Abbey Lincoln

R.I.P.

1930 - 2010

Net Neutrality

Another broken promise?

Some in Silicon Valley are responding to the Google-Verizon pact on net neutrality, and they aren’t pleased.

Facebook, a member of the Open Internet Coalition, said it doesn’t support the legislative proposal. Google is also a member of the coalition, and is facing criticism for what looks like a retreat from previous principles.

“Facebook continues to support principles of net neutrality for both landline and wireless networks,” said spokesman Andrew Noyes in a statement. “Preserving an open Internet that is accessible to innovators -- regardless of their size or wealth -- will promote a vibrant and competitive marketplace where consumers have ultimate control over the content and services delivered through their Internet connections.”

Amazon.com has recently said it can support co-location of servers, where content companies like it and Google pay more to be closer to their customers. This provides faster delivery of their content and services.

But it isn't for the idea of managed services – carving out parts of Verizon’s broadband pipe to give out to the highest bidder (for example, if streaming Netflix on FiOs, chargingn consumers for the better quality).

"We've long supported net neutrality and although we agree that network operators should be allowed to offer additional services, we are concerned that this proposal appears to condone services that could harm consumer Internet access," Amazon said in a statement.

Patricia Neal

R.I.P.

1926 – 2010

Matt Simmons

R.I.P.

1943 - 2010

Wishing Her and the SCOTUS the Best

Kagan confirmed 63 to 37.

Minerals Management Services Redux

Follow-up story re Alaska:

On June 15th, as BP's catastrophic spill in the Gulf neared its third month, President Obama addressed the nation from the Oval Office. His administration, he assured the American people, would not let such a disaster happen again. He had put an indefinite hold on plans to open up new coastal areas, including Florida and Virginia, to offshore exploration. And he had frozen all new permits to drill in deep waters for six months, to give a blue-ribbon commission time to study the disaster. "We need better regulations, better safety standards and better enforcement," the president insisted.

But Obama's tough-guy act offers no guarantee that oil giants like BP won't be permitted to repeat the same mistakes that led to the nightmare in the Gulf. Indeed, top environmentalists warn, the suspension of drilling appears to be little more than a stalling tactic designed to let public anger over BP's spill subside before giving Big Oil the go-ahead to drill in an area that has long been off-limits: the Arctic Ocean. The administration has approved plans by both BP and Shell Oil to drill a total of 11 wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas above Alaska — waters far more remote and hostile than the Gulf. Shell's operations could proceed as soon as the president's suspension expires in January. And thanks to an odd twist in its rig design, BP's drilling in the Arctic is on track to get the green light as soon as this fall.

MMS has become Salazar’s and Obama’s swamp now!

Catch Up!

Tuli Kupferberg

R.I.P.

1923 – 2010

The Very Rev. Walter Hawkins

R.I.P.

1949 – 2010

Finally!

The Office of Thrift Supervision is going to be closed down!

This is not News on Fox

It was one of Mr. Breitbart’s Web sites, BigGovernment, that highlighted the heavily edited video clip of Shirley Sherrod, a black official at the Department of Agriculture, apparently saying that she had been biased against a white farmer she was supposed to help. Ms. Sherrod’s full speech actually demonstrated the opposite, but do not expect Mr. Breitbart to be embarrassed.

He says there is an election-year strategy under way to “falsely malign opponents of the Democratic party as racist” and that he will continue to fight it.

“It’s warfare out there,” he said in an interview on Sunday.

The “warfare” is happening partly in the conservative media, where Mr. Breitbart has shown an uncanny ability to play on the issue of race and have it amplified on news shows, talk shows and blogs. The Sherrod episode is hardly the first charge of reverse racism that has been raised by conservative media figures, nor the first that Mr. Breitbart has had a hand in.

But it is an open question whether conservative media outlets risk damage to their credibility when obscure or misleading stories are blown out of proportion and when what amounts to political opposition research is presented as news.

The New Normal

What Bob Herbert says!

Job Killing Tax “Increases”

So, letting the tax cuts for the top 1% expire will kill jobs because these guys create the jobs. Where are all the jobs they created in the last 10 years when they reaped the reward of those job creating tax cuts?

Just asking?

Bob Herbert takes a look at this and doesn’t like what he sees!

Of Course!

In a landmark victory for gay rights, a federal judge on Wednesday declared California’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker struck down Proposition 8 — the 2008 ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage — in a 136-page ruling that about 3:30 p.m. Dallas time.