Ok, so do I vote Dem and get the Fairness Doctrine applied to the Internet…

Or do I vote Repub and support a candidate who in 2006 sued to get CFR applied to all internet communications?

2008, Vote however you like, we’re ****ed either way.

Where would that leave us libertarians?? And how would they distinguish between a conservative or a libertarian?

What if Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or especially Glen Beck all of a sudden claimed, “Hey, I’m not just a conservative, I’m a libertarian, as well.”

Well, there’s your balance.

They could very well use BTR as the foot in the door for eventual censhorship of conservative/libertarian blogs and websites.

Yea, in our dreams.

The fairness doctrine in its present evolution is not only unconstitutional but very bad government.

And now, in the interest of fairness…no, it’s not.

(Gee, that was informative, wasn’t it?)

First, you enact “Fairness” doctrine legislation.
Next, you provide a definition of what “fair” and “unfair” is. This definition will will resemble something like this:

UNFAIR: Any criticism of a liberal initiative, thought, statement or activity.

FAIR: Anything not UNFAIR.

Why, given their advantage online, would liberals ever want to subject the ‘Net to a Fairness principle?

Because “fairness” in this context is simply Newspeak for “suppression of conservative speech.” It doesn’t matter what the balance of opinion actually happens to be, only the desired political outcome. As such leftist propaganda, no matter how prolific, will be characterized as “objective,” “accurate,” or “news,” and hence exempt from standards of “fairness.” Meanwhile, any and all conservative perspectives will be labeled as “opinion” (almost certainly “extreme,” no less) and counted as “unbalanced.”

The objective of the fairness doctrine is not to give left-wing commentary “equal time.” The objective is to coerce conservative commentary–and ultimately conservative thinking itself–out of existence.

“Satellite internet”, anyone?

Spanglemaker on August 13, 2008 at 2:13 PM

Thank god we finally got DSL in the country, because I had that Hughes Satellite crap and it was absolutely horrible and expensive.

Radio Free America is where we’re headed, I’m afraid. But they’ll have to deal with a massive throng going to Washington with pitchforks and torches. The government doesn’t fear the people, and that is a bad thing that leads to tyranny. This might finally be the straw that helps mobilize the snoozing public and help them inject a little bit of that fear.

Why, given their advantage online, would liberals ever want to subject the ‘Net to a Fairness principle?

It’s not enough.

Quashing the opposition is the point- near-total shutdown, all in the interest of fairness.

I’m sure the Dim’s will take a leaf from the Chinese on how to control the internet. After all, aren’t the major internet players all liberals? GarandFan on August 13, 2008 at 2:37 PM

And Google and Yahoo will be right there, hats in hands, asking what to do to help.

pilamaye on August 13, 2008 at 12:54 PM

You know, this whole Fairness Doctrine thing should be decided by We The People, not They The Dunderheads in Congress.

That should hold true for abortion and the death penalty as well. State by state.

China manages it for the most part, but they’re essentially running their own parallel internet.