Net Neutrality and The Sex Pistols

Net Neutrality reminds me that the Bell System used to have a monopoly on telephone service. Maybe I'm suspicious since my father used to work for Southwestern Bell ("We May Be the Only Phone Company in Town but we Try Not to Act Like It"), but I have a feeling these bastards are trying to make up some lost ground now that half the world relies on cell phones. The Bell System was slow to recognize that trend even after divestiture. My father told the fat cats at SWB about cell phones back around 1980 after he went to a Futurist's convention in Montreaux. The fat cats wouldn't believe people might give up their land lines.

Many companies besides Verizon are looking to make some dough by stacking the deck. The issue doesn't seem so complicated when Jon Stewart explains it:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Net Neutrality Act
www.thedailyshow.com
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My mother thinks that the Berlin wall came down not because of anything economic, exactly - it was the invention of the fax machine which enabled people on both sides of the wall to see that their governments were full of shit. That wall was a real, solid, concrete wall - but if Ronald Reagan can take credit for bringing it down, then Reaganomics and Republicans can take credit for erecting a gigantic invisible wall dividing the wealthy from the Rest of Us in this country. It may not come down in our lifetimes, but free access to information - especially the alternate media - prevents us from remaining isolated and ignorant. Without freedom of access to information, we could all turn into the kind of Teabaggers who think a few days on some cheesy resort like Atlantis in the Bahamas gives them expanded insight into foreign policy.

That reminds me of a song . . .



A Cheap holiday in other peoples misery!
I don't wanna holiday in the sun
I wanna go to new Belsen
I wanna see some history
'Cause now I got a reasonable economy

Now I got a reason, now I got a reason
Now I got a reason and I'm still waiting
Now I got a reason
Now I got reason to be waiting
The Berlin Wall