Yes you have (and your contributions are why he may win).

Yes, if you gave to Hillary or Obama, you have already paid for ads on Clear Channel, Sinclair, and even Fox. And your contributed dollars will flood in that direction in the fall.

And the little 30-second ads you are paying for are maintaining a huge 24/7 barrage of flag-pin, Rev. Wright, global-warming-is-a-hoax, the-surge-worked, "what-recession?" right-wing propaganda.

Great work Democratic Party. It’s like paying to put your very own bumper sticker on the swiftboat that runs you down.

Congresswoman DeLauro and Congressman Dingell have written a letter to Kevin J. Martin, Chairman of the FCC demanding an investigation of the Pentagon's propaganda program. More over the jump....

Television news has taken criticism from every direction imaginable. It is accused of being too far left, or too far right, or too shallow, or too consumed with profit, etc.

Now the Federal Communications Commission has settled the argument. Television news is too newsy. The FCC's latest satire-defying ruling has declared that the gossip-mongers at TMZ, and the God-casters at Pat Robertson's 700 Club, are "bona fide" news providers. In arriving at that ruling, the Commissioners had to conclude that there would be no overt political partisanship in the news content from these parties.

  Hey I got a joke for you about the time the Federal Communication Commission stated that the Christian Broadcasting Network ONLY program "The 700 Club" was actually a news program? How about the one about TMZ--the tabloid show--where they said the same for this program? Are you laughing?

Don't.

 It's true folks.

Okay, so there is this technology called BPL, or Broadband Over Power Lines. Basically, it consists of sending radio frequency signals over power lines. It enables broadband access to any home with, basically, electricity (as long as an appropriate number of repeaters are installed on the power lines outside because transformers tend to drastically reduce the signal, and as long as converters are used inside the home or building, but neither is really that big a deal). The FCC wants to use BPL to provide broadband access to under-served areas. A potential problem exists, however, as explained in Wikipedia below.

Note: power lines are unprotected, thus engaging in this type of activity apparently causes a fair amount of noise and interference for certain already-existing applications.

A funny thing happened to me today when I came on here today to get my news and issue update. I see two very prominent ads from the cable industry's lobbying organization the NCTA.

This is not a candidate diary, but it is another reason to elect Obama.

Just like our civil liberties that, when not held on to with vigilance, slowly slip away, the user-content control of the internet will slowly erode, and the mass telecom corps will have a new medium to funnel misinformation and banal cultural paradigms to an unsuspecting public.

Yesterday, as advertised by Sen. John Kerry her on kos,  the senate communications committee held a meeting on "the Future of the Internet".  Needless to say the leaps in logic by FCC Chair Kevin Martin and the sophistry of the telecoms were on full display. Join me after the jump for the details.

FCC commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, arguing in favor of content regulation of the internet, argued the following today:

"Child pornography is a multi-billion dollar segment of our economy,"

As someone who formerly worked in internet credit card processing, I don't buy it.

News about the FCC is something Kossacks eye like a hawk. Here are recent diaries:

josephwouk: http://www.dailykos.com/...
wiedanu: http://www.dailykos.com/...
janusdog: http://www.dailykos.com/...
nepos libertas: http://www.dailykos.com/...
A Southerner in Yankeeland: http://www.dailykos.com/...

Each diary has take on the situation, and all are to be admired, IMO.

Yesterday there was a short article buried in the Business Section of the Los Angeles Times:

FCC airwaves auction fails to reach major goal: http://www.latimes.com/...

This short diary seeks to inform everyone on the state of media consolidation.  In this brief YouTube clip, you'll see why the Establishment opposes the merger of the satellite radio companies.  

From SaveTheInternet.com:
... It is rare for all five members of the Federal Communications Commission to leave Washington, D.C., and they want to hear from you. There will be a public comment period* - come speak up to save the Internet!

WHAT: Public Hearing on the Future of the Internet
WHEN: Thursday, April 17th
TIME: 12:00pm to 7:00pm
WHERE: Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University
             (471 Lagunita Drive, Palo Alto, CA)

*The press about this meeting says no onsite public comments, not sure which is which here... but you can submit comments prior to the meeting to be considered--instructions below.

Over at TPMCafe, Art Brodsky (communications director for Public Knowledge, a D.C. group that works on intellectual property and telecom issues) tells us that FCC chair Kevin Martin has telegraphed his impending decision to reject the appeal by Skype which would allow any device to be connected to a wireless network.

Instead, innovators will need to cut deals with companies like Verizon and Sprint before they can develop new services.  This is criminal.

Here is a question for Emmis Communications and the FCC today.  Can right wing talk radio ever go so far that the FCC under the Bush Administration would censure or punish the broadcasters that enable this garbage?

(Yes, I am pissed off.)

Update:!  I JUST (9:07 am) found out AM radio will NOT operate anywhere near the converter box.

Everybody remembers the V-Chip, authorized/mandated by Congress, followed by something like a 6 year lapse, because the damn thing wasn't even invented yet.

Next February the Digital Age begins, and I'm here to tell folks, this is going to turn into a major scam on senior citizens.  I predict a headache for you electronic experts, as you are going to be up a ladder many times to assist the elderly, who are not going to take NO for an answer.

The sign up for the $40 FCC distributed coupons began January 1, 2008 (but their computer was off that day), so on 1/02 I requested 2 coupons, apparently the #779,018 to do so.  I am not sure if there are any more coupons/funds available, if you are interested, here is the sign-up page.

https://www.dtv2009.gov/...

Get your scoop, here is the poop:

Media Consolidation is a cancer on our democracy - and most people have never heard of it. During the time that the San Diego Progressive Air America Radio outlet KLSD was under fire from Clear Channel; threatened with being turned into a Sport Talk format, three film makers, Jon Monday, Drew Reiff, and Jen Douglas decided to film the events as they were unfolding, in order to communicate something that is happening all around the country: the narrowing of political discourse as a result of Media Consolidation. You can watch a preview clip at: Save KLSD Preview

Visit our website at:
www.saveklsd.com

Are your local radio stations a cesspool of satellite-fed programming, with the occasional local traffic report thrown in for good measure?  Do you feel your local radio stations are not serving your community?  Ever tune into a local station hoping to learn about severe weather, or school closings, or breaking local news and find nothing but tape-delayed banter?

The FCC is proposing localism changes that would require broadcasters to provide more local news, more local political coverage and essentially, be more responsive to local needs.

In Missouri, the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures is fighting a ballot initiative that would repeal the Stem Cell Initiative that was narrowly passed by voters in 2006. From an e-mail:

Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures defended the will of voters Wednesday by continuing to challenge a drastic proposal to repeal Missourians' access to medical research, treatments and cures that are available to other Americans.  We maintained before the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District in Kansas City that the Secretary of State got it right when she described the proposed initiative as a repeal of the Missouri Stem Cell Amendment passed by voters in November 2006. Citizens have a right to know what this deceptive proposal would do: Make criminals of doctors, scientists and patients merely for seeking cures and treatments for diseases such as Parkinson's, cancer and muscular dystrophy.  

The effects of seven years of the Bush-Cheney junta giving the finger to the rule of law have rubbed off on their private sector buddies:

Fox Refuses To Pay FCC Indecency Fine

By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 25, 2008; D01

In an unusually aggressive step, Fox Broadcasting yesterday refused to pay a $91,000 indecency fine levied by the Federal Communications Commission for an episode of a long-canceled reality television show, even as the network fights two other indecency fines in the Supreme Court.

That's a neat move, eh? Just like their favoritest preznit evah, the Republicans' own TeeVee nutwork now exercises the "F.U. Option" with federal regulators.

You all joked every time the "administration" simply blew off subpoenas, saying you'd like to do the same next time you got a speeding ticket, or were asked to pay your taxes. Well, here it is, now being practiced by the soft porn arm of the Republican propaganda machine. And I'll be darned... no consequences! Golly gee! Who could have foreseen it?

Who can blame them for adopting the tactics of their patrons?

But, oh! What ever shall we tell the children?