Posted by
Jim Hunt on Wednesday, February 04, 2009 7:49:48 AM
When I moved to “Hotlanta” last fall I was prepared for the extreme heat and humidity caused by global warming. Global warming is, after all, a proven fact according to Al Gore. I am quite sure he has a detailed explanation of how “climate change” (notice they don’t call it global warming anymore?) is causing the 17° (F) temperature this morning with wind chill well below zero! But never mind, today I want to talk about another kind of chill.
One of the ACLU’s favorite rallying cries has been that government laws on obscenity, refusal to fund certain “art” and restrictions on flag burning have a “chilling effect” on freedom of speech. So where is the ACLU now that the President of the United States has used his office to tell people to stop listening to a particular talk show host and the official campaign arm of the Democrat party has started a petition to criticize and remove that host from the air. According to the Chicago Tribune, Obama’s “tech savvy” campaign, flooded a local radio station with calls to prevent Obama critics Stanley Kurtz and David Freddoso from appearing on air. Obama’s campaign also asked the justice department to investigate a third party organization that was airing ads exposing Obama’s close relationship with unrepentant terrorist William Ayers.
Had these tactics been used by George W. Bush the media would be screaming in outrage and Congress would be calling for special prosecutors. Instead Congress is working to reinstate the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” which was repealed in 1987 by President Reagan. The “Fairness” doctrine was imposed by the FCC in the 1930s to ensure that “equal time” was given to opposing viewpoints. By 1987 it was recognized that television and the availability of multiple sources of information had made the rule obsolete.
The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine led to an explosion of talk radio lead by Rush Limbaugh. Now talk dominates the AM radio frequencies and is popular on satellite radio as well. For whatever reason, the market has determined that conservative talk radio has been very successful; virtually all liberal shows plus “Air America” have failed. Having failed in the marketplace, the liberals are now, as usual, turning to other areas where they have more control. Just as they turn to the Courts when the people block their goals, here they are turning to the past to censor talk radio. Note that the Fairness Doctrine applies ONLY to radio, not TV, the Internet or print media. The sole purpose of reinstating the Fairness doctrine is to attempt to silence Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Neal Boortz, Howie Carr, and the rest of the conservative commentators.
I urge all my readers to contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to oppose the reintroduction of the Fairness Doctrine. Free speech is one of our most precious rights and we must stop this attempt to stifle it.
God Bless America