Obamao regime closes in on CONTROL of our MEDIA

[calfoxwc]

Obama Administration Closes In On Control of Media

FTC draft report includes five new possible taxes as ways to fund media and limit freedom of the press.

 

By Dan Gainor

The Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow

Business & Media Institute

6/2/2010 3:08:44 PM

 

Conservatives have been rightly worried that the Obama administration would target the 2nd Amendment and try to take away our gun rights. But it turns out liberals are starting with the 1st and trying to seize control of the American media.

 

No, the black helicopters are not flying overhead and all of my aluminum foil is in the kitchen where it belongs. This is real, this is dangerous and the federal government, the left and many in the media are trying hard to make it happen.

 

Forget how much the media already adore Obama. The Federal Trade Commission just released what it called “Potential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention of Journalism,” a 47-page terrifying bureaucratic plan to insinuate government into the very information that forms the basis for democracy. The draft document is just in time for the FTC’s third workshop on the future of journalism June 15. Coming on the heels of the government’s new $350-billion national broadband plan, this shows an extensive attempt by the Obama administration to seize control of the press.

 

No one doubts journalism needs “reinvention.” Every industry does on a regular basis. But what is the FTC, and for that matter Congress, the FCC and more doing messing with journalism? Butting in where they don’t belong.

 

This is the simplicity of what they are trying to mess with, our Constitution: “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.”

 

That doesn’t matter to the left. And many journalists, too. They’re desperate for funding and for a career future. tTheir industry is facing hard times and that’s what they care about. So a coalition of hard-left groups, some respected journalists like The Washington Post’s Vice President Len Downie, and a horde of Big Government types are trying to make you bail out journalism and fund a new, openly leftwing replacement.

 

This has been going on for more than a year and was viewed by many as a non-starter. The press has written little about the idea while prominent members of the media have attended the hearings or written reports asking for a handout.

 

It’s not just the press. It’s groups like the George Soros-funded Free Press, founded by Robert McChesney, a strident lefty. McChesney, who once edited what his own website calls an “independent socialist magazine,” now wants to socialize American news media. He and a coauthor recently came out with a book called “The Death and Life of American Journalism.”

 

You don’t have to read its recommendations – just look at the FTC report. It’s rife with them. Every page seems filled with their “reasoning” and illogic implying that postal subsidies from early America amount to a justification for full support of left-wing media by our government. Earlier this year, the authors appeared on PBS calling for a $30-billion annually to fund the “public good” of journalism.

 

But the FTC report doesn’t quote everything McChesney says, just the more palatable comments. He’s also a guy who has defended Venezuela’s nutball dictator Hugo Chavez and his attacks on that nation’s media.

 

Of course, anything coming out of the Obama administration is also automatically about taxes. This working paper mentions some form of the word “tax” 95 times in 47 pages. If government wants to make the media dependent on it for cash, it has to tax us to do so.

 

The paper listed five possible new taxes to pay for a “Citizenship Media Fund.” Those include a $4 billion tax on consumer electronics like your TV or iPod; a $5-6 billion advertising tax; and a tax on both ISP and cell phone bills.

 

It also listed a host of other possible solutions for the problems that impact journalism – everything but the free market. That concept is foreign to the same administration that seized control of Wall Street, Detroit and our health care system.

 

At the very same time this has been happening, the National Hispanic Media Coalition whined to the FCC about “‘hate speech’ on talk radio and cable broadcast networks,” according to The Hill. The coalition, which includes a variety of lefty groups such as Common Cause and La Raza, wants the FCC to shut down speech it doesn’t like on cable and talk radio – in other words, Fox and conservative stations.

 

While their complaint avoided naming names, it’s obvious what’s going on here. Left-wing groups pressure the government to fund media even more than we do now for PBS/NPR. Then they pressure the government to regulate conservative media they don’t like. And the Obama administration gets to pull it all together and come up with a Big Government solution that taxes all of us to support new media alternatives that are forever tied to that Big Government.

 

There is still time to comment and tell the FTC they have no right to mess with press freedom, but don’t expect your view to be heard unless conservatives scream loud and long about this. In third world nations, the left would send troops or rioters to TV stations and newspapers to seize complete control of the media. Here they try to do it with the FCC and FTC.

 

Don’t let them.

 

Dan Gainor is The Boone Pickens Fellow and the Media Research Center’s Vice President for Business and Culture. His column appears each week on The Fox Forum. He can also be contacted on FaceBook and Twitter as dangainor.

 

 

[calfoxwc]

Reuters) - The fugitive boss of Venezuela's opposition Globovision television station accused socialist President Hugo Chavez on Monday of ordering his arrest to stifle his criticism of the government.

 

Authorities in the OPEC nation issued a warrant for Guillermo Zuloaga and raided his house on Friday, accusing him of illegally storing new vehicles last year for speculative purposes. He was not home at the time.

 

Zuloaga said in a telephone call to Globovision from an undisclosed location that the charges were politically motivated and he was the victim of a witch hunt.

 

"We have been viciously attacked again by the government for the sole purpose of trying to silence us," he said. "I have come to the conclusion that handing myself in would do no good for the country, for Globovision, or for my family."

 

Zuloaga was detained for a few hours in March after criticizing Chavez at a media conference in Aruba. The attorney general said then he was being investigated for possible crimes of giving false information and offending the president.

 

He faces between one and five years in prison if convicted of usury in the new case. That warrant is linked to a 2009 case in which Zuloaga was accused of illegally storing 24 new Toyota vehicles to manipulate prices.

 

Globovision is often described as operating like an opposition political party, offering outspoken criticism of Chavez as well as a venue for politicians to gain exposure.

 

The station is the last main Venezuelan channel to hold its editorial line. One station, RCTV, was taken off the air in 2007 when Chavez refused to renew its concession after it supported a short-lived coup against him in 2002. Other networks toned down their opposition after the coup to avoid reprisals.

 

The government has brought several legal cases against opposition politicians, prompting some to flee the country.

 

Venezuelan authorities also took over the mid-sized Banco Federal -- which has links to Globovision -- citing liquidity problems and risk of fraud.

 

(Writing by Daniel Wallis; editing by Chris Wilson)

 

 

 

[Paxton]

This is very disconcerting stuff.

[calfoxwc]

Well, Heck hasn't give it a

 

"ha ha", yet

 

so you have to figure that we are in big, big trouble,

 

and the fears about radical Buttock "Chavez" Obamao

 

ring with valid but still whispered warnings of bad things to come.

 

scary stuff.

[calfoxwc]

Wow. I don't believe it. It seems that Obamao regime players are working to set the stage, for stacking the deck

 

before the next election in Nov, and the next Pres election in 2012.

 

we are in big, big trouble:

**********************

First, is an NRA email:

 

Statement From The National Rifle

Association On H.R. 5175, The Disclose Act

 

The National Rifle Association believes that any restrictions on the political speech of Americans are unconstitutional.

 

In the past, through the courts and in Congress, the NRA has opposed any effort to restrict the rights of its four million members to speak and have their voices heard on behalf of gun owners nationwide.

 

The NRA's opposition to restrictions on political speech includes its May 26, 2010 letter to Members of Congress expressing strong concerns about H.R. 5175, the DISCLOSE Act. As it stood at the time of that letter, the measure would have undermined or obliterated virtually all of the NRA's right to free political speech and, therefore, jeopardized the Second Amendment rights of every law-abiding American.

 

The most potent defense of the Second Amendment requires the most adamant exercise of the First Amendment. The NRA stands absolutely obligated to its members to ensure maximum access to the First Amendment, in order to protect and preserve the freedom of the Second Amendment.

 

The NRA must preserve its ability to speak. It cannot risk a strategy that would deny its rights, for the Second Amendment cannot be defended without them.

 

Thus, the NRA's first obligation must be to its members and to its most ardent defense of firearms freedom for America's lawful gun owners.

 

On June 14, 2010, Democratic leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives pledged that H.R. 5175 would be amended to exempt groups like the NRA, that meet certain criteria, from its onerous restrictions on political speech. As a result, and as long as that remains the case, the NRA will not be involved in final consideration of the House bill.

 

The NRA cannot defend the Second Amendment from the attacks we face in the local, state, federal, international and judicial arenas without the ability to speak. We will not allow ourselves to be silenced while the national news media, politicians and others are allowed to attack us freely.

 

The NRA will continue to fight for its right to speak out in defense of the Second Amendment. Any efforts to silence the political speech of NRA members will, as has been the case in the past, be met with strong opposition.

 

---nra---

 

 

 

[calfoxwc]

Next, a site that explains even more.

 

And not one Heck denial. Not one.

 

******************

http://www.livefreeradio.net/index.php/hr-...ces-american-opHR 5175 Selectively Silences American Opinion

06/09/10

10:13:37 am, by live free radio jp , 1377 words, 256 views

Categories: News, Real ID, Economy, The US Constitution, Elections, Take Action, laws, BuyAmerican, Illegal Immigration, Christian Information, Politics, Police State, Globalism, Climate Change / Global Warming, Technology, Military, NAU/ NAC/ SPP, Socialism, Health, Home School

HR 5175 Selectively Silences American Opinion

Obama Moves to Silence Gun Groups and Other Political Opponents

-- Bill clears committee hurdle, going to the House floor soon

 

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert

8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151

Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408

http://www.gunowners.org

 

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

 

Fresh from his efforts to seize government control of the health services sector (ObamaCare) and the financial markets ("finance reform"), Barack Obama has a new priority: silence his political opposition.

 

As satisfying as it was for Obama to seize control of one-sixth of the economy, he has had to suffer protest from the "little people" (like us). So he is pushing the Orwellian "DISCLOSE" bill (HR 5175) to make sure gun groups and other pro-freedom forces cannot mobilize their members in the upcoming elections.

 

When Obama says "disclose," what he really means is "disclose gun group membership lists"

 

Not surprisingly, these efforts to shut down free speech don't apply to Obama allies, like Democratic-leaning labor unions. They only apply to groups which are not reliable Obama allies, like Gun Owners of America.

 

But, for those groups whose free speech is targeted for Obama's wrath under this bill, the consequences are severe:

 

* Under Title II of the bill, GOA (and other groups, as well as many bloggers) who merely mention public officials within 60 days of an election could be required to file onerous disclosures -- potentially including their membership lists.

 

* Also under Title II, GOA could be required to spend as much as half of the time of a 30-second ad on government-written disclosures.

 

* In addition, Sections 201 through 203 would potentially put the government's snooping eyes on any American who voices a political opinion, despite the fact that the Supreme Court, in Buckley v. Valeo, declared that Americans have a right to voice their opinion to an unlimited extent, if unconnected with a political campaign.

 

Here's an idea: If Obama is so irritated at the Supreme Court's defense of political free speech by groups like GOA, why doesn't he apply his sleazy new rules to his political allies, as well?

 

ACTION: Please urge your congressman to vote against the anti-gun HR 5175. This bill has moved out of committee and has now been placed on the House calendar.

 

You can use the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send a pre-written message to your Representative.

 

----- Pre-written letter -----

 

Dear Representative:

 

I urge you to oppose HR 5175, a bill that will deny the free speech rights of all Americans. Under Title II of this bill:

 

* Groups like Gun Owners of America (and other groups, as well as many bloggers) who merely mention public officials within 60 days of an election could be required to file onerous disclosures -- potentially including their membership lists -- even though the Supreme Court has previously ruled in NAACP v. Alabama that membership lists (like those of GOA's) are off limits to government control.

 

* Also, groups like GOA and the NRA could be required to spend as much as half of the time of a 30-second ad on government-written disclosures.

 

* In addition, Sections 201 through 203 would potentially put the government's snooping eyes on any American who voices a political opinion, despite the fact that the Supreme Court, in Buckley v. Valeo, declared that Americans have a right to voice their opinion to an unlimited extent, if unconnected with a political campaign.

 

Here's an idea: If Obama is so irritated at the Supreme Court's defense of political free speech by groups like GOA, why doesn't he apply the new rules in HR 5175 to his political allies (like the labor unions), as well?

 

Suffice it to say, if you care anything about the First or Second Amendments, you will vote against HR 5175. GOA will be scoring this vote on their rating of Congress.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

[Paxton]

I agree with you, Cal. This Heck guy has a great user name, but his arguments seem especially disingenuous and craven.

 

And he loves to cry when he doesn\'t get his way.

 

[Mr. T]

They already have control of one of the largest search engines.

 

Andrew McLaughlin, May 29, 2009, 4:51 pm

Google’s Top Policy Executive to Join Obama Administration

 

Source

[Mr. T]

Is the "Free Press" really about Freedom?

 

 

Or is it a PC machine ran by Soros to manipulate the speech in the media?