Robert MacMillan explains just how f'ed up the Supco decision on cable providers really is.
The 6-3 decision means that cable Internet providers won't have to face competition from smaller rivals who don't have the resources to build their own networks. And the Baby Bell phone giants, who are required to share their lines, are already clamoring that yesterday's ruling means they should get the same treatment.
That's just what we need -- even less choice. It means that situations like the one that happened to me last week will continue to occur across the country. ...
I live in Alexandria, Va., where last week I made an appointment to get Comcast to outfit my apartment with broadband Internet access. The first appointment didn't work out; the customer service rep said they called me to reschedule, though I never received a call. The second appointment foundered on similar grounds. By the time I got around to finding a human being to schedule a third appointment, I was ready to go with the competition.
But there wasn't any. The best I could do was splutter about how if this behavior continued, I'd... I'd... I'd choose Verizon DSL. But I didn't want DSL. I wanted cable. I like how reliable it is once it works, and I have enough friends who told me DSL horror stories that I didn't want to take the chance.
You see where this is going.
On an up note, Richard Cohen takes down Ed Klein and Karl Rove in one fell swoop (and throws in the Bush cult Freepers for good measure).
If I were a right-winger, I would be offended by both Klein and Rove. But I am
not a conservative, and so I can only wonder at their gullibility. Right-wingers are the useful idiots of our times and while they have their occasional left-wing counterparts, the lefties will not buy essentially the same book over and over again -- if only because they lack the funds.
E. J. Dionne tags Rove, too, along with his McCarthyits friends...
Meanwhile, Howard Kurtz downloads the White House vs. the press corps, Michael Tomasky vs. Ed Klein and Ed Klein vs. Tina Brown, plus this:
More on the Post Three: Frank Rich reported Sunday that CPB hired a guy to evaluate guests on the public radio shows of Diane Rehm and Tavis Smiley. "Three of The Washington Post's star beat reporters (none of whom covers the White House or politics or writes opinion pieces) were similarly singled out simply for doing their job as journalists by asking questions about administration policies." My investigation reveals that the three are Dana Priest, Walter Pincus and Robin
Wright. Rich is right--they're all hard-working beat reporters. Is public broadcasting now afraid of such people? Did you hear about this Dallas Morning News story about a conference of young Republicans? "Party strategist Grover Norquist lambasted three Republicans who broke party ranks over the issue of judicial filibusters. He referred to them as 'the two girls from Maine and the nut-job from Arizona' - Sens. Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and John McCain."
And McCain is going to get the GOP nomination with this crowd hanging around? I'll bet Arizona John wishes he could just skip the primary and go straight to the general election with Hillary...
|
