Net Neutrality and the Election

From the "correlation does not equal causation" files, we get L. Gordon Crovitz in the Wall Street Journal:

"As a reminder of unpredictability in politics, consider what happened when the Progressive Change Campaign Committee last month announced that 95 candidates for Congress had signed a pledge to support 'net neutrality.' The candidates promised: 'In Congress, I'll fight to protect Net Neutrality for the entire Internet—wired and wireless—and make sure big corporations aren't allowed to take control of free speech online.'

Last week all 95 candidates lost. Opponents of net neutrality chortled, and the advocacy group retreated to the argument that regulation of the Internet wasn't a big issue in the election.

The broader lesson may be that people fear government regulation of what has been a free and open Internet more than they fear what any other institution might do to the Web..."

An even broader lesson might be that almost nobody was thinking about net neutrality when they entered the voting booth last week. Try as I might, I can't find an exit poll where the issue ranked among voters' top concerns last week. And though I favor net neutrality, broadly, it wasn't even really on my mind when I went to vote.

But no mind. It's pretty easy to make election results say what you want them to say -- even if the election results were silent on the issue. At the very least, opponents of net neutrality legislation can take comfort that voters aren't paying enough attention to punish them if they let corporations have their way on the web.

Aren't Tasers Supposed To Be Non-lethal?

Third person in the region to die from Tasering in the last couple of months:

"MOUNT JOY, Pa. - Authorities in central Pennsylvania say an autopsy is planned Monday on the body of a man who died over the weekend after being subdued by police using a stun gun.

State police say officers in Mount Joy were called to a home shortly before 4 a.m. Saturday by a man who said he was being harassed. Police say 61-year-old Robert Neill 'became combative and aggressive,' and officers used stun guns after repeated attempts to calm him failed and he 'moved aggressively' toward an officer."

South Street Bridge Reopens: The Pictures

On Nov. 6, 2010, the South Street Bridge in Philadelphia was reopened after a two-year closure to rebuild the structure. Center City and West Philly are linked again -- and the community celebrated.

Abraham Lincoln's Anniversary

John Miller at The Corner:

"Exactly 150 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln was elected president. His Republican ticket received only about 40 percent of the popular vote but it did carry an electoral-college majority."

Starting a grand Republican tradition!

(I kid, I kid.)

Hire Pelosi

The soon-to-be-former speaker is going to run for minority leader, and it doesn't seem a bad thing to me, even -- maybe especially -- in light of this:

"Republicans cheered the move, which is likely to mean that Ms. Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, will continue as leaders in their respective chambers despite the party’s midterm election losses."

See, and the Harry Reid example is instructive. His name drips with contempt from the lips of conservative activists -- but Reid is pretty middle-of-the-road for a Democratic leader. Because he's a Democratic leader, he's become polarizing. Same for Pelosi, only she jumps ahead of Reid in the demonized sweepstakes because she's from San Francisco and thus makes good copy for Republicans.

But man, she's been effective. I don't expect that to change with her in the minority. It might be good for Democrats to have a leader who is practiced -- and good -- at throwing elbows at the helm. Keep her around, I say.

Obama Should Hold Steady on Bush Tax Cuts

This seems right to me:

"In his weekly address Saturday, Obama said that Democrats and Republicans not only agree on middle-class tax cuts but the need to rein in spending, and used this to try to drive his position on the tax cuts.

'At a time when we are going to ask folks across the board to make such difficult sacrifices, I don’t see how we can afford to borrow an additional $700 billion from other countries to make all the Bush tax cuts permanent, even for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans,' the president said. 'We’d be digging ourselves into an even deeper fiscal hole and passing the burden on to our children.'"

This seems worth fighting for. The tax cuts are better targeted at the middle class than the rich, even in a down economy, because the middle class will spend the money, doing their part to at least keep growth from bottoming out entirely. Couples making more than $250,000 -- yes, that's rich -- are more likely to save the extra dough. That's a virtue, but it's not the virtue their country needs right now.

And as politics: If Republicans want to hold a tax cut for the middle class hostage to a tax cut for the rich, let 'em. I'm certain voters will be paying attention.

Today in Philly Police Corruption

Inky:

"A high-ranking Philadelphia police officer seen as one of the department's rising stars was arrested Friday on federal charges of extortion and bribery, bringing a stunning end to the career of an ambitious 25-year veteran.

The accusations against 47-year-old Inspector Daniel Castro, detailed in an indictment unsealed Friday, stem from a real estate deal that failed, causing Castro to lose a $90,000 investment. He is accused of asking someone to hire an enforcer to use threats of violence to recoup the money."