Net Neutrality

Action needs to be taken!

The Sensenbrenner-Conyers Net Neutrality bill is a bipartisan piece of legislation that will, in its present state, keep the internet the way it should always be; OURS! The telecoms have no business trying to squeeze even more money out of us in this unfair manner.

For those who aren't paying attention, here's what the telecoms want.
Verizon customers can get a quick load time for Amazon.com, but an unbearably slow load time for ebay.com, all because Amazon has a business deal with Verizon (I don't think this scenario is a real-life for instance, but Amazon and Verizon are very public faces and make for a good example).

Net neutrality, the way the bill currently is written, will prevent companies from doing this.

"Why is it bad?" you may ask...

1)To keep websites from having long load times, companies will most likely merger with one another until superconglomerates will form.
How would you like to see "Sprint-Johnson&Johnson-Toysrus-Pfizer-PopaJohn's" compete with "AT&T-BurgerKing-Half.com-M&TBank-PizzaHut-Paramount-Disney/ABC"?

Yes, that's an over-exaggeration, but I guarantee it will happen and the only thing that results from these mega-mergers as of late is a Corporate "Fleecing of America" (coining an NBC phrase) where corporate board members are the only ones who come out ahead.

Call your Congressmen and our Senators and tell them to support the bill UNAMENDED. All numbers provided are phone numbers. (You can also use the toll-free congressional switchboard 1-800-839-5276 and ask for any one of the following)
District 01 - Wayne Gilchrest (202) 225-5311
District 02 - Dutch Ruppersberger (202) 225-3061
District 06 - Roscoe Bartlett (202) 225-2721

Senator Barbara Mikulski - (202) 224-4654
Senator Paul Sarbanes - (202) 224-4524

Together we can keep the internet ours!

Not surprised...

Alright, so David Craig hired his sister-in-law awhile back and people started crying, "Nepotism!"

They may have had a point...

This article in the Sun makes note of another hokey hire by the County Exec. Now, I honestly believe that if an ethics board clears this, fine. However, this shouldn't go unregulated. How long do you blur the line before it doesn't exist anymore?

Let's face it, in politics there is cronyism, and that's usually on a small scale. Someone works hard to get to an office, he's going to put the people he knows into some cushy jobs. If person were myself and I did that, I'd put some people in low-profile, out of the way job that would challenge and reward them.

Enough about me though.

A conflict of interests (when regarding family) occur when the family member you place in somewhere above or below you in the chain of command. When you're the County Executive, you're it. That's the very top of the CoC. In those regards, no one is higher and that's where conflicts arise.

Mr. Craig can say what he likes to the charge, but I don't see way around the CoC at that level of Government.

County Budget

Like I'm sure many of you all do, I've been trying to follow the County Council's attempt to reconcile the budget with the 3/4 million increase by David Craig. Its a little confusing, so I'll see if my facts are straight.

-3 Council members are not present (District B- Medical, District C-Iraq, District F-Vacation)
-Craig wants over $750 million in budget increases; most notable are the monies for an executive staff, including a Chief of Staff, a Deputy Chief of Staff among others with budgets for the both of them.
-No explanation on how these positions will help the county has been offered. (The Agriculture position is quite self-explanitory to me, so no angry posts from farmers, please)

So, if I understand this correctly, the council cut over $460,000 of the proposed budget.

Then, according to the Aegis yesterday, the council put a lot what they cut back in unanimously.

I still see nothing that fully explains what the county gets out of the money put into this budget. Shame on every present Councilperson for not sticking to their guns. If the County Executive is promoting cronism, which he's been known for doing in the past, what makes anyone think that this won't be as bad as President Bush?

guthrie interview update

The Guthrie interview...in part is here. Enjoy!

The "Almost final" draft is up in its entirety. I thank all of you for your patience. I had NO idea how long transcribing these things are.

If I do an interview again, which is probable, I won't do it the same way nor take nearly as long.

Councilwoman Chenowith

In a recent article by Justin Fenton, it has been revealed that Veronica Chenowith has leukemia. This is a disastrous disease, and while I may disagree with her politcally, I wish her the best of health. Stating she's a fighter, Councilwoman Chenowith intends to seek re-election. I sincerely hope her health does not impact any votes on the council (but an absece will certainly end that nasty 3-3 tie ordeal).

I wonder how her primary opponent will work with that. Will he attack her (Chenowith isn't physically capable of representing her district)? Or will he leave it alone.

Same can be said for Twanmoh. What will/won't be done with this info...

Story as it unfolds....

Post comments

I changed the comments section back to the way it used to be. Please feel free to post comments, as that helps me, but I would appreciate it if some of you would not be anonymous. Anyway, enjoy the blog!