First They Came For……….. Kirsten Powers’ Anger at the Media over DOJ’s Trampling on Freedom of Press

From Kirsten Powers @ Daily Beast:

It’s instructive to go back to the dawn of Hope and Change. It was 2009, and the
new administration decided it was appropriate to use the prestige of the White
House to viciously attack a news organization—Fox News—and the journalists who
work there. Remember, President Obama had barely been in office and had enjoyed
the most laudatory press of any new president in modern history. Yet even one
outlet that allowed dissent or criticism of the president was one too many. This should have been a red flag
to everyone, regardless of what they thought of Fox
News. The math was simple: if the administration would abuse its power to try
and intimidate one media outlet, what made anyone think they weren’t next?

For Ms. Powers’ full column:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/21/how-hope-and-change-gave-way-to-spying-on-the-press.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thedailybeast%2Farticles+%28The+Daily+Beast+-+Latest+Articles%29

Update: Latest reports show that the DOJ not only spied into James Rosen’s email accounts and phone records, as well as those of FOX News, including their phone lines at the White House, State Department, and Capitol Hill, but they also pried into the records of James Rosen’s parents in Staten island NY. Where is the outrage in the MSM?

Obama’s “Accomodation to Religious Entities: The Insurance Carrier will pay For Birth Control

      With the mainstream media basically ignoring the firestorm that has brewed over the Obama Administration’s decision to force the Catholic Church to provide contraception in its health care covereage for its employees, the Obama team thinks they have found a way to “appease” the religious groups while not appearing to be giving in to the Church.

       Today, HHS and Obama announced that the availability to access to contraception medications, etc., must still go forward, they have said that if a religious institution has a religious objection to that premise, they do not have to pay for that coverage. BUT, the insurance carrier MUST still offer it to the employees of that religious institution, at no cost to the employee.

        So, let me get this straight. The Church, which has a fundamental disagreement with the idea of birth control, does not have to PAY for it for their employees, BUT it must still be a PART of the plan that the Church offers, and that their insurance carrier MUST pickup that cost. Call me stupid, but does Obama believe that the cost of the birth control will not be buried within the cost of the entire plan?

       Any thoughts?

Couple Fined for holding Bible Study Group in THEIR HOME

 

 

No, this is not Iran or Pakistan were talking about…
This is happening right here in the United States!

The City of San Juan Capistrano, California is demanding that a Christian couple purchase a permit to hold a Bible study group in their home. They’ve already been fined.

The couple insists, “There’s no singing or music. It’s meditative.”

World Net Daily reported:

Chuck and Stephanie Fromm already have been fined $300 for holding Bible studies for their friends at their home, and they face the potential for additional fines of $500 for each study held, according to a legal team taking their case to court.

The newest conflict over Bible studies in homes in America arose in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., where city officials say city code section 9-3.301 prohibits religious organizations in residential neighborhoods without a conditional-use permit, a sometimes very expensive procedure.

The code cites “churches, temples, synagogues, monasteries, religious retreats, and other places of religious worship and other fraternal and community service organizations.”

But a Bible study in a home?

So much for the First Amendment. Today Freedom of Religion only applies to atheists

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/09/city-fines-christians-300-for-holding-bible-study-in-their-home/

Uninformed/ Misinformed Youth: Ignorance is Bliss as they Sign Petitions to Ban the Likes of Beck and Limbaugh

And sadly, each of these individuals is eligible to VOTE

FOX News Reporter Explains Antics of Some Protesters Trying to Stifle News Reports

Gov. Sarah Palin Responds to the Left & Their Bitter Attacks

More Control on Our Guns and Attacks on Freedom of Speech will Be Initial Targets of Dems in light of Giffords’ Shooting

Here comes the socialist/communist regulation on speech.

 

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/136895-dem-planning-bill-that-would-outlaw-threatening-lawmakers

 

“Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) reportedly plans to introduce legislation that would make it a federal crime to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a federal official or member of Congress.”

Reflect on the Policies, Not the Rhetoric

     Keith Olbermann’s latest rant calls for apologies from “Mrs.” Palin, Glenn Beck, and Bill O’Reilly for their violent vitriolic rhetoric. Ironically, he doesn’t mention Barack Obama’s own words saying about bringing bats, bringing guns. Eugene Robinson in Washington says the violence rhetoric is ALL on the “Right”. Gov. Palin has been trashed (mentioned over 6000 times in a 12 hour period yesterday in print and on the air) for her “cross hairs” list of candidates targeted in the last election, with  no mention of similar advertisements used in 2006 against Arizona’s former Congressman JD Hayworth during a campaign.

      What must come from this tragedy in Tucson, AZ is several things:

                   Our elected officials must not cower in fear, and separate themselves even further from the people that they “REPRESENT”.

                   Our leaders MUST NOT USE this tragedy to “brow beat” those who dissent with their viewpoint, nor should they use this “crisis” to push any unwanted agenda, i.e.- the rhetoric on the talk shows today has used the issue of immigration more than any other.

                   The Congressional majority has respectfully postponed all legislative actions during the coming week, but they should not deter from their resolve to move forward with the repeal of the job-killing law known as ObamaCare.

                    We should not permit this crisis to be used as a bully-pulpit to try to silence the voices ON EITHER SIDE in the open forums of radio, internet, and television. With the Rev. Al Sharpton already seeking the FCC to challenge Rush Limbaugh’s talk show, we are treading dangerously close to completely overpowering our Freedom of Speech, simply because the American majority, the conservative viewpoint, has a stronger input in the marketplace. (Remember, liberal talk radio could not sustain itself with government subsidies).

                  The focus on the 24/7 coverage has pointed at the vitriolic and incendiary rhetoric, and yet, the likes of MSNBC or CNN have failed to mention any of the rhetoric from the likes of Frances Fox Piven and Van Jones when discussing this issue.

                 The focus should be on the POLICIES that have been pushed forward, against the WILL OF WE THE PEOPLE, and why they are bringing forth such opposition to the agenda of the progressive Left.

        As I posted earlier this week, we are in a New Revolution, but it is not, nor should it be, one of violence. Nor should it be one that tries to silence the opinions of the public. This New Revolution is for each of us to accept our personal responsibilities, first for ourselves, then our family, and so forth. It is for our return to the moral foundation that made this a Great Nation. If we fail at this New Revolution, one need only look to the Roman Empire, whose decline coincided with its moral decline. America is an EXCEPTIONAL NATION (Note to Obama) and we MUST correct our course now.

           If the tragedy in Tucson is to be used for anything, let it be used to remind us that our time on Earth is short, and we should each resolve to leave our imprint in a positive manner, to move forward and not to cower.

List of the 19 Senators who Voted to Censor the Internet Today

The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

from the free-speech-isn’t-free dept

This is hardly a surprise but, this morning (as previously announced), the lame duck Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to move forward with censoring the internet via the COICA bill — despite a bunch of law professors explaining to them how this law is a clear violation of the First Amendment. What’s really amazing is that many of the same Senators have been speaking out against internet censorship in other countries, yet they happily vote to approve it here because it’s seen as a way to make many of their largest campaign contributors happy. There’s very little chance that the bill will actually get passed by the end of the term but, in the meantime, we figured it might be useful to highlight the 19 Senators who voted to censor the internet this morning:

• Patrick J. Leahy — Vermont
• Herb Kohl — Wisconsin
• Jeff Sessions — Alabama
• Dianne Feinstein — California
• Orrin G. Hatch — Utah
• Russ Feingold — Wisconsin
• Chuck Grassley — Iowa
• Arlen Specter — Pennsylvania
• Jon Kyl — Arizona
• Chuck Schumer — New York
• Lindsey Graham — South Carolina
• Dick Durbin — Illinois
• John Cornyn — Texas
• Benjamin L. Cardin — Maryland
• Tom Coburn — Oklahoma
• Sheldon Whitehouse — Rhode Island
• Amy Klobuchar — Minnesota
• Al Franken — Minnesota
• Chris Coons — Delaware
• This should be a list of shame. You would think that our own elected officials would understand the First Amendment but, apparently, they have no problem turning the US into one of the small list of authoritarian countries that censors internet content it does not like (in this case, content some of its largest campaign contributors do not like). We already have laws in place to deal with infringing content, so don’t buy the excuse that this law is about stopping infringement. This law takes down entire websites based on the government’s say-so. First Amendment protections make clear that if you are going to stop any specific speech, it has to be extremely specific speech. This law has no such restrictions. It’s really quite unfortunate that these 19 US Senators are the first American politicians to publicly vote in favor of censoring speech in America.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101118/10291211924/the-19-senators-who-voted-to-censor-the-internet.shtml

Rockefeller: Arrogance in Thought to “Silence” FOX, Others

Sen. Rockefeller never mentions that the FCC has no authority regarding the Cable networks………