Posted on 12/23/2010 7:30:58 AM PST by Lazamataz
The Federal Communications Commission this week adopted a plan to police the web, but it will take at least a couple of months to implement the new rules – a procedural delay that could benefit Republican critics in Congress who are determined to erect a blockade.
...
"This vote is an unprecedented power-grab by the unelected members of the Federal Communications Commission, spearheaded by Chairman Genachowski," Hutchison said in a statement, referring to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowksi. "The FCC is attempting to push excessive government regulation of the Internet through without congressional authority and these actions threaten the very future of the technology."
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[Paul] Gallant issued a report in which he said a legislative reversal of the FCC rules is "unlikely" because a divided Congress would almost certainly not be able to overcome a presidential veto. But Gallant said a legal challenge posed a more serious risk, citing concerns from commissioners in both political parties. "So there is clearly some risk that yesterday's ruling will ultimately be overturned in court, although the final outcome may not be known for several years," he wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Actually, the FCC does a lot more than protect kids from pornography on television. They are responsible for keeping order on the airwaves, preventing broadcasters from interfering with one another’s signal, and requiring products meet standards concerning radio frequency interference and transmitter power limits.
The problem with the FCC, like most other federal agencies, is that their mission has been hijacked by leftists trying to utilize any power that they can find to crush the freedom that we have enjoyed in this country.
The republicans need to stand up and fight this issue on many fronts, and work to limit the authority of the FCC and other agencies to within narrow, well-defined boundaries. Mission creep has brought about a near-totalitarian government in the US almost overnight, though the seeds of this process have been sewn over many years.
Yes, I know about this. I think that reliance on the FCC has thwarted technological advancements in those areas.
Thwarting innovation is what regulation does.
While true, friend, the FCC has been a very political 'agency' since forever:
In 1943, the year Lady Bird Johnson purchased KTBC, the Federal Communications Commission, which reviewed all broadcast-license transfers, was close to being abolished, Caro writes. Lyndon Johnson used his political influence in both Congress and the White House to prevent that from happening. The FCC was among the most politicized agencies in the government, Caro asserts, and it knew who its friends were.
.... and since the 1960's, the FCC was also encouraged to harass political opponents by JFK and Lyndon Johnson.
In his 1976 book The Good Guys, the Bad Guys, and the First Amendment, former CBS president Fred Friendly quoted Bill Ruder, an assistant secretary of commerce under Kennedy and a PR consultant during Johnson’s presidential campaign, on the advantages of the regulation. “Our massive strategy,” Ruder said, “was to use the Fairness Doctrine to challenge and harass right-wing broadcasters and hope the challenges would be so costly to them that they would be inhibited and decide it was too expensive to continue.”
Yes, some of their more recent rulings and activities have done just that. But imagine if there were no allocation of frequencies. If you've ever talked on a CB radio (especially in the late 1970s when they were very popular), you can easily imagine how chaotic things would be out there without some order. Just as people on the CB would constantly talk over one another and disrupt others' conversations, the same would happen across the frequency spectrum. Granted, the communications industry could set things up in an orderly fashion themselves, but without the rule of law, anybody with a basic understanding of electronics and a transmitter could wreak havoc on the airwaves in their area with a few minor tweaks to their own equipment.
See below, for my concern.
.... and since the 1960's, the FCC was also encouraged to harass political opponents by JFK and Lyndon Johnson.
Yes, that would be the mission creep I was referring to, though I forgot that it was so prevalent in the past. I guess I shouldn't overlook the "fairness doctrine" either, which sought to silence opponents to the progressives' ideas.
Sounds like the Republicans have a long, hard battle ahead of them (if they choose to fight, that is).
I now get why the left despised Reagan so. He set back the communist takeover of America AT LEAST 20 years, possibly 30. The destruction of the (UN)Fairness Doctrine, and the uses to which it was applied, was at least a 30 to 40% foundational cornerstone to this end.
It is a wonderful thing, you propose. With any luck, in 2012, should we be permitted to have elections and should we elect a President who actually likes America, perhaps we can do this.
Right. But that's with the equipment popularized under the regulations. The software industry has had similar issues. It results in open standards. I believe that the engineers and inventors could have solved these problems through innovation and industry-wide open standards.
The equipment would most likely be different than what was developed during the age of regulation.
But anyway, I stand by the statement that all regulation is collusion between the big players in an industry and the government to the detriment of the smaller players, entrepreneurs, and ultimately the consumer.
Because the FCC controls who can broadcast ideas, it has pretty much since its inception been used as a political tool to advance political agendas. Of course, this was done to a greater or lesser extent based on the people at the top. The whimsical nature is not good.
You are permitted to fight for your right to vote in free and fair elections!!
They got their asses handed to them in the lame duck session, I expect no difference come January. With the RINO’s still running the show the only change will be the implementation of the liberal agenda a little slower and a little cheaper.
3 Down: The three initials indicating failure
Answer: GOP
See it works in a crossword puzzle.
That's the Senate. McConnell needs to jerk a crick in their necks to keep them on board. If McConnell can't do it, the Senate needs a new Minority Leader who can.
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