12-11 I just wrote a wonderful piece about the Fairness Doctrine and its misleading title and then just censored myself and accidently deleted it. Well, maybe it's all for the best.

What I wrote concerned something I heard on the Glenn Beck program this morning. Apparently, the mayor of Toledo, Ohio, is upset with WSPD radio for not allowing him access to defend himself on their station. This comes, of course, after he got upset with comments they made about him and he demeaned them, their sponsors, and their listeners. He made a statement Monday that we need the spirit of the Fairness Doctrine to prevail in this situation. He needs access to defend himself on WSPD, he said.

The Fairness Doctrine, as it existed in the 1970's, was anything but fair. It only addressed political speech and it only applied to talk radio stations, not TV or newspapers or magazines. What the Fairness Doctrine did was make radio stations present opposing points of view when someone called objecting to what they had heard. This had the effect, after being beseiged with calls, of making stations eliminate all discussion programs and made AM radio very boring. I remember in the 1970's hearing a couple country stations, sports stations, and religious stations on AM and thinking that AM radio wouldn't last long.

President Reagan did away with the Fairness Doctrine, and now AM flourishes with all kinds of open discussion programs, and people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck are able to enlighten people to things going on in our government that the mainstream media were able to cover up for decades.

Barack Obama has appointed a goon to chair the FCC (I am not aware of his name) who worked with the FCC in the 1970's and is very comfortable with the Fairness Doctrine. Most likely, he will try to reintroduce the Fairness Doctrine. If liberals try to silence this free speech (guaranteed by the First Amendment), it will be to their detriment.

I value freedom and free speech, and that is the primary reason I started this blog. I know I am primarily writing to myself right now (and my dog Sasha who wholeheartedly agrees with me), but I do this in fear of the time when blogs and Internet speech may be all that stands up against government corruption and violation of the Constitution.