Will Obama Silence The Opposition?

America Talks ^ | 9/27/09 | David Zublick

[AmericaTalks]

In recent weeks, a serious threat has emerged to the liberties of every American with regard to free speech in this country.

This threat has come in many forms and from many fronts.

Cass Sunstein, Barack Obama's newly confirmed regulatory czar, believes that the government should be able to force broadcasters to air "diversity" ads, which would be a backdoor attempt at reconstituting the Fairness Doctrine.

In his 1993 book "The Partial Constitution", Sunstein wrote "If it were necessary to bring about diversity and attention to public matters, a private right of access to the media might even be constitutionally compelled. The notion that access will be a product of the marketplace might well be constitutionally troublesome."

Sunstein would like to see the creation of a "First Amendment New Deal", or a new "Fairness Doctrine" that would include the establishment of a panel of "nonpartisan experts" to ensure "diversity of view" on the airwaves.

Obviously, this would result in time constraints to the private broadcasting companies, which would be forced to give up valuable revenue-generating advertising slots to air these diversity ads. This could also result in programming changes on conservative stations, which might be forced to drop certain hosts or programs to prevent having to equalize all points of view.

At the same time, there is a new bill being drafted behind closed doors in the Senate, S.773 (excerpt) which would give the White House the authority to seize control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency. In effect, the Internet would be shut down at a moment's notice due to some perceived (or conceived) threat. After all, wasn't it Rahm Emanuel who said "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."

If the threat to broadcasters and the Internet aren't bad enough, Obama is now thinking about bailing out the failing newspapers in this country. There are several bills in congress that would boost the newspaper sector, including a senate bill that would allow newspaper companies to reformulate themselves as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks. These newspapers would then be print versions of PBS and NPR, which would, in effect make them mouthpieces for the government. The White House could control the advertising and all editorial content appearing in these papers.

Obama already has the mainstream media in his back pocket. All of the major networks and most of the print media are in the tank for this guy. But it still sticks in his craw that there are those outlets that offer opposition to his policies. Several attempts have been made to demonize those who share disparate views. Charges of racism have been leveled against those who oppose health care, cap and trade, the stimulus and our increasing budget deficit.

The charges of racism won't be enough, however, to keep Obama's critics quiet. So other steps must be taken to stave off the growing cacophony of voices that stand to hold this regime's forces at bay. Pushing for another Fairness Doctrine for broadcasters, taking control of the print media through a financial bailout of the newspapers, and the authority to shut down the Internet at a moment's notice, might just give our government a way to silence all of Obama's opposition.

Scary thought.

Listen to America Talks Monday through Friday at 6 pm eastern time at www.blogtalkradio.com/americatalks. Visit our website at www.americatalks.com.

[Da Coyote]

Hey Obamaloons, you want it now?

[Da Coyote]

Of course, the “it” in the above depends on just how we plan to react to the idiocies of the most under-educated (real education, that is) administration in the history of the multiverse.

[clamper1797]

He may try ...

[Dick Bachert]

He would NEVER do that! Obama has selected the “czar” of his new Emergency Internet Management Agency. The acronym for the new agency is ENIMA. The person chosen is a Dr. Goebbels (photo below) who described the mission statement of the organization: “To purge any crap about der furh -- er – President Obama out of the internet by any and all necessary means.” Herr Doctor reminded the interviewer that failure to comply with the rules and regulations to be administered by ENIMA will be dealt with “most harshly because ve know ver you live.”

In an effort to assure the public that Obama would use these new powers ONLY in declared cyber-emergencies, Goebbels told AP that “ve vould, fur example, haf to shut down ze internet only fur zings like a fire in ze Reischstag – er -- Capitol, ze federal invasion uf Texas or other renegade states, another uf zos sthupid Tea Parties, a march on Vashington by Jim Thompson und his band uf ruffians und zealots – you know zings uf zat sort.” Und, uf course, zer vill alvays be zat qvestion ve lufed to ask citizens ‘VER ARE YOUR PAPERS?’ LOL.”

[Buckeye McFrog]

if he tries the result will be a 9-12 tea party on a tenfold scale

[Recovering_Democrat]

I’d like to see him try.

[Ukiapah Heep]

establishment of a panel of "nonpartisan experts" to ensure "diversity of view" on the airwaves.

Now this is an Obama idea I can support. How soon can I sit on that pane of experts for NBC, CBS, ABC or CNN?

[Vaduz]

Pushing for another Fairness Doctrine,with his race card dead this may be his only way to stop free speech.

[Astronaut]

Barry Hussein Soetoro Obama, the Kenyan-born crypto-Muslim, would like nothing better than to repeal the First Amendment. He wants to silence his critics and exercise total control over the all of us. Thankfully, what stops him from destroying the First Amendment is the Second Amendment. There is anger out there. Lots of it. When a million people take to the streets of DC to protest Big Government, the politicians get scared. They should be. I would love to see Dear Leader do something so outrageous as to set off Civil War II. However, the media will cover for him, and his puppet master George Soros is very patient and will bide his time. We must be constantly vigilant.

[MHGinTN]

Sounds so nice ... but the fact is this affiramtive action marxist/fascist will do what he chooses to do by simply ignoring the Constitutional contract with we the people, because the democrta party controls the governemnt now and they are not going to take any action to defend the contract they abrogated to start with! And the feckless pubbies won’t even challenge the lying bastard by trying to bring impeachment charges. So, the reality is, you live in a federal oligarchy now, not a Constitutional Republic. It may feel good to pretend the second amendment guarantees the first, but the reality is neither is a restraint to the lawless obama and democrat administration, as the fairness czar (MArk Lloyd) is about to prove to you.

[DPMD]

Fair to say that Obama has completely rejected the notion of a fairness doctrine. That doctrine seeks to dilute the message of conservativism by pairing it with a mandatory liberal message.

Localism, on the other hand, seeks to completely eliminate any vestige of conservative speech by seizing those stations and giving ownership to the favored ones.

Obama is all about localism.

[PubliusMM]

Sunstein and Lloyd should be next in Beck’s crosshairs. These two are unrepentant progressive marxists and their agenda is an odious complement to 0bama’s.

It’s time to take back the country.