Ear to the sidewalk: Issue 3
by Jennifer Biddison
Townhall.com
Mar 22, 2006
Congress may be out of session this week, but that doesn’t mean the policy world has stopped turning. Here are just a few things you should know about but may not find in the media headlines.
Prize Fight: Horowitz v. Churchill
How many times have you wished that David Horowitz would just give University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill a good punch in the nose? Well, that battle is about to begin – at least in the form of a war of words.
Churchill, most infamous for comparing 9/11 victims to Nazis, has agreed to debate the father of the Academic Bill of Rights in an upcoming debate series hosted by the Young America’s Foundation (YAF).
In a recent interview, Horowitz noted that CU’s president had to step down over Churchill’s remarks, but "Churchill is still on the faculty there because you cannot fire professors, no matter what they do." But where school administrators’ hands are tied, Horowitz’s are not. He recently published The Professors to hold Churchill and 100 of his "dangerous" academic peers accountable for their actions and words.
The first of the match-ups will be held April 6 at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Other dates and locations will be announced soon on YAF’s new website.
Care about Your Cable Bill?
Around the Townhall.com office these days, most mentions of "nets" are part of our NCAA basketball trash-talking (or groaning, in my case). In the larger policy world, however, I’m hearing a number of conservative groups warning about the dangers of "net neutrality."
"Network neutrality" means Internet Service Providers (ISPs) shouldn’t discriminate between types of web content. Sounds good – after all, no one wants certain sites blocked without their permission. But it turns out that when you turn this pretty picture over, there’s a tangled web of regulations and disincentives attached (which you can learn all about from FreedomWorks and The Heritage Foundation).
On top of that, market forces already keep Internet operators away from censorship – who would be stupid enough to block sites, unless they wanted to lose customers immediately? I can’t tell you how many Townhall readers have changed ISPs because their ISPs’ well-intentioned-but-faulty spam blockers were keeping them from receiving their daily Opinion Alert.
Unfortunately, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is considering telecom reform legislation that will add net neutrality and other new regulations to the cable industry, as well as adding price controls and even a "franchise fee increase" (a gentle way of describing a tax hike). According to a coalition of conservative groups, these barriers will decrease competition, increase cable bills, and hurt consumers in the long run.
As Jason Wright noted in a recent Townhall.com op-ed, Congress’s decision to get out of the way of the telecommunications industry in 1996 was the catalyst behind the "explosive growth and innovation in the American technology sector [that we’ve seen] in the past decade." CFIF president Jeff Mazzella says it more bluntly: "Government regulation means less Internet innovation!"
You can encourage Congress to stay out of the way by signing this letter to Congress.
<snip>
*****
Stay tuned for next week's column, when I'll tell you how attempts to protect cute (and not-so-cute) animals could deprive you of your ability to use your backyard.
Jennifer Biddison is the Coalitions Manager and Associate Editor for Townhall.com. She compiles the daily What's New email, a round-up of the conservative community, which you can subscribe to here.
Copyright © 2006 Townhall.com
townhall.com
townhall.com
townhall.com
thbookservice.com
townhall.com
townhall.com
townhall.com
townhall.com
townhall.com |
