Posted on 08/20/2008 5:43:13 PM PDT by Kaslin
Free Speech: Terrorism and oil aren't the only stand-out issues this year. A President Obama and Democratic Congress could empower a multimedia thought police whose long arms extend even to the Internet.
Those old enough will remember how afternoon sitcom reruns were regularly interrupted by some little old lady or wild-eyed activist being given several minutes of "equal time." The mind-numbing interludes were how TV and radio complied with that erstwhile Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation requiring "balance" on the airwaves.
In the years since the Fairness Doctrine was scrapped, America's elite media establishment, which had thought its comfortable position of power was permanent, has been rocked by a free speech revolution courtesy of talk radio and a whole universe of bloggers. Their instant fact checks and counterpunches have dethroned the Big Three TV networks, as well as the New York Times and Washington Post.
Yet an alarming proportion of the public seems to think government-imposed "equality" should govern the airwaves. A Rasmussen survey this month found 47% in favor of requiring all radio and TV stations to provide an equal share of conservative and liberal political commentary.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
Carter let a genie out of that bottle that RR couldn’t put back in, not his fault (R’s). And Reagan did do some excellent things.
What you’re not addressing is how MUCH irreversible (maybe fatal) damage b. hussein would do - that NO conservative would even get the opportunity to fix (and that’s if we’re still a free and/or surviving republic). This isn’t a chess game - we can’t risk the future (literally) of the United States.
Thank you for that llandres, very upsetting to say the least what we’re up against. I’m the older generation and so it is passing into younger FReeper’s hands but myself and my buddies have a lot of fight, don’t get me wrong. Plus grandchildren are always a motivating factor to keep charging ahead for their sakes.
It is interesting that my son and his buddies (US Army Infantry, combat veterans) were discussing (after their second tour in Iraq) that push come to shove, with the wrong POTUS and oppression starts setting in, what would they do? Some said that they could not enforce edicts with the point of their bayonets on their fellow Americans, they would take their chances with a military tribunal. Others said that they would somehow “work around” those kinds of orders (how?).
Still others said that they would rebel and fight from within (wow, do you realize the seriousness of these discussions?). Maybe we ought to just keep watching the training flick “Red Dawn” and pray for guidance.
Pray for this nation, for its men and women in uniform doing their duty which still boggles my mind, I love ‘em all, they are of the calibre we should emulate.
Not without a VERY ANGRY BACKLASH bigtime.
It would not suprise me if those in uniform who have been defending their fellow Americans will say simply “enough” and turned against those tyrants in power. There is just too much respect given to those in the military by patriotic Americans for those in uniform to turn against them.
“news” media is specifically excluded from “fairness”.
Welcome to “New Speak”
Yes, you are right, and that was the gist of the conversations I had with soldiers too. No, their combat commanding officers and Sr. NCOs (with the odd exception or two) were not the issue at all.
The discussions centered around possibilities, things like B.O. Plenty creating a separate “civilian corps” of somekind, “larger than the military” he said, very dubious, THOSE are the sort of things to keep an eye on.
He has in the back of my mind to creat a Gestapo-type organization, to keep the “populace” in line, all Marxists think along those lines, all we have to do is look at their history.
I'm all for the fairness doctrine as long as it is imposed on newspapers newsrooms and editorial content, the major news network newsrooms and editorial content, and on college faculty.
The "Fairness Doctrine" is a direct contradiction not only of the First Amendment but of the very reason for the existence of the Constitution - namely,We, the people of the United States, in order to . . . secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.Therefore we not only have no willingness to live under a law which suppresses our own rights to speak, listen, read, and write without reference to the convenience of any tyrant, we have no legitimate interest in seeing the rights of others who happen to have newspapers or be on college faculty.The fundamental problem which causes people to be confused about the legitimacy of censorship is that we the people have been subject to an intensive and extensive propaganda campaign to the effect that journalism is, should be, or even could be objective. That is absurd, because the rules of journalism themselves are not objective, and they are not an expression of the public interest. The rules of journalism are an expression of how to interest the public - but that is not the same as the public interest and indeed can be inimical to the public interest.
The conceit of journalistic objectivity is the idea that journalists are superior to the rest of the people. There is no reason why we should accept that presumption, or the expression of that presumption in laws which discriminate against ourselves.
brushcop - thanks for your thoughtful reply, glad to know more about you and your family and I thank them for their brave service to our country. Keep the faith and fight the good fight the way you’re doing, for your grandchildren and their future!
God bless you, your kids and grandkids. I believe American voters will make the right decision in November.
And always, God bless America.
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