Net Neutrality Revisited

As I surf the net reading cool blogs, I frequently come across the banners that ask me to Save The Internet. And I think, save it from what? Finally, I go to the site http://www.savetheinternet.com/ to enlighten myself.

My hasty scan of the site tells me that the mega-conglomerate phone and cable companies have thus far spent $100,000,000 on lobbying for the abandonment of net neutrality. This would give them carte blanche to make more billions than we can imagine in charging the consumer (both indivduals and businesses) for what we can access and at what speed we can access it.

Just think how this would put a damper on our current cyber-partying ways, not to mention our radical political communications. MoveOn.org could be just a fond memory. You will note that of the Senators who have committed themselves thus far, the Democrats are in favor of net neutrality and the Republicans are against. I smell a rat.

Please check it out, they explain it so much better than I can. And then sign the petition and write/call your Senator to urge them to insert a net neutrality clause into this bill.

Respectfully submitted,

Betty B.

Stop Bitching Start A Revolution

This is a movement started by the art community at www.zendik.org . Bumper stickers and T-shirts are available through their web site.

Boycott Hate Radio Sponsors

We are swimming in a sea of hate radio. In the Ozarks we have few options for anything approaching rational viewpoints aside from the NPR broadcasts. The constant barrage of vile hatred that comes from these stations is brainwashing it's listeners and creating a permanent divide in our society. The cumulative result of years of this assault on "liberals" has racheted the entire focus of our public discourse to the far right fringe. Now we have Fox News spewing the same propagana, and all media outlets are being pressured to include the radical right views and to denigrate, demonize or make light of liberal viewpoints. If we are to live in a society that has freedom of speech, I realize that we must tolerate a multitude of viewpoints. However, we do not have to reward the sponsors of hate radio and hate TV with our business. Let's start a boycott of those who advertise on hate media. If half of us fall on the other side of the equation, that would make a serious dent in their revenue. They will pay attention and withdraw their ads if enough people protest through letters, emails and stop buying their products and services. I find it excruciating to listen for more than a minute, so at this moment I don't have any suggestions of advertisers to boycott. Please help me compile a list, and I'll publish it here.

Betty Speaks

This diary was created as a soapbox for Betty to stand on as she speaks out on topics of interest in the political arena, and makes general observations about life in the Ozarks, Planet Earth and the Galaxy in which we reside.