This story is as old as dirt now, but I thought since most of the laughter had subsided I would point out the really scary part about Senator Ted Stevens’ recent rant in front of the Senate Commerce Committee about how the Internet works.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIn_J_jxf-o]
This is an individual that will probably have a profound impact on how people use the Internet. Doesn’t he, at the very least, have a duty to understand the most fundamental concepts about how it works? Or to recuse himself from this issue if he is so uninformed as to be prevented from making an educated decision on the issue?
This guy can’t even successfully regurgitate what lobbyists and staffers have probably told him to say. (By the way, whoever came up with the “tubes” analogy should get canned.) If you can’t synthesize complex issues, at least be able to memorize the rhetoric that you’re being spoon fed.
This is a perfect example of why government officials need to have an understanding of how technology works. Understanding the basic principles of the Internet should me made part of “public administration 101” in every MPA program in the country.