GET VIRAL ASAP: Senate Wants To Limit First Amendment to Just “Professional Journalists”
by Voice of Reason
I
am going to parse my words carefully, because what I am thinking may
not go over well with some in power and I might end up in place I cannot
get out of. The Disciples of the One True God – Obama – otherwise known
as Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein and Dick Durbin
have come to the conclusion that they should be the arbiters of what
constitutes an “Authorized Journalist.” Authorized Journalists
presumably will still have free speech (or some assemblence they deem
appropriate) but the rest of us common folk will lose our rights to free
speech.
Do I need to say what my thoughts are? Let’s not even go
there. When will it be enough? When will these utter pieces of human
waste have dismantled the Constitution enough to where they are finally
happy?
Should we all have one arm in the air saluting, “Hail Obama!”
I want to know where the line is going to be drawn by We the
People. From what I gather, if the vote were held today the measure
would pass by a vote of 13-5. WHO ARE THESE 13? WHY THE HELL ARE THEY IN ELECTED OFFICE? I’m
glad we have 1 million truckers showing up in DC to shut the city down
October 11-13th. I hope they get at least 1 million truckers. I really hope support does not falter down the stretch. It appears the million bikers didn’t even get noticed… or if it did, the warning was not headed. I
want to know at what point does this pot boil over? Anyone reading this
should know what I am talking about. At what point is a full scale
revolution going to begin to take shape?
You take away my first Amendment…. well… that’s a game
changer. I don’t know what that means, but the day I wake up without the
1st Amendment, I’ll be living in a very very dangerous and different
world than I grew up in. Who knows what We the People are capable of. I
suspect the Anointed ones will find out.
Advancing their quest for “common sense press control,” the Senate
Judiciary Committee voted yesterday to define who the government will
consider to be an “
Authorized Journalist,”
meaning if the measure becomes law, they will also be able to declare
who is not. Voting 13-5 on “a compromise worked out by Democratic Sens.
Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein and Dick Durbin in coordination with
news organizations … the overall bill will … would codify many of the
regulations proposed earlier this year by Attorney General Eric
Holder,”
Fox News reported.
Defining “covered journalists” as those who are “an employee,
independent contractor or agent of an entity that disseminates news or
information,” the bill would also “extend to student journalists,” the
report continues, meaning it will also codify who is an “Authorized
Student.” That opens itself to other questions, for instance, what if an
activist blogger is also just a part-time online university attendee,
and what institutional accreditation is required? Will the student’s
major factor in, does it mean they have to work for the school paper, or
what?
That this particular triumvirate sees itself as the arbiters of not
just government declaring who merits elite “more equal than others”
recognition, but as vested with legitimate Constitutional powers to make
such a determination backed by force of law in the first damn place, is
hardly surprising. After all, the Second Amendment isn’t safe around
them either, so why would people think other freedoms would be?
In this case, Schumer is acting as
bagman for the White House, Feinstein views the First Amendment as
a “special privilege” to grant (loyal) “real reporters,” and
Durbin is left scheming over how he can work the obsolescence of quill pens and the English Common Press to his advantage.
That they would be doing this in “coordination” with establishment
media is also hardly a surprise. With many searching for workable
business models and foundering due to a reduced demand to pay for dead
tree media and competition by new upstart online rivals, with the loss
of gatekeeper status due to alternative information providers, and with
the erosion of trust their transparent agenda-driven offenses of
commission and omission have earned them, it only makes sense they’d
want government to stack the deck in their favor. Besides, quid pro quo
makes the world go ‘round, and it’s not like they’re not on the same
team anyway, at least the influential ones who have
cushy administration gigs waiting for them, or that the door doesn’t swing both ways.
Add to that the natural inclination for what Joe Biden calls
“legitimate media” to look down their collectivi … uh… collective noses
at someone
the great Juan Williams would dismiss as #justablogger,
and it’s understandable why they would be happy to form a
“public/private partnership,” which you have to admit sounds a lot
warmer than terms like “economic fascism.”
Besides, get on their good side, and the possibilities are limitless, such as
a proposed “progressive energy tax” (don’t
you just love the word “progressive”?) that would “make the
technologies that overproduce information more expensive and less
widespread.” Hey, no less of an authority than John Roberts tells us as
long as it’s a tax, government can practically do whatever it wants.
As for the issue that brings readers to this column, just forget the fact that for the most part, the media is almost
universally hostile to gun rights, and universally
ignorant or deceptive about how they report, and importantly, on
what they choose to ignore.
That last link — and I go to the trouble to embed them for a reason –
will segue us into a story that regular readers of this column are more
than familiar with and just knew I’d be bringing up, the
Fast and Furious government “gunwalking” criminal enterprise. No wonder Eric Holder is the one proposing the regs Chucky, DiFi and Dick (Heh!) are midwifing. Aside from the fact that
his boss admittedly “hates” internet media…
Go ahead and open that link too, and look around and explore some of
the other rooms it opens into, and see what was left to a pair of
“bloggers” to uncover, report and then throw every light and beat every
pot and pan they could get their hands on to get Congress and the media
to notice.
Then understand that the proposed new law does not affect me — at
least as long as I can show I’m an “agent” of someone else, such as the
fine folks at FMG Publications, who allow me to pen the monthly
“Rights Watch” column in GUNS Magazine, and this website. But I take it personally, for several reasons.
Regular readers will also be familiar with the genesis of the term “
Authorized Journalist,” which originated before my current professional affiliations were established, As editor and publisher of a local grassroots
gun rights newsletter,
while trying to cover a public press conference on guns at a public
park by my Congressional representative and Sarah Brady, I was told by a
law enforcement official that
I was not allowed to ask a question because those were reserved for the press.
Over the years further “official” attempts at chilling “unauthorized journalism” were reported at the War on Guns blog, such as
ATF threatening an FFL they
were trying to close down with harassment charges for blogging about
what they were doing to him. That particular story morphed into
a legal threat from a United States Marshal for my coverage.
But even though I could probably count on an exemption for myself, at
least until the law is amended to remove any “loopholes” that will
certainly emerge once it’s accepted that this is an area government has
authority to occupy, it’s not something any American with a shred of
integrity and respect for equal protection under the law would have
anything to do with. Plus, what kind of idiot would give government that
kind of power?
And it’s still personal. See, I’m proud to be friends with Mike
Vanderboegh of the Sipsey Street Irregulars blog, and I’m appreciative
of the work we’ve done together. Not being anyone’s agent,
he properly assesses he won’t be covered by the “shield” Eric Holder and his Congressional co-conspirators have in mind.
Having worked closely with Mike, not only on
Fast and Furious,
but on numerous other projects where he has enlisted trusted
confidential sources to uncover stories no one else has, and seeing the
corruption he has exposed, I’ll tell you right now this guy is more of a
real journalist than any number of “professional” frauds the
establishment rewards with recognition, fortune and awards. Knowing
firsthand what a thorn he remains in the side of those relying on
“legitimate media” to either ignore or make excuses for them, the threat
of prosecuting bloggers for not revealing a source would intimidate
many from coming forward.
I say this without hyperbole. A guy like Mike would die before
betraying a confidence. I know this to be true. People can trust him
with their lives. Some have.
There’s something I’ve known but not talked about, because protecting
our sources has always been the paramount and sacred trust that
explains in part why we have been able to secure information others with
organizational resources have not. I’ll relate it now, in very general
terms, so that you’ll understand some of the considerations we have been
forced to contemplate while working on some of the developments we have
made public over the years.
More than one confidential source has acknowledged they were in fear
for their lives, and credit the lights and noise generated by mere
bloggers with helping to keep them safe. Literally. Understanding that I
will not flesh this out with further detail, think for a moment what
that means, and how that also weighed on those they trusted, with
personal and family concerns of their own.
You’re damn right I take this personally.
Drudge is right. This latest offensive power grab where government presumes approval over journalists is “disgusting” and it’s “fascist.”
It is, in fact, an “Intolerable Act.”
No “real American” will stand for it.
