Net Neutrality

Excerpt of this blog:

Broadband Reality Check

So what's the real skinny?

• There is no competitive marketplace for Internet access in the United States. More than 95 percent of residential high-speed lines are owned by telephone and cable companies. That is a rigid duopoly by any standard. (Source: FCC)

• The result of duopoly control is higher prices for slower connections to the Internet. Compared to citizens in other developed nations, Americans now pay 10 to 20 times as much for far slower Internet services than those offered by modern European and Asian countries. (Source: Broadband Reality Check II)

• A full 37 percent of ZIP codes have one or fewer choices of a wired broadband provider. (Source: FCC)

So, Mr Kneuer, when both your phone and cable provider are pushing to gut net neutrality, what other "free market" choices does a consumer really have?

On a different topic with overlapping themes, why is there no 'conflict of interest' law in our government? Why is it even possible for former lobbyists to hold government posts over what they were lobbying for? Lobbyists are supposed to go to government appointed employees with their point of view, not become the government appointee. This scenario plays itself out at every level of government and has clearly gotten worse under the current administration-but they are not solely to blame. I'll offer some proof at a later date, feeling lazy today...

Awesome! Gator tries to eat golfer!

Unfortunately, the gators usually lose in the end. I think its a great trade off that retirees flock to Florida for the golf and relaxation but have to dodge man-eating reptiles along the way. I think that gators who attack people should be praised and allowed to stay where they are to 'thin out the herd'.

What a great way to go. Be pulled under by a huge alligator, never to be heard from again. If I have a choice, I hope this is how I go out (when I'm old and of no use, of course). People that survive, should wear the gators teeth as a trophy of their conquest and badge of honor in the fact that it 'wasn't their time to go'. Yes, this sort of thing really happens, don't believe me? Read about it here - the dying thing, not the trophy teeth.