Here is a thread with other Agonist discussion of MORA

Latest Chapter in 'Welcome to Democratland'
Monday, January 22, 2007
By John Gibson

Fox. - It's time for another chapter of our continuing "Big Story" saga called "Welcome to Democratland"!

In Democratland, the only thing that you need to know is that things are going to change. The Iraq war is going to change, the tax laws are going to change, and Democrats are already practicing their White House act, since they regard the current president as nothing more than an occupant of public housing and soon one of their own will take his place at the levers of power.

But here are some other things that will change. In Democratland it will soon be illegal to run a conservative talk radio program, and it will soon be law that the Minutemen — the citizen border patrol keeping an eye on the Mexican border — will be classified domestic terrorists.
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Let's go over the first. Long ago and far away, people like me used to live under something called the Fairness Doctrine. This was a FCC rule that opinion had to be presented with its counter opinion. So television and radio was essentially a discussion punctuated by the anchor or host saying "and now for the other side of the issue..." We used to have to put a stopwatch on opinion and partisan commentary. One side had to get the same amount of time as the other side, and there wasn't room for much deviation.

That all went away with the great profusion of new radio stations and new television outlets, and consequently there is a lot of conservative radio, and there is fair and balanced TV, right here at FOX.

Well, now Democrats have had enough of all that and they want the old rules reimposed. And Congressman Maurice Hinchey of New York says bluntly: Right wing media must be stopped.

The other development comes out of the Arizona legislature from a Democrat lawmaker who wants to change the law in such a way as to redefine the activities of the Minutemen, the border group, as domestic terrorism.

So if you're a conservative we're going to shout you down, and if you're against illegal immigration we're going to lock you up.

Welcome to Democratland, ladies and gentlemen. The show is about to begin.

That's My Word.

Another take on the "F" word. New book by Chris Hedges:

American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America

BuzzFlash.com's Review (excerpt)

In a 2004 article that served as the basis for his new book pulling the fire alarm on thuggish Christian fascism, Chris Hedges recalled:

"Dr. James Luther Adams, my ethics professor at Harvard Divinity School, told us that when we were his age, he was then close to 80, we would all be fighting the 'Christian fascists.'

The warning, given to me 25 years ago, came at the moment Pat Robertson and other radio and televangelists began speaking about a new political religion that would direct its efforts at taking control of all institutions, including mainstream denominations and the government. Its stated goal was to use the United States to create a global, Christian empire. It was hard, at the time, to take such fantastic rhetoric seriously, especially given the buffoonish quality of those who expounded it. But Adams warned us against the blindness caused by intellectual snobbery. The Nazis, he said, were not going to return with swastikas and brown shirts. Their ideological inheritors had found a mask for fascism in the pages of the Bible.

Here is another editorial review of the book.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The f-word crops up in the most respectable quarters these days. Yet if the provocative title of this exposé by Hedges (War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning)—sounds an alarm, the former New York Times foreign correspondent takes care to employ his terms precisely and decisively. As a Harvard Divinity School graduate, his investigation of the Christian Right agenda is even more alarming given its lucidity. Citing the psychology and sociology of fascism and cults, including the work of German historian Fritz Stern, Hedges draws striking parallels between 20th-century totalitarian movements and the highly organized, well-funded "dominionist movement," an influential theocratic sect within the country's huge evangelical population. Rooted in a radical Calvinism, and wrapping its apocalyptic, vehemently militant, sexist and homophobic vision in patriotic and religious rhetoric, dominionism seeks absolute power in a Christian state. Hedges's reportage profiles both former members and true believers, evoking the particular characteristics of this American variant of fascism. His argument against what he sees as a democratic society's suicidal tolerance for intolerant movements has its own paradoxes. But this urgent book forcefully illuminates what many across the political spectrum will recognize as a serious and growing threat to the very concept and practice of an open society. (Jan. 9)

I applaud your point about not wanting government minders on what people say. I've been nervous seeing a lot of that. To say nothing of the fact it's too big a hurdle to expect clearing.

But I think one possible fatal flaw is this: If the large corporations are forced to sell off certain properties, many of those properties will fail. So that would contract the number of voices. If they don't fail, they might charge, or charge more. And that especially could be disastrous for local media outlets, who won't be able to compete with national media. And would it necessarily change anything at Fox? News Corp is a media company. And who decides what is a media company and who is not? 51%?

Now, to be fair I do some work with the "wrong side" here -- the NAB. But I believe in disclosure. Doesn't change anything I wrote above.