[Ct-nfb] Fwd: Comcast's power grab

Mon Oct 6 02:10:44 UTC 2014

Of course this does not prevent us from taking personal positions and
promulgating them in other fronts, like social media (Facebook etc.) if we
have a passion.

Unfortunately the NFB does have to pick it's battles prudently I think. It
does so not just to save time and remain focused, but to keep from
fracturing over socio-political ideology stances that would generally be
irrelevant to our cause. This means bowing out of matters that do in fact
impact the blind. It's all about precedents I suppose. Within the NFB we can
fight for paramount blindness related stuff and put grievances we might have
with one another's perspectives aside-hopefully. I don't suppose it would be
too big an issue for the list to discuss this further if the matter isn't
well understood, seeing as many of us weren't at our national convention
where the NFB's official conclusion on net neutrality was established. But
hopefully this all makes sense.

Trevor A

From: Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Nathanael T.
Wales via Ct-nfb
Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2014 6:00 PM
To: 'Hulbert'; 'NFB of Connecticut Mailing List'; 'Justin Salisbury'
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] Fwd: Comcast's power grab

Terry,

I appreciate your passion for this issue.  I also appreciate your
clarification and reasoning, and I think this is much like net neutrality,
though it isn't exactly net neutrality (at least as I understand it from
much of the coverage I've seen in the news, online, and from colleagues).
You will recall that some leaders within NFB asked us to take a position
opposing net neutrality at our National Convention, and the National
Convention voted not to.

And I strongly think that was the right decision.  I think that the
reasoning that something is a blindness issue just because so many of us are
unemployed and poor will dilute our work on what we do best.  We'll next
spend time arguing against other utility rate increases, arguing for rent
control, and the list will go on-and we'll be lost in a sea of all kinds of
advocates and wasting our time that could be better spent on other issues
that are very specific to blindness that we have expertise at such as access
to educational textbooks, proper funding of adjustment to blindness training
and college courses, and access to websites (without accessible websites the
speed or lack thereof of my Internet connection becomes fairly unimportant).

Before I want to see us jump into advacating on broader societal issues, I
really want to see strong and refined reasoning for why.  A rationale that
will prevent us from diluting our energy, taking it away from what we do
very well, and potentially have us plunge into a controversy that will have
us labeled-incorrectly-as partisan.  The NFB can certainly continue the
debate, a debate that began months ago, but if we do I'd urge us not to lose
our focus on what we do well.

Speaking of which, my wife and I recently moved, to a new congressional
district within Connecticut, and I need to register to vote here and write
my new congressman and ask him to co-sponsor our bills on minimum wage
fairness for disabled workers and access to technology used in colleges
today.

Nathanael T. Wales

From: Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Hulbert via
Ct-nfb
Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2014 5:58 PM
To: 'Justin Salisbury'; 'NFB of Connecticut Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] Fwd: Comcast's power grab

Dear Danielle and Justin,

I think that NFB should take a better look at this merger.  If the 2
companies merge it will become a monopoly and it might possibly have an
impact on the organization blind movement. While NFB constitution won't
permit NFB can't take an official opinion on the subject NFB could encourage
people to contact their senator, congressman and the FCC to inform these
officials are opposed to the merger. The merger will mean crappier service
and higher prices. The higher prices will affect blind people as 70% of us
are unemployed, underemployed or living on either Disability benefits or SSI
benefits as well. These people certainly could not afford to pay any price
that the mega-company decides to put in place. This would have an effect on
blind people. Even if the NFB can't encourage people to contact the above, I
do as an individual encourage everybody on this list to make calls. For what
it is worth, that's my opinion on the subject. 

Terry

-----Original Message-----
From: Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Justin
Salisbury via Ct-nfb
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2014 2:26 PM
To: Danielle Spruill; NFB of Connecticut Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] Fwd: Comcast's power grab

Dear Danielle,

I appreciate your passion for the net neutrality cause, and I recognize that
some may be afraid that it will limit our ability to have a voice in the
organized blind movement, but it just isn't a priority of the National
Federation of the Blind, and it really isn't a blindness issue.

I mean it when I say I appreciate you wanting to alert us to this, but we
are already aware of it and have chosen to not make it a part of our agenda.

Part of being an affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind means
that we abide by the policies of the National Federation of the Blind.

As we all know to say at the beginning of any Federation event:

I pledge to participate actively in the effort of the National Federation of
the Blind to achieve a quality, opportunity, insecurity for the blind; to
support the policies and programs of the Federation, and to abide by its
constitution.

Yours in service,

Justin Salisbury

List Moderator

Sent from the iPhone of:

Justin M. Salisbury

Graduate Student

Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness Louisiana Tech
University

Email:  <mailto:President at Alumni.ECU.edu> President at Alumni.ECU.edu

Twitter: @SalisburyJustin

p> On Oct 3, 2014, at 10:50 AM, Danielle Spruill via Ct-nfb <
<mailto:ct-nfb at nfbnet.org> ct-nfb at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> 

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------

> From: "Mary Alice Crim, FreePress.net" < <mailto:info at freepress.net>
info at freepress.net>

> Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 17:10:19 +0000

> Subject: Comcast's power grab

> To: Danielle < <mailto:dspruill87 at gmail.com> dspruill87 at gmail.com>

> 

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>                         [1]freepress.net

> 

>                       [1][IMG]

> 

>   Hi ,

> 

>   Comcast -- a known Net Neutrality violator -- has kicked its spin
machine

>   into high gear. Its goal? To sell Washington on its plan to take over
Time

>   Warner Cable.

> 

>   (Because a bigger cable company is exactly what we need, right?)

> 

>   This deal would combine the two largest cable companies into one giant

>   gatekeeper that would control our access to the Internet. And while

>   Comcast may pretend to support Net Neutrality, it's required to abide by

>   it only until 2018.

> 

>   [2]But you can put a stop to Comcast's never-ending quest for dominance:

>   Tell the FCC to reject the deal.

> 

>   If the merger goes through, we'll be stuck paying higher prices for the

>   same sluggish speeds and pathetic customer service. Comcast will be able

>   to do whatever it wants with our connections to the Internet. And this
is

>   a company that has shown time and again that it wants to control what we

>   see and do online.

> 

>   [3]Nobody wants their cable company to get even bigger. Speak out today.

> 

>   Stopping Comcast's power grab is serious business. We have to combat the

>   millions of dollars the company is shelling out to inundate Washington

>   with hundreds of lobbyists and misleading advertisements.

> 

>   [4]Tell the FCC to stop this deal.

> 

>   There is simply no good reason that Comcast -- or any other company --

>   should be allowed to mess with our Internet.

> 

>   Thanks for all that you do--

> 

>   Mary Alice, Candace, Amy and the rest of the Free Press team

>   [5]freepress.net

> 

>   P.S. Want to do more? After you send the FCC a message, [6]pick up the

>   phone and tell Chairman Wheeler exactly what you think.

> 

>   P.P.S. [7]Donate today to super-charge our campaign to stop Comcast.

>   Generous donors will match every dollar we raise up to $100,000. Thank

>   you!

> 

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