Get "too many" hits on your politically one-sided blog? Watch out

A Fairness Doctrine reimposition for the airwaves may be the least of our worries. If [some] Democrats get their way, the Internet could be next:

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.”…

“This isn’t just about Limbaugh or a local radio host most of us haven’t heard about,” says a Democrat committee member. “The FCC and state and local governments also have oversight over the Internet lines and the cable and telecom companies that operate them. We want to get alternative views on radio and TV, but we also want to makes sure those alternative views are read, heard and seen online, which is becoming increasingly video and audio driven. Thanks to the stimulus package, we’ve established that broadband networks — the Internet — are critical, national infrastructure. We think that gives us an opening to look at what runs over that critical infrastructure."

Read that again. If you have a heavily trafficked blog, and you don't link to other points of view, you might soon be required to. It isn't enough that there are THOUSANDS of different points of view out on the 'net; no, our nanny state-minded Democrats don't trust YOU to know how to find 'em. Apparently moving your mouse a little and/or using Google to type in "[political view] blogs" is too CUMBERSOME for the average American. It's an unnecessary HINDRANCE.

Democrats are going to "make sure" the views they want you to know about ARE seen and heard. They say so right there above. And I -- and many others -- may just HAVE TO link to them. Whether we want to or not.