Obama-Supported Wireless Startup Suffers Massive Tech Failure

December 10, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Computers, Crony Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Jobs, Liberals, President, Regulation, RightPundits.com, Taxes, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The startup wireless service that the Obama administration is investing both financial and political capital in, a company called LightSquared, seems to have suffered a massive technical failure, one that has been warned about for some time. Despite the warnings, though the administration continues to push LightSquared causing many to worry about another Solyndra-like calamity.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports that testing of the wireless service is showing that its signal disrupts 75% of all global-positioning system receivers (GPS). Apparently, there is no doubt about this result, either….

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

Is Apple’s iPhone Ap Siri Pro-Life?

November 30, 2011 | Filed Under Abortion, Computers, Inernet, Planned Parenthood, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

A story has been circulating about Apple’s new smart phone product called Siri. It is an iPhone application that allows users to ask the phone questions that the phone then searches to answer. Well, apparently one thing that the ap won’t answer is for it to provide directions to the nearest abortion mill.

Siri is an early voice recognition phone ap that hears your spoken questions, searches the Internet and/or Apple’s cloud services, then returns a verbal answer to the user. If, for instance, you ask for an email to be read to you, Siri will do so. If you ask for the nearest Taco Bell, Siri will tell you.

As mentioned, though, it has been discovered that if you ask where the nearest baby killing center is, well apparently it won’t tell you.

This is leading people to tout Siri as a “pro-life” ap.
Read more

Tweet and Facebook Activism! Stop Congress From Destroying the Internet

November 15, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Blogging, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Computers, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Liberals, Net Neutrality, Technology, Twitter, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

The End of the Internet as We Know It

Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will hold their first hearing on E-PARASITE, a bill written by Hollywood lobbyists that could end the Internet as we know it. They’ve had their say, now it’s our turn.

Act now to protect Internet freedom by contacting the members of the House Judiciary Committee over the phone, and on Twitter and Facebook. Then, spread the word about Social Media #LobbyDay as we use the Internet to save the Internet.

What is PROTECT IP and E-PARASITE?

The PROTECT IP Act (S. 968) and the E-PARASITE Act (part of the “Stop Online Piracy Act”, H.R. 3261) would devastate job-creating American technology companies and social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube in the name of protecting Hollywood copyrights. These bills would create a “Great Firewall of America” by embracing the same Internet censorship tactics as the world’s worst human rights abusers, including regimes like communist China, Iran, Syria, and Burma. A number of technology experts have concluded that these bills would mean “the end of the Internet as we know it.”

What does it do?…
Read more

Video: Urgent – Tell Your Senator to Overturn FCC’s Illicit Net Neutrality Internet Power Grab

November 8, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Blogging, Business, Capitalism, Censorship, Computers, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, FCC, Free Trade, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Law, Liberals, Net Neutrality, President, Regulation, Senate, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Seton Motley

From most appearances, the Senate will this week vote on Senate Joint Resolution (S.J.Res) 6 – the Congressional Review Act Resolution of Disapproval of the Obama Administration Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s illegal Internet Net Neutrality power grab.

Only 51 votes are required for passage – which means only 4 Democrats are needed. There are 23 Democrat Senate seats up for reelection next year. A few of these folks aren’t running. The rest are – many in center or center-right states. Additionally, there are a few other Senators that should also be subject to Constitutional reason, and thusly contacted.
Read more

We Need Rules for Cyberwarfare Before a President Steals That Power, Too

October 19, 2011 | Filed Under Computers, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Foreign Policy, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Inernet, Liberals, Military, Patriot Act, President, Republicans, Rights, Security/Safety, Senate, State Department, Technology, Terrorism, Transparency, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

A recent New York Times article revealed that the Pentagon briefly considered engaging in cyberwarfare at the outset of the actions in Libya, but decided against it for a variety of reasons. This reminds us all that as a nation we really need to discuss the use of cyberwarfare. The first question asked must be: should a president be able to simply order such an attack on his own hook?

The Times noted that one of the concerns about the use of cyberwarfare is how it would be justified under the War Powers Resolution of 1973?

One unresolved concern was whether ordering a cyberattack on Libya might create domestic legal restrictions on war-making by the executive branch without Congressional permission. One question was whether the War Powers Resolution — which requires the executive to formally report to lawmakers when it has introduced forces into “hostilities” and sets a 60-day limit on such deployments if Congress does not authorize them to continue — would be required for an attack purely in cyberspace.

One would think that the answer to this would be somewhat obvious — though nothing seems obvious in Constitution-based discussions, sadly.

We know that the Founders vested in Congress the power to declare war not in the president. They wanted to avoid a repeat of the historical outrage of a King’s untrammeled powers to declare wars without the consent of the people and their duly elected representatives.
Read more

Libel By Any Other Name

October 18, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Computers, Democrats/Leftists, Gary Krasner, Google, Inernet, Liberals, Rick Santorum, Technology | Comments Off

-By Gary Krasner

If you thought the pro-Democrat company, Google, was the only company actively tarnishing the name “Santorum” by showcasing a false definition of it, you can now add Wikipedia and Firefox browser to that list.

For several years and currently, if you Googled “Santorum”, you would get this as the FIRST entry out of over 2 million hits:

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - –
Santorum
spreadingsantorum.com/
Santorum 1. The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.
2. Senator Rick Santorum.
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - –

A gay activist, Dan Savage, created the website and the false definition. It is the only website that displays that erroneous definition. Google “defends” itself by disingenuously claiming a passive role. Yet Google has yet to explain why it gives it the top priority in its search results.

But now, there are other companies joining Google in the defamation campaign against Senator Rick Santorum.
Read more

TeaCon 2011, The Blogger’s Who’s Who

October 1, 2011 | Filed Under Blogging, Illinois, Inernet, New Media, Tea Party, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

And now for a little name dropping. Some of the more well-known conservatives bloggers are here this weekend chief among them Ed Morrissey famed HotAir.com blogger. Then there is Jim Hoft from GatewayPundit.com; Jeremy Segal of RebelPundit.com; Andrew Marcus of FoundingBloggers.com; Dana Loesch BigGovernment.com; Adam Sharp of SharpElbows.com; John Ruberry of MarathonPundit.com. And I won’t mention me… because… well… you’re reading my post! Oh, and I almost forgot, the famed Iowahawk was there, too.

Hoft, Segal, Sharp, and Marcus were also on a new media panel. The key phrase of how we conservatives can get coverage of our issues was “show up.” Go. Be at. Do. Don’t sit at home. Get out and about and attend these political meetings, appearances of your congressmen, public events, even protests. Just get out there and cover it.

The New Media panel led by Eric Kohn

Victory for Bloggers: Illinois Blog Wins Lawsuit

September 24, 2011 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Blogging, Computers, Constitution, Free Speech, Freedom, Illinois, Inernet, Law, Liberty, Technology, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a good sign for blogger free speech, a lawsuit against a high profile conservative blog in Illinois has just been tossed out. A political contributor brought the lawsuit over a story about property tax reassessments and political contributions. This is a victory for free political speech as well as a victory for the status of blogs in the world of “journalism.”

I’ve been aware of this story for some time but the folks at Illinois Review, the blog in question, asked me to sort of keep it all quiet. There were all sorts of legal questions being thrown about and since the folks that run the blog don’t have deep pockets and the whole thing was being born at their own expense, they wanted to be sure this whole mess didn’t escalate and hurt them too bad financially.

The lawsuit meant to silence the blog was a convoluted one, to be sure. Illinois Review had posted a story that revealed that former Ill. State Rep. Paul Froehlich (R, Schaumburg) had sought campaign contributions from property owners who had won property tax relief claims that the Representative had assisted in getting settled. But after the story went live, due to the notoriety the county assessors office reversed those tax relief decisions.
Read more

Twitter Screws Me For The GOP Debate

September 12, 2011 | Filed Under Elections, Google, GOP, Government, Inernet, New Media, Republicans, Technology, Twitter, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

Well, I don’t know about you, but I never knew that Twitter shut people down if they make a bunch of Tweets in a row! I just found that out tonight. I was half way through the Live Tweeting the GOP debate and Twitter shut me down telling me that I went over the Twitter limit!

So, tonight the initials of my name really do mean What The Heck?

Yours, Warner Todd Huston

Obama Blames Job Loss on Technology, Internet and Efficiency

August 18, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Blogging, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Computers, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Inernet, Jobs, Liberals, President, Regulation, Socialism, Technology, Unemployment, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

During his Midwest Misery Tour, President Obama was back to blaming technology, the Internet, and ATMs again for America’s job loss.

At a stop in Atkinson, Illinois Obama spoke about the need for education at an agricultural company named Wyffels Hybrids, Inc. He said that America is no longer a place where you can just “work hard” and find a good job doing so. Those days are gone he told his audience.

Obama lamented that bank tellers and travel agents have been replaced by automation. This is, apparently, why we have high unemployment.

Excerpt
Read more

Freedom of Speech Wins: Baltimore Politician Drops Lawsuit Against Blogger

August 3, 2011 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Blogging, Civil Rights, Computers, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Free Speech, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Liberals, Maryland, Technology, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Examiner blogger Adam Meister was doing what bloggers do, namely posting the info that “journalists” refuse to write about. In this case, back in March, Meister found that a Baltimore Councilwoman was living in a different district than she claimed she was living in. As a result, the politician tried to sue the blogger for his posts.

City Councilwoman Belinda Conaway filed a lawsuit demanding an idiotic $21 million in damages for Meister’s expose of her true primary residence. But this week Conaway abruptly dropped her suit against the blogger.

Through public records, blogger Meister discovered that Conaway lives in Randallstown and not Baltimore, the city she was elected to represent. Conaway has, though, claimed she lives in an extended-family household in Baltimore.

Meister disputed Councilwoman Conaway’s claim and he posted tax information where Conaway claimed for tax purposes that Randallstown, not Baltimore, was her primary residence.
Read more

Twitter Townhall: Another Case of Obama’s ‘For Thee But Not For Me’ Events

July 6, 2011 | Filed Under AFL-CIO, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Blogging, Computers, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Liberals, President, Richard Trumka, Twitter, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

It was hailed as a technological first. President Obama was to hold the first “Twitter Townhall.” The truth is more like it was a desperate attempt by the Obama administration to appeal to the youth vote in which nearly every poll shows him losing ground.

The idea was that questions could be submitted by any American citizen via the Internet social media website Twitter. If you are not aware of what Twitter is, it is sort of like a phone texting service — but Internet-based. But on Twitter users are limited to 140 characters (including spaces) per message.

Anyway, getting to Obama’s “for thee but not for meism,” his first answer during the Twitter Townhall was 1,484 WORDS! So much for 140 characters! I guess cramped limitations are only good for the lowly people while he can indulge volumes of words when he wants to.

In fact, this is sort of an allegory for the way Obama treats the nation. He allows himself all sorts of luxuries, but the lowly people need to “sacrifice” and to be hampered and limited.

Amusingly, Obama probably didn’t expect one of his closest allies, Richard Trumka’s AFL-CIO, to needle him via Twitter, either.

Trumka’s AFL-CIO Twitter feed pointedly asked the prez, “Where are the jobs?”

Ouch.
Read more

Don’t Film Me Bro: Getting Arrested for Filming People in Public Places

July 2, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Censorship, Computers, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Free Speech, Freedom, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Liberals, Liberty, Media, New Media, Police, Privacy, Regulation, Society/Culture, Technology, The Law, Warner Todd Huston, YouTube | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The law has not caught up with cell phone cameras, Flip Cameras, compact video cameras, and the electronic age. Two stories being reported last weekend prove out how the ubiquity of video capture devices are often a gray area in the law.

In one case a woman in Rochester, New York, pulled out her video camera to record the actions of a local policeman as he arrested a neighbor. As it happens, this woman was standing on her own front lawn, no where near the policeman who was going about his duties, yet this cop got incensed and arrested her anyway. He claimed she was guilty of obstruction of justice.

How this woman’s actions was interfering with the police officer is impossible to figure, but she was detained nonetheless.
Read more

Virginia Attny Gen to Sue FCC Over Net Neutrality

June 29, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Computers, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, FCC, Free Speech, Free Trade, Freedom, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Jobs, Law, Liberals, Liberty, Net Neutrality, President, Regulation, The Law, Virginia, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Up to this point, the far left has won the war for branding on the issue of Net Neutrality. Even many conservatives and Republicans have been fooled by the “freedom of the Internet” lies that the left has spun with NN. But the Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli of The Commonwealth of Virginia means to change all that by launching a lawsuit to stop the government take over of the Internet.

First off this claim from the left that they only want to keep the Internet free and open is simply an outright lie. What they really want is two fold. One, they want all capitalist ventures removed from the Internet, and two, they want government to have 100% control over the Internet and they want the Internet treated sort of like a public utility.

The simple fact of the matter is that if government has 100% control over the Internet “free and open” is impossible. Even if this government control starts with no rules over content (and it won’t start that way), it won’t be long before the federal government starts mandating what is on the Internet, starts banning content that it doesn’t like, and starts laying out requirements for those websites lucky enough to be allowed to stay in operation.
Read more

The Atlantic Magazine’s Lies: Of Breitbarts, Kochs, and RightOnLine

June 22, 2011 | Filed Under Americans For Prosperity, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Liberals, Minnesota, Net Neutrality, Regulation, The Atlantic, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last weekend Americans For Prosperity once again held its RightOnLine conference, this year in beautiful downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Consequently, the Atlantic Magazine decided to do a report on what went on at RightOnLine. Unfortunately, the whole thing was filled with opinions stated as fact, misconstructions of facts, and outright lies. Sadly, along with the rest of the Old Media, it seems as if the veracity of The Atlantic has taken a hit in this bad Obama economy.

The Atlantic assigned third string reporter Tina Dupuy to handle the RightOnLine retrospective, apparently, if her reports are any indication, because she was already in town to cover Netroots Nation. Netroots Nation is the far left conference made famous by the Daily Kos and its YearlyKos conference. YearlyKos started in 2006 and was later re-branded as Netroots Nation in 2008.

As always the RightOnLine event was held at the same time and in the same city as this year’s left-wing extravaganza. AFP does this because, in AFP President Tim Phillips’ words, “to see the true nature of our opponents.”

In order to ingratiate herself with the Nutrooters, at the top of her piece the Atlantic’s Dupuy went right for the left’s favorite boogey men: the dreaded Koch Brothers. Dupuy lamented, “Why is there a giant Koch-funded conservative gathering at the same time and in the same city as Netroots Nation, anyway?”
Read more

YouTube Launches New Congressional Townhall Channel

May 20, 2011 | Filed Under Blogging, Computers, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, GOP, Government, House of Representatives, Inernet, Liberals, Republicans, Senate, Technology, Video, Warner Todd Huston, YouTube | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

This week Youtube launched a new channel it is calling the “Youtube Townhall,” a new channel where members of congress are seen in short videos discussing the issues of the day.

Republican Senators Alexander, McCain, Moran, Lugar, Sessions, Isakson, and Hutchison have already uploaded videos to the channel and more are on the way. Republican Representatives Steve Chabot and Phil Gingrey have also added videos.

Interestingly, the identification of the members of Congress do not include party affiliation on the site.

Youtube’s description of its new site is as follows:
Read more

Big Brother Bubba’s Ministry of Internet Facts

May 18, 2011 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Anti-Americanism, Bill Clinton, Blogging, Censorship, Civil Rights, Computers, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Federalism, Free Speech, Freedom, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Journalism, Law, Liberals, Liberty, Media, Media Bias, Nanny State, Net Neutrality, New Media, PCism, Privacy, Regulation, Society/Culture, Technology, The Law, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Bill Clinton wants the government to “correct” what you say on the Internet, folks. Should the government listen to the former panderer-in-chief, we’ll go from Big Brother to Big Bubba on the ol’ Internet tubes.

Bubba is not happy with what he claims is the “misinformation” on the Internet and he wants the force of government to stop it all. Politico is reporting that Clinton makes the proposal in an upcoming CNBC interview saying, “It would be a legitimate thing to do.”

No, Bubba, it would not.
Read more

Why We Can’t Trust Government on Technology

April 29, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Capitalism, Computers, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Google, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Jobs, Liberals, Net Neutrality, PCism, President, Society/Culture, Technology, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Free market advocates have for years been fighting the anti-capitalist left over government control of the Internet, a battle that has reached a temporary plateau when Obama’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) arbitrarily decided that it was in full control of the Internet and by fiat implemented the left’s long-sought net neutrality rules. This isn’t the only technology kerfuffle that the federal government is involved in, either.

Another techno-mess has been raging over a contract being considered by the Department of the Interior for its new email/messaging system using a cloud computing solution. The fight has been between Microsoft and Google and the results tends to prove that the government is as tech stupid as a Luddite on steroids. It tends to show that the government simply can’t be trusted with technology issues, whether net neutrality or otherwise.
Read more

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. Attacks Apple iPad

April 20, 2011 | Filed Under Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Computers, Congress, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Inernet, Jesse Jackson, Liberals, Socialism, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Chicago area Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. is apparently as fickle as he is uninformed about economics and the Constitution both. In March we saw him praising the Apple iPad as technology so important that he wanted to have the federal government buy one for every American student. Only a month later he was calling the iPad a destroyer of American jobs. Talk about a whiplash inducing turn around.

In March, Jackson was pleased to announce a brilliant idea to put a provision into the Constitution that gives every student an iPad and a laptop computer. After a week of ridicule, Rep. Jackson doubled down on that plan saying that the iPad had so fundamentally altered education that it should be a right.

And now, only a month later Jackson has made a complete turnaround on the iPad calling it a destroyer of American jobs.
Read more

Arianna Huffington Sued for Being Blog Slavemaster

April 12, 2011 | Filed Under Blogging, Capitalism, Computers, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Huffington Post, Inernet, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

I have to say my feelings swing wildly on this story. After all, I thrill to see these extremist, lefties slaving away for free while their boss makes millions upon millions of dollars off their backs. It’s just too funny. Yet… and yet, I too am a writer that does some work (and too much at that) for free and I fully understand the ire that some of Huffington’s digital plantation slaves feel. And apparently the ire over there has caused at least one guy to take Puffington Post to court. This week Jonathan Tasini filed a class-action lawsuit against HuffPo on behalf of the Puffington plantation’s blogger slaves.

Ever since Arianna Huffington merged her famous blog with AOL and was awarded control of its news services, some of her former bloggers began to get restless. With Arianna getting $315 million buckaroos in her pocket those writers that made her famous with their years of unpaid blogging began to think that they deserved to get a piece of the puffypie at long last…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

House Votes to Curb FCC’s Internet Power Grab

April 11, 2011 | Filed Under Adam Kinzinger, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, FCC, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Inernet, Liberals, Net Neutrality, Peter Roskam, Policy, President, Republicans, Socialism, Taxes, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

We’ve been writing about Obama’s attempt to take over control of the Internet for some time, now, and there is at last a bit of good news on that front. The House of Representatives has passed Congressional Resolution, H.J. Res. 37 aimed at preventing the FCC’s wild, unconstitutional powergrab.

Chief Deputy Whip Congressman Peter Roskam was in favor of this move and released a statement that said:

The FCC’s decision to prohibit America’s Internet providers from managing content on their own networks is a colossal mistake that will hurt job creation and innovation in one of our most vibrant industries. These new regulations are a solution in search of a problem. America’s Internet companies – from large enterprises to tiny garage start-ups – are examples of what can happen when government stays out of the way. The Internet is an engine of innovation and economic growth essential to America maintaining its qualitative edge. Net Neutrality rules will only stifle competition, hurt job creation and provide huge disincentives to innovate – so I urge the FCC to rescind these rules immediately.

Likewise, Congressman Adam Kinzinger voted yes on the resolution.
Read more

ILL Gov. Quinn Signs the Boot Out Internet Companies Law

March 11, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Free Trade, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Inernet, Jobs, Liberals, Pat Quinn, Taxes, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Illinois’ Democrat Governor Pat Quinn has signed the so-called Mainstreet Fairness Bill brought to him by the Illinois General Assembly. The bill forces all Internet companies to charge Illinois’ 6.25% sales tax whether they are based in the state or not.

Quinn signed the bill in the last few days before it would have gone into force anyway.

The nation’s largest Internet-based business, Amazon,com, said it would cut ties with all its affiliates in Illinois if the bill became law. No word if they are following through on that threat, yet, but Amazon has cut ties in some states that have instituted similar laws — though it has stayed in other states that have done so, New York in particular.

Several Illinois-based Internet companies have warned the state that if the bill became law they would pull up stakes and leave the state.
Read more

Rep. Blackburn Introduces Bill to Preempt FCC Internet Takeover

January 6, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Liberals, Media, Net Neutrality, President, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Representative Marsha Blackburn (R, TN) has introduced a bill to preempt the December power grab by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and she has made the bill bipartisan with the support of Democrat Dan Boren (Oklahoma).

Blackburn’s bill would place all rules governing the Internet in the purview of Congress and would take the issue out of the hands of the FCC. She is reporting that 60 members support her bill to halt the FCCs efforts to take control of the Internet without legislative action.
Read more

Headed to Washington D.C. …

January 4, 2011 | Filed Under Americans For Prosperity, Inernet, Net Neutrality, Technology, Warner Todd Huston, Washington D.C. | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

I’ll be heading to Washington D.C. for the next few days. I am going to meet with some new congressmen and attend the Americans for Prosperity Internet Freedom Forum.

I am hopeful that I’ll have some exciting posts on the next three day’s events and doings.

… Stay tuned.

Update

Made it to D.C. No idea what my day will be like tomorrow, yet.

FCC Chief Still Pushing Net Neutrality Without Congressional Action

November 19, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Capitalism, Computers, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, FCC, Free Trade, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Net Neutrality, Taxes, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

With the recent midterm election and the resulting GOP tidal wave that is about to inundate Congress, many people have wondered aloud if net neutrality was dead? Well if FCC Chief Julius Genachowski has his way, net neutrality will be implemented by fiat when he has his agency simply change rules without involving congress at all.

The results of this election doesn’t even seem to be giving FCC Chairman Genachowski the slightest pause. Reports are that he is still working on a proposal for the FCC to take over the Internet and implement net neutrality anyway.

In The Hill, Genachowski is quoted saying that he fully intends to bring these rules to fruition.
Read more

Don’t Censor the Internet! STOP the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act

November 18, 2010 | Filed Under Business, Capitalism, Censorship, Copyright, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Inernet, Net Neutrality, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The politicians are at it again. They never cease to amaze for their constantly revolving attempts to take over complete control of the Internet and everything connected to it. This time, in the guise of safeguarding copyrighted material, Congressional Democrats intend to introduce into this zombie session of congress the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA).

COICA would give the Attorney General the power to shut down websites accused of illegally distributing copyrighted material by requiring Internet Service Providers to block such sites from its customers.

Certainly, as a capitalist, I am solidly for protections against copyright infringement, but, as is the case with most things that government does, this bill goes that much too far and offers a threat to freedom of expression on the Internet.
Read more

It’s the Sammies!!

November 18, 2010 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Inernet, Liberals, Sam Adams Alliance, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance is announcing its fourth annual Sammies awards…

On the heels of some of the most citizen-driven election results in decades, we’re proud to announce the contest opening for the 4th annual Sammies, our annual awards show recognizing America’s best citizen leaders.

In 2011, the Sammies will recognize their achievements with new categories, $60,000 in prizes, and the best party we have ever thrown! It all happens April 8, 2011 at Chicago’s Union Station. Get all the details here.

Nominate someone you know (or yourself) for a Sammie!

Get the latest on the Sammies, including announcements of featured speakers and nominees by following us on Twitter and Facebook.

Democrat’s Anti-Capitalist Net Neutrality Wounded, But Not Dead

November 8, 2010 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Computers, Congress, Constitution, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, FCC, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Inernet, Jobs, Liberals, Net Neutrality, News, President, Regulation, Republicans, Taxes, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Just before election day the liberal blogs were aflutter with news that 95 Democratic Congressional candidates had taken the pledge to support Net neutrality if they were elected. That turned out to be a very big “if.” More like a forlorn hope, if you will.

Of those 95 Democrats, the number actually going to Congress in January will be… zero. There hasn’t been a wipe-out like this since the Redskins beat the Broncos 42-10 in the 1988 Super Bowl. Or since Atlantis was swept into the sea, or something.

As far as Internet policy is concerned, last night’s lesson for Republicans should be clear: Internet “neutrality” regulation is a loser with the public. It’s also a loser with businesses. It’s even a loser with the labor unions. That’s not a surprise. Union leaders can sometimes get realistic very quickly when confronted with a federal policy that will cost their members jobs.
Read more

Net Neutrality: Free Press Loses a Schtick Contest

October 28, 2010 | Filed Under Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, FCC, Free Trade, Google, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Liberals, Lobbyists, Net Neutrality, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Recently Comm Daily (subscription required) reported that an FCC decision on net neutrality was unlikely before its January meeting. While uninteresting in itself the one remarkable line in the story had to be this quote from a senior FCC official:

“While they are busy handing out waffles and making posters, we are focused on creating jobs and protecting consumers.”

The FCC official was referring to Free Press, the group that has been relentlessly attacking the FCC and many Democrats for not jumping off the cliff for net neutrality.

As far as can be determined, this is the first time the FCC has ever called out Free Press for its buffoonery. And it’s about time, too. This may be a sign that the FCC has realized that the far left will never stop attacking them – Free Press’s business model depends on staying to the Left of whatever the FCC does — so it’s pointless to try to make them happy.

Who is Free Press? Taking a look at its Flickr photo stream shows why nobody, Republicans or Democrats, actually take Free Press seriously.
Read more

Net Neutrality Supporters Admit, They Want Property Rights Eliminated

October 27, 2010 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Blogging, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Computers, Congress, Copyright, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, FCC, Free Trade, Freedom, Government, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Law, Liberals, Net Neutrality, New Media, Property Rights, Regulation, Society/Culture, Technology, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Oh, Net Neutrality sure sounds like a great idea. Why, Net Neutrality supporters only want what’s best for “the people,” right? They only want the Internet to be a playground for all, free of the influence of evil corporations, and they want fees to be reasonable for the lowly masses, right? Turns out, not so much. Fair pricing and open access is the least of what Net Neutrality supporters really care about.

The latest wrinkle in the saga of Net Neutrality pretty much proves that Net Neutrality supporters really don’t care much about a free and open Internet as formulated in most people’s minds, nor do they care if corporations offer the Internet in a “fair” manner. No, what Net Neutrality supporters want is the end of ownership of intellectual property. What they really think is that anything that appears on the Internet should be wholly free of any capitalist ends whatever. That includes anything you create, by the way. They aren’t just against those evil corporations. They are against anyone making money on the Internet. That means you too.
Read more