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Republicans Create Rider To Stop Net Neutrality
99BottlesOfBeerInMyF writes
"Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) submitted a rider yesterday to a bill on military and veterans' construction projects. The rider would, 'prohibit the FCC from using any appropriated funds to adopt, implement or otherwise litigate any network neutrality based rules, protocols or standards.' It is co-signed by six other Republican senators. We all knew this was coming after the last election removed most of the vocal supporters of net neutrality and supplanted them with pro-corporate Republicans."
To call those against Net Neutrality as "pro-corperate" is a terrible mistake, because a lot of large companies back net neutrality - including Google and Amazon.
The reality is that companies want regulation passed that benefits that company - that is the point of lobbying after all. So that is why the only position you can possibly support if you are "anti-corperate" is no regulation at all.
Seeing as that is the position the Republicans are taking, those who claim Republicans are acting on behalf of corporations need to think about who THEY are actually supporting through these accusations, and what we lose when the truly open internet becomes beholden to the whims of the FCC.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I think part of the reason why there are so many opponents to Neutrality at the moment is because of a mischaracterization--which may be the result of simple ignorance--of the FCC's actions as condoning government control of content-as-in-opinions, rather than content-as-in-format.
I've seen many people promulgating this notion (which, frankly, hasn't been helped by the FCC's past actions regarding, e.g., nipples and the superbowl) as being a 'government takeover' of the internet.
I like the idea of metagovernment, but sadly I don't think enough people are willing to put in the time and effort to make it work. Most people are lazy and content to let other people do the work of running the country, so long as it doesn't make their lives inconvenient.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
Who on earth thought GOP/TP represented regular people?
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
The Republicans want absolutely no regulation of anything. Net neutrality is regulation. Without net neutrality regulations, the 'truly open Internet' becomes beholden to certain corporate interests. I would rather the Internet be beholden to the FCC, which is at theoretically accountable to US citizens, than to a few large media companies.
Regulations are like guns. They are tools. They can be used to protect or to harm. They are neither evil nor good, in and of themselves. We should never seek to get rid of all regulations, only the bad ones. Without 'regulations' the little guy is at the mercy of the rich and powerful. I support the right of the little guys of the world to band together and enact laws to protect themselves from exploitation.
You basically bring up the FCC as a sort of scary specter, "Ooga booga booga! FCC gonna getcha!" without saying what, exactly, you fear the FCC might do.
Net neutrality regulations are necessary to keep the Internet open. It will either be regulated by the FCC, or it will be controlled by a handful of huge media conglomerates. It will not stay the unregulated, anything goes wild west it is today. Either the landlords will move in and Enclose the open Internet, or we, the citizens, decide that we do not want to let them wall off the Internet, and we pass laws to stop them.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Please. It's not even like they are a majority. They just have party cohesion which the Democrats lack. Indeed, with all three parts of the government, they STILL kowtowed to the Republicans, but really, as the Dems are also feeding at the same trough, there is little difference. The Dems don't apoligize to BP for inconveniencing them, like the Repubs, but it's still close.
KENT BROCKMAN: With our utter annihilation imminent, our federal government has snapped into action. We go live now via satellite to the floor of the United States congress.
SPEAKER: Then it is unanimous, we are going to approve the bill to evacuate the town of Springfield in the great state of--
CONGRESSMAN: Wait a second, I want to tack on a rider to that bill - $30 million of taxpayer money to support the perverted arts.
SPEAKER: All in favor of the amended Springfield-slash-pervert bill?
FLOOR: Boo!
SPEAKER: Bill defeated.
Can't believe you guys haven't fixed this yet. How can a completely unrelated thing be tacked on like that? is it really just a congressmans whim? Everytime i hear the word "rider" in american politics, i think of that simpsons skit.
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
Aye. Jeez, they openly joked and boasted about the wealthy being "their base".
One guy a few days ago on a conservative talk show host said he was about to lose his unemployment benefits and with that, his house, car, probably family. Conversion story, right?
Nope-- he felt he did the right thing on principle to slit his own throat, even tho the wealthy will be walking away with $100,000 in tax savings alone.
It is going to take hard poverty to break these folks from the fox news and radio talk show host brainwashing. They literally identify with billionaires while they are losing everything and being tossed out to starve. When do they wake up and start voting in their own self interest?
Or will they just bypass that step entirely and go straight to violence in a couple years.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Clearly YOU are the brainwashed one. Tell me, how did it taste, regurgitating those inane Beck/Limbaugh/FOXNews talking points, hrm?
Rest assured that they have near zero basis in reality.
Democrats are really far from perfect. But dear god, they're better than Republicans in almost every single way.
Net Neutrality being one of them.
Now put down your koolaid, please. Turn off FOX News (yet another study has shown that the more FOX News you watch, the stupider and more misinformed you are). And recognize that Limbaugh, Beck, FOX News, Palin, and all the rest do not make any attempt to inform... they are paid lots of money by vested interests to distract, distort, divide, and inflame. Stop poisoning your mind with that toxic blather.
"Who on earth thought GOP/TP represented regular people?"
I'm guessing the same pack of idiots who think the Democrats represent regular people.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
Don't Americans notice the Republicans keep throwing wrenches into all the worthwhile legislation and promoting issues that are not in the interests of the majority of Americans? It goes beyond pulling the wool over peoples eyes, you have to be out right stupid not to see that they are not acting in the interests of the vast majority of the American people.
So, what you're saying is he should be greedy and vote for whichever politician will give him the most benefits as opposed to who he believes will do the best job running the country and handle issues in a fair and constitutional manner (as much as can be expected from a politician, anyway)? Voters like you scare me. What do you plan to do when you run out of other peoples' money?
No, it's an almost completely different pack, because the pack that thinks the Democrats represent regular people simply won't listen to anything the Republicans say as a matter of principle, and the reverse is also true.
Many on Slashdot apparently crave a little temporary security against an imaginary network plight in exchange for a seemingly small loss of liberty. Who'd have thunk it?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The Republicans noticed two facts:
1. The USA is a democracy and you hold power by getting most of the voters to vote for you.
2. McDonald's is the largest and most successful restaurant chain in the USA, yet the food is utter crap and kills the customers.
After they put these two facts together, they figured out that if they use mass advertising campaigns and catchy slogans to appeal to emotion with a pack of lies, they can hold power while simultaneously raping and pillage The Middle Class and The Middle Class would thank them and ask for some more. Ya gotta hand it to them, since Reagan started it, they've been remarkably effective while the Democrats have better, more honorable ideas, they are completely ineffective mass communicators.
And you can point to the presidency of Ronald Reagan as the point where the "American Dream" for middle and working class Americans was blown the fuck up in favor of a "supply-side" economy where each generation could expect a little less than the previous, unless you were a member of the lucky 2% who did fantastically well.
So what is the alternative? Follow the Democrats where the whole of each generation can expect a little less?
I have to be the voice of reason here. There is no possible way for every person to have a better life than their parents. The vast majority of people are going to do basically the same as their parents. A lucky few are going to do better. Some are going to do worse. While Republican policies are many times too much in favor of corporations, at least they give people the opportunity to reach that top two percent.
A simple way to sum up the policies of the two major political parties in America is this: Republicans give everyone an equal chance to rise to the top, but if you fail, you are left to your own devices. Democrats are willing to make everyone equal economically, but aren't willing to let those who work harder than others reap rewards.
Practically speaking, both have their pluses and minuses. Each policy exists to some degree in countries that are surviving today, and both have their places. To determine which one belongs in America, though, we must look to the Constitution. Given the the constitution is written with the idea of people being equally free (and therefore responsible for themselves), it seems the original intent leans more Republican today than Democratic. While the Republicans do go too far in robbing the individual of his rights in favor of a corporation, the Democrats rob both individuals and corporations. So its mostly a matter of Republicans being less wrong than the Democrats.
However, do not take away that the answer I am promoting is to vote Republican. After all, being less wrong still means you are wrong. Or to put it another way, a vote for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil. That is why I vote libertarian/constitutional.
Remember, you can't look dignified when your having fun! Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out of it alive