" I would find Swaggart much more preferable than the dumbbell commissioner
Kathleen Q. Abernathy.

The first requirement for FCC chief should be NO law
degree.

Some brains and some technical comprehension would be a plus.

I think you have hit the nail on the head here.
The FCC commissioners are all WASH DC political hacks. LOTS of
"connections", but NO TECHNICAL experience.

IF you're going to write regulations for a very technical subject area, you
have to have the technical expertise and ability to understand what the
consequences of your rules and regulations are. Technical competence, NOT
the fact that you were a legislative assistant to a senator from North
Dakota, or on the board of zoning appeals, will make you effective.
Otherwise, you will be BS'ed by lobbyists that have an axe to grind, and you
will make poor regulatory decisions with poor outcomes, because you can't
forsee the unexpected consequences of you new regulations.


Abernathy is NOT stupid.
She is just a technically illiterate lawyer.
She doesn't understand RF,propagation or antenna theory, consequently, BPL
which is touted to bring the internet to the rural masses, sounds wonderful.

I should be the next FCC commisioner.

Dan
AI8O

"ai8o" wrote in message
...

" I would find Swaggart much more preferable than the dumbbell
commissioner
Kathleen Q. Abernathy.

The first requirement for FCC chief should be NO law
degree.

Some brains and some technical comprehension would be a
plus.

I think you have hit the nail on the head here.
The FCC commissioners are all WASH DC political hacks. LOTS of
"connections", but NO TECHNICAL experience.

IF you're going to write regulations for a very technical subject area,
you
have to have the technical expertise and ability to understand what the
consequences of your rules and regulations are. Technical competence, NOT
the fact that you were a legislative assistant to a senator from North
Dakota, or on the board of zoning appeals, will make you effective.
Otherwise, you will be BS'ed by lobbyists that have an axe to grind, and
you
will make poor regulatory decisions with poor outcomes, because you can't
forsee the unexpected consequences of you new regulations.


Abernathy is NOT stupid.

Depends on how you define stupid, I suppose.

She is just a technically illiterate lawyer.
She doesn't understand RF,propagation or antenna theory, consequently, BPL
which is touted to bring the internet to the rural masses, sounds
wonderful.

I should be the next FCC commisioner.

I could vote for that, Dan. I'm an ex-8lander living in NC also. I didn't
keep my 2x1 call, however.

ak

On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 17:27:30 -0500, ai8o wrote:

The FCC commissioners are all WASH DC political hacks. LOTS of
"connections", but NO TECHNICAL experience.

Technical experience by itself isn't necessary if the Commissioner(s)
has/have an Engineering Assistant whose job is to absorb the technical
stuff and lay it out in a manner that the Commissioner can understand
and act on.

The good Commissioners have all had such folks on their staff. None
of the current ones do, although I could be wrong in regard to
Commissioners Copps and Adelstein, the only two with brains.

Several decades ago a former colleague of mine started a movement to
get the Communications Act changed to mandate that at least one
Commissioner have a degree in engineering or physics or be a
Registered Professional Engineer. Although most of the engineers
supported that, it went absolutely nowhere.

The last "engineer" Commissioner was George Sterling in the late
1940s. During WW-II he had headed up the Radio Intelligence Division
which chased German and Japanese spies using radio. He was also the
last Commissioner who was a licensed ham during his time at the agency.

Common sense and a good grasp of what communication regulation
should be is what is really needed. Rubber stamps can be obtained
at any office supply store.

Two more electron's worth....

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane