techPresident - Tracy Russo - Comments

Are we really discounting the impact of computers?

liberalart — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:16:07 -0400

@Freedomfighter:

... the computer can help officials but it is really more of a secretary's tool...The computer is still largely a way of inventorying information.

Another means of inventorying information is an obscure technology called books. The cultural elites always going on about how great books are, but frankly I don't trust anyone who's read one. Why read a book when your secretary can give you the gist...

What's really sad about this comment is it's total lack of any sort of business understanding... Republicans are supposed to be business friendly candidates? Ask any CEO if the computers or internet have impacted their business. The internet is more than Amazon and Wikipedia, it's the primary conduit of information and interaction for our economy. When's the last time someone kept books, traded stocks or conducted any financial transaction on paper; the 1970s?

The point isn't that McCain has a secretary to read to him, it's that computers and the internet have changed the rate and means of information storage, exchange and human interaction for all of civilization.

Techie or Non, just because some folks don't understand it or have no access doesn't matter. Some folks in the US still don't have access to running water. But then, why turn on a spigot when your secretary can bring you a bucket of water?

The most absurd thing about Freedomfighter's post is that he made it on the internet using a computer. Clearly, computers have more uses than porn, minesweeper and itunes, and the next President needs to understand that...

steve ofner | liberal art

So Tracy-

Nick S — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:14:42 -0400

How did John Edwards' mastery of the interwebs work out for him? Oh, that's right.

Ditto!

junothiall — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:34:20 -0400

Freedomfighter - ditto, ditto, ditto!

FF said:"The fact is, the computer can help officials but it is really more of a secretary's tool where the executive simply asks,"what emails did I get today?" and "send an email to so-and-so about the meeting".

I am certain McCain makes use of a computer but it would not surprise me if he does not have one. The computer is still largely a way of inventorying information."

And the internet is filled with unreliable information that you need to check, double-check, and triple-check to make sure you get your facts and figures correct.

War is deadly, that's why everybody wants peace.

It was once thought humans were the only creatures who fought wars, but closer observation of animal life has discovered wars between ant colonies and chimpanzee tribes.

In terms of just outright numbers:

Civil War - 363,020 Northern dead, 281,104 wounded
199,110 Southern dead, 137, 102 wounded
71.8 Billion between Union and Confederate dollars,
$970Billion today
WWI - 126,000 US dead, 134,300 wounded, 4526 POW, cost $33Billion in 1918 dollars, $465B today
WWII - 408,306 US dead, 670, 846 wounded, cost $360Billion in 1945 dollars, $429B today
Vietnam - 58219 US dead, 153,356 wounded, cost$111Billion in 1975 dollars, $440B today
Iraq(03 to 08) 4109 US dead, 29,978 wounded, cost $845Billion

Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it. Before y'all jabber on about Iraq, study what we did to ourselves on this continent in one war.

Don't overstate the case

Freedomfighter — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:37:42 -0400

This type of discussion is immensely frustrating because people quite literally do no understand the gap between non-techies and techies.

Computers and the internet have proven great for the following:
porn
music
movies
games

The fact is, the computer can help officials but it is really more of a secretary's tool where the executive simply asks,"what emails did I get today?" and "send an email to so-and-so about the meeting".

I am certain McCain makes use of a computer but it would not surprise me if he does not have one. The computer is still largely a way of inventorying information.

I hate to tell people, but much of what computers do, have only come around in the last ten years and much of what computers have done has not really helped people.

When I see the antiwar movement talk about how "bad" the Iraq war is, I ask, can you name a war with a better outcome than the Iraq war? They can't because they have not read any history.

Pffffftttttttttt...

David All — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 10:03:09 -0400

"Elizabeth [Edwards] really gets it, she's a blogger..."

...She's also to blame for most of the mistakes Edwards has made in the blogosphere. This Edwards staffer shouldn't confuse the important role of being the wife of the candidate to that of an online political operative.
________________________________________
David All
The David All Group
http://davidallgroup.com
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