Tannishblog

Found via a wandering post at Etherialgirl, the documentary Loose Change, a possible contender for the Mother of All Conspiracy Theories, gives pause for thought. The trouble with such outlandish assertions is that they will convince only those who don’t need convincing, and alienate only those who would never believe it in the first place: It’s preaching to the choir.

America is slowly waking up to our situation, stretching and blinking in the light, that our once-admired president (and entourage of sociopaths) might not have the nation’s interest entirely in the forefront of their collective frontal lobes, such as they are. As for me, I’ve always listened to my inner voice, never has it steered me wrong. As such, I’ve distrusted the man on sight - one smirk was all it took.

Given the outrageous things we’ve learned about the neo-cons lately, the message of Loose Change doesn’t seem so preposterous as it might have a few years back. Another provocative movie is Hijacking Catastrophe, which came out a couple years ago, underlining possible motives for our War on Humanity. Watch them together, if you can do so without becoming homicidal, and I assure you the world will look a bit darker in the morning…

Truth hurts.

I learned something this morning.

As I sit at my laptop seeking inspiration for this blog, I receive and email from my friends at Democracy for Illinois. Yesterday the House voted on the “net neutrality” issue. For those just emerging from hibernation, info can be found here. As DFI has it, in collaboration with MyDD, a total of five Democratic congressional representatives voted to end the free internet. To wit:

1. Ed Towns (NY-10) received $22,000 from cable and telecom company interests. I’m glad you can reach him at (202) 225-5936.

2. Al Wynn (MD-04) received $19,100 from cable and telecom company interests. I’m glad you can reach him at (202) 225-8699.

3. Charlie Gonzales (TX-20) received $16,500 from cable and telecom company interests. I’m glad you can reach him at (202) 225-3236.

4. Bobby Rush (IL-01) received $21,000 from cable and telecom company interests. I’m glad you can reach him at
(202) 225-4372.

5. Gene Green (TX-29) received $12,000 from cable and telecom company interests. I’m glad you can reach him at (202) 225-1688 tel.

So what did I learn from this? The average cost of a Democratic vote is $18120. For companies like Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast, this is chump change, and anyone being sold out for so little deserves to be called a chump.

As I am a Chicago native, I am particularly stung to find Bobby Rush on this list of compromised lawmakers. His First Congressional District in Illinois includes Chicago proper and many suburbs to the southwest. To add further injury, he proudly proclaims his affiliation with the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, among other committees and subcommittees. While I am glad that my representative Jan Schakowski did not vote with Bobby Rush, if this train wreck occurs, all will be affected by it.

Be honest: censorship of the Internet is un-American. Never mind the pretense of market forces instigating this travesty. I can’t help the feeling that certain high-ranking government officials would love to shut up the blogocube and it’s unruly participants, what with their crass ways of sowing dissent against an unrepentant tyrannical administration.

Did I say that? But I digress…

To counter the argument by a telecom CEO about needing compensation for the internet using his “pipes,” I looked at my Earthlink bill which kindly breaks down the various charges for my broadband. Of my $43 monthly bill, $20 goes to my telecom. Just over three dollars is tax, leaving the rest for Earthlink. Almost half of what I pay goes to the keepers of the “pipes.” Multiply that by the millions of households having internet access across the nation, and I see a large sum of money rightly going to those who build the conduits for the bits to travel.

I’m seriously considering canceling my Verizon account as it comes up for renewal next month. There are other, more ethical wireless companies happy to take my money. You may remember that they were one of a few companies who generously contributed to Tom DeLay’s defense fund last year. Now this – need I say more?

Unfortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly, we supporters of a free Internet have lost this vote. We have gained in publicity for this subtle yet crucial attack on our freedom of expression. With all that is wrong with our current administration, perhaps this may be one of the largest to affect the lives of Americans for generations to come: the ending of Internet Democracy.