I was going to thank the FCC for letting me share my views on this topic, when I realized that our Founding Fathers are really the ones to be thanked. We owe them thanks because the First Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits the “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

To dilute the number and diversity of media is an experiment that places America at great risk of losing one of its most fundamental freedoms – the freedom of speech.

The ultimate result of the reduction of media is the loss of freedom of speech. This was brought home to me most strikingly when I spent a summer living in Spain at a time, when it was still under the control of the Dictator Francisco Franco. Freedom of speech was not even a luxury at that time and place – it was a concept entirely unacceptable, untolerated, and impermissable under any circumstances.

One of the members of the family with whom I lived greatly disliked Franco and was disposed to protest bitterly against him. His oratory always frightened his family greatly because they knew that if it was heard and reported, all of them could be imprisoned. As we lived in public housing with thin walls, this was a real danger.

Consequently, whenever he began to rail against the government in their own home, they forced him into a clothes closet. Dissent could only take place in a tiny room, in the dark and surrounded by garments, not other humans. I do not want to live like that ever again, and I am afraid that media consolidation is herding us in that direction.

What did I learn from this true story?

If media ownership laws are changed to allow even more consolidation, a few immensely rich businesses will control what is said, and democracy will suffer. Issues in which the rich have viewpoints different from the poor will not be covered fairly or eventually at all, because it will not be in their financial interests to do so. Severe consequences for democracy will be the result, and closets will once again become the only place for protest. People own the airwaves, and democracy requires that the greatest possible variety of opinion should be brought to the attention of the people so that they may pass judgment. Let us ensure that it happens. No closeted dissent in our country.

Face it dude, your organization is a fraud, you can’t justify Ammori’s flip-flop and whole discussion embarrasses you. I understand that everybody has to make a living, but is this the best you can do?

Think of your mother and all the sacrifices she made to raise you. Is this how you pay her back?

RBennett: You’re putting words in my mouth [Only your own]

TKarr: Prove that Soros determines our position on Net Neutrality.

RBennett: You’re not grassroots. You’re a front for rich people [Tell that to the 1.5 million people who took action via SavetheInternet.com.]

Tkarr: Produce evidence that the FCC stacked panels in Boston.

RBennett: [cue the sound of crickets]

So. Now that you have shown us that you can’t substantiate any of your prior claims, you have moved on to a new round of bogus conjecture.

RBennett: Free Press dodges the content of the hearings. [Apparently, you haven’t read our multiple filings on the issue, beginning with the petitions and complaint and lately including a 167-page reply to Comcast’s comments]

RBennett: Ammori flip flopped [Really? When? Was he laughed at by most everyone on his panel? Wait, that was you.]

And you’ve also continued to dodge any discussion of the CONTENT of the hearings, in which all the witnesses, including your own paid representatives, spoke against the FP position that all packets are equal and there can be no prioritization. So this is what happened at Berkman: your ideas about Internet management were examined by experts and found wanting.

So you change the subject to your conspiracy theories.

It’s no secret that Kevin Martin has a hate on for cable companies, and is very close to the telcos. In this matter, you and Martin happen to be aligned. Cable has 60% of the broadband Internet access accounts in America, and the success of that technology is a put-down to Free Press because it’s never been regulated as a Title II common carrier telecom service. Bummer.

But don’t let me have the last word, I don’t want it. Tell me how you’re ever going to recover from the whipping your “don’t prioritize anything” agenda took at Berkman, and why Ammori had to flip-flop. That’s what I came here to find out, so don’t disappoint me with this silly smoke screen of yours.

Break precedent and tell the truth.

Richard, you seem like the type of fellow who is obsessed with having the final word in a debate.

I’ll give you that opportunity.

You claim that you were hissed and booed and treated rudely by Free Press and our followers at the FCC hearing. In your own words, these hecklers “tried to stifle [your] free speech.” And yet you can’t produce a shred of evidence to that end.

1. Produce the evidence that you were heckled, hissed and booed at by Free Press during the Boston event. I want the audio.

You claim that Free Press is simply following some agenda set in place by George Soros. And yet all you can do is produce a story that says we receive funding in part from his Open Society Institute — along with money from several other unaffiliated foundations and individuals.

2. Prove that Soros determines our position on Net Neutrality.

You claim that Free Press colluded with the FCC Chairman to stack the panel against you.

3. Produce your evidence that this happened, that we worked together with the FCC to stack panels in Boston.

Until you can prove these claims, you might want to check your rhetoric at the door.

As for EParno, I see why he/she found you worthy of sarcasm. You make claims that simply can’t be substantiated and then accuse others of smearing you when they call your bluff.

So here’s your chance. I’ll give you the last word. Prove yourself.

Any questions?

The heckling wasn’t so audible on the webcast due to the location of the mikes, but you’ll note David Clark commented on bricks from the back of the room, or words to that effect. He wasn’t talking about seat-warmers. There was a raucous tone during the second panel, which any honest person who was there can describe for you.

And no, I’m not threatening you, I’m advising you to behave yourself, which shouldn’t even have to be said.

Curious. I simply volleyed your own hysterical claims (hissing and booing, Soros conspiracy, etc. ) back at you and you label me a fool.

Seems like you can’t even agree with yourself.

EParno, you don’t have to act a fool simply because bukowski is doing so; remember, he keeps his identity secret so as not to embarrass his real life persona. You seem to be using a name that might be traced by a potential employer someday, so you might want to keep your histrionics to a minimum.

It’s being led by the FCC, George Soros and Free Press. Before the Boston hearing, they all got together at a secret location to scheme about ways to undermine your brilliance.

They hired people and planted them in the audience to hiss and boo every time you opened your mouth — and especially while you were delivering your earth shattering Deadwood analogy. (That chorus of hisses and boos really happened even though you can’t hear it on the audio file. Really it did.)

It’s not your fault that no one took you seriously. Really, your testimony was a stroke of genius.

The FCC-Soros-Free Press triumvirate was beaming its high-frequency hypno-gun at panelists like Clark to win him and others over to their dastardly plan. Panelists laughed at you not because of anything you said but because Soros had them under full mind control.

Good thing you were wearing your tin-foil hat. Soros would have gotten to you with his Net Neutrality ray as well.

And your response about pinging is laughable. Please do tell how knowing the response times of hosts can somehow be used in a comprehensive way to inform the state of network congestion across all last mile networks in the U.S.

Dude, face it, your ideas have lost. The People want an open Internet.

You can fantasize about being Adelstein’s best buddy, that you are so important he asked you the last question, but the truth is you are merely a sideshow, and were only at Berkman b/c Comcast was too embarrassed to put up their own engineers.