Today is the last day to get your comments into the FEC. If you think it’s not important, just see what the united reform front is saying:
Finally, we do not believe anyone described as a “blogger” is by definition entitled to the benefit of the press exemption. An individual writing material for distribution on the Internet may or may not be a press entity. While some bloggers may provide a function very similar to more classic media activities, and thus could reasonably be said to fall within the exemption, others surely do not . The test here should be the same test that the Commission has applied in other contexts – is the entity a “press entity” and is it acting in its “legitimate press function”?
Surely, Benjamin Franklin was fulfilling a “legitimate press function” when publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette. But was he when publishing Poor Richard’s Almanac? This is a question that just shouldn’t be left to Washington bureaucrats, and not one I would like to see bloggers subjected to. The First Amendment is quite clear:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
What part of “NO law” don’t they understand?
Hat Tip: InstaPundit