Saturday, June 28, 2008

The "Fairness Doctrine"

Lately, we have been hearing about this concept called the "Fairness Doctrine".  What is it?  The term is very misleading if you don't know what it is.  Wouldn't it be good if everything in life was fair and all opinions were, as Fox News says about their programming, "Fair and Balanced"?  As I have told my children many times, life isn't always fair.  Sometimes we have to do things that we don't want or like to do.  Sometimes the information that we read or see on the news we have to take with a 'grain of salt'.  That is why we have a brain.  We have to think about what everything we see on a daily basis and see if it makes sense to us.  We don't need the government to step there big foot in the ring and decide what we should and should not hear or see or read.  That is where the 'Fairness Doctrine' comes in to play. 

The 'Fairness Doctrine' is just this, plain and simple:

a United States FCC regulation requiring broadcast licensees to present controversial issues of public importance in a manner deemed by the FCC to be honest, equitable, and balanced. [1] [2]

To me, this sounds too much like the government trying to restrict the freedom of speech (aka the First Amendment) on the airwaves.  The liberals and democrats in congress are all for it.  In a resent article on HumanEvents.com the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), was asked the question, "Do you personally support revival of the ‘Fairness Doctrine?" by John Gizzi and her response was "Yes."  The other event that occurred was when Pelosi denied a vote on the floor for the 'Broadcaster's Freedom Act' which would make the 'Fairness Doctrine' dead.

According the same article...

Experts say that the “Fairness Doctrine,” which was ended under the Reagan Administration, would put a major burden on small radio stations in providing equal time to Rush Limbaugh and other conservative broadcasters, who are a potent political force.  Rather than engage in the costly practice of providing that time, the experts conclude, many stations would simply not carry Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and other talk show hosts who are likely to generate demands for equal time. [3]

The issue I have with liberals, democrats and even some so-called conservatives is that they want the government to control more of the American people's civil liberties and freedoms.  As we turn over more control of our lives to a centralized government, we lose more and more control of the country until we no longer have the power to change the course of this country.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_Doctrine
[2] http://www.slate.com/id/2108443/
[3] http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27185

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Why socialism doesn't work...

As I have become more involved in politics and the discussion of the current issues facing our nation today, I have become increasingly concerned. There are many people out there that are going more and more in the direction of socialism. Throughout history, different types of governments have come and gone. Socialism seems to be the one that continues to resurface. Why might that be? What is socialism? Why does it appeal to so many people? Let's start by defining what socialism is, shall we?

Socialism - An economic system in which the production and distribution of goods are controlled substantially by the government rather than by private enterprise, and in which cooperation rather than competition guides economic activity. [1]

So, according to that, socialism supposedly helps us work together in 'cooperation' with each for the betterment of society as a whole. Sounds good right? It's a great idea to work together for the common good. I have heard it said that socialism would eliminate classes in society because there would be no poor. That sounds great, right? Of course it does, but that is where is stops sounding good, especially for the people under socialist rule.

The first problem I see is that government controls everything. Is that ever a good idea? Have we ever heard the saying: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely"? When people have power, in most circumstances, they hunger and thirst after more power. Second, what happened to free enterprise or any freedoms for that matter? I personally believe that in order for a society to progress, people need to be free to develop their own ideas, learn from their mistakes (without having the government 'fix' everything for everybody), and free to take care of themselves. When you take away personal responsibility and let the government control everything, you 1) lose more & more of your civil liberties and freedom over time and 2) people won't know how to take care of themselves when the government isn't there to support them.

In the end, those who profess socialism as the way to go, don't have a problem with the government taking what is theirs and doing whatever they want with it.

In a future post, I will give an example of how socialism doesn't work... especially when it comes to healthcare.

[1] socialism. (n.d.). The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Retrieved June 26, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/socialism

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Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Why I cannot vote for Barack Obama...

Several people might find this surprising but there is no way I can vote for Barack Obama. I have a few friends that think I'm nuts but that's okay. They say he'll bring the parties together and he could do what it takes to get things done in Washington. He is also the one that is going to 'change' Washington and save this country. I'm sorry but to all people who believe that, you haven't done the research and seen what this guy is all about.

Here is a list of all the reasons that I cannot vote for Barack Obama:
  • He has been rated as the most liberal senator in the United States Senate
  • He has a plan to increase government spending by $340 million
  • He is will to talk to leaders of countries that sponsor terrorism
  • He is only a one term senator
  • He cannot share his ideas without using a teleprompter or having a script to read from
  • He has a twenty year relationship with pastors of a church that preached hatred of America
  • He is not willing to drill for more oil domestically to help the country
  • He will increase the tax rate for most Americans by 50%
  • He is pro-choice and supports partial-birth abortions
  • He supports the homosexual agenda
  • He doesn't believe that America is a Christian nation
  • He has the policies of Jimmy Carter & FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt)
  • He is willing to sacrifice our national security through immediate withdrawl from Iraq
  • He believes in a larger, more controlling government
  • He believes in the "Fairness Doctrine", which takes away our First Amendment rights
  • He cares more for saving us from the hoax of global warming then saving this country
  • He is against gun rights (Second Amendment) for American citizens
  • He will not protect us from our enemy in the war on terror
  • He believes judges have the right to make laws which are against the will of the American people
  • He believes terrorists have the right to appeal their case in US civilian courts
  • He will wait for the terrorists to attack us here before doing anything to protect this country
  • He believes it is the governments job to fix every mistake that every American makes
  • He believes in a "cradle to the grave" society
All in all, Barack Obama is not someone that I trust as President of the most powerful nation on the earth. If he were to become President, this nation would fall into such disarray that it would be very difficult to dig ourselves out.

For some more information on Obama, check out this link (go to page two) and then if you are still skeptical, just Google it. Stumble Upon Toolbar

Saturday, June 21, 2008

The Price of Oil

The Constitution starts out with the words "We the People..." though it seems that the people of this great nation have been given the cold shoulder when it comes to our countries energy policies. How can "we the people" make a difference in affecting the price of oil? I think the most important thing we can do is let the President and Congress know loud and clear how we feel and what we would like to see happen to fix this problem. It was politicians that caused this problem in the first place. It has been a VERY long time since this country has done any R&D for finding more oil, drilled for anymore oil, or even built any new oil refineries. All because of laws and regulations that basically made it illegal to do any of those things. Where has these policies of the past gotten us? Over $4 a gallon for gas, increased prices on consumables goods and an estimated 50% increase in natural gas prices by this fall.

It is interesting to me that this country consumes twenty million barrels of oil a day but only produces 8 million barrels of oil a day. For me, it makes sense to at least produce as much as you consume.

Let's do something about it! Newt Gingrinch has put together an organization called American Solutions that has a petition called "Drill Here! Drill Now! Pay Less! I recommend adding your name to the list of almost 1.1 million people that want Congress to act now so that we can make a difference. Click here to sign the petition.

At the American Family Association's website you can send an email to your local representative and senator asking them "to develop a program which allows the exploration of America's energy sources without materially affecting our environment" before we end up paying $10 a gallon for gasoline. If you wish to be included in the 600,000+ emails that have been sent, click here.

I truly believe that even though it might take 7-10 years to get any oil, the affect this could have on the the price of oil just by threatening we are going to start drilling & refining more oil could be significant. On June 14th, President Bush granted the oil industries legal protection to continue drilling in the arctic. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,367015,00.html) On that same day, Saudi Arabia said they were going to starting pumping 500,000 more barrels of oil per day. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,367017,00.html) After both of these things occurred, the price of gas dropped for three straight days. (http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/20/news/economy/gas/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories) I have a hard time seeing that as just a coincidence. How about you?

We are currently an oil and natural gas based society. As we continue to develop these resources that God has blessed this great nation with our economy and nation will continue to grow and prosper. This is also the time to be more earnest about developing alternative ways to create energy that are cleaner and safer. By doing both of these things, this nation will continue on the course of being the greatest nation on earth. Stumble Upon Toolbar