Bush Strikes Again
Plasticman writes on RAME: There's only one thing that Linda Chavez likes
less than pornography, and that's when she finds it on the Internet.
The conservative queen of syndicated outrage, who happens to be George W.
Bush's pick to head the Department of Labor, has repeatedly warned of what
she describes as the perils of sexually explicit material online and urged
government action against it. If the Senate gives her the nod, Chavez will
not have any day-to-day responsibilities dealing with online speech. But her
nomination signals the approach that a Bush presidency is likely to take
toward sexually explicit material online.
One example: Chavez, currently a weekly columnist, jumped into a dispute in
1998 over the use of filtering software in a Virginia public library. After a
federal judge ruled that Loudoun County's restrictive filtering policy was
too broad and violated the First Amendment, Chavez showed up at the library
board's next hearing and urged the members to appeal the courtroom defeat.
"Judge Brinkema's decision goes far beyond any reasonable interpretation of
the 'free speech' clause of the First Amendment and sets dangerous legal
precedent that if left unchallenged will debase the political freedoms of
citizens in a democracy to enact sensible policies designed both to protect
children and uphold community standards of decency and decorum in public
places," Chavez said in a written statement.
In a column at the time, she blasted U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema's
ruling, saying Loudoun County will be where "the constitutional right to view
child pornography, bestiality and snuff films in a public library was first
established, thanks to a federal court ruling last week." She also condemned
a Supreme Court decision last year to strike down some rules governing cable
TV scrambling on free speech grounds. Another column complained about her
"unwanted brush with gay pornography" when she was channel-surfing late one
night in a Manhattan hotel room.
In other appointments: The House Republicans on Friday chose committee
chairmen for the 107th Congress. Taking over the Commerce committee is Rep.
Billy Tauzin, another Washington pornophobe. "Frankly, I think the Justice
Department's record on prosecuting obscenity and indecency on the Internet is
appalling," Tauzin (R-Louisiana) said last May.
Tauzin, who was the telecom subcommittee chairman, has also complained that
under the Clinton administration, dot-gov firms did not adequately protect
online privacy. Last month he attacked the FCC for embarking "on a pernicious
form of regulation using the process of licensing approval and renewal, or
whatever gets someone in front of them, to get whoever it is to stay in that
room until they agree to the commission's policies."
Tauzin has supported restrictions on Internet gambling and won an award from
the Business Software Alliance last year for backing the controversial
Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
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