permaculture

[Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>]

Sorry to do this folks, but the forces of evil are at it again and we 
need to do our part to maintain our freedoms.
Keith


Dear Friend,

When MoveOn and The Christian Coalition agree about something, it's a 
good bet they're right. Groups as wide-ranging as Gun Owners of America 
on one side and U.S. PIRG and the One America Committee on the other are 
fighting to keep the Internet the way it is now - free and open to 
anyone with access to a computer.

On the Internet, big corporations are on equal footing with everyday 
people. And it needs to stay that way.

Right now, special interests are pushing bills through Congress that 
would divide the Internet in two. Corporate deals would determine which 
web sites would run incredibly fast and which ones would barely run at 
all. Some users might not be able to access sites operated by regular 
people.

I don't want Internet service providers to decide which web sites I can 
look at. And I know you don't either.

Last week, the House of Representatives fell in line with industry 
demands and passed a telecommunications bill without "net neutrality" 
protections. That means our only hope of stopping them is in the Senate. 
Please tell your Senator to keep the Internet the way it is now - free 
and open to everyone.

Sign the petition now. 
<http://activist.acthere.com/page/m/a5sw4s8xu8v/QwdsPj>

Some people fear that creating two tiers of the Internet could allow 
service providers to shut down web sites whose politics they didn't 
like. But even if they didn't discriminate based on content, the access 
fees could marginalize smaller and poorer players.

This is the completely wrong direction. We should be making the Internet 
more accessible, not less. We should be working to connect rural areas, 
schools in poor neighborhoods and other areas where people have not yet 
benefited from access to innovation and technology.

The companies that want to charge for the Internet are running a slick 
public relations campaign to make themselves look like a netroots 
operation. That's why the folks on our side need to wage a real - and 
overwhelming - netroots effort to make sure Congress understands that 
Americans want to keep the Internet the way it is - free and open to 
everyone.

I'm turning to you to ask for your help. You know how important the 
Internet is to free speech, especially political speech. And you know 
what it takes to turn out the netroots. Let's show them how it's done.

Sign the petition now. 
<http://activist.acthere.com/page/m/a5sw4s8xu8v/QwdsPj>

And then, use the Internet to protect the Internet. Please forward this 
email to your friends and family.

Thank you for taking action.

Your friend,

John Edwards


--
Keith Johnson
Permaculture Activist Magazine
PO Box 5516
Bloomington, IN 47408
(812) 335-0383
http://www.permacultureactivist.net
also Patterns for Abundance Design & Consulting