Bring it on, losers!

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These people are fascists to the core without a doubt. Evil incarnate.

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absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
regulate all bloggers

expose them to the world
if they criticize Brussels

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absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
outlaw most bloggers

license all the rest
monitor their writing

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absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
you have NO rights

to pursue your happiness
or to run your own life


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All real freedom starts with freedom of speech. If there is no freedom of speech, then there can be no real freedom.
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http://www.libertarian.to/
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http://haltterrorism.com
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http://www.lulu.com/USpace

:)
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NOTE FROM WEBMASTER:
That's all very interesting but I have removed your link to what I presume to be your website since it keeps crashing my browser. I don't know who does your HTML for you but you might want to ask if you can have a site that actually allows visitors to see it.

I absolutely agree.
With the EU.

Which doesn't always happen, by the way.

I think the blogs should declare who they are.
There is a huge difference between a professional publishing company that presents itself as a blog and a bunch of people that have an actual job and blog on the side for fun, like us.

And it should be clear to the reader. There are quite a few blogs out there that pretend to be 'just another weblog' while actually being funded by an organisation with a clear agenda. They try to mask it as 'public opinion' while they really are trying to influence that.

The part about user created content is very good. Too many people get rich off the work of others who often don't even realise that the site they post their work on gets money for their efforts.

I'll give you a live example of what I mean.
The distinguished gentleman above me links to a lot of sites including haltterrorism.com. A simple WhoIs reveals that the domain belongs to a company called YouMe Works owned by Adam Khan who writes some kind of self help books.
Now, is that site just his personal opinion? Is he trying to help? Or is it part of some advertising scheme for his books?

This is exactly why the Irish said NO to any more power-grab by Brussels. Next they'll be requiring special permission to blog. The EU is the slippery path to a totalitarian state.

Yeah, if "suggesting" is all they're planning to do, well suggest away. The reason I'm totally against it is that I'm fairly sure that suggest is not all they're planning. Sure it would be nice if everybody knew who all bloggers are and what their agenda is. But requiring it is an entirely different story, and that's what I think the plan is.

That's wrong for a couple of simple and obvious reasons. Regulations and laws have never been good at protecting people from foolish decisions. And then when you consider who makes the law, and who decides what is allowable disclosure, you can see problems emerging.

The minute you require licensing of any sort for the expression of opinions, you're not in free speech anymore.

Let's take another example from a hot topic: If someone who is skeptical of climate change science reveals that he once got a $10,000 research grant from an affiliate of Exxon, disclosing that fact could allow the reader to evaluate whether the opinion might be tainted. The skeptic's opinion might be warped, or it might be 100% right. So far, so good. The problem is, when you REQUIRE disclosure, and have power over who can disclose what, there's no guarantee that all disclosure will be fair or inform you fully. If we require this disclosure, but fail to require Al Gore to state that "I should be allowed to control your emissions to save the earth from catastrophe, but then I've made $100 million off the fear of climate catastrophe." Brussels is pro-Kyoto; not likely they'd enforce this evenly.

1) there's no guarantee at all that this kind of control will protect the public from itself, 2) Needing approval from Brussels before you can publish an opinion--DUH! Find the flaw in that idea! 3) Arguments, ideas, and opinions stand on their own merits regardless of the identity of their proponents; that's why free speech has been such a good (if messy) thing. Everybody's entitled to their speech, without vetting by someone in power.

re voluntarism, did you see on the box, the Chinese voluntarily donating money re Sichuan earhquake. While that may be a laudable thing, to line up like penguins in front of umpteen thousand people and TV reminds me of jokes about military volunteers, you, you, and you. I wonder if anyone was brave enough to slip in a bundle of the fake money they burn at funerals?