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Dear Editor, The decision was handed down moments ago,1 and you should be mad as hell. The FCC just blessed the merger of Comcast, the nation’s largest cable and home Internet provider, with NBC Universal. The Justice Department approved the merger, too, leading to the unprecedented consolidation of media and Internet power in the hands of one company. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. Wherever you live, the Comcast-NBC merger is a disaster. Letting one company control the pipes and the content that flows over those pipes is a formula for abuse. Comcast-NBC could soon hike up rates, take away your favorite channels or even stop you from watching your favorite shows online. Comcast has already targeted Netflix and other companies that compete with its video and Internet offerings. The merger lays waste to then-candidate Barack Obama‘s 2008 promise, when he said, “I strongly favor diversity of ownership of outlets and protection against the excessive concentration of power in the hands of any one corporation, interest or small group. I strongly believe that all citizens should be able to receive information from the broadest range of sources.” We at Free Press believe that, too. But unlike the president and his FCC chairman, we’re not caving to corporate pressure. Free Press is working with our allies and activists to fight for more open, democratic and diverse media. Here’s how you can help: 1. First, let Washington know that there are consequences to blessing this bad deal. You can tell everyone that this merger is a disaster by Tweeting about it, spreading the word via Facebook, and sharing this e-mail with others.
2. Next, join our national network of local Comcast watchdogs. Sign this pledge to protect your community against future Comcast abuses, and we’ll connect you to a growing network of activists in your area and beyond.
3. Finally, support the Free Press Action Fund so we can mobilize a broad coalition to stem the tide of new media mergers sure to follow in the wake of Comcast-NBC.
Today’s deal, combined with the FCC’s recent loophole-ridden, fake “Net Neutrality” rule, sets the stage for Comcast to turn the Internet into something that looks like cable TV. This administration has a long list of weak compromises to corporate lobbyists during its first two years. But today’s merger is particularly alarming. You might be saying, “I’m not a Comcast customer, so I’m not worried.” But Comcast will jack up the prices that other cable and online distributors pay for NBCcontent, and you’ll pay higher prices — we promise. You might be saying, “I can just get a new Internet provider if I don’t like it.”But there’s almost no broadband competition. And as TV, radio, phone and other services increasingly become Internet-based, cable will be the only connection that’s fast enough to deliver high-quality media and services to most Americans. You might be saying, “Why should I care about a business deal between two giant companies?” But this merger is certain to be the first domino to fall in a series of mega-media mergers. The FCC’s blessing of Comcast-NBC will embolden companies like AT&T or Verizon to try to gobble up content providers like Disney and CBS, creating a new era of media consolidation where even fewer companies control the content you watch and all the ways you watch it. The Comcast-NBC merger is truly catastrophic for the public, and for the future of media, technology and democracy. We can’t let a few corporate giants control the flow of information in America. It’s time to get mad, but it’s also time to get involved. Thank you, Josh Silver
1. “FCC Approves Comcast and NBC Joint Venture,” Washington Post, 1/18/11:http://act2.freepress.net/go/1806?akid=2226.9765997.3MjtVZ&t=6
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Archive for January, 2011|Monthly archive page
Everybody Loses EXCEPT CORPORATE
In EYEONCITRUS.COM on kp16 at 311120
Keep Pentagon Spending on the Table-Dear Editor
In Keep Pentagon Spending on the Table, QUAKER LOBBY on kp40 at 311115
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I understand and now you do, too!
In con job, crystal river, EYEONCITRUS.COM, floral city, homosassa, inverness on kp28 at 311112A lot of people ask the question, why do they hate us so? This trailer from a new movie explains it in simple terms, it is a sociologist outlining the thinking that has emerge around the world in their views of the Empire. As with every Empire that has ever existed, conquered people will never be your loyal subjects. The United States Imperialism has taken it into every Nation on earth and the countries that have what it wants are the ones we invade, either clandestinely or by making up false flag operations in order to have an excuse to invade for the bottom line of corporate greed.
U.S. Military Spending Almost Equals Rest Of The World Combined
In Black Hearted Bastards, U.S. Military Spending Almost Equals Rest Of The World Combined on kp19 at 311103
posted by: Judy Molland 1 day ago
America Outspends Every Other Country Worldwide Combined
Here’s what Kristof reports:
• The United States spends nearly as much on military power as every other country in the world combined, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. It says that we spend more than six times as much as the country with the next highest budget, China.
• The United States maintains troops at more than 560 bases and other sites abroad, many of them a legacy of a world war that ended 65 years ago. Do we fear that if we pull our bases from Germany, Russia might invade?
• The intelligence community is so vast that more people have “top secret” clearance than live in Washington, D.C.
• The U.S. will spend more on the war in Afghanistan this year, adjusting for inflation, than we spent on the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War combined.
Is Military Spending Untouchable?
These are shocking statistics. And while all the talk in Congress is of budget cuts, and fear over a rising national debt, apparently no one wants to make any changes with the military.
As Kristof points out, the president’s party is irrelevant: President Obama actually asked for about six percent more for the military this year than the amount allocated at the height of the Bush administration.
Meanwhile, 42% Of American Kids Live In Low-Income Homes
All this in a country where, as Care2′s Ann Bibby wrote a few days ago, 42% of American children live in low-income homes, and a fifth of those children live in poverty. And what about unemployment numbers, and the plight of the homeless in this country, a number that keeps rising?
There’s another issue here too: having a strong military is important, but so is diplomacy. And as Kristof also points out, the U.S. military now has more people in its marching bands than the State Department has in its foreign service.
The Example Of Greg Mortenson
American troops in Afghanistan believe strongly in investing in schools, rather than in bombs. They can see the example of Greg Mortenson, who believes investing in girls’ education yields huge returns and has put his faith, and his life, into building schools for girls in Afghanistan.
As of 2010, Greg Mortenson had established or significantly supported 171 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to over 64,000 children, including 54,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before.
The Need For Balance
Providing early childhood programs, boosting support for education, and developing our diplomatic tool bag, are just a few examples of how our tax money could be spent more effectively to protect United States citizens than by ploughing so much into military spending.
A strong and safe country needs more much than a powerful military presence.
Read more: politics, afghanistan, president obama, nicholas kristof, united states military spending, greg mortenson
