Word on the street is that FCC Chair Tom Wheeler has revised somewhat his pay-for-play plan to make the internet more like cable TV -- by "mak(ing) clear that the FCC will scrutinize the deals to make sure that the broadband providers don't unfairly put nonpaying companies' content at a disadvantage," though I don't know how that's different from his original proposal, while also seeking additional comment on whether "paid prioritization" agreements should be banned and on whether the FCC should reclassify broadband as a public utility. He needs additional comment on these matters? We have told him literally millions of times! Plus he would create an ombudsman "to advocate on behalf of startups," because when a situation demands you cut the crap, of course you should really just add more bureaucracy. He really thinks we are stupid. But what he thinks about us is worthless -- we'll just keep telling him and telling him until he sees fit to reveal that he is not, in fact, a potted plant. Free Press helps you call Tom Wheeler at 1.202.418.1000. Seriously, additional comment? How do they always find someone even worse?
Meanwhile, Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame joins with Roots Action to help you tell President Obama and Attorney General Holder to stop trying to force New York Times reporter James Risen to reveal a confidential source. In Mr. Risen's 2006 book State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration, we learned -- among other things! -- that "Operation Merlin," a Bush Mobb plan to undermine Iranian desires to build nuclear weapons, was, to put it kindly, comically incompetent. The identity of Mr. Risen's source for this information has been the subject of at least one court case since then, and now the Obama Administration wants the source's identity; Mr. Risen could face some serious jail time if he doesn't give it up, and to his credit, he says he won't give it up. But think about the prospect of our government forcing a whistleblower out into the open because he or she spoke to a reporter about how badly our government screwed up a foreign policy initiative. Who will ever speak to a reporter about government malfeasance again? It's almost like that's the idea.
Comments