Oh,..the Evils of an Advanced and Constitutionally-Protected Open Society!!

Courtesy of Haystack Commentary:

Obama: iPods, iPads, Xbox, Playstations are messing with his ability to Rule

HAMPTON, Virginia — US President Barack Obama lamented Sunday that in the iPad and Xbox era, information had become a diversion that was imposing new strains on democracy, in his latest critique of modern media.

Obama, who often chides journalists and cable news outlets for obsessing with political horse race coverage rather than serious issues, told a class of graduating university students that education was the key to progress.

“You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank all that high on the truth meter,” Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia. (Can you say "CeeNoNews" or CeeBS?")

“With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,” Obama said.

He bemoaned the fact that “some of the craziest claims can quickly claim traction,” in the clamor of certain blogs and talk radio outlets. (You mean like "hoping our economy would get better and hoping our enemies would just go away??)

“All of this is not only putting new pressures on you, it is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy.”(Because a free democracy will always expose the Emperor's New Clothes!)

First Victory in AZ!

AG Holder and your leash holder, the Mighty Obamessiah, should take note:

Ariz. Referendum Drives Targeting New Law Dropped
Associated Press

The two proposed referendum drives challenging Arizona's new sweeping law targeting illegal immigration are being abandoned, organizers said Monday.

Andrew Chavez, a professional petition circulator involved in one of the efforts, said its backers pulled the plug after concluding they might not be able to time their petition filings in such a way as to put the law on hold pending a 2012 public vote.

Jon Garrido, the chief organizer of the other drive, attributed its end to a belief that the law would have been subject to legal protections under Arizona's Constitution if approved by Arizona voters.

The law takes effect July 29 unless implementation is blocked by court injunctions requested under at least three of the four pending legal challenges already filed by an Hispanic clergy group, police officers and other individuals.

Its provisions include requiring that police enforcing another law must question a person about his or her immigration status if there is "reasonable suspicion" that the person is in the United States illegally. It also makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally.

Another Reason to Stand By Arizona,....

Don't Play Ball With State of Arizona
4/26/2010 7:49 PM ET By Kevin Blackistone

About 10 years ago, the NCAA made one of its most bold and upright decisions: it refused to allow any more of its postseason tournaments, like March Madness, to be held in South Carolina until the state stopped flying the banner of the long defeated racist Confederacy in the face of 21st century societal progress.

NCAA spokesman Bob Williams explained at the time that the organization wanted to "ensure that our championships are free from any type of symbolism that might make someone uncomfortable based on their race." (And yet the NCAA has no problem with a school's nickname like "The Running Rebels;" clearly recalling the same Confederates who approved of slavery?)

As such, it is time for the governors of college athletics -- and the officials who control the BCS -- to expand their postseason ban. Arizona should be next, immediately. (That would be the same sham "championship" where revenue trumps talent, right?)

The University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., should lose the BCS National Championship Game scheduled to be played there next January unless Arizona legislators rescind soon and for good an anti-immigration law they just passed that gives police the right to stop and search for documents anyone police suspect of being in the country illegally.

After all, that law means racially profiling people who appear to be Hispanic, no matter what Arizona lawmakers claim. That means making an entire group of people, as the NCAA spokesman said, uncomfortable in Arizona because of their heritage. That's unquestionably wrong.

We all should be uncomfortable with that, however. As Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles wrote earlier this month, comparing the law to Nazi Germany: "The Arizona legislature just passed the country's most retrogressive, mean-spirited, and useless anti-immigrant law. The tragedy of the law is its totally flawed reasoning: that immigrants come to our country to rob, plunder, and consume public resources." (No disrespect, Cardinal, but that's EXACTLY what ILLEGAL immigrants do, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not!)

The NFL should toss out a bid it received recently from Arizona to host the Super Bowl in 2015. The PGA Tour, which held two events in Arizona in February, should scratch any Arizona stops from its 2011 calendar to prove it is more inclusive than it appears.

And Major League Baseball -- out of respect to the 29 percent of its players, four managers, one general manager and one owner who are Hispanic or from Latin America -- should certainly heed the call of an embryonic protest movement in Arizona and pull its 2011 All-Star Game from the Diamondbacks' stadium in Phoenix. (And guess what: none of them came to the US through illegal means!)

Takes One to Know One,...

Or,..even a Communist knows a big, central government is wrong!

Gorbachev: Russia Is Reverting to Bad Old Days
He writes critical op-ed on 25th anniversary of perestroika

Mikhail Gorbachev warns that Russia is in danger of backsliding into the dark days of the Soviet Union in a critical op-ed piece that seems aimed directly at Vladimir Putin. The country's parliament is no better than a rubber stamp, its courts lack independence, and there's still no real party system. "There is a growing feeling that the government is afraid of civil society and would like to control everything," Gorbachev writes on the 25th anniversary of his perestroika reforms.

"I sense alarm in the words of President Dmitri Medvedev," who warned of a "primitive economy" and a society grown complacent because the government runs everything. "I agree with the president," Gorbachev writes in the New York Times. "I agree with his goal of modernization. But it will not happen if people are sidelined, if they are just pawns. If the people are to feel and act like citizens, there is only one prescription: democracy, including the rule of law and an open and honest dialogue between the government and the people."

Iraqis Voting AGAIN? I Blame Bush!

Iraqis Brave Bombs and Mortars to Vote in National Election

Polls closed across Iraq on Sunday as the war-weary population awaits results from the national election that will decide the future of the country's still-fragile democracy.

The election tested the mettle of the country's shaky security as insurgents killed 31 people across Iraq, unleashing a barrage of mortars intent on disrupting the historic day.

About 19 million Iraqis were eligible to vote on a government that will oversee the withdrawal of U.S. forces. The election is critical in determining whether Iraq can overcome the jagged sectarian divisions that have defined it since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Once the day's results are calculated, it could be months before Iraq's new parliament chooses a prime minister and forms a government.

Another One Bites the Dust....

'Chemical Ali' executed in Iraq after Halabja ruling

Ali Hassan al-Majid, a former Iraqi official known as "Chemical Ali", has been executed by hanging, a government spokesman has announced.

Majid, an enforcer in Saddam Hussein's regime and his cousin, had earlier been sentenced to death four times for genocide and crimes against humanity.

Earlier this month, he was sentenced to death for ordering the gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988.

It is believed that about 5,000 people died in the attack.

Iraqi jets swooped over Halabja and for five hours sprayed it with a lethal cocktail of mustard gas and the nerve agents Tabun, Sarin and VX.

Brutality

Majid was "executed by hanging until death", Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement

Out of Breath?

One of the lying liars who lied their way into our government,...

Air America Goes Off the Air
AP

Air America Radio is shutting down its operations after company files for bankruptcy.
(And this week just keeps getting better,...)

Air America Radio, a progressive radio network that once aired commentary from Al Franken and Rachel Maddow, said Thursday it is shutting down immediately.

The company founded in April 2004 said it ceased airing new programs Thursday afternoon and will soon file to be liquidated under Chapter 7 bankruptcy. It began broadcasting reruns of programs and would end those as well Monday night.

Air America said 10 consecutive quarters of declining ad revenue and the difficulty of making money on the Internet contributed to its financial woes.

"The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America's business. This past year has seen a `perfect storm' in the media industry generally," the company said in a statement on its Web site.

The network had some 100 radio outlets nationwide.

Franken, a Democrat, hosted his own show from 2004 to 2007 before going on to become a U.S. senator from Minnesota last year after a close election. Maddow went on to host her own TV show on MSNBC.

Folks, it's worth repeating:

"The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America's business."

Who the f**k wrote that statement, Nancy Pelosi??

From the "Religion of Peace" Files,....

Axe-wielding Islamist attacks Mohammed cartoonist home

Danish police have shot and wounded a man at the home of Kurt Westergaard, whose cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad sparked an international row.

Mr Westergaard scrambled into a panic room at his home in Aarhus after a man wielding an axe and a knife broke in.


I'm glad to see SOMEONE arms their police officers. Too bad citizens can't bear arms as well. Westergaard wouldn't need a panic room!

A Remembrance of CHRISTmas Past,....

Imagine this: Scripture on television! Not ETWN, not CBN, nor the 700 Club, but on national, commercial TV. It didn't need to pass through 20 ACLU lawyers and the Supreme Court to be aired. Hundreds of sponsors weren't threatened with boycotts by simple-minded Hollyweird "celebs" and Leftifornian soccer moms. A simple 1 1/2 minutes of stating the obvious and moving along with the show.

How Did THIS Get Past the MSM Censors??

Who needs Glenn Beck? Score a victory for the media-infiltrating right:

Does ABC's New 'V' Miniseries Have a Right-Wing Agenda?

There's a lot to love about ABC's remake of "V," from the re-emergence of everyone's favorite "Firefly" companion (Morena Baccarin) to the amped-up special effects, but the show's political underpinnings seem designed to appeal to a pretty specific crowd.

Like its "Beastmaster"-aided predecessor, this "V" also contains heavy doses of political allegory, but in the original, the villains were analogous to the Nazis. Although ABC downplays the connections, in this update, the alien visitors share a lot in common with the Obama administration. Many town hall protesters might ask what the difference is.

Check out the parallels between the new "V" series and a right-wing fever dream, and see an extended preview of the first episode.

1. The aliens come to Earth using Obama-campaign watchwords hope and change, and offer the most literal form of universal health care. Aided by a complicit news media, they assuage rabid protesters through a sweet-talking figurehead. Skeptics try to warn everyone of the impending danger, but nobody listens.

2. Of course, the most striking comparison is that, while many Obama opponents are sure he's concealing an alien birth certificate, the seemingly benevolent V's are pretending to be just like us, but (spoiler alert) are hiding lizardy evidence that they just aren't.

3. The whole thing could have been lifted from the minds of Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs.

Of course, the flip side to this is the possibility that, in macro, this is actually a satire of the anti-Obama hysteria that's filling Fox News' coffers. Either way, the new "V" is a great way to start a good argument while watching some cool sci-fi action.

UPDATE: The White House reacts to allegations of right-wing agenda in "V."

Racism - With a Little Help from My Friends,...

A few more views on the Toxic TOTUS:

From Mike (The Trubador):

The Toxic Card of Racism Trumps Hearts
Sep 16, 2009
Elizabeth Scalia

A few months ago, during the Obama-at-Notre Dame controversy, I had a conversation with a journalist, during which I opined that the whole issue of life versus death was—and has been since the time of Moses—a contest between light and dark, and would continue to be so. The journalist said, “you just said ‘black and white,’” and teased me for being a racist.

But I’d said “light and dark,” and he admitted, when he stopped laughing, that he had heard “light and dark,” but had immediately extrapolated it to “black and white” and then thought of Obama, hence the tease.

This fellow is no one’s idea of a racist (including mine), and he was a vocal supporter of President Obama. But it was his mind, not mine, that went there. The New York Times’ columnist Maureen Dowd recently wrote that when Representative Joe Wilson shouted out “You lie” during the president’s address to Congress, she heard it as “You lie, boy”—the racism clear, even though Wilson hadn’t actually said it. The blogger and law professor Ann Althouse invited her readers to speculate on whether the fact that there are white people shouting “You lie, boy” in Dowd’s mind means Dowd is a racist, projecting her own racism on to Wilson and, presumably, the tea-partiers who recently marched on Washington and, basically, anyone who disagrees with Obama on policy. (click link to read further)

And from Bill Shaw @ Writemarsh:

Is "Racist" the New "Communist?"

During the McCarthy era, we had a run of people trying to "out" communists, to the point that it's overuse caused it to become less of a stigma to be called one. Is the current administration doing the same to the word "Racist"?

We very well may be going down that road. The video below is a great example of how "racism" is no longer a broad stroke of bigotry, but simply a case of both non- whites and "guilty" whites stating "white people hate everyone who isn't like them". The video is about an hour, but is well worth the time spent watching.

Click the link to watch the video,...

So, Where IS America, Arlen?

After weeks of Town Hall meetings, common citizens venting their fury at a coming Socialist society and Congress critters cowering in fear, THIS is Specter's response:

Specter Says Town Hall Protests Not 'Representative of America'
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
By Merrill Hartson, Associated Press

Washington (AP) - Sen. Arlen Specter said Wednesday he thinks people who have been angrily disrupting town hall meetings on overhauling the health care system are "not necessarily representative of America," but should be heard.

"It's more than health care," said Specter, 79, who earlier this year left the Republican Party and became a Democrat. "I think there is a mood in America of anger with so many people unemployed, with so much bickering in Washington ... with the fear of losing their health care. It all boils over."

Specter and Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, appeared on a nationally broadcast news show Wednesday, a day after town hall meetings they hosted erupted in the same kind of catcalls, jeers and shouting that has characterized many such forums in recent weeks. "There were a couple of tough moments," McCaskill said of her experience, "but it lasted two hours and there were thousands of people there."

Jeers and taunts drowned out both Specter and McCaskill on occasion Tuesday. President Barack Obama was treated more respectfully at his town hall meeting in New Hampshire.

"You'll be gone, by God the bureaucrats will still be here," one man told Specter at a session in Lebanon, Pa.

Specter TEAbagged!

Meet the next "Joe the Plumber," America!!

Embedded video from CNN Video

Arlen Specter hammered by comments at Lebanon town meeting

Specter shouting "I don't need to be here" = kerosene on a raging fire!

They're Still At It, Obama,...

Why aren't you helping them out?

Hundreds Protest in Iran, Defy Threats of Further Crackdown

Iranian police fired shots in the air and tear gas into crowds as hundreds of people gathered near Tehran University Thursday, in the latest clash between pro-reform demonstrators and Iranian authorities.

"Police used tear gas twice to disperse the crowd. There was also many Basij militia on motorbikes patrolling the area," a witness told Reuters.

Witnesses also said they saw police detaining several protesters.

Hundreds of young men and women chanted "death to the dictator" and fled baton-wielding police in the capital as opposition activists sought to revive street protests despite authorities' vows to "smash" any new marches.

"It's OK,...Obama likes me!

A Bitter Poll

This poll is also available on the sidebar of Republican SpyGlass:

Barack Obama is
	A Bloviator
	An Obfuscator
	A Moderate Democrat
	President of the United States
pollcode.com free polls

Just a Reminder,....

This post will remain until election day,....




All new posts are under it,....

The Angry White Man Speaks!

By way of Mike Smerconish's website:


Gary Hubbell: The Redneck Tree-hugger
Angry White Man meets, and likes, Sarah Palin
Gary Hubbell
Aspen Times Weekly
Aspen, CO Colorado

The blue light of the television bathed living rooms all across the heartland of America last night, and laughter echoed across the plains, river bottoms, mountainsides, and yes, subdivisions and neighborhoods, as Sarah Palin introduced herself to America.

The Angry White Man — and Angry White Woman — are happy.

The same people that I wrote about in February — whose teeth grind together at the sound of Hillary Clinton’s voice — are whistling while they work today, knowing they finally have their kind of politician on a presidential ticket.

Sarah Palin, a gritty, small-town Alaska girl, rocked the Democrats back on their heels with her acceptance speech for the nomination as John McCain’s running mate. By doing so, she signed up for an extra-large dose of good old-fashioned liberal hate, slander and hypocrisy.

Here’s a woman we can hold up as a role model and, yes, a hero. She’s strong, opinionated, charming, successful, well-spoken and well-liked. She’s a tough former athlete (point guard on a state championship basketball team with a stress fracture in her ankle), an outdoorswoman, a dedicated mother, a person of faith and, just in case you haven’t noticed, a beauty pageant winner.

An active outdoorswoman, she’s a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and she hunts big game such as moose and caribou. She knows how to gut a moose, fillet salmon, run a sled-dog team and stick it out during a lifetime of cold Alaska winters.

She’s married to a man’s man, a guy who worked as a commercial fisherman and as a production supervisor in the oil fields, and who just happens to be a world champion snowmobile racer. He’s tall, good-looking, slim and trim, and a doting father to their five children. Speaking of children, she knew full well that their youngest son would be born with Down Syndrome, and considers him a gift from God. Her oldest son is an enlisted man on his way to Iraq.

As a politician, she’s been a city councilwoman, a mayor, the head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission and the governor of Alaska. She’s not afraid to challenge the status quo. She’s fought corruption in her own political party and has fired entrenched bureaucrats — heck, even the whole staff — without blinking an eye. She’s lowered taxes and has saved untold millions of taxpayer dollars. She enjoys an 80 percent approval rating. She’s in favor of energy production, limited government, line item vetoes and hates abortion.

So what’s not to like? Those Americans who actually make something or do something for a living — with job descriptions like “farmer,” “logger,” “nurse,” “mechanic,” “doctor” and “production supervisor” are in love with Sarah Palin. Those with job descriptions (if they have a job) such as “media consultant,” “systems analyst,” “community outreach development supervisor,” “blogger” or “diversity training enforcement supervisor” likely will hate her.

The blogosphere and the Internet is whirling in confusion today. Obama fans, media pundits and the snarky East Coast city dwellers and San Francisco gay rights and abortion advocates have gone into a froth in their best attempt to savage Sarah Palin and her family.

So here goes — it became a very long list of criticisms in a very short time. She’s religious, too religious. She actually prayed at public events. She injected national issues into local politics. Todd got a DUI in 1986. Her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, and they dragged the poor father of the baby onto a national stage. (Don’t forget that no one would know about the pregnancy if the girl had had an abortion.) She’s pro-life. She wants to drill. Todd’s a womanizer. She had an affair. She can’t take care of her children if she’s vice president. She’s too ambitious. She’s too inexperienced. For crying out loud, she’s just a heartbeat away from being leader of the free world and commander-in-chief of the armed forces! The pressure is too much for her. Just watch — she’s going to withdraw. And then there are heaps of moose jokes and small town jokes.

Keep it up, says the Angry White Man, and better yet, his Angry White Woman, as well as all the angry blacks, Latinos, Indians and just plain angry Americans. Please, I beg of you, just keep it up.

Sarah Palin’s family sounds like a normal American family, one that has had its challenges, successes, failures and joys. Is half of this crap true? Maybe, maybe not. Who cares? It just serves to make Sarah Palin more human to the average working American. All those city dwellers who are so disassociated from the world that they think meat begins as a shrink-wrapped package in the grocery store may never connect with Sarah Palin, who knows how to cut the throat of a downed moose to bleed out the carcass. Barack Obama, the guy who still can’t define what he did as a “community organizer,” and who, as a two-year junior Senator, looks woefully inexperienced for the job of commander in chief — is perfectly packaged for emotional urban sensibilities.

Any guy who has ever hunted whitetail deer has dreamed of hunting moose in Alaska. Anybody who has ever fished for bass or trout would jump at the chance to course the waters of Bristol Bay with Todd Palin in search of salmon. Any guy whose adrenaline goes up with the sound of racing engines will respect a guy who is a four-time world champion racer. The Palins are average Americans — working hard, making the world a better place, raising a good family, and going to church — just like the Angry White Man and his wife. The Palins are all that, with a little bit of hero status thrown in. The more they try to knock down Sarah and Todd Palin, the more the Palins’ stock goes up.

The Palins are just what the Angry White Man was looking for, and he and his wife are going to vote that way in November.



Gary Hubbell is a hunter, rancher and former hunting and fly-fishing guide. Gary works as a Colorado ranch real estate broker, www.aspenranchrealestate.com. His column appears periodically in the Aspen Times Weekly.

We're Sorry, World,...

Hell, if the Obamessiah can do it,....

Received this by e-mail from The PokerMistress:



This 'Letter of Apology' was written by Lieutenant General Chuck Pitman, US Marine Corps, Retired:

For good and ill, the Iraqi prisoner abuse mess will remain an issue. On the one hand, right thinking Americans will abhor the stupidity of the actions while on the other hand, political glee will take control and fashion this minor event into some modern day massacre.

I humbly offer my opinion here:
I am sorry that the last seven times we Americans took up arms and sacrificed the blood of our youth; it was in the defense of Muslims ( Bosnia , Kosovo, Gulf War 1, Kuwait , etc.)

I am sorry that no such call for an apology upon the extremists came after 9/11.

I am sorry that all of the murderers on 9/11 were Islamic Arabs.

I am sorry that most Arabs and Muslims have to live in squalor under savage dictatorships.

I am sorry that their leaders squander their wealth.

I am sorry that their governments breed hate for the US in their religious schools, mosques, and government-controlled media.

I am sorry that Yasser Arafat was kicked out of every Arab country and high-jacked the Palestinian 'cause.'

I am sorry that no other Arab country will take in or offer more than a token amount of financial help to those same Palestinians.

I am sorry that the U. S. A. has to step in and be the biggest financial supporter of poverty stricken Arabs while the insanely wealthy Arabs blame the USA for all their problems.

I am sorry that our own left wing, our media, and our own brainwashed liberal masses do not understand any of this (from the misleading vocal elements of our society like radical liberal professors, CNN and the NY TIMES).

I am sorry the United Nations scammed the poor people of Iraq out of the 'food for oil' money so they could get rich while the common folk suffered.

I am sorry that some Arab governments pay the families of homicide bombers upon their death.

I am sorry that those same bombers are brainwashed thinking they will receive 72 virgins in 'paradise.'

I am sorry that the homicide bombers think pregnant women, babies, children, the elderly and other noncombatant civilians are legitimate targets.

I am sorry that our troops die to free more Arabs from the gang rape rooms and the filling of mass graves of dissidents of their own making.

I am sorry that Muslim extremists have killed more Arabs than any other group.

I am sorry that foreign trained terrorists are trying to seize control of Iraq and return it to a terrorist state.

I am sorry we don't drop a few dozen Daisy cutters on Fallujah.

I am sorry every time terrorists hide they find a convenient 'Holy Site.'

I am sorry they didn't apologize for driving a jet into the World Trade Center that collapsed and severely damaged Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church - one of our Holy Sites.

I am sorry they didn't apologize for flight 93 and 175, the USS Cole, the embassy bombings, the murders and beheadings of Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl, etc....etc!

I am sorry Michael Moore is American; he could feed a medium sized village in Africa .

America will get past this latest absurdity. We will punish those responsible because that is what we do.
I am sorry the Barack Hussein Obama may be elected president of the United States when he doesn't have a clue on how to be a strong Commander-in-chief in a world filled with Muslim extremists who will do whatever it needs to do to destroy the lives of civilized people while killing innocent men, women and children in order to bring a change that is beneficial to all Islamic terrorists worldwide.

I am sorry that voters on the liberal left don't understand the frightening changes that are taking place
in the Muslim world and what these changes will do to this world in which we live.
I am sorry that the Democratic Party has been highjacked by Socialists and Communists right under the very noses of those who take pride in calling themselves democrats.

We hang out our dirty laundry for the entire world to see. We move on. That's one of the reasons we are hated so much. We don't hide this stuff like all those Arab countries that are now demanding an apology.

Deep down inside, when most Americans saw this reported in the news, we were like - so what? We lost hundreds and made fun of a few prisoners. Sure, it was wrong, sure, it dramatically hurts our cause, but until captured we were trying to kill these same prisoners. Now we're supposed to wring our hands because a few were humiliated?

Our compassion is tempered with the vivid memories of our own people killed, mutilated and burnt amongst a joyous crowd of celebrating Fallujahans.

If you want an apology from this American, you're going to have a long wait! You have a better chance of finding those seventy-two virgins.

Chuck Pitman
Lieutenant General, USMC

Pass this on to your friends if you agree.
If not, I am sorry I offended you by passing on the facts.


Cross-posted at WRITEMARSH!

A Free Speech Victory!

House Judiciary Committee kills controversial 'lobbying reform' amendment

A pro-family organization is praising members of the House Judiciary Committee who voted to kill a proposed amendment aimed at regulating grassroots organizations. The Meehan Amendment would have required groups like the American Family Association to be treated like lobbying groups and be subject to all kinds of regulations by the government.

Hear This Report


Buddy Smith is the assistant to the chairman of the American Family Association (AFA). He says the Meehan amendment would have made it difficult for groups to communicate with their supporters about bills moving in Congress. If passed, the amendment would have established federal regulatory authority over efforts aimed at motivating citizens to communicate with their representatives about congressional legislation.

Under this amendment, the government "would require all types of onerous reporting mechanisms, which would really muzzle our ability to get the word out in a timely fashion," Smith observes. But considering the composition of the Judiciary Committee, he says, it is amazing the amendment went down.

"It has some of the most liberal Democrats on the committee," the AFA spokesman contends. "And on the Republican side," he says, "I see some of what we would call RINOs over there, some 'Republicans in name only.' So it is really amazing that the outcry was so strong that this bill went down in committee."

The amendment was so bad, even organizations from the left opposed it, Smith asserts. "The purpose of this bill was to muzzle groups like AFA," he says, "and -- believe it or not -- the bill was just such an outrage that we find ourselves for the first time in a long time joining hands with the [American Civil Liberties Union] in opposition to this. It was just so outrageous, even the ACLU came out against it."

The American Family Association is praising members of the House Judiciary Committee who voted to kill the Meehan Amendment, a measure the pro-family organization says could have silenced grassroots groups like AFA by restricting their communications with their supporters.
Editor's Note: The American Family Association is the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates OneNewsNow.com.