FCC's methods leaves public in the dark

[UpInArms]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON - It's odd for an agency that has the word "communications" as its middle name, but the Federal Communications Commission routinely leaves the public in the dark about how it makes critical policy decisions.

That secrecy was on display during the recent debate over how the government should auction off the rights to billions of dollars worth of publicly owned airwaves.

For three weeks, potential bidders such as AT&T Inc. and Google Inc. and a coalition of public interest groups waged a war through the media over proposed rules, prepared under FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, that would guide the auction.

The debate advanced largely on rumor and speculation, because Martin's draft, as required by agency rules, was never made public. In fact, even when commissioners approved the auction rules at an open meeting on July 31, they still hadn't been made public.

<snip>

The auction rules experience is not unique. It is how the agency has conducted the public's business for at least a decade, some observers say. The FCC is auctioning a large swath of spectrum being made available thanks to a transition by TV station owners to digital broadcasting. Old-style analog broadcasting must cease by Feb. 18, 2009. Anyone who does not have a digital-ready television or converter by then won't be able to receive a picture.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070905/ap_on_bi_ge/fcc_secrecy?_ylt=Aokyvz3lv4ndoyy4.2.n7cub.HQA

[MatrixEscape]

1. That makes perfect sense.

The public is about being left in the dark!

It seems that, if we intend to keep on living like we do with no major changes or surprises, then living in some sort of darkness, to whatever degree, is our legacy and our fate. After all, each one of us plays a very large part in continuing and supporting the current paradigm, no matter how we complain about it. We are the force and the engines behind what goes on, and it only are total and unquestioned, docile acceptance of what life is and should be, that keeps the current machine well oiled and fueled as it moves onward.

We all tend to gravitate towards living the live we are given and then have the ignorance and audacity to call it our very own. Yet, when it comes down to the bigger picture and the larger outcomes, we are apt to decry its horrific results and deny any culpability for the glaring results.

In the larger sense, we are a species in total denial. We can't even come to the point were we will admit that the bill of goods we have been sold has become an addiction that we would rather decry and rail against, rather than to see just how far we have been duped into believing in its overall tenets. We are angry mostly because we are a species that is comfortable with change, regardless of how practical and important it might actually be. We fall into place behind the very powers who create our circumstance, and then waste our time criticizing it and bemoaning it while we spend most of our times and lives feeding and encouraging most of what it does to create our vital, global dilemma.

We have a collective, human hypocrisy at hand and we cannot send for whom the bell tolls anymore. It tolls for us!

[Mnemosyne]

2. Ignorance is bliss seems to describe at least 30%, or more, of Americans and the only

way to explain that *'s approval rating hasn't fallen into the negatives yet, other than at DU, et al. :)

"a collective, human hypocrisy" is an apt description of much of this country's mentality. We of the 'lower' classes often have little recourse other than to "fall into place behind the very powers who create our circumstance". We are trained from an early age that we need to be just "another brick in the wall" and we need to 'succeed in life'. Unfortunately too many are directed to believe 'success' is of a material nature, not of a humanitarian one.

Many here are taught from a young age that our inherent value is based on our possessions and our ability to acquire bigger and better possessions. It gives the masses a method to feel superior through consumption, no self-reflection required, ever, unless you count, "Look at Me! I own this, you don't! I am superior, you loser."

I rarely watch much network television anymore, but much of what I have seen is astonishing for what the FCC does allow during the 'family hour'.

Not sure I'm making much sense this a.m., hope I've been clear. :hi:


On edit-

Hello Matrix. Is sensiblyeclectic your site? The Fascism is Fun video is wonderful! And it is also a sad commentary on the clarity with which those in other countries view the US.

"Why shouldn't the Aussies make the same choices Americans have? Heck, at least get it out in the open and let people know just how fun and rewarding Fascism can be!"

http://www.sensiblyeclectic.com/news/index.php?/archives/5768-Fascism-IS-Fun!.html

[Arkansas Granny]

3. Which reminds me of my favorite cartoon of all time.

[Mnemosyne]

5. Frank and Ernest, the great philosophers!

Great toon, Granny!

[Orsino]

4. Mission accomplished.

The Executive Branch's entire agenda is to keep us in the dark--and poorer for it.