This pisses me off big time because I’m with T-Mobile and I hate AT&T. AT&T and Verizon cooperated with Bush’s illegal requests for customer information. Besides that, AT&T has horrible customer service. The company has really gone downhill over the last 20 years.

The opposition to net neutrality alone is enough reason to hate AT&T.

FYI: It’s “Signorile”

Here in West Virgina, we were recently treated to an op-ed in on of the big papers supporting the merger, from the Farm Bureau. I was picturing Mr Ziffle taking time during his hay mowing to wipe the sweat from his brow and check his email and Twitter on his iPhone.

The Farm Bureau is all in favor or helping our rural residents get access to wireless internet. Actually most of them would be happy to get city water and basic cable.

As a once and possibly future admin, this is the executive equivalent of the office lightfinger blaming the janitor for their thievery. Be a fricken’ man.

Zounds; how forthright of him. And how kind of GLADD to do AT&T the favor of accepting their pieces of silver. Cheap investment it looks like.

Gadzooks. A whole new turn on sock puppetry.

thanks, fixed

Well, look at GLAAD’s Board Members and you will find Troup B. Coronado, Esq.

Troup Coronado is the sole proprietor of Troup Consulting Group, Inc. From 2008 to 2010, he served as AT&T’s Vice President, External Affairs Los Angeles. In this position, he was responsible for external, governmental, and charitable affairs in the cities of Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Malibu, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood, California. He was also the companys lead executive in managing relationships with national LGBT organizations. In March 2007, Troup Coronado was appointed by AT&T as Executive Director of Constituency Relations based in San Francisco. He was responsible for managing AT&Ts external statewide relationships with the Hispanic, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT), Native American, Small Business, and Consumer Education communities. He was also responsible for managing AT&Ts Californias employee networking groups. Troup joined AT&T in January 2007 as Senior Director, Federal Relations in their Washington government affairs office. In this position, he was one of the company’s principal representatives to the House Members of Congress.

emphasis added

So….

The other thing I find irritating is that GLAAD can afford to return that donation, and make an independent statement.

The FCC just sent letters to the big carriers and the little ones too, MetroPCS, Cricket, asking them about their backhaul, data and roaming arrangements to determine if the new scenario leaves only a backhaul market divided between AT&T and Verizon.

Duh.

Prices are going to go up amongst ALL the carriers when this merger is complete, and GLAAD should vigorously oppose since GLBT folks are generally poorer and less employed than median America.

Makes me fume.

Actually:

GLBT persons are more educated and therefore more fully employed (based on their numbers in the general population) than non GLBT’s. They also tend to have more disposable income.

However, it gets back to the statement I have been making since Obama threw his hat in the ring; when many in the GLBT community (of which I am one) made anyone who did not support Obama an outcast.

I judge people on what they do…not what they say. On their accomplishments not on what-if’s. No one tells me how to think, what to buy, or where to go. No one tells me I undermine a “community” because they and I have one thing in common and nothing else.

There are assholes in the GLBT community just like in the general population. Look at someone’s character. One need only look to this guy as head of GLAAD or the current corrupt crop of African American politicians sitting on D.C. city council to understand that just because someone looks like you or shares one trait with you doesn’t mean they aren’t out to screw you over!!

That’s a popular meme, but it isn’t true. From 2009 AmericanProgress.org:

A new report published by The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law titled “Poverty in the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community” examines for the first time poverty rates within the LGB community and finds that lesbian, gay, and bisexual same-sex couples are at least as likely—and at times more likely—to be poor than married heterosexual couples.

Gay men are sometimes poorer and sometimes less poor than heterosexual men, but stunning findings show that lesbian women across data sets are consistently poorer than their heterosexual counterparts. The National Survey of Family Growth found that, 24 percent of lesbian and bisexual women between the ages of 18-44 are living in poverty in contrast to only 19 percent of heterosexual women. Yet NSFG data shows that gay and heterosexual men have relatively equal poverty rates: fifteen and 13 percent, respectively.

…

The study also examined the important question of whether same-sex couples are more or less likely to experience poverty after controlling for characteristics that increase vulnerability to poverty in the United States. After adjusting for certain characteristics such as being nonwhite or Hispanic, being unemployed or out of the labor force, not having a college degree, being younger than 50, and having children, the study found that lesbian couples were significantly more likely—and gay male couples slightly more likely—to be in poverty than heterosexual married couples with the same characteristics.

So by any reasoning, GLAAD should certainly be opposed to the AT&T Merger with T-Mobile.

T-Mobile is supposed to be the most honest carrier.
I hate both AT&T and Verizon. They are pure scum.

AT&T: A few days ago I was switching out my sister’s plan (stop mooching) and trying to keep my number, after an hour of incompetence on the phone, at the end they hilariously tried to sign me up for 11 month plan! I said “no way”! They “allowed” me to have month to month plan which I will change to pre-paid.

Verizon: Recently Verizon signed my dementia riddled (and now deceased) father to not one but two 2 year contracts with ultra-basic phones(he could not handle anything else). After catching this before 1 month cancellation and many phone calls letter I got it cleared. Then many weeks later, my father called to get his number back to his landline, Verizon responded by charging him full early termination fees! And they would not reverse their decision! My father was really too ill to take them to small claims court.

Of course, I blame the despicable Obamination, Mr Hopey Changey should have been cracking down on these sharks not allowing them to merge and kill the honest competition.

Progressive groups have been for sale for quite some time. The row between the Roosevelt Institute and FDL is evidence of it. This is what the Third Way is all about. Sell corporate propaganda through progressive platforms.

GLAAD and HRC….these would be things to avoid if you value gay equality over corporatism.
Better off going with GetEqual or a local advocacy group.

It is difficult to keep up with the most spectacular sellout. I figured that the FDR Institute would hold first place for some time, here comes GLAAD, not a week later.

My assistant did it? That’s less imaginative and more cowardly than claiming the dog ate your homework. Is Condi Rice and her “Who could have predicted?” now the ceiling for responsible executive conduct? Has no one told you it’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up?

Selling out net neutrality for $150K in donations from AT&T? That’s the cost of a single conference in Metro DC. It’s like working the street at 15th and M instead of at the Mayflower.

Grow some balls, dude. Or find another line of work. Stop pretending to be a progressive or to promote progressive causes and stop taking progressives’ money – or run your shop the way your constituents expect. Or admit that AT&T and its ilk are your constituents.

This sentence does not make sense:

“… AT & T sent a form letter to GLAAD for the group to sign onto, and which opposes net neutrality even though the wording is very vague and to those outside the industry it might seem like it is anti-net neutrality when it is not.”

It should probably be: “… it might seem like it is *pro* net neutrality when it is not.”

Regarding the issue at hand, this is typical morality (or lack of) for many single-issue advocacy groups.

In his defense it is not entirely impossible this happened this way. I have an assistant that does quite a bit for me and I sometimes have to undo errors he has done in my stead. Whether or not this is such an instance is hard to say however just like politicians getting campaign contributions making them corrupt it is also possible for organizations that exist on donations can go the same way.

Real progressives have to begin ignoring social issue organizations that are so easily bought by big money.

The battle is an economic class war. All the rest is trivial by comparison.

To Black Matt @ 17

Yes, the original has “seem like it is pro-neutrality when it is not”. Is someone else writing parts of Jane’s posts I wonder; she’s better than that. What she posts as a direct quotation is in fact a paraphrase (and as you noticed, not a fair one at that).

Apparently ATT is spreading cash all over the place. This article is at Common Dreams: “AT&T Gave Cash to Merger Backers” http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/10-3#

Scuttlebutt has it that the merger is in trouble. Hard to believe, I know, given the Bush-Obama DoJ and the moribund nature of its and the FCCs’ anti-trust division. No surprise their solution would be to spread cash, contriving an appearance of “grass roots” support for a mega-merger that would, in all likelihood, increase consumer costs and seriously reduce consumer choice.

Assistants do not draft and send out letters that make policy in such a fundamental way. Not unless they are first chosen as cut-outs.

Not going to argue with that at all. Totally agree.

The company has really gone downhill over the last 20 years.

Everything has gone downhill over the last 20 years, except $$$ for the top 1%.

Jealous, Jane? No big check from AT&T for you?

Yeah Bruce, that’s how most people think… “Where’s mine?” Does it make you feel guilty and angry to see someone who hasn’t?

Yes! and it’s why the merger will be approved….AT&T did the snooping for the Govt.So now the Obama has a reliable partner to watch our every move.

You do know we live in a Corpocracy.

It was meant as a joke, but it doesn’t look like that when seen on the screen. Sorry.

Everyone’s selling out.
It’s the “in thing” to do.
And what could be more Amerikan than that?
When it rains, it pours.
They literally just bought everyone. Or at least the “leaders”.
I guess corporate whoring pays. But really not that well.
But 150 k for one’s self-respect and dignity? For one’s conscience and decency? That seems like it doesn’t pay that well.
But I guess when you don’t really have any of the above qualities to begin with, that 150 k is probably a good “free” market price.
I would say I’m surprised, but I’m really not.
Another one bites the dust. Just curious who the next one in the line will be.

Yes, that thought occurred to me. AT&T will be rewarded for being the government’s partner in crime.

This country has become so thoroughly corrupt that I am very pessimistic for its future.

It’s time for the Reign of Terror of individuals shielded by the private army of robots called “corporations” to end. We need a BitCoin version of telecomm services distribution. This way community broadband is for real instead of just a corporate resales program (hat tip ubetchaiam, May 18, 2011) making the organizations involved just another part of the Veal Pen.