I am a proud graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism but I am disgusted at the current state of my chosen major. Nothing should be more appalling to any journalist, or any U.S. citizen for that matter, then the prospect of more government involvement in the news business.

Consider the Federal Trade Commission’s “Potential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention of Journalism.” A government agency suggesting the “reinvention” of news should frighten everyone. Freedom of the press is under attack.  Under the false premise of wanting to help journalism find a sustainable business model, the FTC actually wants more control over news gathering and dissemination including:

• industry “licensing” with “government’s help and support”
• “creation of government fostered pilot programs” to explore new business models
• a journalism division of Americorps
• more funding for public broadcasting
• grants to universities for “investigative journalism”

One big question comes to mind.  When government is controls the funding for journalism, who will be left to investigate government? What a disappointment we must be to our Founders.

There is no way to overreact to this “Discussion Draft.” As someone with a deep love for the First Amendment, I can only hope that the citizenry will muscle some collective outrage and bring a halt to the nationalization of information.

In a commencement address to Hampton University graduating students, President Barack Obama delivered some frightening words that seem to make a case for censorship:

You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank all that high on the truth meter.

With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.

According to an AFP article Obama “bemoaned the fact that ’some of the craziest claims can quickly claim traction,’ in the clamor of certain blogs and talk radio outlets.”

Obama’s fear of the free flow of information led him to conclude, “All of this is not only putting new pressures on you, it is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy.”

In summary, the man who promised to protect our Constitution seems to have contempt for the first amendment.  He calls information a “distraction” and a “diversion” that is putting some kind of pressure “on our democracy.”  Forget for a moment the obvious misinformation from Obama himself that we are a democracy instead of a republic.  Our president warned graduating students that the free exchange of ideas is threatening our country.

Marginalizing ideas and information that the president finds distasteful may be the first step toward censorship.

Come One! Come All!

Want to let Congresswoman Betsy Markey know how you feel about the “stimulus” package, Barack’s bloated budget, bailouts and more.  Then join other motivated freedom fighters for a Greeley Tea Party.  Bring tea bags, signs, voices, children and anything else you want to make your point that you are fed up with the irresponsible federal government.   Organizer “Dale from LaSalle” also encourages everyone to bring a pair of old boots to be dumped in a giant trash can.  Maybe then Congress will get the message that we want to “BOOT THE BUMS OUT!”

If you want to join in the fun, rally at Congresswoman Markey’s office located at 822 7th St in Greeley on Saturday, March 7 from 11:30 to 2 p.m.  For additional information contact Dale at dalelasalle3@aol.com.

Give the Greeley Tribune credit for taking a stand.  The editorial board is “upset” about Republican State Senator Scott Renfroe’s comments about homosexuality when he took to the Senate floor in opposition to Democrat  Senator Jennifer Viega’s bill that would require the state to cover same sex partners that have been in a committed relationship for “one year.” 

Renfroe cited the Old Testament and explained that in the eyes of God all sin is equal.  The Tribune  editorial board wrote that it “found his Bible reference abhorrent and even dangerous. Our state senator quoted the Old Testament as saying that homosexuals ’shall surely be put to death, their blood-guiltiness is upon them.’”  The ed board went on to explain that “this quote could be seen as a call for violence against our homosexual neighbors, and that is simply unacceptable.”

The Tribune then wrote that it hopes voters make Renfroe suffer the consequences of his “dangerous” speech.

As staunch supporters of the First Amendment, we believe Renfroe has every right to voice his opinion about any subject, including homosexuality. But freedom of speech has consequences, and we hope Renfroe realizes those during the next election.

We all have issues that are dealbreakers for us.  For me it’s taxes, onerous regulation, massive deficit spending that leaves my children drowning in debt, bailing out failing industries, being lapdogs for unions, rewarding bad behavior, promoting irresponsible behavior among others.  I guess this gay “  human rights issue” is it for the Tribune.   The newspaper may want Renfroe gone, but I doubt that voters in the 13th Senate District will oust him for that — no matter how much money Tim Gill is willing to pour into the race.  Although it will be interesting to see how much money Gill et al are willing to spend to defeat one Northern Colorado legislator.

On a side note, I’m opposed to the legislation because it would cost the state $116,000 at a time when the state faces a $1 billion budget shortfall over the next 18 months; it’s impossible to verify a “committed” relationship with the “intent for the relationship to last indefinitely”; and in this legislation an adult is identified as someone “18 years of age” but in other health care legislation a dependent child can be up to 30 years old.  It’s ridiculous.

Try some fact checking before publishing. 

I don’t care what the Greeley Tribune says on its editorial page.  The editorial board has a First Amendment right to voice its opinion.   Most of the time I disagree with them, but really who cares?  Well, I care when the editorial gets its facts so very wrong.

Today (Sunday, Feb 22) the Tribune published an editorial taking Weld County DA Ken Buck and my husband Weld County Sheriff John Cooke (both Repubicans) to task for T-shirts that brag about being sued by the ACLU.  The front of the T-shirt reads “The ACLU Sued My District Attorney and Sheriff,” and the back: “Weld County Standing Up For Americans.”

According to the editorial, the Tribune is “ just a tad concerned that the Weld District Attorney’s Office is being a little too flippant — and perhaps a little too political — in its battle against the American Civil Liberties Union related to prosecution of identity theft suspects.”  That’s fine.  As I’ve said the Tribune has a right to its opinion.

The problem is when the Tribune tried to defend the ACLU.  The editorial attempted to make the point that the ACLU defends the rights of all Americans — conservative and liberal.  It mentioned the ACLU’s defense of Rush Limbaugh’s privacy concerning his medical records.  The editorial should have stopped there but unfortunately it went on to insult conservative Christians by claiming that anti-gay bigot Fred Phelps is “the nation’s worst example of the sins of the Christian right.” The editorial said:

Here’s another interesting example: The ACLU once defended Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, which is often cited as the nation’s worst example of the sins of the Christian right. Westboro travels across the country picketing in front of funerals for soldiers killed in the Iraq war, using the funerals as a soapbox to express its hatred of gays and lesbians. Church members came to Greeley in 2005 for the funeral of Tyler MacKenzie, a Greeley native who had died in the Iraq war.

A little fact checking would have shown that Phelps is not politically allied with the Christian right that predominantly votes Republican. According to a well cited Wikipedia entry, Phelps has publicly criticized two conservative Christian icons Ronald Reagan and Rev. Jerry Falwell.  Furthermore, Phelps supported Al Gore in the 1988 Democrat primary for president and served as one of his delegates to the 1988 Democrat National Convention. Gore later fell out of favor with Phelps because of the Vice President’s support for gay rights.

In addition Phelps ran for the Democrat nomination for governor in Kansas in 1990, 1994 and 1998, losing all three times.  He also ran for the Democrat nomination for US senate in 1992.  He lost that as well.

My guess is that the Tribune assumed that Phelps was some sort of right wing nut job because of his anti-gay agenda, which underscores the Tribune’s own bias.  As a conservative Christian who knows plenty of other conservative Christians, I can’t think of any that advocates in favor of Phelps’ position.   The Tribune’s assumption was lazy, wrong and insulting. I’m going to assume that I and other conservative Christians won’t be seeing an apology any time soon, but I’m hoping my assumption is wrong. 

To be honest, I’m not really all that offended, but once in a while it’s fun to take a page from the left’s handbook and feign being offended.  However, it takes way too much energy to keep up the anger pretense.

Big thanks 1310 KFKA News Director Troy Coverdale for his research into this issue.

I said on my show today that I published a blog post about Congressman Polis’s Wall Street Journal opinion piece on the auto bailout but I never did because that is when my Web site was out of commission.  I did read the entire piece on my show the day it was published!  And I said that I wished Congressman Polis were my representative because of his embrace of free market solutions to what is a private sector problem.

I do thank the Congressman for being on my show today and look forward to future conversations.  Whether we agree or disagree, it’s about the dialogue!

Here are some suggestions for things to do on Tuesday when President Obama signs legislation to “stimulate” all Americans:

West Steps of the Capitol from noon to 2 p.m.  Various groups will be there making their voices heard (since we didn’t get the promised opportunity to comment on the legislation before the votes were counted).  Transparency is a great buzz word until we get to the messiness of actually implementing it.

As I get updated information on tomorrow’s activities, I’ll post it to the Web site.

Also keep an eye on another great Web site:  The People’s Press Collective for updated information.

The forces of evil tried to shut me up.  Eventually the righteous always triumphs over evil.   Anyways, I am back and look forward to regular blog posts once again.

You can get regular updates about my radio show, The Amy Oliver Show, at Twitter.  Visit www.twitter.com/AmyOliverShow.

Also, I’m a regular contributor to another blog Colorado Spending Transparency or COST.  As Director of the Independence Institute’s Colorado Transparency Project, I follow all aspects of transparency in government.

I’m glad to be back!