Posted on 03/22/2006 4:36:06 AM PST by PJ-Comix
Conservative and liberal bloggers both worry their freedom of speech is threatened by proposed campaign-finance rules that seek to regulate online political speech.
The Federal Election Commission is expected tomorrow to outline rules that could limit political Web logs and e-mail solicitations and would be similar to campaign-finance laws that apply to more traditional advocacy groups, such as the AFL-CIO and the National Rifle Association.
(Excerpt) Read more at insider.washingtontimes.com ...
Wrong again.
The House vote was 240-189, Senate 60-40 to pass McCain Feingold, Roll Call Votes #34 ansd #54 respectively. You need 2/3rds vote in each house of Congress, 290 and 67 respectively, to override a Presidential veto.
Thanks for the ping A-B, please keep me on that list.
Go back to sleep.
The FEC can do whatever the Hell they like, but they will find that unless they intend to restrict the Internet as does Communist China (hand in hand with Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.), political speech and blogs online cannot be regulated. As some posters have suggested, there will simply be a mass migration of bloggers to foreign servers where McPain-Foolsgold and the FEC cannot touch them.
As for the legal battle within the U.S.? Who do you think will be the most powerful ally for bloggers in putting the kabosh on the FEC and other government agencies?
Ironically, it will be the dying MSM, because as they seek to recover lost subscribers by increasing their online web presence, any restrictions on Internet-originated political speech will be tightening the noose even further around THEIR necks. For that reason alone, they will pour their not-inconsequential legal resources into this fight.
And if they do manage to somehow shut down or restrict the access of American citizens to Constitutionally protected free speech online?
We should remember the patriotic example set by a pre-Internet patriot, the late Reverend Dr. Carl McIntire, and his offshore broadcast operation, "Radio Free America":
http://www.carlmcintire.org/columbus.php
And McPain?
We'll shove the broadcast mast all the way up your traitorous ass until it tickles your tonsils.
Good correction, thanks.
A great many steps have been taken to usurp, restrict and infringe on the rights We The People have been endowed with by our Creator. Incrementalism is the tool of the Socialists.
But I think that this issue will be the biggest blow to our liberties as enumerated by the Bill of Rights. Like none other we have faced in the last century.
And it comes from our elected officials. This is digusting to me.
It brings to mind a Thomas Jefferson quote...something about the Tree of Liberty...if you catch my drift.
Liar, liar, pants on fire!
/sarc
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 27, 2002
President Signs Campaign Finance Reform Act
Statement by the President
Today I have signed into law H.R. 2356, the "Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002." I believe that this legislation, although far from perfect, will improve the current financing system for Federal campaigns.
The bill reforms our system of financing campaigns in several important ways. First, it will prevent unions and corporations from making unregulated, "soft" money contri-butions -- a legislative step for which I repeatedly have called.
Often, these groups take political action without the consent of their members or shareholders, so that the influence of these groups on elections does not necessarily comport with the actual views of the individuals who comprise these organizations. This prohibition will help to right that imbalance.
Second, this law will raise the decades-old limits on giving imposed on individuals who wish to support the candidate of their choice, thereby advancing my stated principle that election reform should strengthen the role of individual citizens in the political process.
Third, this legislation creates new disclosure requirements and compels speedier compliance with existing ones, which will promote the free and swift flow of information to the public regarding the activities of groups and individuals in the political process.
I long have believed that complete and immediate disclosure of the source of campaign contributions is the best way to reform campaign finance.
These provisions of the bill will go a long way toward fixing some of the most pressing problems in campaign finance today. They will result in an election finance system that encourages greater individual participation, and provides the public more accurate and timely information, than does the present system. All of the American electorate will benefit from these measures to strengthen our democracy.
However, the bill does have flaws. Certain provisions present serious constitutional concerns. In particular, H.R. 2356 goes farther than I originally proposed by preventing all individuals, not just unions and corporations, from making donations to political parties in connection with Federal elections.
I believe individual freedom to participate in elections should be expanded, not diminished; and when individual freedoms are restricted, questions arise under the First Amendment.
I also have reservations about the constitutionality of the broad ban on issue advertising, which restrains the speech of a wide variety of groups on issues of public import in the months closest to an election. I expect that the courts will resolve these legitimate legal questions as appropriate under the law.
As a policy matter, I would have preferred a bill that included a provision to protect union members and shareholders from involuntary political activities undertaken by their leadership.
Individuals have a right not to have their money spent in support of candidates or causes with which they disagree, and those rights should be better protected by law. I hope that in the future the Congress and I can work together to remedy this defect of the current financing structure.
This legislation is the culmination of more than 6 years of debate among a vast array of legislators, citizens, and groups. Accordingly, it does not represent the full ideals of any one point of view.
But it does represent progress in this often-contentious area of public policy debate. Taken as a whole, this bill improves the current system of financing for Federal campaigns, and therefore I have signed it into law.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 27, 2002.
They can pry this keyboard from my cold dead hands.
Thanks John McCain....
The conservative and liberal bloggers are right on this one...
Dubya should be censured for signing it.
Nonsense. At that time (unlike now), Bush could have easily twisted enough Congresscritter's arms right out of their socket to maintain the veto.
Naw, they think they are God's Own spokespeople.
You know, the scary part it is, that this line of thought is even considered in "the land of the free and the home of the brave".
I posted this last night.
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/blog-detail.php?id=13277
"By: Robert B. Bluey
Posted 03/15/06
11:39 PM
(H.R. 1606) and will take up the matter after the House recess.
The Rules Committee was in a closed session until about 6:15pm. Constrained by a Democratic fundraising dinner and unable to come to a compromise on a rule for 1606 - it's been pulled until after the recess.
Keep in mind, friends - the root of the problem is this: Wertheimer, McCain, Shays, etc - the entire band of folks that hate your ability to speak - are threatening to "take down" (or try) any rule that does not let them offer their substitute (4900) on the floor.
That would be the same group of people that howled bloody murder when HR1606 - AFTER having gone through Committee, was brought to the floor under suspension. But when it's their bill - apparently bypassing the committee structure altogether is just fine."
Nice try at Bush-botting, though.
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