Kill the COPE Bill

Kill the COPE Bill
By Dawn Holian
Posted on Mon Apr 24, 2006 at 01:26:21 PM EST

On Wednesday, the House Commerce Committee will vote on the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act ("COPE"). This absurdly-named bill only 'promotes' and 'enhances' opportunities for the cable, phone and media interests that have been been pushing Congress for new special benefits.

Your calls to members of the House Commerce Committee are needed before the vote on Wednesday afternoon. You can find a list of Commerce members here, or the name of your Representative here. Please urge your member of Congress to vote NO on COPE.

The COPE bill would:


Place control of the Internet in the hands of few powerful corporations;
Vastly increase special interest monopoly power;
End consumer protections against abuses by cable companies;
Allow cable and phone companies to raise the prices in poor neighborhoods, while giving special deals to the affluent;
Expand the "digital divide" that puts the poor, racial and ethnic minorities and rural families at a disadvantage; and
Stifle innovation and economic growth, because it will be too costly for any new Googles or eBays to draw customers to their websites.

Please make a call today, and then let us know how it went by leaving a comment below. Thanks.
http://www.commonblog.com/story/2006/4/24/132621/485

and senators

This is critical

The only amendment that is anything but CYA is Markey's.

If the person who answers the phone in your congress person's office or senator's office does not know about this bill, then have the information from the commonblog site on your screen when you call.

Folks, this is critical and is not a partisan issue. Both Republicans and Democrats should be united on this one.