Posted on 07/07/2006 6:38:51 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
July 7, 2006
If you're a Republican senator who makes a remark with insensitive racial connotations, you're toast. Ask Trent Lott. But if you're a Democrat? Hey, no problem! Then again, woe betide the Republican senator who offers an awkward description of the workings of the internet.
That's the world according to Time reporter Ana Marie Cox, who appeared on last evening's Scarborough Country. For those who might have missed the Biden flap, on a recent campaign swing to New Hampshire, Biden told an Indian political activist: “You cannot go into a Dunkin Donuts or a 7-Eleven unless you have a slight Indian accent.”
Sounds like a career-stopper for a Republican. But Cox saw no real problem. She opined that while other things might derail Biden's march to the White House, this wouldn't be it. But when it came to Republican Senator Ted Stevens, Cox wasn't so forgiving. In explaining his vote on a so-called 'net neutrality' amendment, Stevens recently said:
"The internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck. It's a series of tubes. And if you don't understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material."
Not prose for the ages, granted. But I don't think anyone believes Stevens was suggesting the internet is actually composed of tubes. Seems that he had the concept of a pipeline in mind, a first-in-first-out protocol. In any case, certainly nothing offensive, other perhaps than to some San Francisco techno geeks.
Nevertheless, Cox was of the opinion that Stevens' remark was more likely to prove damaging than Biden's to their respective careers..
You don't suppose the two senators' party affiliations might have figured into Ana Marie's calculus, do you?
I met the "wonkette"'s mom on an airplane and she's sent me some emails since (i.e. the mom has). I don't agree with the wonkette on anything, but like most of us, she's got a nice mom :)
I went to a Chinese restaurant yesterday, owned by Koreans, and the cooks are all Mexican.............
why would he talk to Jesse about a Jew ?
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I've been a tech-geek for over 35 years, BSEE, MSCE and PE, and I don't see anything wrong with Stevens analogy at all. While I wouldn't use 'tubes' in a white paper, I certainly might in a memo to a colleague.
On the other hand what Biden said is simply funny to me and reality. It's not a big deal and nothing should be made of it. Then again nothing should have come of Trent Lott's remarks either. All this PC screeching simply looks childish in my opinion. |
Thanks. :)
I am also a tech geek and a technical trainer by trade.
This is certainly not the worst analogy I have read. It sounds like someone who only understands the basics of a topic describing the topic to someone else who does not understand it at all.
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"That's pretty amazing . . . those three folks chattering in Spanish behind the counter yesterday at Dunkin Donuts were Indian?"
Aztec Indian maybe... :-) |
Slow Joe Biden is proof that anybody can be a congressman, no intelligence or level of knowledge necessary.
The next possible Biden gaffe "Look, we have to have a guest worker program. It is simply not possible to live a decent life in Washington unless you have a wet back mowing your lawn. Plus, you can't find a decent wife around here who will cook or clean so you also need a wetback nanny to take care of the kids."
The internet is made up of packets of data that are transmitted over the internet. One message or web page can be made up of many packets. If just one of several packets get held up the entire page or message can be worthless.
IT IS NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES A FIRST IN FIRST OUT PROTOCOL.
One way to describe the way the net works would be is individual tubes of data. Each packet or tube is free to find its own route from source to destination. They are not required to arrive in the order sent. Each tube or packet of data, has a number that is used to put the received packets back in sequence. When the internet gets too busy the loss or delay just a few tubes or packets can bring the internet to its knees.
Trying to trash liberals by by revealing your own ignorance does not contribute to the conservative cause.
Let me translate Biden's line: "Some of my best friends are from India."
I'm willing to cut Biden some slack on this. He probably just saw this comment written/said by someone else and just used it as his own. (Oops, did I imply that Biden is again a plagiarist?)
I'm sure the tubes metaphor was referring to the pneumatic tubes used to transfer documents at drive through banks.
Its an apt analogy to packet switching.
July 5, 2006
President Bush Discusses Immigration in Alexandria, Virginia
Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robbins
"THE PRESIDENT: I just had a really interesting conversation. First of all, this business is owned by two Iranian American brothers. They are small business owners, they are entrepreneurs, they are employing people. And then I met with the district manager, who works with the two Iranian American brothers, happens to be a Guatemalan American citizen. She is learning business. She is taking on additional responsibility. Then I talked to the store manager, who was a Salvadoran American."
The pipeline analogy is EXACTLY what I used to try to get my mother to ditch AOL years ago.
Didn't work, btw. Am searching for a more effective metaphor, since she's impervious to my carefully reasoned, elegantly presented "AOL sucks ass" arguments.
Seriously, glgb, thanks for all your wonderful reporting! It's excellent and sincerely appreciated!
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