2 pm addition -

Rick Larsen voted against a free and open Internet. Below I write he voted for it - my error. I misread what “no” meant. Our US Representative voted with the Republicans again to go along with the big big lobbyists in DC. Wonder how big a bribe he took - er, campaign contribution. Rick also voted to abolish the Estate Tax with the Republicans, benefiting those richer than most anyone in Whatcom County. If the Republicans could run a decent moderate who was not a religious nut and was against the war in Iraq then the Republican would probably beat Larsen.

We should be very careful about Jaspar MacSlarrow who for years has been a trusted aid to Larsen and is now running for State Legislature against Doug Ericksen. Jaspar is trying to leverage his position to start his own political career. At least Ericksen is an honest Republican. Given where Jaspar has worked, he is well schooled in the politics of deceit. Jaspar worked with Larsen to help him deceive the voters about where Larsen has stood on the war and advised Larsen on voting for the PATRIOT Act. The Democrats support this guy?

Rick Larsen is a Democrat?

Below posted at 5 am -

Net Neutrality - the Internet principle which allows you to find this website - is being dismantled by our US Congress. Last night the House voted to dismantle net neutrality. Our representative, Rick Larsen, barely voted against - but spent the last week on the fence wondering what the fight was about instead of fighting against this travesty. Now it goes to the Senate.

As the Internet has grown, you pay fees to access it. The company you pay, pays the company it connects to for service. At the top, the nationwide carriers actually trade traffic in a fair manner. So - when you access Google for a search, you have paid to use the wires and get information from Google. OK? That is how net neutrality works. It is how the Internet has grown these last 14 years. It is how you can get NW Citizen - or any place you want.

The big telecoms don’t like this. Nor do some other corporations who want us to only use them for information. So they want to charge me in order for you to find and access this site. They have bribed congress to pass this. Indeed, they laugh that those of us for Net Neutrality have not learned we have to bribe to get good laws. Business Week refers to content-providing web sites thusly: “...the Internet companies simply need to pony up more cash inside the Beltway.” - if we want Congress to vote our way.

How to destroy freedom and liberty? Gain control of the news and how people communicate. That is now happening. In five years you will not be able to find this website even if you live next door to the web server. But you will find what some corporate outfit pays AT&T or Comcast to show you. It took Rick till Thursday to figure that out. Lets hope our two Senators have more smarts and will fight against this in the Senate.