...which is really saying something, trust me. I'm just in the early stages of looking at this, but on its face it may be much more concerning than even such things as the ram-rodding through Congress of all of these huge pieces of ultra-liberal legislation that no one has read. The "this" to which I'm referring is Obama's so-called "diversity czar" of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), a position of apparently significant power within the FCC in terms of guiding FCC policy and regulations. His name is Mark Lloyd (pictured). Now, the FCC of course is the federal government body that regulates the American television and radio airwaves, among other things.
As the linked article below first explains, Lloyd's publicly stated vision for the FCC is to move towards a scheme (1) of much greater federal regulation of the airwaves and (2) a must stronger presence on the airwaves for public (i.e. government funded and/or controlled) broadcasting. Regardless of what one happens to think of those goals, the very disturbing thing here is the person himself (Lloyd) who will apparently have a significant amount of power to use towards achieving those goals. I've seen a lot of very worrisome past quotes from this guy, and I won't try to parrot them all back here. Rather, I'll just give you a little flavor. For example, this is a guy who appears to have an absolute disregard (if not pure disdain) for the free speech and free press components of the First Amendment -- rights that are as fundamental and untouchable to us as Americans and as human beings as any set of rights set forth anywhere in our Constitution. The linked article states as follows and quotes Lloyd's words from a 2006 book that he authored:
"For those who think any or all of these recommendations [of Lloyd] might infringe on the free speech rights of broadcasters, Lloyd says his concern is not the 'exaggerated' concerns over the First Amendment. 'It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press,' he said. 'This freedom is all too often an exaggeration. At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies . . . [T]he purpose of free speech is warped to protect global corporations and block rules that would promote democratic governance,' said Lloyd. '[T]he problem is not only the warp to our public philosophy of free speech, but that the government has abandoned its role of advancing the communications capabilities of real people.'"
Frankly, folks, I am dumbfounded tonight that a person who speaks with so little regard for the First Amendment has such an apparently strong position of power in the entity that regulates our airwaves, including the broadcast media on television and radio. Among other quotes from this guy that I've seen are ones expressing his apparent admiration for Hugo Chavez and the steps Chavez has taken to restrict the media and freedom of expression in Venezuela. To get down to brass tacks: Those of you folks who know me know that I'm not some right-winger, nor some conservative, who goes around crying foul and damnation at anything a democrat does. Heck, I distrust the repubs just as much as I do the dems. But this stuff here involving the kind of person we have in such a position of power at the FCC is truly frightening to me. I've just started to read about this guy tonight, so stay tuned -- more to come I'm sure.
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