Gag the Internet: An Obama official’s frightening book about curbing free speech online

The New York Post ^ | 07/11/2009 | Kyle Smith

[NYPNorth]

When it comes to the First Amendment, Team Obama believes in Global Chilling.

Cass Sunstein, a Harvard Law professor who has been appointed to a shadowy post that will grant him powers that are merely mind-boggling, explicitly supports using the courts to impose a "chilling effect" on speech that might hurt someone's feelings. He thinks that the bloggers have been rampaging out of control and that new laws need to be written to corral them.

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[NYPNorth]

Enjoy commenting while you can!

[Cheap_Hessian]

[This comment was removed by the Obama Administration.]

[huldah1776]

LOL, you guys are one of the main reasons I come here. Besides the truth, the great humor.

[Albion Wilde]

Oh, that sickeningly phony smile on him. I've heard it called an S.E.G.

As Ronald Reagan said, the most chilling words are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

[Arthur McGowan]

There’s a totally baseless rumor that Obama has published his birth certificate on the internet! This rumor has spread like wildfire through the mainstream media, and the liberal blogs, and the Democratic Party, until it has assumed the appearance of established fact, through a kind of “echo chamber” effect.

[Albion Wilde]

LOL, you guys are one of the main reasons I come here. Besides the truth, the great humor.

Post of the day!

[Texas Fossil]

GAG THE INTERNET!

Gag Me!

We need a test case concerning extension of the 1st amendment to the electronic media. The electronic media did not exist when the constitution was written, but freedom of expression should be a logical extension. There is nothing about Obozo that is "about" freedom, that word is not in his vocabulary.

Simply look at what they did to Sarah Palin, why are they not alarmed about that? And they even burned her church. They do not want to discuss that incident. Vile Cretin.

[Texas Eagle]

Sunstein is President Obama's choice to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

WHOIRA?

So close!

[Texas Eagle]

Well, this should smooth Sarah Palin's path to The White House.

Riiiiiiiiiight.

[Kakaze]

Sunstein is an enemy to every news organization and blogger. We should return the favor and declare war on him.

This is the last line of the article, even the press is afraid of this guy and this office.

[ElayneJ]

We already have laws in place to prohibit both libel and slander. This guy wants to regulate opinion. Fine choice by the obama administration.

[JLLH]

Gagging/policing the web would be a challenge for our inept government - thank GOD - assuming such an obvious violation of the 1st amendment were not challenged...which I doubt.

Keep up the pressure!! Call/Fax/Email your Congress critters!! Next week: vote on Hate Speech (Wed. 7/15)...Health care debacle in the House...Sotomayor Hearings before the Senate —— DON’T GIVE UP!!! NEVER SURRENDER!!!

[NoobRep]

Harvard?? This guy better not sleep on his side or his pea brain might roll out of his ear.

[GodGunsGuts]

Good find. Thank you!

[Woebama]

They want to eliminate any speech that the left is not de facto in control of. The stated reasons are just words.

[angkor]

The article ends with:

"Sunstein is an enemy to every news organization and blogger. We should return the favor and declare war on him."

This man Sunstein is an enemy to the core ideals of America.

He is at least as demented as any 20th century dictator.

[timm22]

There are some FReepers who think it is entirely appropriate for the government to forbid speech and conduct merely because it is "offensive". There are also those who believe no one has a right to do anything that is morally wrong. Once again I urge these FReepers to read articles like this and very carefully reconsider their position.

When "legislating morality" is accepted as a legitimate use of government power, liberals are going to try to impose THEIR morality on us, completely disregarding our own liberty. In a world where liberals have the momentum in politics and culture, they may very well succeed.

Better to forgo that power all together and restrict government to a more narrow set of responsibilities.

[The Great RJ]

Recent legislation banning hate speech might do the trick as hate speech is anything contrary to what Obama says. However, easier still would be to censor Internet sites selling it as a means to end child porn. “Objectionable” sites could be blocked with a bureaucrat making a mouse click. This is being tried in Australia and is financed by higher taxes on Internet access.

[raybbr]

I guess he's changed his mind!

Really interesting coming from a guy who wrote this in 2003...

Review Why Societies Need Dissent...shows that demands for lock-step conformity are wrong and uninformed thinking. Sunstein's important new study is filled with empirical evidence of the significance of opposition, found in his compelling explanations of the need for, and benefits of, disagreement. Sunstein reveals that, in fact, the influence of dissenters is for the better, be it with courts, juries, corporate boardrooms, churches, sports teams, student organizations or faculties, not to mention 'the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court...during times of both war and peace.' --John W. Dean (Los Angeles Times Book Review )

[mkcc30]

Here is some free speech for ya cASS and I won’t charge a dime, BITE ME!