PRESIDENTIAL GRIDLOCK

President Obama flew to Los Angeles for a Democratic fundraiser and brought traffic to an absolute standstill. I wrote the following letter to the LA Times:

The president's visit to Los Angeles is a perfect metaphor for the arrogance and incompetence of government. The Democratic Party needs money in order to function. That's understandable. As the head of his party, the president is the natural star of any fund raising event. Also understandable. And the president' safely is primary at all times. Without question. However, all three things could easily be accomplished without bringing rush-hour traffic to a standstill and creating a three hour nightmare for hundreds of thousands of commuters. Hold the fund raiser at one of the posh, airport hotels. The president would only have to travel a few blocks, and traffic would be virtually uninterrupted. Of course, the inconvenience would be to the privileged few who actually get to dine with the president, but at $30,000 per couple, I'm sure they could afford to limo to the event. Not really much of an inconvenience.

The notion that the public should pay the price for the president's "private" visit is a denial of every principle on which Obama campaigned: it is politics as usual and politics from the top down. And speaking of "the price:" Will the Democratic Party, which raised a million dollars from the president's visit, be picking up the tab for his trip, or will this simply be another bailout? This is not the change we were promised.

GOOGLE DON'T BE EVIL

The following piece was written by John Tarnoff and passed on to me by Bruce Block. It strikes me as one of those pivotal issues where you could wake up a decade from now and say, "Ooh, I wish I'd known about this a decade ago." Well, now's your chance. The Internet is about to be stole by the powers that be. If you care about that, get off your ass and do something.

Bart

Those of you who know me well know that I rarely (if ever) do this. But
this week's issue goes beyond the usual political issue-baiting and speaks
to the future of digital information and entertainment.

I'm talking about the reports that Google is
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/technology/05secret.html> about to cut a
deal with Verizon that would change the Internet as we know it by allowing
bandwidth providers (Verizon, AT&T, Time-Warner, Comcast etc.) to create
tiers of service that would favor big/rich content providers over
smaller/independent content providers - thus dumping them into what
Moveon.org calls the "Internet slow lane."

If you are happy with what you are seeing on TV, or at the movie theater, or
even on YouTube, then I encourage you to sit back, do nothing and trash this
email. If you have more questions, email me.

It is surprising that Google is taking this apparently anti-"Net Neutrality"
position considering their
<http://www.google.com/help/netneutrality_letter.html> previously stated
position, and recent
<http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/search/label/Net%20Neutrality>
endorsement of the FCC's Third Way policy. I personally believe the Verizon
deal is a real and direct threat to the future of the open Internet. While
it may seem like innocent pricing practices ("simply pay more to get more
bandwidth"), it is really another way that providers with more cash will be
able to "get above the noise" and provide faster-loading content that will
squeeze out everyone else, discouraging independent creators/providers,
limiting competition, and reducing consumer choice.

It is no coincidence that this development comes at a time when traditional
media distribution channels are being challenged by the open and nearly
universal access that the Internet provides to everyone.

If you are inspired and encouraged by the prospect of more independent
storytellers finding a viable and sustainable opportunity to be heard around
the world, then I encourage you to take a stand here, and to start by
signing the Moveon petition below. I've included some links to the current
press/blog reports/commentary, and some background information as well.

Here's the Moveon link:

http://pol.moveon.org/google/?r_by=22383-315774-Xeqc8Rx
<http://pol.moveon.org/google/?r_by=22383-315774-Xeqc8Rx&rc=mailto>
&rc=mailto

Net Neutrality FAQ:
http://www.savetheinternet.com/frequently-asked-questions?gclid=CMXdhLfpp6MC
FRL4iAodKjU64A

NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/technology/05secret.html

HuffPo:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-silver/google-verizon-deal-the-e_b_671617
.html

Politico: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40668.html