The government is what we citizens have established in order to establish rules. Citizens united can demand whatever behavior they want from the corporations to whom they grant legal status, using the full force of their government.

You can go be a powerless consumer, I'll remain an empowered citizen.

I think what you meant to say was that this is exactly what will happen if the telcos took over the internet. They would just not route any traffic to bittorrent at all.

What is this government take over of the internet you speak of? Or do you forget that the government invented the internet? Without the government, we would still be using AOL, Compuserv, and Prodigy. Which, coincidently is exactly what the anti-net neutrality folks would like to see returned.

Anti Net neutrality--proving that there are always people naive enough to hand great things over to corporations where they are ruined forever.

People do NOT vote with their money. They use it on the way to drop lil Suzie off at soccer practice, or what is on sale and will allow them to get an extra treat this week.

You may feel that people *should* vote with their dollars, but they don't. If you want to go basing an entire system on what YOU feel people *should* do, instead of what they *actually* do, you'll be attacking windmills.

    Maslow's hierarchy of needs is running the show. Simple, immediate concerns have to be met BEFORE you can worry about altruistic concerns, or policy issues. That means you're going to stock your fridge with enough to eat, before you worry about what the farmers are getting paid.

Why doesn't my horse drawn buggy come with a mp3 player?

Can I get a Betamax VCR that does HDMI?

Your landline phones aren't getting updated technology because they are themselves outdated technology. They may not be entirely obsolete at this point, but don't expect to get technological advances into them on a regular basis.

You say the bill would have passed without him, like he only had a single vote to use. That is incorrect. He had a single vote, and one of the most effective bully pulpits we've seen in this country in a long time. He should have turned it into a campaign issue and beat McCain over the head with his cow towing to big corporate interests for the rest of the campaign. I was really hoping for more of a fighting spirit from the guy.