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Daily Dose for April 10, 2007
Thompson, Clinton Lead TN Presidential Polls
Thompson, Clinton Lead TN Presidential Polls -- Fred Thompson is by far the most popular potential presidential candidate among Tennessee Republican voters, with 45% saying they back the hometown boy. New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the front-runner nationally among Republicans seeking the presidency next year, was listed by 15% as their top choice. Next was former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 11% and Arizona Sen. John McCain at 10%. Among the Democrats, Hillary Clinton leads 35% to Barack Obama and John Edward's 20% each. The telephone surveys of 600 Tennessee Democrats and 600 Republicans were conducted March 31-April 1 by Matt Towery of InsiderAdvantage, and each poll has a margin of error of ±3%.
Lawmakers Want to Avoid AT&T / Local Gvmt Fight -- Lawmakers want to avoid an already charged political fight between AT&T and local governments over franchising rights for cable television and other communication services. The chief area of debate seems to be the "build-out" requirements that require local providers of these cable services to provide some services for free in poorer areas for the public good. AT&T could avoid build outs with a statewide franchise, that local governments argue would allow them the ability to only service wealthy areas. AT&T has begun a TV campaign to get lawmakers to bypass local governments' interests by arguing directly to the people that their entrance into the cable market will add competition and thus lower prices. They have contended the Municipal League isn't interested in reaching a compromise position because they know they can "run the clock out" on the legislation. AARP told lawmakers the senior’s group cannot support the AT&T-backed bill unless it is amended to include consumer protections as well as provisions discouraging companies from avoiding less-profitable neighborhoods. More here
Jury Selection Done, Opening Statements Begin -- The Commercial Appeal reports that the jury is set for the federal corruption trial of former State Sen. John Ford, who is charged with taking bribes from undercover FBI agents in Operation TN Waltz. A total of four jurors were dismissed - two because of dealings with Ford and two because they had followed the charges against Ford closely. Ford reportedly called a reporter asking questions "stupid" after the reporter was told "no comment" by Ford. More here and here.
TCPR Files on Judicial Selection Process -- Tennessee Center for Policy Research seems to be having a bigger impact on policy these days. The center has filed a lawsuit challenging the state's policy of selecting judges to the State Supreme Court. Tennessee’s current judicial appointment scheme, known as the “Tennessee Plan for Judicial Selection and Evaluation,” allegedly violates several provisions of the State Constitution, including Art. VI, Sec. 3, which states that “the judges of the Supreme Court shall be elected by the qualified voters of the state.” More here.
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS “PROTECT THE INCUMBANT’S INVESTMENT”
“By managing the deployment as we do, we protect the incumbent’s investment in existing infrastructure, we protect the public from unnecessary disruption to private business and to their safe use and enjoyment of the public right-of-way, and we ensure that new entrants are provided with unfettered access in a reasonable and timely fashion, while ensuring that they comply with all safety requirements. This system has worked well for cable, traditional phone and other providers for many years, and is necessarily performed by the local government.”
– Arvada Colorado Mayor Ken Fellman’s Testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet Wednesday, April 27, 2005 (Fellman is also a cable franchise lawyer and VP at NATOA)
"PROTECT THE INCUMBANT'S INVESTMENT", YOU BET THEY DO, SO WELL THAT YOUR CABLE BILL SHOT UP 93% INCREASE (1995-2005 FCC source)
WHY DO THEY JUST JACK UP THE TV BILL
Comcast is raising the price of the average metro-area customer's cable bill by 6.9 percent starting March 1, yet they held the line on prices for high-speed Internet and phone services. – RMNews January 2007
THEY “PROTECT THE INCUMBENT’S INVESTMENT”, THAT MEANS NO COMPETITION. RESULT FOR YOU IS A 93% INCREASE IN YOUR CABLE BILL.
Comcast Profit Triples - Reuters, 2/1/07
How’s that for a double whammy – one week after Comcast announces a 7% increase for its captive cable customers, the cable monopoly announced record profits.
And as they rake in the cash and their executives get richer and richer, they fight every effort by their employees to get fair wages and benefits – all the while milking customers for everything they got!
As American Rights At Work found in a special report, wages for Comcast’s cable techs are a third lower than wages in traditional land-line telephone companies like at&t, where unions represent about three-fourths of the workers. Benefits are less generous and jobs are less secure, with annual turnover about twice as high.
Worse, Comcast fights tooth-and-nail to keep unions out, or decertify them once their in. Northwest Labor Press reports of a 37-page Comcast anti-union management training document that stated: “Comcast does not feel union representation is in the best interest of its employees, customers and shareholders.”
But it gets worse. Comcast is waging war against union employees – literally. During the AT&T days, unions made headway organizing in a handful of cities, including Beaverton, OR. But once Comcast acquired AT&T’s cable systems they began to systematically dismantle union shops…and show union workers the door. In Beaverton, Comcast vice president Curt Henninger made the company’s intentions crystal clear when he told commissioners in videotaped testimony: “I will tell you we are going to wage a war to decertify the CWA.”
Cable is anti-consumer & anti-competition
Legislators must send them the message that their days of pillaging customers and exploiting workers are over.
Posted by: Kucing Gemuk | April 11, 2007 03:35 PM