Net “Neutrailty”: neutering free speech
November 13, 2008
Joseph Shelton - Fotolia.com
“Net Neutrality,” a proposal which would by law move financial investment in internet infrastructure from free-market into government hands, is raising its ugly head once more.
Billed as a way to keep corporations from hindering free expression by limiting services to those who can pay, in effect it brings government into business of deciding what “neutral” means. Now, the same people who brought you “fair” and “equitable” standards for employment, workplace safety, environmental protection, offshore drilling and education would be judging “fair” and “neutral” on the internet.
It is supported by companies like Google, Yahoo, eBay and Amazon and organizations like MoveOn.org, Common Cause and Free Press also support Net Neutrality.
You might recall that Google has made major concessions to the government of China by instituting a censorship scheme in the Chinese version of its search engine which conformed to the demands of the communist leaders of that country.
Barack Obama, a proponent of Net Neutrality and has named Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, to his presidential transition team.
Phil Kerpen in a National Review Online article today explains how Net Neutrality could become a threat to free speech:
Vint Cerf, Google’s chief net-neutrality propagandist, agrees. Cerf calls for the effective nationalization of the Internet, arguing that “incentives could be provided that would render the Internet more like the public road system … not owned by the private sector,” with its use “essentially open to all.” Not only does the Internet in its current form work much better, and improve much more quickly, than government-run highways and railroads. But anyone who knows anything about highway and railroad contracts knows that large-scale infrastructure management by the government invites politically motivated deal-making as well as rampant fraud and abuse.
There are some who believe nationalization of the internet would be a useful way to restrict what they deem to be disinformation on the internet. Read more
Sphere: Related ContentObama Conspiracy? Maybe; Maybe not.
November 11, 2008
I don’t really like to gather in the group of conspiracy theorists who after losing an election (a la Bill Clinton) want to find something sinister in their opponents. This happens on both sides of the aisle in varying degrees. But in this new internet age which has emerged since the Clinton Administration, the following string of videos does give one pause regarding the upcoming Obama Administration.
“Obama to Rule?”
Obama Civilian Security
Obama: “Teach sex education to kindergartners”
Obama: “We are no longer a Christian Nation”
Obama on “Redistributive Justice” and The Warren Court “it wasn’t that radical”
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OpinionTimes.com official Electoral Map prediction
November 4, 2008
Yes, I have weeded through as many polls as I can, studied carefully all the various situations in each state, and I have come to the conclusion that we just don’t know what will happen today.
Clearly Barack Obama is the odds on favorite to become President on January 20, 2009. But there are trends out there which suggest that John McCain has some momentum coming into today. Here are some factors to consider as you watch the results come in tonight:
- Early Voting is becoming a more important factor in elections than ever. What was the mind of voters in the last month as they submitted their ballots? Did Obama’s strong lead during that time give him the edge? Did young voters vote in greater numbers? What was the ACORN effect if any?
- Will Pennsylvania materialize for McCain? If so, he still may not win the election.
- If Obama wins Florida or Ohio, the election is over. I don’t see any way for McCain to pull out a victory without these two states.
- But there is no guarantee McCain wins if he grabs Florida and Ohio. Virginia will likely fall into Obama’s hands. Then Pennsylvania becomes crucial for a McCain victory if he can pull out a surprise win in Colorado.
- Polls in Minnesota, which does not have substantial early voting, began to tighten this last week. McCain may have a chance there. If McCain wins a stunning upset in there, he will likely win the Presidency.
- Republican turnout will be better than expected. There is something happening which is organic in the conservative grassroots for which the media never accounts. And McCain’s campaign came so late into the grassroots game, their organization is merely riding the wave that the Sarah Palin nomination whipped up. This will bring Ohio and Florida into McCain’s grasp. Will it also bring states like Pennsylvania, Colorado and Virginia into play?
So, without further ado, here is my electoral map projecting Barack Obama grabs 291 electoral votes on his way to the White House. McCain gathers a respectable 247. But I am crossing my fingers for good things from Pennsylvania, Colorado and Virginia.
Click on the map to go to my Real Clear Politics Electoral Map page where you can play with the numbers yourself.
Click “read more” to see a larger version of the map
Sphere: Related ContentObama wants to build a “civilian national security force”
November 1, 2008
One must wonder what he means by the funding of a “civilian national security force.”
..and we wonder as well if voters are waking up to the huge government on its way if Obama becomes President.
It’s a far cry from Ronald Reagan.
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Are our Obama emotions getting the best of us?
November 1, 2008
I read Myth of the Rational Voter
If Caplan is correct, this voter represents the worst of his hypothesis.
With polling prior to Tuesday’s election indicating an Obama win, one wants to sit back and curse the Republicans who lead the Congress for the six years prior to 2006. But in actuality, the strong defeats in 2006 and the impending continued expansion of liberal governance in 2008 indicate an electorate seeking conservative solutions. Why else would the American public be on the verge of re-electing a Congress with the lowest approval ratings in the history of that stastic? It’s because no true conservative leader has arisen to lead a renewed passion for the principles of Ronald Reagan.
Barack Obama has brought passion (misguided though it may be) which the public dearly longs for. The woman above exemplifies the desire for that passion.
The answer to misguided, liberal programs being promoted by a well-spoken Messiah figure is well founded principles based in freedom promoted by someone who leads as a servant to ideals greater than him- or herself.
Sphere: Related ContentMcCain against the world
October 25, 2008
With polls showing disaster for John McCain, Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard puts things in perspective:
[W]e can only echo the words of the 30-year-old Abraham Lincoln. On December 26, 1839, responding to the confident prediction of one of his political opponents “that every State in the Union will vote for Mr. Van Buren at the next Presidential election” and that Lincoln’s opposition to the Van Buren forces was therefore bound to be in vain, Lincoln responded:
“Address that argument to cowards and to knaves; with the free and the brave it will effect nothing. It may be true; if it must, let it. . . . The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just. . . . Let none falter, who thinks he is right, and we may succeed. But if after all, we shall fail, be it so.”
As it happens, the Whig ticket Lincoln supported won that 1840 election. So might, against the odds, the party of Lincoln win this year.
Just another reason to stand firm and continue on.
Sphere: Related ContentWhy we should reject the bailout.
October 1, 2008
Senate version of bailout
October 1, 2008
Yes. We will continue to call the $700 billion plan to buy up bad debt from financial institutions a bailout. the Senate version has some notable changes to the failed House version which Club for Growth outlines.
- The SEC chairman has the authority to suspend Sarbanes/Oxley “mark to market” rules as he or she sees fit. It’s an improvement, but also opens the door for the current or future chairmen to play political favors.
- There is a temporary increase to $250,000 for the FDIC insurance cap.
Obama’s “Truth Squad”: prosecutors gone wild?
September 29, 2008
Jennifer Joyce is the Circuit Attorney for the City of Saint Louis, Missouri. She has an important role as the chief prosecutor in that historic town. She states it right on her website:
You deserve to live, work and play in a historically rich, culturally fertile and safe city that respects the rights of all people. As the Circuit Attorney for St. Louis City, I take my responsibility as your prosecutor very seriously. I have a fundamental belief as a public law enforcement leader, that I must utilize all of the resources available to me to hold people accountable for their actions.
And, by God, she is going to in that important Presidential bell-weather state. Now, I don’t use God’s name in vain here. Joyce herself, joined by fellow Obama supporter and Saint Louis County Circuit Attorney, Bob McCullough, wants to make the religious point here. They have set out on a mission to hold the McCain campaign “accountable” when it comes to telling the truth in campaign ads, and they want everyone to know that Barack Obama is a Christian and wants to lower taxes for people making less than $250,000 a year. Here’s what she said in a recent interview (video after):
We want to keep this campaign focused on issues. Missourians don’t want to be distracted by these divisive character attacks.
Well, one would be inclined to think that McCain-supporting Missourians want to keep the issues in center focus as well. Let’s do a bit of truth-squad work as a service to help Ms. Joyce and Mr. McCullough as they seek accuracy: Read more
Sphere: Related ContentOld-Time Religion
September 26, 2008
Wall Street Journal writer, Dan Henninger, notes the apolyptic tones in Washington over the current financial crisis and hears the strains of “Give Me That Old-Time Religion” coming from Congressmen on Capitol Hill. He says:
You can’t claim, as holier-than-thou politics is now, that sending an army of regulatory storm-troopers into Wall Street will ensure integrity in mere bankers who themselves come from a broader, anything-goes culture.
Listen to what Henninger has to say in a WSJ video interview. Read his article here.
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