My View

Some random thoughts from a warped and fevered mind...

I was privileged this past Tuesday to spend some time with the men of the Bastogne Brigade, 1st Combat Division, at Ft. Campbell. These young men are consummate professionals and their training is absolutely the best. They are eager and ready to stand in harm's way on our behalf. The air assets of this division are being deployed this coming week to Afghanistan, and these men are ready to go. We should be grateful for each of these men and women who are ready to defend our freedoms. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

The definitive cause of Michael Jackson's death has been determined. It was a defective Billy gene.

There is an old Arab proverb that says "Once the camel's nose is under the tent, he is soon inside". The "public option" for nationalized health care is now back in the discussion. Despite all claims that this will not lead to other insurance companies vacating the health care market, I would remain skeptical. Once the federal government enters any market, that market immediately becomes skewed as market forces of cost and profit are altered. Pay attention to this debate, as it will impact all of us.

Wouldn't it be delicious irony to have the workers at a bowling alley go on strike?

Net neutrality. You may be hearing more of this phrase and concept in the months to come. Simply put, it means that internet service providers cannot discriminate against the content that is carried on their networks. On the surface, this sounds reasonable. Look below the surface. A carrier, such as AT&T for instance, must give the same access to content that hogs bandwidth, such as movie downloads, as it does an e-mail between friends. This means that the proprietary service of a carrier has no priority over any other service. If you are paying tremendous amounts of money to build YOUR network, shouldn't you have a right to prioritize the delivery of your service? The fact is that the U.S. broadband system lags behind other countries, and this rule will stymie efforts to upgrade and build out the system. This is a complicated issue that bears watching.

No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationery.

And that, my friends, is my view.