Tea Partiers Say Net Neutrality Hurts Freedom

[superconnected]

Source: TPM - Tea Party site?

The tea party, a movement whose success on the grassroots level is in many ways attributable to the power of free and open Internet communications, is joining the growing conservative crusade against the FCC's plan to enforce net neutrality on internet service providers. According to one tea partier involved in the effort, the movement is opposing net neutrality because "it's an affront to free speech and free markets."

The push toward an Internet regulated by corporations rather than government seems to be a new part of the tea party agenda, with fears mounting that the Obama administration's push for net neutrality is, essentially, the next cap-and-trade, government health care takeover or any of the myriad other socialist plots of the past year and a half.

As The Hill's Sara Jerome reports, "35 Tea Party groups" across the country have joined a coalition of conservative groups calling on the FCC "not to boost its authority over broadband providers through a controversial process known as reclassification." The coalition recently sent a letter to the FCC calling on the government agency to keep its hand off the Internet.

One of the groups who signed the letter was the Fountain Hills Tea Party in Arizona. Like many, many grassroots tea party groups across the country, Fountain Hills has a Ning social networking site, as well as a more traditional homepage, both key to communicating with members. Supporters of net neutrality often suggest that it's smaller sites like these that would suffer the most under the tiered Internet plan ISPs are expected to establish if no government rules require them to treat all Internet traffic equally.

Read more: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/tea-partiers-say-net-neutrality-hurts-freedom.php?ref=fpa

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"The push toward an Internet regulated by corporations rather than government seems to be a new part of the tea party agenda, with fears mounting that the Obama administration's push for net neutrality is, essentially, the next cap-and-trade, government health care takeover or any of the myriad other socialist plots of the past year and a half."

My mistake. They've gotten this absolutely wrong!

[sakabatou]

1. Oh for fuck's sake...

:banghead:

[KansDem]

3. Let me second that!

:banghead:

These TeaBaggers are just plain fucking stupid...or delusional.

Either way, they're a menace to a free society...

[superconnected]

4. Scratch that. I see they have this absolutely wrong.

F-k!

[SpiralHawk]

21. Third

The stupidity, it burns. Once again these chuckleheads are being corporately manipulated (R) to advocate against their own interests.

They are soooo far below the Know Nothing Party that it strains credulity.
:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[peace frog]

45. And again

Those morans wouldn't recognize real freedom if it hit 'em upside the head with a 2x4. :puke:

[corkhead]

2. they didn't get this one right. Teabaggers want telcos to have the "freedom" to end net neutrality

[superconnected]

5. Ah. I read it wrong.

In other words. Back to - they've never gotten anything right. :rofl:

:spank: my mistake for thinking they would have been against this for the right reason.

[Bitwit1234]

6. The more you hear from these people the

stupider you realize they are. How can net neutrality take away your freedom. Corporations yes, because they want to control the speed of websites. How damn stupid can you be not to realize that. But corporations choose their subjects well didn't they.

[savalez]

7. Is there really such a thing as "grassroots tea party groups" ?

[activa8tr]

15. "grass roots Tea Party groups" are right up there with Santa and

the Easter Bunny.

THEY DON'T EXIST!!!!!!!!!!

[kenfrequed]

36. Bingo!

It merely means some of these Tea Party pukes are now cashing telecom checks in their spare time. No doubt Comcast figures they will adopt the crashing Tea Partiers now that the Health Insurance industry has left them orphaned.

[pattmarty]

16. Is there any such thing as a smart conservative? These fucking........

...........people are brain dead.

[NobleCynic]

37. Things like this make me seriously question it. n/t

[Uncle Joe]

63. I don't believe so, this is a corporate media magnified entity brainwashing their followers with

illusion-al populist leanings, but it's truly a corporate supremacist tool.

[dkf]

8. Lol. Not exactly a fountain of wisdom are they.

[KamaAina]

9. TPM is certainly not a Tea Party site!

It stands for Talking Points Memo. It's part of the Liberal Media(TM).

[superconnected]

14. Ah thanks. I found the article on Common Dreams and linked it directly

so didn't know what TPM stood for.

[Flipper999]

10. So this "grass roots" organization gets its newest marching orders.

And they proudly shoot themselves in the foot.

[W T F]

11. It all makes sense, Glenn Beck tells them what to think and they obey

"Now, go out and buy gold coins":banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[SemperEadem]

12. ah, the tea boogers

always on the wrong side of the arguement.

[CLANG]

13. They get EVERYTHING wrong!!!

:argh: :banghead: :scared: :hurts:

[activa8tr]

17. Well, of course they do... look at their leadership... Sarah P and Michele B and

the new Cookoo from Nevada, Sharron .


Michele Bachmann and Sharron Angle can't even spell their first names the most common way...no wonder they are ditzes.

[Mark D.]

18. Stupidest Thing Ever

They think a push by this administration to say: "nobody can restrict the Internet" is going to restrict the Internet. Unbelievable!

[iamthebandfanman]

19. of course they do

they love the constitution too, just not half of it.


up is down,
right is left

[SkyDaddy7]

20. PROOF that the Tea Parties are BRAIN DEAD...

TOOLS of the Corporations!! Throw them some "Christian Values" and they will do anything you want!!

SAD!!

[CLANG]

31. Totally! Anyone who says we should team-up with the Teabaggers is a moran!

[SkyDaddy7]

50. What scares me is those here on the left...

calling for "purity"! People are made at many in the Democratic Party for watering down Obama's legislation and I am aggrivated as well. However, when we get to the point that folks have to everything one way or do nothing at all that bothers me.

Maybe I am not making sense but that is how I feel. I do not want to be a part of a party that acts like the Republicans. Where you HATE anyone who might hold even a slightly different opinion than you.

[abq e streeter]

22. Absolute fucking morons, but a true danger to this country

I hesitate to make Hitler/ Nazi comparisons, and am in fact, not comparing them (yet) but it is instructive to point out historical examples of just how far out of hand things can get if this type of ignorance is not repudiated and forcefully opposed. Once upon a time, not so terribly long ago, some average citizens of a cultured, western nation began believing whatever Der Fox-Deutschland news told em to believe. Regular, average folks, who I suspect, didn't see themselves as haters or bad people, but allowed themselves to become convinced that something really did have to be done about those Jews, and Poland really was a threat and had to be invaded for self-protection, etc etc......Six years later, 60 to 80 million people were dead, and their country (and virtually entire continent) were in ruins. At some point, even if that scenario is not among the possibilities in the case of these people, they are a genuine danger to the survival of America as we have known it, and they must be vigorously opposed (legally, and non violently, but stridently) and exposed for who and what they are. This latest case of them being unthinkingly led by their noses to oppose their own self interest and freedom is one more piece of evidence that they are more than willing to be used as the foot soldiers of a genuinely fascist ( and I do not use that term lightly or flippantly) political agenda.

[MadMaddie]

71. I have thinking along the same lines for months now

The propaganda has reached a level that is unbelievable.

Let me add some food for thought

Do you remember what caused WWI?

It was a catastrophic event

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm

What Happened at the end of WWI? Germany got hammered and it threw them into a depression.

Here it comes.....The Propaganda machine started at this point..

What happened between WWI and WWII? The Propaganda was pushed along by Corporate Media....they were marching toward war..

What I see happening in this country is eerily similar

We had a catastrophic event - 9/11
We had a dumb-ass President screw up the War against Osama Bin Laden, who took the troops out and went to Iraq

OBL somehow predicted that the U.S. would spend billions on a war and break the country, little did we know that Corporate America was already screwing us into the next depression

Today we have Faux Propaganda 24/7 indoctrinating the uneducated masses, those on the edge, even educated people.....isn't that what happened in Germany?

The Propaganda is so comical that we still can't believe that people are actually falling for it......isn't that the same thing that the German Jewish population and other endangered populations thought?

We must not make the same mistake, I see many on DU saying we should ignore them and they will go away. They thought the same thing in Germany.....

We ignore them at our own peril.

[abq e streeter]

73. I agree with everthing you just said (which I guess was you agreeing with me,

so that would just make sense), and especially your last sentence , which echoes exactly what I've been saying. I would go further than just the insane overtly racist/fascist hate-mongering of Fox and their counterparts on hate radio, although they are obviously an extremely dangerous bunch....But the failure, disinterest, unwillingness; whatever it is, of the so called "respectable" mainstream media to call them out , and in fact defending them as valid journalists and pundits , echoing their talking points, frames of reference etc, is in some ways, to me, equally dangerous as it serves to give these liars and hate-mongers the cover of legitimacy. Meanwhile, they serve the same corporate interests in a more subtle way that even many of the people who have figured out who and what Fox, Limbaugh et al are about, believe to be the true story of what is going on in America and the world, while leaving out anything that does not serve those corporate interests. Between these twin phenomena of the truly fascist media, and their more "moderate" but equally untrustworthy mainstream media cousins, I feel like I'm on the Titanic, and only a few of us are willing to admit that we see the iceberg, and worse, many of us who also see it, are convinced that the solution is to crash right into it, due to being willingly brainwashed that the iceberg is not where it really is.
We ignore all this at our peril.

[pezDispenser]

23. What make believe world do these clowns live in

It is possible (and may in fact even be predictable) that this ability to selectively throttle traffic could be used to "unfairly" limit certain traffic (Internet destinations) to users. I just don't think it is the Government's responsibility (or within their enumerated powers) to legislate powers to appointed bureaucrats to decide "what is fair".

History shows us again and again that whenever the power to decide "what is fair" is given to Government officials and/or appointed bureaucrats, there is far more propensity and opportunity for abuse of this power. It is only when free citizens and the free market are able to flex their collective purchasing muscle that we can be sure that this power is not abused.

I live in a major metropolitan area. I have 1 realistic choice for my ISP. How does the 'free market' regulate oligopolies/monopolies? These people are fucking retards.

[Zenlitened]

24. If you like the way cable TV and cellphone service are priced...

... you'll love the end of net neutrality.

:eyes:

[SILVER__FOX52]

25. To me, this exposes them as the Corporate funded shills that ...

they are. The old white folks, carrying their stupid signs are just window dressing.

[Auggie]

30. +1

[CLANG]

34. I still question that...

I still have the feeling these are just morons being led like lemmings over a cliff. They have no idea what Net Neutrality means, so Fox News tells them and then they "know the truth". Which just happens to be polar opposite of the truth.

There are many limitations to free speech in this country, but I think the only way we survive is to make one more facet of speech illegal. That would be a so-called News Organization spreading lies and hate to the American electorate, and people just trying to find out the truth. For every outright lie stated as fact, there should be a $100,000 fine for any "News Organization" that thinks so little of our citizenry, and yes, indeed - our "Freedoms".

This should also apply to political ads.

[activa8tr]

60. Why not a combination of both? Some shills and some idiots, they

wouldn't be able to tell themselves apart at a rally.

They both say the same things and sound equally dumb.

[Champion Jack]

41. +1,000,000,000

[ixion]

26. Tea baggers have their heads up their collective a**es

so whatever it is they're saying is just so much rubbish.

[AlbertCat]

27. Teabaggers

... "a movement whose success on the grassroots level" is practically nil. They'd be the unheard of loonies they should be if it weren't for Dick Army and the corporate media.

[caraher]

28. In other Tea Party news...

War is peace!
Freedom is slavery!

and of course, most of all,

Ignorance is strength!

[activa8tr]

61. Wow, so correct. I remember that book from high school Thanks for

reminding me. Reality copies art.

[BadGimp]

29. So you want Corporate Rule of the internet do ya?

Can any Tea Partiers name one industry where the corporations rule that we are happy about?

[superconnected]

33. Great poster!

:rofl: :rofl:

[TheModernTerrorist]

32. ...and this just in:

Teabaggers are fucking stupid.

[amb123]

35. BULLS**T! Net Neutrality is THE VERY ESSENCE OF FREEDOM!

:argh: :nuke:

[Luciferous]

39. +1

[crim son]

38. What they mean is, Reading hurts freedom.

Anything you can find on t.v. or talk radio is good for freedom, but not the written word. Did you know Satan invented the alphabet? :sarcasm:

[Luciferous]

40. Wow, these tea party morons don't understand what the hell they're talking about nt

[beforeyoureyes]

42. Give me a break...this is a corporate media manufactured party and policy opinion

It is really fascinating that people don't see right past this kabuki theatre...

[DiverDave]

43. Can people be so fucking STUPID??

Just boggles the mind.

Black is white, up is down.

Fucking imbeciles.

[L0oniX]

44. Stupid sheep.

[cosmicone]

46. Every time I conclude

that the teabaggers have reached the very bottom of their available intellect, they shock me by going even lower!

[grahamhgreen]

47. The corps will make sure the tea party sites are always free and on fat pipes.! nt

[V_Byl]

48. I tried explaining this to my Aunt...

...who is a Glenn Beck listening, brainwashed, moron. I tried explaining it from a business point of view, since I run a website that sells jewelry (honestly, my price point I'm in direct competition w/ Walmart, ring-ninja.com if you're interested)... I explained it'd be as if the city planning dept, or dept of transportation was a private corporation, and they'd only build roads to the highest bidder. All roads would go to Walmart, Target, and a few other huge retailers - to get to the small retailers you'd need to go down a dirt path through a jungle and cut the vegetation back with a machete.

I figured it was easier to explain than throttling traffic...

Guess it wasn't... just a blank stare.

:banghead:

[boppers]

52. The huge retailers already pay huge fees, though, for huge roads.

Nice rings, BTW. Forwarded it to the fiance, we're getting married 10/10/10 (yes, we're serious nerds).

The analogy doesn't work because all the larger players are already dumping huge amounts into bandwidth costs, PPC ads, content delivery networks, etc.

[Karenina]

49. They are so STOOPID...

In the fifth grade I got in trouble for quipping, "There are enough smart people to solve the problems, but more than enough stupid people to prevent them from doing so."

50 years later, I gotta say that 10 yr old nailed it.

OF COURSE,(I'm feeling Cenk here) tptb want to shut down our communication! We be bustin' their lyin' asses left, right and center. Let Google and Verizon decide who gets to talk to whom. They can be the new FAUX NOOZE gatekeepers! :argh:

[drm604]

51. Somehow they always manage to take the side that benefits big corporations.

It's kind of scary actually, that they can be led around so easily.

[underpants]

53. Tea baggers, who wants to be a firetruck?

OOH! OOH! MEM!ME!ME!

:eyes:

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

54. Liberals like "net neutrality", so it must be bad

I may not understand what "net neutrality" means, but I hate it. Lefties like it, so I hate it.

"Neutrality", that's got something to do with Sweden, or being neutered, both bad things.

signed - Bozo's inner teabagger

:hi:

[Odin2005]

55. OFFS...

:banghead:

[Heywood J]

56. I guess they'll gladly pay when their ISP charges them $10/month

for the privilege of accessing Free Republic. RimJob will jump at the chance to pay Verizon, AT&T, and others money on the side to keep his site going.

[OnionPatch]

57. Yeah, it hurts the freedom of big corporations to take over everything.

WTF is wrong with these people? Why don't they just put on their brown shirts and get it over with?

[NuttyFluffers]

58. hmm, this astroturfing is pretty impressive...

i'm fascinated how many people, who would normally not know what sort of 'net' is being talked about (a fishing net? :evilgrin:), are being convinced to care about the big business side of things. throw in complicit media and social group plants and you can sway a considerable amount of scared people in America to go against their best interests. most fascinating.

[Anakin Skywalker]

59. "Net Neutrality Hurts Freedom". Freedom of What? Freedom to Have Your Internet Slowed Down?

Dumb motherf*ckers!

This is just more proof that teabaggers are lead around the nose by corporations!

[Betty]

62. such puppets

they can be endlessly manipulated to work against their own interests...health care, and now this.

[harun]

64. Tea Party is not grass-roots, it is astro-turf.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

[Crowman1979]

65. Not only are teabaggers dumb, they are dyslexic.

War is Peace according to them.

[mrdmk]

68. Excuse me, I am a true/tested dyslexic and medicated ADD person

dats eyeses me-o-mities may speek and tipes funnyiess, but I am able to see this 'control of the masses' coming from a mile away.

The best plan for this overt 'corporate fascism' and the 'galactically stupid of the sheep clan' is to 'hope for the best and prepare for the worst.' Preparing for for the worst means, aligning with other groups, both friends and foes. These compacts are to give a larger front to an obvious plan that has been in the works for a long time. Aligning with other groups does not mean giving up your principles in other areas either. Let's be open to a common cause for the betterment of all!

[Crowman1979]

70. My apologies.

Maybe saying the teabaggers are Religiously insane would have made more sense.

[mrdmk]

72. Do not worry, it actually gave me a moment to have some fun...

The Teabaggers are a group of simpletons by design. Their main motto is, "lower taxes, shrink government!" Where have I heard this before, and for how long? Someone's campaign of 1968 comes to mind! The other crap the Teabaggers come up with is just pure amusement. What is not amusing is these simpletons are doing the dirty-work of the 'schizophrenic powers that be.'

[makhno]

66. Idiots

A bunch of douchebags who don't even know what net neutrality is being exploited by oligarchs. Illiterate, brain-dead zombies.

[alfredo]

67. surprise surprise, the Teabaggers side with big business.

[Jkid]

69. To Teabaggers, anything that benefits Americans hurt their definition of "freedom"

I saw this shit miles ahead.