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Net Neutrality newsflash:
It's dangerous, and you can help stop it |
by Helen & Harry Highwater, Unknown News
July 3, 2006
Unknown News readers urged ... urged ... to support a Net Neutrality filibuster today ... as in, right now! Plus, we really mean it!
Quick recap so far: Recent telecommunications legislation has included a provision that
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In other words, websites by everyday people -- like ours, and like all our favorites and probably all your favorites -- would become much more difficult to access. It would destroy the democratizing nature of the internet, turning it into what TV and newspapers have become: an outlet which only gives voice to large corporations.
Without "Net Neutrality," small-scale, personal websites would be as difficult to find as small-scale, personal television stations and small-scale, personal radio stations and small-scale, personal newspapers.
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Without "Net Neutrality," small-scale, personal websites would be as difficult to find as small-scale, personal television stations and small-scale, personal radio stations and small-scale, personal newspapers.
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There's much more than this at Unknown News.
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A telecom bill that would kill Net Neutrality -- read, kill equal access to the internet -- has already passed the House and is currently being debated in the Senate.
This week, there were two big developments in the Senate. First, the bad news: an amendment to the bad legislation which would have preserved Net Neutrality lost by one lousy vote.
So now, the good news. It looks like Senator Ron Wyden and other Democrats may try to filibuster the telecom legislation until the part of the legislation ending Net Neutrality is removed from the bill. (Woo-hoo!) Wyden says that the anti-Net Neutrality camp does not have the 40 votes to break a filibuster. Several Republicans have come out in favor of Net Neutrality, and lots of Dems are at least saying the right things to make it sound like they might actually show some backbone this time.
We encourage our readers to contact their Congress people from time to time. But if you are ever going to take one of our suggestions to contact your Senator, we’re asking you to do it now. Also, for once please make a little bit of an ass of yourself and email a couple friends asking them to do the same. We need anyone who’s reading this website and would like it to continue to exist to make your voice heard in Washington. Let them know that the Net Neutrality filibuster has widespread support. This is not just overheated rhetoric -- if Net Neutrality is eliminated, the Internet will be permanently changed, and very much for the worse.
We think a lot of our Democratic politicians would like to do the right thing, but they’re not used to standing up to big money and acting like they represent normal Americans. But even the most anti-democratic of our Democrats are starting to figure out that the NetRoots have real power … and that strong online support can make the Democratic party stronger than it’s been in decades. It’s up to us to force our Democrat (and moderate Republican) legislators to act in our best interest … and their own.
After you have contacted your Senator or donated some money to the groups supporting net neutrality, here’s a bonus link: A hilarious explanation of Net Neutrality by our new favorite homemade video guy, Ask-A-Ninja. But no peeking at the hilariousness until you take action first! I mean it, people! Don’t make me come over there.
© by the authors.
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This is an archived Unknown News page. For newest material, visit our main page.
I can't afford therapy, but boy do I need it. So as an affordable alternative, I pound my anger into a weekly column here.
Fair warning: My parents were repressed -- using any bad words would get my mouth washed out with soap, literally. I still remember the sickly flavor of DoveTM. So as an adult, vulgarity helps with the healing. If naughty language offends you, beat the rush and get offended now.
This page is for my own good, not yours, so you may not like it, but I don't care.
About the authors
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Helen and Harry Highwater have published Unknown News since 1997. We're a married couple sharing a byline à la Lennon and McCartney, and "I" can be either of us, or both of us. If you're consumed by curiosity, it's safe to assume the more boisterous and aggressive bits come from Helen, and anything ladylike or demure is probably Harry's work.
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We appreciate the heck out of everyone who helps.
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Previous articles by Helen & Harry Highwater:
For the robber-baron right-wing, illegal immigration works
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Another day of distractions
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Judge Judy, George Bush, and nineteen nutballs with boxcutters
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Cutbacks coming
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Asleep all over America
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Comparing Bush and Hitler, and the monsters behind the curtain
by Helen & Harry Highwater
CNN is committing treason
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Is the President an adult?
by Helen & Harry Highwater
We interrupt the bad news for a brief pep talk
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Stand up for something, damn it
by Helen & Harry Highwater
What kind of 'patriot' supports a tyrant?
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Time to oppose the phony opposition
by Helen & Harry Highwater
President Charles Manson
by Helen & Harry Highwater
What's for dinner at the Hanoi Hilton?
by Helen & Harry Highwater
The bully at the bully pulpit
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Truth or dare, America
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Bush administration spying targets reporters, activists
by Helen & Harry Highwater
No, Virginia,
we're not libertarians
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Letter to the editor
by Proud American, with a response from Helen & Harry Highwater
A whisper of optimism
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Muhammad Ali is a scumbag
by Helen & Harry Highwater
On behalf of God Himself, I endorse Alito for Supreme Court
by Helen & Harry Highwater, as Jerry Falwell
The old guy in a sweatshirt
by Helen & Harry Highwater
The emperor wears no mental clothes
by Helen & Harry Highwater
I'm filing bankruptcy
by Helen Highwater
Our long national nightmare is just beginning
by Helen & Harry Highwater
"Mission accomplished" for FEMA
by Harry Highwater
Police roadblock freedom in America
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Our phone number
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Fuck you, George W. Bush
by Helen & Harry Highwater
A forgotten man, one of many
by Helen & Harry Highwater
The daily compromise
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Are you for freedom, or against it?
by Helen & Harry Highwater
The unspoken subtext of Karl Rove's treason:
Support your local CIA
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Cabbages don't count
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Back to basics: Question authority
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Anatomy of another lie
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Constipated and liquefied logic
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Be careful crossing the street, ya damn kids!
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Monsters in America,
from Deep Throat to James Watt to Christopher Cox
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Mainstream media:
Completely on board with Bush administration lies
by Helen & Harry Highwater
A Pope to be ashamed of
by Helen & Harry Highwater
What can we do about the stolen election?
by Atomicktom and
Helen & Harry Highwater
The President who cried "wolf!"
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Defeating terrorists without wars
by Helen & Harry Highwater
If you're not for Bush, you're French ... or al Qaeda
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Rescuing America from tyranny
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Separation of church and state
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Who would Jesus vote for?
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Godless hippie scumbag
traitors who hate the troops
by Helen & Harry Highwater
To tell the truth
by Helen & Harry Highwater
What kind of bloody savages
would kill people and drag
their corpses along the road?
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Our serial killer nation
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Judging Judging Amy
by Helen & Harry Highwater
An apology and an endorsement
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Rights, responsibilities, and acknowledgement
by Peace-Thru-Reason and
Helen & Harry Highwater
Los Angeles Times memo orders reporters to fudge the truth
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Our perspective on Terri Schiavo
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Who deserves freedom of speech? And who doesn't?
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Two years of lies about Sept. 11
The new Warren Commission
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Criticizing Israel
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Is it terrorism to be a patriot?
Or is it just like Red Dawn, only with turbans?
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Bush knocks on Armageddon's back door
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Why I won't be at the victory parade
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Company fined $6,000 for
answering customer's questions
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Clint Eastwood, and US foreign policy
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Do you love America? Do you?
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Google refuses our ad
by Helen & Harry Highwater
Reasonable deaths in a nonsense war
by Helen & Harry Highwater
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