How FCC Regulation Would Change the Internet

November 6, 2009 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Business, Capitalism, Computers, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Freedom, Google, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Liberals, Media Bias, Net Neutrality, Scott Cleland, Society/Culture, Taxes, Technology | No Comments

-By Scott Cleland

The FCC’s claims that their proposed net neutrality regulations would just “preserve” the open Internet are simply not true. The facts clearly state that the FCC’s proposed regulations would: Be a big change in FCC Internet policy; Implement big Internet policy changes without Congressional authorization; and Change the Internet in big ways. (The one-page PDF version of this post is here)

The FCC’s proposed net neutrality regs are a big change in FCC Internet policy; they would:

Replace the FCC’s voluntary net neutrality guidelines with mandated net neutrality regulations;
Selectively apply net neutrality regulations to only broadband and not to applications/content providers like the current principles do;
Add two completely new net neutrality principles that are not found in law or congressional policy:
Mandate the strictest non-discrimination requirement in the last 75 years;
Mandate public disclosure of detailed proprietary network management techniques for the first time;
Expand application of net neutrality to wireless and satellite broadband for the very first time;
Expand consumers access to content entitlement by adding entitlement to send/distribute content as well;
Redefine entitlement to competition in the current fourth principle, to favor resale competition over facilities-based competition;
Subject broadband companies to a new “Mother-may-I” FCC approval process for offering new managed services and for experimenting with new business models; and
Subordinate private standard-setting bodies, like the IETF, to new FCC omni-technical oversight/approval.

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David Smith and 1st Amendment Violations in Maricopa County, Arizona Update

October 28, 2009 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, GOP, Government, Corruption, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Man, this story is really flying. As I reported earlier, my friend Ken Marrero over at Blue Collar Muse posted an interesting if not entirely infuriating story about GOP officials coming down on other officials and certain county employees for having the gall to talk to those eeeevil Arizona bloggers that have been doggedly reporting the corruption stories of county officials.

Lots of others are picking up the story now. Here is a list of some of them:

I’ll update as I find them.

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Clueless Arizona GOP Heavies Demonizing Bloggers?

October 28, 2009 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Blogging, Computers, Conservatives, GOP, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Republicans, State Government, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

My friend Ken Marrero over at Blue Collar Muse has posted an interesting if not entirely infuriating story about GOP officials coming down on other officials and certain county employees for having the gall to talk to those eeeevil Arizona bloggers that have been doggedly reporting the corruption stories of county officials.

GOP officials of Maricopa County have been in a bit of trouble recently having been accused of wasteful spending, power grabs and criminal investigations. Marrero even notes that there is a Twitter feed used to needle these officials called CorruptAZSupes.

The barbs have been coming fast and furious and County Manager David Smith has decided to try and stop the bleeding. So, did Smith decide to clean up the Supervisor’s office? Nope. He’s decided to attack Republicans that have talked to the press and the bloggers. Classic shooting the messenger mistake.
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Fiscal Realism: Adam Andrzejewski Wants to be Illinois Governor

June 22, 2009 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Elections, GOP, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Jobs, Liberals, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

First of all, I know it looks impossible to even say, so let’s clear up that last name. It’s pronounced An-gee-ef-ski. I know, I know, that means here in Illinois we could possibly go from a Governor Blagojevich to an Andrzejewski. But the difficult last name should stand as the only similarity between the two men, for Adam seems to have some ideas on how Illinois might get out of its fiscal nightmare. I interviewed him not long ago and he had some very interesting thoughts on how to fix Illinois. (adamforillinois.com/)

In fact, Andrzejewski has already made some headway in shining the sunlight of accountability on various sate and local agencies through his self-funded program — self-funded to stay independent, he said — dubbed “For the Good of Illinois.” Andrzejewski has been at the vanguard of encouraging school boards and county governments in Illinois to put their check registries and finances on the Internet for all citizens to see. In fact, his catch phrase is “every dime online in real time.”

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The Path to the Future Requires a Return to the Roots

June 22, 2009 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, 2nd Amendment, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Communism, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Foreign Policy, Founders, Frank Salvato, Free Speech, Free Trade, Freedom, GOP, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Media Bias, Patriotism, President, Religion, Republicans, Security/Safety, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Law | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

As President Obama thunders ahead with his liberal agenda, unencumbered by any significant opposition in either chamber of Congress, the focus for the Right has been on how to re-invent the Republican Party so as to be competitive in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. This renewed and urgent focus is more akin to a meeting of rival mafia families, each faction unwilling to cede influence, power, control or status to another, than it is a quorum of individuals dedicated to true and original Republican principles. In light of this it is appropriate to revisit the founding platform of the party.

In the immediate aftermath of the inaugural 1856 Republican Convention in Jackson, Michigan (the party was founded in Ripon, WI, in 1854), the Republican Party declared as their founding platform commitments and allegiances to:
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Obama Lifts Ban on Lobbyists! Back to Business as Usual

May 30, 2009 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Liberals, News, President, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Roll Call is reporting that during the typical Friday afternoon document dump — a practice used to hide actions that might prove somewhat embarrassing to the White House — the administration quietly announced that some of the former restrictions on lobbying ballyhooed about during the late campaign have been lifted.

Let special interests ring!

Roll Call (see here, but subscription is required) says that the administration lifted bans on lobbyists that have some part of spending “stimulus” funds. So now getting hooks into bloated federal spending is open season for the very lobbyists that Obama pretended to disdain only months ago.

So much for hopinchange.

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Christian University Decertifies Democrat Club, Why it is the Right Decision

May 23, 2009 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Abortion, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Censorship, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Founders, Free Speech, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, President, Religion, Society/Culture, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Tell me President Obama, how many babies would Jesus kill?

Liberty University, a Christian college situated near Lynchburg, Virginia and founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell, has this week decertified its college Democratic Party club over the singular fact that the National Democratic Party is a supporter of abortion. After the debacle of allowing a president that is a supporter of infanticide being invited to speak at the leading Catholic University in the nation, I can only say that Liberty University should be congratulated for standing up for its principles. At least these Baptists actually believe in something unlike the putative Catholics at Notre Dame.

But is this a violation of political free speech in a nation where the Democratic Party is a long-standing, historically important political force that is followed by half the electorate and currently holds a majority of the seats in our national government? Are these students having their speech illicitly quashed by Liberty University?

The simple answer is a resounding “no.”

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Another City Tries to Quash Tax Day Tea Party Gathering

April 3, 2009 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Founders, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Brendan Steinhuser of FreedomWorks is reporting that another official of an American city is trying to prevent organizers of a tea party tax protest from being “allowed” to stage their protest, this time in Burleson, Texas.

Unlike the the situation in Cape Coral, Florida where it was overburdening regulation that served as a stumbling block to the freedom of the people to assemble, the Texas case proves to be more un-American because it is an unelected city official that is vowing to block the tax protest by abusing his insider power to cajole city officials to deny American’s their rights..
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How to Use Your Children to Annoy a Liberal

March 27, 2009 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, 2nd Amendment, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Media Bias, Religion, Republicans, Selwyn Duke, Society/Culture | No Comments

-By Selwyn Duke

Since liberals place a premium on tolerance, the loving and charitable thing to do is help them develop it. Note here that, unbeknownst to many, tolerance involves enduring something considered to be a negative. We don’t tolerate a fine meal or a nice car, for instance; we relish such things. But we might have to tolerate bad weather, a cold or Nancy Pelosi. Now, since liberals actually perceive a great many positive things to be negative, placing them in situations wherein they may cultivate tolerance is not difficult.

One under-appreciated vehicle through which to do this is your children. You can use your kids to annoy liberals, but I don’t mean in the way liberals annoy other people with theirs. Liberals, by not civilizing their children, breed brats who bounce balls in supermarkets, play hide-and-go-seek in restaurants, keep the makers of psychotropic medication in business and sometimes chant “Yes, we can!” No, the techniques in question here are far different.
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Free Speech For Students… Unless You’re Christian, That Is

March 20, 2009 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Abortion, Censorship, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Free Speech, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Socialism, Society/Culture, State Government, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Our institutes of “higher” learning are all about being inclusive. They are stridently for freedom of speech and stand 100% behind the concept of open political debate. Well, unless you’re a Christian, that is. Christians, you see, are the only group that our fetid colleges and universities have agreed to discriminate against.

Last week, another example of that well known “tolerance” our schools are so concerned with promulgating was seen in Pomona College in Claremont, California. There two Christian, pro-life students were banned from the Pamona campus. Their crime? Video taping a question-and-answer session with a Planned Parenthood representative invited to speak there.

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Chicago Area College Fighting Over Adopting Student’s Bill of Rights

January 23, 2009 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Barack Obama, Censorship, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Liberals, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Socialism, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the midst of the Obama coronation in Washington this week, school board member Sheila Patterson of the Jackson Public School System in Jackson, Michigan told teachers in her district that if they don’t show Barack Obama’s inauguration in the class room they should just “go home.” Patterson further told teachers that if they didn’t show the ceremony they “don’t belong in this school district.” Patterson also tsked such teachers sternly alerting them that she was “very, very disappointed.”

The news report of this incident notes that 43 percent of the school district is comprised of minorities. I suppose that means that the 57 percent that isn’t minority either does not deserve to have their opinions known, or is presumed not to have wanted to see the ceremony. Either way, we have what shapes up to be a school board member throwing the race card at what she is trying to paint as racist teachers.

It was later discovered that many teachers wanted to show the ceremony on their class computers, but the Internet of the District was overloaded and many couldn’t get a connection. No word if Sheila Patterson will apologize for her racist outburst and her assumptions that whites hate Barack Obama and didn’t want to celebrate his big day.

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Boston Globe: Talk Radio Now ‘Irrelevant’?

November 17, 2008 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Barack Obama, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, President, Publius Contributor, Republicans, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Looks like a couple of fellows pushing a book were able to convince the Boston Globe to let them contribute some soothsaying about the future of talk radio. Scratch that, they are talking about today, here and now — and it’s all bad. In the Boston Globe, Steve Elman and Alan Tolz have proclaimed “the rising irrelevance of talk radio,” so Rush… fuggedaboutit. Hannity… go back to house painting. Michael Savage… go back to whatever the heck it was you were doing before you were “Michael Savage.” It’s over. Just like when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor (excuse my John Belushi). Finis ( a little French lingo there).

Unfortunately for Elman and Tolz, though, it appears that they don’t even have their main facts straight, much less a crystal ball successfully tuned into the state of talk radio today. In fact, they get something wrong in their very first sentence.

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What does this ‘Freedom’ and ‘Liberty’ Stuff Mean, Anyway?

November 17, 2008 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Conservatives, Constitution, Founders, Free Speech, History, News, Publius Contributor, Rights, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

This is a great little video that helps explain what is meant by life, liberty, freedom, property rights, and all that jazz.

Created by www.jonathangullible.com/.

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Cornell Staffer/Dean Oppress Student’s Free Speech

October 23, 2008 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Abortion, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Free Speech, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

More on Our Failed System of Education

Students that belong to a pro-life campus group called Cornell Coalition for Life (CCFL) spent weeks and hundreds of dollars organizing a pro-life display to be featured on the Cornell University Engineering Campus in Ithaca, New York. This was no guerilla campaign, either, because the CCFL applied for and received permission for its display. Yet, scarcely an hour had passed before an associate dean for the university summarily decided on her own to support the removal of the display by an administrative assistant despite that the display was approved by the college.

The CCFL had erected its “Elena Campaign” signs in the Engineering Quad to raise awareness among students of the earlier stages of fetal development, stages when many falsely imagine that a fetus is just a “lump of cells.” As the CCFL says, its “Elena Campaign” is “a series of light-hearted educational signs with pictures and text detailing the biological development of an unborn child.”

The folks at the Fort Hard Knox blog are featuring the incident as described by members of the CCFL.

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