Posted on 02/20/2009 5:14:34 AM PST by IbJensen
"One idea Waxman's committee staff is looking at is a congressionally mandated policy that would require all TV and radio stations to have in place 'advisory boards' that would act as watchdogs to ensure 'community needs and opinions' are given fair treatment. ... Waxman and the FCC staff are also said to be looking at ways to ease the 'consumer complaint' process, which could also be used along with the advisory boards."
-The American Spectator
Just in case you were thinking that attempts by Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi to institute the so-called Fairness Doctrine were simply about shutting-down Rush Limbaugh and conservative talk-radio... THINK AGAIN.
It's actually much worse than we initially thought!
Now, according to the above report by The American Spectator, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, under the leadership of far-left Congressman Henry Waxman is talking about Congressional mandated advisory boards of community watchdogs for conservative talk-radio!
Sound familiar?
It should. The Soviet Union used to call them commissars... political officers... politruk!
To put it another way, can you actually envision ACORN-like "advisory boards" acting as "community watchdogs" over Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham... telling them, through the station owners that carry their shows, what they can or cannot say?
And just in case you're thinking that such a scenario sounds a little far-fetched, remember that our present economic crisis can be directly traced back to liberals in Congress giving the green light to so-called community-based organizations like ACORN - that utilized draconian and potentially fraudulent strong-arm tactics - to force banks into giving out tons of bad loans!
And for those of us with short memories, let us not forget that liberals tried to pull Rush from Armed Forces Radio two years ago.
Now with Obama in the White House, why stop with Armed Forces Radio? The sky is the limit!
Does that upset you?
If so, TOUGH!
To quote The American Spectator again:
"Waxman and the FCC staff are also said to be looking at ways to ease the 'consumer complaint' process, which could also be used along with the advisory boards."
So if you don't like the new regime of talk-radio... SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!
Stop this totalitarian leftist take-over of talk radio. Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent and personalized Blast Faxes to Barack Obama and each and every Member of the Republican and Democrat Leadership of the House and Senate!
Demand that they either explain to the American people why they fear and loath the First Amendment, or stop their obstruction and bring the Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2009 to the floor for a fair up-or-down vote. Let the American people know which of our elected officials support the First Amendment and which do not support the First Amendment!
It's Just Not Conservative Talk Radio; They're Going After The Internet Too!
It's not just idle talk... it's happening RIGHT NOW!
The American Spectator again:
"Senior FCC staff working for acting Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps held meetings last week with policy and legislative advisers to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman to discuss ways the committee can create openings for the FCC to put in place a form of the 'Fairness Doctrine' without actually calling it such."
And Waxman is not just going after conservative talk-radio. Liberals have their sites set on the Internet too!
The American Spectator yet again:
"Waxman is also interested, say sources, in looking at how the Internet is being used for content and free speech purposes. 'It's all about diversity in media,' says a House Energy staffer, familiar with the meetings. ... Does one heavily trafficked Internet site present one side of an issue and not link to sites that present alternative views? These are some of the questions the chairman is thinking about right now, and we are going to have an FCC that will finally have the people in place to answer them."
Can you imagine - as you read this urgent alert - what would happen if we had to stop Telling you the truth right now and present Waxman's side of the argument... or frame this argument so that it would meet Waxman's approval... or Pelosi's approval... or Obama's approval... or the approval of the goons at ACORN?
We'd only have two choices:
Become propaganda arms of the Obama Administration or,
Go out of business
Both of those solutions are UNACCEPTABLE! And Waxman, Obama and Pelosi know it too!
Only the moronic could fail to anticipate where the Act will lead and only the ruthless and unprincipled could rejoice in this betrayal of everything America is supposed to be.
The only acceptable solution is to FIGHT NOW and STOP Waxman, Pelosi and Obama's plan to silence conservative talk-radio and the Internet dead in it tracks!
Stop this totalitarian leftist take-over of talk radio. Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent and personalized Blast Faxes to Barack Obama and each and every Member of the Republican and Democrat Leadership of the House and Senate!
Demand that they either explain to the American people why they fear and loath the First Amendment, or stop their obstruction and bring the Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2009 to the floor for a fair up-or-down vote. Let the American people know which of our elected officials support the First Amendment and which do not support the First Amendment!
Obama Told Us: "You Can't Just Listen To Rush Limbaugh And Get Things Done."
Now that liberals have succeeded in moving the United States onto the road to Socialism with the passage of their so-called "stimulus package," liberals need to make their far-left policies stick!
And they do that through control of the media... through control of everything the American people sees and hears... we call it propaganda!
Liberals already control the major television networks and newspapers. The thorn in their side is conservative talk radio... THEY MUST CONTROL IT TOO!
Liberal columnist Bill Press recently lamented in a Washington Post column that greedy radio station owners are conspiring to shut down liberal voices on the radio.
Of course, that's an outright falsehood. Conservative talk-radio is popular precisely because it is the ONLY broadcast medium today where conservative voices and opinions CAN be heard. As Rush Limbaugh is found of saying, "I don't need to give equal time because I AM equal time."
Press doesn't like the fact that conservative talk-radio is so popular and states without equivocation:
"And that must change. Not necessarily by bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, but by requiring owners of broadcast licenses to serve the general public. We need government oversight by the FCC of radio station owners... ." [Emphasis Mine]
But you haven't heard it all. Press goes on to disingenuously say:
"Forget all the right-wing hysteria about liberals trying to 'hush Rush.' What the whole flap over the Fairness Doctrine boils down to is this: Companies are given a license to operate public airwaves – free! – in order to make a profit, yes, but also, according to the terms of their FCC license... Stations are not operating in the public interest when they offer only conservative talk. Make room for progressive voices on the radio. That's what the American people want. How do you like that, Mr. Hannity?"
Allow me to translate:
The GOVERNMENT OWNS the airwaves and the GOVERNMENT determines what the people want. Don't give me any of that hogwash about liberal talk-radio failing on a national level and don't stand there and tell me that something as arbitrary as ratings are any indication of what the public wants. The American people are too stupid to know what they want. The American people are too stupid to know what is in the public interest. The American people are hysterical right-wing morons and we (liberals) need to tell them what they want to see and hear!
But don't take our word for it. Camille Paglia, a raging leftist academician who, to be totally fair, often exhibits intellectual honesty put it this way:
“Too many Democrats have become arrogant elitists, speaking down in snide, condescending tones toward tradition-minded middle Americans whom they stereotype as rubes and buffoons. But the bottom line is that government surveillance of the ideological content of talk radio is a shocking first step toward totalitarianism. ... let's get real: Liberals have been pathetic flops on national radio... Instead of bleating for paternalistic government intervention, liberals should get their own act together. Radio is a populist medium where liberals come across as snide, superior scolds.” [Emphasis Mine]
Stop this totalitarian leftist take-over of talk radio. Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent and personalized Blast Faxes to Barack Obama and each and every Member of the Republican and Democrat Leadership of the House and Senate!
Demand that they either explain to the American people why they fear and loath the First Amendment, or stop their obstruction and bring the Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2009 to the floor for a fair up-or-down vote. Let the American people know which of our elected officials support the First Amendment and which do not support the First Amendment!
http://www.grasstopsusa.com/waxmanfairnessdoctrine.html
It's A Full Court Press!
Press isn't the only one on the left talking about "government surveillance of the ideological content of talk radio."
Clearly Waxman, Obama, Pelosi and liberals in Congress are preparing to gang up on free speech and bludgeon it to death with blunt instruments – all in the name of Mom, apple pie, and fairness.
Pardon the pun, but in recent weeks, liberals have instituted a full court press on free speech. Upon reading Press' column, Senator Tom Harkin could not contain his glee.
Harkin told Press:
“By the way, I read your Op-Ed in the Washington Post, I took it into my office and said 'there you go, we gotta get the Fairness Doctrine back in law again.’"
Bill Clinton, while on the Mario Solis Marich radio show recently said:
"Well, you either ought to have the Fairness Doctrine or we ought to have more balance on the other side, because essentially there’s always been a lot of big money to support the right wing talk shows and let’s face it, you know, Rush Limbaugh is fairly entertaining even when he is saying things that I think are ridiculous….”
During that show, Clinton also lambasted the "blatant drumbeat" against the Obama-Pelosi so-called "stimulus bill."
Get it? Liberals are hopping mad because AM radio actually permitted the truth to be told!
Every good leftist knows that if you are going to socialize health-care and nationalize the banking industry and totally transform a country into a Socialist Nation, you MUST control the media!
Liberal Senator Debbie Stabenow recently told Bill Press:
“I think it’s absolutely time to pass a standard. Now, whether it’s called the Fairness Standard, whether it’s called something else — I absolutely think it’s time to be bringing accountability to the airwaves. I mean, our new president has talked rightly about accountability and transparency. You know, that we all have to step up and be responsible. And, I think in this case, there needs to be some accountability and standards put in place.”
Press then asked Stabenow if she would push for Senate hearings.
"Can we count on you to push for some hearings in the United States Senate this year, to bring these owners in and hold them accountable?"
Stabenow responded:
"I have already had some discussions with colleagues and, you know, I feel like that’s gonna happen. Yep."
Later, the liberal media came to Stabenow's rescue and it was reported that she was "backing down" from that statement.
But how does one "back down" from: "I have already had some discussions with colleagues..."?
By the way, Stabenow's husband, Tom Athans, is a co-founder of Air America, the left-wing Al Franken radio network that went bankrupt because the American people already get enough left-wing propaganda from the major television networks, the print media and government controlled PBS and NPR.
Make no mistake, liberal elites intend to effectively take-over the media and SILENCE conservative voices on talk-radio and the Internet. If we are going to STOP them, the time to TAKE ACTION is NOW!
Stop this totalitarian leftist take-over of talk radio. Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent and personalized Blast Faxes to Barack Obama and each and every Member of the Republican and Democrat Leadership of the House and Senate!
Demand that they either explain to the American people why they fear and loath the First Amendment, or stop their obstruction and bring the Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2009 to the floor for a fair up-or-down vote. Let the American people know which of our elected officials support the First Amendment and which do not support the First Amendment!
http://www.grasstopsusa.com/waxmanfairnessdoctrine.html
Obama Told Us: "You Can't Just Listen To Rush Limbaugh And Get Things Done."
These are socialist-communist-America-hating thugs who will quietly roll up the freedoms we have left thereby reducing our options to fight them! These 'people' are bedmates of Chavez!
Straw meets camel’s back.
Translation: Community = Liberal
We will NEVER go quietly into the night!!
personally I don’t care if they give ACORN 3 hours
of radio time a day
they have $4 billion of govt money to pay for it
People mighty enjoy listening to ACORN bash “the man”
If Rush’s 3 hours are midnite to 3Am he will still outdraw them
By RUSH LIMBAUGH
Dear President Obama:
I have a straightforward question, which I hope you will answer in a straightforward way: Is it your intention to censor talk radio through a variety of contrivances, such as “local content,” “diversity of ownership,” and “public interest” rules — all of which are designed to appeal to populist sentiments but, as you know, are the death knell of talk radio and the AM band?
You have singled me out directly, admonishing members of Congress not to listen to my show. Bill Clinton has since chimed in, complaining about the lack of balance on radio. And a number of members of your party, in and out of Congress, are forming a chorus of advocates for government control over radio content. This is both chilling and ominous.
As a former president of the Harvard Law Review and a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, you are more familiar than most with the purpose of the Bill of Rights: to protect the citizen from the possible excesses of the federal government. The First Amendment says, in part, that “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” The government is explicitly prohibited from playing a role in refereeing among those who speak or seek to speak. We are, after all, dealing with political speech — which, as the Framers understood, cannot be left to the government to police.
When I began my national talk show in 1988, no one, including radio industry professionals, thought my syndication would work. There were only about 125 radio stations programming talk. And there were numerous news articles and opinion pieces predicting the fast death of the AM band, which was hemorrhaging audience and revenue to the FM band. Some blamed the lower-fidelity AM signals. But the big issue was broadcast content. It is no accident that the AM band was dying under the so-called Fairness Doctrine, which choked robust debate about important issues because of its onerous attempts at rationing the content of speech.
After the Federal Communications Commission abandoned the Fairness Doctrine in the mid-1980s, Congress passed legislation to reinstitute it. When President Reagan vetoed it, he declared that “This doctrine . . . requires Federal officials to supervise the editorial practices of broadcasters in an effort to ensure that they provide coverage of controversial issues and a reasonable opportunity for the airing of contrasting viewpoints of those issues. This type of content-based regulation by the Federal Government is . . . antagonistic to the freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment. . . . History has shown that the dangers of an overly timid or biased press cannot be averted through bureaucratic regulation, but only through the freedom and competition that the First Amendment sought to guarantee.”
Today the number of radio stations programming talk is well over 2,000. In fact, there are thousands of stations that air tens of thousands of programs covering virtually every conceivable topic and in various languages. The explosion of talk radio has created legions of jobs and billions in economic value. Not bad for an industry that only 20 years ago was moribund. Content, content, content, Mr. President, is the reason for the huge turnaround of the past 20 years, not “funding” or “big money,” as Mr. Clinton stated. And not only has the AM band been revitalized, but there is competition from other venues, such as Internet and satellite broadcasting. It is not an exaggeration to say that today, more than ever, anyone with a microphone and a computer can broadcast their views. And thousands do.
Mr. President, we both know that this new effort at regulating speech is not about diversity but conformity. It should be rejected. You’ve said you’re against reinstating the Fairness Doctrine, but you’ve not made it clear where you stand on possible regulatory efforts to impose so-called local content, diversity-of-ownership, and public-interest rules that your FCC could issue.
I do not favor content-based regulation of National Public Radio, newspapers, or broadcast or cable TV networks. I would encourage you not to allow your office to be misused to advance a political vendetta against certain broadcasters whose opinions are not shared by many in your party and ideologically liberal groups such as Acorn, the Center for American Progress, and MoveOn.org. There is no groundswell of support behind this movement. Indeed, there is a groundswell against it.
The fact that the federal government issues broadcast licenses, the original purpose of which was to regulate radio signals, ought not become an excuse to destroy one of the most accessible and popular marketplaces of expression. The AM broadcast spectrum cannot honestly be considered a “scarce” resource. So as the temporary custodian of your office, you should agree that the Constitution is more important than scoring transient political victories, even when couched in the language of public interest.
We in talk radio await your answer. What will it be? Government-imposed censorship disguised as “fairness” and “balance”? Or will the arena of ideas remain a free market?
Mr. Limbaugh is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host.
Law of Unintended Consequences ....
If what you posted is true (i.e. TV & Radio!) then WE can start complaining about the left leaning MSM and demand equal time on TV!
Left Wing Democrat = Direct offspring of Hitler and Stalin. They want to institute the SS and KGB like ACORN is one of them.
“Straw meets camel’s back.”
You mean “Straw MET camel’s back”. Well people, how much longer are we going to sit back and complain? This is no different than the communists landing on our soil and trying to take our land....now even worse, they are taking our FREEDOM!
I will follow the saying on the New Hampshire license plate “Live free or die”! I’m ready...let’s go!
We need to flood Washington with our freedom to speak, while we still can.
I cannot believe this bunch of liberals are being so aggressive already!
Is this going to be the end of America as we have known it?
All they want to do is take our money and tell us to shut up about it!
OUTRAGE!
dream on; they feel MSNBC is presenting both sides of every issue. Their side and their side.
Hopefully, the next fairness doctrine will be passed through the ballot box in 2010. That is, if ACORN’s billions are not used to undermine the electoral process.
IMHO
bfl
Sounds like you need to go to rehabilitation camp. Sounds like you think you actually have the freedom to criticize actions of the government.
One can't listen to you or Rush and get anything done.
Therefore it is in the best interests of 'the people', to shut you up, else the economy will fail.
(The above is sarcasm. At least until Waxman gets his bill through)
If that were to happen; not suggesting it or condoning it, military families would need to be complicit. Unfortunately, a couple martyrs here and there will not wake these people in their “soma” induced comas.
I’m sorry to say that this experiment is nearly over. This country appears to be kicking like an animal that has been shot and does not yet know it is dead.
Isn't that a footnote of every bill Obama's Administration has presided over?
Sad, ain’t it?
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