Hillary the Movie: A Test Case for Free Speech

Dr. UnSpin~ I'll be back to look at this and apply my trade:

A documentary film called Hillary the Movie is now the subject of a Supreme Court free speech case testing the McCain Feingold Campaign Finance Reform law provisions against campaign ads. The ruling will affect free speech in America for decades to come.

Hillary the Movie, produced by David Bossie, is a critical documentary that was released during the 2008 Presidential campaign by a group called Citizens United, which is now a party to the Supreme Court case. Hillary the Movie was shown in eight theaters Citizens United ran into trouble when it tried to run TV ads publicizing the film and air the film on pay for view cable TV. The lower courts labeled Hillary the Movie a "90 minute attack ad" and therefore subject to McCain Feingold restrictions. "Federal courts said the ads would violate the McCain-Feingold law, the popular name for 2002 revisions to the nation's campaign finance laws. Judges called "Hillary: The Movie" a 90-minute attack ad, rulings that would require Citizens United to identify the financial backers for the ads if they were to appear on television."The court also said that if Bossie's group showed the movie on cable television, financial backers would have to be named and the group would have to pay the cost of airing the movie."Citizens United countered that Hillary the Movie is not an attack ad at all, but a critical documentary comparable to segments run on such shows as 60 Minutes and Frontline. Journalist groups and civil libertarians fear that if the lower court ruling is upheld by the Supreme Court, a chilling effect will occur on the free dissemination of ideas on the airways.The whole idea that the government can regulate or censor political speech is absurd on its face. The Constitution clearly states, "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..." One wonders what it is about "no law" that Congress and the courts do not understand. [ ARTCILE LINK ]

We The People

Think for yourself, let others enjoy the privilege too. ~Voltaire

Team Obama: Another One Bites The Dust!

Dr. UnSpin~Obama promised change. Little did we know that meant his "team" was going to run off with it. The video on Change Dot Gov shows how Team Obama is taking, We The People, into the 21st century by digitizing and "creating jobs". Apperantly those jobs benefit people differently, like Team Obama player, Vivek Kundra, Technology Czar.

oops...

Kundra takes leave of absence from federal CIO post, the move follows allegations of bribery in the Washington D.C. office he ran.

Until his appointment by President Barack Obama as CIO less than two weeks ago, Kundra was chief technology officer for the District of Columbia. But yesterday, Kundra's former ninth-floor office in a downtown government building was a crime scene. A police officer was stationed in the office lobby while investigators searched through records. [ link to article ]

tsk tsk, when will some of these team members learn, if your going to be crook, be good at it.
Oh yes, the classic rock video that usually follows my post. Due to the relocation of my office recently which resulted in a 3 month absence, I kinda lost my groove!