Down in the newly insane state of North Carolina, the Republican party (Art Pope, proprietor) may have decided that it can do all the damage it can do for a while, and the only job left is to prevent the people who live in that state from doing very much of anything about it.

First, in reaction to the powerful Moral Monday campaign that arose in response to their previous idiocies, the members of the Republican majority in the North Carolina legislature (Art Pope, proprietor) have decided to take a good whack at the Constitution's guarantees of free speech, assembly, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. That's pretty much a bases-clearing triple on First Amendment rights.

The new rules do not allow groups to "disturb, or create an imminent disturbance," at the General Assembly. They state that visitors may be asked to leave the Legislative Building if they are found to be disturbing "the General Assembly, one of its houses, or its committees, members, or staff in the performance of their duties." Behaviors that could violate the rules "may include singing, clapping, shouting, playing instruments or using sound amplification equipment." The new rules further prohibit signs on handsticks and say that signs that disturb members will be confiscated. The rules also place limits on gathering at the General Assembly, especially in front of the main South entrance on Jones Street. Groups that expect to draw between 25 and 200 people can ask to reserve space at the South entrance. But, the rules now state, "This location may not be reserved for coordinated activities the person or group reasonably expects will involve 200 or more participants."

It should be noted that these rules were produced by an obscure committee that had not met since 1999 and that had not updated said rules in 27 years. Which is, of course, merely a coincidence.

The committee includes eight Republicans and two Democrats, and the new rules passed by a voice vote. "It's not directed specifically at the protesters," said committee chair Tim Moore, a Republican. "These rules were last updated in 1987. They really needed to be addressed."

And I, of course, am the Tsar of all the Russias.

(Not for nothing, but I expect a general mobilization against these obvious violations of the rights of the people of North Carolina by all those folks who were so terribly up in arms that Condoleezza Rice's inalienable right to make $35,000 to give a speech was so terribly abridged. Hello? Is this thing on? Hello?)

To its credit, the North Carolina branch of the NAACP, which is the guiding force behind the Moral Monday movement, returned yesterday as the state legislature (Art Pope, proprietor) reopened for business, and I do mean business. Earl Johnson, a Raleigh pastor and Moral Monday protester, expects a large turnout Monday and thinks some will not recognize the new rules. "People are going there to break them," he said. "We are here to show you (that) you cannot make up rules to silence the voice of the people of North Carolina."

These kind of shenanigans will come as no surprise to the people in Madison, Wisconsin. Ever since the mass protests erupted against the policies of Governor Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage their midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin, and his pet legislature, Walker and the Republican majority there regularly have fiddled with the bureaucracy of the Capitol building itself to minimize the effect of the protests. (This has metwith middling success.) Enact policies guaranteed to raise protests and then stifle the protests using the law and the bureaucracy. By cracky, it's almost like they're using the same playbook.

And the basic approach is adaptable to almost any policy that comes to mind. Take fracking, for example. All around the country, state and local officials are fighting to force the extraction industries to reveal what poiso...er...substances they are pumping into the ground as part of the fracking process. The industries are fighting this very hard because, well, fk you people, basically. And, of course, the North Carolina legislature (Art Pope, proprietor) is more than willing to lend a helping hand.

The "Energy Modernization Act," which was introduced yesterday, would make it a Class I felony to disclose trade secrets related to hydraulic fracturing, while spelling out how the information is supposed to be provided to emergency workers. Class I is the lowest-level felony, punishable by a few months' imprisonment...The state's Mining and Energy Commission, which is writing the regulations, drew criticism earlier this month when it rejected a proposal on chemical disclosure under pressure from the oil and gas industry, the Raleigh News & Observer reported. The subcommittee's proposal would have allowed exemptions from disclosure for chemicals that are trade secrets. But the chemical companies would have been required to submit the information under seal to the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

But they're prepared to be, you know, reasonable.

It would put the state geologist in charge of maintaining the chemical information and would allow the state's emergency management office to use it for planning. It also would allow the state to turn over the information immediately to medical providers and fire chiefs. However, the medical providers and fire chiefs could be required to sign confidentiality agreements after they receive the information. According to the bill, those agreements "may provide for appropriate legal remedies in the event of a breach of the agreement, including stipulation of a reasonable pre-estimate of likely damages." The bill would pre-empt local communities from passing ordinances to control drilling and fracking. It also would limit the amount of water testing before drilling happens.

Once again, from a purely aesthetic sense, you have to admire how complete the strategy for corporate oligarchy really is. They miss very few tricks.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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