silencing the blogs? Good luck with that, eh?

I saw that this law had been defeated a couple days ago, but things prevented me from comment.  This article is a pretty good summation of my feelings on the matter.

Campaign Finance Reform: Could it be that nearly 200 members of our esteemed House of Representatives simply don't recognize the First Amendment? Yes, it could, and it's a telling commentary on our condition.

It's no surprise, really. These are mostly the same people who voted to force the free-speech-strangling McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law on the country.

That 2002 legislation, which passed 240-189 in the House and 60-40 in the Senate, heavily regulates political campaign contributions, especially those that pay for issue ads. The First Amendment didn't matter then; it doesn't matter now.

Give credit, though, to Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, who authored, and the 225 members who voted for, the Online Freedom of Speech Act that was cut down Wednesday in the House. They rightly viewed the Federal Elections Commission's effort to place online political expression under the McCain-Feingold law as unacceptable in a free society.

Take a look at the people lined up against this freedom of speech,  90% DemocRats.  Given the money they are getting from Moveon.org and other web sites one might think this stand against the bloggers odd.  But looked at from another angle, the Dems would probably like these idiotarian web sites to stop being on their side.  Extending the FEC regulations to the web is a good way to shut the moonbats up while still keeping the money.  Just like a Dem, knife your friends and enemies with equal abandon.

Many lawmakers voted against the bill because they want to crush the burgeoning Web talk that has revealed their malfeasance and lack of accountability. They want to continue to get away with the same things they've gotten away with for years, and they need the campaign finance law to protect them from those pesky watchdogs.

Meanwhile, much of the mainstream media are celebrating. They're happy to see their competitors, detractors, whistle-blowers and fiskers in the blogosphere feel the cold hand of regulation.

Oh you bet your ass they are celebrating.  Anybody think Dan Rather likes the bloggers?  Also, there's a shitload of plain old MONEY on the line here.  Stock prices for big media companies are in the dumper, advertising prices are depressed, circulation is down down down, and Hollywood movies this year got slaughtered at the box office.  That's money not being made by people who are used to making it, and they hold the leashes of a lot of DemocRats.  They want their monopoly back, so they send their faithful doggies into the US House of Retards to make it happen.

The whole thing is total bollocks, fortunately.  The Chicoms can't secure their Internet even with arresting people in the middle of the night and killing them on TV, the FEC has zero chance of doing it.

For example I,  The Invincible Phantom, am beyond the reach of the FEC.  Anybody think the Liberal Party of Canada is going to cooperate with the Americans and shut Canadian citizens up who are criticizing... Americans?  BWAHAHA!!!  Not!

And there's still Anonymizer.

The Phantom