Friday, February 21, 2014

I Remember the Old KGB

In the old Soviet Union almost every third person was in some way a KGB informant. Not that they now collect pensions but then the collected data. There was the Key Lady on every floor of an Intourist Hotel, the desk clerk the taxi drivers, the airport check in agents, the restaurant staff, the book store managers, the fellow at the news stand. After a while you just assumed everyone was watching.

Then there were the interrogators. Why are you here, where are you going, who is with you. What is in your bag. In fact when you got a safe for your room it was pretty certain that whatever you put there was examined, and they often let you know they were there.

Thus you were always on guard, especially if you were an American. Added to that was the "visitors" to your hotel room at night, knocking on the door, and you knew very well who sent them and you looked around for the cameras and microphones. They put the NSA to shame, almost.

Now comes the FCC and the assault on News Media! What type of character thought this up? Just look and you can find out. As the FCC states:

“However, in the course of FCC review and public comment, concerns were raised that some of the questions may not have been appropriate. Chairman Wheeler agreed that survey questions in the study directed toward media outlet managers, news directors, and reporters overstepped the bounds of what is required. Last week, Chairman Wheeler informed lawmakers that that Commission has no intention of regulating political or other speech of journalists or broadcasters and would be modifying the draft study. Yesterday, the Chairman directed that those questions be removed entirely.

The very notion demonstrates  what has taken over the Government. One of the very basic principles was Freedom of the Press. There are stations that just spew garbage, but economics should delimit what they say. If no one watches then they go away. There must be some trust in the American people, after all the same group votes. But this was a clear overstepping bounds. Blocking a bridge is foolish, blocking the free press is, well I let you guess.