White House plan puts bull's-eye on talk shows

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | January 26, 2009 | Bob Unruh

[Man50D]

The White House is promising new reviews of the "obligations" to the government by broadcasters who "occupy the nation's spectrum" just as the president has targeted conservative talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh for a public attack, raising concerns over the possible restoration of the "Fairness Doctrine," a policy that failed as unneeded and unconstitutional two decades ago.

Paul Ibrahim of NorthStarWriters.com cited Obama's warning to congressional Republicans that "you can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done" in suggesting the president has become the "driving force" because a new "systematic" plan to "intimidate and demonize Obama's opponents."

That such a campaign was launched only days after Obama's inauguration is "tremendously perturbing," he wrote.

"Welcome to the politics of hope 'n' change. Obama's startling attempt to hang Limbaugh's scalp on the wall is a warning that the new ruler does not want unity – he demands it," Ibrahim wrote.

[tomkat]

F Ø

[Thermalseeker]

These liberals are going to try to go after Rush, let's be honest. If they do, they will rue the day!

Yep. Rush lead the way by reviving the otherwise dying format of AM radio and turning it into a multi-billion dollar business with tens of millions of loyal listeners. The people who own these radio stations and networks will not go away quietly. There are also a lot of smaller, local shows with libs on the microphone that would suffer negative consequences by a return of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine." This one crosses party lines and this knife cuts both ways. Obamalamadingdong clearly has no idea how to pick his fights.....

[FreeAtlanta]

Ochild just needs to throw a hissy fit, call Rush racist and the poor excuse for adult supervision - the national media - will go along to try to quiet the child.

[FreeAtlanta]

I thought Obama was supposed to be smart.

I stopped thinking that after I heard a couple of his speeches.

[Dead Corpse]

That threat only works if you have any intention with going through with it.

A bunch of Jack Bauer's we aren't. Heck, there aren't even any Patrick Henry's there days.

Captain Preston has his troops, Lord North is imposing "intolerable acts", and the Crown is solidifying it's control.

Next move is an important one.

[Lion Den Dan]

This country does not have rulers, we elect leaders. There is a big difference and unless we demand the recognition of that fact, we will suffer with a ruler. Damn these Communists.

[Lion Den Dan]

Yes Master, anything you say.

Yowzer Bass

[randita]

Liberals have to have a target to keep the masses up in arms. Bush, their favorite for many years, is gone now and unfortunately, Bush wouldn’t fight back. Bush has to be replaced with someone else.

Conservative talk radio, esp. Rush, is the new target. Rush, Hannity, et al are on to their game and WILL fight back - strenuously while using the situation to enrich their own pockets (laughing all the way to the bank) as they should.

What is somewhat worrisome is now that the liberals are in charge of the justice dept., trumped up charges of all kinds as well as IRS investigations could be unleashed.

It won’t be enough to just assail the agenda of Rush et al. They will attempt to destroy them from a personal angle via lawsuits, underhanded stories with innuendo of wrongdoing and so on. We’re back to the era of personal destruction of those you disagree with.

[andy58-in-nh]

Surprise?! Not really. Obama and his Democrat Socialist Workers Party (Datzis?) are implementing an agenda not of bipartisanship, but of command and control, in which opponents’ voices are to be silenced. Tick. tick. tick.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Great idea. I think we call it “Radio Free America”.

[DarkWaters]

And yes there is an argument against speaking from your door step when it comes to the totalitarians. You can use nuisance type laws, disturbing the peace type of fascist logic, or even zoning boards clearly defining what can and cannot be permitted on private property all with the help of stacked courts of course. And if that doesn’t work, turn neighbor against neighbor and then step in with government force to quell the problem. I think that about raps up what is left of our freedoms at that point since most local government are small centers of do-gooders and tyranny. The logic of the left if anything else besides being insane, is quite thorough in its application.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

What backlash? March on the White House with tar, feathers and rails? Or call Obama even more childish names? The dems are secure knowing they won’t be thrown out of office.

[Thermalseeker]

I stopped thinking that after I heard a couple of his speeches.

Yep. And, if there were any left who thought Obamalamadingdong was smart that notion should have ended the other day when he kept having to refer to Greg Craig for the details in the Presidential directives he was announcing that he supposedly authored. Obama is the emptiest of empty suits....

[prayerfullywaiting]

I’m new to this site and don’t know how to start a topic. Heard on the news. Congress wants to fund ACORN with billions of dollars. And we know what they did during the election. We should alert others on this.

[oldironsides]

This is not Obama. This is Rahm Emanuel and he intends to get even for the last gig he had at the whitehouse. One little item forgotten by many, what in heck do you do with the ugly broadcasts coming out of major cities? Try to listen to local programing passing by NY City. The airways are full of things that would be included in the fairness move. It is not conservative talk radio. It could be called
many things. Hatred for GW Bush was fair. It was scarey

[Delacon]

 

The “Fairness Doctrine” is The Censorship Doctrine

Media Research Center's Free Speech Alliance is a fast-growing coalition of organizations and individuals, who, like you, cherish free speech and who have proactively joined to ensure the misnamed “Fairness Doctrine” never returns to silence the conservative voice in America.

First enacted by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in 1949, the Fairness Doctrine required radio stations give equal time to all sides on political issues. However, the result wasn’t equal time, it was zero time – as stations simply avoided topics that would fall under FCC equal time rules.

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan rescinded the Fairness Doctrine and since then, talk radio has flourished. Conservatives dominate it, and liberals can’t stand it. By re-instating the Fairness Doctrine, liberals would effectively silence the conservative leaders of the day including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham and others, and would essentially take control of all forms of media.

In recent months, the groundswell for reinstatement is intensifying. In fact, a growing number of liberal leaders in Washington, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, have openly stated their intent to do so.

As Americans, we cannot sit idly by while this gag order on conservative speech is resuscitated. The time to act is now—so when the time comes, we are mobilized and prepared to defend our Free Speech Rights.



Join the hundreds of thousands of citizens taking action now through MRC’s Free Speech Alliance, and our national petition opposing the re-instatement of the Fairness Doctrine. Media Research Center’s Free Speech Alliance goal is to mobilize 500,000 citizens to forever end the threat of the Fairness Doctrine and other attacks on Free Speech. Click on this link.
http://www.mrcaction.org/517/petition.asp?PID=18645182

 

Ping me if you want to join or leave this fairness doctrine ping list. Advocators and detractors are welcome.

 

 

 

[Carley]

And only one sheet of toilet paper.

arrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[ReignOfError]

Get a grip. Do you really believe that Rush could get 50-75% of his audience to run out and sign up, on top of those who have satellite radio already? And if he were interested in a free live podcast, he could do that already; not sure how much value tying a free one to a particular device or cell carrier would add.

[TommyTrojan]

And if the gloves do come off, will talk radio finally mention the birth certificate/eligibility issue?

[lentulusgracchus]

It doesn’t help that the history books repeatedly refer to the Nazi’s a “right wing” party. ....It was a SOCIALIST PARTY.

Correctamundo.

The key ideological driver in both Communism and Nazism is the welfare of the People -- Volk in German, Narod in Russian -- narodny this, narodny that got stamped all over everything in Russia after the Bolsheviks took over.

That's the main discriminator between the Leftist Nazis and Communists, on the one hand, and Italian and Spanish Fascists and Phalangists on the other, for whom the preservation and empowerment of the State represented the highest value instead.

Germans and Italians collaborated during the war and even convened "fascist courts" to try traitors to the cause like Count Ciano, after Italy left the war, arrested Mussolini, and was promptly occupied by the Germans. But Germans and Italians alike always understood and were aware of the theoretical differences between Italian fascism and German Nazism.