Tech in Government
The Tuttle IT fiasco reminded of my “Intro to IT” professor who, showing the class how to check email, complained that he was getting 500+ spams per day –despite the fact that he kept clicking to “opt-out” of the mailings. I sat there in complete disbelief as he “opted-out” of several blatant spams on the wide screen projector in front of the whole class. It was funny at first, but it got old when I had to guess which answer he thought was right on the exams. Needless to say, I decided to get experiential credit for the follow-up course rather than endure the comical “learning” an additional semester.
On a serious note, how do complete technical morons (conservative and liberal alike) make it into positions of authority? And once they’re in, how do they stay? It’s frightening how tech-adverse some government officials are, but what’s more scary is that they pretend that they aren’t. Some even pretend to be experts. (I’m looking at you, Orrin). It’s amazing that they think they can get away with it!
From a technical standpoint, I really like Pete Ashdown, founder of XMission and Utah senatorial candidate. I don’t think he has much of a chance of winning against a senior incumbent Republican here in Utah.
But I digress…
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Tags: Education, Government, Orrin Hatch, Pete Ashdown, Politics, Technology, Tuttle, UVSC, Xmission
October 13th, 2006 at 5:11 am
Thank you Jordy.
October 13th, 2006 at 6:36 am
Holy cow! I didn’t know they mad nut jobs like that anymore! I mean, I know there’s some real wackos out there, but that guy was a real piece of work.
Hey Pete, I know you’ve read this already because I can see your comment, but just in case you come back and look again, you have my support… especially if you can provide opposition to this sort of thing.
October 13th, 2006 at 7:54 am
I’m pretty sure it’s a parody site. Apples are for homosexuals? Oy.
October 13th, 2006 at 8:26 am
I’m with Steve. I’ve seen the site before, but never read much cause I assumed it was just for fun. I’ll have to get out my truth detector and see what’s there. My guess is that they are having a laugh at the expense of Republicans and get to make them look stupid while doing it.
/me runs off to register the domain BruceTheDemocrat.com.
As for Orrin Hatch, he’s entirely clueless about technology. I’ve written him and told him as much. Politicians don’t need to know everything (who could?), but they need to surround themselves with smart people who can advise them. Sounds like Orrin may be taking advice from your old school teacher.
October 13th, 2006 at 8:48 am
The ‘Shelley the Republican’ site is satirical in nature. The guy who runs the site does a pretty good job of keeping up the act, but it is indeed just an act. For more of the same, google for ‘Landover Baptist’. Or watch Stephen Colbert’s show.
October 13th, 2006 at 9:14 am
I guess I should enroll myself in the Ignoramus Death Match as well. Should have researched a little better. :)
Poking around, it seemed there were a ton of posts, most of which weren’t funny (to me) at all… nad the shear number of commenters that were upset was also convincing.
Had I noticed the “Rapture Risk Index” right next to the “Terror Threat Advisor” I would have been tipped off. Pretty funny.
October 16th, 2006 at 10:05 am
Jordy,
I can relate to your comment about the professor teaching how to “opt-out” of SPAM email. Almost deja vu! :)
As for the Shelley the Republican site, I have always thought it was satirical. But because of the satire, I cannot even begin to guess what the author’s true positions are. If you simply reverse all of his ideas, then we can assume that he is an atheist, Democrat, and Linux-lover. Does this sound correct?
Tristan Rhodes
October 17th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
I think I went to High School with you…
Did you graduate at Timpanogos in 97?