Conservatives Haven't Screwed Up Enough With Deregulation-- Now They Have A Big Fat Wet Kiss For Comcast And AT & T

If you were following the DWT Tweets yesterday you saw me wasting time twittering away about Nancy Pelosi's telephone conference with bloggers. No disrespect for Nancy... it wasn't all that illuminating. Except for one thing: net neutrality, which she says she strongly supports. In fact, as Jason Rosenbaum pointed out after the Speaker responded to his question on the subject, Pelosi promised that if the House considers legislation to sell off the Internet to the communications giants "it's not going to be a Democratic initiative."

And yet... and yet... the effort by the communications monopolies, primarily Comcast and AT&T, to eradicate the essential free and open nature of the Internet is something that is yielding fruit on both sides of the aisle. Of the 111 members of the House who are behind the Telecoms' drive to gut a free and easy Internet 74 of the easily bribed congressmen are Democrats. On the call yesterday Pelosi told us:

Part of the innovation agenda I advocated for when I became Leader was universal broadband. We had hoped to get it done within five years. We just got the bill passed three years ago under President Bush, but we had no funding. Now we want to have the resources to take us to that place so we don’t have a disparity between urban and rural populations. Reclassification, net neutrality, universal access for every American... these are priorities for us. And we see it not in isolation but as part of a new prosperity, as a job creator, to make America healthier, smarter and an international leader.

So which members of the House are onboard to sell out the Internet to AT&T and Comcast? I wish I could say it's all a bunch of corrupt reactionary Blue Dog scum like Bobby Bright, Heath Shuler, Chris Carney, Dan Boren, John Barrow and Mike Ross. And of course all the regular corrupt reactionary Blue Dog scum including those half dozen congressional criminals are in on it. But so are plenty of non-Blue Dogs, particularly the ones who walk around Washington with "For Sale" placards on their asses, like John Adler (NJ) and Suzanne Kosmas (FL). Here's the whole list of the 74 Democrats who have signed on to the Telecom letter-- along with the thinly veiled bribes they've picked up from Telecom industry executives and lobbyists:

Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL)- $35,000
the always corrupt Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR)- $65,000
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ)- $10,500
Ed Pastor (AZ)- $33,500
Gabby Giffords (Blue Dog-AZ)- $27,000
Dennis Cardoza (Blue Dog-CA)- $34,500
Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)- $35,500
Laura Richardson (CA)- $29,000
Joe Baca (Blue Dog-CA)- $92,000
Loretta Sanchez (Blue Dog-CA)- $77,000
Allen Boyd (Blue Dog-FL)- $58,500
Corrine Brown (FL)- 20,500
Alcee Hastings (FL)- $28,000
Suzanne Kosmas (FL)- $25,000
Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)- $52,000
John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA)- 87,500
David Scott (Blue Dog-GA)- $32,500
Leonard Boswell (Blue Dog-IA)- $53,500
Walter Minnick (Blue Dog/Tea Party-ID)- $13,000
Bobby Rush (IL)- $128,799
Debbie Halvorson (IL)- $5,500
Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN)- $87,374
Dennis Moore (Blue Dog-KS)- $55,500
Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA)- $55,000
Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD)- $44,500
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD)- $47,000
Elijah Cummings (MD)- $56,250
Gary Peters (MI)- $21,500, the only former Blue America endorsee on this list of shame; obviously he forfeits any chance of being endorsed again-- but good luck with the kooks, dude
William Lacy Clay (MO)- $40,000
Russ Carnahan (MO)- $38,000
Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS)- $42,500
Bennie Thompson (MS)- $46,500
Gene Taylor (Blue Dog-MS)- $14,500
G.K. Butterfield (NC)- $33,500
Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC)- $23,000
John Adler (NJ)- $29,000
Albio Sires (NJ)- $28,500
Harry Teague (NM)- $8,000
Tim Bishop (NY)- $9,000
Gregory Meeks (NY)- $66,000
Joseph Crowley (NY)- $55,000
Edolphus Towns (NY)- $14,200
Yvette Clarke (NY)- $15,000
Michael McMahon (NY)- $27,000
Scott Murphy (Blue Dog-NY)- $17,000
Bill Owens (NY)- $3,000
Michael Arcuri (Blue Dog-NY)- $30,000
Dan Maffei (NY)- $29,000
Steve Dreihaus (OH)- $6,000
Charlie Wilson (Blue Dog-OH)- $29,000
Marcia Fudge (D)- $11,000
Zach Space (Blue Dog-OH)- $39,500
Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK)- $31,500
Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)- $25,000
Robert Brady (PA)- $56,100
Chaka Fattah (PA)- $46,500
Kathleen Dahlkemper (Blue Dog-PA)- $20,500
Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA)- $39,500
Chris Carney (Blue Dog-PA)- $10,750
Allyson Schwartz (PA)- $58,200
Tim Holden (Blue Dog-PA)- $47,500
Lincoln Davis (Blue Dog-TN)- $29,500
John Tanner (Blue Dog-TN)- $61,300
Al Green (TX)- $36,000
Ruben Hinojosa (TX)- $35,500
Charlie Gonzalez (TX)- $33,500
Ciro Rodriguez (TX)- $36,750
Solomon Ortiz (TX)- $31,500
Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)- $23,000
Gene Green (TX)- $111,199
Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX)- $32,500
Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA)- $24,833
Rick Larsen (WA)- $29,500
Nick Rahall (WV)- $32,000

As the Save The Internet folks keep pointing out, "Comcast, Verizon and AT&T can no better police themselves to protect the Internet than BP can police itself to protect the oceans, or Goldman Sachs can police itself to protect our economy. We already know how that ends." And, of course, the bulk of the Republican House caucus is gung ho on self-regulation, just like they were for Big Oil and for Wall Street. This was a press release that went out Friday:

Today 171 House Republicans led by U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., ranking member of the Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee, wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski encouraging him not to reclassify broadband services under Title II of the Communications Act.

“The FCC concluded on a number of occasions, under both Democrat- and Republican-led Commissions, that broadband is not a telecommunications service but an information service outside the reach of the Title II common carrier rules,” the lawmakers wrote. “The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that view in its 2005 Brand X decision. Moreover, the policy consequences of reclassifying broadband and regulating it under Title II could be severe: reduced broadband investment, less economic stimulation, and fewer jobs.”

“In the Comcast-BitTorrent case, the D.C. Circuit explained that ‘statements of congressional policy can help delineate the contours of statutory authority.’ Congress issued just such a policy statement in 1996 when it added section 230 to the Communications Act,” the House Republicans added. “That section makes it the policy of the United States ‘to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation.’ Whether the country should stray from that legislated posture-- which has produced 200 million broadband subscribers in the last 10 years-- is a matter best left to Congress.”

Jared Polis (D-CO) and Jay Inslee (D-WA) are taking the lead in defending Internet freedom and I think you'll recognize the names of the congressmembers who are taking a stand for Net Neutrality:

Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), John Conyers (D-MI), Pete Defazio (D-OR), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Donna Edwards (D-MD), Sam Farr (D-CA), Bob Filner (D-CA), Barney Frank (D-MA), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Jay Inslee (D-WA), Jim Langevin (D-RI), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Jim McDermott (D-WA), Bill McGovern (D-MA), George Miller (D-CA), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Jared Polis (D-CO), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Joe Sestak (D-PA), John Tierney (D-MA), Tim Walz (D-MN), Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

These are the good guys in this battle. The bad guys are the corrupt Democrats who constantly sell their souls to K Street, the Blue Dogs, corporate shills on both sides of the aisle, Grover Norquist, Michele Bachmann and, of course, the handmaiden of all check-writing corporate interests, from Wall Street to K Street and any other street but Main Street, John Boehner, who has been trying to mislead people by tweeting between golf strokes: "FCC plan to regulate internet will stifle innovation, kill jobs. Another gov't takeover by President Obama."

Boehner's Democratic opponent for the western Ohio seat he currently occupies doesn't see it that way at all. This morning he told us that he's looked closely at the new proposals and he, like most Americans who care about the Internet, thinks Boehner and the Republicans have it all wrong.

After analyzing the options I come down firmly on the side of net neutrality. I believe the beauty of the internet is the fact that each of us can freely communicate without interference of ISPs deciding which sites are better or worse than others... Therefore I strongly support the Internet Freedom and Preservation Act sponsored by Congressman Edward Markey.

Without Net Neutrality, not only could political speech be stifled, but small businesses who rely on the internet to promote their goods or services could be left behind in favor of the large corporations who can afford to pay ISPs fees for faster download speeds. That might work on K street, but it provides another vivid example that John Boehner-- AKA Dr. No-- and his one note band of lockstep followers… are repeatedly ignoring the needs of citizens on Main Street who want a free and open internet system for personal communication and commerce. Once again I pledge to stand with the good folks on Main Street.

Boehner or Coussoule? Net Neutrality or an internet controlled by Big Business? You decide, and please consider helping Justin's grassroots campaign, while sending Boehner on a permanent golfing vacation. You can donate here through Act Blue.

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