Hey Froz, did you get an internet today?

[Norm In Norman]

"Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) explained why he voted against the amendment and gave an amazing primer on how the internet works."

http://blog.wired.com/27BStroke6/?entry_id=1512499

Your tax dollars at work.

[bri]

OWWWW, MY BRAIN!!!

The incoherent, ranting numbskull hurt my brain!

[Scott D]

wow.....that's about as revealing as Reagan being amazed by barcode scanner embedded grocery store check outs :D

[bri]

wow.....that's about as revealing as Reagan being amazed by indoor plumbing and shiny objects

Fixed it for you. :D

[Scott D]

Disclaimer: the previous post in this thread does not reflect my view of Reagan despite the humorous content :D

[SoonerInKCMO]

wow.....that's about as revealing as Reagan being amazed by barcode scanner embedded grocery store check outs :D

I thought that was Bush the Elder. :confused:

[Scott D]

ahh so it was. Probably because Reagan didn't go to the grocery store ;)

[Czar Soonerov]

It's a series of tubes.

[GrapevineSooner]

[The real Al Gore]No, stupid. That's not how it works!![/The real Al Gore]

[Frozen Sooner]

In Teddy Ballgame's defense...

1. That's not a terrible description of the internet if you're dealing with someone with no conception of what it is or how it works.

2. The guy is from Ft. Yukon, AK and he's like 108. What do you want?

3. HULK NO WANT TO BE SENT INTERNETS BY PUNY BANNER! WHERE BETTY!

http://www.adn.com/photo/2005/12/21/1683556-400-x-300.jpg

[Sooner_Bob]

heh . . . .

[Vaevictis]

1. That's not a terrible description of the internet if you're dealing with someone with no conception of what it is or how it works.

You mean, except for the fact that it makes it crystal clear that he has no conception of what it is or how it works? :)


2. The guy is from Ft. Yukon, AK and he's like 108. What do you want?

Well, I don't know about you, but if someone is going to be a senator on a commitee, I'd like that person to, you know, have at least some shallow knowledge about the topics the commitee has jurisdiction over.

[SicEmBaylor]

Stevens is a useless tool. He threatened to resign when Coburn went after his pork and I wish he had.

[bri]

when Coburn went after his pork

Bad touch!! BAD TOUCH!!!!! :eek:

[Scott D]

Stevens is a useless tool. He threatened to resign when Coburn went after his pork and I wish he had.

Now Mr. Stevens....show us on the doll where Mr. Coburn attempted to touch you.

[SicEmBaylor]

Now Mr. Stevens....show us on the doll where Mr. Coburn attempted to touch you.

:sigh:

[Frozen Sooner]

Stevens is a useless tool. He threatened to resign when Coburn went after his pork and I wish he had.

Whereas Joe McCarthy is a great American.

:rolleyes:

Ted Stevens has done more to advance conservatism in America than Tom Coburn has dreamed about. I applaud Coburn for going after government spending, but calling Ted Stevens a "useless tool" is a pretty large stretch. How DARE Ted Stevens ask for federal funding to build infrastructure in his home state! We ALL know no other state gets federal funding for that!

[Frozen Sooner]

You mean, except for the fact that it makes it crystal clear that he has no conception of what it is or how it works? :)

It sounds to me like he thinks of the internet of a series of pipes that carry finite amounts of information per second to various destinations as opposed to a truck that you can just load a bunch of crap on and it all gets there at once.

I mean, yeah, the "sending me an internet" lingo was pretty bad, but I didn't think the underlying analogy was particularly horrible.

[SicEmBaylor]

Whereas Joe McCarthy is a great American.

:rolleyes:

Ted Stevens has done more to advance conservatism in America than Tom Coburn has dreamed about. I applaud Coburn for going after government spending, but calling Ted Stevens a "useless tool" is a pretty large stretch. How DARE Ted Stevens ask for federal funding to build infrastructure in his home state! We ALL know no other state gets federal funding for that!

We all know every state gets federal funding for infrastructure improvements, but no state should. If one were to judge a sitting US Senator based on how much pork or, to borrow the euphemism, "infrastructure improvements" one of them brings home then Sen. Robert Byrd would be one of the greatest senators in US history. What makes a Senator "good" is how well his actions conform to the constitutional mandate of that office. You need not look very far in Sen. Stevens career to find a treasure trove of examples of when he has used his office in such a way that goes beyond what a US Senator should do. To be fair, this is also entirely true of almost every sitting US Senator. But 99 other wrongs do not make a right.

Let me also say that if one is going to pump the cash back home for said "infrastructure improvements" then those "infrastructure improvements" should at least be needed and be appropriated within the state based on the most urgent needs of that state. Surely the great state of Alaska had other more vital projects to deal with.

[Vaevictis]

I mean, yeah, the "sending me an internet" lingo was pretty bad, but I didn't think the underlying analogy was particularly horrible.

It's not the pipes analogy that got me, really. That isn't all that bad of one. It was the rest of the stuff that was particularly ignorant:


I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially.

Wrong. Email doesn't get tangled up for a freaking week because of congestion on the line. (or, if it did, it would be an abberation)

And it's even less likely to be the case when it's a Senator's staff sending email to the Senator himself. The email probably never left the Congressional network; in other words, it probably never got onto the networks that the bill was about. This example is totally irrelevant to the question at hand.



Now we have a separate Department of Defense internet now, did you know that?

Do you know why?

Because they have to have theirs delivered immediately. They can't afford getting delayed by other people.

Wrong, in part at least. The Defense Department has a separate network mostly because they don't much like it when their sensitive data traverses public networks where anyone could be tapping in.

If the defense department had to have their data delivered "immediately", they wouldn't be using IP at all, because it's a best effort network protocol, and there are no delivery speed guarantees.


Now I think these people are arguing whether they should be able to dump all that stuff on the internet ought to consider if they should develop a system themselves.

Think of the internet like, say, UPS. You pay UPS a certain amount, and they agree to deliver your parcels. UPS often has certain agreements with third party transport services in order to achieve this.

Should these third parties be able to look at the original sender of the parcels and deliberately reduce their priority because the original sender hasn't paid them extra to speed things up? What if this third party further sub-contracts -- should the next contractor in line be able to do the same?

Keep in mind that the third party isn't prioritizing based on UPS being the sender, they're looking at who contracted with UPS and holding their hands out to the *original* sender for further payment for timely delivery.

Keep in mind that this is analogous to what the phone companies are saying they want to do, and what the net neutrality bills are trying to stop.

In any case, the whole statement is a red herring. It would be like saying, "Well, if UPS's customers want to have UPS deliver their packages timely, they should develop their own UPS system." Aren't we already paying UPS to deliver the packages timely?


Maybe there is a place for a commercial net but it's not using what consumers use every day.

Just plain wrong. No further explanation necessary.

Bleh, what a fragging ignoramus.

[slickdawg]

Stevens is a useless tool. He threatened to resign when Coburn went after his pork and I wish he had.


No doubt, Stevens is a freakin' pork king. The US would be better with him out.

[Okla-homey]

Ain't the guy who threatened to hold his breath and never eat again unless his buds in the Senate restored his bajillion dollar multi-lane bridge to that remote Alaska island which has three eskimoes, a retired stripper from the "Great Alaska Bush Company" and a midget living on it?

[SicEmBaylor]

Ain't the guy who threatened to hold his breath and never eat again unless his buds in the Senate restored his bajillion dollar multi-lane bridge to that remote Alaska island which has three eskimoes, a retired stripper from the "Great Alaska Bush Company" and a midget living on it?
That would be he.

[SicEmBaylor]

I'd also like to point out that Stevens, as the Senate Pro-Tempore, is 3rd in line to the Presidency.

[Frozen Sooner]

Ain't the guy who threatened to hold his breath and never eat again unless his buds in the Senate restored his bajillion dollar multi-lane bridge to that remote Alaska island which has three eskimoes, a retired stripper from the "Great Alaska Bush Company" and a midget living on it?

Aren't you the guy who believed exactly how the media misreported it?

1. It was two bridges.

2. One of the bridges was between Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley. The Mat-Su Borough is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country.

3. The other was between Ketchikan (which is a decent-sized town) and their AIRPORT, which happened to be on an island that wasn't very populated. The bridge was recommended by FEMA and the US Army Corps of Engineers as a vital link between the community and the airport, as airlift and barge are the only ways into the city and one decent tsunami could wipe out the limited port facilities.

4. Stevens said that he would resign if ALASKA was targeted for budget reduction alone. He was more than happy to reduce the amount of funding if the funding for OTHER states was reduced as well. Somehow that never got reported. It was just the big meanie from Alaska not being willing to help the people in Louisiana.

I'm not the biggest Stevens guy in the world, but he gets a somewhat unfair rap.

[Okla-homey]

The bridge was recommended by FEMA and the US Army Corps of Engineers as a vital link between the community and the airport, as airlift and barge are the only ways into the city and one decent tsunami could wipe out the limited port facilities.


Now that my friend is indeed a ringing endorsement of a public works project. IOW, w/o that bajillion dollar bridge, the four people who live on the island might have to wait a week to get their PT Cruiser ferried from the island to the mainland in the wake of a tsunami. By all means, build them a multi-lane bridge! Times a'wastin!;)

[Scott D]

Now that my friend is indeed a ringing endorsement of a public works project. IOW, w/o that bajillion dollar bridge, the four people who live on the island might have to wait a week to get their PT Cruiser ferried from the island to the mainland in the wake of a tsunami. By all means, build them a multi-lane bridge! Times a'wastin!;)

Time to pwn the Homey :)


Both in population and in physical size, the Mat-Su Borough ranks third in the state. With 62,426 residents, it trails only Fairbanks and Anchorage. And at 22,683 square miles, it is nearly as large as West Virginia. Although it is a big place, 90 percent of its residents live in a relatively narrow corridor between the communities of Willow and Sutton. (See map page 14.) Only three communities are incorporated or have political boundaries—Wasilla, Palmer and Houston. The residents of these three communities represent only 19 percent of the borough’s population, and the balance lives in unorganized places. While most residents live in a relatively concentrated area, some communities such as Skwentna and Chase are reachable only by plane, train, boat, snowmachine and other off-road vehicles. Places such as Y, Talkeetna, Glacier View, and Lake Louise are on the road system, but are distant from any major population center.

[Okla-homey]

Time to pwn the Homey :)

Well just maybe, those people like it that way. I've heard there are lots of non-native folks up there who are on the lamb, dodging indictments and/or long-arm child support statutes. ;)

[Scott D]

Well just maybe, those people like it that way. I've heard there are lots of non-native folks up there who are on the lamb, dodging indictments and/or long-arm child support statutes. ;)

population increase there since 1990 has been a 57% boom...more than twice the growth of Anchorage.

[Okla-homey]

population increase there since 1990 has been a 57% boom...more than twice the growth of Anchorage.

How does this relate to the Ketchikan island bridge project?

[Scott D]

How does this relate to the Ketchikan island bridge project?

This


If we assume that Southcentral’s economy will continue to grow, there is little doubt the Mat-Su Valley will keep on capturing a disproportionate share of this action, whether it be population, employment, payroll, or whatever the economic measure might be. With its cost advantages, land availability, and investments in basic infrastructure, there is little doubt this trend will accelerate. If a Knik Arm Crossing were to become a reality it would happen that much sooner. Growth could so fill in the intervening space, that sometime in the not so distant future, it may not be apparent to the casual visitor that the Mat-Su Valley and Anchorage are two separate entities.

[Frozen Sooner]

Now that my friend is indeed a ringing endorsement of a public works project. IOW, w/o that bajillion dollar bridge, the four people who live on the island might have to wait a week to get their PT Cruiser ferried from the island to the mainland in the wake of a tsunami. By all means, build them a multi-lane bridge! Times a'wastin!;)

I'll type slowly:

There are two ways to get supplies in to Ketchikan: air and water.

As matters currently stand, anything flown in to Ketchikan lands on Gravina Island, then has to be ferried across. Therefore, if a tsunami (or earthquake, or whatever) hits Ketchikan, nothing gets in or out until the port facilities are repaired. NOTHING.

There are NO roads. You CANNOT drive there.

The Gravina/Ketchikan bridge was technically multi-lane, I guess, if you consider two lanes to be "multi-lane." We're not talking a superhighway here.

Beyond that, the major problem Senator Stevens had was that ONLY Alaska was being singled out to reduce funding to help with Katrina relief. He's very prickly about perceived slights to his home state-as well he should be. The Federal Government owns the vast majority of land in Alaska, but has been extremely cavalier towards developing any of it. The Lower 48 states seem to want to keep Alaska as some sort of back yard that looks all pretty, when what we NEED is economic development and infrastructure. Rather telling that we've had a Republican congress for over a decade and six years of a Republican president and we STILL can't get ANWR opened up.


Scott D:

Your information on the Mat-Su Valley is correct. However, Homey only wants to talk about the Gravina Bridge because he can talk about the "four people" instead of thinking about the logistics of a city with no land access. The Mat-Su Valley isn't in Southeast, it's Southcentral (up here by Anchorage.)

[Okla-homey]

I'll type slowly:

However, Homey only wants to talk about the Gravina Bridge because he can talk about the "four people" instead of thinking about the logistics of a city with no land access.

Are they required to live there? Tied-up? Guards and fences? Just wonderin' why the feds should have to pony-up to solve what is essentially a local/state problem. For the record, I'm consistent. I don't like it when the feds financially bail-out people who choose to live in designated flood plains either.

[Vaevictis]

Besides, ain't that why we have the Coast Guard? ;)

[Frozen Sooner]

Are they required to live there? Tied-up? Guards and fences? Just wonderin' why the feds should have to pony-up to solve what is essentially a local/state problem. For the record, I'm consistent. I don't like it when the feds financially bail-out people who choose to live in designated flood plains either.

Are people required to live in New Orleans? Tied up? Guards and fences?

[Okla-homey]

Are people required to live in New Orleans? Tied up? Guards and fences?

Your point?

[Frozen Sooner]

That the principal argument people were using against the Gravina Island bridge was that the money should be used to rebuild a bridge into New Orleans. I have no issue with saying "Government probably shouldn't be spending the money." That was not the debate. The debate was what infrastructure it should be spent on-the money was going to get spent regardless.

[Okla-homey]

That the principal argument people were using against the Gravina Island bridge was that the money should be used to rebuild a bridge into New Orleans. I have no issue with saying "Government probably shouldn't be spending the money." That was not the debate. The debate was what infrastructure it should be spent on-the money was going to get spent regardless.

Well if its got to go somewhere, I'd rather see it spent on defense, but I'm biased. I think we need a new air refueling tanker. The KC-135 is getting very long in the tooth.

[Frozen Sooner]

I'm cool with defense spending. However, it WAS a transportation bill. :D

[Vaevictis]

Yeah. In such a case, to spend money on something totally unrelated to transportation would be unheard of. :D

[Frozen Sooner]

Listen, dude, a wind-powered ice sled for a town in Wisconsin was TOTALLY transportation related.

[Vaevictis]

Dude, if you want to rag on Wisconson, make your own Wisconson-ragging thread.

We're mocking the totally out of touch Senator from Alaska here. Just try to keep that in mind.

:D

[Frozen Sooner]

What's really funny is his SON is actually a much bigger boob. Ted's heart is in the right place, I think, and he's done a ton of good over his career. His son is a two-bit crook who happens to be the state majority leader.

[Okla-homey]

I'm cool with defense spending. However, it WAS a transportation bill. :D

and aerial refueling is not transportation? You gotta expand your box man.

[Frozen Sooner]

:mad:

Post reported. I'm a dude anyhow.

[bri]

Tee hee! :D

http://www.dieselsweeties.com/hstrips/0/1/5/2/01525.png

[Norm In Norman]

Heh.