Every single Democratic Senate challenger supports Net Neutrality
By SilentPatriot Wednesday Jul 23, 2008 8:00pm
This is some of the best news I've heard in a while. Matt Stoller at OpenLeft has compiled statements from every major Democratic Senate candidate on net neutrality and is happy to report that they all support it and plan to fight hard to make it law.
For the last few months, we've been posting Democratic Senate challenger positions on net neutrality here at OpenLeft. Since we started posting, we've been getting in statements and positions, from blogs like Cotton Mouth and the Political Base, from the candidates themselves, and from readers who took the time to ask and send in statements. I'm happy to report that every single Democratic challenger with more than $500k in cash on hand has announced their support for net neutrality. This is a milestone for the fight for internet freedom. I included statements reacting to this news from Senator Byron Dorgan, Speaker Pelosi, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, Google public policy director Alan Davidson, and Columbia Law Professor Tim Wu.
Make sure to go over and read all the responses and consider dropping a dime in the coffers of these great candidates. Many, many important issues are going to be decided during the next Congress and we can't afford to have them decided by the likes of Norm Coleman and Ted "Tubes" Stevens.
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Net neutrality is freedom of speech.
I no longer want to hear congressional candidates say what they support. I want to know what reason we have to believe them. 20 out of 30 netroots-supported congresscritters ended up voting for the FISA bill, after many of them had told us (before they were elected) how much against it they were.
And nobody should take what Nancy Pelosi says prima facie.
Tubes is probably pissing in his depends with this news!
Uh, I hate to piss on the parade but supporting it NOW is nice. Supporting it after November and the swarms of robots vote them into office is a totally separate thing...
Anyone remember Obama's strong stand on FISA? And, well, it can be argued that he perhaps tipped his hand way to early, or perhaps early enough. In November the robots that will vote for a democrat no matter who, will likely vote for him and also glide these democrats into office but the truth is that we don't know what they WILL do but without holding them BEFORE election to a promise AND hold them to it AFTER the selection is paramount!!! Yes, it's easy to whisper sweet nothings into some people's ears but I demand that they follow through on their sweet whispers into my ear to get me into their bed.
I WANT PROOF! I want these opportunists to make good on their rhetoric and actually support the net neutrality OVEN the HIGH PRICED 'objections' of the very telecom lobbyists that the previous democrats couldn't wait to jump into bed and fornicate with...
WE CAN'T FORGET THE POWER OF WHORES AND THEIR QUEST FOR MONEY AND ATTENTION!
Come on people. It's that important...
Gads, I came in here this morning hoping to find some good positive stuff in the political realm, how disappointing. Instead all the blogs are full of negative crap.
I teach a class (English as second language) from noon to three PM, they are advanced and I know they will have many questions about how the Obama Speech was received by US citizens.
Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.
Contribuisca prego a scegliere il presidente di Obama degli S.U.A.
Ciao.
Otay @ 3:
I agree. They'll all support it huh?
We'll see.
Otay @ 2:
Pinky Left Brain Says: Uh, I hate to piss on the parade but supporting it NOW is nice. Supporting it after November and the swarms of robots vote them into office is a totally separate thing…
I WANT PROOF! I want these opportunists to make good on their rhetoric and actually support the net neutrality OVEN the HIGH PRICED ‘objections’ of the very telecom lobbyists that the previous democrats couldn’t wait to jump into bed and fornicate with…
WE CAN’T FORGET THE POWER OF WHORES AND THEIR QUEST FOR MONEY AND ATTENTION!
Whaaa? says : And once they are in and "change" their mind, how do we hold them to a promise???? Just Sayin'.
Pinky Left Brain @ 5:
It does have the feeling of a dangling carrot doesn't it?
And as for the 'donations' I would guess that people have probably already dropped a shite load of cash trying to get their elected reps to do their jobs. How about they do one 'pro bono' to show a little good faith?
The internet is a powerful 'tool' and the 'ruling class' is beginning to realize the incredible power that the 'internets' have and has over 'the people'.
Think about it if you will. The 'internets' have the potential to do to human existence what the technology called 'television' had on the earlier iteration of humanity. The idea that one or the other 'leadership' group will allow this to be what amounts to an 'uncharted' or 'unexploited' wasteland is pathetic.
The 'internets' is a powerful weapon, a tool, a method for control. I doubt that anyone, any 'politician', could stand by and watch the denial of access to what could be the 'prime tool' to influence human thought an behaviour.
It's all 'warm and fuzzy' that these human beings will stand up and say that they support 'net neutrality' now but it sounds all to 'rosy' and 'whorish', not unlike the pre-selection mumblings of the great (and very evil) George Walker Bush.
WE MUST BE CAPABLE OF FORCING, IF NECESSARY, THOSE THAT WE ELECT TO FULFILL THEIR PROMISES ON THE 'IMPORTANT STUFF' WHEN THEY ARE SELECTED FOR THEIR POSTITION IN THE POLITICAL MEAT GRINDER.
Obama has a lot to explain and a lot of 'carpet chewing' in my mind for fil-flopping on the FISA issue. This is tantamount to treason in my book. This isn't harmlessly voting down some legislation like the 'Terry Scahivo' bill or voting for some trivial bullshit sellout bill for some pathetic 'issue orientated' voters that would throw themselves on a live grenade for the right head fake but Obama, for this voter, pissed on the service of my father in the Vietnam and Korean Wars. My father didn't volunteer his very life so that some 'politician' could allow the government (especially one so partisan as the Bush junta) to recklessly spy on every living citizen in this country.
THAT is not what the founding fathers had in mind when they left the safety of the shores of England to sail for weeks across the Atlantic to found their own country.
Why go that far and go through so much to just end up in the same (or worse) situation as England offered for those that didn't 'deserve the honor' of being treated to the best their society had to offer.
We MUST be prepared to hold these people accountable through recall or other NON-VIOLENT means IF they flip-flop like Obama did after their election to their office.
CHECK OUT MY JOHN MCCAIN POSTER!!!
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/4854/jonmccaincr7.jpg
[I'd take it down for being off topic and ALL CAPS, but it's too hilarious. In future, save shameless self promotion for the Open Threads. Thanks-Sitemonitor]
Net Neutrality is THE MOST IMPORTANT issue facing democracy and freedom in our future.
The telecoms want to do to the net what they did to radio, television and cable/satellite- that is, steal it, cut it up and charge us for publicly owned airwaves.
Other countries are far ahead of us on this one.
2012 is the target.
Fool me once dems, still shame on you! No accountability for Bush? Immunity for Telcos? Warrantless wiretapping against Americans? Why the fuck should I care bout dems think about Net Neutrality? They'll end up doing what's politically convenient anyway.
I wish I could believe.
/cynical
Will Net Neutrality protect us from H.R. 1955/ S.1959?
`(3) HOMEGROWN TERRORISM- The term `homegrown terrorism’ means the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.
`SEC. 899B. FINDINGS.
`The Congress finds the following:
`(1) The development and implementation of methods and processes that can be used to prevent violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in the United States is critical to combating domestic terrorism.
`(2) The promotion of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence exists in the United States and poses a threat to homeland security.
`(3) The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens.
`(4) While the United States must continue its vigilant efforts to combat international terrorism, it must also strengthen efforts to combat the threat posed by homegrown terrorists based and operating within the United States.
This is much like the House Un-American Activities Committee
Barack Obama supports this bill, just like he supported FISA.
(House FISA Votes - notice Kucinich voted against it).
Here is a video that contains some footage from the hearings on H.R. 1955.
You might think the 911 Truthers are nuts, but if they can't say 911 was an inside job, will people be able to say George Bush should be persecuted for war crimes?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5NJoZRYOJk
Don't you get it? Net Neutrality is moot. All High Speed ISPs are moving toward a Tiered/Metered pricing plan. This means that we all will be paying by the gig very soon. The second part of this plan will involve content providers coming to an monetary agreement with the ISPs, to have their content not counted toward the allotted time. This is the same method used by the cellphone companies:In network=unlimited;Out of network=metered. All info will come through at the same speed, you just have to pay more for some.
The "free" market takes another important issue out of our hands! Whoopee.
FilthyHarry @ 13:
Yes. My point exactly.
HEAR ME ROBOTS: I really don't want McCain to be president. I'm not altogether comfortable with 'flip-flopper' and professional stomach scratchee Barack Obama either.
The thought that he as president stopping the investigations of the outgoing Bushist junta should be a treasonable offense as it is is plain yet his 'advisor', drunk on the power he likely will acquire post November, appears to rule out ANY investigations or prosecutions. Like as if ignoring the past and leaving the Bushist hordes that aided and abetted the crimes against MY COUNTRY and it's CONSTITUTION able to walk this planet free from shackles will somehow prevent them from doing the same crimes after he is booted out of his first and only term is even a possibility.
I BELIEVE that the pardons of the Nixon and Bush administrations (and perhaps others) aided in the profound changes that the Bush junta was able to perpetrate on the body politic and the 'soul' and 'character' of this country.
NO PARDONS! Why these worthless fucks in congress can't see the incredible damage that the Bushist pardons will do to this country is just incredible. It's as if they feel, as doctors, that by being stabbed in the heart the patient can survive and actually be the better for the massive damage that the stabbing will create. Well, it's just about totally, absolutely, incredibly, stunningly obvious that they are worse than the Bushies BECAUSE THEY WILL LOOK THE OTHER WAY and ACTIVELY SUPPORT the crimes against humanity and the country.
MANY sitting 'democrats' need some face time at the Hague infront of a war crimes tribunal... With any luck, they will get that opportunity...
Amapola @ 15:
so just don't endorse violence. fair and easy enough.
use humor and your 1st amendment (until the supreme court bans it, which even scalia wouldn't do) to pick these chimopanzees brains apart, and we'll all have a very merry Christmas...
*chimpanzees
(sorry, neanderthal bloodlines)
Yeah, so what. The dems were all against Telecom Immunity too. Then what happened, even Obama voted for it. Any hope that the dems will show some backbone is dashed as far as I can see.
You guys are weak. The repelicans are tough. There's a lesson in there somewhere.
(I am not a repelican, just sayin...)
Once again, this proves that Democrats are the FAR, FAR less evil of the two major parties. Voting DOES matter.
It's the wine...
I'm not at all hopeful of the incoming masses of 'democrats' as many people here are.
I'm not as trusting . I'm not perhaps as as gullible as many 'democrat robots' are.
Granted, we are in a case of being stuck between the 'rock and a hard place' with Obama and McCain but I feel that I'd rather live under a McCain administration if it means that the Obama administration will actively aid and abbet the crimes of the Bushist Junta. Hell, we'll get that from McCain. Will Obama then, once selected, roll on Iraq? Womans rights? The environment? Birth control?
The point I am trying to make is that if we are afraid to even try to confront a politician on their support of the crimes against every citizen in this country then what hope do we have of being able to hold Obama or any other democrat accountable for their actions or support for the outgoing junta. I mean really folks...
Cowicide @ 21:
It proves, huh? I say the proof is in the pudding, and right now, the pudding the Congress has made since 2006 is steaming and smells funny.
The republicans aren't 'tough'. They have a plan and are devoted to it heart and soul. They vote as an organism, a virus.
They will 'allow' members to break from the agenda but ONLY when it's safe. Like to save a member's ass, they will allow them to vote against the measure when the support makes such a vote 'symbolic'.
It's a brilliant game and one that they play very, excruciatingly well...
They play for keeps. They protect their own. They move as a pack. They attack as a pack. They have exploited their corporate benefactors to their advantage very well...
If the republican party were the Nazi party of old, we would be in a very different world now I'm afraid...
I don't vote for Democrats, I vote against Republicans. It's just the hard cold sad fact of life under American corporatocracy.
That said, there are some awesome Democrats. Byron Dorgan and Russ Feingold can always be depended on to act in the best interest of the American people.
Wow, EVERY liberal supports it? I guess that means it's guaranteed to fail.
watch them jump to the other side come january.
there is no reason to believe any democrat at this point.
prove me wrong and i just might vote for one of them again in 2010.
Saying they agree with it is one thing. Whether or not they will actually vote on it is another.
Never Forget FISA!!
Amazing how the Democrats are starting to look more like libertarians these days. Shows how far the GOP has fallen...
Net Neutrality is, as far as I am convinced, more important to freedom and democracy than even the ongoing farce of a "War on Terror." The internet is the last remaining venue on Earth to find truth. It should remain completely free of ANY regulation from government oversight. I am confident that the internet can adequately police itself without the filthy hands of government slimming all over it. The very government that lives to assassinate the truth.
Snowball @ 25:
Very well put. Far too many "Democrats" are just as dirty as their republican counterparts. This explains the illogical collusion on bad legislation, rolling over for Bush, etc, etc.
How can you tell a politician is lying? His or her lips are moving.
How gullible are we? We fall for everything. Because we want to believe we have a future. Because we don't want to believe that we're (as a nation) the bad guys.
Well, guess what? Our nation is a nation of and by corporations. We are, effectively, a corporation. Our feelings, thoughts and rights no longer exist. We are merely employees of a corporation that is so corrupt that we cannot even begin to understand the scope of it. We are nothing more than a resource. To be manipulated and exploited. And frenzied into revolt, if need and circumstance be, so they can further take away anything we believe to be a freedom or right.
These morons who you think represent us, represent themselves. And most have sold out to higher handlers or marionettes. A slip of paper in an envelope goes under their office door and that's how they vote. It's already been decided. And in the meantime they will say anything to get elected or re-elected.
What actions have we seen to scrap the legislation passed in the last seven years that has stripped us of our constitutional rights? Not a freaking thing. And how can all of these politicians be rubber stamping our rights away left and right? Did they not take a sworn oath to defend the constitution? Almost every one of them is guilty of treason, but there is no power on Earth to stop it. It's all just a bad script, with bad acting, in a bad play that none of us want to watch. Well, we're watching it. And we can't believe it's happening, but it gets worse every day.
Is Obama going to protect your rights on the web like he protected your rights against the illegal FISA? Against the USA Patriot Act? Against the War Commissions Act? Against the John Waner Defense Act of 2007? Against time and time again funding blank checks to the oil administration for illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They're stealing OUR money, destroying our currency, bankrupting our nation, and using our money to drive up the price of everything. And we just sit around and take it in the ass like the dumb Amurikans they were thinking about when they wrote the No Child Left Behind Act. Mission accomplished. We're almost as dumb as our president.
When the time is right, these organized criminals will pull the plug on the net. And what are you going to do about it? Nothing as usual.
But don't worry, Jesus will come back soon and make it all right again. Or judgment day will come shortly. Hahahahahaaaa! Yeah, right!
The reason all of it works is that most of us are brainwashed fools. Dumbed down idiots that are told (and buy) fairy tales. So just keep waving your flags and singing "God bless Amurika." And keep thinking you can figure a way out of the mess these people made of our country. A mess they've made on purpose and by design. A plan they've had for generations.
Cowicide @ 21:
How so? Once the dems caved on the entire rule of law, really what else matters? When the dems caved on holding bush accountable, fisa, presidential power to spy on citizens, and telco immunity, keeping in mind all of those things represent violations of our rights as americans as well as the untold hundreds of thousands MINIMUM dead as well as those tortured and locked up for years with no charges, they became ACCOMPLICES.
You know how liberals laugh at social conservatives because we can see how obvious it is that repubs are using them for votes and don't give a shit about their values? Well I'm sure those conservatives laugh at liberals for the same treatment we get from dems.
BennyP @ 12:
Corporate fascism would have never been possible in this country without deregulation. The corporate owned and controlled MSM, is the beast that keeps the lazy and dim-witted brainwashed. The owners (elites) know the internet is the biggest threat to their control, and they will spend trillions to turn it into a GOP propaganda tool also.
I wonder how much the corporations will have to donate to democrats in order to get them to sell out the first amendment?
Seems the price of the fourth amendment was pretty cheap!
I have struggled to understand what net neutrality really is because I always hear different things.
I don't want corporations monopolizing the industry but I don't want government to regulate it.
This would be more encouraging if there was recent evidence that the Democrats taking a stand on any issue meant anything at all. How am I to expect that they will defend net neutrality if they will not even defend the Constitution?
Too bad Democratic Senate incumbents don't share the same lust for liberty.
Pinky Left Brain @ 24:
You said it all.
They may be stupid, but they are evil; very very evil. Like the most primitive single celled organisms, they are incredibly resilient and nearly impossible to destroy!
Joe supports Hagel VP! @ 35:
Corporations = Government in 2008 Amerikuh!
Joe supports Hagel VP! @ 35:
Visit:
http://www.savetheinternet.com/=faq?gclid=CIiCprmo25QCFQOWHgodlmllQQ
That's a start.
This proves why the republican party is full of shit and an exact reason why I abandoned it many years ago. They claim to be the party of small government but end up supporting legislation that restricts freedoms because they're all a bunch of old, out of touch scumbags who can barely operate a wristwatch, let alone a computer.
I heard that all bits ARE created equal . . . for hermaphrodites.
Their sexy lady bits; their sexy man bits too.
The promotion of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence exists in the United States and poses a threat to homeland security. All my friends at Seekingbbw.com love it. It is a dating site for wealthy people and plus size singles. They all think it's useful.
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