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By Amanda Carpenter

Net neutrality

A coalition of Democratic governors, Blue Dogs, Congressional Black Caucus members and labor is appealing to the Federal Communications Commission, asking it to slow its push to regulate the Internet through network neutrality rules.

The premise behind "net neutrality" is that the government should prohibit Internet providers from privileging any connections or restricting or delaying access to any Web sites. President Obama made net neutrality a part of his presidential campaign, but some Democrats want the FCC to consider first whether these rules are needed in the first place and what impact the regulations would have on the economy.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski supports the concept, and the FCC is scheduled to propose net neutrality rules in a meeting Thursday.

But an Oct. 15 letter to Mr. Genachowski from 72 House Democrats, which included members of the Blue Dog Coalition and the Congressional Black Caucus, said there is "limited evidence demonstrating any tangible harm" in the current policy and asked the FCC to "avoid tentative conclusions which favor government regulation."

"Like you, we believe in a transparent, data-driven process and stand ready to work with you on measures that will spur adoption and expand the use of broadband networks," the letter said. "But we remain suspicious of conclusions based on slogans rather than substance and policies that restrict and inhibit the very innovation and growth that we all seek to achieve."

Democratic governors from Arkansas, North Carolina and Oklahoma have voiced similar concerns in a separate letter to Mr. Genachowski, as did the Communications Workers of America. CWA President Larry Cohen, in his own letter, said the FCC "must ensure that this rulemaking does not have an adverse impact on investment and job creation."

Another czar hearing

Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent and Homeland Security Committee chairman, will hold a hearing on President Obama's czars, which comes on the heels of another hearing on the same subject led by Sen. Russ Feingold, Wisconsin Democrat.

Mr. Lieberman's hearing, scheduled for Thursday, is billed as "Presidential Advice and Senate Consent: The Past, Present and Future of Policy Czars." The witness list includes Tom Ridge, a former assistant to the president for homeland security and former Homeland Security secretary.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia Democrat, was one of the first to raise concerns about Mr. Obama's use of czars. The Senate's longest-serving member wrote a letter to the president last February that worried about the lack of accountability that czars have to Congress.

"As presidential assistants and advisers, these White House staffers are not accountable for their actions to the Congress, to Cabinet officials and to virtually anyone but the president," Mr. Byrd said. "They rarely testify before congressional committees, and often shield the information and decision- making process behind the assertion of executive privilege. In too many instances, White House staff have been allowed to inhibit openness and transparency, and reduce accountability."

Many liberals have cringed at these complaints by Democrats, for adding legitimacy to similar charges levied by conservatives such as Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin about the czars.

Taliban's aims

"Over those months, I came to a simple realization.

After seven years of reporting in the region, I did not fully understand how extreme many of the Taliban had become. Before the kidnapping, I viewed the organization as a form of 'Al Qaeda,' a religiously motivated movement primarily focused on controlling Afghanistan.

"Living side by side with the Haqqanis' followers, I learned that the goal of the hard-line Taliban was far more ambitious. Contact with foreign militants in the tribal areas appeared to have deeply affected many young Taliban fighters. They wanted to create a fundamentalist Islamic emirate with Al Qaeda that spanned the Muslim world."

- New York Times reporter David Rhode, in the second edition of a five-part series about his seven months being held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

• Amanda Carpenter can be reached at acarpenter @washingtontimes.com