January 21, 2005

• "The New York Times reported on its Web site Friday that replacements for Powell being considered by the Bush administration include Kevin Martin, one of the other Republican members of the five-member FCC; Becky Klein, a former head of the public utility commission in Texas; Patrick Wood III, the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and Michael Gallagher, head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the Commerce Department. Martin has been somewhat more conservative than Powell. In the Super Bowl halftime decision, Martin wrote a separate opinion that the FCC should have investigated complaints about the alleged lewdness of the entire halftime show, not just the brief exposure of Jackson's breast" Quoted from CNN.com
• Finally. Aw CRAP!
• I think you can be sure that someone as bad or worse will replace him. The amount of influence peddling that is going on is terrible.
• These are internal matters of the state... now get back to studying your Bibles.
• Not the guy who also helped free up telecom sector from stupid regulations. Or the big proponent of broadband technologies like VoIP (and their respective deregulation)? Or who encouraged a free 'net society? Yes, his tenure was marred by the indecency stuff. But the man wasn't the anti-Christ he's made out to be. Oh, but I forgot. We're focused here.
• freeing up the telcom sector & pushing voip, etc., in my humble opinion, is more a response to big business than a measured, thoughtful response to available technologies balanced by need. he's also the guy who wanted to remove current restrictions on ownership of the airwaves, giving yet more oomph to sinclair, clear channel, and other megaconglomerates that are homogenizing what we see and hear.
• oh. and i, for one, am hap-hap-happy he's gone.
• I'm sure the networks and Clear Channel are meeting right now to pick his successor.
• Perhaps James Dobson....then he can take care of the S. Bob Sq. Pants problem........ we can only hope.... S. Bob scares the crap out of me!!!! and he's ruined my name forever!
• If Bush had any balls, he'd nominate Dan Rather.
• Rather than worrying about the name of his successor, we might wonder about what the agenda might be that necessitates replacing him. The administration has, as we've all observed, been dumping people all over the place in favour of ones even more 'with the program' and/or 'loyal'. The FCC has mostly been a sideshow that last few years. It's gotten a certain amount of press for its decisions, but the administration hasn't had any major policy pushes that involved the FCC. Now Powell is being replaced, even though he seemed a team player. One has to wonder what the administration might have in mind that involves the FCC and requires someone even more 'loyal'.
• Or it could be more petty then that. Imagine Powell the Elder saying "Fuck you, Mr President" as he walks out the door. What's an engraged POTUS to do? Why, take revenge on the son, of course.
• I pretty much saw this coming when Powell senior resigned. f8x -- I don't think that M. Powell is the anti-christ -- he could be a nice enough guy (I tend to believe that Powell senior's parenting skills are probably pretty good, simply because he seems like a supremely reasonable guy.). However, I disagree with M. Powell's decisions. Beyond the indecency stuff, which was purely P.R., I think, he was working to make big media corporations bigger. I believe in a free market, but a market where the government actively prefers huge media conglomorates over any other form of media business is not free. It squishes the little guy and it consolidates our news providers too much.
• So maybe that's why Ashcroft resigned...so he'd be available... *shudder*