Archive for the 'Politics' Category
Worth Repeating [HJR 6] 0
His parents should be proud.
I hope the Iowa Senate keeps with their pledge to let this awful, backward bill die.
Thanks, Al. 0
Al freakin Franken. Quickly becoming my favorite elected representative.
Case in point:
FCC Comments on Net Neutrality Close January 14th 0
Greetings-
This Thursday, January 14th, is the closing of the FCC’s comment period on Net Neutrality. Their decision will have long term and far reaching effects on both the cost of and the way information is distributed over the Internet. Pressure from large telecommunications providers for the ability to limit or degrade connectivity of rivals inside their respective networks, which some have likened to censorship, to gain competitive edge for their own product offerings has been immense and well funded. Such a scenario does little, if anything, for the consumer and ultimately stifles the innovation allowed under the current ‘open’ paradigm. Here is an illustration of one possible scenario:
If you enjoy the Internet as it exists today, accessible and indiscriminate, I would encourage you to submit your thoughts to the FCC concerning this vital issue if you have not done so already. You may do so electronically through the Free Press website: http://www.savetheinternet.com/fcc-comments
Former FCC and ICTC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson has already done so himself, you may read his comments on his website: http://fromdc2iowa.blogspot.com/2010/01/48-hours-to-save-internet.html My own comments are included at the bottom of this post.
Thank you for your attention and your contribution to this extremely important issue. Please feel free to distribute this call for comments as widely as possible.
Sincerely,
Hans Hoerschelman
+++
Honorable Members of the Federal Communications Commission,
I write you today to express my personal support for a strong policy of Network Neutrality. The preservation of the principle of open connectivity is the driving force behind the innovation and entrepreneurship that has made the Internet the interesting, informative and expansive tool that it is today. We must have specific and strong prohibitions against the ‘walled garden’ or degraded service approach that could be instituted by those who would wish to undermine rivals or stifle competing viewpoints and technologies in favor of profits and control, for the segmentation of our national communication would serve to do nothing but create an information oligarchy. The free exchange of information and ideas is essential to our democracy and must be maintained.
Please think of the consumers, the citizens and businesses, not just the moneyed interests of the telecommunications industry, when creating what will become essentially the rules of digital speech. It is the current open access that has brought us the success of the present, and it will be the same open access that will allow us to explore and innovate towards the successes of the future.
Sincerely,
Hans Hoerschelman
Chair, Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
Owner, 460 Website Design
Concerned Citizen
My Love For John 0
This is top 5 Daily Show segment material for me.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M – Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Baracknophobia – Obey | ||||
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Granite State Great Quote 0
From the text of the bill HCR 6, introduced into the New Hampshire House this session, by way of Mr. George and another blog, I bring you this quote:
…Confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism — free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power: that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no further, our confidence may go.
Hell yes.
“He’s tainted the entire auction” 0
And I’m so glad he did…
From the AP (via TPM):
An environmental activist tainted an auction of oil and gas drilling leases Friday by bidding up parcels of land by hundreds of thousands of dollars without any intention of paying for them, a federal official said.
The process was thrown into chaos and the bidding halted for a time before the auction was closed, with 116 parcels totaling 148,598 acres having sold for $7.2 million plus fees.
“He’s tainted the entire auction,” said Kent Hoffman, deputy state director for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Utah.
No need for my comments as I can just link to more from Mr. Marshall:
Auctions work on the theory that open bidding will efficiently yield the highest price any bidder is willing to pay. DeChristopher’s stunt suggests that, for whatever reason, that’s often not the case at BLM auctions. It turns out that, when pressed, most bidders are willing to pay more, often much more. In other words, DeChristopher exposed the fact that we’re routinely selling the rights to public land for less than its actual market value. No wonder BLM is mad.
DemocracyNow! interviewed the Utah student about the incident. You can watch that interview at this link.
Collusion, corruption and cronyism. This is our America?
What’s Your Share? 0
I’d been wondering what I end up paying for all the BS and bloviations about the bailout, so I was pleased when Nick Johnson did the math for me (text from near bottom of post):
What’s Your Share?
Assume we have something like 120 million families or living units in America. (I’m going to use 100 million to make the math easier.) Assume all accumulated debt ($55 trillion, plus $11 trillion, plus, plus) is near $70 trillion headed for $100 trillion. The interest on $100 trillion, at 5%, is $5 trillion a year. Your family’s share? How’s $50,000 a year — just for the interest alone — sound? Your family’s share of the entire debt? About $1,000,000. So what’s happening is that these folks who’ve come from, and will be returning to, the Wall Street financial community, have decided to give you responsibility for paying off the mortgage on a one-million-dollar home — but one you’ll never get to see or live in (not incidentally because they’re already living in it).
Should I just declare bankruptcy now?
In all seriousness, how do we say ‘no’ to this crap? At some point the market will need to be allowed to punish all those morons that mis-mananged, deregulated and over-leveraged their complex/completely bullshit financial fairy-tale by allowing them and their companies to be completely wiped out. That the fools at Citi get to keep their shirts AT MY EXPENSE makes me want to puke.
No wonder people go for stuff like this.