H1N1 Update, Net Neutrality and the FCC, Joe Lieberman needs consequences, and Scozzafava endorses Democrat Owens in NY 23

Quick Hits for November 1, 2009

* It isn't news that Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava pulled out of the 23rd District race in New York, but it is news to see that she has endorsed Democratic candidate Bill Owens in the race instead of the far right conservative Douglas Hoffman citing a need for bipartisan solutions instead of partisanship. For his part, Hoffman has called Scozzafava a "traitor" for endorsing Owens, the Democratic nominee and for undermining the Republican Party. Maybe Hoffman should have looked in the mirror for running as an independent undermining the Republican nominee before lobbying "loyalty" grenades at any other Republican. This is just one more sign of the internal fight that may help Democrats nationally.

* Senator Joe Lieberman has decided to filibuster with the Republicans for any health care reform and recently said the current millions without health care is preferable to having a public option on Sunday morning talk shows, as well as announcing he would campaign for Republicans in 2010. It is time to tell Joe that his actions have consequences and remove his chairmanship. No Republican would ever have a chairmanship with actions like these. None. It is time for Harry Reid to play hardball with Joe and give him a choice: act with Democrats if you are going to caucus with us, or act against Democrats and lose your chairmanship. Democrats have won the majority and shouldn't be strategically stupid by putting chairs in place that won't support their agenda. Sign the petition to tell Harry Reid to give Joe the ultimatum.

* Some members of Congress have told the FCC Chairman to oppose Net Neutrality, the thing that maintains open access across the internet for us all. Corporations would love to maintain control over small areas that keep us as segments of the internet to gain advertising revenues to access "their" people, and to charge us extra for access to the "full internet." Don't let them block our internet and interfere with our ability to access information that may be vital to maintaining our liberty. Send the FCC Chairman a letter telling him to stand up for Net Neutrality today!

* H1N1 is a growing concern for people around the nation. I have started to see people being told to stay home from work or school if they have a fever of as low as 100 degrees or they show any signs of the flu. I am watching people starting to wear masks, use more hand sanitizer, wash hands continuously, and more. The DailyKos has a status report that is fairly well written and worth looking at. While H1N1 has largely targeted children, it may start to indicate just how fast a virus can move through our society and may give us a good time to start looking at more use of technology to make us safer from pandemics in the future. It might be time to work on bringing telemedicine into our homes, heck, I have heard of doctors even giving masks in the waiting room. It may also help push us towards telecommuting, whereby many jobs that don't require us to be at work to do them may be done at home via computer connection to the business network. H1N1 is a growing concern, and is proving to be brutal in its targeting of our children. How long before it starts to target the rest of us?