Aunt Bee Says, "Leave Us Alone!"

Maybe its that they thought that everybody from North Carolina was like Barney Fife. Or was that Gomer? Whatever.

The glorious forces of the private sector are here to save us. Save us from ourselves, of course...because we're just not smart enough to figure things out all by our lonesome. And so what if they make a little money while they're at it--for doing things that we're already paying to have done.

Connected Nation. Heard of 'em? Well, they are going to fix us backward North Carolinians right up:

Citizens across North Carolina are clamoring for better access to the Internet, but cable and telecom companies say it's too expensive to build service that reaches them. Now the industry has decided it is willing to pay an outside group, Connected Nation, to collect data about who's stuck on dialup, ostensibly to deliver improved service. But critics say the motive is hardly altruistic, charging that cable and telecom companies are more interested in warding off regulators than in bridging the digital divide.
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But North Carolina already has a state government authority called e-NC Authority doing the same work. In fact, e-NC did some of the first broadband maps in the country in 2001. The organization, which is a state authority housed in the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center, also gives matching incentive grants to encourage the industry to build out to the state's most under-served areas.

If the state were to fund Connected Nation, it could serve as a stamp of approval for a group critics say is merely an industry front. It would also signal a lack of confidence in an existing state effort that's garnered rave reviews from across the country.

"I think e-NC is the model of how you do it right," says Art Brodsky, communications director of Public Knowledge, a Washington, D.C. public interest group. "They do their own surveys and they're not industry-backed. E-NC has a proven track record."

"This appears to be the first public step of an aggressive hostile takeover attempt by Connected Nation and its Bell company ally, AT&T," says Drew Clark, executive director of BroadbandCensus.com, a Web site designed to provide information about broadband availability to the public. Clark has called e-NC "arguably the most advanced effort of its kind in the nation."

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How'd things go when they tried this in Kentucky?

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But not just any service: Brodsky's report says Connect Kentucky pushed AT&T's DSL, rather than competing services from independent companies.

According to Brodsky's sources, "Connect Kentucky is nothing more than a sales force and front group for AT&T paid for by the telecommunications industry and by state and federal governments that has achieved far more in publicity than it has in actual accomplishment. Connect helps to promote AT&T services, while lobbying at the state capitol for the deregulation legislation the telephone company wants."

Connected Nation has denied these claims.

Brodsky says, "There is no evidence that any of the millions of dollars they have spent of primarily public money has done any good for anyone. Connect talks a good game, but a lot of what they claim just hasn’t materialized."

E-NC has a strong track record, he says. "You’ve got a world-class, homegrown operation down there that has infinitely more knowledge and expertise than any other state organization." By contrast, he says Connected Nation is "sort of like a franchise—the Applebee’s of telecom policy."

Folks, if you are concerned about Big Telco coming to NC to try to tell us how to improve broadband access--when we already have a proven team of local experts in place--then call your NC Representative today.

Charter Communications: Worth 9 Cents?

As goblueridge.net breathlessly reports on whether or not Charter Communications will carry WCNC on Charter's local High Country cable monopoly, we would argue that the folks at Aisling have missed something else which is much more important--and perhaps a little more worthy of getting wrapped around the axle about.

Reports are beginning to surface about the possible bankruptcy of Charter. From the St. Louis Business Journal, via the Sacramento Business Journal:

The likelihood of financial distress at Charter Communications Inc. in the next year has increased from 20 percent to 75 percent, a Citigroup analyst said.

Citi analyst David Hamburger also downgraded Charter from buy to sell and reduced the price target from $1 to 5 cents.

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Charter, headed by chief executive officer Neil Smit, has never made a profit since it went public in 1999, mainly because of its $24 billion debt, and has seen its stock price plummet.

Its stock dropped to its 52-week low Monday to 9 cents a share.

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So, the whole media consolidation thingy is going pretty well then--yes?

Is it not just a little ironic that the local consolidated radio empire (which is operating in receivership, mind you) missed the real story about the local cable monopoly possibly going belly-up too?

Never too late for irony.

Ore Knob Mine Dam: Ashe County Disaster In The Making

Let's face it. When news happens in Appalachia, the mainstream corporate media rarely covers it. Especially when that news has something to do with something that may interfere with the latest efforts by big coal to greenwash the environmental impacts of coal mining. Don't want to miss out on all that advertising revenue, now do we?

See, over in Tennessee there was this huge environmental disaster that happened the other day. And its impact may be even bigger than that little thing called the Exxon Valdez spill.
As for coverage from the mainstream corporate media? MIA, baby.

From Free Speech Radio News:

About 40 miles west of Knoxville, Tennessee, millions of gallons of ashy sludge have broken through a dike at a coal-fired power plant, flooding homes, burying roads, and threatening rivers and drinking water.
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The holding pond contained about 70 acres of fly ash – that's the residue left over from burning coal. It often has elevated levels of toxic metals. And according to the EPA, the spill has released about 525 million gallons of the sludge – that's nearly 50 times the size of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Full audio here.

And yet there is a local angle here. Linda Burchette, a reporter for the Jefferson Post, authored two stories in November 2008 about the Ore Knob Mine dam in Ashe County. Seems that the Ore Knob Mine dam might just be in danger of, well, failing:

Potential failure of the dam at Ore Knob Mine in Laurel Springs has brought action from representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency.

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An eminent risk of dam failure was determined due to a potentially collapsed or blocked drainage pipe within the dam.

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The meeting at Peak Creek Community Center last Thursday attracted about a dozen local residents to hear an update from Terrence Byrd, on-scene coordinator, and Sherryl Carbonaro, community involvement coordinator. Also present was Brian Malone, contractor.

Byrd told those present that the EPA officials on site are an emergency response team there to deal with potential failure of the dam, which is 70 feet high and 700 feet wide. He also brought results for those who had not yet received them of water samples from their drinking water supplies. He noted that there had not been any finding of primary contaminants in the wells tested that would make water unsafe to drink.

The tailings, however, have been found to have high concentrations of numerous metals, including copper, zinc, iron, arsenic and mercury. This area is about 20 acres. The dam protecting water below the tailings area from contamination is eroding, and tailings have “slumped” over partially blocking the 24-inch pipe that directs water from Ore Knob Branch underneath the tailings into a sediment pond. That pond is full and cannot contain sediment from continuing down Ore Knob Branch. Seepage from the dam has high concentrations of aluminum, copper, iron, manganese, silver, zinc and sulfate.

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What the EPA found recently is that severe erosion of the dam could expose mine tailings that could create hazardous substances in the surface water and sediment throughout Ore Knob Branch (1.5 miles) and Little Peak Creek (2.25 miles). The agency notes that the entire length of Ore Knob Branch, as well as a three mile section of Peak Creek to the South Fork of the New River is sterile, and the ecological impacts can be seen to within eight miles of the border with Virginia.

First of all, kudos to Ms. Burchette for covering the news and writing two solid stories about this potential disaster in the making.

Readers of these stories had to do a little bit of digging (no pun intended) to find the lede, which we would argue was contained in the sentence "An eminent [did she mean "imminent"??] risk of dam failure was determined due to a potentially collapsed or blocked drainage pipe within the dam."

Right in our own backyard, folks. Concerned? Let's have a look at that Tennessee disaster again, shall we?

Weekend Video Salon: Faux Liberal

Ooooohhhhh, we can't wait to audition to be the new Hannity! sidekick. See how Faux News would go about making sure Colmes' replacement is just as gutless as Colmes himself was:

Don't Relent

From Free Press:

Tell Obama: Put the Public Interest First

President-elect Barack Obama will soon pick a new FCC chief and White House Chief Technology Officer -- among many other key jobs. Take a stand with members of Pearl Jam, R.E.M., and organizations like SEIU, NOW, DailyKos, the Hip Hop Caucus and hundreds more. Sign our letter urging Obama to appoint leaders who will reform media and protect Internet freedom (view pdf).

Sign the letter here.

Wither The Meritocracy

It not just that dynasties are bad for hairstyles.

Dynasties are bad for democracies. too.

We're talking about the whole range of dynastization here--not just wealthy political families (think Caroline Kennedy) or rich business elites. We're talking about mainstream corporate media elites, too--think about Luke Russert, who got hired by NBC News when his father (Tim) died. And Chris Wallace of Fox News--son of Mike Wallace? Yikes.

Glenn Greenwald got us thinking about all of these issues:

Bill Clinton yesterday was forced to deny speculation that he would be appointed to replace his wife in the U.S. Senate. Leading candidates for that seat still include John F. Kennedy's daughter (Caroline), Robert Kennedy's son (RFK, Jr.), and Mario Cuomo's son (Andrew). In Illinois, a leading contender to replace Barack Obama in the Senate is Jesse Jackson's son (Jesse, Jr.).
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The Senate alone -- to say nothing of the House -- is literally filled with people whose fathers or other close relatives previously held their seat or similar high office (those links identify at least 15 current U.S. Senators -- 15 -- with immediate family members who previously occupied high elected office).
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Virtually the entire neoconservative "intelligentsia" (using that term as loosely as it can possibly be used) is one big paean to nepotistic succession -- the Kristols, the Kagans, the Podhoretzes, Lucinanne Goldberg and her boy. Upon Tim Russert's death, NBC News excitedly hired his son, Luke. Mike Wallace's son hosts Fox's Sunday show. The most influential political opinion space in the country, The New York Times Op-Ed page, is, like the Times itself, teeming with family successions and connections. Inter-marriages between and among media stars and political figures -- and lobbyists, operatives and powerful political officials -- are now more common than arranged royal marriages were among 16th Century European monarchs.
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Now, help us out here. Didn't some people decide to get on some ships and leave merry old England awhile ago--was it something to do with monarchy and nepotism, maybe?

Really, how does democracy benefit from the creation of this nepotist class--where wealth, social mobility, information, and politics are all locked away in a hermetically sealed world?

A world to which we will never be given the keys?

We Won't Do It Live, Anymore

Oh, Bill-o. We will miss you so-o.

Bill O'Reilly's radio show has been canceled. Although he is not carried on any High Country radio stations per se, he is carried on on the semi-local WJRI in Lenior, and some other station in Abingdon, VA. Perhaps some of Bill-o's High Country fans have been tuning in to these stations to get their daily dose of hate? Alas, no more.

You may recognize WJRI...it is a part of Foothills Radio Group, which in turn may wind up partnering with Curtis Media Group to purchase Aisling Broadcasting. Allegedly.

Maybe we should add a flowchart, or something.

Well, anyway...what will these stations do without their beloved Bill-o? Replace him with some 3rd or 4th string right-winger? Fill his old slot with a progressive show? Dobson?

The cancellation of O'Reilly's show means one thing for sure: that right-wing hate radio is doing just fine, thank you very much. Doing just fine. Things have not changed a bit in this country. Failure=Success.

In case you find yourself missing him already, we have a little something for you:



The Dance Version:



'Cause it's all about the children:

Weekend Video Salon: He Called It

Did you swallow their propaganda?

Somehow, it became common wisdom in the corporate media that to question the state of the economy was tantamount to being unpatriotic. So, who dared to speak truth to power? Who dared to point out that over-the-top deregulation would lead exactly to where we are as a nation today? Who risked their reputation to call things the right way?

He did: