GOP pork for Thanksgiving

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Jon Kyl Reaps $200 MILLION In Pork Just Days After Senate Republicans Voted To Ban Earmarks

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans' ban on earmarks – money included in a bill by a lawmaker to benefit a home-state project or interest – was short-lived.

Only three days after GOP senators and senators-elect renounced earmarks, Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, the No. 2 Senate Republican, got himself a whopping $200 million to settle an Arizona Indian tribe's water rights claim against the government.

Kyl slipped the measure into a larger bill sought by President Barack Obama and passed by the Senate on Friday to settle claims by black farmers and American Indians against the federal government. Kyl's office insists the measure is not an earmark, and the House didn't deem it one when it considered a version earlier this year.

But it meets the know-it-when-you-see-it test, critics say. Under Senate rules, an earmark is a spending item inserted "primarily at the request of a senator" that goes "to an entity, or (is) targeted to a specific state."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/23/jon-kyl-earmark-hypocrisy_n_787901.html

[phasma ex machina]

1. Too many politicians fight hard to get elected solely for the purpose of getting access to the

magical Fed checkbook that never runs out of money as long as you have blank checks.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. the USSR checkbook ran out of money in Afghanistan; the place where empires die

[phasma ex machina]

3. The sooner the virtual American empire dies the better. Not America, mind you, just the virtual

empire.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

4. It won't be long until ALL "virtual" Americans die...

Network Neutrality, or Net Neutrality for short, is the fundamental principle that preserves the free and open Internet.

Net Neutrality means that Internet service providers may not discriminate between different kinds of content and applications online. It guarantees a level playing field for all Web sites and Internet technologies.

Net Neutrality has always been part of the Internet. In fact, it's because of Net Neutrality that the Internet has driven economic innovation, democratic participation and free speech online. Net Neutrality protects the consumer's right to use any equipment, content, application or service without interference from the network provider.

The FCC has delayed its December open meeting amid speculation that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski may put a key net neutrality item up for vote at the meeting.

The FCC’s December open meeting has been delayed six days to Dec. 21 from Dec. 15, the agency announced in an e-mail. No reason was given for the change and the agency could not be reached for comment on the delay.

The change of date comes just five days after rumors emerged that Genachowski was planning a December vote on the FCC’s authority over wireless operator’s data roaming agreements.

The open meeting provides Genachowski with an opportunity to rebuild momentum for net neutrality, which has slowed amid the GOP’s win in the House and heavy lobbying from Internet service providers and net neutrality advocates. The agency does not plan to take up any issues related to net neutrality at its November open meeting, scheduled for Nov. 30.