Blagojevich Has Company With FCC's Kevin Martin

Certainly the news of the day here in American politics was the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. He certainly deserves all that's coming his way, that's for sure. Of course, the Republicans were hurt that the corrupt Governor was hogging all the media, so one of their own had to grab some of the spotlight for himself and show that yes, the GOP is the still the leader when it comes to corruption and scandal.

From The Washington Post:

A year-long Congressional investigation of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin found "egregious abuses of power," though it was unclear whether the nation's top telecommunications regulator broke any rules or laws during his leadership.

The report released today on the probe, titled "Deception and Distrust" and led by Reps. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, found Martin suppressed information and manipulated data to serve his agenda.

Alright, so he won't be going to jail for his misdeeds, but on quick notice, the GOP had to offer up what they had. And to be fair, the investigators in this case are Democrats, but the deception and distrust was all bred right in the Republican-dominated FCC.

FCC Rules Against Comcast, Score One For Net Neutrality

After last month's depressing loss concerning FISA and the validity of the Fourth Amendment in our Constitution, it was nice to get some good news on the 'electronic rights' front. Yesterday, the Federal Communications Committee ruled not for the big corporation, but the average, everyday Internet user.

From C|Net News:

The Federal Communications Commission handed Comcast a cease-and-desist order and required the company to disclose to subscribers in the future how it plans to manage traffic. Comcast had said that its measures to slow BitTorrent transfers, which it voluntarily ended in March, were necessary to prevent its network from being overrun.

"We need to protect consumers' access, said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican. "While Comcast has said it would stop the arbitrary blocking, consumers deserve to know that the commitment is backed up by legal enforcement."

The vote was not unexpected. Martin said recently that he planned to side with the commission's two Democrats on the request submitted in November by Free Press and its political allies, including some Yale, Harvard, and Stanford University law school faculty. That led to a backlash against Martin this week from economic conservatives, including the Bush administration and House Republican Leader John Boehner.

The party leaders within the GOP might have gotten upset with Martin for siding with those that challenge the dominance of corporate America, but there isn't much fear in their voice. Comcast will be appealing the decision and many doubt that the FCC has the strength to enforce their rulings. That could take an act of Congress to enable and Congress hasn't been ready to step up to the plate for the enforcers of Net Neutrality.

Perhaps with indicted Senator Ted "Internet Tubes" Stevens on his way out, we can make legislation come out of committee and onto the floor for a vote under President Obama, so the free-flow of information is not abated by a few internet providers such as Comcast.

Nearly Seven Years Later FDNY And NYPD Can Communicate

Nearly seven years ago, our city experienced one of the worst national tragedies our country has ever witnessed. Thousands died in the attacks on the World Trade Center and that included hundreds of firemen, but not from the police department. That occurred because while the NYPD could hear on their radios to get out, the firefighters didn't get the message because their radios weren't able to pick up the same frequencies. Not long after that terrible day, we as a city realized that Giuliani had a chance to fix the radios several years earlier but he did nothing. And now, in 2008, it seems to have taken several years afterwards to fix the error.

From The NY Times:

Emergency medical workers can now contact the police directly via radio. Fire officials use information beamed down from police helicopters. Law enforcement officers and emergency service agencies hold joint drills at high-rise buildings, jails and the city’s tunnels.

Seven years after the harsh lessons of the Sept. 11 attacks, New York City has improved the ability of its Police and Fire Departments to operate together.

On Wednesday, these and other advances were enumerated before the Federal Communications Commission at a public hearing in Brooklyn on improving public safety through better communications among government and emergency agencies.

I am glad to hear that things are working the way they should have nearly fifteen years ago. Though we needed this technology to be in working order as soon as people understood just how much New York is a target for attacks, namely after the 1993 WTC bombing. Yet Giuliani was negligent with the radio problem....and it took nearly the entire term of the Bloomberg Administration too.

FCC's Martin Abuses His Power? Nahhh

Kevin Martin is starting to look like he'll be visiting Congress soon, and not about any particular media related bill. Legislators are beginning to look into possible charges that he abuses his power as chair of the Federal Communications Commission. What a shock, someone appointed by the Bush Administration abusing their power, who woulda thunk it?

From The LA Times:

"Given several events and proceedings over the past year, I am rapidly losing confidence that the commission has been conducting its affairs in an appropriate manner," Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote to FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin.

Dingell said he was concerned that the FCC had not made the full text of proposed rules available to the public before it voted on them, and that Martin often had not given other commissioners details of proposals until it was too late for them to fully analyze them.

Martin, a Republican, has faced criticism from lawmakers and fellow commissioners recently for how he has approached the contentious issues of re-regulating the cable TV industry and easing rules on the ownership of newspaper and TV stations in the same city.

Martin is going to start squirming. For several years the Republican leadership abdicated it's responsibility to hold Federal agencies accountable for their actions. Not surprisingly, rampant corruption and abuses of power ensued.

As for Martin, being the head of the FCC allowed his buddies in the telecommunication and media industries to take advantage of the public by consolidating and having much more freedom to restrict the flow of information. In turn, companies can own multiple television stations, newspapers and for telecoms, increase their share of cable and broadband users by being one of two or three companies in a market. In New York, the only places to get internet is Verizon and Time Warner. So these companies can charge whatever they want. In the age where the digital divide is increasing, these practices restrict information to the wealthier among us and hurt America as a whole.