Posted on 01/24/2006 4:34:29 AM PST by unionblue83
The rise of alternative media—political talk radio in the eighties, cable news in the nineties, and the blogosphere in the new millennium—has broken the liberal monopoly over news and opinion outlets. The Left understands acutely the implications of this revolution, blaming much of the Democratic Party’s current electoral trouble on the influence of the new media’s vigorous conservative voices. Instead of fighting back with ideas, however, today’s liberals quietly, relentlessly, and illiberally are working to smother this flourishing universe of political discourse under a tangle of campaign-finance and media regulations. Their campaign represents the most sustained attack on free political speech in the United States since the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts. Though Republicans have the most to lose in the short run, all Americans who care about our most fundamental rights and the civic health of our democracy need to understand what’s going on—and resist it.
(Excerpt) Read more at frontpagemag.com ...
Scary ..!
Is an interesting and potentially disturbing article
"The FEC thus has plunged into what Smith calls a “bizarre” rule-making process that could shackle the political blogosphere. This would be a particular disaster for the Right, which has maintained its early advantage over the Left in the blogosphere, despite the emergence of big liberal sites like Daily Kos. Some 157 of the top 250 political blogs express right-leaning views, a recent liberal survey found. Reaching a growing and influential audience—hundreds of thousands of readers weekly (including most journalists) for the top conservative sites—the blogosphere has enabled the Right to counter the biases of the liberal media mainstream. Without the blogosphere, Howell Raines would still be the New York Times’s editor, Dan Rather would only now be retiring, garlanded with praise—and John Kerry might be president of the U.S., assuming that CBS News had gotten away with its last-minute falsehood about President Bush’s military service that the diligent bloggers at PowerLine, LittleGreenFootballs, and other sites swiftly debunked"
Dear Congress-Critter,
Muzzling the blogosphere is a shooting offense.
Sincerely
A Former US Marine
Exactly what I was thinking. Let's see them enforce any blog laws.
Here, here!
I think what we're seeing here is the political elite realizing that they can no longer fool most of the people all of the time.
I, for one, welcome their attempt to stiffle free speech. After all, it will be their burdon to explain exactly why this tactic is Constitutional.
Self ping for later read.
WOW, that is truly a scary article. What are we, the Soviet Union?
I thought LIBERALS loved the First Amendment. Oh wait, that's only when it suits them!
bookmark
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I think the Libs keep so many of the mindless stories going so as to keep their 'back room' solutions from much of the 'light of day'.
That said. . .we need to be dealing with this. . .and for starters. . .just who the heck are these people at the FEC who are actually crafting such ideas into a Leftist, dream reality. . .
Their actitons alone. ..should be legally challenged.
Truly makes a joke; albeit not a funny one'' ; of those Libs who are currently feigning their contempt for President Bush's violating our Constitution.
This obviously is a long article but well worth the read if anyone has time to read it.
I might mention that one of our best news and information sources, a newstalk station recently went to a Spanish language format. People listening to that staion are now having to get portable or battery TV's to get their life saving information like severe weather warnings and Amber Alerts.
Folks, if we don't put a stop to these New World Order types, this is what I'm afraid is going to happen. I would remind everyone that these conservative talk programs pay for the salaries of those who broadcast these life saving severe weather warnings and Amber Alerts. if we allow these politicians to get between us and our radios, all of us are gonna end up getting portable and battery powered TV's to get this information. Think about that.
Is this what we wnat america to become? I don't.
Regards..........
that 'violating our constitution' did need to be framed i.e. 'violating'. . .(as we and they know. . .President Bush was not violating our Constitution - as Leftist like to chant)
I can shush O'Riley. Just turn off the TV or radio.
Stay armed, stay alert.
Bump for later read.
Except for liberals, who will still be free to say anything they want. All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than other.
Small wonder, then, that House Democrats proposed two bills in 2005 to bring the Fairness Doctrine back—and as a law, rather than a mere agency regulation. New York Democratic representative Louise Slaughter, who introduced the first of the two bills, says that Right-ruled radio is a grave threat to American freedoms, “a waste of good broadcast time, and a waste of our airwaves.” People “may hear whatever they please and whatever they choose,” she tells PBS’s Bill Moyers, in a statement as incoherent as it is illiberal. “And of course they have the right to turn it off. But that’s not good enough either. The fact is that they need the responsibility of the people who are licensed to use our airwaves judiciously and responsibly to call them to account if they don’t.” In other words, people can’t be trusted with freedom but need the supervision of a paternalist government.
Listen, sweetie. I can turn it off if I want. But, I won't and neither will millions of others. And, I bet Rush won't quit, either.
Unbelievable... but, then again not coming from the Left.
Oh, and another thing.. Dubya really dropped the ball by not vetoing campaign finance "reform". A MAJOR blunder.
That said, the old saw about the 2nd amendment being an insurance policy for the 1st is more important than ever.
Let a million iPods bloom.
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