Register Here for Your First Amendment Protections
Instapundit reports that a talk-radio station is attempting to get bloggers media credentials, to protect us from campaign finance reform legislation:
While we still need to talk to some sharp lawyers and nail down the details, if these restrictions come to pass, KSEV and LST are committed to working out a legally sound way in which individual bloggers– of every ideological persuasion and partisan affiliation– can somehow register with us and be credentialed as a press representative of KSEV and LST.
Like Raoul Wallenberg handing out passports, we will start issuing press credentials to any blogger that asks for one.
It’s the word “register” that jumped out at me. I know that, theoretically, we’d be registering with the radio stations and not with the government — but in reality, this would be registering with the government. For freedom of expression.
To hell with that.
They’ll have to pry this keyboard from my cold dead hands before I am going to “register” with the government for permission to state my personal views without fear of prosecution.
[…] 8212; Patterico @ 12:45 pm I recently said that I am not going to look for loopholes […]
Patterico's Pontifications » Right On, Beldar (0c6a63) — 3/5/2005 @ 8:47 pm[…] n any petitions asking for government’s permission to do this, and I am not going to seek out media credentials to obtain special permission […]
Patterico's Pontifications » What To Do About the Tyranny of Government Regulation of Speech (0c6a63) — 3/16/2005 @ 2:50 pm“They’ll have to pry this [insert noun] from my cold dead hands before I am going to ‘register’ with the government…”
Yeah. Right. Like there isn’t already daunting precedent.
“You can’t have the First without the Second.”
Jim (af1b7b) — 3/4/2005 @ 8:11 amThe LST site is worth a visit. Come for the credentials, stay for the amusing poll.
Xrlq (5ffe06) — 3/4/2005 @ 9:22 amEasy For Him to Say
damnum absque injuria (38c04c) — 3/4/2005 @ 9:39 amPatterico, a criminal prosecutor, says thanks but no thanks to the Lone Star Times’s generous offer to hand out press credentials to any blogger who wants one if the FEC’s dire predictions come true. Patterico, whose wife is also a criminal prosecut…
Signs That Your Cause Is About To Die A Slow, Painful Death
When you can get bloggers from both sides stirred up en masse against your cause, might as well start ordering the cushioned coffins.
What can I say about this dumb move that hasn’t been said already? It’s a limitation of free speech. Pure and sim…
Ubique Patriam Reminisci (465031) — 3/4/2005 @ 9:43 amI agree, P, it’s chilling. Add this to the laws in the UK and Australia banning religious criticism (read, criticism is Islam).
Patricia (133563) — 3/4/2005 @ 10:14 amAbsolutely right! F— ’em!
Rod Stanton (da951e) — 3/4/2005 @ 11:41 am‘Blogger fear’ in Apple leak case
Ladainian (91b3b2) — 3/4/2005 @ 3:06 pmA California judge said in a preliminary ruling that bloggers should not have the same protection afforded to journalists under US law.
… Link From Drudge
There is a fairly simple solution to this. First Patterico needs a hard copy version of what has transpired weekly, delivered to say 50 people. This qualifies for the print media exemption to McCain-Feingold.
Next, anyone who has posted a comment on your website will be listed as a Contributing Editor, and these names will be registered with the FEC, thus protecting us also. Like this.
Corky Boyd
Corky Boyd (4215fa) — 3/4/2005 @ 3:07 pmContributing Editor
Sanibel FL
Corky,
We shouldn’t have to turn cartwheels to express our First Amendment rights.
Patterico (756436) — 3/4/2005 @ 9:40 pmMy right supercedes the Constitutional Right. Bring it on.
J. Peden (ffccb8) — 3/4/2005 @ 10:19 pmPatterico,
I agree.
Corky Boyd
Corky Boyd (4215fa) — 3/5/2005 @ 6:37 amWidespread registration by bloggers with KSEV and LST would be a disastrous concession to restriction of free speech. We need to keep pressure on our representatives until the law is corrected. Otherwise, in the future, bureaucrats and/or judges will certainly attempt to bring the internet fully under their control using the current law. McCain and Feingold must also be put on notice that they are going to pay a steep price politically for their power grab via the current law.
Levans (ddb559) — 3/5/2005 @ 7:54 amPermission to Speak Freely, Sir!
damnum absque injuria (38c04c) — 3/13/2005 @ 1:32 pmPatterico has staked out his position as a lone voice in the wilderness against the online petition urging the FedEC to carve out a blogger exception to the McCain-Feingold monstrosity. His view is largely summed up in this post, where he famously pro…