Net Neutrality to Protect a Marketplace of Ideas

Now that the FCC greenlighted the AT&T merger with BellSouth, let's look back at why it was so important that a central condition for its approval was the protection of Net Neutrality.

In regard to your Dec. 15 editorial “Merger Hold Up”: You state that net neutrality lost “resoundingly” in the last Congress. Yet the Snowe-Dorgan amendment, offered during Senate Commerce Committee consideration of major telecommunications legislation in June, was defeated by a 11-11 tie vote. And the underlying legislation was never brought to the Senate floor in large part because it did not include a meaningful net neutrality provision.

To further argue that net neutrality “has nothing to do with the merits of [the AT&T] merger” is to ignore statements by AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre, who has publicly indicated his intent to discriminate and act as a gatekeeper between Internet content and consumers. He was quoted in Business Week as saying, in regard to Internet companies: “They don’t have any fiber out there. They don’t have any wires. They don’t have anything. They use my lines for free — and that’s bull.”

To allow any company to pick winners and losers completely undermines the open structure that has brought true innovation to the Internet. We must guarantee continued “neutrality” so that success on the Web is determined by the merit of one’s ideas — not by one’s ability to purchase access from corporate giants.

Of course this principle should be a guidepost for the FCC when they decide on this merger because as the father of the Internet, Vint Cerf, testified before Congress: The Internet is “innovation without permission.”

Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D., N.D.)
Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R., Maine)

Roberta Combs
President
Christian Coalition of America
Washington

Click here to read the original letter as printed in the Wall Street Journal's online edition

No doubt about it, these Broncos are big time

In what should be the straw that broke the camel's back, the Boise State Broncos dealt the BCS a serious blow with their improbable 43-42 win over the heralded Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl. Now is the time to let the college football elitists know that size, tradition, and heritage does not determine champions. Heart and character do!

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Discard the old modifiers. Boise State is no longer mid-major. No longer an upstart. No longer Cinderella.

These Broncos are bonafide.

Boise State emptied its playbook and shocked the world, striking a blow for underdogs everywhere by knocking off tradition-rich Oklahoma 43-42 in Monday's Fiesta Bowl.

In one of the most exciting college football games ever played, the Broncos reached the summit of college football. And, in the process, checked off all the items on their to-do list: perfect season, a Bowl Championship Series bowl victory and, finally, the admiration and respect of the entire nation.

"It puts Boise State on the map. There are no little guys at BSU," wide receiver Legedu Naanee said during the Broncos' euphoric celebration at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The Broncos erased all doubts and debate about their standing in college football. Champions of the Western Athletic Conference, they proved they can go toe-to-toe with any team in the nation.

Bring on No. 1 Ohio State, the only other undefeated team in the nation.

"We deserve a shot atthe national championship,"quarterback Jared Zabransky said.And who can argue with them now?

Certainly not me.

Nor the legions of other prognosticators who picked the Sooners, convinced that their size and speed would win out in the end.

But Boise State has never listened to the skeptics before and it wasn't about to start on New Year's Day.

Instead, the Broncos — using every trick in their vast arsenal — found a way to topple the vaunted Sooners. In the final minute of regulation and in overtime, Boise State used a hook-and-lateral, a pass from a running back on fourth down and a Statue of Liberty play for a 2-point conversion to secure the victory.

Having almost given away a certain win, the Broncos then snatched victory back from the jaws of defeat.

"It might go down in college football as the best game — ever," said Zabransky, whose late-game interception gave the Sooners a 35-28 lead with 1:02 remaining.

It's hard to imagine a better — or wilder, wackier, crazier, more exciting or more unbelievable — finish.

And it led to some of the rawest human emotions.

Boise State's longtime athletic director Gene Bleymaier collapsed on the field after the game, falling to a knee for a moment of quiet reflection before darting across the field like a running back trying to elude tacklers — a la Jim Valvano, another ultimate underdog — looking for someone to hug.

It was that kind of moment.

One that sent grown men sailing into the arms of others.

One that turned the WAC defensive player of the year into a teary mush at midfield.

One that made an All-American tailback, having just scored the biggest points of his life, fall to a knee and propose to his girlfriend, the prettiest cheerleader, of course.

One that left the Big 12 champions with their jaws agape as they filed off the field in stunned silence.

One that will cause college football's powers-that-be to rethink their flawed system. One that doesn't always reward teams for what they do on the field, but for the tradition they have created.

Or, at least, let's hope it does.

"People will respect us now. We beat the Oklahoma Sooners," an exhausted Andrew Woodruff said. "We are the Boise State Broncos."

Yes they are.

And they're champions, too.

Click here to see the original column by Brian Murphy of the Idaho Statesman