Good night/morning. Yes, the world now waits on the FCC to see whether it will act to claim broad, unprecedented regulatory powers over the Internet, the pricing of services on it, as well as the content on it. Free Press is happy, of course, because that organization’s long-term goal is the total state control of all mass media.
They recognize the FCC’s so-called Net Neutrality plans for what they are. The rest of us must recognize the same, and get loud against the FCC to make others see, as well. And then we must get Republicans in the House fired up to make refudiating the FCC’s plans a top priority come January.
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I know it’s a big day for Net Neutrality when I wake up and my Email Inbox is jammed full with links, so many basically saying the same thing: The FCC is on the move. I’m told it all goes back to a November 15 speech by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, in which he expresses an urgency for the FCC to pass a bunch of new rules quickly. It’s a crisis, he says.
He then called out Google and Verizon, saying that their temerity to contribute to the debate “slowed down some other processes.” You see: the whole process of talking to industry is apparently a sham, and the only speech that counts is speech that leads the FCC closer to the Obama administration’s predetermined outcome.
And it’s that Net Neturality outcome we may be nearing after all. That’s the Red Alert.
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Good evening. I don’t know how I managed to do a Tech at Night on Friday night. Just barely I guess. Because I’ve been sick from Friday night on, though I was mostly alright today. And so we’re back in business.
And we’ll start with a note on more Internet control that the Barack Obama administration is mulling. Yes, again, the content of webpages is to be controlled under the Obama Presidency through DOJ bullying via the ADA. The fact is, if businesses are forced to make expensive changes to their websites, they may instead be forced to go out of business, killing jobs, driving innovation overseas, and creating a chilling effect across our economy.
This must not stand.
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Good morning. Last night Tech at Night didn’t quite come because I was not feeling well at all. But there’s stuff I want to highlight so this morning I’m going to make it happen. Here we go!
Want to be more like Europe? Well, in one way, we do: The EU has rejected Net Neutrality regulation as unnecessary. The EU’s equivalent of an FCC Chairman says “We should allow network operators and services and content providers to explore innovative business models.”
Can we actually stand to be more regulated than Europe, and drive innovation across the Atlantic? I don’t think so. We absolutely cannot tolerate proposals like this to force AT&T, Verizon, and others to open their wireless networks to each other, essentially partially nationalizing and socializing a major part of our telecommunications infrastructure going forward.
I can think of no better way to kill the wonderful wireless revolution we have going on, and end investment in it, than to turn everyone into free riders off of each other. This would devastate rural Internet access by creating a tragedy of the commons out there. We cannot let this happen.
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Apparently some students are offended by the sight of the US flag. I have a message for them.
Good evening. Even as Google tonight wins some recognition from conservatives for its observing Veterans day on the search homepage, the firm is still under fire. As Machiavelli warned, become the big guy and everyone turns on you. Now it’s the big television networks going after Google. Specifically, they’re blocking Google TV from watching streams of their shows. Fox has since joined the blockade I believe.
This strikes me as a scared overreaction, and a poorly thought out one at that. As soon as Google TV’s User Agent is changed to match a desktop browser, the blockade is history and there’s nothing the networks can do about that.
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Good evening. Apologies again for missing two of three Tech at Night episodes last week. I can only plead an overabundance of desire for the weekend causing me to be forgetful on Friday. But that just means we have more to look at tonight, so let’s go.
Yes, the forces of Net Neutrality Internet regulation were beaten badly last week. How badly? We already knew that All 95 PCCC Net Neutrality Pledge signers lost, but on top of that, the PCCC itself raised only $300 on the cause. Even if every donor gave only one dollar, that’s the sign of a failing fringe movement, not a popular position with broad, bipartisan support.
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Here are the the last 60 years’ worth of midterm losses, going back to the second Truman midterm, according to Wikipedia for election-on-election losses, which is the standard I use all around. For 2010 I’m using the current CNN projection of a 65 seat Republican gain and a 243 R – 192 D House. Click for full size goodness.
Congratulations, Mister President.
The time has come for the Senate Republicans to begin thinking about what to do with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which this last cycle was run by Senator John Cornyn along with bureaucrat Rob Jesmer. Before any Republican endorses that team to go ahead and run the committee for another cycle, I urge them to consider alternatives.
The NRSC has the name and the databases to be a tremendous force for good for the party, much as the RGA was this cycle. But to do so it has to make the right decisions with those resources that it has. I submit that it could have done much better this year.
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My Sega Master System broke back in the day, very sadly, and I never had a Genesis, so the whole Sonic the Hedgehog thing passed me by. Well, there was a brief experimentation with Jazz Jackrabbit, but it was very brief.
So when I tried Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, I came to it with fresh eyes. I had no preconceptions of the series and I gave it a good, honest try, taking some time to get familiar with the way the game is supposed to be played. And so, my total dissatisfaction with the game I believe I came to fairly.
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