I say, bring it on! (Score 1)

Here's what I think will happen if this legislation goes through:

1. Telcos will very quickly alienate whatever customers (both business and residential) are still feeling predisposed to deal with them

2. Content companies will introduce a selective charge mechanism, where anyone coming from designated corporate networks of the Telcos will have to pay through the nose for any content whatsoever (and if you think Google can't do that to SBC think again), thus raising whatever money is necessary to pay the Telcos access fees

3. If that fails, and this degenerates into an all out war, Google will simply turn on it's dark fiber, provide peering points with other content companies, and bypass the Telcos alltogether

Everything rests on a simple reality: Google can re-build the Internet sans Telcos, but Telcos can't live w/o Google. And if you throw in MSNBC, CNN, and the blogosphere, the Telcos a seriously misguided if they think they have a chance in hell of winning.

And they know it. And that's why they're going to the Capitol Hill to get some leverage, any leverage at all.

In short: they're bluffing. Let them come!