First Shots fired in the WAR ON BLOGS!
Let me start with this: Either we can speak freely about our elected officials or we can't. Which is it? The America I grew up in clearly says we can. The America I grew up in was about checks and balances. In this case, the media is supposed to act as a check on corrupt government though freedom of the press. Seems simple enough, do enough stuff wrong and somebody is going to tell. The American People hash it out at the polls and we all move on right?
Does the current Administration want to change that? After first being selected, as opposed to being elected, then elected via one of the most error prone and doubt filled elections this nation has ever had, I can easily see the motivation for a WAR ON BLOGS. If they want to restrict the freedom for their own people to express opinion, WAKE THE FUCK UP! That's a problem. Read it, know it, tell it.
It must really hurt to spend so much time and effort on carefully crafted spin-da-ganda <-- you read that little term here first and there will be more -->, only to see the whole house of cards get wacked off at the knees by a bunch of American People simply asking the questions their "Media" should have been asking in the first place.
Trust me folks, there is going to be a lot more of this before the '06 elections. Thanks to Bloggers, to be linked below and later on the sidebar, the amount of dirty laundry this administration is packing is simply staggering. (And they still won! --unbeliveable!) Why is that important? Simple. It's going to take the full four years to properly spin this crap into another Neo-con win and bloggers are hosing that timetable nicely right now. Either they must accept the reality being the neo-plan at risk, or change that reality as they have so many other things. Which things? Your TV, Newspaper, Radio, and Major Internet news sites all carry the party line, without any real investigative reporting happening, far more than they ever have before. Fourth estate... If you count the Bloggers, then yes, otherwise you might as well just forget it.
The result: Twenty-four Seven SPINDAGANDA! Talking heads, talking as only they can talk about how good this administration is going to be for all of us, if they can just be left alone to do things how they want them done! Silly isn't it? I sure think so and I know I am not alone.
Why? Bloggers of course. Without them, none of us has even the slightest chance at really knowing the state of things and thats where the war begins.
What are their weapons? Links and copyright. That's how they are going to fight. They are going to say links are "contributions" and information sent to you is "copyrighted" and intended only for you. Folks, this is facist, unamerican, and downright sick and let me tell you why:
If links are twisted into being contributions of some kind, then sharing information about someone can be monetized in some strange fashion. As soon as a dollar amount can be attached to a hyperlink, regulation can then follow because speech becomes money in some twisted way.
The copyright battle has been brewing for a good long time. Everybody likes the Internet. It's open and everybody plays the same. Well, that's good for you and me because we can reach one another, just as we are right now. You publish, I publish, mix in a little RSS and bam! We have made some news not easily possible any other way. Great, we all communicate better and the world becomes a better place right?
And that's the rub for those wanting to take advantage of their power position. When your population can speak to one another in small village fashion, propping up the spin gets a lot harder because it costs too much to buy everybody off!
What prompted this entry? A little gem by Cnet News. It frames most of the issues, but clearly does not have our interests in mind. The article leans heavy toward narrow exemptions favoring major news organizations --such as Cnet. Bastards.
Give your elected representatives a call, email or letter on this. Then do it again. This is a very big deal. Between all the goofy election voting issues and partisan funded spindaganda, the emergance of Blogs is one of the only true media checks left to us going forward. It is in all of our best interests to let this continue.
"Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech or of the press. . . ."
Amendment 1, Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution, 1791
Amendment 1, Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution, 1791
Does the current Administration want to change that? After first being selected, as opposed to being elected, then elected via one of the most error prone and doubt filled elections this nation has ever had, I can easily see the motivation for a WAR ON BLOGS. If they want to restrict the freedom for their own people to express opinion, WAKE THE FUCK UP! That's a problem. Read it, know it, tell it.
It must really hurt to spend so much time and effort on carefully crafted spin-da-ganda <-- you read that little term here first and there will be more -->, only to see the whole house of cards get wacked off at the knees by a bunch of American People simply asking the questions their "Media" should have been asking in the first place.
Trust me folks, there is going to be a lot more of this before the '06 elections. Thanks to Bloggers, to be linked below and later on the sidebar, the amount of dirty laundry this administration is packing is simply staggering. (And they still won! --unbeliveable!) Why is that important? Simple. It's going to take the full four years to properly spin this crap into another Neo-con win and bloggers are hosing that timetable nicely right now. Either they must accept the reality being the neo-plan at risk, or change that reality as they have so many other things. Which things? Your TV, Newspaper, Radio, and Major Internet news sites all carry the party line, without any real investigative reporting happening, far more than they ever have before. Fourth estate... If you count the Bloggers, then yes, otherwise you might as well just forget it.
The result: Twenty-four Seven SPINDAGANDA! Talking heads, talking as only they can talk about how good this administration is going to be for all of us, if they can just be left alone to do things how they want them done! Silly isn't it? I sure think so and I know I am not alone.
Why? Bloggers of course. Without them, none of us has even the slightest chance at really knowing the state of things and thats where the war begins.
What are their weapons? Links and copyright. That's how they are going to fight. They are going to say links are "contributions" and information sent to you is "copyrighted" and intended only for you. Folks, this is facist, unamerican, and downright sick and let me tell you why:
If links are twisted into being contributions of some kind, then sharing information about someone can be monetized in some strange fashion. As soon as a dollar amount can be attached to a hyperlink, regulation can then follow because speech becomes money in some twisted way.
The copyright battle has been brewing for a good long time. Everybody likes the Internet. It's open and everybody plays the same. Well, that's good for you and me because we can reach one another, just as we are right now. You publish, I publish, mix in a little RSS and bam! We have made some news not easily possible any other way. Great, we all communicate better and the world becomes a better place right?
And that's the rub for those wanting to take advantage of their power position. When your population can speak to one another in small village fashion, propping up the spin gets a lot harder because it costs too much to buy everybody off!
What prompted this entry? A little gem by Cnet News. It frames most of the issues, but clearly does not have our interests in mind. The article leans heavy toward narrow exemptions favoring major news organizations --such as Cnet. Bastards.
Give your elected representatives a call, email or letter on this. Then do it again. This is a very big deal. Between all the goofy election voting issues and partisan funded spindaganda, the emergance of Blogs is one of the only true media checks left to us going forward. It is in all of our best interests to let this continue.
posted by Doug Dingus at 11:28 AM
2 Comments:
I agree that this is a serious issue that deserves a thousand times the attention it has gotten so far, but I disagree that this is a Republican vs. Democrat issue. This is a people versus government issue and any decent conservative blogger should be as upset over this attempted violation of our rights as any liberal one, so let's work on making this a united front! Free speech isn't a partisan issue, and there are people out there working hard against it from both parties.
--Brian
I agree with you in principle, but must confess I am having a hard time with the non-partisan bit.
Our government IS REPUBLICAN right now. And it's not doing a very good job acting in our interests.
Thanks for your comment. Glad to know there are sane heads on both sides!
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