When you stop and think about the popularity of the 3 above individuals, they all have one thing in common, they are great communicators, and I like and watch all 3 
of them. In today’s society I think I have a lot of company in that respect as well. These folks make sense and are talented enough to break through the walls of deaf ears and at least bring about an awareness in areas that others don’t seem to approach. All of them not only make us laugh, but they also make us think.
These are smart folks too and always include technology and in what they speak of too and the public recognizes this and we very rarely get any of that from our leaders but quite the opposite so much of the time. Anyone in the public eye today is open game for comedy, just goes with the territory, but these folks are not just entertainers, all of them share one commonality with all, they remember they are also citizens and when you watch, that message is clear and alive. All of them relate to reality today and are very much aware of the changing world we live in today, and this is why we like them. 
Jon Stewart even makes the news over at Fox too.
In my opinion politicians should pay attention to what these folks have to say as the American public is tuned in. All of them are very much to the point on bringing to light the old retired paradigms that live in Congress that need to pack up and go away. All of them are vey much in tune with how technology is affecting our lives today, a big gray area of what I call “nonparticipants” with so many members of Congress and why public opinion today is so low, people see this, 
even though they may not understand everything themselves, the view is clear.
Take a look and see who some of their guests are on the shows, we see Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt and many more from the technology side of the world today, and those folks certainly see the communication avenue here, otherwise they would not be wasting time, they get it and this drives home the point of why “general digital IT literacy” is needed today for all. You can 
only have your staff do so much and it’s just like driving a car, sometimes you need to shift for yourself like everyone else does. On the other hand too, people like Erick Schmidt and Bill Gates know the crowd and the awareness all 3 of them command and spend time with all of them to bring about the need for consumer digital awareness and technology. In short you have “smarts” working both sides here which is a good thing compared to hearing about mosques in New York and the other non relative distractions that captivate the news and make for the next OMG story.
Stephen Colbert has coined some new terminology, “proofiness” and it has lead the way for a new book, which I am looking forward to reading as I have been talking about this same item for a couple years with healthcare, those algorithms and what is really going on. Politicians can make all kinds of promises but if they are not in tune with what runs behind the scenes on what makes their promises happen, aka the algorithms, they look illiterate, and one of these 3 will capitalize on this.
Mr. Colbert this week had the President of Google on the show and what did they talk about: algorithms.
“Proofiness–The Dark Side of Mathematical Deception”–Created by Those Algorithms–New Book Coming Out Soon
Stephen Colbert Talks to Google CEO Eric Schmidt About Algorithms, Data Mining and the Web
Without first hand knowledge and participation you don’t look too smart out there today, and these folks make a living capitalizing on it, and rightly so. We love them for that. If you go back over the 3 years of the Medical Quack you will find embedded videos from all of them as I felt were relative to current day topics and discussions. I have a couple of my own phrases I used here, like “nonparticipants” so I can speak out and be politically correct and hopefully make a point. I think we need a “Department of Algorithms”
“Department of Algorithms – Do We Need One of These to Regulate Upcoming Laws?
One other great show was with Stephen Colbert taking on technology from the “common sense” side of the world, talking about Glow Caps, a pill bottle that is wireless and does the communicating for the patient with medications. What is important about this is the fact that he brings this to light, but also touches on the implementation of how this works, disruptive, or helpful?
The Colbert Report Takes On Vitality GlowCaps (Video) – Check Out the Privacy Issues Here As Medication Data is Created That Can Be Sold To Health Insurance Companies For Use With Underwriting Algorithms
Congress for the most part with being “nonparticipants” is not really aware of how biometric monitoring works, but yet as citizens we are having all of this pushed down our throats without a solid plan sometimes. The vendors and insurance companies think everyone should be tied in to a device that reminds us and keeps us on track, which may or may not be a bad idea, but what if a consumer is already tied into 2 or 3 other devices too, how many can we have room for?
Personally to bring this point home on healthcare and how these devices work whether it is exercise, taking medications, etc. I think every member of Congress should be a pilot and experience some of this so they understand where sensors and software are going today. What if they were in session and received messages saying “your need to move more-get up and walk-you are not meeting your daily exercise goals”. This could make for one heck of a YouTube video and drive home what “participation” is to show 
both the good and dark side of all of this at once.
All we would need to do would be equip every member of Congress with a device, a Fitbit, Muve Gruve or use a program on a smart phone to keep them in check, and gosh knows you can see some big BMIs up there with those folks too who need a diet or some exercise. These devices even monitor you while you sleep, can you see Congress members looking at their own data? This stands to be a Congressional “don’t tell” issue if used think <grin>. 
After all they are the leaders making laws today and as citizens we want to know if they are making the most out of their sleep efficiency as this is what is being marketed to the American consumer today and some companies have programs that kind of force feed this for employees to get discounts to afford their healthcare insurance premiums which are going up next month all over the country.
Next time there’s some coverage just look around as fat lives there too and this is something members do have in common with the American public, it lives everywhere so thus the need to kill this paradigm of “its for those guys over there”. I thought maybe the first lady perhaps with not wanting a lot of attention when her program for children and obesity was announced was embarrassed as she was looking at a crowd of adults (all members of he House and Senate) who needed some information in this area too.
Why Was Michelle Obama 'embarrassed' by The Standing Ovation As Obesity Program for Children Was Announced
“Stop that filibuster, device says I’m not getting enough exercise so everything goes on hold for a few minutes while we stop and walk around and answer to our electronic wellness coach that is calling and nagging me with text messages. I make this point as this is what is being sold to the American public marketed via many insurance companies and the users have jobs too, so do they stop and tell the customer on the phone, I can’t talk now my devices says I have to move around right now or my wellness coach won’t give me a passing grade here and if I don’t do this my insurance premiums may go up as my company has a contract that says I have to do this to keep my portion of my health insurance premiums down and I get that discount.
Devices can be helpful but participatory sensing and how they fit into daily life is important for the end users. Marketing and proof of concept today is like a runaway train and this is not happening but rather the chase for the data to analyze is somewhat shoving this down our throats without adequate planning and realizing 
the effects it has on just living your life. Stuff like this too in the news scares me as there are stores like Best Buy that help everyone with technology and it’s even available for members of Congress as they are consumers too, read up and get that general consumer IT digital literacy going, we do. The word “accelerometer” might scare the daylights out of some of our members and this could be a good lesson on device privacy issues to experience this first hand too! How would members of Congress react to seeing their nutrition and BMI rolled out and charted like this I wonder?
Members of Congress Not Locking Down Their Home Wireless Networks with Passwords Now Angered At Google For Snooping with Street Views?
When I heard one of the members of Congress ask Mr. Colbert this week ask him to leave before he even spoke, well point well made there with “nonparticipation” and lack of curiosity. Curiosity is the key to learning and this member of Congress basically said I am not curious and have all the knowledge I need, sad. He doesn’t get it and in my mind he’s one of those “nonparticipants” as Mr Colbert brought to light in his own way, reality with farm workers. How in the heck do you crack these head that think they know it all already when you hear comments like that? This post below might shed some light here, as the 2 are connected, duh?
The Link between intelligence and Curiosity Is Discovered
“Magpie Healthcare” is another one I use frequently too, those who just repeat 
what someone else says but offer little or no knowledge of their own as they come back around to number one, being a “nonparticipant”.
The third phrase I include quite frequently is “its for those guys over there” and everyone can relate to that with the feeling we get today with those out of touch with “general consumer digital IT literacy” and we stand back and watch and listen to those who “think” they know what is best for us. They really don’t know as they are “nonparticipants” and live in values and the rhetoric of what made times in the70s work. All of these 3 hit on that big time and entertain us in the process, why, because it’s the truth, and whether it is Congress or a CEO, this stuff sticks out like a sore thumb today and can’t be buried under the carpet.
Personal Health Records (PHR), I don’t do technology said the CEO, “it’s for those guys over there”
We have a lot of what I call judgmental garbage in the news today that admonishes the general public and tells us how stupid we are, when in reality that is not the case but yet with numbers and stats we all get rolled in there, but again these 3 entertainers dissect this and bring the “real” reality to the screen and at the same time roll the leaders in there too with pointing out this is the pot calling the kettle black.
This week Rachel Maddow did a talk about the stimulus money and used one of our California representatives as an example. He put down the stimulus money and now is asking for some. What really brought this home was the fact that the same representative was recently pulled over for using his cell phone ![image[38]](http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TJ5A45uxeoI/AAAAAAAAhqA/9q0l9bgzAow/s1600-h/image%5B38%5D%5B2%5D.png "image[38]")
while driving. We have had several folks to include our governor’s wife get busted with this, but the real difference I feel this case was the arrogance displayed here in being in the process of doing a “live radio show” while driving and using the cellphone, again we come back around to the fact that cell phone safety “its for those guys over there” and it seemed to project not only arrogance, but the idea of “I’m important and I am above what is for the rest of the general public”. As a side note too, watch the blank expression on Dan Lungren ’s face while Stephen Colbert testifies, he looks very confused and very much resembles a “nonparticipant” as the camera was spanning and caught him on film.
US Congressional Representative Gets Pulled Over for Using a Cell Phone While Driving And Was Live on the Air Doing Radio Interview
This is a device at the link below that I use for hands free in the car and it works well, it plugs into a cigarette lighter and is portable so for those renting cars, etc. a mobile solution once matched with a blue tooth smartphone, and I might hope that members of Congress have graduated to this point with mobility for the jobs they do require them to move around a lot. Too bad the Oprah police were not on hand for this one.
Black Series™ by Shift3® Bluetooth® Hands-Free Auto Speaker – It Works!
I’m just noting this fact as the rest of the country was watching as this was all over the news when it happened and stop and give this some thought, do you get any other alternate views of this situation? He didn’t get a ticket but if this had occurred back in the home state of California, he would have. You can’t hide anymore as we live in the world of sensors and transparency and occurrences like this I believe just tend to drop one’s popularity down a notch or two and again makes for great entertainment and once again shows the world of the “nonparticipants” at work with the paradigm of “its for those guys over there’ once more kicking in. I guess the “nonparticipants” have not come to the reality of all these sensors surround them too.
Rachel Maddow had a very revealing story this week about digital literacy and blew it up on the screen for all to see with the lack of knowing how to work with 
pdf files and how the writer of the information simply took one right click on the document. When you stop and think of the point made here, are these folks “participants” with general consumer literacy? It sure didn’t look like it, so again it was there for the world to get a look at reality and shows what goes on, this is the day of transparency we live in today. Those not in the know just slip further down the ladder and digital illiteracy shows once again.
The Properties of an Adobe pdf Document -Rachel Maddow Rips the GOP on Lack of General Consumer IT Knowledge And Exposes the Input and Authors of the Content–Lobbyists
This is the big story of the week to show that former lobbyists are writing some missions that others follow? You may not always agree with what Rachel has to say but this is just cold hard facts here and the truth so it serves to bring folks out of denial and shows what is happening and how many choose to live in the past and can’t get up to pace with technology and how it is affecting our day to day lives. It is what it is. Tech denial affects both Democrats and Republicans although the latter seems to be having even a more difficult time with curiosity and learning today as we seem to see reported in the news. We have companies like Intel too warning use on this fact, but doesn’t sink in does it much in Congress as they need to get educated too.
Intel CEO States the US Faces Decline in Tech Jobs–Announces Purchase of German Wireless Chip Company Infineon
In summary I hope I have outlined why these 3 individuals play such an 
important role today with US citizens and Congress, especially in the area of healthcare, they are the voices that help break through the “nonparticipant” barriers with their humor and can one by one break down some of the bricks in the wall. As consumers we do feel like just one more brick in the wall when it comes governing bodies that are out of touch and have lost the element of curiosity as no learning takes place when this happens and it’s on the news, in the papers every day. We need a lot of studies due to non participation and the inability of those to contribute with the paradigm of it’s for those guys over there.
HHS To Conduct Study on Patient Perception on Health IT – Got A Better Idea Why Don’t They Become E-patients Role Models, and Participants – Make IT Personal and Believable
Rachel, Jon, and Stephen are more than just broadcasters, they take an interest and use their talents as entertainers to speak for us and they educate us too in the process. 
Nobody is the king of all knowledge today and it’s working together and getting rid of those old stuffy paradigms and and stopping the unnecessary judging of people.
If we didn’t have their voices being heard and bringing this lack of curiosity and knowledge of our leaders to our door everyday, things would be much worse so I applaud and very much appreciate all their efforts. BD
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