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Too Much Free Time

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Aug 6th 2007 8:18pm




Filed Under:
computers, congress

Companies:
congress


Congressional Computer Crashes: Congressional Reps Too Confused To Vote

from the oh-no! dept

It's no secret that many members of Congress seem to not understand technology issues, but they sure don't seem to like it when their own technology malfunctions. The Raw Feed points us to the news that the Congressional computer that shows vote tallies in the House of Representatives went on the fritz Friday afternoon, leaving those poor Congressional Representatives with no large monitor to tell them how their colleagues were voting. Apparently, without having this information being prominently displayed, some were concerned that they wouldn't know if their votes were being accurately counted (they were), and therefore began debating whether voting should cease until the computer was fixed. Rep. Joe Barton pointed out that each side had their own computers with tallies, and if those tallies matched up, it seemed silly to delay the voting, but eventually the Representatives decided it was just too difficult and recessed while the machines were fixed. What ever did they do before computers?

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  1.  
    identicon
    Bill W, Aug 6th, 2007 @ 8:32pm

    Ahhhh ...

    and none of them seems to care when WE vote whether it's properly counted!?!?

    Sheesh!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
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    Anonymous Coward, Aug 6th, 2007 @ 9:14pm

    Ladies and gentlemen, these are the people that have been put in charge of the country.

    FEAR FOR YOUR LIVES.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
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    charlie potatoes, Aug 6th, 2007 @ 10:59pm

    Someone said joe barton?

    Here in Texas we say ol' joe couldn't pour piss out of his boots if you wrote instructions on the heel. He has no clue what anything high tech is, i assure you all. You can just look at that ol' boy and tell he ain't right.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
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    Sohrab, Aug 7th, 2007 @ 1:26am

    whaattt the fuck. Im with Coward on this one. These people are leading us?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
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    Enrico Suarve, Aug 7th, 2007 @ 1:48am

    Re: Ahhhh ...

    Yeah sure - YOU'RE supposed to just trust the machine, but the people telling you this obviously don't

    What exactly do they know that's making them so untrusting then?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
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    Anonymous Coward, Aug 7th, 2007 @ 4:01am

    More than likely it's that they wanted to see how the others voted to determine how they'd vote.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    identicon
    Nasty Old Geezer, Aug 7th, 2007 @ 4:53am

    Re: Leaders? NOT

    There are maybe two dozen people whose votes actually matter in Congress, the rest just line up in party mode like baby ducks.

    PS: Why is it called a political "party" when I never have any fun?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    icon
    Killer_Tofu (profile), Aug 7th, 2007 @ 5:42am

    Two Things

    Those lazy ass sons of ......
    They need to get to work and actually fix our country, not take more breaks.
    We really should be fearful when those who run our country don't care about its people.

    Thing 2: #7 Old Geezer, you're right man, most of them do just line up like baby ducks (but sometimes to their corporations wishes instead of political party alignment). Its sad.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    identicon
    Saxon, Aug 7th, 2007 @ 6:53am

    Wait...

    So how did they decide to wait for the computers come back up again? Surely they didn't vote on it.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
    identicon
    Jeff, Aug 7th, 2007 @ 7:32am

    ...

    *sigh* I...this...what the fuck...REALLY?!? THESE FUCKING MORONIC GODDAMN PUSBAGS ARE IN CHARGE OF THE MANAGEMENT OF MY FUTURE?! What the shit...if you...I mean I know for a fact that 1 comes after 2, and 3 and 4 are sure as fuck up next...I can do that magic all the way to 10 and beyond...so why in the holyshitassmothercocksuckfuck can't they? You really...what... (this will go on inside my head for days, pray for me)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  
    identicon
    Josh E., Aug 7th, 2007 @ 7:35am

    Re: Wait...

    >So how did they decide to wait for the computers come back up again? Surely they didn't vote on it.

    Likely through a voice vote (Aye and nay).

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  12.  
    identicon
    |333173|3|_||3, Aug 7th, 2007 @ 8:00am

    Divisions

    What is wrong with using the older system of everyone filing through one of two doors, and putting a slip into the box beside the relevant door? Everyone can see that they only voted once, and what the vote was, and the system is in use in most Commonwealth parliaments. The main down side is that it can take up to 20 minutes for a vote like this. What did congress do before the introduction of computers?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  
    identicon
    Sanguine Dream, Aug 7th, 2007 @ 8:10am

    I would like to LOL...

    if it weren't for the fact that these people are supposed to leading our nation.

    This goes to show you that these guys don't have faith in voting machines but expect we the citizens are supposed to blindly agree with them.

    And I'll bet that reccess lasted like the the rest of the day or something.


    And from comment #8

    Thing 2: #7 Old Geezer, you're right man, most of them do just line up like baby ducks (but sometimes to their corporations wishes instead of political party alignment). Its sad.


    Acutally I'd say that most of the time the baby ducks are following the wills of their coporate masters and sometimes they are just following the party line.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  14.  
    identicon
    niftyswell, Aug 7th, 2007 @ 9:11am

    I dont trust a politician that is smarter than me. Anyone who wants to be a politician these days only wants the job for the wrong reasons- it usually doesnt include any of my interests. Instead it is about paying back the people who donated the money that got them the job. So I take great comfort any day a vote is suspended, the houses are deadlocked, or they are debating trivial issues that dont mean anything...it means they are not taxing me or passing laws further restricting my freedom. Most of all it means they are not expanding branches of the government that dont mean crap to the voters creating artificial jobs at our expense!

    So this is a good thing- Hopefully they are upgrading all their machines to Vista this year- that should stall 'em!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  15.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Aug 7th, 2007 @ 9:26am

    Re:

    By "smarter than me" I'm sure you mean greedy.

    I do agree that the majority of politics these days is nothing more than favor collecting and back scratching.

    And while they aren't taxing you while on those breaks they are living off of you anyway. Who is paying for all those meals, lodgings, and travel expenses for these guys? Thats right you and all the other taxpayers.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  16.  
    icon
    Killer_Tofu (profile), Aug 7th, 2007 @ 11:43am

    Re #13 Sanguine Dream

    You are far more than likely being more accurate than I with who they follow.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  17.  
    identicon
    4-80-sicks, Aug 7th, 2007 @ 12:24pm

    Re: #14 by niftyswell

    I dont trust a politician that is smarter than me. Anyone who wants to be a politician these days only wants the job for the wrong reasons- it usually doesnt include any of my interests.

    A lot of people trust our current president because he's "one of the guys" and not "too smart." It's pretty clear that unless you are a large corporation and/or personal friend of his that he doesn't care about any of your interests, either. If you are looking for a dumb politician who truly cares about his constituents, I think you'll be looking for a long time!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  18.  
    identicon
    Tim, Aug 7th, 2007 @ 1:47pm

    vacation

    I'd rather Congress be on vacation 11 months out of the year. Think how much money we'll save!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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