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Internet Co-inventor Vint Cerf Endorses Obama

SEAActionFund writes "Vint Cerf, Google's Chief Internet Evangelist who also happens to be credited with co-founding the Internet, submitted a video to our AVoteforScience YouTube challenge. In it he discusses the importance of net neutrality and endorses Barack Obama specifically because he supports net neutrality (John McCain does not.) The AVoteForScience challenge calls upon scientists to upload videos to YouTube explaining who they are voting for and why. The first two videos were by Cerf and the 2008 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry Marty Chalfie. Any Slashdotters game for explaining who they are voting for and why?" Still waiting for one of the campaigns to ask for my endorsement, which is totally available to whichever campaign offers me the better cabinet seat.

36 of 713 comments (clear)

  1. Not like it matters much ... by CrackerJackz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A staggering number of people in this country dont believe results that these scientists / engineers come up with, I don't think the (Quoting Palin) *ahem* 'Joe Six Packs' of this nation care.

    This election is going to come down to what it always does, who has: 'who's the candidate I can see having a beer with'

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17316144

    1. Re:Not like it matters much ... by SoundGuyNoise · · Score: 5, Funny

      John McCain is probably a mean drunk.

      --
      You never expect irony, do you?
      Want to be a professional wrestler? Visit www.iyfwrestling.com
      @iyfwrestling
    2. Re:Not like it matters much ... by dwarg · · Score: 4, Funny

      I bet Obama is hilarious when he's drunk. People that speak very well sober are really funny when they start slurring their speech and their long sentences start breaking down as their train of thought wanders.

      Now I really want to get Obama drunk... and then take him behind a middle school, and get him pregnant...

      Did I just say that out loud?

    3. Re:Not like it matters much ... by bzipitidoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Scientists are not voting Republican. Among serious contenders with a chance, that pretty much leaves the Democrats. Scientists have never been so united in opposition to a party. Science should be apolitical, but it can't be this election.

      The reasons are easy. Republicans have no respect for and little understanding of science. Science is all about the truth. Let me emphasize that-- truth. We have our Scientific Method, dedicated wholly to asking all the questions we can think of, leaving no stone uncovered, and getting the best, most accurate answers we can. But these jokers haven't hesitated to throw science under the bus and whip up obviously wrong, flawed, and outright lying studies time and time again to support positions they had already unreasoningly decided they like. As Colbert said, they make facts based on decisions. They have exploited public misunderstandings of what science is to push their agendas another few steps, and haven't troubled themselves about the costs of the public confusion they've created. So we hear people saying that science is just another religion, and they say that like they really believe it. We have the wretched, unfair catch phrase "flip-flop" which was supposed to describe a person who doesn't stick to their principles, but has instead been perverted to smear anyone who changes their approach thanks to new information. Bush Administration regard for science is extremely backhanded-- the fact that they trot out manure and bother to dress it up as science shows that they do recognize that science has a good reputation. They don't seem to get that this abuse of science is detrimental to that very reputation they're trying to use. The Republican Party, once the party of fiscal responsibility and prudence, has degenerated to this. To being an unholy alliance between liars with industrial agendas and liars with religious agendas. They're united only in the lying. They use the same dishonest techniques to push their very different agendas. Remember, Exxon wanted scientists to say Global Warming wasn't real, was just a big liberal conspiracy. "Doubt is our product". Social conservatives absolutely love "evidence" of liberal conspiracies, and are willing and ready to run with that idea anytime, and also take a leaf from that playbook and commission studies to answer such leading questions as "Is abortion detrimental to women's health?" Don't forget that lying Bush administration flunky, George Deutsch, who dared to censor scientific research. Everyone has heard how the administration cooked the evidence on Iraq, but there's far more abuse than that. Cheney bears most of the responsibility for the Klamath River Fish Kill. We're suffering myriad health problems that could be directly attributed to pollution, but we don't know as much as we should because research in those areas has been strongly discouraged. And we can only speculate on what medical advances we could be benefiting from right now if only stem cell research hadn't been suppressed. McCain seemed like he might break away from this terrible direction and take the Republican Party towards a more honest stance, but his pick of a social conservative global warming skeptic for running mate shows that he's given that up. I'd like the Republicans to be a reasonable choice again some day, but it won't be today, not by a country mile.

      That's why scientists don't seem to have credibility. I sadly suspect "Joe 6 Pack" isn't going to be in the least impressed by the endorsements of scientists. How is Joe supposed to tell which science is real, and which is a pack of self-serving lies that shouldn't be called science? And why should he care? Thanks to this vicious campaign of misuse and abuse, he has serious doubts about the relevance and trustworthiness of science itself, which in any case, he just doesn't understand. He gets no help in understanding science, quite the opposite. No help from those liars with agendas who want to use Joe's confusion and anything else readily usable to manipulate Joe's opinions.

      --
      Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
  2. def by jDeepbeep · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was under the impression that neither candidate has *defined* what they mean by NN. If either has defined it well and I've missed it, let me know. Until then, meh.

    --
    Reply to That ||
  3. Obama by PunkOfLinux · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "Still waiting for one of the campaigns to ask for my endorsement, which is totally available to whichever campaign offers me the better cabinet seat." My, you sure do like the spoils system, huh?

    Anyway, I'm voting for Obama - he doesn't believe in charging women to get rape exams; he is pro-choice; he is for net neutrality; he didn't pick his running mate based on tits and ovaries (And I don't mean McCain picked Palin because she has nice ones. I mean he picked her because she just HAS tits and ovaries); he doesn't support abstinence only education; his economic plan makes more sense to me.

    Also, all these people who are like "OMG his name is Barack Hussein Obama, he's a terrorist!" really should go read about a) the muslim religion b) why he has that name.

    1. Re:Obama by samkass · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not wanting to start anything but I'm just curious who should be paying for the rape exams if not the people who are actually using them?

      Okay, so... The state is using them, so the state should pay for them. It is criminal evidence, not a medical procedure. We don't make murder victim's estates pay for gathering murder evidence, either. It's in the general good to prosecute criminals, and it's been accepted that evidence gathering is the responsibility of the police and paid for by the state. Why rape should be any different is beyond me.

      --
      E pluribus unum
    2. Re:Obama by Hyppy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Uhm... You pay for every other part of a police investigation. Why punish a woman who has been raped?

    3. Re:Obama by Big+Nothing · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "who should be paying for the rape exams if not the people who are actually using them? [...] Why should that be the general taxpayer?"

      I got 5 mod points, but I can't help but replying instead of using the points.

      The mere fact that people that like you exist in the same world as me scares the living shit out of me. Whatever happened to having even the slightest touch of basic human compassion? Is the financial bottom line really THAT important to you, that you cannot fathom spending a few bucks on a fellow human being? Why should the tax payers pay for rape exams you ask? Because it's the fucking decent fucking thing to do, that's why!

      GAWD! If I ever wished there was a way to stab someone in the face over the internet, now is the time. I hope you die from something painful.

      --
      SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
    4. Re:Obama by kellyb9 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Voting for a candidate because they are either prolife or prochoice is the dumbest decision ever. In 8 years, none of that is going to change regardless of who's president. Social issues are meant to distract the American public from the things that are really important. They are used as rallying cries, but in the end, little will change with any one of them. Believe me, they will still be issues meant to rally the Republican and Democrat base in 8 years. You as an Obama supporter and a likely democrat should know this simply because you may have lost the election 4 years ago because of the prolife vote. Everytime a candidate appeals to his base, I lose a little bit of respect for them. I'd rather them speak their mind about issues that they can do something about.... but they rarely do.

    5. Re:Obama by EastCoastSurfer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I agree! Where is my smaller government candidate? I don't think those actually exist anymore. I'll probably just end up writing in Ron Paul, not because I believe in everything he says and wants to do, but he's the only one who has shown he as ANY clue about the current financial mess we're in.

    6. Re:Obama by PunkOfLinux · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This country was *founded* by people who could be characterized as terrorists and radicals. Really, I have no problem with radicals. The terrorism thing, yeah, I do have a bit of a problem with the guy in question - but I don't believe in guilt by association. That's like saying because I hang out with a guy who was thought to be a serial killer, I must be bad...

    7. Re:Obama by Uberbah · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem is his association with Bill Ayers a unapoligetic terrorist.

      And the head of McCain's transition team used to lobby for Saddam Hussien. Playing the "associations" game is asinine, because there isn't a person on this planet that can't be connected to an unsavory person in one or two steps.

    8. Re:Obama by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Insightful

      classic how your version of compassion only applies to certain situations.

      Yes. I lack compassion for those who completely lack it themselves. If possible I would wish upon them, and only them, the world that they wish for, so they could see the cruelty of their ways without others suffering for it. Then maybe they would gain some compassion for others, and thus be deserving of some.

      I don't see how this is hypocritical at all. I have compassion for the victim of rape. I have no compassion for someone who lacks compassion for the victim of rape.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    9. Re:Obama by Colonel+Korn · · Score: 5, Informative

      One of McCain's close friends is G Gordon Liddy (documented a bit on Wikipedia), who McCain claims to admire. This is after Liddy masterminded Watergate, planned assassinations of anti-Republican politicians for Nixon, the firebombing of political enemies, and advocated the murder of federal agents. The association between McCain and Liddy is much closer than the one between Obama and Ayers, includes Liddy fund raising for McCain, and Liddy is much worse of a terrorist than Ayers ever was.

      --
      "I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
  4. Barr by Jaysyn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm voting for Barr because neither one of the Republicrat candidates represent my views.

    It is my belief that representing you views is the only reason you should vote for any candidate, but the voting population has been gamed for so long they are like Pavlov's dog.

    --
    There is a war going on for your mind.
    1. Re:Barr by PunkOfLinux · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think a lot of people here on slashdot would like to vot for a third party. It's just that if we act sincerely, we end up more fucked than if we act strategically. Nader got, what, half a million votes? If those votes had gone to Gore and then Kerry, we wouldn't have had 8 years of Bushy shitness. Sure, those people might have liked Nader better, but instead of their candidate, or even the next best candidate in their view, we get ... dubya.

    2. Re:Barr by Abreu · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sure, those people might have liked Nader better, but instead of their candidate, or even the next best candidate in their view, we get ... dubya.

      True.

      I don't vote on the american elections, however their results affect the entire world.

      So I would also like to remind slashdoters that the entire world is hoping that we don't end up with an american president who believes that the earth is 6000 years old and who believes that living a few hundred miles away from siberia gives you foreign policy experience.

      (Because seriously, McCain is not going to last more than two years... Not with the pressures of being president!)

      --
      No sig for the moment.
    3. Re:Barr by Sloppy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's just that if we act sincerely, we end up more fucked than if we act strategically. Nader got, what, half a million votes? If those votes had gone to Gore and then Kerry, we wouldn't have had 8 years of Bushy shitness.

      Yes, but if Nader supporters had voted Democrat instead, you would have had years of a Democrat president without any signal that you wanted more Naderesque policies. I understand that you would prefer a Democrat to Bush, but you also sent a painful message to that party about what kind of government you want. They're now on notice that they need to offer you a more "progressive" platform unless they want to take the risk of losing Yet Again.

      It's a tradeoff to evaluate, not necessarily a no-brainer. Should progressives "settle" for Democrats; should conservatives "settle" for Republicans? Or should people work toward getting what they actually want? Voting for the republicrats possibly minimizes damage, but also leaves no hope for the future. Both approaches are "strategic" but have different strategic objectives.

      --
      As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
  5. Growing up.. by bigattichouse · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Growing up, my parents had the same answer to the two following questions: 1. How much money do you make? 2. Who are you voting for? The answer? None of your damn business.

    --
    meh
  6. Single issue votes are incorrect. by AuralityKev · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think a vote for or against someone because of a single view, be it abortion stance, environmental stance, or net neutrality stance is not exactly the best way to go about things. If you boil things down to one really narrow issue and vote solely on that you run the risk of voting in 9 evils for the 1 "good" idea you're passionate about.

  7. It's Exposure to One Side that Causes Me to Vote by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I live in Virginia in the Washington D.C. metro area. I've been exposed to avid fans from both sides and have decided I won't be voting for McCain. Why? Read the fifth paragraph down in this article to get an idea of what one sometimes has to deal with. And all I need to do is peruse factcheck.org to see who's lying about what.

    Call me stupid & naive for desiring a non-manipulative president but I've been nonplussed with the McCain campaign (and Fox News for that matter). Both candidates twisted each others words but I haven't been exposed to many negative ads against McCain. I wish I didn't have to vote for either of them, we'll still be at war four years from now regardless of who wins--it's probably just a matter of how many countries we'll be at war with.

    --
    My work here is dung.
  8. Re:Pundit by Sir.Cracked · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you think ANY field is "unrelated" to politics, you arn't paying attention.

    --
    Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?
  9. Florida voter: by philspear · · Score: 5, Funny

    I really liked the last 8 years of Bush rule, so I'm going to vote for Nader again.

  10. I'm waiting too ... by richg74 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Still waiting for one of the campaigns to ask for my endorsement, which is totally available to whichever campaign offers me the better cabinet seat.

    So am I. I mean, Sarah Palin claims to understand foreign policy because she can see Russia from Alaska. I've actually lived in a couple of other countries -- even one where (gasp!) they don't speak English. So I certainly should be Secretary of State -- or Ambassador to the UN, at the very least.

    Or maybe I can be Secretary of Agriculture. After all, I know how to ride a horse, and I milked a cow once.

  11. Re:hum? by CrackerJackz · · Score: 4, Informative

    It boils down to: can content carries make cost changes to providers or content.

    For example (totally made up):

    Comcast and AT&T really like Disney, Disney made a large 'Donation' to AT&T: In a net-newtral world, there is not a lot anyone can do, or notice, however *without* it: Comcast / AT&T can give priority to Disney / NBC content over say, NickJr.com.

    It also allows them to charge Google big$ because 'oh my god, they use all our bandwidth answering search requests' The fallacy there (and what the lawmakers seems to be missing) is that Google *already pays* for a connection from their data centers to the Tubes...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality
    for all the gory details :)

  12. Re:Pundit by darkvizier · · Score: 4, Insightful

    JaRule is likely endorsing whoever promises to legalize marijuana. Vint Cerf is likely endorsing the person that best represents his values. Since he is (presumably) a leader in technology and slashdot is a place for geeks, his opinion may well be relevant for the readers of this site.

    Stick around for logical fallacies 101.

  13. Re:Pundit by Remloc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    [...]Obama's political spectrum and priorities far outweigh any relation an internet engineer could bring to the table. Seriously, if the fact that this dude is endorsing Obama ends up swaying a voter, then I think it can only be qualified as laughable -- not newsworthy.

    The great unwashed masses hardly vote rationally. Witness the "P.U.M.A"s who were for Clinton but now plan to vote McCain (a diametric opposite) simply because Clinton losing hurt their feelings.

  14. Re:Pundit by imstanny · · Score: 4, Insightful

    JaRule is likely endorsing whoever promises to legalize marijuana. Vint Cerf is likely endorsing the person that best represents his values. Since he is (presumably) a leader in technology and slashdot is a place for geeks, his opinion may well be relevant for the readers of this site.Stick around for logical fallacies 101.

    The problem is that this engineer's should be extolled for endorsing Obama based on the qualified reasoning and logic behind his endorsement, even if those reasons are strictly based on the internet and technology. Instead, he's being extolled for endorsing Obama based on the fact that he invented the internet. It makes for a catchy headline, but it's not logical at all.

  15. i am voting for barack obama by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

    but that doesn't matter

    what matters is i VOTE

    anyone reading this who is not going to vote, i have nothing for you but the most withering disgust i can muster

    there are many arguments as to why it is important for you to vote, but here's probably the best one i can think of right now:

    2,912,790 to 2,912,253

    it gave us the last 8 years of fail

    in these numbers, are those responsible for our worst president ever

    next election, don't let the source of our failure be you

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:i am voting for barack obama by Reality+Master+101 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      anyone reading this who is not going to vote, i have nothing for you but the most withering disgust i can muster

      I don't want everyone to vote. I want everyone to be *informed*. And if that leads to voting, then fine. But if someone is not going to vote, then chances are they are not informed, and thus should stay home and leave the voting to people who actually know what they're voting for.

      In other words, I respect the man who knows he isn't informed and thus stays home, more than I respect the uninformed man who votes out of guilt.

      --
      Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
  16. Re:Watch me get modded troll. by JeepFanatic · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3513.041

    Actually looked up the code in Ohio here and right in the 1st paragraph it says:

    Write-in votes shall not be counted for any candidate who has not filed a declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate pursuant to this section.

    This being true ... I don't understand why you got modded down to zero.

  17. Re:Pundit by tgd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That suggests both are in fact supporting whoever best represents the values they hold most important.

    There's only a few reasons to endorse someone:

    - you agree with them
    - you are being payed by them
    - you disagree that strongly with their opponent

  18. Re:Pundit by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No concrete differences? Well other than abortion rights, health care, tax strategy, foreign policies, education, and separation of church and state you are absolutely right - I can't see a difference.
    To be honest, it would be hard to find a better example of two fundamentally diametrically opposed female politicians as Clinton and Palin.

    --
    "But this one goes to 11!"
  19. A vote for Obama by daveywest · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I typically vote republican, and I was a delegate to the republican county convention here in Nevada this year, but I've decided to vote Obama this year.

    Maybe the man hasn't been in politics long enough, but there isn't any real dirt on the man. He really is a good honest man with a loving family. Contrast that with McCain. When McCain returned from Vietnam, both he and his (former) wife were vastly different people. No one would have blamed him for calling it quits on their marriage. Instead of caring for his crippled wife, he choose to live a fast life chasing any blond tail he could get his hands on. John McCain's moral compass points too far off true north for my vote. He even choose a running mate who is oblivious to her ethical shortcomings.

    When I look at party platforms, I don't agree with a lot of Democratic ideals, but when I look at the man running for president, I see a man who has values that reflect my own.

  20. Re:Marty Chalfie vote also for Obama by ultranova · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The BIGGEST problem with Obama's stated goal of income redistribution is that it creates a sense of entitlement, the poor are ENTITLED to money, just because they don't have any.

    The biggest problem with libertarians and other anti-tax people is that they feel they're ENTITLED to a quality of life above that of a lone subsistence farmer while simultaneously complaining when forced to support the society which makes such quality possible. Indeed, many rage against the government confiscating part of their income on the very Internet which was funded with those confiscated resources, completely ignoring the fact that they only have "income" because they live in an organized society that is kept running with that confiscated portion, and wondering why the general populace doesn't vote for them.

    Please tell me, where am I wrong? Don't just mod me "troll", tell me, what right anyone has to take from anyone else, just because they want something?

    It comes down to having two mutually exclusive choices:

    1. Do not tax anyone. Consequently, all the resources - wealth - in the society are concentrated on a few hands, and the rest live a miserable life or outright starve, just like it was during the industrial revolution. Since starving people have nothing to lose but their chains, such conditions can and have led to bloody revolutions.
    2. Tax people, therefore taking some of that concentrated wealth back from those who have it and redistribute it to the poor, thus preventing anyone from starving or getting truly desperate but having to put up with whining libertarians who'd rather "let them eat cake".

    Most people consider the life and well-being of the majority of the citizens as well as the stability of the society to be more important than the right of the few to enjoy all the benefits of an organized society without paying any of the price. I know that that is shocking and stomach-turning to you, but try to understand that these people suffer from mental conditions called "empathy" and "thinking beyond your nose", so they really can't help it.

    Tyranny of the mob isn't an excuse!

    Tyranny of a few wealthy feudal lords isn't better, you know. Unless you happen to be one of them, of course. Do you perhaps fancy yourself John Galt ?

    --

    Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.