Elected members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate discuss pending federal legislation with telecommunications industry lobbyists on a recent all-expenses-paid trip to an exclusive Caribbean island resort which you could never afford. (foto: Ryan Todd Scott Zbuqq, Paparazziyobbo)Okay, the day begins with 2 Apologies.
1. Those goddam teenagers Lenny and Spike on Planet Yobbo (don't go there, you'll be sorry) have hacked into the Agence-Vleeptron Presse supercomputer again (a pre-owned 1981 Cray, the liquid nitrogen bills are ruinous), and posted that disgusting thing below. A-VP is really sorry about that.
2. Vleeptron feels compelled to post something which is Authentically Important.
But it is.
Okay, this e-mail was targeted to me in Massachusetts, so it focuses on my rather famous Senator Kerry, and on my slightly less famous Congressman "Rubber" Richie Neal.
But wherever the heck you are in the USA, you have Two Senators, and a Congresswoman or Congressman.
Please get on the phone and tell them to
Save Internet Neutrality!
Quick -- the big votes which can destroy this Very Very Important aspect of the Internet -- important to Ordinary Web Users like moi and toi and vous and youse -- are taking place very soon.
It's a Giant Corporate Telecommunications Behemoth vs. Ordinary Human thing. Verizon and Comcast and AT&T and their Huge Greedy Ilk want to screw us, without KY Jelly, and are bribing weak and corrupt Congressfreakazoids and flying them in private jets to Caribbean golf and massage resorts and buying teenage companions for them (the Pharmaceutical Industry actually hires young cheerleaders as sales reps) to make sure they vote to gut and destroy Internet Neutrality (explained a little more expertly below).
But this is authentically important.
Pick up the phone and make some noise today. In what remains of our parliamentary democracy, Voter Noise actually DOES work! You can't imagine how desperate these jerks are to keep their jobs in the House and Senate forever.
(Neal's office was, as always, bigtime klooless, but the nice guy at Kerry's office knew about my issue right away; he's been getting Lots Of Calls on this one.)
Congressman Ed Markey, not my guy, but also from Massachusetts, has made himself the Congressional champion of saving Net Neutrality. Here's his Spiel.
In a very short time, I've come to like and trust MoveOn.org .
I was not a fervent worshipper of Kerry For President, but I really loathe and despise Emperor-for-Life Bush II, and MoveOn.org was the Major Player in working hard to defeat Emperor Bush (later Deified). So they have my gratitude and my trust.
Obviously MoveOn.org is no One-Trick Pony. Click on www.MoveOn.org and get yourself put on their e-mail list.
If the Bush administration decides to invade Iran or Mexico, kill all the gerbils, or force everybody to wear BUM designer clothes, you'll likely get the straight skinny first from MoveOn.org , with practical instructions for operating your Democracy to help thwart Bush's next whacky and dangerous schemes.
This is important. Make a local phone call. Tell 'em Vleeptron sent you.
(Yes I noticed I appear to be supporting a coalition one of whose members is Gun Owners of America. Strange bedfellows indeed when you reach under your companion's pillow and find a Smith & Wesson .357, I own many battery-operated Space Ray Guns which go Beep Woooo and flash Red and Green lights.)
======================
Your Senator, John Kerry sits on a key committee that will soon determine whether to preserve or gut Internet freedom.
Can you call Sen. Kerry and your other members of Congress today and tell them to protect Internet freedom?
Dear Robert,
Just days ago, a Republican-dominated congressional committee struck a blow to Internet freedom by voting to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment.
The full House will vote on whether to preserve Internet freedom next week. Then, all eyes turn to a key Senate Committee that your Senator, John Kerry, sits on. As his constituent, you have an important voice to play as the future ofthe Internet gets decided.
Can you call Sen. Kerry first, and then your other members of Congress, today? Urge them to support preserving Internet freedom by supporting Network Neutrality.
Here are the numbers:
Congressman Richard Neal
Phone: 202-225-5601
District Offices:
Milford: 508-634-8198
Springfield: 413-785-0325
Senator Edward Kennedy
Phone: 202-224-4543
Boston District Office: 617-565-3170
Senator John Kerry
Phone: 202-224-2742
District Offices:
Boston: 617-565-8519
Fall River: 508-677-0522
Springfield: 413-785-4610
Worcester: 508-831-7380
To maximize impact, please call their Washington, D.C. and local offices. Please click here to let us know you called and to share how it went:
If asked how you heard about this issue, please be sure to reference our SavetheInternet.com Coalition -- with over 400 organizations including MoveOn, Gun Owners of America2, Craig from Craigslist, consumer organizations, and others.
If asked for specific bill information, you can urge Sen. Kerry to support the "bipartisan Snowe/Dorgan Internet Freedom Amendment to the COPE telecom law." In the House, Rep. Neal should support "Rep. Ed Markey's Network Neutrality amendment to the COPE telecom law" when it comes up on the House floor -- and oppose any telecom law that doesn't include Markey's Internet freedom amendment.1
Net Neutrality has always been the law of the land until recently being threatened. It guarantees that all online speech is treated equally and prevents Internet providers like AT&T from deciding which websites work best on your computer. Without it, these companies can decide what you see and do online.
As companies like AT&T spend millions lobbying Congress for more control over what you see and do online, high-tech pioneers like Google, eBay, and Amazon fighting alongside our coalition. And just last week, the New York Times wrote a powerful editorial endorsing Net Neutrality. It said:
"Net neutrality" is a concept that is still unfamiliar to most Americans, but it keeps the Internet democratic. ... One of the Internet's great strengths is that a single blogger or a small political group can inexpensively create a Web page that is just as accessible to the world as Microsoft's home page. But this democratic Internet would be in danger if the companies that deliver Internet service changed the rules so that Web sites that pay them money would be easily accessible, while little-guy sites would be harder to access and slower to navigate. Providers could also block access to sites they do not like.3
This issue has dramatic consequences, the threat is real, and the time to act is now.
Can you call Sen. Kerry first, and then your other members of Congress, today? Urge them to support preserving Internet freedom by supporting Network Neutrality.
Congressman Richard Neal
Phone: 202-225-5601
District Offices:
Milford: 508-634-8198
Springfield: 413-785-0325
Senator Edward Kennedy
Phone: 202-224-4543
Boston District Office: 617-565-3170
Senator John Kerry
Phone: 202-224-2742
District Offices:
Boston: 617-565-8519
Fall River: 508-677-0522
Springfield: 413-785-4610
Worcester: 508-831-7380
To maximize impact, please call their Washington, D.C. and local offices. Please click here to let us know you called and to share how it went:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1749&id=7534-6950515-.2D8jlTjPC3o8juHZDjP1w&t=4
Thanks for all you do.
-- Eli Pariser, Adam Green, Noah T. Winer, and the MoveOn.org Civic Action team
Tuesday, May 9th, 2006
P.S. Can you support this member-driven campaign today? As companies like AT&T spend millions lobbying Congress to gut Internet freedom, we will win this fight because of the power of regular people. A donation of $10, $20, or more would go a long way. You can donate here.
For more information on this issue, check out our coalition Web site
Sources:
1. Video: Rep. Markey's "This is the moment" speech April 26, urging support for his Net Neutrality amendment.
2. "Gun owners, librarians unite against Bells," Telephony, April 24, 2006
3. "Keeping a Democratic Web," New York Times editorial, May 2, 2006
4. "Net Losses," New Yorker, March 20, 2006
5. "Why You Should Care About Net Neutrality," Slate.com. Prof. Tim Wu Guest Column, May 1, 2006
posted by Vleeptron Dude | 13:24
6 Comments:
I really love your faith in Free Market Forces to safeguard Internet users.
But I'd prefer a Congressional law preserving Internet Neutrality -- as MoveOn.org is urging us all to urge our Senators and Congress Members to vote for.
They kept telling me deregulation of the energy marketplace would lower home fuel prices, too.
Nobody's lied to me. Some sources have brought this issue to my attention. Congress was trying to end Net Neutrality quietly, in a fog of low-profile legislative committee gobbledygook that no one would notice. Rep. Markey broke ranks and said we should notice, and we should protect the Internet and save Net Neutrality.
Check out The New Yorker / Talk of The Town piece about Net Neutrality. The link's in this post, but Vleeptron reposted it a few posts later than this.
oh hiya watcher, where'd you come from, you snuck in while i was replying to pkp646
well ... to avoid ambiguiity, did you phone/e-mail your Rep and your Senators? What exactly did you urge them to do about this?
I've spoken to my Congressman about it and urged him to do exactly NOTHING. Seriously, don't you worry about the members of Congress who are beholden to special interests on BOTH sides of this issue regulating an industry that has thrived without governmental control??
Hmmm ... I'm getting more Comments on this business than I got when Vleeptron was giving away free ice cream.
And the Comments that oppose the MoveOn.org campaign are anonymousish -- no links, no real Human names, untraceable. pkp646 is leaving comments all over the blogosphere, but who the heck is pkp646?
The blogosphere, the Web, e-mail have changed elected politics in a huge, startling and unexpected way. Though Howard Dean didn't make it to the Democratic finish line, there was an enormous amount of surprise among experts at how sophisticated and successful his Internet fund-raising operation was; it shot his candidacy out of the starting gate furlongs ahead of his early competitors.
I think the Internet Neutrality issue isn't just about corporate profit. Congress may be spontaneously enthused about killing Net Neutrality because it will apply an effective brake on the Internet as a lightning-fast and powerful political organization tool that can mobilize ordinary grassroots citizens. While Internet Neutrality is the law, every connection to the Internet is equal (see The New Yorker Talk of the Town piece), and being able to pay lots more doesn't give your message and your organizing efforts a faster ride around the nation.
MoveOn has perceived this first, and has made Net Neutrality its first Must, Do-Or-Die issue since it spearheaded the Anybody But Bush 2004 campaign.
Nope, I'm following Markey's and MoveOn's lead on this one, and I'm convinced it's as important an American issue as MoveOn, Markey and The New Yorker say it is. My Internet was an amazing ride, with just one class of connection for all. I want to preserve the Internet's Political Power To The People.
The little guy is not in danger wihout net neutrality. In fact, at this point he is better off. The only sides affected right now are competing corporations who want to provide new and better services to the public. If the government starts becoming increasingly more involved, then people running their little websites and the like could be in danger of losing their freedom.
ANOTHER ANONYMOUS COMMENTER telling us that we'll be happy when we get rid of Net Neutrality!!!
How come all the sources that want to SAVE Net Neutrality sign their names and pose for photographs and show i.d.?
And all the ppl who want to get rid of Net Neutrality are hiding, in disguise, anonymous, secretive?
Boyoboy I am soooo NOT a conspiracy theorist ... but I think somebody's organizing and maybe paying for a Team of Trolls to dive into the Blogosphere and leave all this electronic graffiti to get rid of Net Neutrality before Congress makes its final votes.
Now if there is such a conspiracy ... hmmm ... I wonder who's behind it? hmmmm ...
Ya want my vote? LEAVE YOUR GODDAM NAME. Tell us WHO YOU ARE.
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