This site emerged from and is dedicated to a long-cherished form of participatory democracy: Free Speech! with an emphasis on those whose voices aren't typically heard and are clearly not valued in the mainstream media and most especially, in the corporate and power-wielding hallways throughout the global economy, particularly in the U.S.A.

Our experiences are based on Sprint's particularly worthless, monopolistic, substandard services which results in WAY overpriced, p^ss-poor local phone service, broadband and dial-up connections, particularly in Florida where some of our family lives and we visit on a regular basis (not because we want to, we can guarantee that).

We are especially disgusted that Sprint has abandoned and failed miserably to live up to their promises to develop affordable broadband, high-speed internet infrastructure and connections in rural areas and smaller towns and cities. Even where they list on their website that DSL is available, it ain't necessarily so.

This site will begin as a place that will primarily focus on public, citizen complaints about what a crappy, unresponsive, anti-consumer corporation Sprint is, yet it will not necessarily be limited to sharing experiences only about Sprint land lines. You may also post about their cell-phone, internet and other services too.

This site is also about critiquing the status quo and the power structure (and their gate-keepers) which hoards and steals wealth, exploits workers and denies the benefits of exorbitant corporate/business profits to the people who create the work, services and products which produce that very wealth and profits for the power holders and wealth-holders: i.e., the approximately 10% of the US population which control more than 80% of the wealth. It's about speaking truth to power and creating actions which can take back some of these benefits and profits for workers and others who are currently disenfranchised.

Wherever and whenever possible: BOYCOTT SPRINT!

As soon as one of us figures out how/where to find a bulletin board* or user comments forum or blog-type program which is also mac-friendly, we will develop this site so that members of the public can register and post their gripes, complaints, experiences and strategies about Sprint and possibly other mega-corporations which couldn't care less about consumers, except for how to rip us off.

Important: It will not be a place for selling/promoting other commercial products or for using coarseness and profanity although you can probably figure out ways to use creative symbols/typing to get your point across, like "Sprint scr&#s consumers!".

It will provide a forum to share your experiences and outrage/disgust with this overpriced monopoly and about your local state legislators and Public Utility Commissioners who allow so-called 'pro-business' interests to outweigh consumer interests and protections. There can be a balance, but anytime big business is expected to be accountable or responsible, they act like victims instead of attempting to truly be responsible corporate citizens. They feel perfectly justified in their endless pursuit of profits and greed. Other examples: Enron, of course, and Halliburton.

Of course, this also means that the right-wing dominated legislature of states particularly in places like Florida are also to blame, therefore relevant critiques and complaints about those jerks and such pro-corporation, anti-consumer/anti-citizen sell-outs will also be fair game.

Why is it that people with brains, good, decent, hard-working people throughout this country are so easily won over by the illogical, emotional, fear-based, shrieking and victimhood of superficial 'values rhetoric' instead of realizing what's in our own economic and health-related best interests? Perhaps it is easier to fall for simplistic, black and white rhetoric than spend time figuring out how the people with power continue to screw us and widen the gap between the haves and have-nots.

PS: Not all christians or people of faith buy into the popular, current right-wing version as offered by those hypocrites who dominate the political discourse and the media airwaves.

One of us used to be one of those very minions who bought the mindless, anti-intellectual, pablum-values stuff until taking a good hard look at REALITY! and at who really benefits from those viewpoints and behaviors. It wasn't anyone we knew, and it sure isn't other regular, basic, hard-working, middle-class and working-class people, certainly not people in poverty.

After all, it's easier to take a 'position' for an abstract value than to take action on a concrete issue which also has to do with 'values' that really affect the quality of our daily life like health care, affordable housing, high quality child care and education, and livable wages with decent benefits.

If your wages and health care and quality of life are superior and you're totally satisfied with them for yourself, your family and friends, your community, then this site may not be for you. And if you're one of those who thinks arguing about gay marriage is more important than having decent wages and basic health care, then this forum or site may not be for you.

However, maybe, just maybe, you can learn a few things by reading others' experiences and then compare them to yours for a change. Open your eyes and your mind! Stop buying the Big Lies of the Right-wing and so-called conservatives. They only want to exploit the minds and pocketbooks of American citizens, not to improve our daily lives except to make profits and gain power.

Read a few books by people like Kevin Phillips if you don't believe me. He once was a true-believer of the Republican party — his objective research of the impact of the Reagan era on middle America changed all that.

There are several new books which further document and expose the lies, such as What's the Matter with Kansas by Thomas Frank. More on these books later.

America's Internet Disconnect

By Michael J. Copps
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Washington Post

America's record in expanding broadband communication is so poor that it should be viewed as an outrage by every consumer and businessperson in the country. Too few of us have broadband connections, and those who do pay too much for service that is too slow. It's hurting our economy, and things are only going to get worse if we don't do something about it.

"Many households are hostage to a single broadband provider, and nearly one-tenth have no broadband provider at all.

For businesses, it's just as bad. The telecom merger spree has left many office buildings with a single provider -- leading to annual estimated overcharges of $8 billion. "

The United States is 15th in the world in broadband penetration, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). ....more

Ask your elected officials, greedy corporate hucksters, and President Bush:

Where’s that broadband access we were promised?

and: Why are utility, communications services taxes so high?

The head of Teletruth, a consumer advocacy group, writes that in spite of huge payments and other financial incentives to the country’s monopolistic telecommunication giants, the United States is 16th in broadband Internet technology and falling. How did things go wrong in your state? ... more

YET Another Reason SPRINT (EMBARQ) SUCKS, really SUcKS BIG TIME! ...

Sprint Under Fire In Stolen Baby, Car Hijacking Case

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif.

(CBS) Sprint is taking heat amid accusations that it refused to help a California couple find an infant left in the family SUV that was stolen with the baby still in it.

As The Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman reports, 11-month-old Wade Cochran was in a car seat in the vehicle when it was snatched from the driveway of his Riverside County home.

"I was just so frantic to get our son back," Wade's mother, Stephanie Cochran, told Kauffman. "That's all I cared about. I was like, take whatever you want, just give me back my baby."

FACT: The United States is ranked 16th worldwide in broadband services.

Save the Internet!

Many internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment and the key to Internet Freedom.

Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing websites for you based on which site pays AT&T more. So Amazon doesn't have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer.

Many, may members of Congress (their family members and staff) take campaign contributions and other forms of pay-off from these companies, and they don't think the public, consumers, citizens or YOU care about or are paying attention to this issue. Let's show them we care, that we're mad as hell, we're sick and tired of the richest getting obscenely richer while getting the best of everything and leaving Walmart to the rest of us -- please sign this petition today and help spread the word.

ASK This! > Telecoms, cable and the ‘Net neutrality’ fight

From DSL Reports & TechDirt:

FCC Chief: Doing Nothing is the New Black
Won't act on merger fears, net-neutrality, or wiretapping worries

Those looking for the FCC to impose net-neutrality or any other guidelines on Comcast, Time Warner, or AT&T as those companies seek approval to significantly increase their footprint shouldn't hold their breath, judging from comments by FCC chief Kevin Martin (MarketWatch). Martin seems to employ rhetoric that confuses the net-neutrality discussion with the right of incumbents to offer faster or slower speed tiers:

"Consumers need to be able to access all the content that's available over the Internet without being impeded by the access provider," Martin said. "But at the same time, we recognized that the people that are deploying these networks may offer differentiated speeds and differentiated products to the consumer. And if you offer different tiers of speeds, a consumer chooses the lowest tier, and he wants to access content that would require higher speeds than he has purchased, he's not being blocked from access. He just hasn't purchased the speed that's necessary."

We're not sure when anyone has ever suggested that incumbents should not be allowed to offer differentiated speed tiers. The folks at Techdirt are particularly unimpressed with Martin's latest commentary, and particularly his "regulation is evil" think tank mantra:

"Of course, all of this is double-speak. Martin loves regulation when it's politically useful, his idea of a level playing field means one that's slanted towards telcos and his idea of competition is a duopoly. He also remarked that the industry needs to deliver "more innovation" to consumers. Perhaps he should kick things off with some new thinking instead of rehashing these tired -- and ultimately ineffective -- ideas."

Google President Pushes for Net-Neutrality: Create 'fast lanes,' you create slow lanes ...

More info here.

Craigslist Founder Calls for Net Neutrality

Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, and Mike McCurry, one time Clinton press secretary now turned PR man for AT&T, debate net-neutrality and the optimal nature of broadband networks over at the Wall Street Journal. Newmark at one point picks on McCurry for "cleverly using Colbertian "truthiness."

"Even Mike's clients have confessed that they intend to discriminate. They consistently forget who owns the airwaves and public rights of way on which they've built their fortunes. They frequently break their commitments."

Web Inventor Calls for Net-Neutrality
'In Europe, Net neutrality is the rule'

The inventor of the web, Tim Berners-Lee, today condemned moves by U.S. broadband providers to control content on their networks, reports CNET.

Net neutrality is the concept that all Internet content should be treated equally by broadband providers without any kind of discrimination [based on ability to pay]. It has become a hot political topic this year, especially in the U.S., amid fears that telephone companies may start blocking some Web sites or charge users extra to access them.

Companies such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have been lobbying U.S. politicians to introduce laws that would make Net neutrality mandatory. These moves have been opposed by broadband providers and some hardware manufacturers [corporate greedsters who always put profits before people].

Berners-Lee characterized the issue as a U.S.-only problem at present. "In Europe, Net neutrality is the rule," he said.

Elected Officials Act Like Cowards (again), Defer Decision Favoring Consumers, Instead Give Behind the Scenes Promises of Support to Corporations, Lobbyists, Power Holders and others who continue to bribe, enrich Senators, White House, Congress

In a dramatic tie vote Wednesday, a U.S. Senate committee rejected an amendment that would have preserved the status quo of equal pricing for all Internet traffic, an issue known as network neutrality.

"Average citizens are just starting to break through the misinformation and lies being peddled by the big phone and cable companies who want to erect tollbooths on the Internet,'' said Ben Scott, policy director for the nonprofit Free Press.

"This is going to be a long, drawn out debate," Tom Conrad, chief technology officer for Pandora, an Oakland startup said, "and the end of the story hasn't been written.''

SF Chronicle story here.

See the updated Embarq (Sprint) privacy policy and whether your privacy is really protected.

Q: Why are so many* PC WinDUHs & Windoze users exactly like Nut-Wing Fundamentalists, Extremist Conservatives & the Republicans?

Click Here for the Answer.

other links we like:

David Corn

America Blog

Buzzzed Blog

AngryBlackBitch

Yahoo Suks

Florida Sucks

DSLReports.com

Politics | Culture | Free Society
Web Censorship | News

A: Because they own, monopolize and control practically everything everywhere but they still see themselves as downtrodden 'victims' who are further entitled to whine, bitch, moan, complain about everything while extending the reach and extent of their control, wealth, greed and privilege. Poor babies. They're all so pathetic (not to mention such literal, concrete thinkers).

for more proof see these pitiful narcissistic republican - conservative winduhs examples here and here.

*MANY, not all. Don't get yer undies in a twist if this does not describe you, the prototype thoughtful, intellectual, progressive PC user.