Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN) of Indiana's 5th District, home of people such as myself, launched his new blog strategy this week with recurring features such as Energy Jolt, Pork Platter, and Weekly Roundup. This was the inaugural edition of Weekly Roundup. In it, Burton bragged about how YouTube "finally yanked" material from its site which Congress felt was inappropriate. Now granted, I am not sure it is the best interest of Google/YouTube to be a hub of recruitment for terrorists. However, there is something called free speech in this country and the fact that policies were changed at the behest of government is a bit sad. Actually, it'd be a bit scary to see what would happen next if the State Department deemed that Google was aiding terrorist activity. Could we wage war against them? After all, it was George Bush who said, "Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime. "
YouTube had been initially resistant to the call from Congress, led by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT). They changed their community guidelines earlier this week.
2 comments:
Can anyone tell me why or how Dan Burton has stayed in Congress for 26 years? Thirteen terms in the House. And what has he DONE in those thirteen years? I did some checking, and since 1993, of all the bills Burton has sponsored, only eight have become law. That's all. What has he been doing for those 26 years?
We probably all have heard about him missing votes to go play golf, usually paid for by special interests. But wait, maybe we WANT him to be gone. When he is present and voting, he does things like being the ONLY member of the House to vote against ethics reform. The only one. And he made a national fool of himself in the baseball steroids hearings.
The Republican Party finally started to get wise, and a very credible opponent showed up in the 2008 primary, Dr. John McGoff. Dr. McGoff actually BEAT Burton in Marion and Hamilton counties, the two most populous in the Fifth District, but lost pretty much everywhere else. Burton got only 52% of the Republican primary votes district-wide.
So the Republicans blew their chance to replace Burton with someone more credible. Now it is the Democrats turn at bat. Enter Grant County resident Mary Etta Ruley, a former Congressional staffer, think-tanker, and Grant County business woman.
Ms. Ruley has positive ideas for growing the economy and putting people to work, for alternative technology, and for national defense. Quite a contrast to "Indiana Dan", whose chief claim to fame is being pro-gun, pro-life, and pro- any lobbyist who wants to throw cash his way. Remember the Pakistani lobbyist flap about 10 years ago that got buried?
I admit to being a member of the "anyone but Dan" club, pretty much anyway, there have been some odd ones run against Dan. But Mary Etta Ruley seems the real deal.
Check her out at www.MaryEttaRuleyforCongress.com. If you have a question not answered there, email her at the address shown on the web page.
I'll certainly give her a look as I profile the race. I tend to fall into the "anyone but Dan" club. I was really hoping that McGoff would unseat him in the primary.
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