Don't Fire Unless Fired Upon...

...but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.

Senior FCC staff working for acting Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps held meetings last week with policy and legislative advisers to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman to discuss ways the committee can create openings for the FCC to put in place a form of the "Fairness Doctrine" without actually calling it such.

Waxman is also interested, say sources, in looking at how the Internet is being used for content and free speech purposes. "It's all about diversity in media," says a House Energy staffer, familiar with the meetings. "Does one radio station or one station group control four of the five most powerful outlets in one community? Do four stations in one region carry Rush Limbaugh, and nothing else during the same time slot? Does one heavily trafficked Internet site present one side of an issue and not link to sites that present alternative views? These are some of the questions the chairman is thinking about right now, and we are going to have an FCC that will finally have the people in place to answer them."

Here's a related piece from the ever-"progressive" Boston Globe:

Time for a muzzle

The online world of lies and rumor grows ever more vicious. Is it time to rethink free speech?

If anything needs "rethinking" it's the ruling that public floggings in the town square constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

Now, time will tell if the anonymous "sources" from that first story are being misquoted or misinterpreted there, but I'm not gonna just sit on my ass and wait to find out.

So, if you'll excuse me, I have some more...um..."shopping" to do.

(American Spectator link via Gateway Pundit)