In September I did a post talking about the telecom companies blocking a proposal by Internet company M2Z to supply free broadband Internet to the entire country. In the wake of the disturbing news, we now find out that the United States is rapidly falling behind in Internet speed, availability and price:

The United States is starting to look like a slowpoke on the Internet. Examples abound of countries that have faster and cheaper broadband connections, and more of their population connected to them.

What's less clear is how badly the country that gave birth to the Internet is doing, and whether the government needs to step in and do something about it. The Bush administration has tried to foster broadband adoption with a hands-off approach. If that's seen as a failure by the next administration, the policy may change.

This graph gives a bleak view of how the United States has fallen behind in the online game.

(click for full size)

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Download | play Here's an old Daily Show Clip with Malkinite...(small file WMP only)

The wingnuts have been in full force attack against the family of Graeme Frost, the twelve year old boy that gave the Democratic radio address a couple of weeks ago. In their typical ignorance of the facts, Malkin and the rest on the right side of the blogosphere are trying to paint this family as phonies. Think Progress has noted the important facts the attack monsters are forgetting.

So what would you do if you saw that face snooping around your house? That might be a good question for the Frost's:

Update 2:50pm Eastern: I (Malkin) just returned from a visit to Frost’s commercial property near Patterson Park in Baltimore. It’s a modest place. Talked to one of the tenants, Mike Reilly, who is a talented welder. He said he had known the Frosts for 10 years. Business is good, he told me, though he characterized Frost as “struggling.” Reilly was an outspoken advocate for socialized health care without any means-testing whatsoever and an insistent critic of the Iraq war. Despite all that, he did agree with me that going without health insurance is often a matter of choice and a matter of priorities. Or maybe we were speaking two different languages.

I also passed by the Frosts’ rowhouse. There was an “01 - 20 -09″ bumper sticker plastered on the door and a newer model GMC Suburban parked directly in front of the house. I’ve seen guesstimates of the house’s worth in the $400,000-plus range. Those are high. But Mark Tapscott’s point remains: “[P]eople make choices and it’s clear the Frosts have made choice to invest in property and a business, but not in private health insurance. The Maryland-administered version of the federal SCHIP program, by the way, does not impose an asset test on applicants.”

Now isn't this the same Malkin who has complained about hate mail and threats? Ironically she did this on the same day that Free Republic decided to post the Frost's' home address. Of course this is also the same Malkin who tries to act like she is concerned about children. Well we see how much she really "cares" now.

John Amato:

This is just sick, but not surprising coming from her. On 04/17/06---I broke the story that she posted the phone numbers of some UC Santa Cruz students over the issue of military recruitment on campus and they received a ton of death threats as a result. A few right wing bloggers were so appalled that they de-linked her.

She endangered the life of Jamil Hussein, when she tried to discredit this AP report. The AP then responded: "AP executive editor rips into bloggers who have now endangered Jamil Hussein's life."

Not to mention that she posted Cindy Sheehan's divorce records to smear her...more reactions to that here.

Digby has more:

This is so loathsome I am literally sick to my stomach. These kids were hurt in a car accident. Their parents could not afford health insurance --- and sure as hell couldn't get it now with a severely handicapped daughter. And these shrieking wingnut jackasses are harassing their family for publicly supporting the program that allowed the kids to get health care. A program, by the way, which a large number of these Republicans support as well.

They went after Michael J. Fox. They went after a wounded Iraq war veteran. Now they are going after handicapped kids. There is obviously no limit to how low these people will go...read on

UPDATE (below the fold):

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Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Hypocrite) is planning on introducing a resolution commending Rush Limbaugh if the resolution condemning him comes to the floor. He was on MSNBC to discuss his resolution and his views on the entire issue:

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Kingston seems very concerned now with first amendment issues. Ironically he didn't share this concern when the resolution condemning MoveOn was brought to the floor. He also is worried about the Congress "wasting time" on condemning Rush. Again - he wasn't concerned about Congress wasting time when they condemned MoveOn. It's amazing how concerns change once the tables are turned.

It looks like battle lines are drawn over conservative radio:

House Republicans are threatening to launch a discharge petition on legislation that would ensure the future prosperity of conservative radio talk-show hosts but is expected to face opposition from Democratic leaders. On Monday evening, Republicans filed a rule with the House Rules Committee laying the groundwork for a petition that would force action on protecting radio from government regulation later this fall.

As if that would be a shock to anyone, but it is worth mentioning. On CNN's In the Money, John Muleta, who is the founder and CEO of M2Z media was talking about the telecom giants trying to block his companies plans of providing free, high-speed, wireless internet to the entire nation.

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Muleta has been pushing for this for quite sometime now. He testified before Congress in May, and now his big hurdle is with the FCC. He is also collecting online signatures for his petition to Congress and the FCC, which you can sign here.

The benefits of this plan are great. I know the capitalistic mind always cringes at the word "free", but think of the boost such a service could offer to online retailers.

Another problem also made news this week. The Washington Post published an article talking about Comcast canceling subscribers account for "excessive usage":

Comcast has punished some transgressors by cutting off their Internet service, arguing that excessive downloaders hog Internet capacity and slow down the network for other customers. The company declines to reveal its download limits.

"You have no way of knowing how much is too much," said Sandra Spalletta of Rockville, whose Internet service was suspended in March after Comcast sent her a letter warning that she and her teenage son were using too much bandwidth. They cut back on downloads but were still disconnected. She said the company would not tell her how to monitor their bandwidth use in order to comply with the limits.

"You want to think you can rely on your home Internet service and not wake up one morning to find it turned off," said Spalletta, who filed a complaint with the Montgomery County Office of Cable and Communication Services. "I thought it was unlimited service."

In today's world of streaming media, news like this is very bad. We need better control of our internet, and control that doesn't hurt the consumer. The United States is quickly falling behind in offering quality, high-speed internet to all the nation. Actions like this just put us even further behind.

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The New York Times has the details:

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned. A senior administration official said he would announce the decision later this morning in Washington.

Mr. Gonzales, who had rebuffed calls for his resignation, submitted his to President Bush by telephone on Friday, the official said. His decision was not immediately announced, the official added, until after the president invited him and his wife to lunch at his ranch near here.

Read on.

It appears Susan Collins doesn't want to risk having a career ending blooper, like George "Macacca" Allen. One of her supporters posted this today on the Maine Web Report:

Markos Moulitsas’s hate-site The Daily Kos, the foul-mouthed fem-blog FiredogLake, and other ‘netroots’ extremists like MoveOn.org, have become the dominant fundraisers for Tom Allen’s senate campaign. This may be good news for Allen financially, but allowing these fringe fanatics to take over his campaign is creating a political atmosphere that will undoubtedly be rejected by Maine voters come next November.

Tom Allen’s involvement with these groups, particularly his participation in the website The Daily Kos, came onto the radar screen of Maine voters recently, as national media exposed a pattern of hateful, vulgar, and anti-semitic postings on the site. Now Allen’s extremist friends have landed on the ground in Maine, and are engaging in the same childish bullying campaign tactics that made Connecticut voters reject their attempts to unseat Senator Joe Lieberman in 2006.

The comments have been very interesting on MWR, especially this one:

(click the image to go to the actual comment)

Ironically this comment is still published on the site, more than 18 hours after it first appeared. What makes that so interesting is how Daily Kos is attacked in this article for a post which was deleted within minutes after it appeared.  

So is it an "extremist" position to take interest in your political party and try to get your people elected, or would it be considered "extremist" to wish for innocent Americans to die in a terrorist attack just so your party could maybe gain support? Perhaps Susan Collins could answer that.

And throw some cash Tom Allen's way if you can...

It really bothers Collins team.

On Morning Joe this morning, guest host Willie Geist was talking about the day of politics on MSNBC and that they will be talking about Rudy's daughter supporting Barack Obama., something co-host Nika Brzezinski doesn't think is a story:

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You would think that having a candidates’ own daughter support the opposition would be worth talking about, but I guess hot wives and cleavage is much more important.

From the AP:

The entire span of an interstate bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River during evening rush hour Wednesday, sending vehicles, tons of concrete and twisted metal crashing into the water.

The Interstate 35W bridge, which stretches between Minneapolis and St. Paul, was in the midst of being repaired when it broke into several huge sections.

The Homeland Security Department had received no indications Wednesday night that the collapse was related to an act of terrorism, department spokesman Russ Knocke said in Washington.

"We continue to monitor the situation. At this time, there's no indication of a nexus to terrorism," Knocke said....read on

(emphasis added)

The part I highlighted doesn't seem to be sitting well with Malkin:

DHS issued a statement that the collapse “does not appear to be an act of terrorism.” Isn’t it too early to say anything meaningful about what it “appears” to be? Couldn’t they maybe, I dunno, say nothing until they actually know something?

It appears she is upset that a chance to play into fear has been squashed. True she could be right. Perhaps it is terrorism- the terrorism of our collapsing infrastructure.

John Amato: Jamie, I never noticed Malkin doing that before...cough...cough...

During a hearing today about human rights, Congressman Donald Payne and Thomas Malinowski of Human Rights Watch smack Lieberman around on Iran and the damage he's doing:

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Congressman Donald Payne: I just wonder what do you think about the recent statement by the... I guess he's an 'independent' from Connecticut , Senator Lieberman, who has a bright idea -- let's just go bomb Iran. I mean, do you that's a good diplomatic tool to help us try to win over our people?

Thomas Malinowski of Human Rights Watch: Well, as I suggested in my testimony, I think if our goal is to unite the Iranian people with their leadership that's a really good way of doing it.