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June 25, 2004
Thank You, John Breaux
From Tuesday: The Senate votes 99-1 to fine the crap out of any broadcaster who broadcasts something obscene.
From 1791: Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.
Hmmm. Republican Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, the prune-faced Puritan who sponsored this bill, stuck it onto a defense spending bill and rammed it through without debate. "This is something the public wants," he said.
Really? I know a pretty decent number of the public, and they all seem to be capable of turning off stuff that offends them. Maybe it's different in Kansas.
So thank you, John Breaux of Louisiana, for being the only one to resist the crusade. I'd like to think your fellow Democratic Senators would stand up to this more; I'm curious why not.
But then again, I'm not thinking of the children.
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Comments
I think this is ridiculously out of hand. But I don't think the issue is the interpretation of the first amendment so much as it is a matter of the punishment fitting the offense. In this case, much like mandatory minimum sentencing, it will simply create a burdensome bureaucracy and no real improvement in the lives it alleges to protect.
But for discussion's sake, where is the line between OK speech and not-OK speech, or is there even such a line? Are we really willing to say it's all fully protected? Are we prepared to handle that?
Posted by: Pete | June 25, 2004 12:55 PM
I'll simply follow the example set by the administration...good thing Cheney sworn at Pat Leahy on the Senate floor yesterday.
Proof yet again that the Shrub Administration = Hypocrisy, not democracy
Posted by: Wedah | June 25, 2004 03:01 PM
