Gibbons, Blogger Regulation, and Bankruptcy
It turns out that Rep. Jim Gibbons' (R-Nev) speech was both in horrible taste, and also plagiarized, according to Atrios. I honestly don't know how they get away with this stuff.
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Back in January, I predicted that the neocons would recognize that blogging may be one of the last great hopes to save America from the clutches of deceit and corporate sponsorship of the Republican Noise Machine. Bloggers have the potential to change the outcome of the 2008 presidential election. Given this recognition, I believe the neocons and the right wing think tanks will do what they can to A) Marginalize the opinions of bloggers and B) Regulate and control the behavior of bloggers in every way that they can.
This process has already started. We have already witnessed bloggers as the center of attention in the media over the past few weeks. Outside of the positive coverage on the Daily Show and Keith Olbermann, the majority of the reporting has been critical of the idea of giving a voice to the common man - The media feels threatened. The neocons feigned mock outrage in the Jeff Gannon affair - choosing to instead claim that the bloggers were invading the privacy of Gannon, instead of focusing on the outright audacity of the Bush Administration.
Finally, on the regulation front, they are starting by proposing a bill making it illegal to link to a campaign site from a blog, stating that doing so is equivalent to making a campaign contribution. Is this the beginning of the end for a political blog? I don't know. I do know that if this passes, the Neocons are going to continue to push for more laws that regulate free speech, and destroy dissenting opinion.
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Finally, the neocons are demonstrating their true lack of compassion in the bankruptcy legislation, claiming that bankruptcy is a personal accountability issue. We are truly in the beginning stages of a fascist society, with credit card companies as a major contributor to the republican campaign platform. They are simply ignoring the fact that 90% of all bankruptcy cases are caused by unexpected health care costs, unexpected job loss, and divorce. The republicans stayed the party line on all issues - voting to prevent exceptions for military families and closing of loopholes that allow wealthy to protect their millions of dollars in assets by using offshore accounts in the Caymen Islands. They are requiring individuals to be "personally accountable", while allowing corporations and wealthy families to continue to file under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
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Back in January, I predicted that the neocons would recognize that blogging may be one of the last great hopes to save America from the clutches of deceit and corporate sponsorship of the Republican Noise Machine. Bloggers have the potential to change the outcome of the 2008 presidential election. Given this recognition, I believe the neocons and the right wing think tanks will do what they can to A) Marginalize the opinions of bloggers and B) Regulate and control the behavior of bloggers in every way that they can.
This process has already started. We have already witnessed bloggers as the center of attention in the media over the past few weeks. Outside of the positive coverage on the Daily Show and Keith Olbermann, the majority of the reporting has been critical of the idea of giving a voice to the common man - The media feels threatened. The neocons feigned mock outrage in the Jeff Gannon affair - choosing to instead claim that the bloggers were invading the privacy of Gannon, instead of focusing on the outright audacity of the Bush Administration.
Finally, on the regulation front, they are starting by proposing a bill making it illegal to link to a campaign site from a blog, stating that doing so is equivalent to making a campaign contribution. Is this the beginning of the end for a political blog? I don't know. I do know that if this passes, the Neocons are going to continue to push for more laws that regulate free speech, and destroy dissenting opinion.
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Finally, the neocons are demonstrating their true lack of compassion in the bankruptcy legislation, claiming that bankruptcy is a personal accountability issue. We are truly in the beginning stages of a fascist society, with credit card companies as a major contributor to the republican campaign platform. They are simply ignoring the fact that 90% of all bankruptcy cases are caused by unexpected health care costs, unexpected job loss, and divorce. The republicans stayed the party line on all issues - voting to prevent exceptions for military families and closing of loopholes that allow wealthy to protect their millions of dollars in assets by using offshore accounts in the Caymen Islands. They are requiring individuals to be "personally accountable", while allowing corporations and wealthy families to continue to file under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
posted by markh100 at
7:31 AM
