Who Stole the Internet?

The Federal Communications Commission of the United States decided that Comcast may not block internet traffic for heavy-use subscribers. Comcast argued that the FCC has no enforcement authority in the matter. The agency appears to rely on net neutrality principles that it issued in 2005 as the source of its authority. Comcast argued that principles are not law, but the FCC disagreed and ordered Comcast to change its policies regarding traffic blocking by the end of the year.

The decision by the FCC - an executive agency, not a legislative body - is disturbing. With this ruling, the FCC essentially said that the United States owns the internet, and we will be regulating it. That a body with no lawmaking power can make such a power grab is offensive. That it's just another executive agency exceeding its constitutional authority can't be argued.

This decision is certain to be appealed, a process that is likely going to take many months, if not years, to run its course. In the meanwhile, however, with its newly self-granted authority, the FCC will be able to rely upon its Comcast decision to impose more regulation and pseudo-law on not only internet service providers, but all components of the industry, from the infrastructure and architecture to the end user. Let's hope that the courts do the right thing and, at the very least, contract this latest expansion of the powers of executive agencies.

Lee Atwater: Visionary or Villian?

A film about former RNC Chair and George H.W. Bush campaign manager Lee Atwater is scheduled for release in October. The L.A. Times called it a balanced look at Atwater's influence on the way our Presidents are elected. The film studio released this promotional material:

Boogie Man is a comprehensive look at Lee Atwater, the blues-playing rogue whose rambunctious rise from the South to Chairman of the GOP made him a household name. He mentored Karl Rove and George W. Bush while leading the Republican Party to historic victories and transforming the way America elects its Presidents.

In eye-opening interviews with Atwater's closest friends and enemies, Boogie Man sheds new light on his crucial role in America's shift to the right. To Democrats offended by his cutthroat style (to say nothing of the 1988 Willie Horton controversy), Atwater was a political assassin dubbed by one Congresswoman "the most evil man in America." But to many Republicans he remains a hero for his deep understanding of the American heartland and his unapologetic vision of politics as war. Director Stefan Forbes offers a timely documentary for this election year as he examines the charming yet Machiavellian, beloved yet reviled godfather of the modern political campaign.

Atwater died at 40 on March 30, 1991 with a brain tumor. The New York Times covered his death, getting comments from then-President Bush and former President Reagan. Read the article here.