Politics & Tech

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,634
While we usually stay away from the political front we do pass along links to our readers when we think it is a political issue that is “technical enough” to talk about. CNet talks about Joe Biden’s “tech voting record.”


Discussion is encouraged, but civility is required.
 
any politician is a loser.

politicians should have to have hard degree. not just law,polisci, whatever.
 
by hard i mean physical science, math, engineering, ect. not saying liberal arts degrees are easier. (i am thinking it though)
 
No encryption keys is a bad deal... being forced to turn them over is just as bad. I don't want monetary info, classified info, proprietary corporate info... any of that to get into the wrong hands. That stuff needs to stay encrypted, away from the prying eyes of criminals and thieves.
 
I lol'd when I heard Biden got the ticket.. hahah. That has to nearly be a nightmare ticket for the dem's. Almost as much so that McCain is a nightmare for the republican ticket. Needless to say, the election this year is going to be interesting. I want to see how many people this round are going to right in Ron Paul or Hillary Clinton. :p But if McCain chooses Romney as his VP, they pretty much seal the election. I'm suspecting he'll do so, and if that happens, the dem's will realize they really shot themselves in the foot.
 
Look at most any political figure though and I'm sure there are a ton of anti-"freedom" laws they sponsored or voted for, whether you take Big Daddy Tubes Stevens, or Liberal loudmouth Barbara Boxer (Or her partner in crime Feinstein)
 
Presidential candidates pick a VP to help them in the areas that they are weak in. Obama picked Biden because he has experience and had dealt with foreign policy. Obama will be the one signing. Obama needs Biden for when he gets that 3am call that Israel bombed someplace in Iran or something like that.

I am much more interested in who McCain has as a VP because of his age. I have seen plenty of 74+ year old people in perfect health drop dead, or become incapacitated for a long period of time from a sudden massive heart attack or stroke.
 
brom42 said:
Obama needs Biden for when he gets that 3am call that Israel bombed someplace in Iran or something like that.
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roofles, he probably would wake up for something like that. Now myself, I'd sleep in until around noon, then wake up and see if Iran was taken care of yet. :p ;)
 
brom42 said:
I am much more interested in who McCain has as a VP because of his age. I have seen plenty of 74+ year old people in perfect health drop dead, or become incapacitated for a long period of time from a sudden massive heart attack or stroke.
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Exactly...whoever he picks will be much more likely to be in a real position of power than anyone Obama picks. And no I'm not commenting on McCain versus Obama electability here.
 
yeah dawg, it's the man behind the curtain and those diebold voting machines. rofl..
 
knob said:
No encryption keys is a bad deal... being forced to turn them over is just as bad.
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I think it's time for an open-source encryption project. Basically, a standardized, strong encryption method that is built-in to all web servers, browsers, file servers, e-mail systems etc. That way no Internet traffic can be read and no special actions or knowledge is required by the average user.

Being open-source, the developers can ensure that there is no back door or superkey. Being strong, it would take a whack of processing power to break, so those that would spy without warrant would find it a waste of time to trawl through the gigabytes of normal traffic and be obliged to concentrate on those who really need to be monitored.

This would ensure that those who use the Internet get privacy regardless of what jurisdiction they live in or what government zone the info passes through on its way from source to destination.
 
I thought the collapse by Obama on the wiretapping bill was a bad, isolated event. This article... it's making me really wonder what he will actually do in office.


Its Obamas own fault too. All the white power people will be itching to take him out, because the VP is an old white dude.
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umm... If none of the nut cases took out George, (and I think liberals are probably more likely to pull off an assaination than a conservative, but I guess the conservatives own the guns....) I don't think there are that high odds of obama getting hit.
 
Well that's a pretty consistently awful record on technology issues. :rolleyes:

Am I the only one liking our choices less and less as this thing drags on?
 
It's a shame there's no option to send both politicians packing and have the parties find candidates actually worth voting for.
 
wfalcon said:
It's a shame there's no option to send both politicians packing and have the parties find candidates actually worth voting for.
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heh, +1 ... unfortunately, it's another round of voting for the lesser of the two evils. :rolleyes:
 
I still wish Ron Paul was in it... I look at every other candidate and when they open their mouths, I know they're lying because their lips are moving. I don't get that impression or feeling from Ron Paul. Sure he's a bit mousy, but I believe him, and that's what matters. He'd do a better job than all the others combined... sad.
 
Martyr said:
politicians should have to have hard degree. not just law,polisci, whatever.
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That's actually a bit of an oxymoron considering that politians are responsible for creating new laws. While a minor in sociology, economics or psychology wouldn't hurt, they still need to understand how laws work in the real world. In the real world, once a bill gets passed into a law there's a lot that happens. You have to have a full understanding of how people argue against it in court and how it can be enforced in the first place.

Since there's no requirement for a degree, this is all just the most obvious path to take. If you feel like you can do better, you're more than welcom to try. Last I checked, the only prerequisite for President was to be born in the US and be at least 35. (yes, you can even be a felon and hypothetically get elected President)
 
enlightenedby42 said:
Well that's a pretty consistently awful record on technology issues. :rolleyes:

Am I the only one liking our choices less and less as this thing drags on?
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You're definitely not the only one. Please excuse me while I go figure out who is the giant douche and who is the turd sandwich.
 
Considering that Warren Buffet (Billy G's close friend) and the CEO of Google both financially advise Obama, I doubt that Joe Biden will have as much of an influence over Obama's tech opinions. I mean, really... Who would you listen to on tech issues? Your acquaintences that make up the tech world or Joe Biden?

Since I'm an IL resident, I hae contacted Obama's office in the past. His usual responses have been very middle of the road, acknowledging both sides of the arguement.

I actually think that this is a good thing. In the VP spot, Biden has less of a chance to stir up trouble than if her were on some special interest committee.
 
Joe Average said:
I still wish Ron Paul was in it... I look at every other candidate and when they open their mouths, I know they're lying because their lips are moving. I don't get that impression or feeling from Ron Paul. Sure he's a bit mousy, but I believe him, and that's what matters. He'd do a better job than all the others combined... sad.
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Ron Paul would have been my choice. He has one of the best pro-tech voting records, especially when it comes to keeping the government from interfering where it doesn't belong.
 
PynkFloydd said:
Since I'm an IL resident, I hae contacted Obama's office in the past. His usual responses have been very middle of the road, acknowledging both sides of the arguement.
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lol, no, that's because he never wants to take a position on anything.. his unequivocal voting record of "present" shows just that. Nobody really knows where he stands, even his supporters. It's rather scary when you think about it.
 
w1retap said:
roofles, he probably would wake up for something like that. Now myself, I'd sleep in until around noon, then wake up and see if Iran was taken care of yet. :p ;)
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LOL can I vote this guy for president?

back to finishing reading the comments, but that definitely deserved an early post before reading through the thread.
 
DragonMantis said:
Jimmy Carter was an engineer, so it doesn't necessarily help.
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Truer words have never been spoken.

In fact, Carter was a nuclear reactor officer. Graduated the same Power School prototype I did, I can garentee you he was very smart, but he was just very damn stupid in judgement.
 
BBA said:
Like that was ever different...
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nah, there have been some pretty clear cut winner candidates that really appealed to the masses. Reagan is a good example in modern history. Going back much further, Roosevelt was another. They practically won every state, and they had landslide margins.
 
BBA said:
Truer words have never been spoken.

In fact, Carter was a nuclear reactor officer. Graduated the same Power School prototype I did, I can garentee you he was very smart, but he was just very damn stupid in judgement.
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Maybe naive would be a little nicer. The scary thing is that Obama's foreign policy sounds even more naive than Carter's.
 
He wasn't stupid, and he wasn't naive. But, it IS naive of others to think that the President runs this country.

That's the biggest myth of all. :)
 
This Joe Biden guy sounds really unpleasant. I'd like to see him shot if he really is half this bad.
 
BBA said:
Truer words have never been spoken.

In fact, Carter was a nuclear reactor officer. Graduated the same Power School prototype I did, I can garentee you he was very smart, but he was just very damn stupid in judgement.
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Its a common problem. The smarter a person is, the less common sense they seem to have.
 
Let's face it:

A smart person would never run for President in the first place.

I remember a story told to me by my Government teacher in high school, one of the few things that really stuck (probably because it's so funny):

A long time ago, in the 1920's at a time when Nelson Rockefeller was at the height of his power, a reporter asked him, "Mr. Rockefeller, do you have any intentions of running for office? Will you run for President?"

Rockefeller responded: "Why would I? It's a step down in power and most certainly in pay."

If that doesn't make it clear, nothing will.
 
Obama is way more tech savvy than Biden, and Biden is definitely not there for tech related stuff, but for foreign policy.
lol, no, that's because he never wants to take a position on anything.. his unequivocal voting record of "present" shows just that. Nobody really knows where he stands, even his supporters. It's rather scary when you think about it.
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Ummm...I think it's quite easy to know where he stands...
 
damn... i thought.. politics.. awesome.. they're finally gonna get rid of all the mexicans... but then its about piracy and bigbrother...... damn...
 
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