Green Days

by folkbum

I almost never get blogads submitted, so it's always exciting when one comes along. The pretty blue ad there on the right takes you to an online petition that requires nothing more than your name and an email address. You can even opt-out of the emails the Sierra Club would surely send your way if you left the box checked. So if you support clean, renewable energy, click through. If you support this blog, click through. Heck, even if you just want to encourage the nut-fringe of the enviro-bat wing of the leftist loony brigade to waste their money on lame-oids like me, click on through.

Also of note: I got an email last night about a new project out of Marquette University called greenvoting for Wisconsin. While I am not thrilled with "greenvoting" as one word, the site looks like it could become a solid resource for people interested in environmental causes.

Finally, one other greenish-related item: The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District is having a medicine collection day (.pdf) this Saturday, April 19, from 9 AM to 1 PM. (Note to MMSD web designers: Fewer pdfs, please!) There are sites in Milwaukee, Racine, Ozaukee, and Washington Counties for collection. It wasn't that long ago that there was a big study about how widespread the presence of many common meds is in our drinking water; disposing of extra or expired meds in an appropriate way can help reduce that problem.

You know what makes me sad?

by folkbum

All the Democratic presidential candidates are raking in scores of millions of dollars and the BlogAds space to your right sits empty. Sigh.

For the record, I haven't given any of them money yet, though my inbox is choking with pleas. I think any of the top tier would make great presidents, and, given that my primary vote is likely to be useless anyway, I'm just sitting back and watching right now.

If you care to try to change my mind in the comments, go ahead. Make your best pitch.

Hands on the Internet

For the first time ever in the history of this here blog, I have two BlogAds going at once. It's still not enough money to cover what they want to fix my car, but, hey . . .

However, the second of those ads ("See the future of the internet!") is one that you should be wary about. You may have heard a little bit about the "net neutrality" debate going on right now in Congress. The idea is that, absent regulation or law, internet service providers could be free to deny or privilege specific web content. For example, if you get your internet through SBC/Yahoo/AT&T or whatever they are now, your ISP could decide that you just don't need access to Google, which is, of course, a chief rival to Yahoo. MSN could decide not to let you visit the Apple Store online. Providers may decide that all the streaming video you've come to enjoy from places like YouTube is just too bandwidth intensive, and so you can't have it. Or, you can't have it at a reasonable download speed.

The ad takes you to a quaint little deceptive movie about the net neutrality debate, but you can click around and get to Hands off the Internet, which is kind of the blog of the group sponsoring the ad. You can find there that they believe

that the Net's phenomenal growth over the past decade stems from the ability of entrepreneurs to expand consumer choices and opportunities without worrying about government regulation. We believe consumers across America see the results of this "hands off" approach - through such benefits as expanded distance education opportunities, improved access and speed to almost any information, on-line commerce, and an easier and inexpensive way to communicate with family and colleagues.

What's funny about this, of course, is that up until recently--the last year or so, I think--there were regulations in place requiring neutrality and equal access to content from all ISPs. Those regulations went away, and that's why we're now in a fight to get them back. So the "phenomenal growth"--things like Google, eBay, MySpace, YouTube, and so on--all happened under the kind of regulation this group opposes!

It won't surpirse you to learn that their effort is heavily subsidized by the telecoms (which is why I don't feel bad about taking their ten bucks even though I disagree with them). The lead spokesman is former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry--who has, because of his corporate shillingness, earned the inetense scorn of the left.

At any rate, you can click through and decide for yourself. But don't be fooled by their discussions of taxing the internet and things like that--none of that is on the table from anyone anywhere. All the forces of good are looking for is the assurance that ISPs cannot block or slow down content, picking and choosing what you get to see.

Rae Vogeler Ad

The ad from Green Party Senate candidate Rae Vogeler should not be taken as a sign of endorsement, just capitalism. While I will probably never get rich doing this blogging thing, I am perfectly happy to accept BlogAds money from any and everyone willing to give it to me. Particularly gazillionnaire Herb Kohl. As long as he warns me enough in advance to jack up my rates. A lot.

Also in the interests of full disclosure, I should say that I did give the maximum contribution--one dollar--to Kohl's Democratic challenger, Ben Masel.

UPDATE: This should not necessarily be taken as disagreement with Vogeler, the Green Party, or their stands on issues (you can check them out yourself). Just means I haven't lent my endorsement to anyone in the US Senate race just yet.