Net Neutrality For Campaign Donors
by Capitol Confidential
Just how far is the Obama administration willing to go to reward big donors? In the wake of yesterday’s explosive report regarding “scores of top Democratic donors” being rewarded with “VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings,” it’s a question that’s on the minds of many politically-engaged Americans, and one likely to grab yet more attention, thanks to this article in today’s USA Today. It notes that:
“More than 40% of President Obama’s top-level fundraisers have secured posts in his administration, from key executive branch jobs to diplomatic postings in countries such as France, Spain and the Bahamas, a USA TODAY analysis finds.”
USA Today goes on to report that one top-level fundraiser apparently awarded with a plum job is Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski.
The paper reports that Genachowski raised more than $500,000 for Obama—which critics charge may have helped him “buy” a position that now puts him at the center of one of Washington’s most heated policy debates, namely that regarding net neutrality.
Genachowski, a strong proponent of the policy and a darling of far left groups like Save The Internet, has recently garnered criticism for what some see as an effort to ram net neutrality through with little to no debate. The proposed policy has recently become the focus of criticism and concern from everyone from internet service providers to groups typically regarded as Obama administration-friendly, such as the Asian American Justice Center, National Council of La Raza, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Urban League. 72 House Democrats and three Democratic Governors have also raised concerns about the proposed policy.
Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced legislation to block the FCC, led by Genachowski, from enacting net neutrality rules. In a statement, McCain suggested that net neutrality amounted to a “government takeover of the Internet.” He added that enacting the regulation favored by Genachowski, which he dubbed “oppressive,” would “stifle innovation, in turn slowing our economic turnaround and further depressing an already anemic job market.” On Tuesday, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced similar legislation to block net neutrality in the House. Genachowski critics argue that her move evidences further existing forceful, bipartisan opposition to Genachowski’s preferred policy, and will enhance scrutiny of the FCC Chairman’s agenda—as may the USA Today revelations.
Obama, as a candidate, said he would “take a back seat to no one” in his commitment to “network neutrality,” and net neutrality supporters contend that it remains a top policy priority of the administration. The question is whether political support from net neutrality proponents like Genachowski and Google (whose CEO, Eric Schmidt, was a major Obama supporter and whose employees reportedly donated $562,000 to his campaign) has dictated or contributed to that position.
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48 Comments
The old adage is applicable: "You only get what you pay for."
Obama promised hope and change. Obama promised transparency. This is the most opaquely transparent administration in history. It is true, you only get what you pay for. I don't think WE are getting our money's worth though, and this being the best Government Money Could Buy……………
That is what zero calls social justice
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by johnnyA99, Michael Chavez and Dan, Big Government. Big Government said: Net Neutrality For Campaign Donors: Just how far is the Obama administration willing to go to reward big don.. http://bit.ly/4oSqab [...]
This whole criminal administration has been bought and paid for by those like Soros, ACORN, SEIU and other leftwing cronies.
Obama is not eligible to be president until he proves otherwise like all prior presidents. He's an illegitimate president; everything he signs should be null and void. In one short year we've seen the greatest fleecing [of the taxpayer] in human history and we've witnessed the greatest scam perpetrated in well over a century: someone ineligible becoming US president.
The US Marshall's should drag this fraud out of the White House and restore constitutional law.
Who knew that there was nepotism in government? And this pits friends and family against a union (federal career bureaucrats)……
This reminds me of the concept in Political Economy of entrepreneurs and the political entrepreneurs. Regular entrepreneurs make money by satisfying a need. People voluntary give their money to the entrepreneur for their goods or service. On the other hand, the political entrepreneurs lobby the government for subsidies and lobby for laws that will hurt their competitors. Google is obviously the latter. I'm pretty sure Google is positioning itself to make a boat load on net neutrality. In my eyes net neutrality is one step closer to the fairness doctrine for the internet.
No special interest my A**
Capitalism is voluntary social co-operation, and socialism is forced social cooperation, our bag a dung socialist president is unAmerican, how the hell Americans put this jerk in the white house is astounding to me. Our terd in chief prefers govt. force to individual freedom, how is this American?
I can't take any more of this administration and the corrupt communist, dictator system that is going on. It is becoming more and more unbearable every day. HOW DO WE STOP THE MADNESS?
What ever happened to liberals being ardent supporters of free speech?
That liberal is dead and buried. The modern Progressive liberals idea of free speech only goes as far as you agreeing with them. Anything to the contrary of what they believe is hate speech and they will mercilessly insult you like a schoolyard bully. That is the modern liberal. Diversity Now, unless it is diversity of opinion.
For the past 6 decades, or so, "PROGRESSIVE" has always been a code word for COMMUNIST and/or MARXIST.
We should have been fighting this, with all of our might, since at least the mid 1960s!
McCarthy tried, earlier, but was pilloried and Alinskied.
Schools and many parents abrogated their responsibilities.
Unless there is a revolution ( which there won't be ! ), our only recourse is the elections of 2010. By that time, far too many horrible, untenable things will have been forced down our throats and in a way that makes it almost impossible to correct.
At one time, America was the last and only place to escape to, Now ? There's nowhere to go.
"Unless there is a revolution ( which there won't be ! )…"
I wouldn't count on that the way things are going.
Just saying…
The 19th and 20th centuries happened. After about 1975 – 1980, the only tolerable "free speech" to liberals, was an echo of what they believe.
this is how things work in commie land.
The google founders were crooks, had to settle out of court with the real guy behind the advertisement model that made them billions. Amazon was a accounting shell game for years.
Point is all of these guys made there money the washington DC way, they cheated someone out of it, so color me surprised that Google and Amazon are big supporters of government sponsored supression of free speech in exchange for industry perks.
Googles real mantra should be "Never miss a chance to do evil"
stop using anything that benefits GOOGLE stop watching ABC CBS ,NBC, spot buying everything GE and demand stockholders throw Jefferey Immelt out of GE and lose his seat at the New York Fed reserve
I don't know if you were on line during Clinton's two terms, but I was and that kind of talk was all over political forums. All of the chest pounding bloviators did ………………………………..NOTHING and neither did anyone else.
Just saying………………………………………………………………………….
I did that many. many years ago.
But people should also stop going to the movies, buying DVDs, and buying products from any company that benefits far lefties..
Welcome to the US of Amerika! Our freedoms disappear a little more each day…well, a lot more each day!
[...] all, we know he’s giving donors special treatment. In fact, it has come out that FCC Chairman Genachowski himself was a major fundraiser for Obama, [...]
[...] Big Government highlights something worth reiterating. USA Today goes on to report that one top-level fundraiser apparently awarded with a plum job is [...]
[...] all, we know he’s giving donors special treatment. In fact, it has come out that FCC Chairman Genachowski himself was a major fundraiser for Obama, [...]
HACK them before they Hack you.
Net Neutrality as ushered in by the Obama Administration: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgtkey0811/403593170...
We need to take out all those radical pigs. Time goes by faster than we think and we have to hope they do not do more damage than can be corrected. Obama should have campaigned on radical change, not fundamental change. His fundamental changes should be looked at as the mental's change. This prez needs mental therapy along with his FCC Czar and all the other czars. Obama never did want to give the people of our country what is wanted or needed. He wanted to give us the screws while he and his Chicago cronies take the power. HE IS AN OPRESSOR. Soon we will have no rights b/c they will all be taken away by these lunatics. I am not surprised at all by the fact that Obama has had so many threats on his life.
[...] Big Government highlights something worth reiterating. USA Today goes on to report that one top-level fundraiser apparently awarded with a plum job is [...]
He spends more times with these fundraisers then Clinton:
http://americaspeaksink.com/2009/10/bring-back-th...
I am puzzled as to why this lying and morally corrupt president does nothing for the producers of this nation. Producers are the hard working American people who pay taxes and carry the slobs and loafers on welfare. It is PURE INSANITY that we are the ones being punished while the welfare rats booga lu down Broadway at our expense.
And, no, I am not naive but this must change. Do you think they have ANY IDEA of the train wreck that is headed their way ? C'mon 2010. (personally begging you all to be sure you and your neighbors vote in November).
[...] Net Neutrality For Campaign Donors [...]
Conservatives must take control of congress in the mid-term elections of 2010, then we need a good conservative free-market, free enterprise capitalist president in 2012, Mitt Romney is a goodbelieves in these principles and is an effective communicator. This would do it Pazzi. I aint worried about Obama hes too stupid to do anything. All he can do is hunch over and speak into a microphone as he reads a teleprompter, wow.
Boycot Google….use other search engines and websites…….Google is sycophant to WH and AlGore…..spreading non-truths like Global warming…..and tracking every click you make on the internet, ready to turn over your online habits to the boys….they can not be trusted, even more so with net neutrality…..watch out Google users…..do you trust them?????
Very clever!
Boycott Google. It's run by shallow idealogical adolescents.
So, the people who worked for the Obama campaign were promoted to administration posts upon his election. That's pretty standard, actually. Keep in mind, they didn't donate 500k themselves, they fund raised.
Also, net neutrality existed from the time of the internet's invention until 2005, when George W. Bush changed the policy. Net neutrality simply says that ISPs cannot control the content of web sites.
Obama is trying to fundamentally change our country and our history. Look at the people that he surrounds himself with, socialists, Marxists, and Communists. He does not love this country.
Look at how Maxine Waters threatened a oil exec with a government takeover if he didn't do what they wanted.
The working people of this country must be immobilized by taxing them into slavery. The government must make the middle class dependent upon the government for handouts and entitlements just like they have down to the poor.
High unemployment helps accelerate this administrations agenda to enslave the middle class. Small business owners are paralyzed with fear of the cap and trade, the payroll czar, health care reform (hah!), Even when they want to expand, they cannot get a loan from the banks. (Banks are also in fear of the government coming in with a heavy fist.)
Our liberties are under attack. So what will we do? Sit silently like sheeple? Give our consent by being silent?
It's just another step toward Obama's ultimate goal for this country…"MARXISM".. Read: The Jihad against FOX NEWS, and the independent press is on life support. at……http://cooperscopy.blogspot.com/
But the kettle boils far hotter today. The Clinton years were not as painful because the economy was doing well. He only had to keep his hands off of it. With the current Chicago 7 or 70 (lost count), the economy is in the tank. Applying "social justice" in this climate carries a lot more blowback. And since the Chicago 7 are wielding an army of changes vs the Clinton moderate changes, the boil is going to blow the lid off.
Obama knows it too. So watch for the brown shirts to show up (Americorp, SEIU) to become the enforcers.
My feelings exactly! Pollsters need to ask how many people agree with your statements!
Liberals demand that you agree with them – or you are not worth "listening to."
Opponents of net neutrality are crazy! Why would you prefer to trust the communications pipeline in the hands of corporate interests, who would love nothing more than to take the last bastion of free information (internet), to form a tiered service model that forces consumers to buy internet service, and gives larger corporations an unfair, competitive advantage against smaller firms. If you claim to support innovation, why give this leverage to large comm. companies?
Obama had planned for and talked about his own PRAETORIAN GUARD/brown shirts, during the primary….so you aren't talking about something I don't know about.
But re what I said about the Clinton years………………you have forgotten about many things……………………..the UNCONSTITUTIONAL, retroactive, biggest tax raise in the history of America, HillaryCare, and a whole lot of other things. People were very angry; as angry as they are now.
There will not be an armed revolution now, either.
This is an outrage!!! I think Im moving to Russia until the joke of a president is not only out of office, but taking a very long nap.
I am amazed that ANYONE would support Net Neutrality, other than the Prez and his minions! We need to stand up and contact our senators, and reps to make our voices heard (as a minimum), or you'll never know which online post will be your last! Crazy times we're living in…..
until we the people start enacting our freedoms nothing will change…every time we attend a ceremony for the opening of a "pork paid project" we are giving our approval to bribes being paid in Washington. Every time we allow our "elected" officials take money from other citizens to pay for the WANTS of our state we are giving approval to the destruction of our childrens' future. Sell your GE stock or demand your voice be heard at every meeting. WE have to let our voice be heard Tuesday in the states that have elections…there must be a record number of conservative voters at the polls. WE will not give up and we will not SHUT UP. For once we have to stand together and let Washington know that it is not ok to destroy one group to help another…we are Americans and we can damn well take care of ourselves and anyone else that needs our help.
Just another attempt to steal your right to free speech by Obama the first american dictator if we let him do this! The supreme court wilnot stand up to him. Hell they are afriad of him and his corrupt bunch from Chicago. They need to be cleaned out just like the Capone was. where are the good Americans? all it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing! That's what Obama is counting on. Us being too lazy to care. You'll care when he taxes you to the point you have to wait in bread lnes to feed your family and he has guards watching everything you do! Wake Up America! Don't let these comunists and facists steal your freedom! Revolt now before it is too late! Vote them all out! take control! It our country! It's our freedom!
Keep exposing corruption! That is the only way to get rid of it.
[...] EXCLUSIVE: Democratic donors rewarded with W.H. perks Net Neutrality For Campaign Donors [...]
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