On Oct 30, 11:33*pm, wrote:
http://TheRealBarackObama.wordpress.com

A Federal Communications Commission investigation of on-air military
analysts is providing a glimpse of what Democrats and an Obama
administration will do to critics once they capture Washington.

The FCC has sent letters to some of the nation's most prominent
military analysts -- some of them pro-President Bush and pro-war --
suggesting they may have broken the law when they appeared on
television stations to comment on and explain the war on terrorism.

The FCC investigation raises the question of whether a Democrat-
controlled Congress and White House next year will investigate -- and
perhaps criminalize -- all sorts of actions taken by the Bush
administration. Obama is leading in all presidential polls, while
Democrats are set to greatly increase their hold on the House and
Senate.

The FCC letters came at the behest of two House Democrats, who say the
analysts parroted on air the private briefings they received at the
Pentagon. This may have broken the law, the lawmakers said.

The probe is sending chills through the ranks of military
commentators, some of them decorated war heroes who share their
expertise with millions of lay viewers. They see it as one in a series
of moves the Left is making to intimidate and shut up its critics.

"We are seeing the dawn of a new era of the current Democratic
leadership trying to muzzle free speech and the First Amendment,"
retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney, a Fox News analyst, told
HUMAN EVENTS. "It may be the most invasive intrusion that we have seen
in our history. There will be more of these tactics to follow."

Said retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely, one of Fox's first defense
analysts, "It's an affront to freedom of speech. As retired officers,
we're private citizens and can say anything we want under the First
Amendment. The whole thing was to explain to the American people what
was going on in war and analyzing it."

Democrats have more in store to try to muzzle conservatives. They talk
of reactivating the so-called Fairness Doctrine in which federal
government bureaucrats monitor radio and TV programs and rule on their
fairness. Conservatives say the real goal is to kill right-leaning
talk radio.

Talk radio is the one medium conservatives can turn to for their point
of view amid a sea of liberal dogma from the New York Times,
Washington Post, Public Broadcasting, the TV networks and Hollywood.
If the government forces Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity to present
liberal points of view, ratings will slip and the shows might be taken
off the air.

"They're going to implement the Fairness Doctrine to basically do away
with Right-wing radio," Vallely said. "In their minds, balance means
Left wing. It's Socialists trying to infringe on our First Amendment
rights."

Begun in 1949 as an FCC policy and then a regulation, the agency
abolished the doctrine during the Ronald Reagan administration as an
infringement on free speech. Democrats passed a bill to reinstate the
policy as law, but Reagan vetoed it. There would be no Reagan to veto
the next bill Democrats are likely to enact should Obama win the
election.

In the analysts case, the FCC is looking at the practice of the
Pentagon providing exclusive briefings on the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan to retired military officers, who would then use the
information on the air.

In the Oct. 2 letters to 19 analysts and various TV networks, the FCC
cited a New York Times article which accused the analysts of receiving
the Pentagon information in exchange for positive commentary on the
air. The letters, signed by Hillary S. DeNigro, chief of the agency's
investigations and hearings division, said such an arrangement might
violate the Communications Act of 1934.

The FCC sent the letters after receiving a complaint from Rep. Rosa L.
DeLauro, (D-Conn.) and Rep. John Dingell, (D-Mich.). Dingell has a
history of using committee staff to browbeat and investigate
Republican administrations.

"In their complaint, Representatives DeLauro and Dingell express
concern that the analysts and [TV stations] may have failed to
disclose this exchange of consideration to the stations, as required
by section 507 of the Communications Act of 1934," said the FCC
letter. "They also suggest that the stations may have aired your
commentary without making appropriate sponsorship identification
announcements at the time such material was aired, as required" by the
act.

Some analysts also work for defense contractors who produce weapons
systems used in the war. There were suggestions in the Times article
that analysts pitched those systems during TV appearances.

McInerney, a hawk on the Iraq war, said the information the Pentagon
supplied him and other commentators was the same as provided to the
news media.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ended the private analysts
briefings. Besides the FCC probe, the Pentagon inspector general is
reviewing the program, which was started by Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld after the September 1, 2001 attacks.

The DeLauro-Dingell letter to the FCC says, in part, "Our chief
concern is that as a result of the analysts' participation in this DoD
program, which included the DoD's paying for their commercial airfare
on DoD-sponsored trips to Iraq, the analysts and the networks that
hired them could have run afoul of certain laws or regulations."

The FCC is giving the 19 analysts 30 days to respond to the charges.
[HUMAN EVENTS Editor Jed Babbin was a member of the group of military
analysts who met frequently with senior Pentagon officials and
participated in the program. He did not receive a letter from the
FCC.]

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=29263

http://TheRealBarackObama.wordpress.com

Can you yell fire in a crowed theater? after all it’s freedom of
speech, right. While I don't agree with the Fairness Doctrine, the
leaders of Right-wing radio spew lies and mislead their listeners
everyday with half-truths and twisted facts.

It's all a theater of the mind, a made for TV movie really, while Rush
& Sean get richer. Under Obama's plan they'll pay more in taxes so
naturally they’d user their power to discredit Obama. Even denouncing
the fairness doctrine is just anther part of the movie. To make you
feel sympathy for them. Saying why hasn’t the media investigated Bill
Ayers is more sympathy. Why hasn’t Sean & Rush investigated Ayers?
They’re the media too, what a joke..

You’re all being played like fools by the spin masters, they only want
ratings, money and ego gratification. These fools are drunks, college
dropouts and drug users… Hacks with a microphone. What's really scary
is people listen to their trash then vote. We’re doomed.