That’s one of the most boring and least unique Tech at Night titles ever, but I’m going to war with the links I have.
Slade Gorton’s priorities are horribly wrong. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is. On Tuesday the Greg Walden subcommittee held hearings on “Use of Spectrum with Public Safety.” I’ve already explained why I think the D Block of wireless spectrum needs to be allocated directly to public safety, but Gorton’s argument for putting the D block up to auction is ridiculous. So says Energy and Commerce’s press release:
Gorton testified that auctioning “the D Block to the private sector will reduce the deficit, empower huge investments in new technology and job creation, and will meet the very real needs of our vital public safety sector.”
We already tried auctioning the D block. It did none of the above. And why should we try to reduce the deficit with a one-time payment from the pockets of first responders? That seems all wrong to me.
I know civil defense has a mixed record historically, when it was promoted by some as an alternative to tough-minded deterrence of nuclear war. But the threat of retaliation doesn’t work against jihadis. We need to be prepared to react to attacks better than we did on 9/11.
C-SPAN now has the video of the Free State Foundation and its seminar on FCC reform, featuring Cliff Stearns. Stearns supports major FCC reforms, which I think is a great idea given the body’s recent track record of outrageously illegal regulations and demonstrated lust for power.
Remember when the House voted to repeal Net Neutrality? Nancy Pelosi didn’t show up. Instead Pelosi went to the Free Press state-run media shindig in Boston. Celebrating with the George Soros-funded extremists with the likes of the Glenns Greenwald (who graciously took the time to fly in from Brazil to lecture US residents on how we should nationalize the press in America), Pelosi proved that the old saying about the San Francisco Democrat is as true as ever.
And yes, they are after a true state-run media in America. Look at this quote from People’s World:
University of Illinois communications professor Robert McChesney, among others, argued that public funding is essential to democratic media.
“Journalism is not a business enterprise, not a private good. It’s a public good,” he said. The “market” will not provide the nation with the media it needs, he said. “If we’re going to have journalism, it’s going to require massive public subsidies.”
McChesney is a founder of Free Press, which organized the conference.
By the way, if you patronize I Can Has Cheezeburger or Fail Blog, you’re patronizing a radical lefty proponent of Net Neutrality and state-run media, Ben Huh, who also went up to Boston.
I didn’t think Google’s lying about Google Apps for Government was such a big deal. But I keep seeing mentions of the story, so I thought I’d give it another mention. Google pretended its software had FISMA security certifications it didn’t have, and the Justice Department caught it, so Microsoft crowed. Google got caught badly here.
It’s no wonder Google continues to shovel money into politics. Mistakes just keep happening at Google, from WiSpy to Buzz to FISMA, and the firm wants to to buy good will to gain some cover.