Guide for the Careering

Coma in Algiers w/ This Dog's a Lion, Dialog Box and Communal Death Duck @ Mohawk on Sat., 23 June

2007-06-20T14:40:00.000-07:00

Coma in Algiers (last - let the werewolfing begin)
Communal Death Duck (third: has anyone seen my other shoe?)
Dialog Box (on second; you should be drunk)
This Dog's A Lion (they're first, so be on time)

Mohawk
912 Red River (Austin TX)

23 June 2007

$5
18+

Public Airwaves/Internet for the Public Good

2007-05-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

The federal government is on the verge of turning over a huge portion of our public airwaves to companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast—who will use them for private gain instead of the public good.

These newly available airwaves are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revolutionize Internet access—beaming high-speed Internet signals to every park bench, coffee shop, workplace, and home in America at more affordable prices than current Internet service. Phone and cable companies don't want this competition to their Internet service—they'd rather purchase the airwaves at auction and sit on them.¹

In June, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will make a major decision: Use the public airwaves for the public good, or turn them over to big companies who will stifle competition, innovation, and the wireless Internet revolution.

The FCC is only accepting public comments for a few more days. Can you sign this petition to them today, and send it to your friends?

"The public airwaves should be used for the public good. The government must protect our airwaves from corporate gatekeepers who would stifle innovation and competition in the wireless Internet market."

Sign here:
http://www.civic.moveon.org/airwaves/

We'll deliver your petition signature and any accompanying note directly to the FCC's public comment record, which FCC Commissioners use to guide their decisions.

There are many innovative companies jumping at the opportunity to forge ahead with the wireless Internet revolution—bringing us high-speed wireless networks from coast to coast and all sorts of innovative wireless devices. But the old phone and cable companies are aggressively trying to block this progress. They've spent billions laying wires, and they enjoy having their customers locked in with few alternatives.

Without access to the public airwaves, wireless innovators can't enter the marketplace. So the strategy of companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast is to buy the administrative rights of our airwaves at auction—and then use those rights to block competition. They also stifle the development of new wireless devices by only letting their own endorsed products work on their networks.

We're urging the FCC to protect the public good by setting auction rules that prohibit this anti-competitive behavior. If the government auctioned off the right to maintain a public highway to Ford, we would certainly not let Ford block Toyotas from the roads. Likewise, big phone and cable should not be able to keep innovative companies off our airwaves.

They also shouldn't be able to tell their wireless Internet customers which websites they can access—as they do now. And just as phone companies can't tell customers what phones can be plugged into a wall jack, cell and wireless companies should not be able to dictate which phones or wireless devices people use on their networks.

The opportunity to revolutionize the Internet and wireless world is at our fingertips. The only question is whether our government will embrace it, and whether regular people will fight for it.
The FCC is only accepting public comments for a few more days. Can you sign the petition to them today, and send it to your friends?

Sign here:
http://www.civic.moveon.org/airwaves

Thanks for all you do.
–Adam Green, MoveOn.org Civic Action
Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

PS—Most people haven't heard about this critical issue yet—so it's really important that we spread the word and get others involved. As you consider who else to tell about this issue, here's what innovation and competition in the wireless world means for regular people:

Families would no longer be forced to choose solely between high-priced phone and cable Internet. A new wireless market—including lots of competition within that market—would mean more affordable Internet access for families.
Poor and rural communities which phone and cable companies never bothered to wire with high-speed Internet access could now have high-speed Internet signals beamed directly into their homes.
Blackberry and other handheld wireless users are currently blocked by phone companies from accessing Internet-based phone service and other innovative services.² The FCC could stop these anti-competitive, anti-consumer practices by mandating wireless Net Neutrality.
Socially responsible buyers could someday go to a store, scan the bar codes of products with an Internet-equipped cell phone, and find out which items are socially responsible. Phone companies can currently block such innovations from working with their devices (they often try to shake down innovators into giving them a massive cut of their profits)—but the FCC can prohibit such practices on these newly available airwaves.
Technology consumers in America are currently denied all sorts of cutting-edge technology that people in other countries have—like using Internet-equipped cell phones to buy products, transfer money, or give to charity. By opening the doors to competition and innovation, the FCC can change that.

P.P.S. Can you support this people-powered campaign today? As corporations like AT&T and Verizon spend millions to get public policy skewed in their favor, we will win these fights because of the power of regular people. A donation of $10, $20, or more would go a long way. You can donate here:
https://civic.moveon.org/donatec4/creditcard.html?id=10433-852735-odsWGx&t=5

Sources:

1. Paper describing "warehousing" of airwaves by dominant companies to keep competition out of the market—by Simon Wilkie, Director of Center for Communication Law and Policy at the University of Southern California, March 26, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2594&id=10433-852735-odsWGx&t=6

2. "Wireless Net Neutrality: Cellular Carterfone and Consumer Choice in Mobile Broadband," Working Paper by Prof. Tim Wu, February 15, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2592&id=10433-852735-odsWGx&t=7

"Hooking Up," Prof. Tim Wu commentary in Forbes, May 18, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2627&id=10433-852735-odsWGx&t=8

3. "Use spare spectrum for the Net; High-speed internet should be one of the FCC's priorities as it auctions valuable airwave rights," Los Angeles Times editorial, April 13, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2593&id=10433-852735-odsWGx&t=9

Coma in Algiers w/ Cry Blood Apache and DJ T-Rev -- 29 May 2007 @ Beauty Bar (Austin TX)

2007-05-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

Coma in Algiers
Cry Blood Apache
w/ DJ T-Rev spinning hot rock 'n roll records before, between & after

Tuesday, 29 May 2007
10 pm

Beauty Bar
617 E. 7th Street (half-block east of Red River)
free

say no to [political] censorship

2007-05-16T14:31:00.001-07:00

"If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." -- George Washington (1783)

i am not much for the mainstream media outlets and i have recently discovered that it was indeed possible for me to care less about politics, left or right. But i do not abide well with censorship, especially political & cultural. So, here is a message from the liberal-minded folks of MoveOn.org:

It took CBS two weeks to fire Don Imus for calling a college women's basketball team "nappy headed hos," but it only took them two days to fire respected retired Major General John Batiste for speaking out against the president on the war.

Batiste, a Republican, commanded troops in Iraq in 2004 and 2005. He left the Army so that he could speak out against the president's reckless policy in Iraq, and CBS hired him as a part-time consultant to comment about it. (1) Last week, he appeared in a VoteVets.org TV ad speaking out against the president on Iraq. Just two days later, CBS fired him. (2)

It's censorship, pure and simple. We're aiming to get over 100,000 messages demanding that CBS re-hire Major General John Batiste by the end of the week. Can you take a moment to add your name? Clicking the link below will add your name to the petition.

http://pol.moveon.org/batiste/

CBS says they fired Major General Batiste because he engaged in advocacy—but they're holding him to a different standard than their other consultants.

For example, former White House communications director Nicolle Wallace is a consultant to CBS and consistently uses her position to push White House talking points. (3) It was even reported that she was advising the McCain campaign, yet CBS did nothing when she appeared as a consultant on their network to promote his candidacy. (4)

Plus, the Brookings Institution's Michael O'Hanlon also appeared on CBS as a consultant while advocating in favor of President Bush's escalation plan. (5)

CBS is sending a message that you can't be a consultant to their network if you're critical of President Bush and the Iraq war. That's political censorship and CBS needs to hear groundswell of outrage from concerned viewers right away.

Can you sign the petition demanding that CBS re-hire Major General Batiste?

http://pol.moveon.org/batiste/

Major General John Batiste is not the first general to speak out against the president on Iraq. Recently a number of generals and military leaders have spoken out against President Bush's failed policy—including Reagan's former NSA director, General William Odom, Vietnam veteran Major General Mel Montano and another former general from Iraq—retired Major General Paul Eaton. (6)

These generals must be heard, not censored for speaking the truth.

Thanks for all you do,

–Nita, Noah, Karin, Jennifer and the Moveon.org Political Action Team
Tuesday, May 15th, 2007

Sources:

1. "Army Career Behind Him, General Speaks Out on Iraq," New York Times, May 13, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/us/13generals.html

2. "CBS fires consultant Gen. Batiste over VoteVets ad; 'We went to war with a fatally flawed strategy'," Raw Story, May 11, 2007
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CBS_fires_Iraq_veteran_Gen._Batiste_0511.html

3. "CBS Fires Batiste For Anti-Bush Advocacy, Hires Bush Aide To Engage In Pro-Bush Advocacy," ThinkProgress, May 11, 2007
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/11/cbs-fires-batiste/

4. "CBS Has Allowed McCain Campaign Aide To Advocate For McCain On Air." ThinkProgress, May 14, 2007
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/11/wallace-mccain/

5. "CBS Fired Antiwar Batiste—But CBS Consultant O'Hanlon Advocated For Surge," Talking Points Memo, May 11, 2007
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/05/cbs.php

6. "Generals Express Outrage at Presidential Veto," National Security Network, May 2, 2007
http://www.nsnetwork.org/node/144

7. Reid: Senate Will Have Opportunity To Speak On Change Of Course In Iraq, Reid Press Release, Monday, May 14, 2007
http://reid.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=274237

the VideoVets Project

2007-04-24T06:48:00.001-07:00

Arm the Pit: Save the Kids comp

2007-04-13T06:31:00.000-07:00

ARM THE PIT; SAVE THE KIDS!"

28 BANDS! ONLY $5.00

Proceeds goto Alex's Lemonade Stand for Pediatric Cancer Research.

($1.00 for each CD Sold!)

http://www.armthepit.com

Contact: armthepit@armthepit.com

Arm The Pit
c/o Stevie Nowinsky
1801 CR 220
Florence, TX. 76527

2007-03-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

Business Deal Records presents:

Coma in Algiers [11 pm]
Die Mannequin [10 pm]
Red Book Audio [9 pm]

Friday, 16 March
Carousel Lounge (1110 E. 52nd Street)
FREE

Coma in Algiers @ MonkeyWrench Books 2/23

2007-02-22T08:21:00.000-08:00

Come down to MonkeyWrench Books for some fine dining upon the Fires of Roam, gorge on the acoustic buffet of multi-instrumentalist Che Arthur and, like a good lil girl, send it all back screaming from gut to throat to the killing floor as Coma in Algiers reminds you that sometimes life really is as bad as the kids say.

*the show has a suggested $5 cover

2007-01-25T14:43:00.000-08:00

this Saturday, 27 January MMVII, my band Coma in Algiers will be throwing it down in San Antonio at the Limelight with our pals shoot for the stars...and KiLL them! and SA favorites Savior Daughters and Not The Government.

we'll be playing three new songs and, if all goes well, have a wild party somewhere on the Northside. i don't think there is a cover and i think the fun starts at 9 pm.

then join us for another night of 15 Minutes of Monday (at the Hole in the Wall) where we will be playing with You Make Engine.

CIA show with Chief Death Rage & Cry Blood Apache tomorrow (12/7)

2006-12-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

Get wild with Coma in Algiers at 10:30 pm. Cauterize your soul with Denton's Chief Death Rage at 11:30 pm. If you are still standing, you can give all you got to Cry Blood Apache (that is, if they don't just take it from you). $1.50 cans o' beer!

Malachi Ritscher (1954-2006)

2006-11-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

As horrified Friday-morning commuters watched, Malachi Ritscher doused himself with gasoline and lit himself on fire along the Chicago Kennedy Expressway near a 25-foot-tall Loop sculpture titled "Flame of the Millennium."

A homemade sign was found near his charred body that read, "Thou Shalt Not Kill," said State Police Lt. Lincoln Hampton. Police are reviewing a videotape that also was found near the body.

Friends and family claim his death to be in protest of the Iraq war. Read more about Malachi Ritscher here.

2006-11-26T21:54:00.001-08:00

Oh shit! Shoot For The Stars...And Kill Them (10 pm), Coma in Algiers (11 pm) & iKiLLCaRS (midnite) take their three-way blood feud to the stage. Bring someone to suck on & a mop because this is gonna be messy.

2006-11-02T09:36:00.000-08:00

featuring:
*Steve Arceri
*The Touched
*Colin Swietek
*Yatsuzaki: [TestType]
*The Alex Atchley Experience
*You Make Engine
*Ghosties

benefiting:
Treasure City Thrift
ACT UP Austin
Austin People's Legal Collective
Inside Books Project
...and many more

Saturday, 4 November
4 to 9 pm
Cafe Caffeine (909 W. Mary Street, Austin TX)

2006-10-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

Get your costume off to Eta Carinae. Make it with the friendly Diatribes. Cobb all over Coma in Algiers.

petition opposing pardon of President Bush (from MoveOn.org)

2006-09-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

This week, the Senate is planning to quietly hold a vote that would pardon President Bush for breaking the law by illegally wiretapping innocent Americans without warrants. According to Senator Leahy, the bill would "...immunize officials who have violated federal law by authorizing such illegal activities." (1)

President Bush broke the law, and courts are starting to agree. Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter once said the program was illegal "on its face." But he has now caved to pressure from Vice President Cheney, and introduced legislation that marks a new low: the new bill justifies everything the president did. Worse, it makes it legal to wiretap Americans, in secret, without warrants or oversight, whenever the administration wants to. (2)

So far, Democrats and some Republicans are holding strong against the bill, and there are good chances to stop it if enough of us speak up. Can you sign the petition opposing the Republican move to pardon President Bush for breaking the law?

http://pol.moveon.org/dontpardon

Many legal experts agree that the president's program to wiretap Americans who have nothing to do with terrorism violates the law. President Bush already has the authority to wiretap suspected terrorists—and we support that. In fact, his administration can tap anyone it likes as long as it gets an OK from a court a few days later.

Congress should be trying to hold him accountable—that's their job. Instead, some Republicans are trying to let President Bush off the hook completely. In fact, the legislation would give the president even more unchecked power.

Here are some quick facts about the Cheney-Specter bill:

* It allows President Bush—and every president after him—to wiretap Americans indefinitely, in secret, without a warrant and without any oversight. (3)
* It effectively pardons the president for any illegal behavior by forcing Congress to concede that he has the inherent authority to conduct the program (4) — something federal courts, numerous legal experts and many leading Republicans disagree with. (5)
* It completely guts FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) which has protected the privacy of Americans against illegal wiretaps for close to 30 years. (6)
* It prevents any legal challenges from taking place in the public court system. Instead, it moves all cases to a secret court, where only Bush administration officials can argue it. (7)
* It would help "immunize" any officials who broke the law in this program from being held accountable in the future. (8)

Since the program was exposed in December of last year, we've learned that President Bush personally blocked a Justice Department investigation of the program, Vice President Cheney also personally intervened to stop telecom companies from testifying to Congress about it, and a federal court recently ruled the program unconstitutional. (9) In an effort to protect himself from further consequences, the president is pressuring Congress to let him off the hook.

This is an important issue and it will help remind Americans, in an election year, what Republicans are all about—accumulating power for themselves, and trampling the system of checks and balances designed to stop that. Can you sign the petition today?

http://pol.moveon.org/dontpardon

It's the Senate's job to act as a check on the president's power. If they can't do it, they shouldn't be in Washington.

Thanks for all you do,

–Nita, Eli, Jennifer, Wes and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Monday, September 18th, 2006

Sources:

1. "Today's Republican circus trick: Legislating in the Dark," Senator Leahy, provided by the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, September 13, 2006
http://www.bordc.org/threats/leahy91306.php

"NSA Whitewash Passes Judiciary Committee on Party-Line Vote," People for the American Way, September 13, 2006
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=22373

2. "NSA Whitewash Passes Judiciary Committee on Party-Line Vote," People for the American Way, September 13, 2006
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=22373

3. "Top 5 things Sen. Specter won't tell you about the Cheney-Specter bill," ACLU
http://action.aclu.org/site/PageServer?pagename=SpecterTop5

4. ACLU Letter to the Senate Regarding Strong Opposition to the Substitute Version of S. 2453, the "National Security Surveillance Act of 2006" May 16, 2006
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/25578leg20060516.html

**Note: The bill has changed slightly from when this letter was written, however the sections accepting the president's claim of inherent authority remains

5."Judge Rules Against Wiretaps," Washington Post, August 18, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2096&id=8806-852735-GzUACg63smqBKVoWRyUzag&t=4

"On NSA Spying: A Letter to Congress," New York Review of Books, February 9, 2006
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18650

McCain: Bush Does Not Have "The Legal Authority To Engage In These Warrantless Wiretaps," ThinkProgress, January 22, 2006
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/22/mccain-wiretaps-illegal/

6. "Top 5 things Sen. Specter won't tell you about the Cheney-Specter bill," ACLU
http://action.aclu.org/site/PageServer?pagename=SpecterTop5

7. "NSA Bill Performs a Patriot Act," Wire News, September 13, 2006
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71778-1.html?tw=wn_story_page_next1

8. "Today's Republican circus trick: Legislating in the Dark," Senator Leahy, provided by the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, September 13, 2006
http://www.bordc.org/threats/leahy91306.php

9. ACLU Slams Senate Judiciary Committee Approval of NSA Spying Bills, ACLU, September 13, 2006
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/26722prs20060913.html

CIA show - 7 Sept @ The Parlor

2006-09-05T09:23:00.000-07:00

for a good time, go to The Parlor on Thursday, 7 Sept, an all-ages venue that serves beer, wine & killer pizza. no cover!

opening will be the inexorable Coma in Algiers, followed by the gigantomachy between Shoot For The Stars...And Kill Them and Cry Blood Apache. then DJ Juanty will take over to round off/out the evening.

2006-08-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

To create one's own context: that's always taken two gods, the wild one and the orderly conjurer of shapes. - Stephen Dunn

today's programming brought to you by:

2006-07-28T12:31:00.000-07:00

why haven't you checked out The Hawks (of Holy Rosary)?

*

Smitten: A Love Story About Art

*

Heart Attacks Often Go Unrecognized

damn. all this time i thought that was love i was feeling.

The Politics of Metaphor by Michael Benedikt

2006-07-24T17:49:00.000-07:00

For a full-grown mole, the future has never begun to exist apart as a form of thought; and thought has never begun to exist except as a form of metaphor. Even for a mole in his final circle of tunnels, there is always one more larger, more generous set of relevances into which all previous relevances fit.

[from Mole Notes (Wesleyan University Press, 1971)]

2006-07-04T08:53:00.000-07:00

Insanity is the insistence on meaning. - Frank Bidart (from "The Arc")

2006-06-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

Read their lips: No more Spanish novels
Latino leaders protest a Georgia library system's decision to cut back on foreign-language works.

Last week, the library board in this fast-growing county of 700,000 people eliminated the $3,000 that had been set aside to buy Spanish-language fiction in the coming fiscal year. It offered no explanation, but the chairman said such book purchases would lead readers of other foreign languages to demand the same treatment.

*

Gutted - slang book is banned

The author of what has been described as the definitive dictionary of slang is gobsmacked, gutted, throwing up bunches, honked, hipped and jacked like a cock-maggot in a sink-hole. A North Carolina school district has banned the dictionary under pressure from one of a growing number of conservative Christian groups using the internet to encourage school book bans across the US.

*

ACLU sues Fla. schools over Cuba book ban

The ACLU and the Miami-Dade County Student Government Association argued in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Miami on Wednesday that the school board should add materials with alternate viewpoints rather than remove books that could be offensive.

*

Instead of ban, library to put gay books on top shelves

Board Trustee Bruce Skaug offered a motion to remove "The Joy of Gay Sex" from the library but it was not seconded.

"I'd rather my 9-year-old take up smoking than see the pictures in this book," Skaug said.

2006-06-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

The chief cause of problems is solutions. -- Eric Sevareid, former CBS commentator

Towards a Definition by Rupert M. Loydell

2006-06-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

Prose-poetry is when a person behaves differently from what is considered normal — and realises they have stepped into someone else's arms, someone who is as much in control of the world as they are.

It is a place where language is all compression and angle; tautness; a signpost to a different meaning. It is a key to a house with no doors, to a library full of books you want to read but must use to stoke the fire — for otherwise there is no warmth.

[from Sentence: a journal of prose poetics (No. 3, 2005)]

Coma in Algiers show on Saturday, May 13

2006-05-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

Bush says: Go see Coma in Algiers at 423 Tillery (on Tillery between East 4th & 5th Streets) in Austin TX on Saturday, May 13, with ~~Bee vs. Moth~~ (can't make it), follow that bird! and Night Viking. there will also be art by Brandi DiPietro & Chad Hopper and text by Steve Arceri & Ismael Archbold.

Distress Signal Presents:

Night Viking
Coma in Algiers
follow that bird!

doors at 8, music starts around 9
$5, all ages

Save the Internet: a MoveOn petition

2006-04-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an iPod? These activities, plus MoveOn's online organizing ability, will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law that gives giant corporations more control over the Internet.

Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. Amazon doesn't have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer.

If Net Neutrality is gutted, MoveOn either pays protection money to dominant Internet providers or risks that online activism tools don't work for members. Amazon and Google either pay protection money or risk that their websites process slowly on your computer. That why these high-tech pioneers are joining the fight to protect Network Neutrality [1] — and you can do your part today.

The free and open Internet is under seige — can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet

Then, please forward this to 3 friends. Protecting the free and open Internet is fundamental—it affects everything. When you sign this petition, you'll be kept informed of the next steps we can take to keep the heat on Congress. Votes begin in a House committee next week.

MoveOn has already seen what happens when the Internet's gatekeepers get too much control. Just recently, AOL blocked any email mentioning a coalition that MoveOn is a part of, which opposes AOL's proposed "email tax." [2] And last year, Canada's version of AT&T — Telus — blocked their Internet customers from visiting a website sympathetic to workers with whom Telus was negotiating. [3]

Politicians don't think we are paying attention to this issue. Many of them take campaign checks from big telecom companies and are on the verge of selling out to people like AT&T's CEO, who openly says, "The Internet can't be free." [4]

Together, we can let Congress know we are paying attention. We can make sure they listen to our voices and the voices of people like Vint Cerf, a father of the Internet and Google's "Chief Internet Evangelist," who recently wrote this to Congress in support of preserving Network Neutrality:

My fear is that, as written, this bill would do great damage to the Internet as we know it. Enshrining a rule that broadly permits network operators to discriminate in favor of certain kinds of services and to potentially interfere with others would place broadband operators in control of online activity...Telephone companies cannot tell consumers who they can call; network operators should not dictate what people can do online.

The essence of the Internet is at risk—can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet

Please forward to 3 others who care about this issue. Thanks for all you do.

–Eli Pariser, Adam Green, Noah T. Winer, and the MoveOn.org Civic Action team
Monday, April 24th, 2006

P.S. For a reminder of why this is important, check out the coalition we're launching today: www.SavetheInternet.com

P.P.S. If Congress abandons Network Neutrality, who will be affected?

* Advocacy groups like MoveOn — Political organizing could be slowed by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay "protection money" for their websites and online features to work correctly.
* Nonprofits — A charity's website could open at snail-speed, and online contributions could grind to a halt, if nonprofits can't pay dominant Internet providers for access to "the fast lane" of Internet service.
* Google users — Another search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine opens faster than Google on your computer.
* Innovators with the "next big idea" — Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for dominant placing on the Web. The little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable to compete.
* iPod listeners — A company like Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned.
* Online purchasers — Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower prices—distorting your choice as a consumer.
* Small businesses and tele-commuters — When Internet companies like AT&T favor their own services, you won't be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your office.
* Parents and retirees — Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc.
* Bloggers — Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips—silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets.

To sign the petition to Congress supporting "network neutrality," click here:
http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet

P.P.P.S. This excerpt from the New Yorker really sums up this issue well.

In the first decades of the twentieth century, as a national telephone network spread across the United States, A.T.&T. adopted a policy of "tiered access" for businesses. Companies that paid an extra fee got better service: their customers' calls went through immediately, were rarely disconnected, and sounded crystal-clear. Those who didn't pony up had a harder time making calls out, and people calling them sometimes got an "all circuits busy" response. Over time, customers gravitated toward the higher-tier companies and away from the ones that were more difficult to reach. In effect, A.T.&T.'s policy turned it into a corporate kingmaker.

If you've never heard about this bit of business history, there's a good reason: it never happened. Instead, A.T.&T. had to abide by a "common carriage" rule: it provided the same quality of service to all, and could not favor one customer over another. But, while "tiered access" never influenced the spread of the telephone network, it is becoming a major issue in the evolution of the Internet.

Until recently, companies that provided Internet access followed a de-facto commoncarriage rule, usually called "network neutrality," which meant that all Web sites got equal treatment. Network neutrality was considered so fundamental to the success of the Net that Michael Powell, when he was chairman of the F.C.C., described it as one of the basic rules of "Internet freedom." In the past few months, though, companies like A.T.&T. and BellSouth have been trying to scuttle it. In the future, Web sites that pay extra to providers could receive what BellSouth recently called "special treatment," and those that don't could end up in the slow lane. One day, BellSouth customers may find that, say, NBC.com loads a lot faster than YouTube.com, and that the sites BellSouth favors just seem to run more smoothly. Tiered access will turn the providers into Internet gatekeepers. [5]

Sources:

1. "Telecommunication Policy Proposed by Congress Must Recognize Internet Neutrality," Letter to Senate leaders, March 23, 2006
http://www.aarp.org/research/press-center/presscurrentnews/internet_neutrality.html

2. "AOL Blocks Critics' E-Mails," Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-aol14apr14,1,5346265.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true

3. "B.C. Civil Liberties Association Denounces Blocking of Website by Telus," British Columbia Civil Liberties Association Statement, July 26, 2005
http://www.bccla.org/pressreleases/05telus.htm

4. "At SBC, It's All About 'Scale and Scope," BusinessWeek, November 7, 2002
http://www.businessweek.com/@@n34h*IUQu7KtOwgA/magazine/content/05_45/b3958092.htm

5. "Net Losses," New Yorker, March 20, 2006
http://www.newyorker.com/printables/talk/060320ta_talk_surowiecki

6. "Don't undercut Internet access," San Francisco Chronicle editorial, April 17, 2006
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/04/17/EDGNSGUA4F1.DTL