Posted on 11/02/2005 6:44:50 PM PST by tsmith130
Apparently the Online Freedom of Speech Act failed to pass in the House of Representatives tonight. I infer this from a statement we got a few minutes ago from Minnesota Congressman Mark Kennedy, a leading proponent of free speech, including free speech on the web. Mark writes:
I'm horribly disappointed that this important measure failed to pass. This bill was designed to protect the free speech rights of Americans whose only alleged crime is wanting to use the Internet to express their opinions.
I disagree with the mainstream media elites who seem to think that an unregulated media is dangerous, unless it is them who are being regulated. What is disturbing and dangerous to me, and to the constituents I represent, is the ease with which so many advocate government regulation of speech.
Bloggers are everyday citizens. They are our neighbors, friends, and coworkers who want to be able to share their ideas without asking permission from a gatekeeper in the mainstream media and certainly not from a government official. They are the historical descendants of Founding Fathers like Thomas Paine and other pamphleteers who contributed enormously to our democracy.
We are trying to spread a message of hope, opportunity, and freedom around the world. I supported this legislation so that we don't lose the ability to have that message shared among the American people, and I am frankly disappointed that a majority of Members don't see it that way.
Mark Kennedy is staking out a position as one of the leading advocates of free speech in America today. What is happening here is that certain people--the editorial board of the New York Times, the Democrats on the Federal Election Commission--are trying to put sites like this one out of business. Frankly, I haven't followed the progress of the Online Freedom of Speech Act closely because I thought the idea that the FEC would try to shut down political discussion on the web was ridiculous. It appears that we have to take the threat to our First Amendment rights more seriously.
Uh Oh! Something tells me Im going to be in trouble.
Maybe you'll be grandfathered in. ;o)
But then again I'm still confused about how the McCain-Feingold denial of free speech law got passed.
It's a sad state of affairs when we have to move our venues OUT of America to be able to speak freely.
McCain-Feingold getting passed is easy to explain. How it passed Constitutional muster in the Supreme Court is the confusing part.
Thank the Leftists and RINOs. They gleefully signed our rights away in the name of "reform."
Now only foreign billionaires really have freedom of speech in OUR nation!
Checking in... and getting ready to fight for freedom of speech.
Just thought I'd express my opinion.... while I still can.
Getting ready? The war started with the passage of McCain-Feingold. We've been losing ground ever since.
Somebody pull the roll call to see who voted how????
*cough* Souter *cough* Ginsburg *cough* O'Connor
| Abercrombie Allen Andrews Baird Baldwin Bass Bean Becerra Berkley Berry Bishop (NY) Boehlert Boyd Bradley (NH) Brown, Corrine Butterfield Capps Cardin Carnahan Carson Case Castle Cleaver Clyburn Coble Cooper Costello Crowley Cummings Davis (AL) Davis (CA) Davis (FL) Davis (IL) DeFazio DeGette Delahunt DeLauro Dicks Dingell Doggett Doyle Edwards Emanuel Emerson Engel Evans Farr Filner Ford Frank (MA) Frelinghuysen Gallegly Gilchrest Gillmor Gonzalez Gordon Green, Al Green, Gene Grijalva Gutierrez Hefley |
Higgins Hinchey Hinojosa Hobson Holden Holt Hooley Inslee Israel Jackson (IL) Jackson-Lee (TX) Jefferson Johnson (CT) Johnson (IL) Johnson, E. B. Jones (OH) Kanjorski Kaptur Kildee Kilpatrick (MI) Kirk Kucinich LaHood Langevin Lantos Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) LaTourette Leach Levin Lewis (GA) Lipinski LoBiondo Lowey Lynch Maloney Markey Matsui McCarthy McDermott McGovern McIntyre McNulty Meehan Meek (FL) Meeks (NY) Michaud Millender-McDonald Miller (NC) Miller, George Mollohan Moore (KS) Moore (WI) Moran (VA) Nadler Napolitano Neal (MA) Oberstar Obey Olver Ortiz |
Osborne Owens Pallone Pascrell Pastor Payne Pelosi Petri Platts Pomeroy Price (NC) Ramstad Rangel Regula Rothman Ruppersberger Rush Sánchez, Linda T. Sanders Saxton Schakowsky Schiff Schmidt Schwartz (PA) Schwarz (MI) Scott (VA) Shays Sherman Simmons Skelton Slaughter Smith (NJ) Snyder Solis Spratt Stupak Tanner Tauscher Taylor (MS) Thompson (MS) Tierney Towns Turner Udall (NM) Upton Van Hollen Velázquez Visclosky Walden (OR) Walsh Wamp Wasserman Schultz Watt Waxman Weiner Weldon (PA) Wexler Wilson (NM) Wolf Wu |
Here's who voted against.
*cough* bush....
he can't escape blame, especially after he said he would veto it when he was campaigning.
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