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posted by janrinok on Saturday October 10 2015, @04:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the yawn dept.

Senators Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) today said they will try to preserve the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules in a budget standoff with Republicans.

A Republican budget proposal that came out in June would prevent the FCC from enforcing its net neutrality rules until Internet providers who are suing the commission have exhausted all their legal options.

"ISPs are certainly free to file their suits but until they prevail, and I don't believe they will, there is no basis for Republicans blocking the FCC from doing its job," Franken said in a press conference today.

ISPs previously petitioned a federal appeals court for a stay that would delay implementation of the rules until the legal case is decided. The court refused to issue a stay, allowing the net neutrality rules to take effect on June 12. But the Republican budget proposal for fiscal 2016 would prohibit implementation of the rules until the court cases are over.

An opportunity for Google, Facebook, Apple, and the rest to weigh in to preserve the Internet.


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  • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by redneckmother on Saturday October 10 2015, @04:35AM

    by redneckmother (3597) on Saturday October 10 2015, @04:35AM (#247696)

    I am listening to Elton John's album, "Tumbleweed Connection", the last cut, "Burn Down the Mission".

    Now I browse to this post.

    --
    Mas cerveza por favor.
  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Saturday October 10 2015, @04:59AM

    by Snotnose (1623) on Saturday October 10 2015, @04:59AM (#247701)

    Are the R's really trying to be the party of the stupid and/or corrupt, or are they really that stupid and/or corrupt?

    * WTF: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 5, Informative) by Whoever on Saturday October 10 2015, @05:01AM

      by Whoever (4524) on Saturday October 10 2015, @05:01AM (#247702) Journal

      Yes.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by shortscreen on Saturday October 10 2015, @05:38AM

      by shortscreen (2252) on Saturday October 10 2015, @05:38AM (#247706) Journal

      Repubs have also been stirring up this Planned Parenthood balderdash pretty vigorously.

      It would be funny (funny in the same sense as dying from falling off an amusement park ride) if net neutrality got the axe in a "compromise" by Dems to avoid another government "shutdown" (where all the parts that should be shuttered are deemed to too important to do so) and "save" PP.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @06:25AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @06:25AM (#247712)

      Why do you think they keep the hotbutton issues around? Great fodder to cover for the important ones.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by davester666 on Saturday October 10 2015, @07:01AM

      by davester666 (155) on Saturday October 10 2015, @07:01AM (#247715)

      remove all the "or"s from your sentence.

      The answer is "yes".

      Unfortunately, the D's are the same, just doing it from a different angle.

      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Hairyfeet on Saturday October 10 2015, @07:37AM

        by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Saturday October 10 2015, @07:37AM (#247719) Journal

        Every time I read people blaming "Ds" or "Rs" I always think of the "joke" (more like pure truth) by the late great Bill Hicks: "'I think the puppet on the right shares my beliefs.' 'I think the puppet on the left is more to my liking.' 'Hey, wait a minute, there's one guy holding out both puppets!'" and that is what we've had in the Corporate States of Amerika for many decades.

          Just pick a few topics that will stir up the "party faithful" which corporate by and large does not give two shits about (think most corps care about planned parenthood, gay marriage, or net neutrality?) and then pass all the nasty backroom deals the corps DO care about hidden in line 3694 of some huge bill nobody hears or cares about because it isn't "generating media buzz" (yeah I wonder who owns those media corps?) or is tied to a "hot button topic", which again is designed to be something to stir up one side or the other while not bothering their corporate masters. Lather rinse repeat and you have the last several decades of the CSA if not the last century.

        --
        ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @10:36AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @10:36AM (#247739)

          an audio recording of that Bill Hicks quote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44igxBBtXpA [youtube.com]

        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Saturday October 10 2015, @11:09AM

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday October 10 2015, @11:09AM (#247742) Journal

          Yes, Hairyfeet. Keep saying it everywhere you go, at every opportunity. Everyone needs to hear it said until they release the illusion of choice. No matter what their party registration says, everyone knows what the problem is, the corporations and the elites. Until their power is broken there is no freedom and no democracy.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
          • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Hairyfeet on Saturday October 10 2015, @01:28PM

            by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Saturday October 10 2015, @01:28PM (#247761) Journal

            Oh I do, every chance I get. All modern politics is is a game of three card monty where you get the sucker to "chase the lady" while the outcome is already known and the winner is NEVER gonna be the player!

            I mean when was the last time you saw a major "hot button" be something that seriously pissed off the big corps? They pick topics that will piss off the rubes of this or that side, gays, school choice, shit the corps could not give a single fuck about, and let them get into a nice lather arguing over this BULLSHEEEIT while the corps laugh their asses off as they get what they want dropped into some farm bill or minor funding legislation that will never get even discussed. Does anybody really think these big multinationals like Dow Chemical or Monsanto or Goldman Sachs give two shits if the lackey is a D or an R? Both are easily enough bought.

            Anybody who thinks they can change the current system by actually participating IN that system? Is as deluded as the guy playing 3 card monty in Times Square and thinking they are gonna somehow "win". If you play a rigged game? There can only be one outcome, you lose, simple as that and as long as there is dark money flowing like a river of shit through the system? Nothing you do will mean shit in that system.

            --
            ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
          • (Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday October 10 2015, @04:22PM

            by Francis (5544) on Saturday October 10 2015, @04:22PM (#247793)

            If we believe and we act like that, then that's all we'll ever get. The problem isn't that we can't have change, the problem is that most people don't want change. There's a huge number of people that want that kind of craziness. In the past, when politicians were lying about it, I could pretend like it was a conspiracy. But, they don't even lie about it any more.

            I think that Walt Kelley was right when he said "I met the enemy and he is us."

            Until the right wing nutters are convinced to start voting for politicians that are at least promising to do the right thing, there's not much that can be done about it. The nutters on the left are mostly a reaction to the nutters on the right. The left-wing candidates for President always make a right turn after the primary. But the right-wing candidates never do.

            • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Saturday October 10 2015, @09:14PM

              by hemocyanin (186) on Saturday October 10 2015, @09:14PM (#247874) Journal

              The left-wing candidates for President always make a right turn after the primary. But the right-wing candidates never do.

              Some of that is result of the fact that there is a division in labor between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats excel at getting GOP policy passed into law, and the GOP excels at proposing stuff for Democrats to pass. Example: the entirety of the Obama administration. In that division of labor, the GOP is always going to be pushing the new stuff, and will always look like dickheads, right up to the point the Democrats make it the new normal and everyone stops talking about it.

              So the observation that Democrats move right and Republicans don't, is just the natural result of the time delay between proposal and implementation. It doesn't actually mean anything though and to use that as a basis to think there is some discernible difference between Team Red and Team Blue on 99.6% of all issues, is to fall into the exact trap they want you to fall in to.

            • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday October 11 2015, @02:10AM

              by Phoenix666 (552) on Sunday October 11 2015, @02:10AM (#247929) Journal

              Until the right wing nutters are convinced to start voting for politicians that are at least promising to do the right thing

              I consider myself a progressive in the Teddy Roosevelt, Bull Moose Party sense of the term, not in a scrubbed, hipper version of "liberal" sense. I state that openly in the chance that you might better receive what I'm going to say: it's really important to understand that the "right wing nutters" are voting for politicians that are promising to do the right thing. They use different language. Rather, better to say "semiotics" than "language." But they are talking about the same things people on the left are: government and elites run amok.

              It is true that the right wing has a near monopoly on old white bigots. That makes the Republican party repellent to me. But it's also true there's bigotry on the left, though much more marginal and much less empowered by the party elite. On the bread and butter issues, though, and on questions of basic decency, there is a pretty solid consensus even if they use different language to talk about it.

              So despite how difficult it is to work with old white bigots, and for old white bigots to work with everyone else, it is in everyone's interests to put that sort of thing aside for now and concentrate on bringing the 1% (for lack of a better term) down and restoring our democracy, because the 1% are literally threatening our survival as a country and as a species.

              --
              Washington DC delenda est.
              • (Score: 1) by Francis on Sunday October 11 2015, @03:25AM

                by Francis (5544) on Sunday October 11 2015, @03:25AM (#247951)

                No, that's the thing. They're not promising to do anything positive for the voters. These are people that are voting for people that are promising to do things that the voters themselves know to be bad for them. But, they do it because of some fucked up sense that this will get those elitist Democrats that judge them to be dumb.

                Well, yes, that shows the Democrats alright, the reduced opportunity and quality of life that you get out of the deal will clearly teach the Democrats to not judge you stupid.

                I think you give the GOP voters either too much or not enough credit. It's a deliberate act of sabotage and they know perfectly well that they're doing it.

          • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Saturday October 10 2015, @06:41PM

            by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Saturday October 10 2015, @06:41PM (#247833) Homepage Journal

            Yes, Hairyfeet. Keep saying it everywhere you go, at every opportunity. Everyone needs to hear it said until they release the illusion of choice. No matter what their party registration says, everyone knows what the problem is, the corporations and the elites. Until their power is broken there is no freedom and no democracy.

            You guys hit the nail on the head. I'd also suggest endlessly repeating something along the lines of "We'll never be free of political corruption and bad policy until we remove the necessity for large sums of money in the political system. As long as politicians require large sums to retain their power, the monied interests will keep pulling their strings. Even those who are idealistic soon discover that unless they play ball with our corporate overlords, they're toast."

            I, for one, do not welcome our long-standing corporate overlords. The ideals of the Enlightenment and the ideas ensconced in the U.S. Constitution are about maximizing liberty. Back in the day, absolute monarchs were the ones pulling the strings and curtailing freedoms. Which is why the founders sought to limit government intrusion.

            These days, it's the monied interests who seek to curtail our freedoms. They do so in many ways, including the corruption of our political system.

            Rather than focusing on our differences, let's focus on a common cause: fighting to maximize our liberty.

            Oh, and despite what the SCOTUS says [wikipedia.org], money is not speech. Money is, well, money.

            --
            No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @10:22PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @10:22PM (#247888)

              Your username contradicts your post. Choosing to believe that the parties are identical, you cede all power to that belief. Money in politics is powerful, but it is not all powerful. If you focus on every success that Big Money has, you will miss all of their failures. The very fact that Trump and Sanders are so popular is proof that big money is not absolute. Even if neither of them get their party's nominations, they will have both changed their party's platforms. Look at Clinton, once a proponent of TPP now she's on record opposing it - that's because of Sanders.

              • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday October 11 2015, @01:55AM

                by Phoenix666 (552) on Sunday October 11 2015, @01:55AM (#247922) Journal

                And those of us who are old enough have seen this movie play through too many times to believe that running faster on the hamster wheel will make any difference. By all means, go ahead, elect Trump or Sanders President. See how much difference that makes against a Congress that is fully bought, against regulatory agencies run by the corporations they're supposed to be regulating, against a bureaucracy that resists change at all costs, against the corruption petty and large of deep pockets at all levels of our society. Did you miss the article a couple days ago about how rich people like the Kochs buy themselves free of criticism? The NGOs and non-profits and thinktanks they subvert are just another layer of their corruption. They have sunk deep roots into our societies, and they must be rooted out. Business as usual is done, capitalism as it has been cannot continue, and we need to refashion a new means of governing ourselves and organizing productive activity that will serve us for the next century or so. And the next iteration must, must build into its DNA protective measures against capture by sociopaths. I say let's do that and deal with the window-dressing later.

                --
                Washington DC delenda est.
                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 11 2015, @01:45PM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 11 2015, @01:45PM (#248046)

                  Again with the giving up because its hard. News flash to someone who is "old enough to have seen this movie" - politics is always hard. You are self-fulfilling prophecy. Gay marriage took decades to accomplish. Bills to create national health insurance were introduced in congress in 1970. Every step towards progress takes enormous effort, always has and requires constant vigilance to maintain, always has.

              • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Sunday October 11 2015, @08:36PM

                by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Sunday October 11 2015, @08:36PM (#248154) Homepage Journal

                Your username contradicts your post. Choosing to believe that the parties are identical, you cede all power to that belief. Money in politics is powerful, but it is not all powerful. If you focus on every success that Big Money has, you will miss all of their failures. The very fact that Trump and Sanders are so popular is proof that big money is not absolute. Even if neither of them get their party's nominations, they will have both changed their party's platforms. Look at Clinton, once a proponent of TPP now she's on record opposing it - that's because of Sanders.

                I see your reasoning skills are on a par with your command of the English language [reference.com]. Bravo.

                --
                No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Saturday October 10 2015, @03:58PM

          by Thexalon (636) on Saturday October 10 2015, @03:58PM (#247786)

          That's too cynical, and it's too cynical in a bad way.

          The real parties in America are not "Democratic" or "Republican". The real parties in America are "Bought" and "Not-Bought" (yet). It is extremely difficult for a citizen to figure out whether their politicians are bought or not. You of course have to ignore everything that politician says, and all TV ads and coverage of their actions. The only sources of information you can really use as an indicator is (1) their official actions (particularly votes [govtrack.us], vetoes [senate.gov], appointments, executive orders [archives.gov], pardons, etc) and (2) their sources of campaign funding [opensecrets.org]. Also, you cannot determine it by a single action, ever. You need to look for a pattern of actions: The Bought Party members will frequently rotate around who's toeing the Bought Party line so they can each go back to their districts and say "I voted against ________" when they actually support the measure in private. Once you have identified a Not-Bought Party member, watch them carefully, because all it takes is one lobbyist for them to go from being in the Not-Bought Party to being in the Bought Party. And once a politician has joined the Bought Party, there's no going back.

          The Bought Party has controlled the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court for decades. But, and this is critical to understand, there is a Not-Bought Party presence in Congress and many state and local governments, and treating Not-Bought politicians the same way you treat Bought politicians is a quick way to move them into the Bought Party.

          --
          The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by TheGratefulNet on Saturday October 10 2015, @02:33PM

      by TheGratefulNet (659) on Saturday October 10 2015, @02:33PM (#247768)

      both parties are worthless, these days; but the R's have a special place in the anti-intellectualism trend we see today.

      anti-gay, anti-women, anti-choice, basically, all about christian religion and any hot-button issue you could correlate with those 'faithful' voters.

      oh, and if the D's want something, the current R's will fight to the death to convince you that its not in your best interest, no matter how useful or non-useful that real issue is.

      the D's suck too, but the R's are a special brand of stupid. they latched onto the religious right and that really forced them to double down on their derp (as is said in the parlance of our times).

      yes, they have played me too. I'm very anti-religious and I cannot get myself to consider voting for any R since they lock-step sign on to the jesus-ship. just can't support anyone who panders to the jesus fanboys.

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
      • (Score: 2) by n1 on Saturday October 10 2015, @03:33PM

        by n1 (993) on Saturday October 10 2015, @03:33PM (#247781) Journal

        The R's use an iron fist. The D's cloak it in a velvet glove. The end result is the same, the time it takes to get there varies to keep the illusion of real political choice alive.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @05:24PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @05:24PM (#247803)

      They really are that stupid and corrupt, and have been for decades.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @01:44PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @01:44PM (#247762)

    As if. They got the moolah to pay for any privilege. Unlike any new kid on the block. If you ditch net neutrality you can kiss innovation good bye.

    They've already spawned "zero-rating" arrangements where they get preferential treatment. Sickening.

    The situation is fairly similar to what's happening in patents. Gotta keep the little guys down.