Ted Stevens Bill Kills Free Speech on the Internet

When the Senate returns in September they'll be voting on a bill to end Free Speech on the internet.

Much has been made about Ted Stevens' infamous speech,

"the internet is not something you just dump something on, it's not a big truck- it's a series of tubes. And if you don't understand those tubes can be filled, and if they're filled, when you put your message in it gets in line and its gonna be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material."

Listen for yourself (@ 9:15) 1.2mb MP3

Stevens has been the butt of many jokes for these remarks, and yes it is funny, but something more important is overlooked. Namely, that Stevens has the entire concept of the bill backwards. In the speech he claims to be fighting for consumers over big companies that want to stream "ten, twelve movies at a time, or a whole book at a time." ;D

Stevens says his internet plan has a "Consumer Bill of Rights", that it's good for average Americans. In fact, the real purpose of the bill is to remove Americans' last avenue of free speech. from the BBC:

[The telecoms] would like to implement a two-tier system, where data from companies or institutions that can pay are given priority over those that cannot.

By creating this "pay-to-play" internet, the corporations will be able to charge whatever they want for net access, and it won't be long before only corporate sites are "in the fast lane". Just like tv and radio, the internet will be controlled by big $$.

Thanks to Clinton-Gore, our "public" airwaves are now owned by six, billion dollar corporations- they control the news, and thus who's "electable". Their control of the news is endangered by the internet because it has enabled citizens around the world to communicate freely without 'minders' eliminating certain stories.

Dependent on the corporate news for so many years, We, The People, suddenly found a way to bypass the lies and discover the real truth about Iraq, Katrina, 9/11, Depleted Uranium, etc. The military-industrial complex is getting a little worried.

The internet has allowed people around the world to become truly informed- and We can see clearly now that those in power are NOT the most intelligent or noble people. In fact, they are often complete idiots, mere yes men for the multinationals, propped up by only by the sound bites selected by the corporate media.

As in the case of the internet tubes- Ted Stevens is flat out lying about the purpose of this bill. The only question is whether he's lying intentionally, or he's just ignorantly repeating what an aide told him. Either way- he's standing on the floor of the Senate and completely misrepresenting the bill he's fighting for.

Lying or incompetent it doesn't matter- he should be removed from power. A man of such ignorance should not be allowed to vote on anything that matters. Don't believe me? Listen to the entire speech.

This bill will be on the Senate's agenda when they return in September... America's last avenue for Free Speech is in grave danger, will we allow clueless old goats such as Stevens to give it away?

As I recently read in a comment elsewhere, why are fools like Stevens and Bush still in power? Where are all the wise leaders in America?