"All we have to do is keep our constituents stupid -- until it is too late for them."
Posted on 11/05/2007 8:30:49 AM PST by Trueblackman
New Cable TV Vouchers Ban FOX News
Democrats' hard-fought battle to provide cable television to welfare recipients hit another snag yesterday when Republicans found a newly inserted provision that specifically excludes FOX News Channel from programming options. "This clause was not in this bill last week," said Rep. Jim Clements (R-CO) "I don't know whether someone thought they could slip this by us, or what, but this is getting to be a bit much." The affected bill, a 3.5 billion dollar spending measure that proponents say is necessary to educate potential voters before the 2008 elections, has met with great resistance from conservative legislators on both sides of the aisle who portray it as just one more unnecessary entitlement tacked onto an already over-burdoned welfare system. "The Federal Government is not obliged to provide people the ability to watch Sponge Bob Square Pants." Said Rep. Mitch Weyland (R-NM), "This whole idea was bad from the beginning... it's a waste of taxpayer dollars." "Contrary to what my friend from New Mexico thinks, this is not about entertainment. It's about education.," said Warren Billingsley, Democrat from Buffalo, New York, and co-sponsor of the 'Voter Education and Inclusion Act.' Billingsley claims that without cable television, an irreplaceable source of political info and events, millions of voters nationwide will be disenfranchised from the process. "We need to move beyond this notion that only the very rich should have access to the political process," he said. "We want the American people, all of the American people, to have the proper information before heading to the polls in 2008." Asked why language was inserted to specifically bar FOX News Channel from programming, he replied, "FOX News isn't a source of proper information."
The bill is to educate voters about the 2008 elections, but then they try to exclude the #1 rated cable news network? Don’t Dems see how stupid this makes them look?
Since when do these individuals not have to pay for cable? Put up an antenna like everyone else did for decades. Taxpayers should revolt over free cable. Food, shelter and medical help is what I thought we were providing. Cable? No way.
Sieg Heil!
('cause we all know what "proper" means!)
So the Dem's don't think a channel that has sponsored presidential candidate debates is part of the education of voters. Outrageous!
More to the point, I have always thought allowing folks to vote in any language but English allows those with limit information to vote. If I only speak Spanish doesn't matter how many cable channels you make available to me, I still can't be as educated as the English speaker.
“”FOX News isn’t a source of proper information.”
Massive Democratic Party sponsored censorship. I’d capitalize on it this election season and compare the Democrats to the Communist Party of the old Soviet Union.
How about NO taxpayer funded cable for the poor? The last thing they need is another reason to sit on their ass all day.
Congressional Democrats can count among their ranks a great number of vindictive, petty little tyrants.
Wait. There’s taxpayer funded CABLE? So you can be poor, but afford a home and a TV, but the government (i.e., you and me) provide cable?
My daughter and her husband (both grad students) can’t afford cable so, get this, THEY DON’T HAVE IT! Not that complicated.
The Fairness Doctrine- Censor the right.
Perhaps, we do need a Voter Education Act since few people have recognized that this article is satire.
Yes, and if they have to identify themselves at the polls. It’s tantamount to a literacy test.
“Why are we paying for any cable TV for the “poor” in the first place?”
Bread and circuses. Make sure they have cable, so they don’t spend time trying to figure out why they are poor, or what’s going on around them.
"All we have to do is keep our constituents stupid -- until it is too late for them."
Mark my words, two things for sure will happen in the first 100 days of the Hillary Administration, either by legislation or executive fiat. The first will be a reinstatement of the "Fairness Doctrine". That will end talk radio as we know it today. The other will be regulation of the Internet. Sites like FR will be history, while others like KOS and DU will flourish, probably at taxpayer expense. Controlling speech and communications (and thereby the organizing power it allows) is the first order of business for any tyranny.
Engage brain before clicking post.
"All Of Germany Hears The Fuhrer On the People's Radio."
WHY IN THE H*LL IS MY TAX MONEY BEING USED TO PAY FOR CABLE TV FOR WELFARE RECIPEINTS? (yes I know, “caps” means you’re yelling-I’m yelling)
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