We have net neutrality

Thankfully, we are now certain to have net neutrality. The fight against changing that situation has been won. It is also a victory for a type of civil rights action.

"Net neutrality is a civil rights issue – and it appears the FCC will soon implement real net neutrality protections, thanks in large part to civil rights activists.

Media and communications technology has always been an important factor in activism, because it mediates how activists can communicate with each other and to the world. During the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s, organizers used phone trees and mimeographed pamphlets to distribute information and coordinate collective action. Black radio stations served as community bulletin boards and disseminated information about marches, police roadblocks, and voter registration.

Today’s civil rights activists have a much more powerful tool at our disposal – the open Internet. Our ability to be heard, counted, and visible in this democracy now depends on an open Internet, because it allows voices and ideas to spread based on their quality – not the amount of money behind them."

Continue reading this piece from The Hill here.

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Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

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#1 Prize for a bizarre story.....and lying!

No comment called for in this piece from CommonDreams: Another young black man: The strange sad case of 21-year-old Chavis Carter. Police in Jonesboro, Arkansas stopped him and two friends, found some marijuana, searched put Carter, then put him handcuffed behind his back into their patrol car, where they say he shot himself in the head with a gun they failed to find. The FBI is investigating. Police Chief Michael Yates, who stands behind his officers' story, says in an interview that the death is "definitely bizarre and defies logic at first glance." You think?

Mahler's Prodigal Son

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