Sherrod Brown votes for (and against?) net neutrality
Congressman and Senate hopeful Sherrod Brown heeded the call of bloggers, Google, and the rest of the savetheinternet.com coalition when he voted for the Markey amendment to the COPE act. An amendment which would have prohibited internet service providers from selling faster connections to the highest bidders.
That was right before he decided the preservation of an open and democratic internet just isn't really all that important.
The amendment was voted down by a vote of 34-22 and the full bill passed easily with a 42-12 vote by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Congressman Brown of course was not one of the 12 to fight the bill that aims to steal the internet away from the people and send it gift wrapped to Verizon.
What exactly does this mean?
It means I have to take the Sherrod Brown bumper sticker off my car.
Allow me to quote myself from a previous entry:
To me, someone who feels the internet is one of the most important tools we have, there is NO FLEXIBILITY or excuses on this topic.
While I'm sure the Brown campaign will have a myriad of excuses, I made myself very clear. I even put "NO FLEXIBILITY" in all caps. My interpretation of this situation: Brown is trying to have his cake and eat it too. He gives the common folk, the bloggers, the students, the small businesses, the non-profits (basically anyone without a shit ton of money) the "show vote" by voting for the net neutrality amendment, and he gives the multi-million dollar corporations the yes vote by approving the COPE ACT, in spite of the bill not including net neutrality.
Perhaps it is the failure of Grow Ohio. Maybe it is the fact that the blogosphere still supports Hackett in spite of him being long gone from the Senate primary. Whatever the reason, equality on the internet just isn't as important to Brown as Verizon's or AT&T's profits.
Maybe DeWine can once again assume the role of the renegade Republican and save us in the Senate. Remember, he stepped out of the Republican marching line and saved ANWR, maybe he can do it for the internet. Probably not.
It looks like another year of begrudgingly casting a ballot for a Democrat who pretends to represent the values of the people, but when it comes right down to it, it's just another Democrat who doesn't really get it.
That was right before he decided the preservation of an open and democratic internet just isn't really all that important.
The amendment was voted down by a vote of 34-22 and the full bill passed easily with a 42-12 vote by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Congressman Brown of course was not one of the 12 to fight the bill that aims to steal the internet away from the people and send it gift wrapped to Verizon.
What exactly does this mean?
It means I have to take the Sherrod Brown bumper sticker off my car.
Allow me to quote myself from a previous entry:
While I'm sure the Brown campaign will have a myriad of excuses, I made myself very clear. I even put "NO FLEXIBILITY" in all caps. My interpretation of this situation: Brown is trying to have his cake and eat it too. He gives the common folk, the bloggers, the students, the small businesses, the non-profits (basically anyone without a shit ton of money) the "show vote" by voting for the net neutrality amendment, and he gives the multi-million dollar corporations the yes vote by approving the COPE ACT, in spite of the bill not including net neutrality.
Perhaps it is the failure of Grow Ohio. Maybe it is the fact that the blogosphere still supports Hackett in spite of him being long gone from the Senate primary. Whatever the reason, equality on the internet just isn't as important to Brown as Verizon's or AT&T's profits.
Maybe DeWine can once again assume the role of the renegade Republican and save us in the Senate. Remember, he stepped out of the Republican marching line and saved ANWR, maybe he can do it for the internet. Probably not.
It looks like another year of begrudgingly casting a ballot for a Democrat who pretends to represent the values of the people, but when it comes right down to it, it's just another Democrat who doesn't really get it.
