Liberty Reborn

In case you have not been paying attention, Comrade Pelosi has tabled a bill that would end the issue of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” once and for all. The “Fairness Doctrine” is anything but and really infringes on the first Amendment rights of citizens and broadcasters by mandating nebulous issues of “fairness” when issues are discussed.

Technically, under the “Fairness Doctrine” all sides of an issue must be represented unless you want to draw the ire of regulators. It does not mater how flat out wrong the opinions are, they must still be expressed under the “Fairness Doctrine” and given “equal time” with “equal time” being a fairly nebulous concept.

If someone wants to talk about how the Earth is really flat and how the moon landing was faked in order to propagate the lie that it is round (don’t laugh I have actually received emails seriously claiming this), that person would have to be given a shot at espousing their opinion.

Pelosi is working hard to hold off any vote on the issue until next year when, she hopes, she will have a larger majority in the House.

The speaker of the House made it clear to me and more than forty of my colleagues yesterday that a bill by Rep. Mike Pence (R.-Ind.) to outlaw the “Fairness Doctrine” (which a liberal administration could use to silence Rush Limbaugh, other radio talk show hosts and much of the new alternative media) would not see the light of day in Congress during ’08. In ruling out a vote on Pence’s proposed Broadcaster’s Freedom Act, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-CA.) also signaled her strong support for revival of the “Fairness Doctrine” — which would require radio station owners to provide equal time to radio commentary when it is requested.

The only reason to table such legislation is because she knows in the current House the chances of it passing are good and it would end one of the last hammers (and sickles) the liberal left would have to wield against people who espouse contrary opinions to theirs.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 7:36 am and is filed under J.J. Jackson's Daily Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.