It's Monday. The recess is over and Congress is re-convening. The House Energy and Commerce Committee takes up the Barton/Rush national video/Internet franchising bill tomorrow at 5 pm. "Markup" is scheduled for Wednesday.
The bill will have a major impact on cable TV franchises in Cleveland and other NEO communities. As drafted, it will also clear the way for a highly controversial "tiered Internet".
Sherrod Brown and Ted Strickland are both Committee members. Neither statewide candidate for higher office has yet made any public comment about the proposal.
And the Plain Dealer has not printed a word about any of this. Not. One. Word.
Art Brodsky at TPM Cafe Friday:
Congress is going to hand the operation of the Internet over to AT&T, Verizon and Comcast. Democrats are helping. It's a shame.Amen to that.
Don’t look now, but the House Commerce Committee next Wednesday is likely to vote to turn control of the Internet over to AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner and what’s left of the telecommunications industry. It will be one of those stories the MSM writes about as “little noticed” because they haven’t covered it.
(See Matt Stoller's overview at MyDD today, including an animated explanation of "net neutrality.")