Hi Jack,
Are you reading Rep Upton's comments correctly? I had interpreted his quote as something like, "It is scary that we were so close to disaster, which could easily have happened if not for a few brave commissioners and judges." I read his thought as being that we need federal regulation to keep the hungry states permanently at bay.
Also, I certainly agree with your point about international competition holding the power of regulators in check. FWIW, I commented to the FCC on the Vonage petition back in November '03, and think I mentioned it then, too.
Bob
----- Original Message ----- From: Jack Decker To: MI-Telecom Mailing List ; VoIP News Mailing List Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 8:09 PM Subject: [VoIP News] Rep. Fred Upton apparently sold out to incumbent telcos
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Jack Decker *did say* in a later message the same day (both original message and retraction were printed here in the last issue) that there was a misunderstanding in the way he interpreted the message. PAT]