The politics blog at the Orlando Sentinel covers the latest source of Republican outrage over Rep. Grayson: apparently he gave out the URI of a web site he had created on the floor of the House, and horror of horrors – it has a link to Grayson’s campaign web site!!!!

The FEC has already passed on the site because Grayson paid for it out of his own checking account, not with campaign cash, but as soon as they figure out what ethics rules have been violated, the Republicans are going to file a complaint, and the Democrats have to immediately condemn Grayson for something.

The web site, Names of the Dead, was set up to record the names of people who have died as a result of a lack of access to health care. It has links to Grayson’s campaign web site, his House web site, his YouTube speeches, the text of HR 3200, and the study that provided the number who die every year because of a lack of access to health care.

I hate to break it to the Republicans, but mentioning the name of a web site on the floor of the House is not exactly an effective path to getting a lot of hits. The link at the Orlando Sentinel will probably generate more traffic. If the Republicans hadn’t had a hissy fit, no one would know it existed.

Update: Congresscritter Grayson has had them remove the link to the campaign web site from the page.

The St. Petersburg Times has an op-ed on Florida’s temp Senator: Newest senator takes low road

In Tallahassee, LeMieux, Gov. Charlie Crist’s former chief of staff, was credited with helping the governor’s populist appeal. But Wednesday, he sacrificed candor in a predictable play to a partisan constituency. He reasonably equated Congress to a family who recklessly relies on credit cards to pay the bills. But he implied the runaway spending stems from Democratic control, ignoring that it began under President George W. Bush.

LeMieux really lost the high ground when he bragged that Crist and the Florida Legislature have cut spending by nearly 10 percent, or $7 billion, to balance the budget. LeMieux’s omission: This year’s state budget was balanced only because of $5 billion in federal stimulus dollars and $2.2 billion in new taxes and fees. Florida didn’t live within its means. In fact, it was more like the spoiled offspring of a wealthy family who called Mom or Dad for a bailout.

“High ground”? “Candor”? What part of “Republican” don’t they understand? Charlie needs the Republican base in the primary. LeMieux has to sound all of the right notes on the “dog whistle”, or Charlie won’t even get to run. He has his orders, and LeMieux intends to do exactly what Charlie needs to win.

The CRTC [Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission], the Canadian version of the US FCC, has issued a net neutrality ruling.

Their version is a “truth in advertising” path. The big telcos have to tell individuals 30 days in advance of any price changes, and the wholesalers [ISPs & hosting companies] 60 days in advance, with the changes displayed prominently on their web sites. They may use throttling and other network management tools only if they can show that that they can’t manage their network any other way, and they are open about what they are doing.

Well, that’s a FAIL. Needless to say, Rogers and Bell, the big telcos in Canada, are the only ones happy about this. This approach can only work if there is competition, and with only two companies who generally do not have overlapping areas of infrastructure, there is no competition. In addition, it shifts the onus of proving that the telcos are violating the ruling to the users, who lack the resources to effectively bring action against the telcos.

In case you were wondering, the Conservative Party is currently in charge of the government of Canada,