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Ted Stevens and Sean O'Keefe In Plane Crash
necro81 writes "The NY Times is reporting that former Senator Ted Stevens was aboard a small plane with eight others that crashed in remote southwest Alaska Monday night. Some news outlets are reporting that he died, along with at least four others. Meanwhile, the North American CEO of aerospace firm EADS and former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe was was also reported in the crash. Rescue crews from the Alaska Air National Guard reached the site about ten hours after the initial crash."
Senator Stevens did perish in the crash. The fates of the other 8 on board have not yet been released to the public or media as of 11:10am AST.
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Update: Stevens was killed, fate of other passengers unknown.
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According to http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1419, Sean O'Keefe (and his son) both survived the crash, though they are "...banged up". This, per a family source.
Never underestimate the potential of Human stupidity. -Heinlein
Actually, this crash IS his second crash. He survived one other in 1978.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
Shortly after being elected to his second full term in 1978, he was aboard a private jet that went down at Anchorage International Airport, killing his first wife, Ann.
The plane, and the lodge it was flying to, are owned by GCI.
GCI is a large (the largest?) local cable/wireless/internet provider in Alaska.
Most likely, Ted "Series of Tubes" Stevens was prepping/being prepped for a new telecom lobbying gig; his two-year senate-lobbying exclusion window would have closed at the end of the year.
I don't want to disparage the man, not today; but I thought /. would like to know.
Those who fail to understand communication protocols, are doomed to repeat them over port 80.
For whatever reason, it is an American custom to eulogize dead politicians essentially without regard for quality. I'm not sure why.
Has anyone noticed that stories on Slashdot are showing up well after everyone has heard them from every other source? Why bother reporting it if you're going to report it the day after everyone has heard it.
You are not alone in that reaction.
And just so this isn't a "me too!" post, I found this tidbit from the article somewhat irritating:
“Last night, Alaska lost a hero and I lost a dear friend,” Senator Murkowski said in a statement. “The thought of losing Ted Stevens, a man who was known to business and community leaders, Native chiefs and everyday Alaskans as ‘Uncle Ted,’ is too difficult to fathom. His entire life was dedicated to public service — from his days as a pilot in World War II to his four decades of service in the United States Senate. He truly was the greatest of the ‘Greatest Generation.’ ”
Not quite the Ted Stevens I'm familiar with...
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
I mean for one, the "series of tubes" thing just sounds funny. It was not an eloquent way of putting it. Second, it is a rather large oversimplification. Ok I'm fine with it for children since you are trying to really simplify it, but it is a bad way to describe it overall. The relationship between my plumbing (an actual series of tubes) and my net connection is tenuous at best despite the Internet connection begin called a "pipe" in some contexts.
However the biggest reason was because from the entire explanation, it is clear he has no idea what the fuck he is talking about. What he said was:
"Ten movies streaming across that, that Internet, and what happens to your own personal Internet? I just the other day got...an Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday. I got it yesterday [Tuesday]. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially.
[...] They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the Internet. And again, the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It's not a big 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."
It is clear the man understands nothing about the net. More or less he's bitching that has staffer sent him an e-mail which he calls "an Internet", and it was delayed for some reason. That he blames on people watching movies online. The amount of shit incorrect about that is just legendary.
Had it been said as part of a competent explanation, it probably wouldn't have been picked up on. However his halting, improper explanation made it seem that he probably really did think of the Internet as being just like a sewer system, which is not at all correct.
why the hell is this news in the slashdot?? how is this WORLD (not USA) news worthy?
This is NOT a WORLD news website. This is an American website. RTFM: http://slashdot.org/faq/editorial.shtml#ed850
Just because the U.S. is a republic does not mean it is not a democracy. Democracy/republic are not mutually exclusive.
He was hated because he was a corrupt SOB. Ridiculing him for his fake expertise was just the low hanging fruit.
He gets flack about it because he stood up there talking about something he knew absolutely nothing about, babbling words that some lobbyist paid him (er, um... donated to his campaign) to say.
A shining example of the worst our legislative process has to offer...
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
Remember Mary Schiavo voicing concerns for ValueJet safety, and Stevens tell her to STFU and stop disparaging a corporation ?
His "series of tubes" diatribe was funny, highly entertaining stuff in and of itself. If he was a late night comedian, I doubt many if any slashdotters would be venting "good riddance" at this man's death. But the context of his series of tubes diatribe was something else. He was making law, law applicable to an arena most slashdotters hold dear, and he demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the subject matter, while demonstrating that he was supporting a position he was paid to support, without regard of how that would impact the People. That made him more than a silly old man... that put him in a very dishonorable position.
Personally, I think that paled in comparison to his behavior during the hearings on record high gas prices, where he nastily shot down colleagues who wanted the record-profit-making oil company executives to be under oath. You can find the written quotes (near end of article) easily enough, but if you can find video, you will see that his attitude indicated he was firmly siding with those executives over any public interest, before the hearings even began.
This man occupied a job "for the people" while feeling far more beholden to his corporate sponsors. It was obvious from so many incidents in which he was involved... from his own words and deeds, let alone his funding. I'm not thrilled at his death, but I certainly don't lament it. I'm not thrilled because he was just one obvious example, in a system that entirely favors and rewards the kind of misdeeds he performed. That system is still in place. Those hating the player are only behaving shamefully if they're failing to hate the game in this case. Those in the wrong are those who think Stevens was especially bad in any way other than getting his behavior more airtime in the media (because he was funny about it). I only wish all senators, etc... were as entertaining, so that more of their behavior would be spotlighted in the same way.
Yes, he qualified to be a P-38 pilot, but the entire class was sent to cargo planes because someone booed the CO during the graduation ceremony.
He served on C-47 and C-46s flying the Hump and in China with 14th Air Force.
" series of tubes"
The is an electronic reference. Ted Stevens hasn't got a grasp on technology as far back as the 70's.
hell, half his quote makes no damn sense at all.
Since departed Ted was crafting how the public could use the internet, that quote should scare you. It's clearly someone in charge of something they have no grasp of.
Here is the first part of that quote:
"Ten movies streaming across that, that Internet, and what happens to your own personal Internet? I just the other day got...an Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday. I got it yesterday [Tuesday]. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially."
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I have yet to see a single piece of evidence that Ted Stevens was not a 100%, bought and paid for shill to industry, with no ethics or redeeming value. He treated congress like a smash and grab for money for his supporters. I'm sad he died in a plane crash instead of prison where he would have been if it weren't for the ineptitude of the prosecutors of his corruption investigation.
You mean like the prosecutor being held in contempt for withholding evidence? Or the part where the FBI agent and the star witness against Stevens? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021303092.html
Well, if we can eulogize good ol' Teddy Kennedy, we can certainly week for Teddy Stevens, who was only the Diet Pepsi of evil compared to Kennedy.
Teddy Stevens had his pipes, but Teddy Kennedy more or less murdered Mary Jo, gave us our modern immigration policies which we're paying for now, and made a number of amazingly stupid statements, including his famous opposition to Robert Bork: "Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens."
Stevens was a saint compared with Kennedy.
the guy was not adolf hitler,
So what if he was? You say that they should be revered, not punished. So why not "adolf"? At what level of evil do you draw the line? And since you imply that line exists because of the differentiation between him and someone else, how can you be sure that he isn't on the other side of that line?
so listen up, asshole: you respect the recently departed
They are dead. What do they care? I met the man. I shook his hand. I had a conversation with his wife. What right to you have to tell me what I can and can't say about him? Have you met him? I'm certainly not qualified for a eulogy, but to ban all talking is silly.
Besides, don't you know your Shakespeare? "The evil men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones." It's not a new idea.
Learn to love Alaska
"...The guy died in a plane paid for by Alaska's largest telcom..."
In addition, he was in the company of Jim Morhard, a "connections" man from Alexandria. This person openly sells his influence on Capitol Hill to all with money (enough money, I should say). His company website is a pretty interesting read.
http://www.morhard.us/about.asp
Pay close attention to the wording of the "Why choose Morhard & Associates to serve you?" section at the bottom. Scary shit when you think about it. This is a private entity claiming "We know how to analyze legislation and understand its impacts. We are expert drafters of legislation." Since when do private entities draft legislation?
This guy and Stevie were backroom-dealers if there ever was one, and GCI was footing the "expenses".
Just fucking lovely. Shame about the kids though.
Just like how all the Republicans honor Reagan while pushing an agenda that doesn't look anything like what Reagan would have done.
Holy fucking shit. The entire Republican agenda since 1980 has been entirely based around what Reagan would have and much more importantly *did* do to fuck this country. He didn't do anything that helped us at all for t5he love of anything decent. How ignorant and fucking stupid are you to even want to believe something so utterly false. It is refuted by every relevant fact bar none. It is not supported by a single fact. It is that far outside even basic sanity. No wonder he had to win by dragging the lunatic fringe of religious nutters and lying constantly to them about America. Telling those scum to shove their vile ignorant shot into our government was one of Reagan's many direct, intentional acts of treason.
The current economic collapse is a direct result of Reagan's idiotic, economic policies which have remained essentially unchanged since Reagan implemented them.
Reagan was one of if not the worst presidents we've ever had.
From trickle down economics which is the direct cause of the massive wealth disparity hence the manifold decimation of the middle class and the current economic collapse to his avid support for terrorists in direct violation of congressional orders and hence the crack epidemic created by Reagan selling crack in the streets of America in order to fund terrorism around the world and hence the current state of worldwide terrorism.
That lying piece of shit Nazi traitor is *exactly* the template for everything the Republican party has done since. Bush II was an exact copy of Reagan with only one meaningful difference. Reagan was an actor, hence a professional liar. Bush was an idiotic liar to the point that anybody who thought it could possibly be ok to vote for him has declared themselves to be deserving on nothing but contempt.
Republicans honor Reagan because he destroyed everything that made America great and everything once great about America is exactly what Republicans despise most in the world as proven absolutely by even the most cursory glance at current events.