WHAT THE HELL?!

[EvB]

There are (at least) two bills being bandied about on the hill that are nucking FUTS!



ONE relates to Internet censorship


The other would make it ILLEGAL to glean and grow our own seeds for food?

So, to hell with free speech and grandpas rhubarb patch?  My heirloom-tomato pots on the balcony? And, maybe, even sites like this one?

Please tell me this is some bizarre fantasy.  Tell me, truthfully, that what I'm reading are absurd over-reactions.

  PLEASE!

[valdez]

     The think the internet one is called Net Neutrality.  I has a very nice cozy name and it's really confusing stuff.  All I know is that Rush and Beck are against it, and in situations that are confusing to me, I will defer to those whom I somewhat trust.  Please lets not get into a beck/rush/neo-con argument.  I'm just saying.  There food bill is in the senate, and it's called the Food Safety Modernization Act (S510).  It's meant to improve food safety, but without an amendment to exempt small growers it's believed it will, with all its regulations and requirements, put them out of business and leave the growing of food to a handful of big companies.

[EvB]

Thanks Valdez -- the state this argument has come is is scary as all get-out. 

No small organic farming?  No small farms where those of us who eat animal products can get food that was ethically raised rather than buying form industrialized critter concentration camps? When I just spent the last YEAR cultivating local farm relationships to get the kind of food i need at a price I can afford after landing in the hospital last year over nutrition issues (that were so dramatic their first take was that I was in the middle of congestive heart failure!)

Add to that gross capricious censorship of the web?

damn

[MV/Liberace!]

imagine a day when all of our food IS grown by two or three huge mega companies... and like the OPEC crowd, they begin artificially slowing production in order to increase market value.  we will truly be in a world of shit when that time comes.

[EvB]

imagine a day when all of our food IS grown by two or three huge mega companies... and like the OPEC crowd, they begin artificially slowing production in order to increase market value.  we will truly be in a world of shit when that time comes.

Such a lovely thought.

[MV/Liberace!]

by the way...
nobody can question my feelings about rush.  i've been listening to the guy since i was thirteen, and i agree with him probably 90% of the time.  however, when i heard him talking about what he called "net neutrality" six months ago, i was totally disappointed in him.  net neutrality is the principle that says a bit of data transmitted over the internet should not be discriminated against.  in other words, comcast shouldn't be allowed to deliberately impede your ability to watch youtube simply because they offer a competing cable tv service.  or, put another way, verizon wireless shouldn't be allowed to block your use of VOIP over your phone's data connection simply because they offer a competing phone service.  at&t shouldn't be able to do the same over your DSL connection (if you're unfortunate enough to be saddled with DSL).  rush incorrectly said net neutrality meant the government would be allowed to control what people say on the internet.  he sounded like an old man who doesn't understand technology or the implications of data discrimination and how it would break the fundamental principles upon which the internet was built.  hell, you know as well as i do that these companies would LOVE to charge us for each email and each google search.  a few years ago, back when google was still one of the good guys on this issue, the CEO of at&t said he would like to charge google for each at&t customer who uses google's services since at&t (as he sees it) is responsible for delivering those eyeballs to google.  that is TOTALLY CONTRARY to how this system is supposed to work, and when rush said that, i immediately thought, "ok, here we go.  probably 15 million people are going to hear rush say this and will oppose anything coined 'net neutrality' from this point forward."  very disappointing.

[Marc.Knight]

Yup.  A future with no competition.  One brand for everything.  I am beginning to believe that our engagement with septic tanks such as China has made us more like them than the other way around. 

[b_dubb]

if it ain't broke don't fuck with it.  leave my interweb alone. 

and outlawing seeds/growing your own food?  that's just insane

[Werd]

That sounds like it is batshit crazy. Midterm elections can't happen fast enough.

[MV/Liberace!]

From the EFF:


Update: On September 30, 2010, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed the scheduled markup of the Internet censorship bill â€" a fantastic outcome, given that the entertainment industry and their allies in Congress had hoped this bill would be quickly approved before the Senators went home for the October recess. Massive thanks to all who used the EFF Action Center to write to your Senators to oppose this bill.This gives the public more time to remind legislators why any bill that interferes with the infrastructure of the Internet is a bad idea. This bill will be back soon enough, and Congress will again need to hear from concerned citizens like you.

[EvB]

From the EFF:


Update: On September 30, 2010, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed the scheduled markup of the Internet censorship bill â€" a fantastic outcome, given that the entertainment industry and their allies in Congress had hoped this bill would be quickly approved before the Senators went home for the October recess. Massive thanks to all who used the EFF Action Center to write to your Senators to oppose this bill.This gives the public more time to remind legislators why any bill that interferes with the infrastructure of the Internet is a bad idea. This bill will be back soon enough, and Congress will again need to hear from concerned citizens like you.

Okay - time to REGROUP!

[Pirate King Atomsk]

From the EFF:


Update: On September 30, 2010, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed the scheduled markup of the Internet censorship bill â€" a fantastic outcome, given that the entertainment industry and their allies in Congress had hoped this bill would be quickly approved before the Senators went home for the October recess. Massive thanks to all who used the EFF Action Center to write to your Senators to oppose this bill.This gives the public more time to remind legislators why any bill that interferes with the infrastructure of the Internet is a bad idea. This bill will be back soon enough, and Congress will again need to hear from concerned citizens like you.

Okay - time to REGROUP!

Jackass #1, present.

[MV/Liberace!]

just got this in my email:


Michael--
We just found out that they're bringing back the Internet blacklist bill for a vote on Thursday -- less than a week from now! We've spent the week meeting people in DC and I can tell you our petition is definitely making a difference. This bill was supposed to pass without objection, but now even Politico is calling it "hotly debated" -- all thanks to you.
The first vote will be by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Do you have any friends in California, Vermont, Wisconsin, New York, Minnesota, or Illinois who haven't signed the petition yet? Their senators will be the key votes in deciding whether this bill passes. Can you forward them this email and ask them to sign on at:
http://act.demandprogress.org/go/11?akid=20.101112.CNX4kI&t=2
Remember, this bill--in blatant violation of the Constitution--would let the Attorney General create a blacklist of websites that every American ISP would be required to block. Wikileaks, YouTube, and others are all at risk. Human rights advocates, constitutional law experts, and the people who invented the Internet have all spoken out against this bill -- but some of the most powerful industries in the country are demanding that Congress rush it through. The music industry is even having all of their employees call Congress to pose as citizens in support of the bill.
We need to fight back -- can you ask any friends you know to sign on at:

http://act.demandprogress.org/go/11?akid=20.101112.CNX4kI&t=4
Keep on fighting,
-- Aaron Swartz, David Segal, and the Demand Progress team
P.S. So far over 250,000 people have signed. Can you help us hit 300,000 before the vote next week?

[punkinpie]

Signed!  Thanks for letting us know about that.  Scary shit.