“Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.” – Ronald Reagan

Information is the Oxygen of the Modern Age.

Long before there was Google, Twitter, Facebook, Napster, a dot com bubble and even Al Gore claiming to have created the Internet, there were a couple of smart guys with a crazy idea of connecting a few computers, which at the time were the size of an average-sized living room. The first data packets were sent from UCLA to Stanford Research Institute on Oct. 29, 1969, and voilà – the Internet was born! Unfortunately, it wasn’t user friendly and it took years of headache and development to come up with the Internet we all know and love today. Even my parents, who have about a 3.5-second attention span when I talk internet jargon, could feasibly create their own blog with pictures of their grandchildren in less than an hour. Never in the history of mankind have people had such power at their finger tips.

During the Internets early development, its backbone was funded by the government and largely used by various government organizations, along with educational and research institutions. Commercial uses on that backbone were mostly prohibited, with a few rare exceptions. But the free market couldn’t be held back and eventually commercial servers and Internet Service Providers (ISP) sprung up, leading to the dot com bubble. During that time, anyone with a few dollars and a good idea could have become a millionaire over night.

It is hard for me to remember life without Internet. I have become more and more reliant on the Internet as my sole source of news, entertainment and much of my communication over the years. I eventually got rid of my Directv altogether and the only thing I really miss is the History Channel.

I say all this to warn of a pending storm that could jeopardize the Internet we have come to depend on. We as a society could potentially lose Net Neutrality, a concept that has been a part of the Internet from its inception. Net Neutrality means all data flowing through the internet is equal. This means a person’s e-mail or online banking gets the same network bandwidth and priority as the most ridiculous forwarded viral internet video. The computers and networks that run the Internet do not show bandwidth preferential treatment for a site like CNN.com while throttling down bandwidth on my parents’ blog of their grandchildren.

After Comcast allegedly began to hinder Internet telephone or Voice Over IP (VOIP) services like Skype and Vonage, the company, according to an article in The Register, attempted to curb file sharing by initiating a download limit that could result in a customer losing his or her internet subscription [*]. The FCC stepped in to protect the rights of the consumers and initiate regulations to insure all consumers to have access to an unhindered Internet. This is important for Internet users since the top five Internet providers control almost 60 percent of Internet subscribers’ accounts in the United States. Four of those five are public-utility companies that have a vested interest in hindering services like Hulu and Skype, which are free internet alternatives to services they provide.

Published In the Signal | March 13th

Unfortunately for us little guys, the public-utility companies aren’t taking this lying down. They began campaigning using disinformation and playing on public ignorance in an attempt to stir up knee-jerk reactions from scary words like “government regulation” or attributing net neutrality as some kind of socialist plot. They even got tech savvy John McCain to introduce a clever but misleadingly titled bill called “Freedom of Internet Act 2009,” which would give these hand full of big utility companies – which already enjoy many anti-trust exemptions – almost unchecked power to control consumer-internet use. Net neutrality is essential because it insures a company like Timewarner (owner of CNN) or Comcast (owner of MSNBC) can’t throttle back bandwidth to their competition… say Foxnews.com.

Net neutrality isn’t about government regulating the Internet but about regulating the large companies controlling our gateway to all the wonders of the World Wide Web. Don’t let the big utilities turn this into a Democrat vs. Republican issue, either. This should be a bipartisan no brainer. When has the National Organization of Woman (NOW) and the Christian Coalition of America ever been on the same page on any issue? They are on the same page when it comes to Net Neutrality. Whether you are a liberal feminist or a Christian homeschooling mother, net neutrality should matter to everyone. Let me encourage everyone to log on to savetheinternet.com and join the 1.7 million people who have already signed the petition to Congress saying we want to keep the internet free.

At first I was got a little, how shall we say?  ”Uppity” at CNN when I read the title, CNN names Michele Bachman Wingnut of the Year.  I was going to slam them for continuing the right and left dog and pony show that makes one want to move to Antarctica, I hear it is nice this time of year.  Honestly, I don’t even know if you can accuse CNN of being partisan they just seem stupid at times, last time I wasted time watching CNN they were going on Twitter to see what @soccermom43 thought about Sonia Sotomayor nomination to the supreme court nomination.  Like I care!  But It was actually John Avalon from thedailybeast.com, and I think he did a pretty even handed job nailing both sides on their biggest offenders.

Typically I don’t spend much time looking at blowhards in the media.  One of things that drives me nuts about Democrats is how they watch Fox news commentators and manufacture outrage at every wingnutty thing they say.  Why waste your time?  At least Conservatives just claim everyone else is bias and they don’t waste their time and energy being outraged at everything guys like Keith Olbermann and Ed Schultz say.

5.  Ed Schultz

This guy is pretty wacky!  Republican want to see people dead?  They want to make money off your dead corpse?  Really?  like send us to the glue factory?  Did they run out of horses?  I agree 100% with this selection definitely a Liberal WINGNUT!

4. Sarah Palin

Sarah “I Quit” Palin is wingnut gold!  She would probably rank higher if she didn’t quit her position as Alaska Governor.  Of course she was doing it for the good of Alaska!  Wherever this crazy goes scandal follows.  She used the state of Alaska to line her pockets then quit once the chickens came to roost.  She then did what ever teenage girl does talk about everyone she doesn’t like on facebook!  Write a book full of excuses why everything is never her fault.  This woman has the thinnest skin, why she thinks she is cut out for politics I will never know.  I really hope she tries to make a run for the White House in 2012.  That is going to be entertainment gold.

3. Glenn Beck

I have said this 100 times.  Beck is cashing in on the Obama fever.  This guy made 23 million last year!  He has a radio show, Tv Show, Books galore, some creepy musical, the 9/12 rallies.  The crazier he gets the more people eat it up!  I think he goes the way of Rush Limbaugh.  He is just the Rush Limbaugh of the Obama Admin, why do you think Rush was trying so hard to get noticed?  Beck has been stealing the crazy show.  Beck has had about 70+ advertisers leave him because of his President Obama is a racist comment.  His sponsors are Gold companies running mini-infomercials but did it hurt Beck?  Nope.  It hurt Fox who is reportedly losing $500,000 a week.  Why isn’t Fox making the smart business decision?  I think they are hoping the heat dies down on Beck.  I hope it does, I am really tired of listening to whiny liberals become outraged at everything this Wingnuts says!  If you want him to go away, IGNORE HIM.

2. Alan Grayson

At first I thought Alan Grayson is fighting back against all the craziness from the right.  It turned out the Grayson was pretty much an attention whore.  I wasn’t all that shocked at the Republican want you to die quick comment, I thought it was a tit for tat type of approach.  But then there was something about vampire teeth and calling a woman a whore or something.  I didn’t really follow it completely.  I just thought this guy, lost me!  I never knew about the letter to holder calling for prosecution of one of his critics, he does realize that people in public office are almost impervious to libel right?[*]  I agree WINGNUT for sure!

1. Michelle Bachman

Bachman is straight looney tunes!  She is like one big walking conspiracy theory.  She has theories against the Census, Acorn, Obama being a tyrant, there was the Super Bowl of Freedom.  I can’t even keep track of this lady!  She actually beat Palin in nuttiness.  Thanks Minnesota.

Dishonorable Mentions

Keith Olbermann

My biggest beef with Olbermann is his Worst and Worster segment.  I find it childish and rude.  I think when Olbermann is on his meds he does a descent job of supporting his claims.

Rush Limbaugh

Rush tries to make headlines with his outrageously racist comments but he is just so 1998.  I am shocked he isn’t still talking about Monica Lewinsky.

“I’ve always believed that America’s government was a unique political system — one designed by geniuses so that it could be run by idiots. I was wrong. No system can be smart enough to survive this level of incompetence and recklessness by the people charged to run it.” -Thomas Friedman

Ahhhh A Wise Guy

I was all giddy with anticipation this evening waiting to see what playbook Mrs. Vakay & friends would run to spin this scandal their way. The sky is the limit with these 2009 Republicans, so my money was on, “He is an angry Kenyan citizen, show us your birth certificate pal” or “He is secret socialist Muslim sent from the past by Hitler to give us all free medical”, Sadly to my disappointment and boredom they went with, “he said I could plagiarize it” and “he is a sexist Democrat”. Really? Why is it most politicians sound like pathetic 13 year old kids with every excuse in the book why it isn’t their fault? I really think, “No Comment” would have been the best course of action in this situation. Instead they did everything in their power to prove their guilt by making several shots in the dark about my motives, political stance and personal character.

What is most disturbing to me about this article is that Gary Wolfram another teaching professional with a Ph.D in economics is defending what is obvious plagiarism of his own work. How do two teaching professionals not know what constitutes plagiarism? Would this fly if two of their students were giving these same lame excuses why their papers were nearly identical? Absolutely NOT, they would be expelled for academic dishonesty in half-a-second. These two know better. What is it about political parties that make grown adults act like unreasonable, spoiled brats?

I guess it shouldn’t surprise me, that neither Republicans Nor Democrats want to bring up, let alone take responsibility for the real cause of this economic depression we are going through. It pretty much all boils down to a Republican controlled congress with much help from the Democrats passing the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999. This BIG GOVERNMENT legislation broke what was already fixed and made Subprime lending go through the roof and allowed financial institutions like Citicorp to become “Too Big” to fail. I guess Mr. smarty pants elitist and his PH.D in economics must have missed that day when his beloved Republicans robbed America and the Democrats drove the get away car. This is what happens when people are more in love with their brand of political ideology then working together to make a better America.

In the end I think The Signal and its readers are the real victim. When it comes down to it Mrs. Vakay knowingly deceived and betrayed their trust as a regular columnist. She broke one of the cardinal, career ending rules of journalism! I very encouraged to see The Signal looking for opportunities to improve and do things better to make our small corner of the world better. Thank You

Oh, one clarification I wanted to make is I was a Youth Pastor not a Pastor, slight difference.

This was written in response to the article entitled “Plagiarism accusation touches off battle” in The Signal December 19th.

SCVTalk Vakaygate Article