Good news from the FCC for once

It's not the best news possible, that the FCC is eliminating content regulation, but at least they do not plan on censoring political speech with the leftist "Fairness Doctrine."

There is no "compelling reason to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine," the head of the Federal Communications Commission said in a letter to lawmakers this week.

Chairman Kevin J. Martin, responding to a letter from several House Republicans on the modern-day appropriateness of the rule, assured them that the media regulator has no intention of bringing back the doctrine, which required broadcasters to present contrasting points of view on issues of public importance.

"In my judgment, the events of the last two decades have confirmed the wisdom of the commission's decision to abolish the Fairness Doctrine," wrote Mr. Martin, a Republican, in a letter dated Monday and released yesterday.

"Discussion of controversial issues over the airwaves has flourished absent regulatory constraints, and the public now enjoys access to an ever-expanding range of views and opinions. Indeed, with the continued proliferation of additional sources of information and programming, including satellite broadcasting and the Internet, the need for the Fairness Doctrine has lessened ever further since 1987."

Good news, but we still need to get something passed so this doesn't make a comeback later. I'd rather go a step further and stop cotent regulation altogether and have the FCC go back to only making sure stations do not interfere with one another.

Democrats push for Censorship of political speech

It's the usual suspects, who also happen to be two of the biggest gun grabbers in the Senate. Dick Durbin and Dianne Feinstein. Those two fascists haven't met a freedom that they haven't tried to grab.

The Hill had a report about the latest efforts from the democrats to push the so called "Fairness Doctrine". In actuality, it's an effort to tell talk radio to sit down and shut up since they have the gall to disagree with the political leftist establishment.

From the Hill

House Republican lawmakers are preparing to fight anticipated Democratic efforts to regulate talk radio by reviving rules requiring stations to balance conservative hosts such as Rush Limbaugh with liberals such as Al Franken.

Conservatives fear that forcing stations to make equal time for liberal talk radio would cut into profits so drastically that radio executives would opt to scale back on conservative radio programming to avoid escalating costs and interference from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

They say radio stations would take a financial hit if forced to air balanced programming because liberal talk radio has not proved itself to be as profitable as conservative radio. Air America, the liberal counterpunch to conservative talk radio, filed for bankruptcy in October.

But Democratic leaders say that government has a compelling interest to ensure that listeners are properly informed.

“It’s time to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). “I have this old-fashioned attitude that when Americans hear both sides of the story, they’re in a better position to make a decision.”

The Fairness Doctrine, which the FCC discarded in 1985, required broadcasters to present opposing viewpoints on controversial political issues. Prior to 1985, government regulations called for broadcasters to “make reasonable judgments in good faith” on how to present multiple viewpoints on controversial issues.

Here's the problem. Talk radio is needed to balance the "so called" balance in the so called mainstream media. The New York Times is viewed as the gold standard and the model to follow, and it also happens to be one of the most leftist papers in the country. The worst kind of leftist too. Rich corporate chattering class leftist.

The only solution is for the senate jokers to leave free speech alone and let the market decide. If people want to listen to Air America, let them win or lose on their merits. This politicial censorship from Durbin and company belongs in Stalinist Russia. It's unAmerican.

I'll go even further. Not only to I oppose the so called Fairness Doctrine, I oppose the FCC regulating any sort of content whatsoever. I support freedom and free speech.

FCC wants to censor more content, including cable

It's called a remote, use it. And don't even think about messing with 24 or the UFC.
From the Post

Federal regulators, concerned about the effect of television violence on children, will recommend that Congress enact legislation to give the government unprecedented powers to curb violence in entertainment programming, according to government and TV industry sources.

The Federal Communications Commission has concluded that regulating TV violence is in the public interest, particularly during times when children are likely to be viewers -- typically between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., FCC sources say.

(snip)

The report -- commissioned by members of Congress in 2004 and based on hundreds of comments from parents, industry officials, academic experts and others -- concludes that Congress has the authority to regulate "excessive violence" and to extend its reach for the first time into basic-cable TV channels that consumers pay to receive.

I have a better idea. Disband most of the powers of the FCC, limiting them to regulating signal interference. We have remotes. We have V chips. We have plugs. Let's use them. The last thing I want to see is government once again going after the Ultimate Fighter and 24.

One other thing, what's next. "Offensive Speech?" We're now seeing government pushing to stick his fat head into cable. These censorship goons are no different than the gun grabbers.

Bipartisanship = bigger government and less freedom

At least that's how it appears to me today. Two new pushes for big government leftism is on the way. One deals with smoking, and the other deals in censorship.

First - Smoking. Ted "drive off the bridge" Kennedy and the king of fascists himself, Henry Waxman, along with Tom Davis and John Cornyn are pushing to increase the power of unelected bureaucrats over tobacco.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers reintroduced legislation Thursday that would give the FDA the same authority over cigarettes and other tobacco products that it already has over countless other consumer products.

"Congress cannot in good conscience allow the federal agency most responsible for protecting the public health to remain powerless to deal with the enormous risks of tobacco, the most deadly of all consumer products," Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., said in introducing the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act with Sen. John Cornyn (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, and Reps. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., and Tom Davis, R-Va.

This is a horse manure measure. It has no positive benefits whatsoever. We all know that smoking is dangerous. It is illegal for minors to smoke. There are warning labels on ciggy packs. It has been known for 40 years that smoking has a strong coorelation to cancer. This is no secret. People still make the choice to smoke or not smoke based on that information. How is increasing more government regulations going to help? If tobacco is so bad - ban it (at the state level to conform with the 10th amendment). Until then, shut the hell up with the grandstanding and chicken@##@ measures. Put up or shut up.

The other bipartisan measure is big government censorship being pushed by one democrat and one republican at the FCC - home of unelected bureaucrats.

"In general, what the commission's report says is that there is strong evidence that shows violent media can have an impact on children's behavior and there are some things that can be done about it," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday.

The issue is bipartisan. Martin, a Republican, gave a joint interview to The Associated Press with Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps.

"The pressure to do something on this is building right now," Copps said, noting that TV violence comes up regularly during media ownership hearings he conducts across the country. "People really feel strongly about this issue all across this land. This is not a red state or a blue state issue."

The report also suggests that cable and satellite TV could be subjected to an "a la carte" regime that would let viewers choose their channels, a measure long supported by Martin.

"We can't just deal with the three or four broadcast channels — we have to be looking at what's on cable as well" Martin said.

It's called an on/off switch. Let's use it.

Are hockey games going to be censored? They have fights and people hitting each other with sticks. What about the UFC? John McCain tried to ban it once. Boxing? Kickboxing? What about the A-Team? They have (gasp) shootings on that show. This is a major can of worms.

I have a better idea. Disband the FCC's content regulation division.