Not a Win, But...
Check out Daily Kos for more, but here's the net neutrality update. Keep an eye on this story...
"The Energy and Commerce Committee has had its vote on Congressman Markey's amendment to save the Internet, and we lost, 22-34. But it's not a total loss. The four Representatives
targeted in my previous post all flipped, and voted for the Markey amendment. As Matt Stoller
notes, the subcommittee defeated it 23-8, so that we narrowed the margin as much as we did is significant."
Thanks to all who called - and prepare to do so again when this turkey shows up in the Senate.
Remember your cable bill and vent accordingly.
-- DC Native
Save the Internet TODAY
Sorry. No time to find a cute photo for this one. Shown the way by
Daily Kos, I see that the end of free internet is in sight - something I've been afraid of for a long time. Cable deregulation went so well for the consumer, I knew it was only a matter of time until Big Business would want to rape internet customers, too. And of course, the mainstream media doesn't like the competition, so they're not reporting on it. For discussion of the topic, go to Daily Kos and read around. For more details, go to
http://www.savetheinternet.org/ and read on. It will tell you there how your reps are voting.
But most importantly,
call your representative TODAY. Action could be happening as early as 4/26, which seems to be... TODAY.
Click
here to find your congressional rep's number. I called Greg Walden and they were very pleasant, especially considering he disagrees with me.
Call. It's fun! Exercise your rights, damn it! Flex your American citizen muscle before it atrophies!!
Now, cribbed from the Save the Internet site... note another Orwellian name for legislation. How can I get into THAT writing job? I'd love to come up with names like this that mean the exact opposite of what they do. It would be quite a challenge...:
"Congress is now considering a major overhaul of the Telecommunications Act. The primary bill in the House is called the
"Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006" and is sponsored by Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas), Rep Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Rep. Charles Pickering (R-Miss.) and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.).
Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the Internet's First Amendment -- a principle called "Network neutrality" that prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work best for you -- based on what site pays them the most. Your local library shouldn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to have its Web site open quickly on your computer.
Who wants to get rid of net neutrality? The nation's largest telephone and cable companies — including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner — want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all.
They want to tax content providers to guarantee speedy delivery of their data. They want to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, Internet phone services, and streaming video — while slowing down or blocking their competitors.
These companies have a new vision for the Internet. Instead of an even playing field, they want to reserve express lanes for their own content and services — or those from big corporations that can afford the steep tolls — and a leave the rest of us on a winding dirt road.
What's at stake?Decisions being made now will shape the future of the Internet for a generation. Before long, all media — TV, phone and the Web — will come to your home via the same broadband connection.
The dispute over net neutrality is about who'll control access to new and emerging technologies.
On the Internet, consumers are in ultimate control — deciding between content, applications and services available anywhere, no matter who owns the network. There's no middleman. But without net neutrality, the Internet will look more like cable TV. Network owners will decide which channels, content and applications are available; consumers will have to choose from their menu."
Sounds lovely, don't it? And this isn't one of those internet hoaxes going around. I swear.
As one commenter on Daily Kos said, "You don't even have to get off your a** to do it! Do it!"'
Thanks.
-- DC Native
They're Getting Away With It
There's nothing like good writing in
the National Journal to get me hot and bothered. The latest issue includes an article by Murray Waas called "Insulating Bush." It starts:
"Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, cautioned other White House aides in the summer of 2003 that Bush's 2004 re-election prospects would be severely damaged if it was publicly disclosed that he had been personally warned that a key rationale for going to war had been challenged within the administration..."
It tells of the delaying tactics and obfuscation used by Condi and the gang to hide the fact that Bush knew it was bullshit to say that Saddam Hussein had been importing high-strength aluminum tubes to build a nuclear weapon. But that became one of the key issues -- along with the fake attempt by Iraq to buy yellow-cake from Niger -- that Bush used to lie our way into war. The article lays out the long trail of evidence that the White House engaged in serious, well, "lying" is the only word for it, to try to insulate the President and preserve his deniability on the story.
All this lying and moving around the shells on the card table just to get past the 2004 elections.
Now this alone wouldn't get me that pissed off. I mean, lying? Come on. This is politics. High stakes money is involved. People's CAREERS are on the line - of course lying is required. Right?
But then I think back on how the White House also got
the NY Times to delay reporting on the domestic wiretapping story until after the November elections. And how they've gotten Scooter Libby's trial delayed until after THIS November's elections... and on and on it goes.
They're playing the game by changing the rules and you know what? That's a really easy way to win, especially when the other team doesn't want to upset the apple cart. It would be too complicated for them to explain this all to the simple American public, wouldn't it?
No, actually it wouldn't be. It might take a little effort, but anybody who's ever had a deadline understands the concept of having that deadline delayed and delayed and delayed. And most Americans can be trusted to understand that we have these little things called ELECTIONS the first week of every other November... with a really big one happening every FOUR years intead of two. I trust my fellow citizens to still be with me.
What scares me is that they're getting desperate now. Today Bush's poll numbers were positively nu-cu-lar. His approval rating: 32%. (Oddly, he got 47% "yes" and 47% "no" on the question, "is he competent?" - a split I don't understand in the context of his approval rating...).
But what scares me is how dangerous these guys will get when they're backed into a corner. His plane seems to be in a death spiral and I wouldn't put it past him and his coterie of whip-crackers to stir up a little somethin' in Iran to pull them out of it. After all, how could we vote out our loyal representatives in November if we need them on Capitol Hill staying nice and focused on getting us out of the NEXT war?
Iraq. Iran. Next up: the IRA. We're having luck with that letter combo. (Ixnay on the Anistan-Gay.)
They've gotten away with all of this incredibly dangerous, planet and civilization-threatening lunacy this far -- because NOBODY'S PAYING ATTENTION TO THE IMPORTANT STUFF.
Will somebody stop letting them move the finish line past November for anything important to happen? Please. People. Stop them. Wake everybody around you up. Go read
National Journal - after you read Sy Hersh in
the New Yorker last week.
A reporter told a friend of mine in DC her belief that Bush got us into Iraq because he thought only wartime presidents would be remembered. I wouldn't put it past him to bomb Iran for the very same reason ("Mo' often, mo' bettah!," as my friend Wayne would say).
The thing he doesn't care about is whether or not any of us are left alive to read the history books that will extoll his many virtues.
Stop him now.
Let's roll.
Need Help with Gas??
No, I'm not talking about the digestive kind, though judging by TV ads during the evening news, there are a lot of people who could use that kind of help. What's up with all that indigestion, bloating and constipation, people? Here are two words: Go vegetarian. Trust me. You'll have no digestive problems and conveniently avoid both mad cow disease and the bird flu, perhaps.
I guess that makes this two public service announcements. The latter comes on the heels of some wise words from our Fearmongering Leader. He's the one who's a uniter, not a divider. But today, he's a
DECIDER.
He's also a big brain on
gas. He's swears he's gonna keep a close eye on them prices. To make sure his campaign contributors stay fat and happy, I guess.
On a less snarky note: my public service today is this
link to help you find the cheapest gas in your 'hood.
If this were any other country in the world (especially France), the streets would be filled with angry citizens demanding lower profits for the oil companies (read: raping the American public) and more help for us.
But we're not, so this is my attempt at personal revolution.
-- DC Native
Are You a Typical American?
Or are you hiding behind a disguise you're not even aware of?
I found these stats, from analysis of recent polling data by a Univ of Washington communications professor, enlightening. He was teaching a workshop on communicating for environmental groups and was tackling the topic of who our audience is. He asked the group to respond to the following questions:
- How many of us listen to NPR on a regular basis?
- How many of us buy coffee at coffee shops at least once a week?
- How many of us regularly shop at Wal-Mart?
Not surprisingly, every hand in the room went up for the first two questions. None for the last. It was a lesson in how much we differ from most of our fellow citizens. Their answers:
- NPR listeners: only 16% of the country
- Coffee shop customers: only 10%
- Regular Wal-Mart customers: 84%
More proof of how important it is to remember not everyone thinks like us or can immediately be assumed to share our priorities. And perhaps a reminder that lattes are not required to get through the day, as much as we may enjoy them.
Bad, Bad Hollywood
The Mouse, inflicting punishment.Every once in awhile, I think I was stupid to leave Hollywood. After all, I was on a certain job path (see "Swimming with Sharks"). Maybe if I'd been able to put up with all the B.S., I'd be rich by now and be able to afford the early retirement I'd be forced into due to my having lived past the age of 40.
Then I read articles like
this one from today's NY Times.
" F.B.I. Links Big Film Names to a Detective By
DAVID M. HALBFINGER and ALLISON HOPE WEINER
LOS ANGELES, April 13 — The chairman of Paramount Pictures and a onetime Hollywood superagent had far more direct dealings than they have acknowledged publicly with the celebrity detective at the center of a rapidly expanding wiretapping scandal, according to government evidence.
Brad Grey, Paramount's chairman, told the
F.B.I. that he spoke with Anthony Pellicano about two lawsuits in which Mr. Pellicano, a private detective, was working on Mr. Grey's behalf, and that he learned information about his legal opponents directly from Mr. Pellicano. A former employee of Mr. Pellicano, who was charged in February with wiretapping and conspiracy, separately told the F.B.I. that Mr. Grey had met with the detective at least five times.
Publicly, Mr. Grey has said that he was only "casually acquainted" with Mr. Pellicano, and that his lawyers were responsible for hiring and overseeing the detective.
Michael S. Ovitz, a former talent agent and Hollywood powerhouse who served as the head of the Creative Artists Agency and was once president of the
Walt Disney Company, acknowledged to the F.B.I. that he paid Mr. Pellicano in April or May of 2002 to obtain information on 15 to 20 people who were saying negative things about him. They included former business associates and Bernard Weinraub, then a reporter for The
New York Times who was reporting on the demise of a company Mr. Ovitz started after he left Disney, and Anita Busch, a freelance reporter who wrote with Mr. Weinraub..."
It goes on to implicate Bert Fields, one of Tinseltown's most powerful lawyers - and coincidentally, my former boss's lawyer when he was suing the TV show he was fired from. I never heard about anything like what the article alleges, but just from being around these guys, you know they're capable of anything (see "The Player").
I had a friend who couldn't stand working for the team on Seinfeld (Exec Producer, Brad Grey) and left in the first season. We always thought, in hindsight, she made a huge mistake, but stories like this remind me just how hard it can be to hang out in that crowd. Especially if you're not one of the boys.
So, on this Good Friday, I will stifle my urge for schandefreude (sp?) and instead light a candle for their salvation.
Friday Entertainment
From an old news story, but a good 'un. When you
play the game, make sure the cursor is in the top half of the page and brings up a target, then remember to hit the space bar to reload. Ahhhh... Oddly satisfying. Glad to be of service.
-- DC Native
City Mouse Back in a City
Downtown Seattle.
There's just nothing like a city. Maybe that's why I lament my inability to afford living in one, but at least they're great to visit.
My blog pause was due to a trip to Portland and Seattle, both great working port cities. Big cities in the Pacific Northwest are different beasts from those on the East Coast. At least from what I've seen so far. There's a scale to them that's just HUGE-r. Except for Seattle's streets, which seem much too narrow for the size of everybody's cars these days.
I think what I miss most is the culture of neighborhoods. Where I live has some neighborhood definition, but nothing to write home about. It's just different flavors of hippy. Seattle and Portland have distinct areas with their own looks and stores and specialties. They also have people who aren't white, which is something I really miss.
Seeing working port cities doing their thing also puts a lot of the issues of the West in perspective. You understand why there are such controversies on things like the environment and extraction industries. The stakes are huge for all sides and it can be a zero-sum game. If one side wins, the other side can lose big.
Politics and all its repercussions are intensely local here, which may be why so many distrust government. I'm still not sure where the line is between the Western "independent voter" and your average conspiracy theorist. The wide open spaces have been a broad canvas for an understanding of How Things Work that is unlike New York and DC - even L.A. (which basically is an East Coast city that happens to be on the West Coast).
But essentials - coffee, traffic, boutiques, street musicians, homeless, restaurants... and the occasional porn store -- all seem familiar. It's a fix I need in between my months at home, in the Valley, with the lonesome whistle of the train blowing across at 2:30, 3:30 and 5:30... am and pm...
The spark of the occasional city wakes me up.
Oh pleasepleaseplease...
One classy anchor broad.My heart is lightened this morning with news that I may soon be able to watch The Today Show again in the mornings. Katie Couric may finally be leaving. Hall-e-LUJAH.
The woman who perfected the role of perky emotional parasite will surely be paid a lot of money to move on. Good for her. Good for all of us.
I don't know anyone in recent years who hasn't wanted to kick Katie's teeth in when she interviews the family of a murder victim the day after the crime. "How did it make you feel to see your daughter's mutilated body, Susan?" and other such stellar examples of humanity.
Now, I'll have to admit that I once interviewed the victims and widow/widowers of people who'd been shot in one of the first office building massacres in San Francisco. This was about 12 years ago and I was writing the direct mail campaign for a candidate in the Bay Area who was for gun control. I had my Katie Couric moments where I had to ask some of them, "So what does it feel like to be shot by an automatic weapon?" Amazingly, they answered calmly and with a cool clarity that may have been because some time had passed between the incident and the retelling. Or maybe it was that they were choosing to use their pain to make a difference - to elect a candidate who might stop madmen from being able to get guns and use them on others as they had had they used on them.
That campaign won awards for best congressional race that year. The interviews turned into something quite moving and real, but unfortunately, something that didn't win the race for the candidate.
So I cop to the fact that I've had to use people for a purpose too, but the subjects of my interview were able to make sound judgments to be used. What always bugs me about Katie and her ilk is that they ambulance chase. I always wonder what it's like to be in the houses of the victims' families that awful next day when you're dealing with morgues and coroners and police and funeral homes... and have the phone ring and it's some young perky producer from the Today Show trying to schmooze you with a sense of caring while getting you to commit to being up and in makeup at 5 am your time the next day for an interview on national TV.
In my imagination, it's a crime in and of itself. Using you while your wounds are still so fresh you don't know what you want, except to get through today, or to turn back the clock.
And you don't realize til the lights and cameras go off that there's no price you can pay, no public humiliation or pleading too bare, to get you what you want. But at least you will have given Katie good ratings.
Good bye and good riddance, Katie.
Announcing My DC Mayor-in-Exile Campaign
The candidate. A few years ago.
For Immediate Release
April 1, 2006
D.C. Native Runs for Mayor-in-Exile Post
Blogger Says City's Future Lies in the Hands of Those Who've Left
(The blogosphere... the part in OR) - Blogger "D.C. Native" announced today her candidacy for Washington, D.C.'s Mayor-in-Exile, a post that represents District residents who've been forced out of their hometown by a deadly combination of rising housing prices, incessant political viotriol, and the loss of the city's middle class.
"I've never seen it this bad before," said the fourth generation native Washingtonian. "I hated to leave D.C., but I'm not willing to make myself a slave to a housing market gone crazy. There are easier places to live where we can work from afar to help the District."
The blogger is running on the "Save Our City" platform, which includes a "Stop Murder" plank, a "Reclaim Our Name" plank and one very worn but sturdy "How 'Bout Some Representation with that High Taxation?" plank.
"Let the candidates who live in D.C. keep fiddling with the school board and the baseball stadium. A candidate like me who lives far from the Beltway can see the broader picture," said D.C. Native. "And with a campaign purely done through blogs, I don't need the rich backers of every other politician. My motives will stay clean: I want to save my city."
Currently running unopposed, the candidate feels pretty confident about her chances on Election Day. She's keeping an eye on Marion Barry, though.
Follow the campaign's developments by visiting: http://politricksetc.blogspot.com.
