DiFi, up to no good:
US Senator Dianne Feinstein hopes to update President Barack Obama’s $838bn economic stimulus package so that American ISPs can deter child pornography, copyright infringement, and other unlawful activity by way of “reasonable network management.”
Clearly, a lobbyist whispering in Feinstein’s ear has taken Comcast’s now famous euphemism even further into the realm of nonsense.
According to Public Knowledge, Feinstein’s network management amendment did not find a home in the stimulus bill that landed on the Senate floor. But lobbyists speaking with the Washington DC-based internet watchdog said that California’s senior Senator is now hoping to insert this language via conference committee – a House-Senate pow-wow were bill disputes are resolved.
“This is the most backdoor of all the backdoor ways of doing things,” Public Knowledge’s Art Brodsky told The Reg. “Conference committees are notorious for being the most opaque of all legislative processes.”
As baseball season is getting close, I would like to propose a trade. We give the Republicans Dianne Feinstein and a PTBNL and they give us Olympia Snowe. This is a solid trade for us. With Judd Gregg at commerce, we would almost complete the New England rout, and Feinstein, as a newly minted Republican, will go down to certain defeat in California. Additionally, there is nothing in this agreement that says the PTBNL can’t be Nelson or Lieberman.
pharniel
I hate to say it but difi needs to diaf
how californian GOP can’t manage to run someone who is at least competative with her is crazy.
It’s like the south park special olympics episode where cartman just shows up and expects to win by virtue of not being slightly disabled.
I also kinda wonder why a Technocrati party hasn’t tried to unseat her. In the land of silicone vally they should be able to get some traction.
SLKRR
I see nothing in the agreement that says the PTBNL can’t be Blago.
pharniel
Also,
Calculated risk is now at http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/ and the google re-direct isn’t working so better.
The Populist
While we are at it, Rep Heath Shuler can go to the GOP for a bag of balls and future considerations.
joe from Lowell
Why would the Republicans want to trade someone like Olympia Snowe for Diane Feinswine?
We’d be lucky to get Gordon Smith for her.
tomjones
I’m crossing my fingers that she’ll run for Governor. Her damage could then be localized to California, which would be their loss, but at the nation’s benefit.
Alternatively, if DiFi won’t run, just give Barbara Boxer two votes in the Senate and kick DiFi to the curb.
gopher2b
I can’t believe you guys all support pedophiles. Sick.
Zifnab
@tomjones:
Boxer’s got her own list of issues, but she’s miles ahead of that faux-liberal war junkie. DiFi is definitely one of my least favorite blue state Senators. If we could just get Franken certified, I’d trade her for a box of donuts and a kick in the teeth.
cleek
we need some reasonable caucus management from Harry Reid.
Stuck
Luckily, we can all keep an eye on her. The conference markup will be public on cspan 3 and cspan radio if you get XM. It starts in about 10 minutes. Her big bidness hub must be doing a some pillow talk lobbying.
Wile E. Quixote
@tomjones
I’m crossing my fingers that she’ll die soon. She’s an utterly repulsive human being, Dick Cheney in drag. I hope that one of the things that Dan White is being sodomized in Hell for is creating the situation that allowed Feinstein’s ascendance to power in San Francisco and later in California.
BFR
We’d be lucky to get Vitter. Forget about Snowe.
DiFi is like the equivalent of Carlos Silva – completely untradeable contract.
TheFountainHead
If that bitch touches my intertubes I’ma go medieval on her ass.
smiley
@gopher2b: I assume you’re being sarcastic. FWIW, I’ll wager the child pornography angle is what the telecoms use to appeal to politicians like DiFi emotionally while in reality they’re much more interested in more nefarious, and lucrative, matters.
Clutch414
Sorry but OT:
I’m watching MSNBC right now and it looks like the committee has reached a deal on the economic recovery bill.
kay
@cleek:
we need some reasonable caucus management from Harry Reid.
Exactly. I honestly don’t know what he does all day. I listen to him now only to find fault.
Yesterday he said he was worrying about the House. I wanted to tear my hair out. He has no control at all in the Senate. Now he wants to manage the House? Is there a single Senator that respects or listens to him?
I’m convinced he’s completely corrupt, and hundreds of people have damaging evidence. There’s no other explanation.
BFR
I’m actually surprised Comcast would want this. I get that this is to get around network neutrality but at the same time, getting into the porn business is pretty dicey stuff from a liability perspective.
They’d be better off letting this one go – from my days working in the intertoobz sector I recall the rule with porn was "you monitor it, you own it." Just seems like more trouble than it’s worth.
The Other Steve
If this becomes law, I will support Cindy Sheehan running against her in the primary.
former capitalist
Rick Wise for Steve Carlton?
The Other Steve
Yeah, this isn’t ComCast. This is Hollywood demanding it.
BFR
I guess that makes more sense but I wouldn’t imagine that Comcast et al would want to get involved in this crap if they aren’t getting any benefit from it. What’s in it for the ISPs?
Rome Again
Joe Lieberman is currently on my television telling me how good this bill is going to be and how many jobs it’s going to create now that they cut it down to the bare bones. I’m scared now.
BongCrosby
If we support pedophiles, would that then make us pedophilephiles?
Napoleon
@pharniel:
Why did the URL change?
Adrienne
Every Senator does! In my head, the only "perfect" candidate would be me because we agree on all the issues. We just gotta work with the Senators that agree with us on the issues that they agree with us on. In terms of the past few weeks/months and the stimulus fight, I’m REALLY in Barbara Boxer’s corner – Just like I ♥ McCaskill for her now infamous "idiot" speech and her fierce advocacy for Obama during the election.
Delia
@joe from Lowell:
Would you like Gordy? I believe he’s available at the moment. He has nothing to do except package frozen peas at his spread in Pendleton. But you can have him for free. We don’t really want DiFi up here.
TheFountainHead
Carte blanche to control our web traffic however the fuck they please?
Comrade Darkness
Maybe they see it as a backdoor for legal traffic shaping.
Oh, sorry, microsoft your updates keep getting blocked as pr0n, well, if you pay us we can assure you priority.
Oh, youtube, that’s all pr0n, we don’t allow access to that Here, you can use our sister company’s video service that is half ads. Yeah, it doesn’t allow sharing, too bad. No one needs that anyway…
Comrade Darkness
On the difi issue. What really insults me is how cheap our policos are to buy outright. You look at their crappy policies and then look at their contributors and they will be f*cking us over some measly 50k in donations over a decade, and you think, is that all our integrity as a nation is worth?
Brian J
Don’t make it Lieberman. Make it someone else who is a thorn in the sides of Democrats in a major way. Lieberman is such a person, but he looks like he’s doomed in two years unless he starts performing miracles, so why not wait his defeat out and get someone else who might be harder to eliminate out of the way.
Napoleon
I think he has another 4 in his term, but regardless he is history when his term is up, even if he starts performing miracles.
Tymannosourus
I certainly know that after the election last year, the Repubs should have plenty of cap space. The only problem is that she is on contract with us til 2012, and they probably don’t want to carry her dead weight for that long.
I think they will probably try to bring some of their young talent up from the farm systems rather than going for the blockbuster trade with DiFi.
ricky
That or the founder of Giuliani and Associates.
Brian J
Whatever the case, the sooner he’s out, the better. A resounding defeat couldn’t happen to a bigger douche bag.
Gregory
Don’t they have her already?
Comrade Darkness
I still dream that Obama will appoint Lieberman ambassador to Israel and get him outta here sooner.
Napoleon
@Comrade Darkness:
Why, Conn. has a Republican govenor. JL is better then a real Republican filling that seat.
John Cole
I always said something similar about Bill Clinton. Had I been President, it would not have been the Monica Lewinsky scandal, it would have been the Salma Hayek/Elizabeth Hurley/President John Cole love triangle.
I mean seriously. You are the most powerful man in the world. Monica Lewinsky is the best you can do?
Maus
"This has been Fox News, signing off…"
:p
4tehlulz
>>they give us Olympia Snowe.
One Ben Nelson is enough, thanks.
4tehlulz
@BongCrosby: No, just /b/tards.
Maus
Worse still, the 10k campaign donations that cost us hundreds of thousands to billions in the long run.
ricky
John Cole @ 38
You just explained why JFK maintains mythical status.
sstarr
@1: It’s SiliCON valley. Silicone valley is in LA.
AnneLaurie
How much does bringing this particular issue up at this particular time have to do with that Fox News "producer" getting busted for kiddy porn yesterday?
Either in the "oh noes, there is durty pr0n on our interwebs!"-hysteria sense, or in the "Good time to slip through a bad amendment"-opportunism sense?
Cyrus
@tomjones:
Would it really be their loss? I mean, keep in mind that she’d be running against Schwarzenegger. Granted, he’s not the worst Republican out there, but he’s not even the best possible governor in the cast of Predator.
BFR
I assume Arnold’s term-limited out by now. He’s been there for a while. Meg Whitman’s already entered the race so I think it’s an open field on the GOP side.
Comrade Kevin
@pharniel:
The California GOP is full of crazy people, that’s why.
Jeffro
My brother and I play a (verbal) version of this all the time. During the ’04 campaign I remember trying to get him to take almost the entire Dem field off of my hands. He offered Newt and Michael Savage in return.
I turned it down, but it was a near thing.
Cyrus
@BFR: Oh, I didn’t know that term limits were an issue. Never mind then.
Stuck
@Rome Again:
Yea, watched that two. The thought of 4 years having him and his GOP maternal twin Sue Collins waxing on about bipartinship with Mr. Greenjeans Nelson, might make me pine for fat bastard Hastert and Bugman Delay. At least it was easy to loath them.
I think we must be locked in a cosmic interparty struggle for inanity. Can’t say who’s winning.
The Other Steve
Carl Weathers for Governor!
jibeaux
allright, who’s an IP lawyer who can answer this while the issue of copyright has been raised….
I had a video set to music (cheesy, of the kiddos) up for a long time at youtube, it used about half of a song, probably more than fair use, and I wasn’t too surprised when I eventually got the notice that youtube was taking it down. No biggie, all my friends and family had seen it. A few weeks later, suddenly, it is up again. I’m sure this is incorrect, but I just like to picture the artist loving my video and instructing his attorney to tell youtube to reinstate my video. I am curious how it happened, though, if you guys want to speculate.
Rome Again
Wake me up when it’s over please. I can’t take it anymore.
Rome Again
Clerical error, happens sometimes, nothing is 100% perfect.
Michael
@John Cole
On video, which you’d then proudly show on the White House website AND open your press conferences with.
There’s genuine pride in ownership on that one – plus, even your most rabid political opponents (the male ones, anyway) would be obliged to give you props for your graceful handling and good taste.
jibeaux
@Rome Again:
Was the error that it came down, or that it went back up, though? They were very clear in my notification that they were taking it down for copyright infringement, and it did definitely go down because I checked. Just thought it was odd to see it go back up.
Calouste
@Comrade Darkness:
About two years ago I read an article about GOP corruption in Alaska, and one of the people interviewed couldn’t get over it that the convicted GOP state senator/rep was bribed with a lawnmower. Not a Porsche or a Merc or a Ferrari or at least a vintage Corvette. No, a freaking $2000 lawnmower.
Evinfuilt
Actually, I hope he loses his senate seat in the next election. Scientists are clamoring to get a hold of the first invertebrate to run the US Senate. How he manages to be hold himself upright confounds the greatest minds.
gwangung
That’d get your approval ratings UP and in all likelihood get you a third and fourth term. From Republican voters.
jibeaux
@Calouste:
He should have at least held out for the lawnmower AND a fountain involving trout…
big woo
The MPAA. I hate those guys.
Roger Moore
@BFR:
The whole point is that they’re trying to change the rules. They want the right to block content without getting in trouble, and kiddie porn is a nice motherhood and apple pie pretext for being allowed to do so. What they’re really interested in blocking is anything that might compete with their own overpriced services like IP telephony and pay-per-view movies.
TheHatOnMyCat
Seconded. Feinstein is a useless dingbat.
Comrade Dread
And the Democrats aren’t any better out here.
The Cal GOP is in the pocket of the Chamber of Commerce and the Cal Dems are in the pocket of public employees unions, and both parties are in the pocket of the prison guards union.
That combined with a hopelessly flawed proposition system that has tied up the budget with mandatory spending, a spineless governor, and no one willing to take the steps necessary to fix the problem because it might piss off the interest groups means we’re completely screwed no matter what happens.
Frankly, at this point, I’m willing to trade our entire state government to any takers for a few draft picks to be named later.
Rome Again
@jibeaux:
I think the error was in putting it back up. ;)
gex
@jibeaux: What I think happened is that they received a take-down notice, and did so promptly. After the take-down, I think that the sender of the notice needs to make their case that there was copyright infringement. If they didn’t bother with providing documentation on which copyright was infringed and how, that could cause your item to be put back up.
I don’t know if that’s what happened or could have happened. I just know that a lot of stuff gets taken down on the basis of receiving a notice and it doesn’t mean that it is actually infringing copyright.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
Hey!
First, some of us think she’s a cute little voluptuous thing.
Second– you’d choose solely based on looks?
Face it– Monica had mad skillz!
Cris
I’m a fan of this comment section, so I’m a pedophilephilephile.
Darkrose
@tomjones:
Please, no. We’re already in enough trouble in this state. And a choice between DiFi and Meg Whitman, Prop 8 backer, would make my head explode.
Tonal Crow
Can we outlaw political pandering? It’s dangerous to children (and to everyone else).
MNPundit
I want to say something but it will end up being an unforgivable slur against Senator Feinstein’s family.
So I say nothing except I think she has mixed up priorities.
Steeplejack
@Cyrus:
Clearly you are thinking of Jesse "The Body" Ventura, who has already proven his worth as gubernatorial timber.
Or perhaps you mean Elpidia Carrillo, anticipating the coming Latino deluge? (I saw her in a bit part on The Mentalist a few weeks ago and was simultaneously gratified and very disturbed that I remembered both her name and where I had seen her before. Why, oh, why am I not a highly paid Hollywood casting director?!)
oh really
Actually, it’s a terrible trade. It’s easy to despise members of one’s own party who regularly violate what seem like core tenets of that party, and Diane regularly does really vile things. However, Progressive Punch gives her a lifetime progressive rating of 84.99, while Snowe’s is a pathetic 36.82. How exactly would having Snowe (pretend to) be a Democrat be an improvement? Her voting record is moderate compared to most of her fellow Republicans, but since they are insane that can hardly be construed as anything genuinely praiseworthy. Snowe’s rating is significantly worse than that of Ben Nelson, whose record (52.75), not surprisingly, is the worst of any Democrat.
The answer to the DiFi problem is permanent retirement. If Snowe became a Democrat and continued to vote the way she has in the past, she would be the target of constant vitriol from Democrats (and justly so). At least as a Republican, she can occasionally earn our gratitude.
Now, if you think Feinstein is sufficiently obnoxious to warrant turning her over to the Republicans, I suggest a better alternative. Harry Reid’s voting record is a fraction less progressive than Feinstein’s. Let the Republicans have him. The Democratic Party would be immeasurably better off with Reid gone, since his voting record is less important than his utter incompetence.
John, your suggestion is snarky nonsense.