Ted Cruz Continues Fight Against Al Franken on Net Neutrality

I dislike everything about Senator Ted Cruz. Superficially, I'm annoyed by his perpetually creepy face and his annoying, mosquito-buzzing-by-your-ear voice. More seriously, it pisses me off how he plays to his base. But does he believe his own patter? Is he a patronizing douche, who calculatedly throws red meat to the savages? Or is he an egotistical ignoramus who believes that whatever claptrap falls out of his mouth is the truth?

Say what you want about Senator Al Franken, but he's genuine. He knows what he's talking about, and he believes in what he's saying. In the case of Net Neutrality, Franken--who has championed the idea for years--is explaining what it is, in reality. Ted Cruz calls it "ObamaCare for the Internet," and makes rotary phone analogies, neither of which makes a lick of sense in regard to the subject. Cruz is outmatched here, but to paraphrase President Obama again, "Please proceed, Senator."

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Ted Cruz Hits Back At Al Franken On Net Neutrality

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) responded on Monday to comments made by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) about net neutrality, the latest exchange in what is becoming an ongoing, public back-and-forth. The debate began when Cruz dubbed the concept "Obamacare for the Internet." Franken said in an interview on Sunday that Cruz has no idea what he's talking about. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

John Oliver Explains Net Neutrality

John Oliver is quite right. The problem with getting people energized about Net Neutrality, is that it is always so boring to listen to the details. It isn't remotely sexy. But here, Oliver gets the point across in a way that isn't boring, and gives you the details on how to do something about it.

 

Sen. Al Franken Champions Net Neutrality

For as long as I've known of the term, "Net Neutrality" has not been a partisan issue, and has been nearly unanimously thought of as a good thing.  Net Neutrality would ensure that big corporations can't subdivide the internet into categories like cable television; no basic, extended and premium delivery.  Going to Greenlee Gazette should be just as fast and easy as going to any big corporation's site.  

Lately though, as every issue seems to do these days, there's a partisan fight a-brewin'. Anti-neutrality arguments are now being made, turning the tables, saying that Net Neutrality amounts to "government regulation." Some paranoids assign more sinister motives, and claim that President Obama is "taking over" the internet. Whatever.  With all of the non-troversies coming from the right these days, I don't think I'm going to let them sway me without proof. For now, I'm gonna go with Senator Al Franken's take on this.  Because he's good enough, he's smart enough. . .

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Franken talks net neutrality as FCC visits Minneapolis

Sen. Al Franken spoke out on net neutrality ahead of a Minnesota visit by officials from the Federal Communications Commission to discuss the same issue. The FCC will hold a hearing at South High School in Minneapolis at 6 pm tonight. Franken said on Tuesday that if telecoms have their way, consumers will end up paying much more and have less open access to the internet. . .

Read more at: Minneapolis Independent

Sen. Al Franken at Netroots, on Corporations and Net Neutrality

Good stuff.

Comcast Plays Dirty at Net Neutrality Hearing

Photo from source, Boston Daily Blog

Net neutrality as an issue, if you're not aware, is an effort to prevent big telecom companies from dividing the internet into tiers. What would a tiered internet mean? It means that if you pay more, you get priority "first class" internet, and if you don't, you fly coach. Or something. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that whatever these companies do, it's probably not in the interest of the little guy. I'd say that's a pretty safe bet.

So is it really surprising that Comcast--one of the biggest of the big--stuffed a Congressional hearing on the matter with paid seat fillers, in order to prevent interested parties from getting a seat?

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Reason 6,571 Why We Dislike Comcast

. . .Comcast spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury said that the company paid some people to arrive early and hold places in the queue for local Comcast employees who wanted to attend the hearing.

Some of those placeholders, however, did more than wait in line: They filled many of the seats at the meeting, according to eyewitnesses. As a result, scores of Comcast critics and other members of the public were denied entry because the room filled up well before the beginning of the hearing. . .

Read more at: Boston Daily Blog

And another take here: Beta News