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The Boston Globe

Opinion

TOM KEANE

Forced speech on tobacco firms threatens free speech for all

Instead of passing a law banning certain speech, could Congress pass one requiring Rush Limbaugh affirmatively to say certain things? Could it, for example, require him (or Clear Channel, his employer) to broadcast a message that taxpayers should pay for contraception? Or force him to voice approval for removing prayer from school? Don’t laugh. In a different circumstance, the feds are trying to do exactly that. In this case, it’s tobacco companies and not Limbaugh who are the objects of the government’s ire.

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