US CTO Choice Down To a Two-Horse Race 284
theodp writes "Barack Obama apparently didn't return CmdrTaco's call. BusinessWeek reports that the choices for the first US CTO have narrowed, and it's now a two-horse race between Padmasree Warrior, Cisco's CTO, and Vivek Kundra, who holds the same title for the Government of the District of Columbia. Two very different resumes — which would you advise Obama to pick?" I just know I was #3 on the list.
Cisco vs. Wash DC? (Score:5, Funny)
Well, Cisco sucks. And the government of D.C. sucks. So if I had to choose, I'd go by whoever was wearing the longest tie last time I met them.
Re:Cisco vs. Wash DC? (Score:5, Insightful)
Right, the government sucks, so by no means should you consider working for the government, even if the point of the particular job they're offering you is to make the government less sucky. I guess the suckiness of government is somebody else's problem.
You know, your attitude sucks.
Re:Cisco vs. Wash DC? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Cisco vs. Wash DC? (Score:5, Insightful)
Mod parent up. Never understood this particular American obsession with tearing down the government and then proudly claiming it sucks. Sounds insane to me.
Blame Ronnie Raygun. He popularized the idea that "government is the problem" [reaganlibrary.com], while blowing enormous quantities of money on militarization, possibly in hopes of bankrupting the federal government [thenation.com]. Never trust someone to run something when they believe it's a stupid idea to begin with, they'll usually just mess it up [nytimes.com].
Re:Cisco vs. Wash DC? (Score:5, Informative)
an interesting aside to this aside...I googled that phrase to see when it first started to be used. There seems to be some sentiment that it used to mean 'work of the highest quality' but got changed to mean shoddy work somewhere along the way. Either way, it's had the negative connotation since at least the '60's.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, check out Grover Norquist. He (and one of his proteges, Jack Abramoff) were instrumental in the early movement to end liberalism in government by simply bankrupting the taxpayers, as well as promoting the hiring of ideologues for key federal administrative positions rather than screening for qualification.
Check out The Wrecking Crew by Thomas Frank... it's certainly not unbiased, but it's well-sourced, follows the history of neo-conservatism fairly accurately, and nails down all the major sticking poi
Re:Cisco vs. Wash DC? (Score:4, Informative)
"Blame Ronnie Raygun"
Oh lol, how original...
"He popularized the idea that "government is the problem"
Actually that idea was popularized by the founding fathers who knew that Government sucked so bad that it needed a leash (B.O.R) and that the 10th was needed to keep the federal government in its place. Having lived in two very Different states (NY and Minnesota) I can tell you tat some government suck less (Minnesota) than others (NY) but given the fact the states are to be laboratories of democracy the federal government almost always sucks.
"militarization, possibly in hopes of bankrupting the federal government."
Horse manure, link or not its still horse manure. RR was trying to bankrupt the Soviet government not the US government something he successfully did.
Re:Cisco vs. Wash DC? (Score:5, Informative)
Uh-huh. You do realize that one of the first actions of our founding fathers was to buy up state debt to establish national credit, right?
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"Uh-huh. You do realize that one of the first actions of our founding fathers was to buy up state debt to establish national credit, right?"
And what was done with that credit... oh yea they were building up a national defense...
Yeah, leave Ronald alone (Score:4, Informative)
It took a Bush to bankrupt the USA[1].
[1] In fact, the USA declared bankruptcy on 15th August 1971, and it was Nixon wot did it.
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Its a cultural problem. California (dems) has been going bankrupt for years, so has NY (dems and rinos), and a fed run mostly by the GOP... The fact is *both* parties are so busy buying our votes that there is no hope of getting out of debt..
RE: Cultural Problem (Score:3, Insightful)
Lord knows I am going to get slammed for this...but where is the white guy?
I am afraid that Congress, behind closed doors, is still a racist institution. I'm afraid that either person will not be as succesful in navigating those waters with ties back to India. (Or Russia, or China, etc.)
Re:Yeah, leave Ronald alone (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Cisco vs. Wash DC? (Score:5, Informative)
"That's true, the founding fathers fought a revolution against bad governments and once they ousted the British they invented the monarchy and named George Washington the ruler of the land and all our presidents since then have been his descendants."
Actually they revolted against a powerful government which was active in peoples every day lives and created a weak one which should seldom be seen..
"Also true, the soviets were doing so well under communism it seemed no one could stop them. Only the keen intellect of Ronald Reagan was able to find a way to undermine that fundamentally sound Marxist economy."
In the late 70's people believed the US would be crushed and the Soviets were not doing as badly as one might think. They did have a huge amount of oil and natural gas, the attitude among many were that they were a healthier economy than us..
"The founding fathers fought against unchecked hereditary power and created the government you hate so much. Communism defeated itself. Take some of those trickle down dollars and buy a clue."
Unchecked... Umm House of commons/lords means anything to you? The monarchy in England was under check for nearly a half millennium before the revolution.
The founders fought against a lack of representation *not* against hereditary rule. Many, *MANY*, people wanted George Washing to be a king in a constitutional monarchy not much different than the English monarchy and anyone who has studied Franklin knows that until he was humiliated in England by his enemies he was quite content to stay a part of great Brittan on the condition of representation and equality with English citizens.
Before you chastise others by telling them to 'buy a clue' maybe you should read a book..
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I'll accept the idea that the government is the problem, only if it means getting rid of government-sanctioned monopolies (IP) and government-sanctioned non-existent individuals (corporations).
If a government exists, it has to do its job regulating, taxing, and doling out benefits. If it doesn't exist, then it should not be doing anything. Following any intermediate path is just a method for the powerful to remain in power.
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Re:Cisco vs. Wash DC? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Mod parent up. Never understood this particular American obsession with tearing down the government and then proudly claiming it sucks. Sounds insane to me.
It's a tradition that dates back to 1776.
Re:Cisco vs. Wash DC? (Score:5, Informative)
Cripes. I never said "the government sucks."
At best, I said "the government of D.C. sucks". Is this like No Reading Comprehension Day on Slashdot? Do people not realize that the city of Washington D.C. has a government which is distinct from that of the Federal Government? WTF.
Some idiot puts words into my mouth and suddenly I'm Anti-Citizen Number 1.
Re:Cisco vs. Wash DC? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Cisco vs. Wash DC? (Score:5, Informative)
Well, Cisco sucks. And the government of D.C. sucks.
Right, the government sucks, so by no means should you consider working for the government
I won't defend the guy's attitude, but if you RTFS (S = summary), one of the candidates worked for the Government of DC. So he wasn't saying "All governments suck so I wouldn't work for one," he was saying "the DC government sucks so I wouldn't promote one of their C?Os."
Re:Cisco vs. Wash DC? (Score:5, Funny)
The problem is that replacing one person, even at the top, never seems to mitigate the suckiness.
The suck is spread wide and deeply entrenched, which is not nearly as fun as it sounds.
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It's true, one person working alone can't fix anything. Which is precisely why the pervasive cynicism is self-fulfilling.
A certain politician just got himself elected POTUS almost purely because he convinced a lot of people that he knows how to change all that. Maybe he's full of it, maybe not. But if he actually does what he claims he can do, it won't be through any top-down process. It'll be him and a lot of other people working with him, not for him.
Yeah, I drank the Obama koolaid. Still waiting to see i
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Option 6 (Score:5, Funny)
How about... (Score:5, Funny)
The Iraqi Information Minister? He'd at least be entertaining..
Re:How about... (Score:5, Funny)
There's no Iraqi information minister here. There are no Iraqi information ministers within a hundred miles of this post.
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And who would that be? That minister post has not existed since 2003.
That is no whooshing sound you're hearing far above your head... it's just an Imperialist lie!
Why Not OffShore It? (Score:4, Funny)
Can't they off shore this position to Pune? What better choice for corrupt politicians than to choose Satyam? Sounds like a match made in... whatever.
Cisco Guvmint (Score:3, Insightful)
Didn't know either existed.
On the basis that Cisco functions and makes money, while DC is a disaster, Cisco_guy++.
Re:Cisco Guvmint (Score:5, Informative)
On the basis that Cisco functions and makes money, while DC is a disaster, Cisco_guy++.
Have you ever worked with Cisco? I have and it was a nightmare. They are a horribly inefficient bureaucracy that makes money by leveraging their existing client base and giving purchasers all the hookers and blow they need to get them to sign. They owned 10% of a company I worked for, then decided to buy one of our failed competitors and try to compete against us. Said competitor failed for a reason, so when that flopped they tried to strong arm us into canceling our product in that market. When that failed they spent millions more to buy two more firms we had driven out of business because their products were so much worse than ours.
Their main problem is that they can make okay hardware, but they suck at software and they really, really, really suck at user interfaces and integration of products. Their corporate ethics are in the toilet with their standing layoffs policy and they're more than happy to push crappy solutions on all their "partners" and big customers while forgetting to mention that they won't touch the same solution with a ten foot pole for use on their own network.
So yeah they're terrible, which is still probably not as bad as Washington DC.
Re:Cisco Guvmint (Score:5, Interesting)
So yeah they're terrible, which is still probably not as bad as Washington DC.
I'd like to point out that the guy from Washington DC also has private sector experience if you're worried about icky public sector cooties getting all over your new public sector employee. He's also very big on open and transparent government. His resume's a bit light to figure out how good he'll be, but he's probably got a huge leg-up on working with people in Washington.
The lady from Cisco, however, managed a doomed subsidiary of Motorola based on an uneconomical GaAs-on-Si technology before eventually presiding as CTO over the continued slow decline of a company that hasn't had an exciting product since the RAZR years ago before moving on to fill a position at Cisco which had been vacant for two years. While she does want to see more funding for fundamental research and development (not surprising given her fabrication background), the association with Motorola and Cisco does not scream the best and brightest of the private sector to me. Given her academic credentials, she's probably very brilliant, but I don't see how that's translated into success for her companies.
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Have you ever worked with Cisco? I have... They... [give] purchasers all the hookers and blow they need to get them to sign.
You are complaining... Were you the hooker, or the blow?
He's the guy who had to blow the hooker.
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The interface on 3000 series VPN concentrators was written by a company called Altiga. Cisco bought the interface and the company lock stock and barrel. It was also a welcome change to their previous VPN concentrator attempts in IOS, called the 7100 line.
I'm just saying its a bad example, as Cisco had little to do with that interface.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:4, Insightful)
Unless Obama delegates some serious executive power over the federal bureaucracy, this will just be a cushy job for the next several years.
I completely agree. But, at the risk of suffering a crisis of cynicism, perhaps you could explain why you're so certain that Obama won't delegate serious power to this position?
Fall guy (Score:3, Interesting)
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He will delegate some power to the post, but only until that position butts heads with a heavy contributor and then that position will be rendered useless. The very moment that person attempts to care about the open format of public records or any other such thing, you will see Adobe and Microsoft trying to get him fired. We saw it in Massachusetts and I don't see it going down any differently in Washington.
Answer is obvious? (Score:4, Insightful)
If I had to choose between the two, which apparently I would (not that my decision makes ANY difference whatsoever), I'd have to go with the dude from Cisco. He at least has his roots, however good they may be, in a business and not a "cushy government job."
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Yea but he will make those federal employees actually work hard. They already think they are working hard, But when a guy from the private sector comes in. They run straight to the union... vs. actually just doing the work.
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The real issue here is that in this s
Re:Answer is obvious? (Score:5, Informative)
the dude from cisco is a woman.
Re:Answer is obvious? (Score:5, Funny)
Dude, that's totally bogus. Chicks can't be warriors.
Re:Answer is obvious? (Score:5, Funny)
Dwight, is that you? Get off Slashdot and sell some paper.
- Jim
So What? (Score:2)
You may ask, "So What?", she's a woman. And I'd have to agree. I've learned here at slashdot that you can't argue with a sick mind. But seriously folks, this is a government position that we have payed for. Shouldn't this be a case of 'you bought it, you name it'? And if so, I'm voting for an ordinary average guy instead of one of these hotshots. We keep letting these elite types run the show and there goes the neighborhood. It's not like we can fix it all by getting in a circle and singing kumbaya.
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Well done, Stoolpigeon. I laughed so hard, I broke my leg.
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It was all just for you - so I hope you enjoyed it. Life's been good and I like to try and share that goodness with others.
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not sure if that's better or worse (Score:2)
As with much procurement, one of the big problems with IT in government is that it's more geared towards the profit needs of the contractors than towards the actual IT needs of the government---it buys what companies want to sell it.
It seems like a Cisco guy is pretty unlikely to put an end to that, since Cisco has a nice gravy train [cisco.com]. Though I guess it's better than an Oracle guy.
Ungrateful twat (Score:5, Insightful)
You leeches, you scrimp on your taxes, never thank the government, and then have the gall to tar all public servents - people who spend their best years serving YOU - with the same, tired accusations. Tell me, how to you square the 'public service = cushy' claim with the 'US = most powerful country' circle? Do you think the infrastructure, social safety net, military, judiciary, etc., all just run on automatic?
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As someone who worked in British public sector, a nation that is also very powerful in the world and that arguably has better social safety than the US (free healtcare for one) I can assure you it's nothing to do with hard work in public sector.
Speaking to people from the US and in many other countries about it when I have I get the impression public sector is pretty much the same in large parts of the world.
The reason it does it's job is because it has vast amounts of money thrown at it and 3 people to eve
Re:Answer is obvious? (Score:5, Informative)
Padmasree Warrior is a woman.
Still, I don't trust most people from Cisco any further than I can throw a 6509. A few exceptions aside, their best people seem to leave to form other, more interesting (and ethical) companies. I know that sales people in general are not to be trusted, but Cisco reps seem to have carved their own special niche on that point.
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Would you have preferred instead a technologist from AT&T, Verizon, etc? Cisco is the "good guy" by comparison.
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Would you have preferred instead a technologist from AT&T, Verizon, etc? Cisco is the "good guy" by comparison.
A) That's a false dichotomy. There are plenty of better companies to choose from.
B) What makes Cisco a "good guy" in comparison? Who do you think it selling repressive regimes the technology to control the internet? Six of one, half a dozen of the other.
C) How about someone competent at management instead of a "good guy" or "bad guy?" Cisco may be an industry juggernaut, but has the name Cisco ever been equated with awesome management in your mind? How about Motorola, which is where she's spent the
Re:Answer is obvious? (Score:5, Funny)
Padmasree Warrior is a woman.
And a Jedi.
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Re:Answer is obvious? (Score:5, Interesting)
The "dude from Cisco" is a woman. But she's not really "from" Cisco, she came there in the past year from Motorola. And my impression is that she didn't do that great a job at Motorola, and I haven't really heard anything worthwhile out of her while she's been at Cisco. So, I'd go with the other dude.
Re:Answer is obvious? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Obviously you have done zero research into these two candidates.
Correct. I'm not voting for either one ;) :)
Re:Answer is obvious? (Score:4, Insightful)
You're reading what are essentially press releases and deciding that they're qualified from that? One or both might well be the best person for the job, but I can write some pretty glowing words about myself that make me sound like the best fit for the job, too.
Stimulate the economy! (Score:4, Interesting)
Does not matter who is chosen: the industry guy will tire of the endless petty bureaucrats and quit in 18 months. Then we get the government lacky anyway; and, we get free technology for everyone.
is this the best they can do? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:is this the best they can do? (Score:5, Informative)
I'll second that. I also worked for Moto during that time also and the only impressive thing that came out of the office of the CTO was the lack of innovation coming out of the office.
The CTO of the country doesn't need to be someone with an impressive resume who's never actually done anything or created anything substantial, it needs to be someone who has actual experience innovating and growing innovation.
Sen. Stevens (Score:2, Funny)
What?!? Ted Stevens wasn't available?
We need someone in there that understand that the internets are not like a big truck but rather a series of tubes.
Humm... (Score:5, Interesting)
Two Indian born CTOs are the two top runners. Is this a statment about.
1. Diversity?
2. The lack of US citizens going into the tech sector.
3. Stereotyping?
Me I would vote for Vivek Kundra. I think he would see things from a customers point of view vs a vendors point of view.
Re:Humm... (Score:4, Interesting)
My mistake. Lack of native citizens going into the tech sector.
I am pretty sure that Vivek Kundra is a US citizen he has lived here since he was 11.
True. Neither went from India straight into IT. (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe it's just a sign that the latent racism which assumes that just because someone was born in India they can't be a US citizen is coming to an end.
Heh. True.
Padmasree Warrior grew up in India and went to IIT, but she majored in Chemical Engineering and later got a masters in the same subject at Cornell. She started at one of Motorola's fabs and went on to management later. As far as I can tell, she's never been part of the software and systems side of the IT industry outside of management, instead working her way up through the fab side. (Much like I wouldn't consider John Sculley of Apple fame to have been an "IT guy" having an architecture major who went into marketing and management at PepsiCo before becoming an infamous Apple CEO.)
Vivek Kundra, while ethnically Indian, grew up in Tanzania not India, speaking Swahili. He came to the US at age 11, and I'd bet a dollar that he was a US citizen by the time he went to college. He has a BS in psychology and a MS in information technology from the University of Maryland. He also has private sector experience.
So, to sum up: One Indian-American never went into IT so much as into plant design and later management, and the other was not only probably a US citizen at the time, but was more African than Indian in cultural upbringing.
Vivek (Score:5, Informative)
Is a big advocate of Google -- he transitioned the entire city government to Google Apps.
NERF padmasree warrior! (Score:2, Funny)
also, vivek and kundra talent trees need more buffs.
A two-horse race? (Score:2)
Well, which one has more horse sense?
Re: (Score:2)
Well, which one has more horse sense?
I think we abandoned our horse-based IT infrastructure [wikipedia.org] in the 1860s.
China (Score:4, Interesting)
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Given that Cisco is the company that provided China with most of its network solutions for the so-called "Great Firewall"
And you don't think that somewhere, some agency is looking at that as a positive? Especially considering the wiretapping/network monitoring in recent years...
what happened to bill joy as a possible choice? (Score:4, Insightful)
there's gonna be some oldtime hardliners who'll remember "a time when there wasn't a fancy-pants US CTO, and don't really see a need for one..." once the prejudice and ignorance are washed away, then the CTO will actually make a difference.
on a side note, what happened with talk of Bill Joy becoming CTO? not to taut nativism, but he is an American(born and bred), author of vi, backbone of the original BSD rollout and co-founder of Sun.
whats up with that?
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There is only ONE choice! (Score:4, Interesting)
Kobayashi Maru (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you want to die by way of eaten by sharks, or would you rather have wolves?
I honestly don't think either candidate is qualified for the position. We already know that Cisco is willfully ignorant, even hostile, towards FOSS and I imagine quite a lot of that mindset is endorsed by the CTO's office.
Is it too late to clean the slate and start over?
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On a day to day basis I work with Cisco, and with their product lines. While they don't open source their own code, they do showcase how relevant Linux is as a platform to deploy critical network systems on.
They are moving everything, from routers, to firewalls, to voice system on Linux kernels (as well as providing the proper credit). From this foundation they run their own proprietary code. Their is nothing ignorant or hostile with using and crediting open source software, while still retaining intellectu
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http://www.fsf.org/news/2008-12-cisco-suit [fsf.org]
Screw Vivec, (Score:2)
Warrior == Poor (Score:5, Interesting)
1. Was a poor leader
2. Did not consider opinions other than her own on making decisions.
3. Was really not very knowledgeable
4. Was only out for her own advancement
Perhaps these are the attributes of many successful executives, but don't strike me as qualities you want in a civil servant.
Did you ever have contact with a person of real power/wealth/influence and come away thinking "How did they EVER get to where they are?" The older I get, the more I think success requires some work + many connections + a lot of luck.
It looks like the last might strike Ms. Warrior here again pretty soon.
google apps for whole government (Score:4, Interesting)
Kundra replaced all of D.C. gov's word and exchange infrastructure with google apps.
Wonder if he would push that for the whole federal government?
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Kundra replaced all of D.C. gov's word and exchange infrastructure with google apps.
Wonder if he would push that for the whole federal government?
Would that be a good thing -- both in terms of changing from giving one powerful vendor a monopoly on services to another and in terms of security? Plus, would this really do anything to move us away from keeping things in MS formats since Google Apps work with them?
Padmasree is forward thinking, and the best pick (Score:3, Insightful)
As Cisco's CTO Padmasree Warrior has led many changes inside of Cisco.
1. Green DataCenter initiatives - She has led the charge in lowering power consumption of existing DataCenters by utilizing new technologies, as well as consolidating sites. This has a direct financial impact, as well as being good for the environment.
2. Focus on collaborative tools and teams - she has really pushed to break down the silo's between teams by providing the tools and technologies to seamlessly share information between teams.
Most importantly, she is a forward thinking technologist, not a bureaucrat. If I am going to trust anybody to drive the technical vision of the federal government, I am going to trust Padmasree.
Absolutely not! (Score:3, Interesting)
I hate to break this to you, but neither one of those initiatives is unique to Cisco. Both of those were corporate initiatives at Motorola while she was there, and they weren't even novel then -- most companies had them, the green initiative due to EU regulations and public relations in general, and the breaking down of silos because it was the latest wave in management self-help books. (Motorola, in particular, had a severe silo problem, known as the "warring tribes.")
After watching her career for the la
Isn't this a CIO position? (Score:3, Interesting)
Kundra has been kicking butt in DC (Score:5, Informative)
Most posts here seem to be generalizations based on little to no facts, and I can't see how that's helping the discussion.
Can't speak for the Cisco lady, but Kundra has been kicking serious butt in DC. He's run tech start-ups and runs his agency the same way: aggressive, frugal, and with little tolerance for those that don't performance. Here's a Washington Post article on him from a few weeks ago: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/04/AR2009010401235.html [washingtonpost.com]
He created hundreds of data feeds in his first few months in office to make DC one of the most open governments around. Then a few months ago, he hosted an open competition with $20k of prizes for anyone to create innovative applications using these data feeds.
Re:Kundra has been kicking butt in DC (Score:5, Informative)
Kundra was a VP of Marketing for God's sake... (Score:3, Funny)
... No self respecting person with a competent technical background would ever stoop to making their living regurgitating phrases like "win/win" and "low hanging fruit". Go with the CISCO chick with the wicked cool name :).
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I'm not saying Obama will be terrible, but it's not really a challenge to be better than Bush, so if that's your only hope for the next decade I'd suggest you consider raising the bar.
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Secretary of Defense Robert Gates who helped create Al-Qaeda while under Zbigniew Brzezinski [wikipedia.org] in Carter's Administration. He was very much involved in the Iran-Contra [wikipedia.org] affair. This was enough to stop him from being DCI in 1991, but now it's perfectly fine.
Attorney General Eric holder wrote a brief to the SCOTUS on the DC gun ban and said that there is no individual right to own gun. He was apart of the Clinton Administrations Justice Department when Clinton pardoned [go.com] all of his cocaine trafficking [usdoj.gov] buddies.
Rahm
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You can probably give many more examples...
That does not do much to support the claim that Bush's 8 years and the next 4 will be exactly the same.
Re:I vote other (Score:4, Informative)
USA (Brzezinski or whoever) did not create Al Qaeda. It is true that many Al Qaeda members fought Russia in Afghanistan and that the Afghan Mujahedeens were funded by USA through Pakistan -- But Al Qaeda is a much later group formed in Saudi Arabia (according to Bin Laden against US presence in Holy Land). Very different times, different places.
Rahm Emanual Dual-Citizenship allegation is baseless [wikipedia.org] according to Wikipedia.
Re:Oh Boo Hoo (Score:4, Insightful)
Then I hope it starts to get better soon, because there's nothing particularly interesting here.
Actually I think all those are interesting factoids. Mind you, they aren't necessarily representative of Obama's appointees or for that matter as bad as ones Bush made.
So the AG is from the Clinton admin. So he isn't a gun nut. Cry me a river.
It isn't a matter of him being a "gun nut" and trying to paint people who interpret the second amendment sanely as "nuts" does nothing to help your case. Whether they want to admit it or not, the second amendment clearly presents gun ownership as a personal right and there is tons of supporting documentation for that interpretation while pretty much just wishful thinking from the opposing camp. People who claim otherwise are just playing politics and trying to justify unconstitutional actions and laws because they thing it will get them or their party votes (which it often does). If a person is willing to basically lie about what the constitution says and usurp rights it protects (rather than getting the amendment overturned) then they are being unethical. You also have to wonder how they will interpret other very clear subjects in the constitution when it is to their benefit to misinterpret them.
Wake me when they're championing torture, bribing commentators, and making shady business deals in secret.
This is the "we're not as bad as China" defense constantly used by the Bush administration to try to paint their unethical acts as not as bad as others and therefor acceptable. It didn't fly then and it doesn't now.
"Technology Central Planner"? (Score:2)
So all those companies that have a CTO are communist?
No, really, what the hell are you talking about?
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The fact that people are debating who should be the Technology Central Planner, instead of realizing that the very idea of one is silly and dangerous, shows that liberty is dead.
Gosh, I guess liberty is defined as the government having absolutely NO plan for how they spend money on their own IT infrastructure. I guess we should leave all that to random whim of local agency bureaucrats who have nothing better to work on.
Or are you some delusional crazy who thinks that the nation's CTO is going to be dictating (Soviet style) what direction development and product release the private sector must take. If that's true, then don't worry -- that's the responsibility of the alien/jew hyb