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["Trevor Peck" <trevor AT ISBNread.com>]

> >Anyone here have a blog where they voice a political opinion?  The feds
> >are busy writing up some rules.
> >http://www.flyingsnail.com/Dahbud/dahbudmain.html
> 
> And hopefully the courts will strike down those rules as an abridgment of
> free speech.  If the rules are allowed to stand you could get cited for
> expressing your personal opinion if it favors one candidate over another. 
> Political discourse over the net could be in serious danger here.

 The courts, far from stopping these regulations, have birthed them, 
ordering that these rules be written and enforced. The full legal opinion 
from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia can be 
seen here (.pdf so I can't paste any):

http://www.fec.gov/pages/bcra/shays_meehan_mem_opinion_dc.pdf

 The freedom of speech part of the constitution was overturned by the 
rulings allowing the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act (BCRA) to take 
effect a few years ago. I was a small contributor to the effort to get the 
courts to throw this out then. They didn't. The only argument that had any 
effect was "freedom of the press," which still has teeth in the courts. 
So... those who want speech limited (McCain, Feingold, and the list goes 
on...) seek to define "press" very narrowly. That's what happened here.

 This really is the last vestiges of freedom in America.

 When we can no longer discuss these things, in this forum or any other, 
they will be able to do whatever they like. And the fact that they already 
want this to happen is proof that they would like some things we're not 
going to like very much. 

 "They" is often a strawman scapegoat in arguments... but in this case 
"They" have names... and the list is very long - include all but one 
(commissioner Bradley Smith is on the side of freedom) in the FEC, all (as 
far as I can tell) in the FCC, and most in both houses of congress.

 Already they pass bills without having read them - this last emergency 
appropriations bill even included language to federally mandate driver's 
licenses and state ID cards to match and share a single database - "Your 
Papers Please?!"

 I've pretty much given up on stopping the juggernaut - when I talk to 
people on the street I hear pretty much the same thing from everyone, "If 
I were President I would have nuked Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan the day 
after 9/11." If I point out that all those affected by and surviving such 
a thing would be bitter enemies, they simply say we have more bombs.

 But if you're not as disillusioned as me, try http://www.downsizedc.org . 
They're still trying to stop this.

 - Trevor.

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