I don't know about you but I am sick of hearing how these racketeers rip us all off and seem to get away with it. The response becomes "what are you going to do?...we have no power.." You know that is BS, legislators and ALL government leadership are supposed to be working for US, the people. How is it that so called leaders seem to forget that ?

A Summary on the Comcast/FCC Net Neutrality Hearing
Posted on February 27, 2008 - 12:10pm.

Comcast Threatens the Open Internet – FCC Hears Complaints
Last summer, users of Comcast internet services reported cut-offs and significant decreases in their download speeds when they were sharing large content such as video, audio and data files using a peer-to-peer sharing application known as Bit Torrent (www.bittorrent.com).
Here is a link to the scoop
Viva save access

Fighting the Shiite Militias (At Last)
by Doug Grindle
April 12, 2008

Years of sweeping one of Iraq's biggest problems under the rug has finally come home to roost.

Since Sunday, reports indicate 19 Americans have died in Iraq. That’s the worst week in Iraq this year. It is up significantly from the average of casualties over the past few months, which have been running at just under 40 per month.

Conventional wisdom holds that violence in Iraq is bad. But in this case, perhaps that's not as true as usual.

Much of the fighting is centered on delivering a major blow to the Shia militia known as the Mahdi Army, run by renegade cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. This is no rag-tag militia of no account.

Estimates have held steady for years that the militia has between 70,000 and 80,000 members. Al Sadr is supported by Iran politically and almost certainly financially. And Iran almost certainly gives the Mahdi Army and other militias the worst type of roadside bombs, called "explosively formed projectiles", or EFPs, which are highly effective in killing Americans.

The Mahdi Army is bad. It is out of control. Last year, for several months in mid-year, half of the American casualties in Baghdad were caused by Shia militias; of them, the Mahdi Army is the biggest and most dangerous one.

In this context, a reckoning is long overdue. Reports indicate that reckoning was originally scheduled for June by American and Iraqi forces, but was precipitously brought forward by the Maliki government more than two weeks ago, when Iraqi soldiers launched an assault on Shia militias in Basra.

That rush was not without cost. Any assault in Basra was almost bound to fail without meticulous and extensive preparation, given that the British moved out of the center of Basra last year and retreated to the city's airport, allowing Shia militias and organized criminals to assume creeping control of the place.

In Iraq there have only ever been two main opponents. The biggest, most urgent security threat came from the Sunni insurgents and their al Qaeda allies. That threat has fallen away as tens of thousands of Sunnis switched to the side of the government, which has put their erstwhile al Qaeda allies in a real bind, as they have been pushed farther from Baghdad into Diyala Province and Mosul in the north.

The other main opposition was always going to be the Shia militias, of which al Sadr is by far the most notorious and violence-prone leader. America and its Iraqi allies either would not or could not address this problem - until now - the thinking being that it was too difficult to fight both Shiites and Sunnis at the same time, and the Sunnis took precedence.

Instead the Shia problem was put on hold. Policy makers seemed to assume either the Shiite militias would fade away, as the legitimate Shia government co-opted them into the political process, or would eventually require a military solution when spare troops became available.

It appears that with the Sunni insurgency on the wane, the Maliki government feels those extra forces are now available.

As the casualty figures flow in, one hopes the cost of the recent fighting will not be too high. But one hopes even more fervently that this spasm of violence will bring about the true denouement of the al Sadr problem, and that his ultimate reckoning will not just fizzle out. The problem cannot be allowed to fester, to appear again another day. If it is not solved now, when will it be?

With Mother's day around the corner...

Read Greentips online

U.S. residents spent $8 billion on flowers in 2006, but many of the beautiful blooms we purchased were hiding an ugly past.
Flowers sold in the United States are generally grown on large farms and treated with massive amounts of pesticide; this not only endangers the health of farm workers, but also pollutes local air and water supplies.

In addition, many flowers are imported from Asia and Central and South America, where environmental regulations are often less stringent. For example, the International Labor Rights Fund and the U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project (LEAP) have found that 20 percent of the chemicals applied to flowers in
Colombia, a top exporter, are restricted or banned in the United States and Europe. Transporting these flowers to U.S. stores magnifies their environmental impact, as trucks and airplanes (including the needed refrigeration) contribute to air pollution and global warming.

Fortunately,there are some tips and information you may want to learn about.

Or

How about just coming to WCCA TV for your video shout out to the one(s) you love instead. Call me for details.

Mauro

I was somewhat disappointed to read about the Fight posted on Internet fast, in yesterdays T&G.

I wish the T&G would consider writing about all the great and amazing things Worcester youth are posting and streaming on line and presenting on cable at WCCA TV.

They produce educational video, teen news, conduct and present discussions on youth concerns, discuss music sports, and local issues. They also produce music and culturally nurturing videos as well. Search WCCA's website for Teen Central, Young Views Real News, Community Vision News, KidsNet/Youth Channel. This is what Worcester youth are producing on line every day and every week. Participatory and inclusive media is alive and well in Worcester.

Accentuate the positive.

Mauro

Thank goodness people like Bunnie are around to bring to our attention and to realize the bulls**t and betrayal that is going on, as companies like Charter, At& T, Comcast and others, continue to blow smoke in the face of state legislators, in Tennessee, who end up pandering to them with insider deals. Deals that make rationally thinking people feeling perplexed and abandoned by their elected leaders.

Link to Bunnie's blog here where our baby left us doin' the Tennessee Waltz.

If they are not supporting, with vigorous fight, FOR public access, participatory media that empowers you, what are they supporting? Hint: NOT YOU.

Mauro

"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else" -
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

Consider supporting WCCA TV or volunteering. WCCA is your free speech television station / multi-media center.

I received this indirectly from Ellen Dunlap , President of the American Antiquarian Society, sent us an interesting article she found in CNNMoney.com

According to CNNMoney.com. Worcester ranks as 38th in the Top 100 best places to live and launch, according to CNN Money.

link

Congratulations to ALL those who helped make this possible. Everything Worcester has to offer, from the smallest and most invisible voice, our many institutions and organizations, our schools, our services, our diversity, to the highest level of leadership, is what makes Worcester as good as it is. We are all proud to be a part of it and to call it home.

Scientist, Jill Bolte Taylor discusses her experience with a brain hemorrhage and how it lead to a revelation of who we are and who we can be. I thought the following clip was truly inspirational and helps explain how we can change this world in a more positive way.

link

It would be helpful if we could ALL spend a little more time in the right hemisphere of our brains, "in the moment, perfect and beautiful."

If you like TED video's, you'll like the TED-specific version of the Miro video player.

This just in from Doug:
"Hello All:Heres this week's NewsNote from the war zoneI am cheating as I left
Iraq 3 weeks ago and am in Afghanistan, but there you go.As ever, return an
unsubscribe in the subject line if you like.All the bestDougPS - Also attached
for your ease of reading. --------------- The Bush Administration is busy
snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq.Violence is down 60-percent
over the last year. The usual reasons given are the surge of 30,000 extra troops,
the slowdown of Shia militia attacks after a ceasfire from Muqtada al Sadr, and
the Sunni switch, of Sunni tribes moving away from al Qaeda and toward the
central government.Of these factors, the switch of Sunnis against al Qaeda has
made the biggest difference on the ground.In a humvee of the 10th Mountain
Division in the Triangle of Death, driving the roads near Muhmuidiyah, the change
is striking. This was at one time one of the worst areas of Iraq, on par with
Ramadi and Fallujah.Comprising the whole swathe of land west and south of Baghdad
International Airport, the Triangle of Death was a black hole of casualties and
smart insurgents. Driving the roads was an exercise in expecting the worst.Last
summer those roads actually felt different. Previously, you knew something was
going to happen somewhere. You just hoped you missed it. But by last summer,
after the Sunnis had switched, many days were clear of any insurgent activity. It
felt like a load lifting from one’s shoulders.In some areas, attacks dropped
95-percent. That’s because there were physically fewer fighters on the other side
- the Sunnis had stopped setting bombs, and then kicked al Qaeda out to boot.But
now those same Sunnis are getting the short end of the stick. The coalition isn’t
taking them seriously enough, and their cooperation is in danger of withering.On
Saturday (March 22) an army Apache attack helicopter killed six of them who were
manning a checkpoint. Local US officers knew about the checkpoint, according to
published reports. Blue-on-blue incidents are common, and the Sunnis are killed
by Americans surprisingly frequently, even as they do security jobs for low pay,
saving Amercian lives.That is, when they are paid. The Sunnis, who have a
rapidly-changing array of officials names (the latest one is Sons of Iraq), are
often not paid. Manning a checkpoint and patroling the neighborhood brings in $10
a day for these fighters. There are about 80,000 of them across the country. It
is probably the bargain of the century, given the price of a single deployed
soldier, whose weekly meal tab alone is about $500, paid under food contracts
negotiated with Kellogg Brown and Root. By now many of the 'Awakening Councils'
that manage the Sunni fighters have had enough and are threatening to strike,
because theirt men have not been paid. Several councils are already are on stike,
pushing thousands of armed and potentially dangerous men back on the street
without a job or a sense of obligation toward the Iraqi government.Worse yet,
beyond the issues of pay and fratricide, the United States has not proven itself
a staunch advocate for the Sunni groups, in the face of the Iraqi government's
reluctance to embrace them. The Sunnis want to become a legitimate part of the
security forces. But the Shia ministry of the Interior, which runs the police,
wants nothing to do with them, and routinley rejects Sunnis applying for jobs.
The Ministry of Defense is also dragging its feet, reluctant to train and arm
potential rivals. These Sunnis are getting very short shrift from the Iraqi
government and meanwhile the US does... nothing.US Army soldiers visit sheikhs
west of Baghdad regularly. These sheikhs manage the fighters and decide if this
is a good idea. They hate al Qaeda. They have nowhere to go but into this
alliance with the Americans and the Iraqi government.But desperate men take
desperate measures. Over 30 Awakening Councils are threatening to strike over the
pay issue. Given the Sunnis' role in bringing a semblance of peace to much of
Iraq, it is madness to throw these people out in the cold. It is even more mad to
give them incentives to take up arms against the central government, by killing
them recklessly and rejecting their legitimate claims to security jobs. In 2003
the Sunnis used the rationale of protecting their community and interests when
they started this whole mess of an insurgency. In 2008 history must not be
allowed to repeat itself." D.G.

Interesting Reading:
Stanford law professor Larry Lessig may have cast off plans for a congressional bid of his own, but he still wants to turn the political process as we know it upside down.

Larry Lessig: Time to reject corporate influence on Washington

change-congress