Obama intends to push failed DISCLOSE Act through executive order

Of course this only pertains to government contractors. Not recipients of government aid like Planned Parenthood, or unions. Come to think of it, this can't be Constitutional. I think a little old-fashioned conscientious objecting is in order. NOBODY should obey this if it is passed. Let the little tyrant try to get this backed up in courts. Heck, the Supreme Court denied it. The Congress denied it. Obama just can't keep his little tyrant hands off of political free speech. Not with an election coming up. Well he can POUND SAND!

Washington (CNSNews.com) –  In what the White House calls a push for transparency, a pending executive order would require companies doing business with the federal government to disclose political contributions to independent groups, but would not place the same requirement on public employee unions or federal grant recipients that typically donate to Democrats.

Entitled the “Disclosure of Political Spending By Government Contractors,” the order would implement parts of the DISCLOSE Act, which failed to get through Congress last year. The legislation sought to restrict campaign speech after the landmark Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the right of corporations and unions to donate to campaigns.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney confirmed Monday that work is underway on the draft order, and linked the move to President Obama’s stated commitment to transparency.

“We fully acknowledge there is a process underway,” he told CNSNews.com. “A draft is just that. It’s a draft until it makes its way through the process. The president is committed to transparency and he certainly thinks American taxpayers should know where their money is going.”

Government contractors are already required to disclose contributions to political candidates. This executive order would require the disclosure of any donations to independent groups, where conservative groups outspent liberal ones in the 2010 election.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the executive order would stifle free speech.

Read more here.

Breaking: Obama Does Not Win Nobel Peace Prize for 2010

It went, instead, to a jailed pro-democracy dissident in China named Liu Xiaobo. He is serving a ten year sentence for writing a manifesto asking for multi-party elections and free speech. China had threatened Norway in recent days not to allow Liu to win the award, saying it would endanger a trade agreement they were working on.
Per Reuters.

Man Handcuffed, Assaulted by Police for Joker Poster

A critic said that the posters formed some sort of "hazard". What??? Hazard to what? There are signs everywhere in cities. He and his friend received tickets for criminal mischief. H/T Gateway Pundit.

China blocks access to Blogger, Twitter...

...as the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protest (Thursday) approaches. "Beijing turned up the volume on the "Great Firewall of China" Tuesday, blocking nearly a dozen Western Web sites and search engines.
Thursday is the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, and as a foretaste, Chinese users were denied access to Blogger, Flickr, Twitter, Livejournal, Tumblr, the Huffington Post and Microsoft's Live.com, Hotmail, its MSN Space blog tool and its new search engine Bing," and You Tube. More info here.

I guess mainland Chinese bloggers will not be able to see my post about this guy.

And they will probably also miss my post about Penn and Teller and the Chinese Bill of Rights.

edited to add: Left Coast Rebel posted a nice summary of the events surrounding the Tiananmen Massacre. It is imperative that we understand history, so that we will not have to relive it.

My wish is for all people to live with the blessings of peace and freedom from oppression.

Silence is Required

Ed Morrisey on Hot Air complains, "Silencing dissent and criticism is “necessary under the unique circumstances of the stimulus program”? Gee, what “unique circumstances” might those be? Perhaps the fact that it costs more than the Moon shot, and has yet to halt the economic skid. Maybe it’s the fact that most of the stimulus package doesn’t actually stimulate anything except doctrinaire liberal dreams and the pens that check off the items from the Democratic wish list.

Remember when the Left took to the streets to declare dissent “patriotic” during wartime? I didn’t have a problem with dissent then, but apparently the Left has a curious definition of “patriotism”. Now, suddenly, the federal government can silence their critics at will, not to protect critical national-security programs or keep from undermining a war effort, but to protect a Democratic president intent on seizing control of private industry across a wide swath of the nation. Suddenly, that kind of dissent threatens America."

It was this statement by Norman Eisen, special counsel to Barack Obama, that set him off:
"First, we will expand the restriction on oral communications to cover all persons, not just federally registered lobbyists. For the first time, we will reach contacts not only by registered lobbyists but also by unregistered ones, as well as anyone else exerting influence on the process. We concluded this was necessary under the unique circumstances of the stimulus program."

A commenter was kind enough to include the dictionary definition of fascism.
fascism: /ˈfæʃɪzəm/[fash-iz-uhm] –noun 1. a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

Thank you, Conservative Scalawag, for calling this to my attention.