Now that an open, egalitarian Internet has become an essential part of our lives, the big telcos naturally want to screw with it, creating a system where bigshots can buy a wider pipe than start-ups, and therefore you, the user, don’t get the choices you’re used to.  Naturally, their hired tools in Congress are now threatening to screw the Internet up good and proper.

    If they get their way, the telcos make money, and everybody else gets a crappier Internet.  (Which, in turn, might even mean the telcos make less money in the long run.)

    The fight has currently reached the Senate.  Josh Marshall and the fine folks at Talking Points Memo are compiling a list of the public positions of each member.  At this writing, twelve senators (all Democrats, incidentally) support net neutrality.  Three (all Republicans) are on record as against it. 

    Thirty-one senators are listed as “finger in the wind,” with no public position, and the remaining fifty-four have yet to be contacted.

    Want to keep the Internet the way it is?  Here’s what you can do:

    Visit SaveTheInternet.com.  Read the FAQ.

    Then call your senator (find their numbers here in about five seconds) and bug the crap out of them not to screw with the ‘Net.  If you find out where one of the “unknowns” stands, get back to Josh about it so the other kids in the class can build on what you find out.

    It’ll only take a few minutes, and it’ll do some good.

    (Unless, of course, you really like your phone company, and you consider them noble and selfless humanitarians.  In which case, you’re not with Sprint.  I can tell you that.)

    Now that an open, egalitarian Internet has become an essential part of our lives, the big telcos naturally want to screw with it, creating a system where bigshots can buy a wider pipe than start-ups, and therefore you, the user, don’t get the choices you’re used to.  Naturally, their hired tools in Congress are now threatening to screw the Internet up good and proper.

    If they get their way, the telcos make money, and everybody else gets a crappier Internet.  (Which, in turn, might even mean the telcos make less money in the long run.)

    The fight has currently reached the Senate.  Josh Marshall and the fine folks at Talking Points Memo are compiling a list of the public positions of each member.  At this writing, twelve senators (all Democrats, incidentally) support net neutrality.  Three (all Republicans) are on record as against it. 

    Thirty-one senators are listed as “finger in the wind,” with no public position, and the remaining fifty-four have yet to be contacted.

    Want to keep the Internet the way it is?  Here’s what you can do:

    Visit SaveTheInternet.com.  Read the FAQ.

    Then call your senator (find their numbers here in about five seconds) and bug the crap out of them not to screw with the ‘Net.  If you find out where one of the “unknowns” stands, get back to Josh about it so the other kids in the class can build on what you find out.

    It’ll only take a few minutes, and it’ll do some good.

    (Unless, of course, you really like your phone company, and you consider them noble and selfless humanitarians.  In which case, you’re not with Sprint.  I can tell you that.)

    Brazil over Germany in the final, 3-0.

    Just got back from Yearly Kos in Vegas, about to commence Germany v. Costa Rica and the rest on the TiVo.  Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.

    Will post much on what I saw an heard at the convention later on.  Fascinating weekend.  Cranked both my hope (about fellow Americans) and skepticism (about our politicians) up a notch at the same time.

    But for now, I gotta go catch up with the rest of the world.  Oh boy oh boy oh boy…

    PS: Not that you asked or probably care, I’ll generally be cheering for whichever country is the underdog in most matches, especially if they’re also an economic underdog.  This way, when you see Ecuador playing Poland, for example, you have two good reasons to root for Ecuador.  (Who just won 2-0 on the TiVo.  Hurray!)

    So while my much-adored, sport-mad, heretofore soccer-poor Australia will be high on my list, I’ll be hollering for Ghana and Ivory Coast and so on even more.  (Slightly better soccer, much worse economies.) 

    Which means that I’ll be cheering for Trinidad & Tobago hardest of all, by a considerable margin.  Smallest nation ever to reach the World Cup, they have virtually no chance of winning even a single match, and yet the Soca Warriors, simply by their presence in this arena, are a source of national pride.

    Besides which, Tobago is spectacular, as I believe I may have mentioned once or twice.

    UPDATE! Sweden 0, T & T 0!  Whoo-hoo!  Sweden could have won 5-0 or worse, given the run of play.  But they didn’t.  Ball after ball went zing! just past the T & T goal or was blocked at the last instant by the keeper, who was magnificent.  The whole second half was less like football than watching a drunken knife-throwing act and rooting for the girl to survive.

    I know to a lot of you, this is meaningless, but what I would give right now to be munching on a roti at Store Bay right now and just looking at the smiles on everyone’s faces.  

    Seriously, if you’re missing the World Cup, you are missing out. 

    Brazil over Germany in the final, 3-0.

    Just got back from Yearly Kos in Vegas, about to commence Germany v. Costa Rica and the rest on the TiVo.  Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.

    Will post much on what I saw an heard at the convention later on.  Fascinating weekend.  Cranked both my hope (about fellow Americans) and skepticism (about our politicians) up a notch at the same time.

    But for now, I gotta go catch up with the rest of the world.  Oh boy oh boy oh boy…

    PS: Not that you asked or probably care, I’ll generally be cheering for whichever country is the underdog in most matches, especially if they’re also an economic underdog.  This way, when you see Ecuador playing Poland, for example, you have two good reasons to root for Ecuador.  (Who just won 2-0 on the TiVo.  Hurray!)

    So while my much-adored, sport-mad, heretofore soccer-poor Australia will be high on my list, I’ll be hollering for Ghana and Ivory Coast and so on even more.  (Slightly better soccer, much worse economies.) 

    Which means that I’ll be cheering for Trinidad & Tobago hardest of all, by a considerable margin.  Smallest nation ever to reach the World Cup, they have virtually no chance of winning even a single match, and yet the Soca Warriors, simply by their presence in this arena, are a source of national pride.

    Besides which, Tobago is spectacular, as I believe I may have mentioned once or twice.

    UPDATE! Sweden 0, T & T 0!  Whoo-hoo!  Sweden could have won 5-0 or worse, given the run of play.  But they didn’t.  Ball after ball went zing! just past the T & T goal or was blocked at the last instant by the keeper, who was magnificent.  The whole second half was less like football than watching a drunken knife-throwing act and rooting for the girl to survive.

    I know to a lot of you, this is meaningless, but what I would give right now to be munching on a roti at Store Bay right now and just looking at the smiles on everyone’s faces.  

    Seriously, if you’re missing the World Cup, you are missing out. 

    Brazil over Germany in the final, 3-0.

    Just got back from Yearly Kos in Vegas, about to commence Germany v. Costa Rica and the rest on the TiVo.  Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.

    Will post much on what I saw an heard at the convention later on.  Fascinating weekend.  Cranked both my hope (about fellow Americans) and skepticism (about our politicians) up a notch at the same time.

    But for now, I gotta go catch up with the rest of the world.  Oh boy oh boy oh boy…

    PS: Not that you asked or probably care, I’ll generally be cheering for whichever country is the underdog in most matches, especially if they’re also an economic underdog.  This way, when you see Ecuador playing Poland, for example, you have two good reasons to root for Ecuador.  (Who just won 2-0 on the TiVo.  Hurray!)

    So while my much-adored, sport-mad, heretofore soccer-poor Australia will be high on my list, I’ll be hollering for Ghana and Ivory Coast and so on even more.  (Slightly better soccer, much worse economies.) 

    Which means that I’ll be cheering for Trinidad & Tobago hardest of all, by a considerable margin.  Smallest nation ever to reach the World Cup, they have virtually no chance of winning even a single match, and yet the Soca Warriors, simply by their presence in this arena, are a source of national pride.

    Besides which, Tobago is spectacular, as I believe I may have mentioned once or twice.

    UPDATE! Sweden 0, T & T 0!  Whoo-hoo!  Sweden could have won 5-0 or worse, given the run of play.  But they didn’t.  Ball after ball went zing! just past the T & T goal or was blocked at the last instant by the keeper, who was magnificent.  The whole second half was less like football than watching a drunken knife-throwing act and rooting for the girl to survive.

    I know to a lot of you, this is meaningless, but what I would give right now to be munching on a roti at Store Bay right now and just looking at the smiles on everyone’s faces.  

    Seriously, if you’re missing the World Cup, you are missing out.