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Fairness Doctrine Watch - Home

After twenty years, Congress may revive the "fairness" doctrine that long strangled free debate and discussion throughout America's media. Help us ensure that they do not suceed (sic)!

Really? Congress is going to look to do this? Stinkin' liberals. Let's dig a bit and see what we can find that's being reported on this topic:


James L. Gattuso on Fairness Doctrine on National Review Online

(A)lmost immediately after liberals regained power in Congress, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio) called for restoring the long-dead Fairness Doctrine. The “idea of uninhibited exchange of ideas in the marketplace” he said, “needs to be looked at in the era of media consolidation”.

That wily Kucinich. He's a major powerbroker, doncha know, so I bet he got all his patchouli-smelling "comrades" onboard the Lefty Express on this one, right?


James L. Gattuso on Fairness Doctrine on National Review Online

(T)he House of Representatives voted 309-115 against allowing the Federal Communications Commission to re-impose the regulation on broadcasters.

[snip]

Kucinich’s call attracted much media attention, and more than a little criticism, but little was actually done to advance the idea legislatively.

Well there's GOT to be 309 Republicans willing to take a stand on this one, right? What now? In the minority? Doesn't matter. The Shamnocrats reached into their bag of tricks and pulled the old "don't try to advance the idea legislatively" trick too. Wily suckers.


FrontPage magazine.com :: The "No Fairness Left" Doctrine by Don Feder

Senator James Inhofe, R-OK, says he overheard Senators Boxer and Clinton talking about the need to "fix" talk radio. (Hillary fixes things the way her alter ego, Tony Soprano, takes care of his problems.) "They said we've got to do something about this. These are nothing but far right extremists. We've got to have balance. There's got to be a legislative fix for this," Inhofe confided.

Well, that's how this all started, right? Except for one little thing...


FOXNews.com - Transcript: Sens. Lott, Feinstein on 'FOX News Sunday' - FOX News Sunday | Chris Wallace

WALLACE: Let me bring in Senator Feinstein.

Oklahoma Senator Inhofe says that he overheard Barbara Boxer and Hillary Clinton three years ago complaining about talk radio and saying that there should be a legislative fix. Both of them deny it ever happened.

When Fox News is acknowledging the facts, you know you're on shaky ground. Wallace's interview of Feinstein did bring this soundbite, which, in a vacuum, seems to confirm the accusations:


FOXNews.com - Transcript: Sens. Lott, Feinstein on 'FOX News Sunday' - FOX News Sunday | Chris Wallace

WALLACE: So would you revive the fairness doctrine?

FEINSTEIN: Well, I'm looking at it, as a matter of fact, Chris, because I think there ought to be an opportunity to present the other side. And unfortunately, talk radio is overwhelmingly one way.

That being said, the only legislation that was brought to a vote on this was the aforementioned vote that passed by a wide, bipartisan margin, preventing the "Fairness Doctrine" to be reinstated. Here's one Democratic Congressman's take on the issue:


House Passes Amendment Disallowing Funding for Fairness Doctrine - 6/28/2007 3:25:00 PM - Broadcasting & Cable

Democrats, led by David Obey (D-Wis.) suggested the amendment was a red herring, a non-issue and that it was being debated, such as it was--no Democrats stood to oppose it--to provide sound bites for conservative talkers and "yap yap TV," who had ginned up the issue. In a Shakespearian mood, Obey said the amendment was "much ado about nothing" and "sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Oh, and there's this:


House Passes Amendment Disallowing Funding for Fairness Doctrine - 6/28/2007 3:25:00 PM - Broadcasting & Cable

There is currently no legislation to reinstate the doctrine, which the FCC invalidated as unconstitutional in 1987, but several Democratic senators, including Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Diane Feinstein of California had gone on record supporting at least looking into reinstating it.

Which is clearly a different sort of thing than actively advocating and/or pushing legislation to a vote.

Look, here's the thing... Democrats aren't trying to get this done, and no one has put a bill on the table to force a vote. This SHAMNOVERSY is a clear distraction ginned up by the right in order to accuse the Democrats of something that isn't remotely close to being passable legislation (you think they could get a veto-proof majority on this issue?). Even if you've got the Progressive blogosphere wrongly trumpeting the virtues of this issue, that doesn't make it a real issue at all.

A three-year-old quote, which the quoted Senators deny ever having said, along with the oh-so-powerful legislative agenda of one Dennis Kucinich, and all of a sudden Democrats are Stalinists trying to take free speech away from Sean Hannity?

They don't call these guys the "Right-Wing Noise Machine" for nothing.

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Crooks and Liars » David Shuster dismantles Fouad Ajami’s comparison of Libby to our fallen soldiers

Ten minute video linked above @ C&L, it's really a thing of beauty. I'll buy MS Office and nothing but GE lightbulbs if someone at MSNBC is savvy enough to give David Shuster his own show post-haste.

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Cliff Schecter - Hillarycare = Terrorizm!

Paraphrasing Cavuto at the end of the Youtubed piece (I got most of the quote verbatim): "This could happen. We have to be aware of the possibility that in such a system we would have to recruit outside doctors, and most of them in this day in age are from the Muslim world."

Other ways terrorists could get into the country include posing as tourists, as engineers, as diplomats, as a roving band of sitar players, or as wicket carriers for the Pakistani National Cricket Team.

We should also ban couscous, because I hear those people like to eat that, and we shouldn't appease them - culinarily or otherwise.

Bureaucracy doesn't lead to terrorism. Engaging in war in a Muslim land without direct provocation leads to terrorism. Just so's we're straight on that.

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Watching Philly Fox news this morning, they had a reporter from the network (Doug Luzader, if that makes a difference) reporting on the UK car bombs. Conveniently, this Fox reporter found a way to tie two major demonic Dem policies to terrorism by pointing at the Brits like this:

"Its socialized health care system relies heavily on immigrant doctors..."

Is the terrorism problem an outgrowth of immigration or socialized health care? Really? While Luzader's statement isn't necessarily false on its face, the implicit assertion that the British terrorist problem is because they don't have closed borders and open markets is an explicit lie. How is this any different from saying, "the public school system serves fish on Fridays" when mentioning Gacy, Bundy, Dahmer and Manson all went to public school? One doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the other, but you'd be well served to make sure your kids don't eat that haddock, if you know what's good for you.

Are there immigrants? Yes. Are there immigrants who move to the UK specifically to practice medicine? Yes. Are there bad people who are immigrants who have moved to the UK specifically to practice medicine? Looks like it, yeah.

But what could possibly stop six Saudi-based doctors from earning enough of a living to take a vacation to London and Glasgow in order to blow some cars up? Not a one of these guys had a prior record, not a one would have been flagged for anything but nationality in any reasonable or unreasonable background check. Why then, is the problem some combination of socialized medicine and immigration policy?

Bad people are bad people. If an upper-middle class doctor of any nationality without a criminal record wants to blow up a car at Heathrow, he doesn't have to be working in London on a visa to do so. He can pretend he's on holiday, rent a car, buy some gas cans (brilliant plan, by the way), and do what he's going to do instead of snapping pictures of Big Ben.

Let's not kid ourselves into thinking that the intersection of immigration and government-issued health care coverage is a cause of terrorism. That's just stupid.

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GH man injured in car-motorcycle crash - Grand Haven Tribune

A 33-year-old Grand Haven man escaped serious injuries after his motorcycle slid underneath a minivan Tuesday afternoon on Robbins Road near Beacon Boulevard, police said.

[snip]

"I was listening and he was moaning," said (a passenger in the vehicle that hit him). "I thought he was dead."

Dead people moan?

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Jesus' General

(A): Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war... That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.

(Interviewer): There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.

(A): Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.

I redacted the name of Mr. A above, but see if you can guess who he might be before clicking the link.

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Dreher, Conservative 'DMN' Columnist, Hits Libby Move -- and Hypocrisy

(Quoting Dreher's article)

From "A Charge to Keep," Bush's 1999 campaign biography, on commuting the sentences or pardoning: "I don't believe my role is to replace the verdict of a jury with my own unless there are new facts or evidence of which a jury was unaware, or evidence that the trial was somehow unfair."

President Bush, yesterday:

"I respect the jury’s verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison."

OK, so it's not technically replacing a jury's verdict, but that's a distinction without much of a difference here. Does Bush think the trial was "somehow unfair"? Or is he simply a hypocrite?

If only Scooter Libby had lied under oath about sex, or in service to a Democratic president, we would have been compelled to outrage by a high government official's perjury! Yes?

(via Cliff Schecter)

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Not News: Legislator plays favorites with massive military-industrial complex appropriations.

News: Legislator plays favorites to allow her husband's defense contractor businesses to get massive military-industrial complex appropriations.

Ironic Twist to the News: Legislator is not a Republican.


News & Culture in CA | Dianne Feinstein: A Question of Ethics

As chairperson and ranking member of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON) from 2001 through the end of 2005, Feinstein supervised the appropriation of billions of dollars a year for specific military construction projects. Two defense contractors whose interests were largely controlled by her husband, financier Richard C. Blum, benefited from decisions made by Feinstein as leader of this powerful subcommittee.

Each year, MILCON's members decide which military construction projects will be funded from a roster proposed by the Department of Defense. Contracts to build these specific projects are subsequently awarded to such major defense contractors as Halliburton, Fluor, Parsons, Louis Berger, URS Corporation and Perini Corporation. From 1997 through the end of 2005, with Feinstein's knowledge, Blum was a majority owner of both URS Corp. and Perini Corp.

Read about her resignation here.

(h/t to HH)

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Cato-at-liberty » Commute These Sentences, Mr. President

(T)here are plenty of other people who deserve presidential pardons or commutations. Families Against Mandatory Minimums has highlighted a number of good cases...

And Cato picks a few good ones. Who would have thought you could get 15 years for being the girlfriend of a drug dealer?

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Press Briefing by Tony Snow - 7/3/07 - Whitehouse.gov

Q Tony, I want to go back to the issue of an apology, and I want to stay issue-focused and not blaming. Are there -- is the American people owed some kind of apology from someone in this administration for the leaking of a CIA person's name, personnel's name?

MR. SNOW: Yes, it's improper to be leaking those names.

Q You say it's improper, so you're saying someone in this administration owes the American public an apology?

MR. SNOW: I'll apologize. All done.

Everyone good with that? Awesome. So we'll all be moving on then?

Christ, that's hilarious. Well played Tony Snow... well played...

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A President Besieged and Isolated, Yet at Ease - washingtonpost.com

Much of the discussion focused on the nature of good and evil, a perennial theme for Bush, who casts the struggle against Islamic extremists in black-and-white terms. Michael Novak, a theologian who participated, said it was clear that Bush weathers his difficulties because he sees himself as doing the Lord's work.

The Lord ought to consider re-evaluating his hiring policies.

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A President Besieged and Isolated, Yet at Ease - washingtonpost.com

And yet Bush does not come across like a man lamenting his plight. In public and in private, according to intimates, he exhibits an inexorable upbeat energy that defies the political storms. Even when he convenes philosophical discussions with scholars, he avoids second-guessing his actions. He still acts as if he were master of the universe, even if the rest of Washington no longer sees him that way.

"You don't get any feeling of somebody crouching down in the bunker," said Irwin M. Stelzer, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who was part of one group of scholars who met with Bush. "This is either extraordinary self-confidence or out of touch with reality. I can't tell you which."

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