freshwest

freshwest's Journal

November 11, 2014

Obama has been fought by the GOP on broadband:

FCC Republican wants to let states block municipal broadband

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler* is going to have a fight on his hands if he tries to preempt state laws that limit the growth of municipal broadband networks.

Matthew Berry, chief of staff to Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai, argued today that the FCC has no authority to invalidate state laws governing local broadband networks. In a speech in front of the National Conference of State Legislatures, Berry endorsed states' rights when it comes to either banning municipal broadband networks or preventing their growth. He also argued that the current commission, with its Democratic majority, should not do something that future Republican-led commissions might disagree with.

... Arguing that municipal broadband networks could discourage investment by private companies, Berry said, "It’s not hard, then, to imagine a future FCC concluding that taxpayer-funded, municipal broadband projects themselves are barriers to infrastructure investment. So if the current FCC were successful in preempting state and local laws under Section 706, what would stop a future FCC from using Section 706 to forbid states and localities from constructing any future broadband projects? Nothing that I can see."

Twenty states place at least some limits on the ability of cities and towns to offer Internet service to residents through laws passed as favors to cable companies and other ISPs. Wheeler argues that because Section 706 gives the FCC authority to promote competition in local telecommunications markets by removing barriers to investment, the commission can preempt laws that prevent cities and towns from creating their own broadband networks that compete against private companies. The Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the city of Wilson, North Carolina, which both say local laws prevent them from expanding Internet service to surrounding areas, have filed petitions asking the commission to do just that.

Read more:

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/08/fcc-republican-wants-to-let-states-block-municipal-broadband/

to Newsjock:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014875961

Chattanooga has the largest high-speed internet service in the US, offering customers access to speeds of 1 gigabit per second – about 50 times faster than the US average. The service, provided by municipally owned EPB, has sparked a tech boom in the city and attracted international attention. EPB is now petitioning the FCC to expand its territory. Comcast and other companies have previously sued unsuccessfully to stop EPB’s fibre optic roll out.

Wilson, a town of a little more than 49,000 people, launched Greenlight, its own service offering high-speed internet, after complaints about the cost and quality of Time Warner cable’s service. Time Warner lobbied the North Carolina senate to outlaw the service and similar municipal efforts.

USTelecom claims the FCC* has no legal standing over the proposed expansions and does not have the power to preempt the North Carolina and Tennessee statutes that would prevent them.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/aug/29/us-telecoms-fcc-block-high-speed-internet-chattanooga

An example has been in Chattanooga, TN, which resisted the big providers who denied affordable broadband, with help from Obama:

EPB’s high-speed network came about after it decided to set up a smart electric grid in order to cut power outages. EPB estimated it would take 10 years to build the system and raised a $170m through a municipal bond to pay for it. In 2009 president Barack Obama launched the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a stimulus programme aimed at getting the US economy back on track amid the devastation of the recession. EPB was awarded $111m to get its smart grid up and running. Less than three years later the whole service territory was built.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/30/chattanooga-gig-high-speed-internet-tech-boom

*Remember how many hateful media stories were out there dissing the FCC and Tom Wheeler on net neutrality, the price of broadband, and calling him a sell-out to corporations, because he worked for a company, broadbrushing Obama with the same charge?

The Idiocracy is very tiresome! Proving RF101 works just as intended.

There are other cities who have taken advantage of grants from the Obama Adminstration to give the people living there some of the cheapest BB in the world. Not just in TN.

Another story here:

to littlemissmartypants:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10695213

Not that this wasn't known before:

FCC Head to Revise Broadband-Rules Plan Agency Won't Let Firms Segregate Web Traffic Into Fast, Slow Lanes

By GAUTHAM NAGESH - May 11, 2014

See the whole article:

http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303627504579556200630931292-lMyQjAxMTA0MDEwMTExNDEyWj

And the FCC has been working for us all along:

FCC adds $9 billion to broadband subsidy fund

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted Wednesday to shift US$9 billion over five years from traditional telephone subsidies to broadband subsidies, in an effort to bring high-speed Internet services to 5 million U.S. residents who don’t have access.

The FCC, as expected, voted on a proposal to shift $1.8 billion a year from the rural telephone subsidies in its Universal Service Fund to its broadband-focused Connect America Fund, amounting to a 70 percent increase in broadband deployment subsidies.

“Thanks to the Connect America Fund, we’ve taken a serious bite out of the lack of broadband access in America put ourselves on a path to remedying that,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said.

The FCC vote provides $1.8 billion a year, starting in 2015, to a broadband deployment fund where large carriers such as AT&T and Verizon Communications have the first shot at accepting the subsidies. If the large carriers turn down the subsidy, the FCC would conduct an auction to give the subsidy to other carriers.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2147360/fcc-adds-9-billion-to-broadband-subsidy-fund.html

to octoberlib:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024863635

Facing GOP obstruction for their many masters, Obama the corporate lackey has betrayed us again! You will never see a word of praise for the real work being done.

November 11, 2014

Well, she's nicer than me.

November 11, 2014

Can feel it now. Great sunsets, though:

That's 'THE Mountain.'

That's one river view.

That's another.

A couple at the shore.

A Washington state ferry.

November 10, 2014

The same Congress was gonna impeach him. Did people here forget, or never knew?

The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s as a result of the June 17, 1972, break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement. When the conspiracy was discovered and investigated by the U.S. Congress, the Nixon administration's resistance to its probes led to a constitutional crisis.[1] The term Watergate has come to encompass an array of clandestine and often illegal activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration. Those activities included such "dirty tricks" as bugging the offices of political opponents and people of whom Nixon or his officials were suspicious. Nixon and his close aides ordered harassment of activist groups and political figures, using the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The scandal led to the discovery of multiple abuses of power by the Nixon administration, articles of impeachment,[2] and the resignation of Richard Nixon, the President of the United States, on August 9, 1974—the only resignation of a U.S. President to date. The scandal also resulted in the indictment of 69 people, with trials or pleas resulting in 48 being found guilty and incarcerated, many of whom were Nixon's top administration officials...

Facing near-certain impeachment in the House of Representatives and equally certain conviction by the Senate, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Watergate_scandal&printable=yes

Not to mention Nixon's other actions:

Vietnam War, the draft, and the Pentagon Papers

Mike Gravel attempted to stop the draft to end the war immediately, but he failed. Nixon wanted it extended and although several supported him, he lost. But that was not all that he did:

Meanwhile, on June 13, 1971, The New York Times began printing large portions of the Pentagon Papers.[65] The papers were a large collection of secret government documents and studies pertaining to the Vietnam War, of which former Defense Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg had made unauthorized copies and was determined to make public.[66] Ellsberg had for a year and a half approached members of Congress – such as William Fulbright, George McGovern, Charles Mathias, and Pete McCloskey – about publishing the documents, on the grounds that the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution would give congressional members immunity from prosecution, but all had refused.[67] Instead, Ellsberg gave the documents to the Times.

The U.S. Justice Department immediately tried to halt publication, on the grounds that the information revealed within the papers harmed the national interest.[66] Within the next two weeks, a federal court injunction halted publication in The Times; The Washington Post and several other newspapers began publishing parts of the documents, with some of them also being halted by injunctions; and the whole matter went to the U.S. Supreme Court for arguments.[66] Looking for an alternate publication mechanism, Ellsberg returned to his idea of having a member of Congress read them, and chose Gravel based on the latter's efforts against the draft;[8] Gravel agreed where previously others had not. Ellsberg arranged for the papers to be given to Gravel on June 26[8] via an intermediary, Washington Post editor Ben Bagdikian.[68] Gravel used his counter-intelligence experience to choose a midnight transfer in front of the Mayflower Hotel in the center of Washington.[69]

On the night of June 29, 1971, Gravel attempted to read the papers on the floor of the Senate as part of his filibuster against the draft, but was thwarted when no quorum could be formed.[70] Gravel instead convened a session of the Buildings and Grounds subcommittee that he chaired.[70] He got New York Congressman John Dow to testify that the war had soaked up funding for public buildings, thus making discussion of the war relevant to the committee.[71] He began reading from the papers with the press in attendance,[70] omitting supporting documents that he felt might compromise national security,[72] and declaring, "It is my constitutional obligation to protect the security of the people by fostering the free flow of information absolutely essential to their democratic decision-making."[72]

He read until 1 a.m., until with tears and sobs he said that he could no longer physically continue,[72] the previous three nights of sleeplessness and fear about the future having taken their toll.[8] Gravel ended the session by, with no other senators present, establishing unanimous consent[71] to insert 4,100 pages of the Papers into the Congressional Record of his subcommittee.[41][66] The following day, the Supreme Court's New York Times Co. v. United States decision ruled in favor of the newspapers[66] and publication in The Times and others resumed. In July 1971, Bantam Books published an inexpensive paperback edition of the papers containing the material The Times had published.[73]

Gravel, too, wanted to privately publish the portion of the papers he had read into the record, believing that "immediate disclosure of the contents of these papers will change the policy that supports the war."[68] After being turned down by many commercial publishers,[68] on August 4 he reached agreement with Beacon Press,[74] the publishing arm of the Unitarian Universalist Association, of which Gravel was a member.[41] Announced on August 17[73] and published on October 22, 1971,[68] this four-volume, relatively expensive set[73] became the "Senator Gravel Edition", which studies from Cornell University and the Annenberg Center for Communication have labeled as the most complete edition of the Pentagon Papers to be published.[75][76] The "Gravel Edition" was edited and annotated by Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, and included an additional volume of analytical articles on the origins and progress of the war, also edited by Chomsky and Zinn.[76] Beacon Press then was subjected to a FBI investigation;[69] an outgrowth of this was the Gravel v. United States court case, which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled upon in June 1972;[69] it held that the Speech or Debate Clause did grant immunity to Gravel for his reading the papers in his subcommittee, did grant some immunity to Gravel's congressional aide, but granted no immunity to Beacon Press in relation to their publishing the same papers.[77]

The events of 1971 changed Gravel in the months following from an obscure freshman senator in a far corner of the country to a nationally visible political figure.[41] He became a sought-after speaker on the college circuit as well as at political fundraisers,[41] opportunities he welcomed as lectures were "the one honest way a Senator has to supplement his income."[41] The Democratic candidates for the 1972 presidential election sought out his endorsement.[41] In January 1972 Gravel did endorse Maine Senator Ed Muskie,[78] hoping his endorsement would help Muskie with the party's left wing and in the ethnic French-Canadian areas in first primary state New Hampshire[41] (which Muskie won, but not strongly, and his campaign faltered soon thereafter). In April 1972, Gravel appeared on all three network nightly newscasts to decry the Nixon administration's reliance on Vietnamization by making reference to the secret National Security Study Memorandum 1 document, which stated it would take 8–13 years before the Army of the Republic of Vietnam could defend South Vietnam.[79] Gravel made excerpts from the study public,[80] but his attempt to read NSSM 1 into the Congressional Record was blocked by Senators Robert P. Griffin and William B. Saxbe.[79]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Gravel#Vietnam_War.2C_the_draft.2C_and_the_Pentagon_Papers

Gravel endorsed Muskie, but he and other good men were destroyed by Nixon's legacy from the CREP remains and its media driven method has never failed the GOP:

Donald Segretti

Watergate

Segretti was hired by friend Dwight L. Chapin to run a campaign of dirty tricks (which he dubbed "ratfucking"[1]) against the Democrats, with his work being paid for by Herb Kalmbach, Nixon's lawyer, from presidential campaign re-election funds gathered before an April 7, 1972, law required that contributors be identified. His actions were part of the larger Watergate scandal, and were important indicators for the few members of the press actively investigating the Watergate break in in the earliest stages that what became known as the Watergate scandal involved far more than just a simple break in.[2]

Segretti's involvement in the "Canuck letter"[3] typifies the tactics Segretti and others working with him used, forging a letter ascribed to Senator Edmund Muskie which maligned the people, language and culture of French Canada and French Canadians, causing the soon to be Democratic presidential candidate Muskie considerable headaches in denying the letter and having to continue dealing with the issue. Many historians have indicated over the years that Muskie's withdrawal from the Presidential primaries, and the disastrous Iowa primary loss to George McGovern that precipitated it, were at least partly the result of Segretti and some of the other "Ratfuckers" creating so much confusion and false accusations that Muskie simply could not respond in any meaningful way.

One notable example of his wrongdoing was a faked letter on Democratic presidential candidate Edmund Muskie's letterhead falsely alleging that U.S. Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, a fellow Democrat, had had an illegitimate child with a 17-year-old; the Muskie letters accused Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of sexual misconduct as well.[4] After testimony regarding the Muskie letters emerged, Democrats in Florida noted the similarity between these sabotage incidents and others that involved stationery stolen from Humphrey's offices after Muskie dropped out of the race. A false news release on Humphrey's letterhead "accused Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.) of being mentally unbalanced" and a mailing with an unidentified source mischaracterized Humphrey as supporting a controversial environmental measure that he actually opposed.[4]

In 1974, Segretti pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of distributing illegal (in fact, forged) campaign literature and was sentenced to six months in prison, actually serving four months.

In the 1976 film about Watergate, All the President's Men, Segretti was played by Robert Walden, who downplayed the dirty tricks he had undertaken as "Nickel-and-dime stuff . . . stuff. Stuff with a little wit attached to it."

Segretti was a lawyer who served as a prosecutor for the military and later as a civilian. However, his license was suspended for two years following his conviction. In 1995, he ran for a local judgeship in Orange County, California. However, he quickly withdrew from the race when his campaign awakened lingering anger over his involvement in the Watergate scandal. In 2000, Segretti served as co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign in Orange County.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Segretti

Yes, Segretti is still around and there are plenty of younger GOP operatives. Ratfucking by the GOP never stopped, because they persuade many who know nothing of the true source or purpose. They think they are reacting in righteous outrage to manufactured scandals:

The term 'Ratfucking' and how it applies to Obama and Democrats

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110215862

That's a BOG post. You may want to read it, most of it comes from the blog Driftglass which also used the material from Wikipedia, but carried it forward to today. The BOG is a safe haven with a SOP that says it is for the supporters of PBO, so many will not want to post there.

This is the continuing, not liberal legacy of the man who killed half a million Cambodians and more Americans as he stymied the peace process in Vietnam for political gain, and did other things that have continued to harm us.

He was in the midst of a social revolution largely made of Democrats. And did nothing good without being pressured to do it. He came into power in the McCarthy era and was much like the JBS. No hero, there. Thanks for your post.

JMHO.

November 10, 2014

'Monumental screw ups' criticized by Rand Paul? Try his out:

This pales in comparison to Rand's agenda:

Yeah, we know why Aqua Buddha didn't go for the VAWA and pushes personhood laws, too.

And then his National Right to Work Law?

Yup, Ayn Rand's rotting corpse is proud of her spiritual kindred.

John Galt and William Hicks are likewise proud of he and his running buddies and their giggling over default so they could 'manage catastrophe.'

Debt Ceiling: 'Chaotic' choices on 100 million payments

Rand Paul says default can be 'framed as a reasonable idea' and Tom Coburn wants to default to face a 'managed catastrophe.'

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3820816

16 Ways Default Will Totally Screw Americans

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/10/16-ways-not-raising-debt-ceiling-will-screw-americans

Rand Paul: Tie Debt Ceiling To Raising Age For Social Security And Medicare

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014619542

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014619542

Still Standing With Rand?

August 26, 2013 by JM Ashby

Senator Rand Paul says the obligation of society to care for its less-well-off population is a form of servitude and government overreach.

“As humans, yeah, we do have an obligation to give people water, to give people food, to give people health care,” Paul allowed, “but it’s not a right because once you conscript people and say, ‘Oh, it’s a right,’ then really you’re in charge, it’s servitude, you’re in charge of me and I’m supposed to do whatever you tell me to do.”

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/08/26/2525961/rand-paul-food-health-libertarianism-hayek/

If you’re such a rugged individualist that you view humane society as a burden or form of servitude, I don’t believe you have any business serving as a member of Congress or even the city mayor. And this call to free ourselves from the chains of the SNAP and Medicaid programs comes in the form of a pitch for his medical practice which, I’m guessing, probably relies on customers receiving some form of government aide to stay in business.

If you can get over your contempt for Rand Paul for a moment, a feat I struggle with, you may realize this is somewhat amusing in that a man who may be a Republican presidential contender in the near future believes access to food and water are not a right.

I could see today’s Republican base running away with that idea, but I don’t think the party establishment will like the results at the ballot box.

Read~http://bobcesca.thedailybanter.com/blog-archives/2013/08/still-standing-with-rand-3.html

Tough Love For The Frail And Sick

October 04, 2010 by digby

If the world was sane, this would be the end of the Rand Paul campaign:

A new video today catches Rand Paul repeatedly supporting a $2,000 Medicare deductible on Kentucky seniors – despite his claims just last week that such a statement was a “lie.”

Because it's important the elderly people with dozens of health problems be more responsible with their health care dollars. We certainly can't expect people like Dr Paul to
take that role. After all, they "deserve to make a comfortable living" and can't be expected to ensure that these frail old people aren't overusing the system. These "greedy geezers" need to take more responsibility for themselves and maybe a little of that Paulite "tough love" will snap them into reality.

By the way, the average social security check is $1,000 a month.

https://ixquick-proxy.com/do/spg/proxy?ep=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&epile=4q6n41784r4445784q5441774q6p38784p6q746p65513q3q&edata=fb4faecf83b2c6c22dc68761e1247da7&ek=4o6p6p4s4933744455695n414o57354q616n6s6956587038643238696130637n4r6q70585956396s&ekdata=19b77701c50fcaefd54570327f4f4c15

Mr. RTW and Personhood laws doesn't give a flying fig about these people in the OP, nor does he defending on DU, no more than he deserve O2.

November 10, 2014

Obama Sets Bear Trap, Republicans Walk Right Into It (From January)

Published on Jan 30, 2014

"Following President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday, where he called on Congress to end discriminatory workplace practices that "belong in a Mad Men episode" Fox News host Martha MacCallum proclaimed on the program American's Newsroom that women did not want special laws ensuring equal for equal work because they already were compensated "exactly what they're worth." On the Fox program, two men, liberal radio host Alan Colmes and Fox News host Tucker Carlson, debated equal pay for women. Carlson assertedthat women actually made more than men if the time they "voluntarily" took off work to raise children was factored in. "The numbers don't lie," he insisted...".* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

(Ignore the captioning, it's gotta be computer generated, it's insane. Why TYT hasn't fixed this IDK. May be a joke.)

But he truly covers all the issues and nuances there, it's worth a few minutes to watch the whole video.

This reminded me of how Obama is trolling the GOP, daring them to get to work for the people, so I'm posting it to let you know this isn't a new thing with Obama. Hope you enjoy it.

BOG POST:

You know the drill. If you can't respect the spirit or SOP of the BOG or the members of the group, kindly do not post here. This is a safe haven, not a forum for complaints, GD is where that is welcome.

November 10, 2014