Rural Cellular Association has petitioned the FCC to investigate the legality of carriers striking exclusive deals for handsets that prevent any other carrier from offering a given phone over a certain period.  

The big five providers in the US have increasingly turned to exclusives in recent months and have always claimed they need this marketing tactic to grow subscriber base.

The down side for many living in rural is they have subpar catalog of phones to pick from.  For example you can not get iPhone in most of Vermont, since AT&T does not operate in most of the state.

Here is a link to the FCC Petition (PDF)

Technorati Tags: FCC, Rural Cellular Association, Cell Phone, iPhone

Earlier this year, the government tried and convicted David Olofson on the charge of transferring a machine gun. The Army veteran and current Army reservist, had a 20 year old AR-15 misfire at a local gun range that does not allow fully auto weapons.

For those of you that don’t follow fire arms, for the most part, AR-15 is a generic term for a civilian semi-automatic rifle similar to the military M16/M4-type weapons*. All you need to do is ask any Vietnam era GI about how often the M-16 jammed, usually at the worst possible time. Again thank you Robert McNamara for bright idea that adopting a single new rifle for all services was the most cost effective move.  The undered powered 5.56 cartridge was just a bonus.

This is still a problem today even with the M4, just ask Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.

See the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) has a memo which was not admitted at trial, on the grounds it has confidential tax information in it. ATF, have you heard redaction? This memo shows the government knows about the jamming problem.

So David Olofson, a man with no prior criminal record, is facing five years in jail.  His sentencing is on hold thanks to a defense motion to gain access to the government memo.

Why hasn’t the NRA made big noise in coming to the aid of this man? Even if you are pro gun control, which I am not, this not how the game should be played. Win it at the ballot box.

Lou Dobbs has the follow 4 videos on the case that are worth watching.

Click here for part 1. Click here for part 2. Click here for part 3. And click here for part 4.

*The trademark “AR15″ or “AR-15″ is registered to Colt Industries

Technorati Tags: AR-15, AR15, M4, M16, Robert McNamar, David Olofso, Lou Dobbs, ATF, Tom Coburn

Obama was speaking at the start of a two-day swoop through Oregon, during a stop in Beaverton, he claimed he had already visited 57 states with one more to go.  That is not counting the existing states of Alaska and Hawaii, which he was not allowed to go to.

So I guess we have 60 states per the junior senator from Illinois.  Does this mean Eastern Washington has broken off to become the state of Cascadia?  If so, this means many of Dino Rossi’s supporters can’t vote for him legally.  He does lives on the East Side, but that is King County, not Washington state.  Will the Dems run Lisa Brown for governor of Cascadia.   I am sure John W Aiken will re-file to be the GOP candidate for the governor of Cascadia.  I am declaring Spokane the capital of Cascadia.

I guess another one of those Obama states, could be Jefferson - AKA as Northern California.  

Plus Obama should win points with the pro D.C. statehood movement during the convention in Denver.

But I need help to name the other 7 Obama states.  Or are they going to be like Florida and Michigan and not get a seat at the Denver table?  Or is this his plan to keep Hillary at bay, if Florida’s and Michigan’s delegates do get to vote in Denver

I guess I need to reread the Obama education platform.

Technorati Tags: Obama, Clinton, DNC, Denver, 60 States, 57 States, DC Statehood, State of Jefferson, State of Cascadia, Lisa Brown, Dino Rossi, John Aiken

Universal Pictures is developing a movie base on 2K Games hit BioShock. Gore Verbinski, director of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, is slated to direct and produce the BioShock movie. John Logan, Academy Award-nominated writer of Gladiator, The Aviator and Sweeney Todd, is in talks to do the screenplay.

No release or product dates have been disclosed.

Technorati Tags: movies, Video Games, 2K Games, BioShock, Universal Pictures

There are now specially marked 22-ounce Guitar Hero-branded Slurpee cups. You go to http://www.slurpee.com, to enter codes from you cup for a chance to win a copy of the new Guitar Hero: Aerosmith videogame, Xbox 360 from Microsoft, or Microsoft Points to purchase content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Technorati Tags: 711, 7-11, 7-Eleven, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, Guitar Hero, Slurpee, Aerosmith