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Political Censorship-- also known as:
Campaign
Finance
Reform
The Campaign
to Reform the First Amendment
-- i.e. Putting
the Right Price on Free Speech
The Unspoken Motto:
Don't censor me; Don't censor thee; Censor the
guy behind the tree
.
·
.
Cartoons/Animations
about Campaign Finance "Reform":.
·Dudley Vs Snidely Act II· ·Campaign
"Reform" train "throttled"··
Satire/Commentary about Campaign Finance "Reform":.
Generally:
|Debates Versus Commercials | Political-Satire Sites
| Fat-Cats |
About Campaign Finance
"Reform" |
Specifically:
Braking
for Skunks [20040310-01]
Howard the
Squirrel [20031109-01]
Don't Recall Lists [20030926-01]
Priests of Political Speech [20030910-01]
Will "Dudley" McConnell defeat... the Priests of Political Speech? [20030510-01]
The Campaign "Reform" train is throttled by braking applied by
McConnell [20030503]
Instructions we soon will receive on when, where and how we can speak [20021023-01]
A Traficant juror forlorn invents the best campaign "reform" [20021009-01]
Reformers would tweak our freedom to speak [20021003-01]
From Hill'ry to Russ... a slug, not a buss [20020720-01]
Since airheads like Baldwin have fame, they needn't spend funds to defame [20020308-01]
"Reform" is a train at full throttle... unless it is stopped by
McConnell. [20020215-01]
McCain/Feingold rules & Shays/Meehan tools view speech as a rite for
political fools. [20020125-01]
Soft-Headed Fools want Soft-Money Rules. [20000926-01]
Much Ado About Nothing, or Nothing About Much Ado?. [20000922-01]
Campaigning reform-- Don't make it the norm. [20000913-01]
We just want the facts without government hacks. [20000904-01]
Campaigning reforms... ignore all the norms. [20000802-01]
Clintonian Fund Raising: Some help from Riady to get off the potty. [20000707-01]
A new I-R-S Heaven: Reform five-two-sevens. [20000629-01]
Reform rope-a-dope-- Free-speech on the ropes [20000611-01]
Hey, Dubya--Read the First Amendment--Please! [20000420-01]
What if McCain/Feingold were already the law? [20000316-01]
Media Love Affair with Campaign Finance "Reform" [20000315-01]
Forbes withdraws from the race; disproves "need" for campaign finance
"reform." [20000210-01]
Chris Matthews & John McCain-- Visceral thinkers with brains. [20000209-01]
McCain: Heroism & Sanctimonious Zealotry-- [20000203-01]
Bradley/McCain debate in New Hampshire re Campaign Finance "Reform" [19991216-01]
··
Mar. 10, 2004 : Poli
Sat.Com's
Political Satire/
Commentary*
Daily Update #
01·· ©·2004·(Home)·
*Where the satire is
always commentary, but the
commentary isn't always
satire
(but you'll know the difference)·
(Permanent, direct link to this Daily Update:
http://polisat.com/du2004/du0403-01--10.htm#20040310-01.)
(Google
News index of recent Political Satire/Commentaries by PoliSat.Com: Click
this link.)
(Keep
abreast of PoliSat.Com's Daily Political Satire/Commentary via Google's
News Alert.)·
·
Campaign
Finance Reform is wrong vehicle for countering political ads by MoveOn.Org and
similar organizations.·
A controversy is arising about whether MoveOn.Org and similar organizations with
whose political philosophy I strenuously disagree are violating the Campaign
Finance "Reforms," which I find more objectionable than tolerating the
objectionable propaganda by those organizations. Although one cannot
out-stink a skunk, one can at least draw attention to the source of the odor and
apply the counter-scent of a deodorizer. That's why sensible drivers
almost risk life and limb to avoid running over a skunk because doing so makes
the odor even worse. The solution to the odor of the political agenda of
MoveOn.Org and like-thinking organizations and activists is not to engage in the
futile, and counterproductive, effort to "run-over" it with the
infamous McCain/Feingold Sedan; rather, the solution is to apply the
counter-scent of a deodorizer. What's the deodorizer? Superior
marketing of superior ideas and superior marketing of explanations of why their
ideas are so bad.
That many otherwise sensible people supported (and still support)
McCain/Feingold is ample testimony to the capacity of smart people to advocate
stupid ideas. (I realize people can be stupid but not ideas, but please
forgive the lapse.) Paradoxically, the wrong-headedness of
McCain/Feingold is not always self-evident to even those who risked life and
limb to protect freedom including the freedom of speech despite the fact that
the fundamental concept of McCain/Feingold is at war with freedom of speech.
Even genuine war heroes, such
as John Kerry and John McCain (to pick but two of many politically prominent
examples), who have the right instinct and sufficient courage to confront the
dangers and challenges of combat, sometimes exhibit a lack of comparable
qualifications for political leadership. Their well-intentioned but wrong-headed support for the McCain/Feingold Campaign
Finance "Reform" is a manifestation of the fact that genuine war
heroes, just like ordinary mortals, sometimes propose, support or advocate
terrible ideas. Bush's having signed, rather than vetoing, McCain/Feingold
is likewise a manifestation of the fact that leaders with strategically
brilliant vision on some issues (such as combating terror) can be equally
wrong-headed on other issues.
I yield to no one in distaste for most of, if not
almost all of, the political agendas promoted by MoveOn.Org and like-minded
organizations, groups and individuals, but I also yield to no one in stubbornly
retaining the opinion that McCain/Feingold is patently unconstitutional--
notwithstanding the recent but thankfully less-than-definitive pronouncement on
the subject by the U.S. Supreme Court ostensibly (and wrongly) bestowing
the mantle of "constitutionality" on it. If I were to have
sufficient funds to express my views in flagrant violation of McCain/Feingold, I
would surely do so in the hope that at some point the Supreme Court will, in a
properly framed case, come to grips with the reality that McCain/Feingold is
nothing more than an attempt to ration political speech in flagrant violation of
our First Amendment rights of Free Speech. What part of "the
government shall make no law" do they not understand in the context
of political speech, the lifeblood of a democratic republic?.
Braking
for Skunks·
Though
skunks on the roads in the land
spread odors too pungent to "stand,"
a driver who's wise
risks danger to drive
around such a skunk if he can.
And
likewise, when odors command
political roads in the land,
the tactic most dumb
is "aim for the skunk"
in Campaign-Reformer Sedans.
Those who would attempt to combat the agenda-promotion methodology of MoveOn.Org
by seeking its classification as "illegal" or as a
"violation" of McCain/Feingold would merely yield the free-speech
high-ground to the skunk. Instead, such opponents should counter such
propaganda by better speech funded by equally committed individuals regardless
of how little, or how much, they contribute and regardless of how poor or rich
they may be. I certainly strenuously disagree with the political agenda
George Soros is funding with his great wealth, but I think that to attempt to
characterize his doing so (or comparable activity some other equally wealthy
person to support and promote an opposing political agenda) as
"illegal" is simply unconstitutional.
In the land of the free and the home of the brave, a citizen ought not need to
consult a lawyer to know whether expending his resources to support political
speech with which he agrees (or oppose speech with which he disagrees) would be "legal" or a "violation" of
limits on free speech enacted by the Federal Government in violation of the
First Amendment. James Madison would roll-over in his grave at the thought
of it being necessary in modern America for citizens to seek permission of
lawyers to engage in political speech.
I hope opponents of the political agendas being promoted
by Soros, MoveOn, etc. will take the higher free-speech ground by
combating bad ideas with better ideas. I just hope there are opponents of
Soros' political agendas with sufficient funds and guts to outspend him between
now and November, 2004.
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...
..
Nov. 9, 2003: PoliSat
.Com's Political Satire/
Commentary Daily Update #
01·· ©·2003 · (posted
Nov. 11) ·
"Reform"
is imperiled by Howard the Squirrel. .. ·
Though candidate, Dean, I disdain,
on one thing I'm forced to refrain
from writing to mock
the arrogant "Doc"--
His "no-public-funding" campaign.
Such action by Howard reverses
his statement that money from purses
of taxpayers must
be fillings and crusts
for sating the populists' urges.
Hypocrisy always entwines
the ideologically blind,
but sometimes with luck
the truth like a nut
they find like a squirrel that's blind.
···
Inspired by Howard Dean's decision (on Saturday, November 8) to forgo acceptance
of public funding for his campaign to avoid spending caps. Even though he
reversed his position for the wrong reason (i.e., by claiming that Bush's
refusal to accept public funding forced him into such reversal rather than
admitting his pro-public-funding position was wrong), his having embraced the
right position (i.e., eschewing public funding for political campaigns)
will take a lot of the moral righteousness out of the movement for campaign
finance "reform," which I find patently unconstitutional. For
more of my rants against campaign finance "reform," go
here. --Jim Wrenn, Editor@PoliSat.Com.·
Direct link for
this Update: · http://polisat.com/du2003/du031130.htm#20031109-01
· ©2003
.
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a PoliSat.Com Affiliate | Tell
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Polisat.Com |
| Index
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Archives of Daily Updates | View
most recent animation | Index
to Animations |
..
··
Sept. 26,
2003: PoliSat.Com's
Political Satire/
Commentary Daily Update #
01·· ©·2003 ··
We need the Don't-Call-List for residents
not "Don't-Recall-Lists" for incumbents.
In court, the Don't-Call-List was stunted,
which action by Congress was blunted,
but hopefully soon
the High Court will doom
the "Don't Re-Call List" for incumbents.
If "Don't Re-Call List" you perceive
as reference to plans to relieve
the Left Coast of Gray,
then more I must say
to better explain what I mean.
You ask, "What's the 'Don't Re-Call List'?"
Read-on ad I'll tell you its gist:
By law it's adorned
as Campaign "Reform"
but serves as a Censorship List.
The Priests of Political Speech
September the Tenth did beseech
the Justices, Nine,
to rule that it's fine
to ration political speech.
If Five of the Nine would agree
with Priests of Political speech,
then wallets on gurneys
we'll need for attorneys
on what, when and where we can speak. .
····
For more satire/commentary on Political Censorship in the guise of Campaign
Finance "Reform," go to http://polisat.com/rhymes/r_campfinref.htm
--Jim Wrenn, Editor@PoliSat.Com.·
Direct link for
this Update: · http://polisat.com/du2003/du030930.htm#20030926-01
· ©2003
.
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a PoliSat.Com Affiliate | Tell
a friend about us | Search
Polisat.Com |
..
··
Sept. 10, 2003:
PoliSat.Com's
Political Satire/
Commentary Daily Update #
01·· ©·2003 ··
Priests of Political
Speech...·
The Priests of Political Speech
on Monday in court did beseech
the Justices, Nine,
to rule that it's fine
to ration political speech.
If Five of the Nine would agree
with Priests of Political speech,
then wallets on gurneys
we'll need for attorneys
on what, when and where we can speak.
····
In listening to major portions of the oral argument before the Supreme Court
Monday (on C-SPAN) in the case challenging the constitutionality of
McCain/Feingold aka campaign finance "reform," it was depressing that
the tone of some of the Justices' questions implied tacit support for the
unsound notion that the government should be empowered to ration political
speech. However, since the tone and manner of questioning from a Justice
during oral argument often conveys misleading impressions about his/her legal
view, I still cling to the hope that at least five of the nine will rule most,
if not all, of McCain/Feingold unconstitutional. --Jim Wrenn, Editor@PoliSat.Com.
·
Direct link for
this Update: · http://polisat.com/du2003/du030930.htm#20030910-01
· ©2003
.
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Polisat.Com |
..
··
May 10, 2003:
PoliSat.Com's
Political Satire/Commentary
Daily Update #01··©·2003····
Will "Dudley" McConnell defeat the Priests of
Political Speech?.
The Priests of Political Speech
demanded that Ashcroft beseech
the court to delay
its ruling to slay
McCain-Feingold limits on speech.
So Ashcroft filed suit for relief
contending that "chaos" would be
the consequence of
the order to scrub
McCain-Feingold limits on speech.
To Priests of Political Speech,
chaotic political speech
is dangerous powder,
however, our Founders
defined it as Freedom of Speech.
Though "Dudley" McConnell did act
in time to pull "Nell" off the track,*
will Snidely McCain
and Feingold again
tie "Nellie" back onto the track?.
To view the animation, click any of the following links:
[Largest--size shown above (slowest
loading] [Medium] [Smallest
(fastest loading)]
··
Inspired by a May
10, 2003, Washington Times report that John Ashcroft is having the Justice
Department intervene in McConnell
v. FEC to ask the court to delay implementation of its decision invalidating
major components of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance "Reform" in
order to prevent "chaos" in political campaigns. I always
thought protecting chaotic political speech was a main purpose of the First
Amendment. *Re
pulling "Nell" off the track, go here.
--Jim Wrenn, Editor@PoliSat.Com.·
Direct link for
this
Update: ·http://polisat.com/du2003/du030531.htm#20030510-01·©2003.
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Polisat.Com |
..
··
May 3, 2003:
PoliSat.Com's
Political Satire/Commentary
Daily Update #01··©·2003····
The Campaign "Reform" train is throttled
by braking applied by McConnell..·
The ruling that campaign "reform"
offends constitutional norms
though right has denied
my right to defy
such wrong-headed, stupid "reforms."
No thanks to McCain or to Feingold
for authoring laws to deny gold
to fund speech opposing
the candidates blowing
political air from behind-holes.
Our thanks go instead to McConnell
for putting the brakes on the throttle
for drive-through campaigns
with choices restrained
like menus from Ronald McDonald...
··
Inspired by satisfaction at yesterday's court decision declaring most of
McCain-Feingold unconstitutional. Here are links to a May 3, 2003, Washington
Times article about the May 2, 2003 court decision: On-line
verrsion; Printer-friendly
version. Here are links to the court decision in McConnell v FEC:
Opinion
of the court; Final
order of the court. For my historical perspective on Campaign Finance
"Reform," go here. --Jim Wrenn, Editor@PoliSat.Com.·
Direct link for
this
Update: ·http://polisat.com/du2003/du030531.htm#20030503-01·©2003.
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..
..
Oct. 23, 2002 PoliSat.Com's
Political-Satire/Commentary
Daily Update #20021023-01.©.2002.
Instructions we
soon will receive on when, where and how we can speak.·
How "wonderful" Campaign "Reform"
can tell us the "speech" within "norms"
so we can receive
permission to speak
in ways to please Priests of Reform.·
.
Inspired by an October
23, 2002, article by Carl Sullivan at EditorAndPublisher.Com
indicating the Federal Election Commission has graciously ruled that the
Political Censorship Law (otherwise known as McCain-Feingold aka "Campaign
Finance 'Reform'") doesn't apply to "Web site" advertisements. To
paraphrase an old adage that Democratic voters in Chicago always voted
"early and often," it is my intention to violate the unconstitutional
Campaign Finance "Reform" limitations on free speech as "early
and often" as possible once it become effective after November 6, 2002.
Priests of Political Speech have no place in a country in which the Constitution
guarantees free speech. --Jim Wrenn, Editor@PoliSat.Com..
Direct link for
this Update: http://polisat.com/du2002/du021031.htm#20021023-01··©.2002...
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..
..
Oct. 9, 2002 PoliSat.Com's
Political-Satire/Commentary
Daily Update #20021009-01.©.2002.
A Traficant juror
forlorn... invents the best Campaign Reform.·
A Traficant juror's forlorn
'cause reas'nable doubt has been formed
since voting to send
ole James to the pen,
so campaigning work he'll perform.
One hopes it begins a new norm--
a new type of Campaign Reform:
That all politicians
may run on condition
they're jailed while campaigns are performed. ·
..
Inspired by an Oct.
9, 2002, Yahoo/AP news report that Leo Glaser, one of the jurors who voted
to convict James Traficant, now says he has reasonable doubts and is offering to
help in Traficant's from-the-jailhouse campaign for reelection. --Jim Wrenn, Editor@PoliSat.Com..
Direct link for
this Update: http://polisat.com/du2002/du021031.htm#20021009-01··©.2002...
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|
..
..
Oct. 3, 2002 PoliSat.Com's
Political-Satire/Commentary
Daily Update #20021003-01.©.2002.
Reformers
would tweak our freedom to speak..·
The Fed'ral Election Commission
has kindly extended permission
to Leno and Dave
for mocking the knaves--
You know who I mean: Politicians.
But those who believe a Commission
can grant or deny us permission
to speak with inflection
before an election
ignore First Amendment permission.
And those who would use a Commission
to try to deny me permission
to speak with inflection
before an election
will learn I don't need their permission.·
..
Inspired by the insufferable arrogance of supporters of the anti-free-speech
Campaign Finance "Reform" and by the equally insufferable arrogance of
the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in recently
announcing an exemption permitting comedians, such as Jay Leno and Dave
Letterman, to mock candidates during the 60-day period before federal elections.
Even worse, the FEC qualified such exemption by stating it would "[not] be
automatic" and that such comments "would be considered [on a] case by
case [basis]." It's my intention to violate such patently
unconstitutional laws and regulations as early and as often as possible.
--Jim Wrenn, Editor@PoliSat.Com..
Direct link for
this Update: http://polisat.com/du2002/du021031.htm#20021003-01...©.2002...
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..
.
..
July 20, 2002
PoliSat.Com's
Political-Satire/Commentary
Daily Update #20020720-01.©.2002.
From Hill'ry to
Russ... a slug, not a buss..
To Hill'ry, the plea came from Russ
to stay on the C-F-R Bus.
Ignoring his babble,
she told him she'd travel
on PAC-jets instead of his bus.
..
Inspired by a July 19, 2002, NY Daily News report that Hillary sternly rebuked
Russ Feingold for demanding that she comply with his interpretation of
recently-enacted Campaign Finance "Reform" legislation. Holding
my nose at being somewhat on the same side as Senator Clinton, I look forward to
opportunities (before, during and after elections) to violate the patently
unconstitutional Campaign Finance "Reform" legislation by expressing
my opinions in contravention of its attempts to ration free speech. It's
indefensible that in "the land of the free and the home of the brave"
Congress has enacted legislation in the guise of "Reform" that in
effect makes campaign-law lawyers the Priests of Political Speech with
government bureaucrats as the Cardinals of Campaigns and Government as God
of the Church of Speech. For more of my rants against such
unconstitutional laws, go here. --Jim Wrenn,
Editor@PoliSat.Com.
Direct link for
this Update: http://polisat.com/du2002/du020731.htm#20020720-01.©.2002...
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...
.
March
8, 2002--PoliSat.Com's
Political Satire Daily
Update 20020308-01
© 2002 Jim
Wrenn, editor@polisat.com.
Since
airheads like Baldwin have fame, they needn't spend funds to defame..
Says Baldwin, 2000's election
was just a judicial selection
of Dubya not Gore
which Baldwin deplores
as "like 9-1-1" for the nation.
Since airheads like Baldwin have fame,
they needn't spend funds to defame
political foes,
but few of us know
that's why they like Feingold/McCain.
.
Direct link for
this 03-08-02 Political-Satire Daily Update: http://polisat.com/du2002/du020331.htm#20020308-01.©.2002.
Inspired by a March 8, 2002 report1
of comments by Alec Baldwin in Florida equating the outcome of Election 2000
with the 911 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon.
The fact that fame enables celebrities to spew political propaganda without
having to spend money to do so makes it painfully obvious to all but the
criminally ignorant why the entertainment industry and the dominant broadcast
and print media are so enthralled with Campaign Finance "Reform".
For more about Campaign Finance "Reform," go to http://polisat.com/campfinref.htm.
1
.http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/local/2815697.htm.
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.
February
15, 2002--PoliSat.Com's
Political Satire Daily
Update 20020215-01
© 2002 Jim
Wrenn, editor@polisat.com.
"Reform"
is a train at full throttle unless it is stopped by McConnell..
The media's counting their chips
and Hollywood's licking its lips
'cause campaign "reform"
makes their views the norm--
and spares us from viewpoints of hicks.
Reform's like a train at full throttle.
Ahead on the track tied-and-hobbled,
Miss Speech in distress
is done-for unless
this train can be stopped by McConnell.
.
Direct link for this Feb. 15, 2002, Political-Satire Daily Update: http://polisat.com/du2002/du020228.htm#20020215-01.©.2002.
Inspired by the fanatical fervor now infecting many politicians who, until
recently, had the courage to call campaign finance "reform" what it
really is: Censorship..
.
McCain/Feingold
rules & Shays/Meehan tools...
view speech as a rite for political fools..
[01-25-02: 20020125-01]
The Enron implosion is breathing new life
in moribund spores of political blights:
McCain/Feingold rules
and Shays/Meehan tools
want gov'ment to ration free-speech as a
rite.
.
Inspired by news reports that the implosion of Enron has re-ignited, re-fueled
and re-energized the clamor for campaign finance "reform." Direct
URL for this January
25, 2002, PoliSat.Com
Political-Satire Daily Update by Jim Wrenn,
Political-Satire Editor@PoliSat.Com:
http://polisat.com/du2002/du020131.htm#20020125-01.©.2002
Want to become a PoliSat.Com affiliate? Click
here for information and instructions.
.
Soft-headed fools... want
soft-money rules. [09-26-00:
20000926-01]
Now Ricky and Hill'ry agree
to not have a soft-spending spree
"It's great" says McCain
and Feingold, "The same,"
and ask all the PAC's to accede.
How dumb in the land of the free
to only have candidates speak
as if those in PAC's
should not speak the facts
or go on their own spending spree.
[Jim
Wrenn, Editor, PoliSat.Com
© 2000. Direct URL for this item: http://polisat.com/rhymes/r_campfinref.htm#20000926-01]
Much ado about nothing... or
nothing about much ado? [09-22-00:
20000922-01]
The White-House and Camp-David
"visitors"
most surely would still be contributors
regardless of whether
political tethers
allowed 'em to stay there as visitors.
It's silly to simply pretend
they gave money just to get in,
and campaign reform
to alter such norm
would make folks afraid to be friends.
To me it just wouldn't be right
to limit a First-Fam'ly's right
to simply invite
whomever they like--
non-donors and donors alike.
If I were lucky enough to be
President, I'd want to give everyone I know a chance to stay at the White House.
Assuming that such friends would have have contributed to my campaigns, I would
think it unfair for critics to then view such visits as payoffs. I also
recognize that whoever happens to be president might (for the wrong reason)
invite people who contributed despite their not having previously been friends,
but it would require the mind of a Puritan for a critic to attempt to fairly
draw such distinctions. It's just another case in which the desired cure
would be worse than the disease just as would be nearly every proposal for
campaign "reform." Jim
Wrenn, Editor, PoliSat.Com
© 2000. Direct URL for this item: http://polisat.com/rhymes/r_campfinref.htm#20000922-01.
.
Campaign "reform"
-- Don't make it the norm. [09-13-00:
20000913-01]
I tire of folks tooting the horn
for campaigning-finance "reform"
An overnight bonus
to one who's a donor
does not show a need for "reform."
If someone who's made a donation
can't visit the boss of the nation,
such ruling would preach:
"Give up your free speech"
to stay with the boss of the nation.
Although I will surely agree,
abuses abound to be seen,
but fixing such woes
would surely impose
a cure that is worse than disease.
Inspired by my anger at the continual
proposals for unconstitutional campaign-finance "reform" to "ban
soft money" and my anger at the gamesmanship exhibited by both Rick Lazio
and Hillary Clinton about their respective positions on the "evil" of
"soft money." Jim
Wrenn, Editor, PoliSat.Com
© 2000. Direct URL for this item: http://polisat.com/rhymes/r_campfinref.htm#20000913-01.
.
We just want the facts
without government hacks. [09-04-00:
20000904-01]
So few in the media try
to focus on issues, and why?
They must entertain
'cause viewers disdain
reports on the who-what-where-why.
Despite this quite obvious norm
they clamor for campaign "reform"
to limit the news
of activists' views
with rules to which they must conform.
Since most voters' study of facts
is quite indisputably lax,
political spots
on programs they watch
are needed to tell 'em the facts.
Empowering government hacks
would not keep our freedom intact,
and we would be fools
to let 'em make rules
on who, when and how to state facts.
Inspired by the media's continuing
drumbeat for campaign-finance "reform." Jim
Wrenn, Editor, PoliSat.Com
© 2000. Direct URL for this item: http://polisat.com/rhymes/r_campfinref.htm#20000904-01.
.
Campaigning
"Reforms" ignore all the norms. [08-02-00:
20000802-01]
The Media kick-up a storm
for Campaigning Finance "Reform,"
and say campaigns spend
so much from their friends,
it makes all the people forlorn.
And what's the "reform" that is wanted
for people no-more to be daunted?
A campaign-reform-tax
to fund public broadcasts
so people can be self-informed.
To test a proposal for feeding,
the proof of the pudding's in eating.
Since ratings are low
on campaign-news shows,
it's elsewhere the people are feeding.
Since most folks will not watch conventions,
and candidates need their attention,
they must pay for spots
on programs folks watch
or else they won't get their attention.
08-02-00 --Inspired by these facts:
(1) The broadcast "news" media are not providing any extensive
coverage of the Republican Convention (and surely will likewise not provide any
extensive coverage of the upcoming Democratic Convention), which virtually any
interested citizen could watch "for free," and the reason the
broadcast "news" media are not providing any extensive coverage is
that they know that their rating would plummet because only the small percentage
of people who are political junkies would watch; (2) Although some of the cable
"news" media are providing extensive coverage, comments by anchors and
pundits on virtually every such cable-news program have made it clear that the
ratings for such coverage are at rock-bottom. Jim
Wrenn, Editor, PoliSat.Com
© 2000. Direct URL for this item: http://polisat.com/rhymes/r_campfinref.htm#20000802-01.
.
Clintonian Fund Raising:
Some help from Riady to get off the potty. [07-07-00:
20000707-01]
While on the political potty,
I had to get help from Riady
because I was stuck
in campaigning muck,
and found my supplies were quite spotty.
I'd run out of paper, and so,
I needed some more from Lippo
He sent me John Huang--
it then wasn't long
before I was back on the go.
Reprising this 11-14-99
Update was inspired by a Fox News report on 07-06-00 about an apparent plan
of the Justice Department (i.e., not Independent Counsel) to indict Riady.
Jim Wrenn, Editor, PoliSat.Com
© 2000. Direct URL for this item: http://polisat.com/rhymes/r_campfinref.htm#20000707-01.
.
A new I-R-S Heaven:
Reform five-two-sevens. [06-29-00:
20000629-01]
"Reform" for the five-twenty-sevens
is really just aid-and-abettin'
the making of nests
to give I-R-S
more space in its Big-Brother Heaven.
Inspired by 06-29-00 congressional
passage of legislation to increase IRS authority over 527 organizations engaging
in political speech. Jim
Wrenn, Editor, PoliSat.Com
© 2000. Direct URL for this item: http://polisat.com/rhymes/r_campfinref.htm#20000629-01.
.
Reform rope-a-dope--
free-speech on the ropes. [06-11-00:
20000611-01]
Proponents of campaign "reform"
must think we were yesterday born.
We hear them insist
the laws that exist
have loopholes that must be reformed.
Whenever they pass more reform,
more business for lawyers is born.
Already complex,
more laws just beget
more lawyers in charge of our horns !
Since campaign "reform" was divined,
involvement by voters declined !
The legalese text
became too complex
on when, where and how to opine !
So what do "reformers" now preach?
That more laws will give us more speech
!
But if that is done,
the lawyers become
the priests of political speech !
So what's their proposal this time
to stop the corruption and crime?
Delimit debate
and then regulate
our property, money and time.
[Jim
Wrenn, Editor, PoliSat.Com
© 2000. Direct URL for this item: http://polisat.com/rhymes/r_campfinref.htm#20000611-01]
Hey! Dubya-- Read the
First Amendment-- Please ! [04-20-00:
20000420-01]
Political speech can't be free
if speakers are regulatees,
'cause candidates want
some rules that will daunt
all unruly critics they see.
I understand why you don't like
that anti-Bush parody
site.
As bad as it is,
a "worser" thing is
control via government might.
In politics, still it is alright
to change and say "I
see the light,"
so open your eyes
and see how unwise
is gov'ment control of the light.
So-what if the site's in bad taste
in mocking your Y2K race?
Our freedom of speech
is what we must preach
'cause that is America's Ace.
James Madison never would be
for licensing critics, you see?
So please take a stand
for freedom, my man--
abolish that (bleep) F-E-C.
Inspired by Dallas
Morning News report on 04-19-00 about the FEC's right-result, wrong-reason
rejection of Bush's request for the FEC to require an anti-Bush
parody web-site to "register" with the FEC; See also my prior
opinion on the same subject. Jim
Wrenn, Editor, PoliSat.Com
© 2000. Direct URL for this item: http://polisat.com/rhymes/r_campfinref.htm#20000420-01.
.
What if McCain/Feingold were
already the law? [03-16-00:
20000316-01]
Most people for campaign "reform"
don't know how it would change the norm
They don't understand
its terms or its plans--
on that they are quite uninformed.
They think it will only impose
restrictions on those they oppose.
They don't understand
that all-through the land
such laws won't just silence their foes.
But we who have read them, you see,
have learned what effects there would be.
They won't just impose
restrictions on foes--
they'll also restrict you and me !
But those who don't try to keep up
are likely to mutter "So what?"
They won't be concerned
'til too-late they learn
such laws can force them to shut-up !
When candidates' words are misleading
to those who don't spend much time reading,
there won't be a PAC
to tell the real facts
to those who decide without thinking.
[Jim
Wrenn, Editor, PoliSat.Com
© 2000. Direct URL for this item: http://polisat.com/rhymes/r_campfinref.htm#20000316-01]
.
Media love affair with
campaign finance "reform". [03-15-01:
20000315-01]
Just why do the media adore
proposals for campaign reform?
It ain't rocket science--
they just want compliance
with their view of what is the norm
[Jim
Wrenn, Editor, PoliSat.Com
© 2000. Direct URL for this item: http://polisat.com/rhymes/r_campfinref.htm#20000315-01]
Forbes withdraws from the race;
disproves "need" for campaign finance "reform." [20000210-01]
The rich man, Steve Forbes, has withdrawn,
so now do you think it might dawn
on any who favor
a stronger enslaver
they call campaign finance "reform" ...
that money just isn't enough
'cause rich guys get knocked on their duff?
Of course, they won't learn...
they just can't discern
that money alone ain't enough.
Chris Matthews & John McCain-- Visceral thinkers
with brains [20000209-01]
Chris Matthews is like John McCain--
a visceral thinker with brains.
They both want to be ...
so noble, you see,
they sometimes can be quite a pain
But one thing we've known all along:
they sometimes admit they've been wrong
And that gives us hope
that tugs on their ropes
can teach them to sing a new song.
We know that they both value freedom
and dislike political fiefdoms .
That's why it's bizarre
that both of them are ...
for limiting campaigning freedom.
They should know campaigners ain't "free"
as government regulatees
They prob'ly won't learn
until they discern expression
has ceased to be free.
McCain: Heroism & Sanctimonious Zealotry--
Even heroes can become self-righteously blind [20000203-01]
McCain is a hero no doubt,
which gives him such great moral clout
He thinks that the evil
is money, not people,
but free speech is what it's about.
To please a big donor named Keating,
he went to a bureaucrat meeting.
In most pious tones,
he told gov'ment drones:
"Stop giving my friend such a beating."
His feelings of guilt are so great,
on this he no longer thinks straight.
Like drinkers who quit
and then think it's fit
that everyone suffer their fate.
Like most who just want to do good,
he wants to do more than he should.
And so he proposes that
government noses
be into our business for good.
His "money is property" rant
may sound like a quite noble chant
But speech requires money
like bees require honey--
how else can we pay for our rants?
Bradley/McCain debate in New Hampshire re Campaign
Finance "Reform" [19991216-01]
We talk campaign-finance reform
as if you were yesterday born.
We'll stop all the PACS
and let bureaucrats
say who can say what and to whom.
[Re: Bradley & McCain agreeing on
campaign finance "reform" in New Hampshire on 12-16-99.]
Campaign Finance "Reform" to
protect "ordinary" Americans from the "special interests" of
wealthy fat-cats:
(20000328-01).
If contributions by "wealthy fat-cats" constitute
"special interests" harming "ordinary" people, how come the
current tax laws force the top 5% of income earners to pay more than 50% of the
government's income-tax revenue? How come those "ordinary"
Americans in the bottom 50% income-level pay less than 5% of the total
income-tax revenue? The real
"special interests" are those "ordinary" Americans paying
less than 5% of the income taxes continuing to vote for politicians promising to
have the government give them more by taking more from the "wealthy
fat-cats" supposedly "controlling" the politicians. Such
patently Orwellian language could only be understood on the Animal Farm. © 2000
Editorial:
Political-Satire Sites-- Leave Them Alone!
To:
George
W. Bush regarding news reports that some
of your campaign officials want to try to force the political-satire site
http://gwbush.com to "register"
as a "political action committee."
To
contend that it should "register" as a "political action committee" is
even worse than the anti-free-speech proposals now masquerading as campaign-finance
"reform." This is the land of the free
and the home of the brave where no citizen
should need the government's permission to express political views or be
required to "register" with the government as the price of doing so or
be required to "report" to the government the amount of such citizen's
own money such citizen chooses to spend in order to express his or her
political views or be required to abide by a governmental decision on how
much of such citizen's money is "enough" to be spent expressing his/her
views.
In the land of Jefferson and
Madison, such actions by a citizen constitute
free speech regardless of whether they are outrageous, stupid, inane, partisan,
"non-partisan," or "bi-partisan." I disagree with that site's derogatory
opinion of George W. Bush as implied by it's satire, but, by George, I
disagree even more vehemently with any effort to require any such political-satire
site for or against any candidate, official or party to "register" as "political
action committee." We don't need legislation empowering the government
to ration free speech by limiting the amount of a citizen's own money he/she
may spend to express his/her political views-- Indeed,
the Constitution not only does not empower Congress to enact such limitations
or impose such requirements, the First Amendment expressly prohibits it.
(More)
Editorial:
Debates Versus Commercials
To:
Bill
Bradley, John McCain, Russ Feingold, Al Gore, Warren Beatty, all but
a tiny minority in the dominant media and all other politicians and candidates
who support governmental rationing of political speech in the guise of
campaign-finance "reform" rather
than repeal of existing campaign-finance limitations.
A favorite argument
among those advocating campaign-finance limits is the assertion that "people"
are sufficiently "interested" in watching political debates that candidates
need not expend more campaign resources on debates than on commercials. According to the Associated
Press & Washington Post on October 25, 1999, John McCain said (in
criticising George W. Bush for being willing to expend more resources on
campaign advertisements than on debates) said:
"It's curious that he would
somehow feel that people aren't interested enough to watch a debate, but
they'll want to watch a campaign commercial," McCain said. "I hope he'll
realize that people really are probably more interested in debates than
they are in paid political commercials."
Of course, such statement by
McCain is hardly unique-- to the contrary, it's a criticism that's virtually
always leveled at a front-runner, and if the situation were reversed, Bush
would probably be saying the same thing. However, notwithstanding
McCain's statement (and comparable statements by virtually all other candidates
at one time or another and by vitually all members of the political media),
the percentage of people sufficiently interested in, and sufficiently motivated
to listen on a regular basis to, political "debates" is not even remotely
large enough to eliminate the need for a campaign to expend vastly more
resources on commercials than on "debates."
(More).
·
