Enough is Enough! After six months in office, President Control-Freak has his hands in the pie of General Motors, Chrysler, and a variety of financial service companies. He is seeking to control, among other things, the health care industry, the energy industry, and the amount of money employers pay their business executives.
Now, the Sultan of Socialism is treading on dangerous territory by wanting to slap-down freedom of speech on those who use the internet – bloggers beware!
Cass Sunstein is supposedly an American legal scholar and Harvard Law Professor, that was appointed by President Obama to head up the “White House Office Of Information And Regulatory Affairs.” His title is sufficiently broad and ambiguous, but he wields plenty of power. Americans who still care about their rights to “freedom of speech” should be paying close attention.
Sunstein is the author of the new book, “On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done.”
Mr. Sunstein’s has a disturbing vision for the future of web content as he argues for a so-called “notice and take down” law. Under this provision, those who operate websites from news organizations to private bloggers would all be required to “take down falsehoods upon notice” from the U.S. government.
Not only would the original content of websites be scrutinized by the government for “falsehoods,” website operators would also be held responsible for the content of “posts” created by the website’s visitors and readers.
It may seem that holding a web operator accountable for content generated by “posters,” is indefensible. Not surprising since the goal of Mr. Sunstein is to create an indefensible situation for website operators given his assertion that “a ‘chilling effect’ on those who would spread destructive falsehoods can be an excellent idea.”
I think we can see where this is going.
The big question is who will determine what, exactly, is “true” and “false?” Mr. Sunstein laments the supposed “lie” that emerged during last year’s presidential race that “Barack Obama pals around with terrorists.” Despite the fact that a friendship between Obama and known domestic terrorist William Ayers was something that both men acknowledged, Sunstein alludes to the notion that this was one of those “destructive falsehoods” of the sort that needs to be policed.
We know that this action is in no way legal, or constitutional, but at times issues of “legality and constitutionality” don’t seem to matter to the Obama Administration. I for one don’t see too many people, in the position to do so, willing to stand up and say “Stop or No” to the Obamanation.
In March of this year, there was nothing illegal about executives of the AIG Corporation being paid bonuses that they earned from their employer. That didn’t seem to matter because they were harassed, demonized and publicly belittled by President Obama himself, while dozens of Obama supporters “demonstrated” in front of the private residences of the executives, alleging that it was “unfair” for those executives to be making “so much money.”
In a similar way, it appears that the Obama Administration may be ushering-in an era of harassment for website operators. Regardless of what U.S. courts may or may not say about this in the future, a “notice and take down” letter from the White House could have quite a “chilling effect” for today.
It’s time to say NO while you still have a voice.
In case you wonder – there is such a thing as going too far and Obama has repeatedly crossed that line. If those that represent us aren’t willing to stand up to this vile pretender then the people themselves must take action… and take action before it is too late.
Hat Tip to th.



7 comments
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July 19, 2009 at 10:57 am
ronin
This adds a new spin to Big BROTHER is watching you.
July 19, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Dr Dodd
This is a plan to shut down the gathering place for any discussion of ideas that may oppose Obama.
This is only a symptom, the disease is much worse. It won’t be long before we are forced to whisper in our homes if this virus is not destroyed.
July 23, 2009 at 9:26 am
Lord Crimson
Hi Dr Dodd
You are right – from the government point of view communication must be controlled. It is for sure a disease of those who dream of playing God.
July 20, 2009 at 5:21 pm
the Grit
Hi LC,
And now you know why every one of my posts is labeled as opinion
Oh, and I don’t think it His hands that Obama has in all those private companies.
the Grit
July 23, 2009 at 9:22 am
Lord Crimson
Hi Grit
The past few days I’ve been hearing a lot more about this Cass Sunstein character. He’s a nutjob from way-back making him perfect for the Obama administration.
There is no way they can possibly read every blog and visitor posts. But for starters it looks like future blogs might have to use a style of encryption that can frustrate bots the gestapo will use to search for key words.
What a world.
July 23, 2009 at 3:23 pm
the Grit
Hi LC,
You would be surprised at what the NSA can do. Oh, and you won’t be allowed to use effective encryption. The cell phone companies tried that and the government swatted them down immediately. It wouldn’t be any difference for ISPs. Big Brother does, after all, need to maintain the ability to make sure we’re being good little citizens.
the Grit
July 23, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Lord Crimson
Hi Grit
Yes I must agree, the capability of collection data such as this is staggering. It makes you wonder what will be used against you. It might be a good time to go low tech and polish up on my Morse Code.