Dems Introducing bills to make sure Congressmembers get approval before posting any info to the web

[kpete]

Feinstein (D-CA) would have the (Senate) Rules Committee act as a censor board, forcing (congressional) members to get approval for the act of communicating on external websites. Further, it would appear that the Feinstein proposal would attempt to exercise editorial control over these sites, at least indirectly.

Over on the House side, Nancy Pelosi wants to:

... impose rules barring any member of Congress from posting opinions on any internet site without first obtaining prior approval from the Democratic leadership of Congress. No blogs, twitter, online forums -- nothing.

Also, the internet censorship rules being proposed for the Congress might extend to external web sites whose members communicate with Congress.(3)

more at:
http://pundita.blogspot.com/2008/07/democrat-politicians-move-to-control.html

[babylonsister]

1. What country am I in again? What happened to free speech? nt

[atreides1]

5. What happened to free speech?

It was taken off the table along with impeachment and the rule of law and one other concept that has been missing for the last 7 years, justice!

[Blackhatjack]

2. This is so idiotic It Cannot Possibly Be True ...

... next thing you know Congressmembers will have to ask permission to communicate with their constituents or ask for a campaign contribution.

This must be an April Fools Joke.

[atreides1]

4. Only it isn't April, is it?

[Robbien]

3. Quite a few Dem congresscritters have posted entries at dKos

Most entries have been very critical of Pelosi and Reid and their fellow Dem congresscritters.

[Marr]

6. Hey, I guess if you can stupidly rip up the 4th Ammendment, you can rip up the 1st.

Have any of these self-serving clowns ever read the Constitution?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. God forbid that the aristocracy would actually speak to the peasants.

They might get ideas about democracy from the leftwing troublemakers on the internet.

[TexasObserver]

8. Apparently Pelosi and Feinstein are unfamiliar with the first amendment.

What is wrong with these people?

They're two Dems I would love to see replaced.

[undeterred]

9. I'll bet they need her permission to do a radio interview too.

She thinks they're her children.

[Frustratedlady]

10. What? This can't be true. If it is, no wonder they can't uphold the Constitution.

This is insane.

[fla nocount]

11. You have to hand it to these ditzy bitches.

They know where the opposition is coming from. And what would be the cost of ignoring these restrictions, summary dismissal, no committee seats?

The soul of the nation shudders everytime Pelosi plants her wrinkeled prune ass in Sam Rayburn's chair.

[MadHound]

12. Well, now that the Dems have all but gutted the 4th Amendment,

They're now setting their sights on the First Amendment.

And we're supposed to be voting for these people why, exactly? Nader's contention of not a dime's worth of difference is slowly but surely becoming a reality.

[LVjinx]

37. In just the space of a couple weeks, the 2nd and 4th have both been crippled

Now they're looking at the 1st? There must be some mechanism in place to throw out the entire lot of them. Isn't there a "start over fresh" clause somewhere in the Constitution, or the Declaration? Not the Right to Revolt, but surely there must be something that can be triggered if our government ceases to function. Voting doesn't work, because everyone gets angry but then says "Sure, he's evil, but we can't let the other party win! We just have to plug our nose, like the last fifty seven times, knowing we'll be stabbed in the back, and vote for candidate X!"

This cycle has gotta stop.

[highplainsdem]

13. This is crazy! What is happening to our party?

[redqueen]

26. The same thing that's been happening for decades.

Corporatist infiltration. Neo-libs = pro-choice, pro-environment neo-cons.

[Individualist]

14. Feinstein: DLC member, Pelosi: DLC tool

When are voters going to wake up and realize the DLC cancer needs to be excised from the party?!

[LVjinx]

36. Wow, they both really jumped off the deep end didn't they?

Despicable.

[CreekDog]

15. That's bullshit

and spectacularly craptacular even considering the source, the nearly always disappointing and now super-disappointing Dianne Feinstein. :banghead: :eyes:

[Frustratedlady]

16. Doesn't Feinstein have some luggage...husband's business?

Payback time can be a bitch.

[senseandsensibility]

17. Well, I don't know if anyone else feels this way

but it deeply saddens and disturbs me that two female Democratic senators are behind this. Yes, I realize that if it were two male repugs the effect would be the same. But there is something sinister about this. It shows just how far we have fallen, and that we can't trust anyone.

[bemildred]

18. Well, if they vote for it, I reckon they deserve it. nt

[MadHound]

19. Yeah, there is that. However we the people don't deserve it,

And we'll be the ones to truly suffer from this. Say somebody like Kucinich(one of the few honest, intelligent, caring Congresspeople left) decides to blow the goods on some particularly heinous act Congress is doing. Under this ruling, he would be gagged and we the people wouldn't know a goddamn thing until we're smacked upside the head with it.

[bemildred]

20. Well, if we vote for them, I reckon we deserve it.

:-)

[awoke_in_2003]

31. Unfortunately, we have no choice.

For more elections than I care to remember, we are forced to chose between the lesser of two evils. The candidates of both parties are picked for us by the elite. Every once and a while, a Kucinich or Feingold slip through the cracks, but the rest of the bunch are crooked and paid for. Reminds me of the line in the Aviator, when Howard Hughes is asked if senators should be bribed. He responded "I don't want them bribed, Jack. I want it done legally. I want them bought."

[Overseas]

21. Shows us how much they fear their own complicity in Bush-Cheney war crimes being called out.

It has been so tough to understand why they don't impeach Bush-Cheney for their major crimes until someone raises the issue of their fear of being implicated by funding too many of those criminal enterprises. So a serious and binding investigation aimed at impeaching Bush-Cheney is perceived as too big of a threat to their own safety.

I'll be interested to see how this evolves.

[LWolf]

22. The key point here?

These are DEMOCRATS.

We can't even claim that they are complicit; they aren't supporting a republican bill, Democrats are introducing these bills.

:banghead:

I think it's time for the Democratic Party to consider renaming itself.

[Karenina]

23. Off to the GP with you

and OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!! :wtf:

[mmonk]

24. Information is the enemy of the dishonest.

[redqueen]

25. CA, get her out of there.

How long will CA keep electing that corporate shill?

[PVnRT]

27. This has to be a joke

Give me a reference number to look it up on Thomas. This is simply too idiotic to be true, even with our current Democratic Congressional leadership.

[redqueen]

30. Here's some more about it... I think...

http://www.theopenhouseproject.com/2008/04/03/crs-access-update-speech-or-debate-clause/

[HCE SuiGeneris]

28. Feinstein and Pelosi need their wings clipped, and banishment

from the feeding trough.

[Zodiak]

29. Feinstein is a blight on the Democratic party

So is her group of DLC corporate enablers.

We need to get rid of these Democrats as fast as possible because they seem hell-bent on removing ALL vestiges of the democracy from our government. The Democrats get control, and suddenly the DLC and their allies (Pelosi) jump forward and advance the Bush agenda for the Republicans.

I hope Congresscritters vote this down, and failing that, revolt against it.

[robinlynne]

32. JESUS!!!!!!!! This is who they are. NO more doubt about "they are afraid of

the far right". They ARE the far right.

[MattSh]

33. The Ministry of Truth, no doubt...

[happydreams]

34. K&R. Fuck it all. It is now obvious, if it wasn't before, that shit like this, especially

coming on the ass end of FISA and Pelosi jumping in bed with Rove that all of this bullshit about a difference between the parties is just that.
Then you have Clinton lying in public about going to a Bilderberger meeting. Flat out fucking lied even though she was filmed at the meeting.

Every time I see one of their smiling faces I am going to ask: "WHAT IN THE FLYING FUCK ARE YOU SMILING ABOUT"????
Why do you find it neccessary to smile all the goddamn time. You are only suppose to smile when things are OK or your a fucking squirrelly asshole that smiles when they are not.

[Jim Lane]

35. I think these proposals are being misinterpreted and are actually innocuous

As I read the linked articles, Feinstein's proposal concerns only the online publication of Congressional Research Service reports. On the House side, the similarly refers only to the posting of "official content". I'm guessing this refers to material generated by the U.S. Government itself.

It makes sense to me that Congress would at least consider whether there's an issue about some Congressional Research Service reports that should remain secret, or whether there should be some measures to ensure that government material isn't misused in a commercial context, or some other such concern.

The alarmist views all come from bloggers reacting to the proposals, not from the language of the proposals themselves. I don't think any of these proposals would stop a Senator or Representative from posting here or on Daily Kos and denouncing the Democratic leadership.

[kdpeters]

38. Do you have a better source for this? That blogger is a nutcase.

Maybe there is a kernel of truth that he is distorting into falsehood, or maybe he invented this bullshit out of whole cloth. After nosing around his blog to get a feel for what kind of stuff he writes, I feel fairly confident that this is bullshit for the simple fact that he said it.