No doubt you've heard about CBS' decision to ban billboards questioning Barack Obama's eligibility for office as "offensive, misleading or incompatible with community standards."
That's fine. As I have explained before, I don't care if CBS prohibits the use of its billboards for my campaign to bring public attention to this issue. In fact, I support CBS' absolute right to reject any kind of advertising it deems inappropriate.
However, I think it is the public's right to know what CBS' standards are - if, indeed, the company has any.
According to CBS, a billboard in Phoenix purchased by a group of Arizona atheists - that says "Don't believe in God? You are not alone" - is not offensive or incompatible with community standards. But a World Net Daily's "Where's the birth certificate?" billboard is considered offensive. Again, that's fine. If those are CBS' standards, so be it. But the public should know.
Questioning God is OK. Questioning Barack Obama, even when he is not named, is not.
But I'd like you to see what the billboard industry states in its code about billboard suitability: "We advocate the use of outdoor advertising for political, editorial, public service and other noncommercial messages." Is this not a "political" and "editorial" message?
It would seem that CBS has a bias here against certain kinds of political and editorial messages. There is indeed some self-censorship at work here.
And I can certainly understand it given the way the Obama administration has shown no hesitation in hiring and firing the chief executive officers of some of the biggest public corporations in America - taking over those companies, regulating freedom of speech and strictly controlling debate.
CBS obviously doesn't fear God. It does, however, fear Obama.
That's the political and spiritual climate in which we live today in America. I want you to understand that. That's all. I have no desire to force CBS to take my money and run my billboards. I just want you to understand who CBS is and what it represents. It's an illustration of why I started World Net Daily so many years ago - to provide the American people with an alternative source of news and information.
I have no doubts now that other media companies will refuse to erect our billboards. That's OK. There are plenty of independent billboard companies that will; some are even providing discount rates for us.
We're doing our best to keep free speech alive and well in America. But it is a challenge. The government-media complex is strong. Long ago, most major media companies ceased serving the central role of a free press in a free society - serving as a watchdog on government and other powerful institutions. They stopped being watchdogs and became lap dogs.
As long as I am alive - and I hope even longer - WND will be committed to the principal role of a free press in a free society. That will always mean challenging government and serving as the "Fourth Estate," as our founders envisioned the role. They understood that because of government's nature to grab power, there would always need to be a vigilant free press to serve as another check and balance in the system, or liberty itself would vanish.
Remember what this billboard campaign is all about at its essence: It is about truth. It is about supporting the Constitution, the contract that both holds America together and sets it apart from the rest of the world.
The Constitution establishes only three criteria for serving as president of the United States: the officeholder be at least 35 years of age, be a resident of the country for 14 years and be a "natural born citizen." This campaign seeks to find the proof that Obama is indeed a "natural born citizen."
Raising this question should not be offensive. It should be the duty of every American who believes in the Constitution. I hope and pray you will continue to support this campaign so that it might, against all odds, force Obama to do the right thing - show us his long-form birth certificate and put this question to rest.
