This just hit my in-box:

Dear SavetheInternet.com Member,

The fight for Internet Freedom took a major step in the right direction yesterday.

A bipartisan majority on the House Judiciary Committee passed the “Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act” — a good bill that would protect Network Neutrality and prohibit large phone and cable companies from turning the Internet into their private domain.

Yesterday’s vote is a milestone in our campaign. It would have been unthinkable just four weeks ago — when we lost a vote on Net Neutrality in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

In the weeks since that first vote, we have ignited a prairie fire across America. And Washington is beginning to feel the heat:

● More than 700 groups from all 50 states are now a part of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition - a diverse list that includes MoveOn.org, the Christian Coalition, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Consumers Union and the American Library Association.

● A-list musicians such as REM, Moby, The Roots and the Dixie Chicks have joined the coalition with many more to be announced soon.

● Major U.S. newspapers — including the San Jose Mercury News, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times and Houston Chronicle — have written editorials supporting our position.

● More than 5,000 bloggers have linked to the SavetheInternet.com Web site and blog — urging their readers to take action on this issue.

● And yesterday, the Coalition’s petition drive surpassed 750,000 signatures.

With little money and through the efforts of many, we have turned momentum against a handful of phone and cable giants that are spending untold millions of dollars to squash Internet freedom.

Through their high-priced lobbyists, slick ad campaigns and fake grassroots groups, companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are trying to drown out genuine grassroots and consumer advocacy. Yesterday’s vote proves, however, that our voices are being heard. But we’re still far from saving Net Neutrality.

The full House will take up the bipartisan Judiciary bill in June. The Senate is also considering legislation that currently fails to protect Net Neutrality, though a bipartisan group of Senators are lining up behind an excellent bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota).

We need to continue to mobilize our resources, engage the public and put Congress on notice. I’ve added some links below to new information about the campaign. I’ll be soon sharing some new ideas as we proceed. I welcome your feedback.

But for now, take a moment to savor this win.

Thank you,

Timothy Karr
Free Press Campaign Director
SavetheInternet.com Coalition
tkarr@freepress.net

1. For regular updates on the campaign, read the SavetheInternet.com blog: www.savetheinternet.com/blog

2. Read our new report debunking the telco propaganda: Why Consumers Demand Internet Freedom (PDF).

3. Also yesterday, Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott testified before the Senate Commerce Committee on behalf of the coalition. Read his statement (DOC).

4. Check out the pro-Net Neutrality ad sponsored by MoveOn and the Christian Coalition: http://cdn.moveon.org/content/pdfs/MoveOnChristianCoalition.pdf

An article in yesterday’s West Roxbury & Roslindale Transcript.

CORRECTION: As JUNE 6TH approaches, and we talk to organizations and public officials who have expressed interest in the idea of a rally, we’ve decided the best time for it is around 4 PM, BEFORE, not after, the MBTA HEARING at the BPL.

Please note that the rally and the boycott are not connected. You can certainly boycott if you wish, but we’d like to see a good turn-out at the rally regardless of who decides to boycott the T for a day. We’re trying to line up some speakers for the rally (one of our favorite State Senators, Jarrett Barrios, has said he’ll be there, if his schedule permits), and we’ve got every reason to believe local media will cover the event.

There will be folks in Copley Square ALL DAY (from 8 to 8) handing out materials on the fare hike, as well as easy-to-use postcards to send to legislators expressing the urgent need to address the funding issue.

If you are interested in stopping by and pitching in in any way, contact me at mmennonno@yahoo.com and let me know. I am still up for a brief beer-soaked organizing binge on Thursday, June 1st, but if you want to join me you need to RSVP ASAP.

Hmm. I got a little dressing down from one of my neighbors on the subject of Meaney Park.

I want to be clear: I love my little neighborhood in Dot. It’s very mixed and we all get along (although I did hear gunshots last night). And, I do get out and talk to my neighbors, by the way. I am neighborly with them, as they are with me. We have a very neighborly little neighborhood.

I’m not really sure what Owen (not Meany) is getting at. We know our neighbors and talk to them. We maintain this property, and take pride in our little one-way street. The triple decker is in tip-top condition. We keep the lawn and the hedge trimmed. We routinely clean up litter off the sidewalk and street, all up and down the street. We initiated tree-planting on our street. So whatever you’re getting at, you’re making assumptions that are just off-base.

Our aesthetic sensibilities are probably at odds, Owen. Because the park is sad, as the pictures below will testify (and I have more photographic proof I am willing to produce), and saying it’s not sad doesn’t change the fact that it is, and doesn’t do it any service either, it just makes the situation sadder.

Here are some scenes from Meaney Park:

I went out and took these pictures this morning. While the neighborhood gets an A for effort for its sad attempts to spruce up the park with painted placards affixed to the fences, this low-cost “rehabilitation” took place years ago. As you can see, now the paint is all peeling, the benches are broken, the weeds are overgrown, and the play equipment is outdated and uncared for.

You know, you don’t fix things by ignoring the problem, or by blaming the messenger. I don’t have any agenda except to call ‘em as I see ‘em. I’ve talked up Dorchester in my blog, and praised my neighbors for their conscientious rubbish disposal. But I’m not going to lie about Meaney Park. It may be used, but it isn’t loved. And that’s sad.

You want to prove me wrong? Instead of pretending it’s not a sadly neglected little parcel, organize a clean-up. heck, organize regular clean-ups. Do more than just talk to your neighbors, Owen, get out with them and maintain that little much-loved parcel. Saying “I don’t think it’s all that sad, except for the occasional drunk or junkie” and then contrasting it with the Common after midnight? Somehow I’m still not convinced that’s not sad.

Let me share a story with you. I was walking through the Common one day recently, and there was a young woman–a teacher or a social worker, I guess–with a group of kids, all around the ages of seven or eight, probably. They were using one of the ball fields there.

The teacher lobbed a ball at the kid in the batter’s box and he hit it, but it was way foul. Several feet to the left of the third base line. Still she screamed and clapped and encouraged the boy to “Run! Run!!”

But there is more to playing ball than just hitting the ball. And while it’s good to make contact, for the “coach” to pretend that a foul ball and a fair ball are the same does no service to the kids. If it’s batting practice, that’s one thing, but if you’ve got the players arrayed in the field, then it’s time to play by the rules of the game.

It was sad, because you could see that she wanted to boost the kids’ self-esteem, but she was setting the bar too low. Not only that. It becomes quickly patronizing.

My point is, Meaney Park is only a nice park by these patronizingly low-expectation standards. You don’t make a park beautiful by neglecting it and then pretending it’s beautiful. Let’s get back to reality-based politics, people. You can’t fix it until you admit it’s broken. And don’t blame the messenger.

And thank you, Charles Swift, for the background and the link–I was looking for information yesterday, but couldn’t find anything. It makes it even sadder to me, that this is a real piece of history that’s being neglected by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. I say it’s time to start writing letters and making phone calls.