocking things like proxy servers and Tor. So, in response to all of this, Republican senator Mike Lee from Utah decided to insert an amendment that would ban all abortions twenty weeks into a woman’s pregnancy.
If you are wondering what abortion has to do with the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 and this train of thought leaves you scratching your head, well, we would be just as puzzled as you. From The Hill:
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) filed an amendment to pending cybersecurity legislation that would outlaw some abortions in the District of Columbia.
The measure matched a bill from Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) that the House considered Tuesday. Both efforts would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy in D.C. except when the mother’s life is threatened, and imprison or fine doctors who disobey.
Lee’s amendment comes as senators wrap up work on a cybersecurity bill authored by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).
[...]
“We can get this bill done and protect our security,” Lieberman said Tuesday. “Nobody believes we’re going to repeal ObamaCare this week or we’re going to adopt gun control legislation.”
He added that negotiators were fairly close to a deal on amendments but “not there yet.”
Personally, I think there’s no shame in saying that I have absolutely no idea what abortion has to do with the Cybersecurity Act of 2012. In my mind, the only explanation is that this is purely a political move to try and attach an issue to this bill with a paperclip and hope it passes because there might not be any other way of passing it.
One wonders if this is a sign that the bills passage is seen as a sure thing by some in government. Still, it’s interesting to know that the bill hasn’t made it all the way through the senate at this stage.
The move sparked some interesting and amusing discussion on social news website Fark.com.
tlchwi02 commented, “we really need a rule where you can’t submit amendments that have fark-all to do with the bill in question. Yes, we get it, you want to raise awareness and foster debate of a pet issue. But other than the press corp, the 7 still living people watching CSPAN and Chris Matthews giant forehead, americans don’t give a crap about this sort of posturing.”
“It’s true: the more pirated episodes of Game of Thrones I watch, the more abortions I have.” commented God Is My Co-Pirate.
“Not sure if I should be outraged by this or just accept that that’s “how things work” in Washington” writes serial_crusher.
“I should attach an amendment to the cybersecurity bill that mandates I get blowjobs from any (wo)man I find to be really freaking hot” added Lanadapter, “You know, to protect America from those godless commienazis.”
It’s unclear what effect these attempted changes will have on the legislation itself. We’ll have to just keep an eye on what comes out at the other end of it all.
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Drew Wilson is perhaps one of the more well-known file-sharing and technology news writers around. A journalist in the field since 2005, his work has had semi-regular appearances on social news websites and even occasional appearances on major news outlets as well. Drew founded freezenet.ca and still contributes to ZeroPaid. Twitter | Google Plus
