Not Such A Bad Guy...

... but still pretty high on my List Of People I'd Like To See In Early Retirement, Senator Bill Frist, actually did something good recently. From VOLPAC:

Yesterday, I filed the Online Freedom of Speech Act as an amendment to the lobbying reform bill.
...
From the earliest days of our republic, freedom of speech and freedom of the press,– be they anonymous pamphlets, celebrated essays, or local newspapers,– were understood to be fundamental to the practice and defense of liberty.
...
Ordinary citizens,– farmers, ministers, local shop owners,– published and circulated their views, often anonymously, to challenge the conventional order, and call their fellow citizens to action.
...
There are some who, out of fear or shortsightedness, wish to restrict the ability of our modern day-Thomas Paines to express political views on the World Wide Web.
...
Free speech is the core of our First Amendment. And the Internet represents the most participatory form of mass speech in human history.
...
As an amateur blogger myself, and soon-to-be private citizen, IÂ’m committed to ensuring that the extraordinary explosion of political debate in the blogosphere is protected from meddling bureaucrats and regulators in Washington, D.C.
...
While authoritarian regimes like Communist China struggle to control the information crossing their borders, millions of private citizens, typing away on their home computers, are engaged in millions of discreet and overlapping conversations, exchanging information, and circulating ideas.

No arguments from me, Dr. Frist. Although I would have felt better if this was not an amendment, but instead a separate bill of it's own, the fact that it has poked its nose into the public sphere is encouraging.

Now all I need to do is wait for Thomas to update so I can read the amendment itself. Until then, I reserve comment.

But for now, I feel the need to buy Dr. Frist a beer. Perhaps we can invite him to the next Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash? (No, David. I'm not hinting. Just figure that a move like this would take some serious advance planning.)

[Turn signal: Instapundit]