Rusty Hodge, the GM of SomaFM, has been posting updates from Washington, where he is attempting to help congress understand why we should all save internet radio.

His latest dispatch shows just how idiotic our congresscritters are:

[California Republican Darryl] Issa spoke a lot about HD radio, and the threat it makes to sale of CDs. He is under the impression that the 64kb or lower compressed digital audio sounds as good as CD. HD does not stand for High Definition. It stands for "Hybrid Digital". Unlike HDTV, which improved the signal quality delivered to consumers, HD radio is not a marked improvement. Signal to noise ratios are improved, but there are audible compression artifacts in the audio. Issa also talked about a flood of HD radio recording devices that automatically split tracks coming out soon. (I think he's extremely wrong on this, there is so little uptake on HD hardware, there are only 2 or 3 HD radios on the market right now, and they're selling very poorly. I've heard a statistic several times that say an American is more likely to be run over by a bus than they are to listen to HD radio in the last year.)

I would like to know why complete idiots like Issa, who clearly have such problems understanding technology, are given the responsibility of crafting legislation that affects technology, and those of us who use it.

Ted Stevens should get his staff to send Issa an Internet and let him know what an ignorant jackass he is.

UPDATE: Rusty has some further thoughts about this - Defending Issa (and other politicians).