As you pointed out, Jay, earlier this week the Democrats handed Rush Limbaugh a major victory: they made him relevant again. Of course, President Obama's comment to the Republicans about not "listening" to Limbaugh was supposed to be ironic, as in, this is the wing of your party that is really out to lunch. The DCCC "petition" is just one more fundraising gimmick--and a bad one at that. I'm sure that Limbaugh will be converting to the Democratic Party if just a few million people tell him they are upset with him. (And, oh yes, a pig just flew by my window.)
The broader point you attempt to make is that this is all prelude to some Democratic plot to quell right-wing talk radio. And you invoke the dreaded "Fairness Doctrine." During the time the "doctrine" was in place, it had very little positive effect and zero negative effect. Here's what it was and wasn't. It was not an "equal time" rule, requiring a balanced coverage of all issues by each show. Indeed, it didn't even cover specific shows, including shows by, say, Jay Sekulow or Barry Lynn (or that Limbaugh fellow). It was designed to push local radio and television stations to present alternative views where an issue had become a local matter of controversy. It was crafted under the unremarkable theory that since the electromagnetic spectrum is a finite resource and it was "sold" to certain people in the form of licenses to broadcast on specific frequencies, owners had some modicum of responsibility to serve the needs of a broadcast area.
The Fairness Doctrine, in its entire history, was only partly responsible for two broadcasters' failure to renew their licenses. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the doctrine, and not even the ACLU saw it as a First Amendment problem.
And by the way, Obama said he doesn't even support the Fairness Doctrine.
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Abortion that is.
Please read:
The Bill of Rights
Amendment I
============
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; OR ABRIDGING THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH, OR OF THE PRESS; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
YOU WANT CONGRESS TO DO WHAT?
==============================
Where (examine the word in caps for emphasis) does anyone come from when stating they are for the "fairness doctrine"? Are you for or against the constitution? I just quoted it. I believe it PROHIBITS congress from making any law that in ANY WAY restricts freedom of speech. It DOES NOT restrict PRIVATE businesses, individuals, organizations in what speech can be expressed.
WE ALREADY HAVE HAD FOR A LONG TIME OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS
=========================================================
Thus we have the very left views continually pounding our society from Hollywood, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, National Public Radio, National Public Television, most of our universities, etc., etc..
FOLLOW THE HISTORY
====================
The Democrats history speaks for itself about their tactics to oppress and hinder freedoms.
1. The Democrats were the ones that embraced slavery. The Republican party was started TO STOP SLAVERY.
2. After the Republicans freed the slaves and then lost their power in our government 12 years later, the Democrats repealed all the civil rights gained in the Republican administrations.
3. The Democrats created the Jim Crow laws to force their view point.
4. The Democrats created the Klu Klux Klan to stop Republicans from having a voice in the South (almost all Blacks were Republicans so they were easy to seek out).
5. The Democrats now want to force their view of how free speech should be exercised in the United States by ignoring what the constitution states!
I am so tired of the gross ignorance our modern culture breeds and the horrible consequences we now face because of that.
Please, people, learn! Study and read. Stop just parroting words you hear on the T.V. and radio. Dig. Research. Learn. Indeed, we are doomed because of our ignorance. What is even worse is that the vast majority of our leaders in Congress and the Senate have never even read the constitution that they have sworn to uphold!
Well again another liberal not taking responsibility for what you do. The issue here is being fair from the same point of view that gave you life. What if your mom aborted you...oh I'm sorry that question can't be answered because you are here. The reason you are here is because God in His infinite wisdom and love sent you to a person who at least believe that life was in her and eliminating that life was not her choice to make because she didn't put it there!! So I guess you are blessed!
Whether they bring back the Fairness Doctrine or not is beside the point is far as I’m concerned. Jay Sekulow wants to make sure religious broadcasters are protected. I don’t. Christian radio and Christian television should be banned from this country immediately. Shut down, made illegal and eliminated forever. Free speech only goes so far. You cannot yell “fire” in a theatre for example. What Christian preachers and apologists do on the radio and television is much worse. They make all kinds of outrageous false claims and one of these is the constant threat of eternal damnation for not believing what these lying hoaxers claim. An innocent child could hear one of these preachers criminalize him with the rest of humanity and actually believe some of what they hear. This could scar the child and actually ruin his or her life forever. This is a combination of obscenity and child abuse that should be a capital crime punishable the same as any other child abuse. If we have laws against pornography we must have laws against all Christian broadcasting. Pornography has not been shown to have anywhere near the kind of deleterious effect on people the way religious superstitions and the acceptance of blind faith dogma do. Religion is much more dangerous, it’s false and it’s evil – the cause of EVERY problem we have in the world today. I’m calling for an end to all religious broadcasting. It has no place in a country founded on freedom FROM religion.
The Fairness Doctrine IS a problem, no doubt about it. Just because the doctrine was only imposed on certain programs does not mean that if it was reinstated, ALL programs would not be affected again. Pres. Barack SAYS a lot of things, but does something completely different. Consider that he SAID the Obama death care plan did not contain federally-funded abortion, but it certainly did support taxpayer funding of abortion. I wouldn't be surprised if he stated a pig flew by his window and meant it.
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