Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

zzxc writes "News.com.com reports that Al Gore has been chosen to be on Apple's board of directors. Apple has a press release with more information. According to the press release, 'Al brings an incredible wealth of knowledge and wisdom to Apple from having helped run the largest organization in the world--the United States government' and 'He has remained an active leader in technology--launching a public/private effort to wire every classroom and library in America to the Internet.' The inventor of the internet should be a valuable asset to Apple."

Comments

Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[numbski]

Seriously though...he was advising Google???

I had absolutely no idea. Last I knew he was busy being a sore loser(winner?) of the last election.

At any rate, it ought to be an interesting addition to the staff. So long as he doesn't SERIOUSLY take credit for inventing the internet. ;)

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Well, strictly speaking he wasn't the loser... Why put winner in brackets. I'm still amazed at how such a corrupt election was allowed to stand.

No U.N. observers...

BTW, Iran regularly sees better popular turnout at the polls than the last 8 U.S. Presidential elections.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[discstickers]

100% of Iraqis voted. What's your point?

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[jxs2151]

Iran regularly sees better popular turnout

Your ass would turn out too if your life was threatened if you did otherwise....

Iranian: "And you want me to vote for whom?.....sure, no problem. Just please get that gun out of my face.......sir."

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Smidge204]

Well, if everyone was afraid that the residing president would have them and their families killed if they didn't vote for him, I bet there would be a much better turnout at the polls too!
=Smidge=

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Anonymous Coward]

He won in 2000, after all...

No, he didn't. Twit.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[xjerky]

Even if the Supreme Court hadn't ended things early, the recount that Gore wanted would not have gone in his favor anyway:

http://csmweb2.emcweb.com/durable/2001/04/06/fp2 s2 -csm.shtml

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[btlzu2]

Actually, I was hoping he'd put himself in that [annoying lisp]locked box[/annoying lisp] he kept talking about and stay there until the oxygen ran out!!! :) He did lose in 2000, that's why he's not President now. Regardless of what you thought of the results of the electoral process, the winner is the man who gets the office. Sorry.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[The Analog Kid]

Yes but all the votes went to Sadam with the red background on the campain flag or the one with the white.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Trolling4Dollars]

It all depends on how you define "win"...

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[dbrutus]

Actually, latest election results from Iran say differently. Tehran had a 1% turnout. Now, granted, these were local elections. If they were national ones, they might have doubled turnout!

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Ivan Karamazov]

Actually, the replay showed that Gore should have won. If they had only recounted the counties that Gore requested, then yes Bush would have won. However, and ironically, if they had recounted the entire state, as Bush was tempted to request, then Gore would have won.

So yes, Gore won both the overall popular vote and he won Florida. Moreover, in the case of a tie, it should have been Congress that made the final decision, not the Supreme Court--as stated in the US Constitution.

Bush was appointed president, not elected. To add irony upon irony, the heavily conservative state-rights US Supreme Court overturned the ruling of the Florida Supreme Court and itnerfered with the election proceedings of the State of Florida, which according to the US Constitution has the sovereignty to determine its own electorates.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[shepd]

blah, blah, blah, you not using a dictionary, blah, blah, blah, me making you look stupid (sorry, I suppose), blah, blah, blah.

America

1. The United States.

america

1: blah blah blah [syn: United States, United States of America, America, US, U.S., USA, U.S.A.]

HTH!

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Samari711]

actually every state in the country has some sort of legal mechanism that compells electors to vote for the candidate that recieved the majority popular vote of that state. either the vote is actually for a group of electors who have promised to vote for one of the candidates or there is a law that explicitly states that the electors must vote for the winning candidate in the state. the problem in florida in the last election was that the popular vote was very close and that there were some voting discrepencies.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Ponty]

You take the ideas where you can find them...

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[netsharc]

Too fucking bad that he didn't win, because he sure wouldn't have turned US to the imperealistic dictatorship that the rest of the world doesn't like.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[MegaHamsterX]

The rest of the world would still hate us, Republican or Democrat it's all the same.
It's kinda hard to roll back 50 years of screwups by both parties just by electing a Democrat, wake up!

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[xjerky]

Umm...ok now you're reaching for conspiracy theories to prove your point, so there's no further use in delving into that matter.

Re: 9/11 - Tell me genius, if the Democrats were so prescient to know that plans for the World Trade Center attack were underway before it happened (and this DID begin when Clinton was still president), why didn't they stop it before the 2000 election? Why didn't Clinton get Bin Laden when he was offered to him by Sudan (his Yemen attack happened while he was president you know)? If I were to use cnspiracy theories like you do, I would say that they let it happen to make Bush look bad. But I don't play that game. The bottom line is there would have been no difference in outcome in 9/2001, because the Dems were in power when this was brewing. Surely there would have been a difference in what we did about it though.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[hackwrench]

The imperialist part I like, the dictatorship part, not so good, but it's been a dictatorship for a long time. Watch Rurouni Kenshin sometime, and look at Kenshin's approach to things as opposed to the Meiji government. I find some similarity between the U.S. government and the Meiji government. This link I found in someone's sig, I think, is also relevant in this story.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[nzilla]

The House is part of Congress. You're just being more specific.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[stevejsmith]

It seemed to work well for Clinton. And the world wouldn't have one more reason to hate us (this who Iraq business). I don't think I'll use my karma bonus for this one. By the way, anybody care to explain to me why one would not use their karma bonus other than the obvious reason, to only have a +1 when it starts out? Or why anybody would not want it in the first place?

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[WatertonMan]

I'll never understand this mindset. For all intents and purposes it was a tie. The constitution and other rules told what to do in this case. For every argument about "a few votes here or there" Republicans could make the same argument. Hell, if there was a national recount I suspect the popular vote may even have changed.

The most important thing to realize is that in such a statistical tie, the general populace didn't care who was President. Yes there were zealots on the right and left who did. But by and large they couldn't really convince enough people to get anything other than a tie.

Anyone who says they were robbed (or for Republicans "could have been robbed") misses this fundamental point.

Once someone starts bringing in conspiracy theories we know it is pointless to keep talking. Republicans claimed conspiracies in the Kennedy - Nixon election. And, given events in Chicago, they were probably right. But once again there wasn't an overwhelming decision. So who cares?

Now if someone can point to a 5% difference and vote rigging then I'll listen. Otherwise it is just sour grapes.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Dolphinzilla]

At the end of the day - it was an embarrasing election by any standards - the fact of the matter was that we Americans had two zero's to choose from. It was like trying to decide which is better, hemorrhoids or a bladder infection.

I for one hope Apple keeps Al Gore entertained and out of politics - now if we can just get Purdue Chicken to hire GW Bush we'll be all set.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[nullard]

He did lose in 2000, that's why he's not President now.

Except for the fact that he did win, you are absolutely correct. Watch "Unprecedented." The makers of that film break it down in detail: the illegal blacklists, counting absentee votes for Bush cast days after the election, and the hiring of people from out of state to pose as Floridians and attack the recounters. There was much more. I should know. I live in Miami.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[nursedave]

No, count after count show he did *not* win. Sorry, Cholly, wishing it were so will not make it so. He lost, by a narrow margin, but he did lose. Next?

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[HuguesT]

Iran is closer to a democracy than it has ever been. I believe that is his point.

People in Iran are not forced to vote and they vote for whom they want. Now the choice might not be great, but some would argue that the democracy in the USA has some problems too.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Golias]

Your comment is the first I've seen in this thread that deserves to be modded up at all.

Back on topic, I did not vote for Gore, because I disagree with some of his politics, but I've always thought of him as an intelligent and competent administrator. He's always kept up on technology issues, even when he was a busy Senator. I think his experience will ultimately be good for Apple.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[mattACK]

I had no interest in either party during the last election. That said, I would like to see very deep exit polling once electronic voting is in place (because there is no paper trail, trust no one, etc.)

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[nursedave]

Except for the fact that he did not win, you are absolutely wrong. Watch ...anything.
Just because some jackass liberal leftwing filmmaker says it, doesn't mean its true. It was amazing, watching actual footage (undoctored or spun by the news folks)showing them trying to count cards with the Bush hole poked out as a Gore vote because the Gore chad had a poke in it. Sad.
As to the absentee votes, those should have all been counted long before the election. The dems wanted to throw out all the overseas ballots, mainly from military personel, because they are overwhelmingly not Gore supporters.
Democrats are shown time and time again to engage in votefraud. If not fraud, then outright questionable behaviour. Look at how Dems take vans to homes for retarded citizens, then take them and register them to vote; on voting day, they go again and take them to vote, showing them how to fill out the card for the democratic candidate.
Look at how many times the elections have dead people and prisoners (both of these groups are ineligible to vote, although they are both eligible to run for office on the Dem ticket) on the logs as voting for Dems.

It goes on and on.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Planesdragon]

Bush was appointed president, not elected.

Meaning that he was no more a duly elected official than a vice president who became president!

Oh, wait... that doens't matter, the man's president, and bitching about it (from either side) won't change anything except give a few law students a topic for their papers. ;)

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[GMontag]

Actually, latest election results from Iran say differently [nationalreview.com]. Tehran had a 1% turnout. Now, granted, these were local elections. If they were national ones, they might have doubled turnout!

Yes, for those that don't know, much of the small turnout was a popular resistance to the clerical leadership that were "urging" all to vote.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[GMontag]

Once someone starts bringing in conspiracy theories we know it is pointless to keep talking. Republicans claimed conspiracies in the Kennedy - Nixon election.

Yes, those would be the "sorry grapes" Republicans, since Richard Nixon was the final arbitor to gracefully give the election to Kennedy. Not because of IL (Chicago votes swinging the State), but from HI. They submitted two different slates and Nixo took the one that gave the election to Kennedy.

Umm, before anybody gets all pissy about this post, check and see what Richard Nixon's job was at the time and it's relevance.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[MegaHamsterX]

Eh, well politics is a popularity contest, world politics is worse, the UN reminds me of the middle school lunch table, we all need oil and lots of it unless we'd all like to live in mud huts again, I hate that fact.
I'd like to see a guy who runs people through shredders run through one himself.
I'd like to see the end of starving people in Iraq and Africa and elsewhere.
Sometimes a step backwards is needed to move forward.
An end must come to this chaotic dictator, the cost is too high to allow him to brutilize any more people, those casualties that do occur with war will be far less than if he does stay in power.

Steve, I keep that karma thing off in most cases unless it's on topic or I see some type of one sided bashing for no good reason, I used it on something about Bush's haircut, I wouldn't use it if it was about his lack of tact in dealing with other countries which is true and on topic ;-)

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[localman]

I don't think there was a conspiracy, but I do think that our plurality voting system is terribly flawed, and can account for a 5% margin of error. Here's an article about why our voting system sucks mathematically.

Basically it's because two candidates on "side one" of the fence will lose to one candidate on "side two" even if a substantial majority prefers the first side of the fence.

Plurality vote tallying doesn't work with more than two candidates. Enforcing only two candidates doesn't make much sense. This hurt the republicans when Perot ran, and it hurt the democats when Nader ran.

Read the article. Things could be a lot better.

Cheers.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[frightenedmonkey]

Actually, there is an enormous pattern in Florida by Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris abusing their positions in regards to the voter registration rolls. Bush has been ordered two or three times (can't quite remember) by the FL State Supreme Court to stop being such an ass concerning a certain segment of voters (convicted felons). Harris' actions before, during, and after the 2000 election led to a FL state law that made it illegal for FL to use a private corporation to monitor their voter registration rolls.

Let me put it another way: Bush was ordered to stop requiring convicted felons from applying for reinstatement in FL voter rolls if they had been convicted and served their time in a state that automatically reinstates voting rights (pretty much the majority of states). He ignored the state supreme court several times. Harris contracted a corporation to help purge voter rolls of convicted felons and that only matched last and (partial) first names. I don't know about you, but I would hope that the matches better be pretty damned exact, but they weren't. There were priests (!) that were sent letters telling them they were now off the voter rolls, and if they had been purged in error, go through a painstaking reinstatement process. After the FL law requiring more oversight (and less private corps. in purging voter rolls), Harris went right back out and got a private corp.

Conservative estimates put the number of voters blocked from voting in 2000 around 30,000 to 50,000. In an election that was decided by less than 5,000 votes, I would think that would make a large difference. Regardless of political affiliation, I think there was a major miscarriage of justice, and it disturbs me that it's likely that several laws were broken in the course of the 2000 election while most of the press ended up looking the other way. I don't want the election overturned or anything that radical, rather, I'd like to see a comprehensive investigation and national dialogue on our current system of voting leading to, hopefully, a system that is less susceptible to abuse by any political party.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[pergamon]

the general populace didn't care who was President

This is complete BS (not the whole comment, just this point). It doesn't follow from a (essentially) 50/50 split that the populace didn't care. All you can tell from that is that half voted for each of the two major candidates.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Darby]

Sometimes a step backwards is needed to move forward.
An end must come to this chaotic dictator, the cost is too high to allow him to brutilize any more people, those casualties that do occur with war will be far less than if he does stay in power.

The Dictator to whom you refer is Bush?

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Squinky86]

This makes me sick. Think about what ya'll are saying. Just because more people voted for him overall doesn't mean he should be president. If this were so, California would have most of the power of the US. To use an improbable example, if a presidential candidate wanted to have California and a few other large states not pay taxes, and then those states elected him, then only the larger states would have power to elect. A system is in place where a candidate gets a certain number of points for each state. THIS MAKES SURE THAT NO STATE GETS TOO MUCH POWER!!! This part of our law is very ingenious. Maybe if you kept an open mind and read into it, you would understand that there's more than just the majority of the people, and for good reason.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[MSTCrow5429]

The Electoral COllege was designed to give the smaller states a say in the election, and to avoid the large cities from carrying all the weight. If anything, it helps to democratize the say of the common voter. If you don't know the how and why, don't talk. Asking for the answer is fine though.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Darby]

The bottom line is there would have been no difference in outcome in 9/2001, because the Dems were in power when this was brewing. Surely there would have been a difference in what we did about it though.

The person that you're forgetting is John O'Neill.

Doesn't the fact that the DD of the FBI resigned because, in his words, Bush ordered him to lay off of Al Queda a month before 9/11 even make you wonder how it could have been different?

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[smilingirl]

I agree.

Also, the popular vote really doesn't matter. It's the electoral votes that make a difference. The electors take into consideration what the popular vote for their state is, yes, but this does not mean s/he will vote for what his/her state voted for popularly.

So, it's quite pointless to even argue about it. They had no problem counting the electoral votes, and that's what counts.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[xombo]

60% Insightful
30% Flamebait
10% Troll

Translation:
60% Terrorist 30% American 10% UK

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Squinky86]

because it equalizes power between the states? Oh, someone hasn't done their research...

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[Squinky86]

Furthermore, what would you consider democratic? One state ruling a nation? Submit that to our nation's leaders- to our nation's PEOPLE- and see how that flies. I thank God that Bush is in office and not Gore. It's hard to fathom how Al would have handled the last few years. Maybe, Bush was placed in office by devine intervention? Though I don't think this is relevant to the discussion of how democratic our democracy is, it is something appeasing to think about.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[EminenceFront]

So who cares?

That's the real problem with the election in 2000. Apathy. We're starting to see the public at large wake up now, but it's too late. Where was the outrage, the demonstrations during the first month after the election when ballots were attempting to be recounted?

Has anyone even noticed that every time there is a Bush in the White House we're in a recession and at war?

Well, they can't rig every election... forever... just 2000 and 2002 right?

-JM

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[a2jfreak]

You're almost as funny as a fart in church.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[lars_stefan_axelsson]

This is complete BS (not the whole comment, just this point). It doesn't follow from a (essentially) 50/50 split that the populace didn't care. All you can tell from that is that half voted for each of the two major candidates.

I thought that only about half of those entitled to vote, actually did so? That's a pretty strong indication of apathy, even if the statement to which you refer is a non sequitur, isn't it?

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[netsharc]

Of course the Dems didn't know in December 2000 that in 9 months something bad was about to happen. But they were doing research on terrorist threats, and had this research continued, I'm sure they would have prevented 9/11. But they had to hand over the research to the illegitimate new Administration, who then promptly ignored the already alarming results of said research.
I read this in Time, too bad it's now archived, but you can look it up yourself, in any rate, Bush probably wouldn't want you to remember such things, "we have always been at war with Iraq".

Oh well, that's life, except for the 3000 victims of Bush's fuck-up.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[ChrisNowinski]

I mean, if you don't believe that murdering innocent women and children in Iraq is good and you don't want to send Other People's Children to die on foreign soil, you are a terrorist.

How are you posting on Slashdot, anyway? Why aren't you at your local recruiting station, supporting the Great Patriotic War Against Terrorism and That Guy Who Tried To Kill My Dad.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[good soldier svejk]

The Electoral COllege was designed to give the smaller states a say in the election

IIRC the EC was always proportional to population, like the House of Representatives. Small states got less representation. And it wasn't even slightly democratic, since there was no popular vote until the 1824 election. Senators were not elected until the ratification of the 17th Ammendment in 1913.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[good soldier svejk]

I should mention that small states did get a slight boost because every states got two electors for their two senators. You number of electors is equal to your number of reps and senators.

Re:Insert Internet Inventor Joke Here

[kalidasa]

Well, yes, more or less. The recoverable vote was Bush's. Florida was in the wrong in the way it handled the election and the recount, all the way from the bottom (the individual precincts) to the top (the Florida Supreme Court). Then, the US Supreme Court showed a distinct failure of vision by voting against their stated positions on states' rights across the board, revealing that on this issue politics mattered more than legal theory.

If the Florida hadn't fouled up the election, it's possible that Al Gore would have won. On the other hand, if Al Gore hadn't fouled up his campaign in his home state, he might have won. There's no way of knowing for sure. The recoverable vote says Al lost according the the electoral college. And the fact that the electoral college disagreed with the popular vote tells us there wasn't much choice in the first place.

al gore _did_ invent the internet

[matt4077]

Well, maybe he didn't invent it, but he actually was one of a few politicians actively promoting the internet.

Therefore we should be thankful instead of always making fun of that one statement he once made.

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[jxs2151]

We only do it 'cause we know that people like you get pissed.

How's it feel to get trolled so easily?

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[Anonymous Coward]

Except the current idiot in the White House.

-Forget about the choking on a pretzal?
-How about "I know how hard it is to put food on your family"
and dozens more...

Really, after 9/11 the monkeyboy has had a free ride.

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[fgodfrey]

Actually, the comment he made was, in fact, correct. The media misquoted it and for inexplicable reasons, Gore never challenged it. The direct quote was "As a member of the Senate I introduced the legislation that created the Internet" which, while maybe a bit self promoting, was what happened. He was one of the sponsorors (sp?) of the bill that opened ARPAnet to the public which created the internet as we know it. So, really, he never claimed to have invented anything...

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[0x0d0a]

he actually was one of a few politicians actively promoting the internet.

Simply rephrase it so that Slashdotters can appreciate it: without Gore, there very likely would have been no public school Internet access, and far less infrastructure available to higher education institutions. Imagine Dubya in the driver's seat all those years [shudder] -- lots of guns, lousy network.

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[Elwood P Dowd]

If you actually read the exact comment that he made, and understand the role Al Gore had in the creation of a research friendly political environment, no, it wasn't really silly or moronic.

I don't mind him getting lampooned, because it's funny, but... still. He deserves it even less than Dan Quayle (who was reading from a card with the alternative spelling "potatoe").

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[fgodfrey]

I hate replying to my own posts, but I screwed up the quote. Someone else got it right, further down the thread. The basic idea, though, is right - he never actually claimed to have invented the Net.

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[jxs2151]

Please take care to provide the exact quote if you are going to accuse people of misquoting.

The actual quote is "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[fgodfrey]

Yeah, sorry, apparently my memory wasn't quite as good as I thought it was :)

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[Chibi]

Well, maybe he didn't invent it, but he actually was one of a few politicians actively promoting the internet.

Therefore we should be thankful instead of always making fun of that one statement he once made.

I think it's probably more realistic to say that virtually ALL politicians have said stupid things.

Here's some proof for Mr. Gore.:

http://www.gargaro.com/algore.html

I'm not sure how many of these are true, as the site is a bit dated, and some of the reference links no longer work, but I do know the comments he made about Malaysia are accurate because I saw it on a news program (and could hardly believe what I was hearing).

Anyway, a lot of it is media perception. If the media keeps stressing a certain aspect of someone in the spotlight, eventually everyone will think it's true.

And let's not forget the true king of political quotes, Dan Quayle!

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[jshare]

*Sigh*. I guess I'm just a sucker for trolls.

• http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue5_10/wiggins /
• http://www.politechbot.com/p-01394.html
• http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/02/0 2/20_internet.html

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[Moses Lawn]

But, if he can claim that with a straight face I can say he is on the hook for the dot-bomb, the layoffs, and the ensuing recession. Since, I mean, he introduced the legislation that led to the Internet, right?


No, because he didn't introduce legislation saying people could do stupid and illegal things with it. Of course, nobody in government ever bothered to do much about *keeping* people from doing said stupid and illegal things, but that's about 530-some-odd people to blame.

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[geekoid]

"and he used the words "created the Internet". "

no.

he said he took the initiative in creating the internet.

example:
Lets say there are a bunch of schools, not related.

you come along and said, hey lets creates a district called "myschool" that we can put together.

you have now taken the initiative to create myschool.
did you create the schools? no.
did they exist before you came along? yes.

did you take the initaitive in creating 'myschool'? yes.

and by your logic, the government should be held responcible for all crime commited on public roads.

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[SquadBoy]

No somehow I don't think he was in the Senate in 1969 so it was in fact wrong and silly.

http://www.iosys.demon.co.uk/nethist/the_start.h tm l

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[jshare]

Who did "take the initiative in creating the Internet" then?

No one?

I guess I'm not clear on the distinction you are drawing.

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[Frac]

Vint Cerf had this to say (from http://www.politechbot.com/p-01394.html)

"Last year the Vice President made a straightforward statement on his role. He said: "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet." We don't think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he "invented" the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore's initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet."

Obviously you're arrogant to believe you know more about the internet than Vint Cerf does.

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[jshare]

Riiight. People like Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf?

Here's another link to their essay (which wasn't terribly readable in the previous link i gave) about Gore's statement. And here is an excerpt:

There are many factors that have contributed to the Internet's rapid growth since the later 1980s, not the least of which has been political support for its privatization and continued support for research in advanced networking technology. No one in public life has been more intellectually engaged in helping to create the climate for a thriving Internet than the Vice President. Gore has been a clear champion of this effort, both in the councils of government and with the public at large.

All in all, I don't think his statement is "simply false". Or perhaps, "simply" it is false, but when taken in context (not just the context of his words on that occasion, but also the context of his overall actions), it is not false. To say that it is seems a lot like picking nits to me.

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[jxs2151]

Obviously you're arrogant to believe you know more about the internet than Vint Cerf does.

Two things:

1- Vint knows who pays the bills. One does not piss off a government official by saying "Algore is such a bozo and had nothing whatsoever to do with creating the Internet". Such things are not done by people like Vint.

2- Ever hear the term "Damning by faint praise"?

Saying
"..Gore's initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet."

is not a rousing defense of Gore, but just enough to keep from irratating those who provide the money.

It is rather pathetic that those defending Gore have to hold this rather tenuous thread.

Re:al gore _did_ invent the internet

[fgodfrey]

No, but he certainly was in the Senate in the '80's when the government allowed corporations to get onto the Internet. So, no, he didn't sponsor a bill that resulted in TCP/IP being created, but it did allow for the 'Net to become the way it is today instead of a "small" group of universities and government sites. The statement he made somewhat overstated his role, but it wasn't a lie.

Politics

[EnlightenedDuck]

My guess would be that it has more to do with governmental contacts than expertise about computers - Gore must have a pretty good list of contacts throughout government by now, and if that can help Apple, why shouldn't they tap him to be on their board of directors? Beats another lawyer....

Re:Politics

[odin53]

Beats another lawyer....

These are the directors of Apple:

Bill Campbell
Chairman and former CEO
Intuit Corp.

Millard Drexler
Chairman and CEO
J. Crew

Albert Gore Jr.
Former Vice President of the United States

Steve Jobs
CEO, Apple
CEO, Pixar

Arthur D. Levinson, Ph. D.
Chairman and CEO
Genentech

Jerry York
President and CEO
Micro Warehouse

Where are the lawyers? I don't understand your statement. And what would be wrong with having lawyer on the BOD (assuming conflicts of interest don't exist)?

Re:Politics

[Shenkerian]

(Gore was the one who flunked out of college while Bush was the one with an MBA from Harvard)

If by "flunked out of college" you meant "graduated cum laude from Harvard (1969), then from Vanderbilt Divinity School (1972), then from Vanderbilt Law School (1976)," you're absolutely right.

Re:Politics

[sxltrex]

If Bill Campbell is on Apple's board, why the hell does Quicken for the Mac suck so hard? There are fewer features in my copy of Quicken 2003 than there were in Quicken '99 for Windows. What the hell?

Re:Politics

[WatertonMan]

I was thinking of the following:

Gore's Dubious School Record

Note that I don't think Gore an idiot. I disagree with him politically but he seems a smart and pleasant person. I question some of his rhetoric as being rather misleading. (Especially his environment book) However one could easily say the same of most politicians.

Re:Politics

[WatertonMan]

To be fair, I should add this rebuttal by Gore to the above page discussing low grades and dropping out at Vanderbilt.

I'm not sure I buy it myself. But certainly he did go on to do quite well. My complaint, as I mentioned, is not that I think Gore an idiot but rather the misleading view that Bush is an idiot. Harvard MBA's aren't quite the same as community college. The point to me is a double standard. But certainly fairness isn't high on the media's hit list.

Re:Politics

[ncc74656]

Gore was the one who flunked out of college while Bush was the one with an MBA from Harvard)

If by "flunked out of college" you meant "graduated cum laude from Harvard (1969), then from Vanderbilt Divinity School (1972), then from Vanderbilt Law School (1976)," you're absolutely right.

Guess again. There's no fscking way that someone with Cs and Ds all over his undergrad transcript graduated cum laude, unless Harvard has a much lower standard than every other university. While he did muddle his way through Harvard, he quit both divinity school and law school before obtaining his degrees in those programs. Dubya, OTOH, has his Harvard MBA.

Re:Politics

[Shenkerian]

Oops, I was wrong. My source lists "VANDERBILT UNIV, LAW SCHL, 1976," which led me to believe that he'd graduated. He did, however, graduate cum laude from Harvard, but that's not particularly hard once you're admitted.

Re:Politics

[WatertonMan]

Didn't Al Gore get a 660 as well? That's what Wikipedia said. So if Bush got in via his father, didn't Al Gore get in the same way? Further while in college Bush didn't have the low grades Gore did and went on to grad school.

BTW - Bush went to Yale for undergraduate studies and Harvard for graduate.

My point though is that whether he got in "via daddy" or had a bad year, the point is that doesn't necessarily reflect on their intelligence. Both liberals and conservative idealogues seem to harp on this. (i.e. there is no way their opponents can be smart)

Re:Politics

[WatertonMan]

Sorry - that was on verbal for Gore (625). Bush got a 566. However that doesn't necessarily mean much. Bill Bradly got a 485 but was widely considered intelligent and was a Rhodes Scholar.

For combined scores Bush got a 1206 (not a 660) and Gore a 1355. Bush was in the 84th percentile. Not fantastic, but not bad. Here's more scores. Of course people with low SATS go on to do great in college and some with high ones do poorly. But ripping on Bush for getting into a good college given his High School performance really applies to Gore as well. (His grades in High School weren't exemplary either) Both got into ivy league schools because they were the sons of famous politicians. No doubt. But it applies equally to both.

Re:Politics

[Shenkerian]

I was mistaken about his time at Vanderbilt, but Gore did in fact graduate cum laude from Harvard.

His strong senior thesis on the impact of television on the presidency allowed him to graduate cum laude.

Harvard does, incidentally, have a much lower standard for granting Latin honours. Of the 1676 in the class of 2000, 1482 received Latin honours. That's 88.4%.

Re:Politics

[Fnkmaster]

This is bullshit. Did you attend Harvard? No? Oh, I see. You're making unsubstantiated claims.

It is still possible today at Harvard to graduate cum laude with mediocre grades, if you have a very strong thesis. Honors determinations are largely made on a department-by-department basis (there are University-wide baseline grade standards, but generally the departmental determinations are what matters, since the baseline University standard is a low-B average minimum for honors). In some departments, the thesis is weighted quite heavily, in others, not as much so. In some, they take the LESSER honors-level recommendation of both (if you had summa grades but a cum laude thesis, you only graduate cum laude).

In any case, cum laude really only means you graduated in the top 30%-40% of your class at Harvard. Magna cum laude implies you were in the top 10-20%, and summa cum laude implies you were in the top 2-3%.

Are there easy majors at Harvard? Of course, just like at the vast majority of schools. If you want to just say you have the degree, it's not too hard. And government ain't one of the harder ones, it's true. But don't discredit the institution based on that or the graduates from it - that would be the equivalent of me discrediting Michigan State graduates based on the fact that a moron got a degree in "Communications" there. I graduated in physics, magna cum laude, from Harvard, and I assure you it was no cakewalk.

Re:Politics

[Shenkerian]

If you'll look here, you'll see that I substantiated my claims quite well: 1482 of 1676, or 88.4%, of the class of 2000 graduated with Latin honours.

Don't take this to mean that I believe that Harvard isn't an amazing educational institution or that I'm discrediting its graduates. And don't be an elitist Harvard assholes by just assuming that I didn't go to Harvard. As it turns out, I didn't.

But that's because Yale's better. :)

Re:Politics

[mattACK]

Just as in an interview I can know to dismiss a candidate inside of 1 minute, getting a read on a person's intelligence over the idiot box isn't too tough. Bush isn't an idiot, but he is certainly swimming out of his depth.

Re:Politics

[ktambascio]

um...no....

Bush/Gore SAT scores

get your facts straight loser...

Re:Politics

[Evil Adrian]

Misleading rhetoric, you say?

Re:Politics

[Golias]

I seem to recall reading that the vast majority of effective leaders are usually not from the MENSA crowd. A poll of the CEO's of the most successful companies, along with most political leaders, shows that the typical profile is that of a slightly-above-average scholar.

My best guess is that those who score high in IQ tests and get high grades are often the borderline Asperger Syndrome cases who lack the human interaction skills needed to lead.

Re:Politics

[artemis67]

My guess is that it has to do with Al Gore's experience with Lock Boxes. It'll look like an ordinary copy of The Count of Monte Cristo sitting on the bookshelf, but it won't be. It'll be the lock box.

Re:Politics

[j-beda]

I graduated in physics, magna cum laude, from Harvard, and I assure you it was no cakewalk.

It may not have been a cakewalk, but it probably was not a very comprehensive physics education.

This isn't really the fault of Harvard, but more a result of the general USA undergraduate degree philosophy, which Harvard tends to follow pretty well. The relatively large number of required general education courses leave relativly little time available for math and physics courses.

In comparison, undergraduate physics degrees in Europe and Canada, tend to have significantly more math and physics courses required for graduation.

This does not imply that one system is better than the other, but they do tend to result in graduates with significant differences in their understanding of their "major" fields, and of course signigicant differences in their understanding of the wider accademic world outside of that field.

This does not go into the issues surronding the value of "cakewalkness" or lack thereof. Ideally, the point of instruction isn't to be "hard" but to be "effective". How much was learned and how well the student succeeds in future endevours is probably more important than how tough a time it was. The "tough it out" philosophy is what gives us medical residence programs that ruin lives and health and yet have little or no benifit compared to more humane methods of medical education. BUt I digress even farther from the Gore/Bush bashing...

Inventions

[zzxc]

Just in!

Gore invents AppleTalk

Gore invents candy-colored computer

Gore invents small music player

Gore invents fast new web browser

Gore invents XUL (Hyatt mysteriously fired)

Gore invents new GUI for BSD

Re:Inventions

[Surak_Prime]

The above looks like someone playing Civilization. I'd shift some resources away from science, and more towards luxuries, or the Al Gorians may get unrestful now that we're at war.....

Re:Inventions

[Chordonblue]

...?

Profit!

Re:Inventions

[Guppy06]

Why not? It's not like he had anything better to do during the period between January 1993 and January 2001.

Were there even any ties in the Senate during then?

Re:Inventions

[DuctTape]

I thought he invented a typesetting language.

Surely you've heard of... GoreTeX

The More "Environmentally Friendly" MAC

[bagboy]

Now you can feel safe if you need to throw the out the "core".

DMCA?

[Jason1729]

Wasn't it the government Al Gore helped run that brought us the DMCA?

It might not be a good thing having him as a director at one of the few big tech companies that is still customer friendly.

Jason
ProfQuotes

Re:DMCA?

[stratjakt]

Yep.

He also heads up the incentives to censor/restrict "violent" video games, TV, and movies.

He's also 100% behind DRM and censorship of 'offensive' materials on the 'net.

But he's working for Apple, so us slashdot sycophants love him now.

Luckily for apple users this is more PR than actually hiring a real employee.

Re:DMCA?

[Ivan Karamazov]

I wouldn't get your panties so bunched up about Al Gore and the DMCA. Remember that it was Gore and the Clinton administration that tried to break up Microsoft. (Unlike the current admin that just decided they will no longer enforce anti-trust laws.) Gore clearly has a pro-technology and pro-technology-choice bent. Al Gore may be able to do a lot for Apple. He certainly has a lot of connections. This could be a really smart move on Apple's part.

Interesting side note, President Clinton and Jobs were pretty tight, while Michael Dell was a big supporter of Dubya. I think that says a lot...

Re:DMCA?

[FsG]

It might not be a good thing having him as a director at one of the few big tech companies that is still customer friendly.

Apple? Customer friendly? How can a company that invoked the DMCA against its customers be considered customer-friendly in any sense of the word?

Re:DMCA?

[Jonny Ringo]

You mean the same government that's still running today?
Explain to me the difference between a Republican and a Democrat please?

Re:DMCA?

[Jonny Ringo]

President Clinton and Jobs were pretty tight, while Michael Dell was a big supporter of Dubya. I think that says a lot...

I agree it does say a lot. It says it doesn't matter what party your in you better be in bed with someone from the industry.

Re:DMCA?

[geekoid]

actually, he is not for censorship, only approprietly labeling 'offensice' material.
there is a big difference.

If the government said "no adult material is allowed, and will be removed" I would be angry

If the government says adult magazines must be behnd the counter, I don't mind.

Re:DMCA?

[dacarr]

OK, I'm not a big fan of him either, but this just isn't fair.

Re:DMCA?

[Guppy06]

"Wasn't it the government Al Gore helped run that brought us the DMCA?"

How'd he do that? Was the Senate vote tied?

Re:DMCA?

[Guppy06]

"He was a Senator, Stooge. Get with the program."

No, he was Vice President when the DMCA was passed and ratified. The duties of the Vice President mainly involve sticking one's finger up one's nose.

Re:DMCA?

[pi radians]

Well, in recent history, about 87 I.Q. points.

Re:DMCA?

[Planesdragon]

Explain to me the difference between a Republican and a Democrat please?

Democrats are left-leaning American politicians that, in a gross generalization, believe that goverment has a duty to its people, and best serves its duty with a hands-on head-count method that tries to treat everyone fairly.

Republicans are right-leaning American politicians that, in a gross generalization, believe that government has a duty to its people, and best serves its duty with a hands-off, dollar-count method that tries to treat everyone justly.

(To be obvious: "Fair" is everyone getting lunch. "Just" is only giving money to those that work.)

Re:DMCA?

[pi radians]

Hmmm, that story I linked to has now changed Bush's IQ from 95 to 91.

Well, now its half of what Clinton's is. Funny, in a sad sort of way.

Re:DMCA?

[geekee]

Also, didn't Tipper Gore spearhead the music rating system, that turned into the parental advisory label?

Re:DMCA?

[The Lynxpro]

oh contraire. They (the Bush Administration) decided NOT to enforce antitrust laws FOR Microsoft. Just go ask Charles Ergin at Echostar (Dish Network) about the DOJ's (and FCC) alledged laxness regarding antitrust law when it came to his grand plan of acquiring DirecTV just a few short months ago...

Re:DMCA?

[caseyc]

Interesting side note, President Clinton and Jobs were pretty tight, while Michael Dell was a big supporter of Dubya. I think that says a lot...

Michael Dell is a Texan, just like Bush. They were probably friends, too, when Dubya was governor. Clinton and Jobs are "tight" just because they're both cool cats...

Re:DMCA?

[TheKey]

I think it's pretty ridiculous to try and claim that Clinton had an IQ of 182. He's a smart guy, but.. 182 is motherfucking God genius. As well, I'm sure 92 is a little low.. Dubya doesn't seem too smart, but I don't think he's that dumb.

Re:DMCA?

[demonbug]

Interesting side note, President Clinton and Jobs were pretty tight, while Michael Dell was a big supporter of Dubya. I think that says a lot...

Yeah, it says that Jobs is (or was) a Californian, and Dell is a Texan. In Texas, apparently, you support Texans no matter how idiotic they are.

Re:DMCA?

[sg3000]

> Interesting side note, President Clinton and
> Jobs were pretty tight, while Michael Dell was a
> big supporter of Dubya. I think that says a lot

It sure does. Plus Microsoft was a big supporter of Dubya as well. Back during the election, Microsoft hired one of Bush's consultants to help them lobby the Bush administration about the anti trust case:
(from the NY Times article, Apr 11, 2000)

The Microsoft Corporation has quietly hired Ralph Reed, a senior consultant to Gov. George W. Bush's presidential campaign, to lobby Mr. Bush in opposition to the government's antitrust case against the software giant.

Microsoft's aim, the company says, is to curry favor with the apparent Republican presidential nominee, hoping he will speak out against the government's case -- and, perhaps, take a softer approach toward the company if he is elected president.

Mr. Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, is well situated to take on the assignment since his firm, Century Strategies, is one of Mr. Bush's top consultants. During the primary campaign, Mr. Reed frequently appeared on television to talk on behalf of the campaign.

According to a Mercury News article from 1999, Microsoft also helped finance his inaugural celebration for his second term as Texas governor, and their COO was one of GWB's chief fundraisers for the Northeast.

One good thing you can say about Bush is that when he's bought, he stays bought!

Re:DMCA?

[Amiga Trombone]

Well, in recent history, about 87 I.Q. points

Horsefeathers! That "study" is a hoax. See Snopes.

For a more honest accounting of presidential IQ's, see this article.

Just as an indicator of how accurate that "study" is, note that the recorded IQ of Kennedy was 119, and Nixon's was 143.

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[BWJones]

Politics aside, (Disclaimer: I voted for him) this may be just what Apple needs. Someone who is capable, knows business, government and academia and is not an Apple insider.

crazy

[typhoonius]

Between this and this, I had to check to see it wasn't April Fool's Day.

Agh! All that is evil

[DarthVeda]

All that is evil in the world is coming together... Al Gore and apple... What's next? Saddam and Microsoft? :)

Re:Agh! All that is evil

[John Zebedee]

Well, lessee now: Saddam is a totalitarian dictator, completely oblivious of world opinion, rolling in more wealth than is reasonable, doing his damnedest to impose his will on anyone nearby, funding subversive agents . . .well, he fits right into the corporate culture, *and* he's recently been invited to relocate. Don't move your markers, we have a bingo!

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Innovation

[ductormalef]

Maybe now that they have the inventor of the internet onboard, we will see some really innovative ideas from Apple.

Re:Innovation

[CodeWanker]

Holy Jesus, Gore's such a gigantic goddamned wanker. Anyone who says (and this is NOT a misquote or made up, check Earth in the Balance): We can't wait for the results of research into global warming. We need to act.

He's a scientific version of Madonna: he changes focus just often enough to embrace the latest fad. If he were president, Iraq would be invading us right now.

Gore didn't claim that

[Kallahar]

During a March 1999 CNN interview, while trying to differentiate himself from rival Bill Bradley, Gore boasted: "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. ... The terrible irony in this exchange is that while Gore certainly didn't create the Internet, he was one of the first politicians to realize that those bearded, bespectacled researchers were busy crafting something that could, just maybe, become pretty important." - Wired News

Al Gore never claimed he invented the internet, and anyone who jokes about it is just showing their ignorance. (sorry timothy)

Kallahar

Re:Gore didn't claim that

[jxs2151]

Al Gore never claimed he invented the internet

Oh silly us- He didn't invent the Internet, he created it.

So sorry we have been getting that wrong. Thanks for clearing it up.

Re:Gore didn't claim that

[CarlBenda]

They forgot to hit refresh? Maybe it's an echo.

Re:Gore didn't claim that

[Abcd1234]

Who cares if it was posted already... it was in the damn article summary!

Re:Gore didn't claim that

[Col. Klink (retired)]

> He was responsible for driving through the senate the key appropriations leading to the creation of the internet.

Really? Which bill was that? Considering that he wasn't even elected to Congress until 1977, I find this hard to believe.

While it's certainly true that he never said that he "invented" it, his actual claim that he "took the initiative in creating the Internet" is spurious.

Please provide me with one single bill that he, as a Congressman, Senator, or even VP, authored or provided leadership over that created or funded any fundamental aspect of the internet.

Re:Gore didn't claim that

[Obfuscant]

Why would someone load up the story, see the joke they were planning to make had been posted ten times already, and then post it anyway?

For the same reason that Gore apologists see all the repeated claims that Gore didn't say what so many people heard him say and still post yet another claim that he didn't say what everyone heard him say.

It wasn't a misquote, as one apologist claims. It was said on live television, and the words came out of His Highness' own mouth. "Creating the Internet" took place before Gore was ever elected, which makes it impossible for him to "take the initiative" to create it. Period.

Re:Gore didn't claim that

[MochaMan]

Ok. I'm not an American and I don't particularly care one way or another about what the guy claimed. While the quote does make it sound like he's taking credit for creating the Internet, it's obviously just a poor choice of wording on his part. For what it's worth, Vint Cerf had this to say on the whole issue, which does support Al Gore's (poorly worded) assertion.

Re:Gore didn't claim that

[JustAnOtherCodeSerf]

> Al Gore never claimed he invented the internet, and anyone who jokes about it is just showing their ignorance. (sorry timothy)

Well, ignorance OR perhaps that they have sense of freakin humor.

Re:Gore didn't claim that

[Paul Komarek]

You may care to read through this article for what appears to be a careful and reasoned assessment of Al Gore's lifetime activities with respect to technology and nationwide data networks.

You might also want to read Vinton Cerf's email about Al Gore and the internet, which was prepared by Cerf and Kahn. Here's a quote: "Bob and I believe that the vice president deserves significant credit for his early recognition of the importance of what has become the Internet." This may not answer your question directly, but provides useful information all the same.

I'm not a Gore fan. These links come from a very quick search on google. I'm guessing that anyone not educated on this subject must not care very much.

-Paul Komarek

Re:Gore didn't claim that

[Zoop]

took the initiative in creating the Internet

So what you're saying is that he makes verbal blunders that would make W blush. Or he claimed he invented the internet, just as he claimed Love Story was based on him and Tipper "I Make Ashcroft Feel Like a Libertine" Gore. Take your pick.

'Cuz even his boss would have had problems parsing that in any other way.

Though seriously, it says a lot about his mindset and the mindset of our masters in DC that it doesn't REALLY exist until it has a congressional sponsor.

Never mind that it had congressional sponsors when Al was figuring out how to be a (really bad) reporter, risking paper cuts for his country (oh, but at least he wasn't in Texas doing anything cowardly like flying fighters). Never mind that he wasn't even the primary sponsor of the High Performance Supercomputing Act. Never mind that the act served the Internet by getting it OUT of government just as he was getting strong.

So he's a delusional babbling ignoramus but he didn't claim he invented the Internet. He "took the initiative in creating" it.

Inventor of the internet

[billnad]

No you've got that wrong.

He did not say that he invented it, just that he brought it to the masses, he is kind of like the favorite uncle of the internet.

congrats to Mr. Gore

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah yes, the ever-lovable Al Gore.

I saw his name in an article in Scientific American about the internet and related technology, many years ago. I thought his writing was very intelligent and was surprised that a senator knew so much about computers. I saw his name pop up a lot w.r.t. to the internet.

Part of the reason I voted for Clinton was because of Gore. What a let-down that his personality was so wooden and unlikable. It made it just too easy for the press to pick on him (even the submitter repeated the "invented the internet joke).

On the other hand, he's just like a lot of geeks: uncomfortable in his own skin. I related to him a lot more than Bush.

So anyway, congrats to Mr. Gore, and I'm sure his presence on Apple's board will accomplish absolutely nothing whatsoever, and have absolutely no effect on the company. But still, he's a respectable guy and I'm glad he likes Mac OS X and open source.

Why did I just write this? I have no idea.

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[pajamacore]

Apple insider? You can't get much more outside than board member Millard Drexler, the chairman and CEO of J. Crew.

: Boys with Power end up on Corporate Agenda's

[rhyder]

Apple is lucky to have him, that is a lot of top-down influence. The big gears up-top *are* the ones that predominate our lives in the ways of general trend and influence. Now given, there is proactive and reactive influence, but big players will ensure social connectvity, which AL has a great deal of.

I have to go hear him lecture next week

[webster1]

Gore is going to be lecturing my class next week at Middle Tenn State Univ (where he has been an adjunct prof for a while...i am not proud).

Anyone have any questions you want me to ask him?

He is officially there to talk to my 'Legal Problems of the Recording Industry' class about he and his wife's censorship/labeling campaign in the mid 1980's. However, we have been told that we can "ask him anything." Tipper may be there too, but at this point we dont know.

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[Anonymous Coward]

Ask him how it felt to not win the votes of his home state in the last presidential election. if the people who know you don't vote for you...

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[webster1]

we'll see how the conversation goes. i was thinking more of a slightly on topic question, not as argumentative ....though i would love to ask him. :-)

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[bofkentucky]

Would you mind asking him how many time his father has threatened to kill him for forgeting about the people of TN while pandering to the hippies and socialists in this country.

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[webster1]

i know the answer to this one, and his father would agree. TN doesnt have enough electoral votes for him to care. daddy got him elected to the senate, from there he got to be VP, from there, it was pandering to the hippies of california, NY, etc with way more electoral votes. it didnt phase him at all that he lost his home state in teh election. Bush visted TN more often in the last election, at least in the Nashville area where i am.

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[Mikey-San]

Ask him, very specifically, about Apple's DRM stance.

"You've just recently been added to Apple's board of directors. What are your feeling towards Apple's customer-friendly, honesty-based stance on Digital Rights Management?"

-/-
Mikey-San
Submitted without a karma bonus for extra flavour!

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[Elwood P Dowd]

Please, oh please, push him about the DMCA getting passed under his watch, and his wife's co-founding of the PMRC. Some suggest that the PMRC has lead to de facto government censorship.

It might take a little research to get good questions that he won't just brush off, or evade, but those are two technology issues that are totally essential to us /.ers as voters, and us Apple fans as customers.

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[dbrutus]

Sure. Ask him about Congress' responsibilities under the copyright clause to advance the arts and sciences. Is keeping things locked up and out of the public domain for so long the optimal way to do it?

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[JoeBuck]

His father would be proud, since he was by the standards of bofkentucky both a "hippy" and a "socialist".

Albert Gore, Sr. lost his Senate seat primarily because he opposed the Vietnam War. He was right, and the people of Tennessee were wrong.

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[kinnell]

Anyone have any questions you want me to ask him?

Ask him whether he prefers vi or emacs

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[geekoid]

Since Apple has used the DMCA against people, perhaps that is not entirely accurate?

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[commodoresloat]

If by "hippies and socialists" you mean "Republicans" than you're right. He didn't try to appeal to the left in 2000; he tried (and failed) to appeal to people who otherwise were going to vote Bush. He failed. You'd know this if you remembered that all the democrats blamed Ralph Nader (who did appeal the "hippies and socialists") for Bush winning the election.

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[11223]

Yeah, I've got a question for him. Ask him why his Commerce Department stonewalled the relaxation of crypto export regulations for seven years.

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[Screaming Lunatic]

That's a slanted question. He'll figure out what you want to hear. Ask him this instead:

"You've just recently been added to Apple's board of directors. What are your feelings towards Apple's current stance on Digital Rights Management? Would that stance change now that you are a member of Apple's board of directors?"

Always strip the adjectives out of your questions. You want to find out which way the respondent is leaning without giving away which way the questioner is leaning.

After the 2nd question is answered, then hammer him with further questions depending on if he answered in the affirmative or not.

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[Screaming Lunatic]

Microsoft was investigated for abusing their monopoly under your administration. Are you satisfied with the current outcome of this case?

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[nursedave]

Funniest...sig...ever! I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything! My nose is stopped up with a cold, and my head could have exploded!

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[bmasel]

"Will you push Apple to develop a transparent vote-counting system?"

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[constantnormal]

Is he, or is he not, a Switcher.

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[commodoresloat]

I'm saying he tried to appear to be a "centrist" candidate and he avoided leaning to the left in an attempt to appeal to Bush voters. I didn't say he was successful (you might note the words "he failed" twice in my post).

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[jtdubs]

It's a college lecture. What do YOU think the questioners view on DRM is likely to be? :-)

Justin Dubs

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[bofkentucky]

Of course he didn't appear to lean left, the bulk American people do not socialists in power (thank goodness), yes nader probably grabed enough votes to have swayed the election, considering Perot pulled that stunt on Bush 41 in 92, I call it retalliation. By your username, I'm assuming you are a Vandy grad/student, any signifigant leftists mobilized on campus? UK's lefties have been scattered and shock shock, most of them are working for Dem's trying to put another damned socialist gov. in KY.

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[Onan]

Actually, Apple has never used the DMCA. Other World Computing, to whom Apple sent a cease and desist, claimed at first that Apple cited the DMCA. But they never provided any documents from Apple which cited it, and they later backed down from that claim. I'm not aware of any other circumstance in which Apple has cited the DMCA, and I'm certain they've never brought any litigation based on it.

Apple seems willing to use litigation against specific infringements of their intellectual property (like people who copy their images for X11 wm themes), but not to institute systemic DRM. Their official opinion is that piracy is a behavioural problem, not a technical problem.

All this seems to support the grandparent's description of a "customer-friendly, honesty-based stance on Digital Rights Management."

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[randolph]

Ask him for his opinion of open source and free software, and about its place in the future. I believe that, yes, he knows the what those phrases mean. I hope he has some interesting things to say.

Hey, editors! If you're listening, maybe you could do questions for Al Gore!

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[commodoresloat]

what about my nickname makes you think I'm from Vanderbilt?

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[bofkentucky]

Vandy's athletics squads go by the nickname "Commodores", wasn't sure what the "sloat" was for.

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[commodoresloat]

Ahhh cool, got it. Nope; I'm in Los Angeles. "Commodore Sloat" was a figure from the wars for annexation of California. He was reincarnated as a cockroach, or so the story goes....

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[bofkentucky]

Aaah, not familiar with that one will google for it after I get home though, sounds interesting.

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[andrewski]

I thought everyone already knew that the Democrats were just penis warmers for Hollywood and Big Media.

Re:I have to go hear him lecture next week

[Elwood P Dowd]

You think Hollywood and Big Media wanted mandatory labelling?

AUGH! STOP REPEATING THAT!

[kevin lyda]

he didn't say he'd invented the internet.

Makes sense... for Gore

[sib888]

I hope Gore's personality doesn't rub off. We'll be back to beige boxes before you know it...

vote different.

-

Re:Makes sense... for Gore

[ChaoticChaos]

ROFLMAO!!

Not Crazy Eddie?

[ralico]

Apple's board should have chosen Crazy Eddie
That way Apple would be insanely great at insane prices.

Re:Not Crazy Eddie?

[linzeal]

I think jobs would commit homicide the moment that man walked into the boardroom. Death by ibook thrown like frisbee at jugular.

Finally something truly interesting.

[Blimey85]

I've been bored off my ass all day... until now.

Now I can't stop laughing. Apple has always though different and I think that through all of the problems they have had, they have done pretty good. Not many companies have taken on MS and lived to tell the tale. Apple has. But what is the reasoning behind hiring Al Gore?

Yes I read the bloody article and yes I know what Apple is telling us, but what is the real reasoning behind the scenes? Do they honestly think Al Gore can bring something to Apple? What does he know about computer companies, software companies, or the Apple way of doing things? Why not bring back Woz? At least Woz had an idea of what the hell is going on. Maybe this is just a gimmick though. Something crazy to get Apple in the news for a while. To make people remember they exist. Or maybe Steve really thinks Al can add to the Apple brand.

Re:Finally something truly interesting.

[ender81b]

Political Connections Galore. Seriously, he was the former vice president and has a ton of political connections and can seriously help apple in this arena. This is important for any major company, to have good lobbyists and such and Al Gore will only help them in the area.

That and the prestige of having the fomer vice president (and nearly president) be on your board of directors.

You never know, maybe Al really does love apple and technology as well. Shrug, maybe HE wants to do this and approached apple about it.

Re:Finally something truly interesting.

[will_die]

Theses positions always filled with people with name recognition, and other members of the same business community. I would not be surprised to find people who filled it for both Sun and Microsoft. It is pure name dropping reasons.

Re:Finally something truly interesting.

[IamTheRealMike]

Not many companies have taken on MS and lived to tell the tale. Apple has.

Yeah, but mostly because MS was throwing resources at them during the trial to stop them going under and making them an actual de facto monopoly.

Do they honestly think Al Gore can bring something to Apple?

FWIW I don't think directors of a company actually do very much, it's mostly a symbolic post, a group of people management can ring up for contacts and advice. If you look at companies, often they are all on each others boards anyway.

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[BWJones]

Apple insider? You can't get much more outside than board member Millard Drexler, the chairman and CEO of J. Crew.

True, but what experience with technology and computing did Millard have? Gore at least has extensive experience with the development and promotion of technologies.

oh oh

[deanj]

I bet they go back to beige macs....

Re:oh oh

[Peterus7]

Haha, the best macs.

Still, I can just imagine Gore in a switch ad.

"I used to work with a PC. Then I lost the election all because of a screw up with ballot countings. The vote counting computer in florida was running windows, and it crashed, and thus I lost. That's when I switched to mac, and I've been a happy man ever since."

"My name is Al Gore, and I AM president."

oh bah...

[epiphani]

i think i'll have to take apple off my preffered vendors list.

I don't get it.

[hwestiii]

I don't get it. Where do people get their perspective these days?

George Bush kills something like 100 people while he is governor of Texas and trashes 50 years worth of international diplomacy to get a two-bit dictator, and Al Gore still gets shit on for that stupid internet remark.

How does Rush do it?

Re:I don't get it.

[jxs2151]

How does Rush do it?

He does it by not trying to bullshit people into believing things that just aren't true. He would never use vague, propaganda lines like "George Bush kills something like 100 people..", knowing that it is facetious and misleading.

People enjoy honesty and facts that can be verified not innuendo and slogans not based on truth.

Re:I don't get it.

[Anonymous Coward]

George Bush kills something like 100 people while he is governor of Texas and trashes 50 years worth of international diplomacy to get a two-bit dictator

Wow. I don't get how something so idiotic gets modded up.

Won't even answer the killed 100 people slant, but two bit dictator? Tell that to the witnesses who saw Saddam do this: "There was a machine designed for shredding plastic. Men were dropped into it and we were again made to watch. Sometimes they went in head first and died quickly. Sometimes they went in feet first and died screaming. It was horrible. I saw 30 people die like this. Their remains would be placed in plastic bags and we were told they would be used as fish food . . . on one occasion, I saw Qusay [President Saddam Hussein's youngest son] personally supervise these murders."" Saddam is a mass murderer

Re:I don't get it.

[pll178]

George Bush did not kill 100 people while he was governor, Texas did.

Re:I don't get it.

[Feztaa]

Where do people get their perspective these days?

It's all about the entertainment value. "Gore invented the internet" jokes are a lot funnier than "Bush killed 100 people" jokes.

Hey did you hear the one about Bush? He killed 100 people! See? It's just not funny.

Re:I don't get it.

[goon america]

How does Rush do it?

Because he gives them something they want: to feel powerful, justified.

He's good at coming up with excuses to distract away from the positive and draw focus on the negative in a way that makes people who agree with him feel more assured about what they think. Naturally, the positions he advocates need a lot of rationalization.

Re:I don't get it.

[Jonny Ringo]

Check out sig dick wad.

Re:I don't get it.

[geekoid]

well, thats a fine good reason to get american soldiers killed. cause someone flew where we told them not to.

If that is what it is about, why don't we blow up a palace evertime he violates air space, or we find a missle?
we can do that and not risk any american lives.

Re:I don't get it.

[be-fan]

Iraq may be a mouse of a country, but its a mouse with rabies looking to bite.
>>>>>>>>
It's that kind of attitude that gets American foreign policy into trouble. You respect *everybody* even your enemies.

The rise and fall of nations is a undulating tide. America today is a great, powerful, and on the whole good nation. Two thousand years ago, the ancestors of Americans were living in the forests of Europe, unable to read or write, poor, and fighting amongst themselves. Today, Iraq might be ruled by a dictator and in a bad economic situation, but two thousand years ago, it was a prosperous, literate, sophisticated civilization. When Americans look at the US, they see a country at the forefront of modern civilization. When Iraqies look at Iraq, they see one of the countries that *invented* civilization.

Two thousand years from now, I doubt either country will still be around. It's all ephemeral. Thus, at this point in time, the best thing we can do is realize how insignificant we, our nation, and our civilization is in flow of time, and act accordingly. The minute that we as Americans come to the realization that every person on the planet has pride as powerful as our own, and learn to respect their dignity, is the day 99% of all our international problems will go away.

Re:I don't get it.

[jxs2151]

You and I can sit here and debate the veracity of this down to the level of silliness.

Here, I found a website that questions FAIR:
UnFAIR FAIR

That cancels your reference.

Rush's numbers speak to the level of trust that people place in him, validating his truthfulness. You don't have to like that, and I am quite sure that you consider everyone who disagrees with you a sheep. The fact remains that people love Rush 'cause he is honest. BTW, I don't listen to Rush.

Re:I don't get it.

[ncc74656]

How does Rush do it?

He does it by not trying to bullshit people into believing things that just aren't true.

You're right, Rush Limbaugh's never done anything like that.

You are aware that FAIR has zero credibility, right? Rush rebutted each of FAIR's false claims years ago in his first book.

Re:I don't get it.

[hwestiii]

As governor of Texas, GWB was "at the switch" so to speak. The former governor of Illinois, George Ryan, also held a similar switch and took a completely different course. After 13 death row inmates had been freed for wrongful convictions during the 80's and 90's, he imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in the state until some procedures could be put in place to reduce or eliminate the likelihood of wrongful executions.

George W. Bush had every opportunity to do something similar but instead did nothing, washing his hands and denying responsibility without, apparently, a moment's reflective thought.

Now you may have problems with George Ryan; he is on the verge of being in deep legal shit for corruption in the Illinois Secretary of State's office when he held that post, corruption that may have contributed to the deaths of a large number of children from a single family in a horrific traffic accident. All that being said, he did more to advance justice in Illinois that I am willing to bet George Bush ever did in Texas. It is my understanding that George Bush's big claim to fame was tort reform that reduced consumer's rights. Expect to see more of that on the national level.

Face it George Bush isn't a conservative, he is a warmed over Fascist.

Re:I don't get it.

[hwestiii]

Being a bad guy doesn't automatically rate a US invasion. Look at what happened in Rwanda in the '90s. 10s or 100s of thousands of people were hacked to pieces by their neighbors and the rest of the world just stood around and watched. I doubt that Saddam is even the worst on earth. Savagery comes surprisingly easily.

Saddam is simply an example to the world of the current administration's new foriegn policy. "Get on board, or get whacked"

Re:I don't get it.

[Guy Harris]

Rush rebutted each of FAIR's false claims years ago in his first book.

It seems unlikely, unless Rush has a time machine, that he would have rebutted, in a book that came out in 1992 and was reprinted in 1993, claims made by FAIR in 1994 and later and claims made in a book that came out in 1995, unless you're referring to a later edition of "The Way Things Ought To Be".

Now, if you'd like to share with us a fact-based rebuttal of, say, these responses by FAIR of Rush's claims, please be my guest.

Re:I don't get it.

[Guy Harris]

Here, I found a website that questions FAIR:

...but that doesn't refute any of the claims Rush makes. That hardly counts as a cancellation in my book.

Rush's numbers speak to the level of trust that people place in him, validating his truthfulness.

The fact that many people trust somebody doesn't mean that person is truthful, it only means they trust that person.

The fact remains that people love Rush 'cause he is honest.

"Fact"? You have not demonstrated that Rush is honest. Perhaps he honestly believes that, for example, our output of CFCs can't possibly destroy the ozone layer, because the eruption of Mount Pinatubo put out 570 times the amount of chlorine as is in one year's worth of CFC emissions, but, if so, then he's honest but deeply confused.

Re:I don't get it.

[saddino]

How does Rush do it?

He does it by not trying to bullshit people into believing things that just aren't true.

Purposely spreading unsubstantiated rumors and lies is "not trying to bullshit people into believing things that just aren't true?"

Here's just ONE example of the numerous false statements he has made in print and on the air:

-----
In Chapter 16 of "The Way Things Ought To Be" Rush talked about how Willie Horton brutally raped a woman after he was allowed out of a Massachusetts prison on a furlough program while Michael Dukakis was governor. Rush, of course, refers to this as the "Dukakis furlough program" and blames Dukakis for the whole affair.

What Rush failed to mention was that the furlough law he is talking about was passed when Dukakis was not even governor of Massachusetts. It was signed into law by the REPUBLICAN governor who preceded Dukakis. Dukakis' biggest involvement with that law was that he repealed it. But you would never hear Rush mention this. He doesn't want you to hear the whole truth.
-----

I don't think Rush is an idiot, so he must know that he's lying to all of you.

Re:I don't get it.

[Bassman59]

Typical AC: am no fan of Bush (I didn't vote for either of them), but I do believe in Capitol Punishment

Hmmm...punishment on the steps of the US Capitol building? Learn to spell. The word you want is "capital."

and I do beleive that Saddam must be dealt with and that diplomacy is not in Saddam's deck of cards.

...and it's in Dubya's clearly-stacked deck? You know, the one that's marked...

Bush may have been way too aggressive with Iraq, but I would NEVER claim that he trashed 50 years of diplomacy,

YOU won't, you misinformed fuckwit, but anyone who's been PAYING ATTENTION (and not just to Rush and the rest of the anti-liberal media) understands that in two short years, Dubya's managed to cause grave harm to the United States' foreign policy.

Re:I don't get it.

[jamesbrown1000]

who the hell modded this one up?

i mean, come on ... it wasn't like bush was randomly firing at strangers from a moving car or anything. to say he "kill[ed] something like 100 people" is like saying president clinton "killed thousands of innocent europeans" in the balkans.

idiot.

Re:I don't get it.

[DataPath]

Well, if you want to care for individual pride and dignity, then the Iraqi people need to be liberated. Not that I think its our place to do it, but then... whose is it? The UN is a diplomatic organization... when diplomacy fails, they have little power. At the university I attend, there are some Iraqi students, now nationalized. They were quite surprised at Americans. We're not the animals the government makes us out to be, slaughtering arab babies, and the like. They wish peace for their old country yes, but they wish freedom for it even more. And none of those students are Kurds. If the "native" Iraqis think they have it bad, the Kurds have it worse.

I think there are two issues at play:
1) The Iraqis deserve freedom, but no external force has the right to give it to them.

2) The US would be the first target in Hussein's struggle for national superiority. They have been acquiring weapons of mass destruction (Turkey has at least once intercepted weapons grade plutonium trying to make it into Iraq), and that's nothing to sneeze at.

Re:I don't get it.

[syrinx]

How does Rush do it?

Well, all three of them are kickass at their instruments, and Geddy Lee's voice is much better now. So if by "it", you mean "create such an awesome album as _Vapor Trails_ this far into their career", then, well, I'll just say because they rock.

Or was that not what you meant?

Re:I don't get it.

[be-fan]

1) The Iraqi people cannot be liberated. They *chose* Saddam Hussein. By and large, the still support him. Why? Because the oppression of his government is more palatable to them than the indignity of the US imposing a government upon them. Of course there are dissenters. Most people who would come to the US, and young people in general, like the type you've met, are disproportionately likely to be among them. However, the majority of the people support Saddam because he's an Iraqi. You've seen the power that nationalism can have in the US, just think of what power it can have in a place like Iraq. Further, I oppose the whole idea that any country can be "liberated." Democracy is not something that can be given. It can only be earned. I think we would have learned from all the fuckups we've had in Africa that a country has to go through the evolutionary process of building a government. They cannot understand and cannot fully utilize an alien, foreignly imposed government. If you look at the success stories in Africa (for example South Africa) you'll see that their government has come together through the struggle of the people. Right now, the Iraqis have no conception of democracy. If you gave them a choice, they'd want a conservative Muslim theocracy. At this point in time, that is what they're culture dictates. If we build a democratic government in Iraq, we will be imposing a democracy on them that they do not want. As nice as democracy is (hey, I'm a big fan of it) it's not applicable to everybody at this point in time. People are very culturally different, and it's silly to believe that the same style of government will work for them all. As an extremely liberal person, and a Muslim, I've always been bothered by the conservative-slant of my religion, especially in its treatment of women. I strongly believe that conservative countries like Iran should be pressured towards a more progressive stance. Over many generations, a country can be changed at an intellectual and cultural level. However, I'm not stupid enough to believe that a cowboy president with a lot of bombs can transform a thousand year old culture overnight.

Re:I don't get it.

[Gropo]

LIMBAUGH: "Now I got something for you that's true--1972, Tufts University, Boston. This is 24 years ago--or 22 years ago. Three year study of 5000 co-eds, and they used a benchmark of a bra size of 34C. They found that the--now wait. It's true. The larger the bra-size, the smaller the IQ." (TV show, 5/13/94)

REALITY: Dr. Burton Hallowell, president of Tufts in the '60s and '70s, had "absolutely no recollection" of such a study, according to Tufts' communications office. "I surely would have remembered that!" he exclaimed. Limbaugh's staff was unable to produce any such study. A search of the Nexis database--while revealing no evidence of a Tufts study--did produce a number of women theorizing that the presence of large breasts caused a lowering of IQ in some males.

Re:I don't get it.

[Jonny Ringo]

Well besides the vastness of a google search.

Their is the corporate news of cnn with the transcript.

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0012/18/nd.01.htm l

Open you eyes to the new world order.

http://www.infowars.com/
http://www.prisonplane t.com/video.html
Bush new

Re:I don't get it.

[jxs2151]

I love the fact that you guys hate Rush so much.
I love the fact that liberals in general hate the fact that they cannot control talk radio.
I love the fact that you guys spend hours researching this shit and I spend two minutes laughing at you.

Re:I don't get it.

[Gropo]

I don't "hate" anybody.

I do think Rush Limbaugh lies often and distorts the truth.

I also think that anyone who would defend this behavior is truly worthy of pity.

Re:I don't get it.

[jxs2151]

I also think that anyone who would defend this behavior is truly worthy of pity.

And I think that anyone who spends as much time as you do worrying about Rush is truly worthy of pity.

Re:I don't get it.

[Gropo]

And I think that anyone who spends as much time as you do worrying about Rush is truly worthy of pity.

Rrrrright... Like I've given the guy 2 synaptic connections in the last year until this thread came up.

Good for business???

[WaxParadigm]

I'm finally at the point where I REALLY want a Mac, and they go and alienate me as a potential customer by hiring this fool.

Most will call me a troll or offtopic, but I'm serious. This could cause a lot of people to think again about that Mac they wanted (or at least have a bad taste in their mouth). Even if you like Gore you have to question this because he's such a political figure and you're mixing emotions and business by picking this guy up for your board.

Re:Good for business???

[chartreuse]

I dunno. Judging from the comments above it looks like there's lotsa people here who have the same irrational hatred of Gore as of Apple, which if you'll remember has been "going out of business" for about twenty years now. The only other subject I've seen this kind of fixation on in the general media is Woodstock (Clinton-hating isn't as mainstream but even more irrational among its adherents). There seem to be a lot of people who would feel quite good if any of the above were to have their asses handed to them. Very strange.

You are hearing me talk

[Anonymous Coward]

<monotone>And it went like beep beep beep</monotone>

The Mother of Stupid Political Mistakes

[Shuh]

Al Snore, the Forrest Gump of the Left is about as popular on the Right as Dubya is with the Liberals. Way to inject the dealy venom of national politics into a company that's having enough problems just doing the "Lone Consumer OS/Computer Against The Windows Juggarnaught" thing.

Al Gore is going to be an albatross around the neck of Apple. And before I get flamed, what I said for Gore goes double for ANY high-profile controversial political figure from the Government Sector.

Re:The Mother of Stupid Political Mistakes

[90XDoubleSide]

Do you think even one percent of consumers have any idea who is on the board of the companies whose products they buy? How many people here already knew that Mr. Gore works for Google? How many of them know all the other Apple board members?

Re:The Mother of Stupid Political Mistakes

[Shuh]

You're right... no need to get too excited. After these articles fade into the digital ether in a couple of days, no-one will know.

:: keeps fingers crossed ::

Re:The Mother of Stupid Political Mistakes

[jwilloug]

Apple pandering to republicans would be like Ben & Jerry's courting Exxon. They may take your money, but don't ever expect to see a press release about it, it doesn't fit the image they're trying to put forward.

give him a chance

[ag3ntugly]

just because Al Gore appears to most to be a total moron, he was vice president of the united states! dont judge him before he has a chance to prove himself. p.s. and please, if you see more than a handful of bad jokes already posted, you dont have to add yours.

You've got to count all the votes

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe he can get the Mac's marketshare recalculated!

Pull with the NEA and Teacher Unions

[davejenkins]

Al Gore, as a standing liberal, has quite a bit of pull with the teachers unions and others who are buying computers for schools. This alone makes it worth Apple's money to try and shore up their stronghold-- although that educational market is quickly being eroded with Linux on commodity white boxen.

Al Gore also carries weight with the pot-smoking hippie baby-boomers. Stinky hippies.

Re:Pull with the NEA and Teacher Unions

[jxs2151]

...others who are buying computers for schools...

Oh yeah, that strategy *really* worked for Apple huh?

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[discstickers]

Retail experience. The CEO of the Gap is also on the board.

In a shocking development on Slashdot today...

[sockit2me9000]

The same joke was told 20 times in the space of five minutes. Said one poster, "It was like we all had the same idea , boy was it freaky." The impetus of the bizarre occurrence of synchronicty was a story about Al Gore becoming a member of Apple's board of Directors. "I mean, what's the chances that we would all have the SAME idea at the SAME time, it's not like this was an obvious joke," said one poster who declined to be identified. Another was heard to whistle underneath his breath and say, "That's it, I believe in God now." The Vatican was unavailable for comment, but a low giggle was heard to emanate from the Holy Sees residence at roughly the same period. Commander Taco, upon hearing this said, near tears, "It's like we told a joke that mad the whole world laugh, AT THE SAME TIME!" In other news, the much-heralded cliche filter on slashdot crashed at roughly the same time, though it could not be confirmed if the two were related.

Re:This man is a genius!

[SoCalChris]

After inventing the Internet, he will now invent the Macintosh, and thus the GUI, user-friendly computing, and so on...

You've got your facts all mixed up. He didn't invent the Macintosh & the GUI, he invented the GUI while working for Xerox!

well, at least it's not like ...

[kingkade]

...him inventing the inet means he's not for the 'embetterment' of our children.

ouch. leader of the free world, god help us.

correction

[ag3ntugly]

what i meant to say: just because al gore appears to be a total moron, dont judge him before he has a chance to prove himself, after all he was vice president of the united states!

Re:correction

[Cid Highwind]

after all he was vice president of the united states!

You need a better argument. After all, Dan Quayle was vice president, too!

Re:correction

[ReaperOfSouls]

Well in general, it is the job of the vice president to make a complete ass out of himself, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Just think how much less flack Daddy Shrub got cause Dan Quail was a moron.

The problem for Al Gore was that there was absolutly no way that he could ever keep up with the controversy that Clinton was capable of stirring up. Clinton was just way too entertaining in comparision.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Is this the same Al Gore that sold us out?

[miguel_at_menino.com]

Yeah, I agree. Afterall, George W. Bush uses a Mac too. He's certainly contributing to what is wrong in America.

Re:AUGH! STOP REPEATING THAT!

[DShard]

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.",

This is campaign rhetoric all the same and still shows arrogance. That is why he came off badly during the debates. I agree it is not is ignorant as it is made out to be but it still over emphasizes his actual role in this.

1st usenet message with both Gore and ISH

[Gryphn]

ISH == Information Superhighway

Snipped from;

Google Link

"3. THE "INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY" SHOWS A BIG INCREASE IN FY 92.
The President's budget proposes $638M for the High Performance
Computing and Communications program, an increase of $149M, or
30%. This initiative was generated by the Federal Coordinating
Council on Science and Engineering Technology (FCCSET, which is
pronounced "fix it") and involves eight Federal agencies. The
project has been pushed both by Bromley and Sen. Gore (D-TN),
whose father launched the superhighway program. The High Perform-
ance Computing program includes the National Research and Educa-
tion Network which will connect the Nation's educational and
research organizations to Federal libraries, databases, super-
computers and such facilities as telescopes and accelerators."

Yep

[Goonie]

Ask him about copyright. What does he think the philosophical basis for copyright protection is - in the context of the de facto perpetual copyright regime developing in the US. Are the present copyright conditions and term lengths serving those purposes? Wouldn't a shorter term serve just as well?

Re:Yep

[webster1]

that i would love to ask him about. i will do my best.

Re:Sell my PB?

[Moses Lawn]

Why do I suddenly want to reformat and install linux, or even sell it and buy an IBM?


I dunno, because you're an idiot?


I mean I love this computer, but I HATE Al 'I created Pants' Gore. Democrats are idiot socialists when it comes to pretty much anything


Yes, and Republicans are arrogant fascists about just about everything. Isn't this fun?

Seriously, you don't think having the ex-Vice President of the United States on your board could be helpful? Or have I just been trolled?

Because...

[Goonie]

Whether you like it or not (I certainly don't) a majority of Americans seem to think executing teenagers and the mentally ill in a revenge kick is just fine and dandy, and don't understand just how much Shrub has managed to piss the rest of the world off in an incredibly short space of time.

Re:Because...

[cyberformer]

No, there are dozens of other leaders supporting Bush, usually because they have been bribed or threatened.

The people of Britain, Spain, Italy, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Poland and every other other country that is supporting or taking part in the War for Oil can see Bush for the unelected and dangerous psychopath that he is.

Re:Because...

[be-fan]

There are a number of countries in the world that can be considered significant powers. They are: US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, Japan, and thanks to their nuclear capability, Israel, India, and Pakistan. 4 of the 10 are in support of the war. On the other side, you've got the bulk of continental western Europe, the entire Islamic world (1.2 billion), China (>1.2 billion), and India (>1.0 billion). In terms of number of countries, sure, there might be lots of support. But in terms of number of people? You're deluding yourself. Even in countries that support the US (the UK for example) most of the people don't support the war, at least not without a UN resolution. Why do I bring population into the equation? Because 1 person = 1 voice. If the bulk of the people are against you, regardless of what individual governments (which are all self-serving in the end) think, you're probably doing something wrong.

Re:Because...

[blamanj]

France, Germany, and Belgium do not constitute "the rest of the world".

True enough,but the administration dropped the quest for a vote in the Security Council because it was looking like they wouldn't even get a majority.

there are dozens of other countries supporting the US

Yeah, like Bulgaria and Burundi. Besides England, Spain, and Australia, hardly any nation of a significant size is behind us on this one. Even safe in the North American continent, Canada and Mexico are on the other side.

Re:Because...

[bnenning]

No, there are dozens of other leaders supporting Bush, usually because they have been bribed or threatened.

And I'm sure you have evidence for this.

the War for Oil

Good grief, can you guys please get some more intelligent arguments? If we wanted Iraqi oil, we'd lift the sanctions and buy it, which would be far cheaper than military action. The main oil considerations here come from the French and Germans who don't want their deals with Saddam nullified by the new government.

By the way, were you this opposed to war when Clinton was bombing civilian targets in Serbia?

Re:Because...

[Moses Lawn]

France, Germany, and Belgium do not constitute "the rest of the world". You wouldn't know it from the way the media lets the idiotic "unilateral" accusations go unchallenged, but there are dozens of other countries supporting the US.


Dozens, huh? If they are supporting us, they're not doing it very publicly. Aside from England, Spain and Bulgaria, who else is there? We can't even get Cameroon, Angola or Guinea on board. We're promising billions of dollars in bribes (how much did we offer Pakistan, who *still* turned us down?) If you can't strongarm some of the poorest countries in the world, you don't really have worldwide support.

If we go into Iraq by ourselves, or with just the UK, and without the UN's approval, that's pretty much the definition of "unilateral".

Re:Because...

[zuhl]

Lest we forget. Most of the planet was utterly sympathetic and outraged over 9/11. Now a relatively short time later, because if the actions of our great leader, Dubya, most of the planet is outraged at the U.S. How, oh how, does THAT happen? It's sad in so many ways.

Re:Because...

[bnenning]

Aside from England, Spain and Bulgaria, who else is there?

Australia, Japan, South Korea, Denmark, Italy, Israel, Poland, and Portugal, for starters.

Re:Because...

[Moses Lawn]

Aside from England, Spain and Bulgaria, who else is there?

Australia, Japan, South Korea, Denmark, Italy, Israel, Poland, and Portugal, for starters.


Let's see. South Korea is scared shitless of North Korea and needs us desperately, Japan is being polite (and is scared of North Korea), Israel is obvious (and needs our support and aid desperately), I don't know what we've offered Italy (or threatened them with), and the rest are not exactly major world powers.

We've been doing massive armtwisting, and this is all we've got? Besides, as others have pointed out, it's the leaders, not the people that are "supporting" us. For pretty obvious realpolitik reasons.

Re:Because...

[Screaming Lunatic]

By the way, were you this opposed to war when Clinton was bombing civilian targets in Serbia?

Yes.

But the fact that it was approved by the UN did not make it illegal under international law.

It can be argued if the UN should have passed the resolution. However, the previous administration had the skills, knowledge, and foresight to do their diplomacy up front. This administration does not.

Powell is the man I would want in charge WHEN I am at war, not the man who should be deciding IF I am at war. Definitely not the man standing in front of the UN pleading the case for war.

Re:Because...

[Moses Lawn]

the War for Oil

Good grief, can you guys please get some more intelligent arguments? If we wanted Iraqi oil, we'd lift the sanctions and buy it, which would be far cheaper than military action. The main oil considerations here come from the French and Germans who don't want their deals with Saddam nullified by the new government.


Okay, let's call it "The War to Get People's Minds Off the Economy and Corporate Scandals", which describes it a lot better. Anybody else remember the timing? Right when it looked like Enron/Tyco/Global Crossing/Adelphia/ad nauseum were going to cause serious legislation, or at least investigations, we suddenly decided that Saddam was A Bad Man who had to go, immediately. Never mind North Korea, who said "Hey - we got nukes over here!" or Iran, who the CIA at least will confirm supports terrorism, and whose nuclear program is a lot farther along than Iraq's. Or did we just develop some moral qualms about dealing with brutal, murderous dictators?

Not concidentally, the price of gas will probably hit 3.00 a gallon, which will benefit - the oil companies, who, you must admit, are closely connected to the administration. But that's just conspiracy thinking...

Oh, and that bit about France and Germany not wanting to upset their deals? They're just looking out for their national interests, same as we say we are. Isn't that what independent governments are supposed to do?

Re:Because...

[GlassHeart]

there are dozens of other countries supporting the US.

According to CNN, 30 out of 191 UN members support the US war. Another 15 support the US, but do not wish to be named. Many of these 30 will not be sending any substantial number of combat troops into Iraq. There is also considerable dissent within these 30 countries, as well as inside the US itself.

Re:Because...

[McCarrum]

And I'm sure you have evidence for this.

Oh please. As an Australian, I know that every poll here is showing arround 22% support for the war. The level of resistence that the people are showing is increadable.

Re:Because...

[bnenning]

Yes

Good answer, that's my test for detecting hypocrisy. Although I disagree on this issue, I fully respect your opinions.

Re:Because...

[bnenning]

Anybody else remember the timing?

Yes, and you seem to be omitting an incident involving some planes and buildings. No, I'm not saying Iraq was responsible for 9/11. I am saying that 9/11 opened our eyes to the dangers of terrorist groups armed with weapons of mass destruction such as those that Saddam continues to build in violation of the cease-fire terms and piles of UN resolutions.

Not concidentally, the price of gas will probably hit 3.00 a gallon

I'd gladly bet $1000 against that. And even if it does, that would cause people to use less oil, which is good, right?

>Oh, and that bit about France and Germany not wanting to upset their deals? They're just looking out for their national interests

Fine, then we're agreed that they don't have any kind of moral high ground. At least we've been honest about what our interests are.

Re:Because...

[Moses Lawn]

Anybody else remember the timing?

Yes, and you seem to be omitting an incident involving some planes and buildings. No, I'm not saying Iraq was responsible for 9/11. I am saying that 9/11 opened our eyes to the dangers of terrorist groups armed with weapons of mass destruction such as those that Saddam continues to build in violation of the cease-fire terms and piles of UN resolutions.


If September 11 opened out eyes, why did we wait a year before deciding the world needed to be rid of Saddam? For chrissake, we *sold* him most of those weapons. Out of the 105 ampuls of biological agents Iraq declared to the UN, 85 came from the American Type Culture Collection in Manassas, VA in the 1980s. The rest came from the Pasteur Institute in France (yes, insert your little dig at the French here). As the article in Sunday's New York Times notes, it was legal to do this then. Nobody seems to have been too worried about what a murderous dictator might need the stuff for, but hey - business is business.

Of course, he was our friend then, and we didn't complain too loudly when he used them against Iran and the Kurds.

Look, Iraq is pretty much a nonentity as a global threat. Not only does the rest of the Arabic world hate him, he's seen as too Westernized and corrupt by the true believers, the CIA doesn't seem to think he's supporting terrorism, and if he were to try anything, he knows we'd obliterate his country. He may be amoral and psychotic, but he's not stupid.


Fine, then we're agreed that they don't have any kind of moral high ground. At least we've been honest about what our interests are.


I don't think either side has any moral high ground here. On one hand we say "Gotta stop those evil guys" while on the other, we've supported half of them when the purpose suited us.

Here's a thought: If we're so damn concerned about terrorist groups, why are we willing to piss off every Muslim in the world willing to strap C4 around his waist and walk into the mall?

Re:Because...

[Screaming Lunatic]

Although I disagree on this issue, I fully respect your opinions.

Just to add a little bit. The outcome after Serbia was that Milosivec was put in front of a war-crimes tribunal. Since the US did not take the UN path, good luck trying to get Hussein in front of a tribunal.

They pretty much have to kill him wild-west, cowboy style. Sure it gets the job done, but it is not a very good solution in the long term. Exhile is not a very good option. Hussein in exhile would make him attack using strategies similiar to terrorists, while at the moment he is using strategies used by conventional nations.

It sets a bad precident and may lead to chaos. There are similiar situations going on elsewhere in the world with leaders using this as war-bait. Such as Israel/Palestine, Russia/Chechneya, China/various neighbours, and dozens of other nations in Africa.

Re:Because...

[Goth Biker Babe]

"And I'm sure you have evidence for this"

Over half the population of the UK was against the war. Over a third of the members of parliament of our government voted against action in Iraq. Many of us are so cross with Blair and his actions. To see the anti-war feelings here's a list of articles. My local city was disrupted again yesterday when students took to the streets to protest against the war.

If you ask the most Brits will say that they generally like Americans as individuals but hate the US (as represented by it's Government).

"By the way, were you this opposed to war when Clinton was bombing civilian targets in Serbia?"

Yes!

Re:Because...

[superyooser]

Governor of Texas != Governor of World

Some Texans actually think that Texas = world. Please, don't feed their inflated egos. :-) (just kidding, I have friends from there)

Gov. Bush had no obligation to please the French or the Finnish or whoever was bellyaching around the world.

Open Rant to Anti-Bush Protesters

Saddam Hussein tortures and executes thousands of people without trial every year. Why do you people never complain about him? We've heard your tirades for years on end about the death penalty in Texas, but we've heard nary peep against the Butcher of Baghdad. And you display nothing short of joyous zeal over the 40 million babies that have been exterminated in America since Roe v. Wade. Your ilk protests with all your might against the Bush-led rescue mission to depose the Hitler of the 21st century, put an end to genocide and persecution, break up a terrorist-supporting regime, liberate an entire country of suffering victims, destroy huge amounts of weapons of mass murder, and bring increased stability to the Middle East and the world.

Oh, but some convicted criminals in Texas weren't quite deserving of the death penalty. Maybe so -- it's a legitimate debate, but DO NOT PRETEND to be enraged over civil rights violations and angry at Bush because "he executed" those people.

And what about China? Libya? Egypt? Somalia? Rwanda? Ramallah? Venezuela? Syria? Central America? Unspeakable torture and mass executions with kangaroo courts or no trials at all go on all over the world. Your silence is deafening, and your hypocrisy is towering. Why is your condemnation reserved for the U.S.A., the preeminent pioneer and stalwart supporter of human rights in the world? If you hate Bush's politics (conservatism) or his faith (Christianity), just be forthright and say so. But please cease and desist with this farce of phony moral outrage. Your partisanship is totally transparent. There's no sense in denying it. I have nothing against partisanship, but come out and say what you're really about.

I believe that President George W. Bush will go down in history as one of the most courageous champions of liberty and human rights of all time. He commanded U.S. troops to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. After the American victory, Afghans celebrated in the streets, women threw off their burqas, and schools resumed. Now, democracy and capitalism are flourishing there. I believe that the same kind of thing will happen in Iraq. Iraqis had begun to move toward democracy before Saddam Hussein's reign of terror derailed the progress that the country was making. Bush will get them back on track to growing into the kind of country they have been wanting to be.

But to you, Bush is the bad guy; he's the dictator and terrorist. You've turned reality on its head. Anyway, it's not Bush's job to make the world happy. He was elected to represent the views of Americans, especially those who voted for him, and abide by his oath of office. He's doing his job exceedingly well.

Re:Because...

[FredFnord]

> Anyway, it's not Bush's job to make the world happy.

Not that I didn't violently disagree, nearly to the point of nausea, with the rest of your comment. But this bit requires a special response.

Basically what you're saying is, 'It doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks, because we are more powerful than they are and we can do whatever we want.'

Sounds like democracy to you, does it? Sounds like an appropriate stance for an American president?

It would. To you.

-fred

Re:Because...

[superyooser]

"It doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks, because we are more powerful than they are and we can do whatever we want."

It doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks, because we are more right than they are ("Bush is Hitler," "No war for Texaco"). Because we alone have the ability to do whatever we want, combined with accurate knowledge and passion for goodness, we have the moral obligation to do what we know is right.

Bush and Blair are right. The protesters are wrong.

A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." (superyooser: Expounded, "My experience in the real world forced me to abandon my fantasies about Bush's greedy, imperialist intentions and taught me that his administration's position is right and based on reality.") Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[BWJones]

1. Al Gore knows business. I doubt it. His only job since college that wasnt government was as a reporter for a local newspaper. And that was for a brief time.

He has been instrumental in getting business and government to cooperate in wiring classrooms nationwide, and is currently a senior advisor for Google, Inc.

2. Al Gore knows/is academic[a]. I doubt it. He isn't particularly well educated by any standards. He is college educated, which is something for sure. He is presumably very bright, but as somewhat who has meet him and had some conversation with him, he came off as kinda dim. Not GWBush dim, but clearly not razor sharp.

I can't claim to have talked with him personally, but I have read his writings, speeches etc... and he comes off pretty bright to this person with 13 or so years of post high-school education. And from the press release: "He is also a visiting professor at the University of California Los Angeles, Fisk University and Middle Tennessee State University. Mr. Gore received his B.A. in Government with honors from Harvard University in 1969, and attended the Vanderbilt University School of Religion and the Vanderbilt University School of Law." I would say this qualifies.

3. Al Gore is not an Apple insider.
That is good. But on the other hand, he isn't likely to be able to affect much of how Apple operates because of that same reason.

Where is you logic here? This is a totally bogus and biased statement with no evidence to back it up.

4. Al Gore knows government. True, but he knew the last government. That's a problem. He knew a lot of key decisons makers and might have been able to leverage those. Now there is a new government, and many decisions of scale and size are made by political apointee's and their sub-ordinates. This means he in fact has very little leverage for Apple now that GWBush is in office.

Again, from the press release: "He served for a total of eight years as President of the Senate, a member of the cabinet and the National Security Council, and as the leader of a wide range of Administration initiatives including environmental policy, technology, science, communications and government cost reduction."

You can't possibly have this level of experience and not be able to navigate government past and present. In fact, in my personal experience, having even a little degree of connection with government does wonders for ones business. Al Gore has most folks trumped here by a long shot.

But seriously, this is interesting but not really all that good for Apple, in my opinion. He is a controversial, and turns alot of people of (about 49% of voters at last count).

Well, that is an opinion and as for your percentage (matching that of the last election), the majority of folks like him.

That's not a good quality for a company who is very image focused. Even if only 1 in 1000 people hate him enough to not buy Apple products, will it outweigh the number of people who will buy Apple products because they like him? Probably not.

Gee, let's see, Apple is doing quite well with 4-5% of the personal computer market. If they can appeal to at least the majority of the U.S. population, that can only be a good thing for the company.

Re:What the hell?

[Mogomra]

Maybe its time to re-re-switch.

You mean like this guy?

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[slimak]

but that just means you have the ability to pander to 50.001% of the population

Actually you don't have to win the popular vote to win the electroal college, which determines the actual winner

Re:Sell my PB?

[PhoenixK7]

"Why do I suddenly want to reformat and install linux"

Do it! Gentoo Linux

Re:Get over it, he did...

[RzUpAnmsCwrds]

Which he did - by providing major funding for research that helped create the internet.

He didn't invent the internet. That was the work of engineers. He did create it - by giving those engineers their funding.

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[kahrhoff]

knows business? what are you talking about this man has been a career politican his entire life.

Wrong person to blame

[Adam9]

The editors' comments aren't in italics and aren't within double quotation marks. The poster's comments are. Look at the article asbtract again to see what I mean.

Wtf are you talking about?

[Shenkerian]

[Al Gore] isn't particularly well educated by any standards.

Holy shit, someone mod this troll down.

After receiving his AB from Harvard University (1969), he graduated from Vanderbilt University Divinity School (1972), then received his JD from Vanderbilt University Law School (1976). And then he accepted a position as a guest lecturer at Columbia University (2001).

By many standards, Al Gore is an extremely well educated (and admittedly privileged) individual. You may not like the man or what he's done, but geez, don't just make shit up to make him look bad.

Re:Wtf are you talking about?

[ncc74656]

[Al Gore] isn't particularly well educated by any standards.

Holy shit, someone mod this troll down.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

Re:Sell my PB?

[Daniel Dvorkin]

Oh, for the love of God. Rush Limbaugh is a big Mac fan, but you didn't see me (a card-carrying member of the ACLU) getting ready to reformat the hard drive on my Mac when he started boosting them. Choose your computer on the basis of what works, not politics.

Re:Is this the same Al Gore that sold us out?

[dbrutus]

I hadn't heard that GWB was a macophile. I did know that Rush Limbaugh is one though. The Vatican also promotes macs for its seminarians.

so what you're saying is

[sirshannon]

Other people have done bad things so nobody should mention anything stupid that Gore has done?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Largest Organization...

[Myuu]

"...largest organization in the world--the United States government..."

Um...heard of the UN?

Re:Largest Organization...

[Anonymous Freak]

No, the U.S. government, by FAR, has more people and resources. Heck, the U.S. government even (by some measures) even has more influence... (Not that I *LIKE* some of that influence..)

Re:Largest Organization...

[1u3hr]

The Chinese government is at least five times larger (in headcount, if not budget).

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

My turn to beat the dead horse.

[Lester67]

You are correct if you say he didn't say "invented". He did say "created", which in my mind is little different.

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/03/09/ president.2000/transcript.gore/index.html

GORE: Well, I will be offering -- I'll be offering my vision when my campaign begins. And it will be comprehensive and sweeping. And I hope that it will be compelling enough to draw people toward it. I feel that it will be.

But it will emerge from my dialogue with the American people. I've traveled to every part of this country during the last six years. During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.

During a quarter century of public service, including most of it long before I came into my current job, I have worked to try to improve the quality of life in our country and in our world. And what I've seen during that experience is an emerging future that's very exciting, about which I'm very optimistic, and toward which I want to lead.
----
rtsp://www.crm114.com/real/a_2.rm
(With RealAudio you can hear him say it.)
----
Not making it up, just postin' de facts. Don't get me started on the word "is". :-)

A lie repeated often enough.

[autopr0n]

You know, I can't help but wonder if, after hearing these jokes so many times, we start to belive Al Gore really did invent the internet.

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[Telastyn]

I'm not sure so many people like Al Gore as dislike GW Bush...

Is anybody else weirded out by this?

[IdahoEv]

That Apple is inducting Al Gore on the very day the Bush is starting a war in Iraq?

Isn't this just a little weird to you guys?

I'm not insinuating any particular meaning --- I have no clue as to the meaning. It's just kind of creepy...

Re:Is anybody else weirded out by this?

[IdahoEv]

I sent a similar email to friends. Here's my housemate's reply.

Don't you see?

Apple has always had a vision of a better world, but Steve was always too 'out there' to lead it. Now they have a leader, and they can start a new government of the world. In this new country (which as yet only has territory in the hearts of the faithful) everything works the way it ought to, peace and communication are the order of the day, republicanism is outlawed, and the new G5 clocks up to 28.6 GHz. California (with the exception of Orange County) will immediately secede from the Union and join the new government of the world. Others will follow. The most brilliant part of the plan is this, and it's clear that Apple has been setting this up for two decades now: In 6 months to three years, Microsoft will offer a markedly similar (although slightly inferior) government and the rest of the world will adopt it.

Peace and harmony reign!!!

Finally, it all makes sense.

Scott

Apple needs to get into Government

[bill_mcgonigle]

Look, as much as I detest the guy's politics, what Apple needs more than anything now is government support.

The Government needs to support Open Source, a cornerstone of Apple's strategy. The Government needs to specify the use of Open Standards. The Government needs to stop running exclusively on Windows. The Governement needs to stop finding Apple's competitors guilty of predatory practices and letting them off with a warning.

I'm sure they get into regular meetings, say pitching a room of XServes, and they have a room full of Engineers all on board, then the bean counter comes in and says, "oh, but it has to run on Windows." End of story. If there's an XServe rack somewhere with a nasty twist in it it's because Steve Jobs threw it out a fourth floor window after one of these meetings.

Apple's biggest barrier to entry is the Microsoft De-facto standard that exists in Corporate America, and they hate being hamstrung by it at every turn when they know they have a better product. When the government starts requiring bids to come in in the OpenOffice XML format, there's at least the chance of Corporate America following, and perhaps the playing field will level.

When Apple wanted to get into Network Computing (remember that?) they got Larry on board. When they wanted to get into Retail they got the guy from the Gap. Etc.

What Apple needs to get into Government is a technically-savvy government insider who has all the contacts, lots of influence, and not much else to do. I don't like the personalities involved, but Gore is not bad on science and this is a brilliant move on Jobs's part.

I expect to see lots of sensible legislation supporting many of the positions regularly espoused around here introduced in the Congress in the next year. We'll know where they came from. Remember, politics is the art of the possible.

Spot the trend

[Drishmung]

Well, as Apple is well known for setting trends, how long before some other companies start doing the same? Which politicians will we soon be seeing at?

• Microsoft
• Dell
• SUN
• Oracle
• VA-Linux

I think I'll vote the Cowboy Neal option myself.

Match the president to the company

[lostboy2]

This sounds like one of those brainteasers or standardized test questions: Match the president to the computer company!

Reagan +--> Apple
Bush | IBM
Clinton | Microsoft
Gore <--+ Redhat
Dubya Sun

There's a joke in here, somewhere. :-)
(and yes, I know, Gore wasn't actually a president).

Re:Match the president to the company

[iceburn]

Fun! But I'll substitute Gerald Ford for Ronald Reagan, because dead men don't do well in board rooms.

Ford --> IBM, it just seems to fit, I think he even wore the proper colored suit and tie for the job ;) Reagan would have fit as well.
Bush --> Sun, probably not, but I could see him here more than at Redhat. Besides, Bush is big, old, and not evil, which is basically how I'd describe Sun
Clinton --> Redhat, Redhat will stop releasing their distro, and patent their new high-speed porn distribution technology...(hey, if we can still make jokes about Gore inventing the internet, we can also joke about Clinton's willy)
Bush Lite --> Microsoft, ALL YUOR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!!!!11

MIT's prank at Gore's Commencement Speech

[megazoid81]

Buzzword Bingo: MIT's way of having fun when the 'most technologically savvy politician' visited the Institute for Commencement.

Damnit.

[xo0bob0ox]

Man, I was just getting to like Apple....

Al Gore and Ricochet

[batobin]

I wonder if the people making the decision saw this.

Gore invents new sorting routine...

[c3rb]

...and becomes famous for his knowledge of algorithms

get it?

Please shoot me.

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[cardozo]

Don't worry about admitting that you voted for Al Gore, most people did.

yeah

[geekoid]

ask him would we be at the brink of war if he was the president?

Re:yeah

[Screaming Lunatic]

He spoke about this when he was on the Conan O'Brien show (Conan is thee frickin man). Executive summary:

The war against Iraq is not the same as the war against terrorism

He would not proceed unilaterally

Why do I suspect

[Aexia]

this is another bogus claim manufactured by the right-wing? Much like the stories that a Senator Gore dismissed Oliver North's warnings that Bin Laden was a threat or that Clinton pushed to have Israel release 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta?

Then again, this is the same group that's been manufacturing "lies" for Gore to have "said" for years.

Re:Why do I suspect

[nursedave]

Because you are a moron? Just a suggestion. IF you read your own links on snopes, you'll see that Reagan was blamed for one of them. I think this is just one of those things that gets spread around. So, which 'group' are you blaming? And the lies Gore has told are voluminous, they are well documented, and they are inarguable.

Hmmm....

[rspress]

This news makes me want to "switch" to the PC.

Good God NO!!!!

[The Grip Reamer]

I am a shareholder and I received no opportunity to vote on this. What good is a politician on the board? We barely got any use out of Larry Ellison! Now we'll have another lazy has-been sucking at Apple's teat. Instead, why not hire someone who's been relentlessly successful at what they do?

Apple: please pull your head out and undo this monstrous distraction. Focus! Stick to hiring great minds to make great systems. Jeez, this is worse than making Sinbad an Apple Fellow. Why on Earth are you polarizing and dividing your market when you need more than ever to unify and extend it!?

I am neither a conservative nor a liberal (nor a theist for that matter). This would be just as stupid if GW, or any Libertarian candidate had been tapped. Businessmen should run businesses. They're good at it. Politicians don't produce value. They siphon it.

This is a BAD sign. This means Apple has truly given up the integrity of economic entrepreneurship and is going down the dark path of political entrepreneurship. I have never doubted Apple before, through the darkest days. Now almost all my hope is lost. And they've done it themselves.

I assure you that I will be using my shares to oppose this. And I'll encourage all fellow shareholders to join me in ousting this non-entity from Apple's bridge.

-B...

Re:Good God NO!!!!

[dtungsten]

I agree with you. Just when I was REALLY starting to like Apple, they have to do this. I must add that I cannot purchase any Apple products -in good conscience- under the current circumstances. I will be writing some complaint (not bitching) letters, and will encourage others to at least try to explain to Apple why this is a bad idea whether you like Al Gore or not. Does anyone have any *heplful* suggestions as to what a dis-illusioned almost Apple zealot could do about this?

genentech

[smitty45]

for what it's worth...they don't have Apple X servers crunching numbers...they have SGIs and a beowulf.

Re:GORE DID CLAIM THAT

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.htm

When you heard him make that exact statement, was that like the time you met Bugs Bunny at Disneyland?

But in a surprise decision...

[Elias Israel]

But later, in a surprise decision, the Supreme Court threw out the posting, and placed George W. Bush on the Apple board instead.

Upon hearing of the stunning turn-around, Gore refused to leave the Apple board room, clinging fiercely to the furniture and sometimes hiding under the board room table.

After seven hours, Apple security guards were finally able to remove Gore from the premises and send him on his way.

Gore was visibly shaken after the defeat and called it "a dark day for America," citing the line of environmentally-friendly computers he had hoped to encourage Apple to produce by a wave of his majestic hand. "I took the initiative in creating the Internet," said Gore, "and look what has become of it. Without someone to call new environmentally-friendly computers into existence by detached fiat, what will become of the American worker?"

Sources said Gore had returned home to begin regrowing his beard through a long, arduous process of sitting on the living room sofa for weeks on end and subsisting on a diet of Cheetos.

Re:But in a surprise decision...

[mranchovy]

...then, shortly after, the Apple board votes unanimously to invade a small computer shop in Sunnyvale, CA. New Apple board member George W. Bush was quoted as saying the purpose of the invasion was to remove the evil tyrant who charged him $500 for a motherboard.

Re:But in a surprise decision...

[guuyuk]

Damn, this looks like something from Crazy Apple Rumors Site (a wicked parody site for all things Apple...) They have a nice article on the site as well. http://www.crazyapplerumors.com

Re:Best...Futurama...Episode...Ever

[Sarcazmo]

Not offtopic moderators. Don't mod if you don't get it.

I just like it that they convinced Gore to say "Wang":

Gore: That wang to the head should have killed you.

Don't ask, don't tell, right Gore? :)

Please MS, take G W Bush

[Squashee]

So, all that is left for Microsoft is G W Bush. PLEASE take him onto your board after he gets expelled from office! If there is something that can topple the evil empire, it sure is GWB.

Just look at how popular US is in the rest of the world now!

Apple OS Has 48 percent market share

[nitpick1]

Microsoft has 47.9%. Linux has the remainder, which cost Apple the election in key markets.

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[zerus]

Gore is just another politician in the long line that are moving to high positions in fortune 500 companies. At the moment, former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn is on the ballot for Coca-Cola. Then you'll remember that Newt Gingrich is doing consulting from last I recall, and there are quite a few more. Interesting how the fusion of business and politics is such a long standing foundation in this country; money and power, the ultimate in Machiavellian virtues. Not all politicians are bad men/women, their morals just lack resolve when confronted with a heavy price tag.

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[BWJones]

Don't worry about admitting that you voted for Al Gore, most people did.

Thanks, that made me laugh out loud for the first time today. :-)

I hear...

[DCowern]

I hear that Trogdor was a close second. Personally, I think he would have been a much greater asset to Apple what with the success of his recent video game and his abilitiy to burninate the competition. He probably would have also allowed Apple to add his trademark "majesty" around their apple logo... and that would've just looked cool.

Probably due to ballot confusion

[nomadicGeek]

I'm sure that the board really meant to vote for Pat Buchanan instead.

CORRECTIONS

[JonTurner]

1. Al gore used the government's threat of force to DEMAND consumers pay a tax on telecommunications which was to be used to cover the cost of obtaining internet access for rural government schools. This money wasn't needed as a vast majority of the schools were already online; it was a simple kickback to Gore's most dependable constituency -- the Teacher's Unions.

WOW! (eyes roll) What an achievement!

Oh, don't forget his other "job" as a reporter during the Vietnam war. As a Senator's Son, he had a protection detail assigned to keeping him out of harm's way and out of trouble. AlGore. A Real American Zero.

2. Gore didn't just attend the Vanderbilt school of Divinity, he FLUNKED OUT!

3. whatever.

4. Having connections with government does wonders for one's business, IF YOU PLAN TO (AB)USE THE POWER OF GOVERNMENT (e.g. taxation and/or the threat of force) to help that business. I don't consider that a positive.

>>the majority of folks like him.
The majority of URBANITES like him. The big-city, know-it-alls in America's cultural freakshows such as NYC, Detroit, Philly, DC, LA, etc. The rest of the country despises Gore. (Recall the USA Today "red/blue" map?) REAL Americas, myself included, wouldn't spit on him if he were on fire.

Re:CORRECTIONS

[betis70]

>>2. Gore didn't just attend the Vanderbilt school of Divinity, he FLUNKED OUT!

Yeah, but apparently Bush is the moron. How do you flunk out of divinity school? Without Papa Senator, there is no way he would even have a degree.

Re:CORRECTIONS

[Malcontent]

The majority of URBANITES like him. The big-city, know-it-alls in America's cultural freakshows such as NYC, Detroit, Philly, DC, LA, etc. The rest of the country despises Gore.

And yet those are the people most likely to buy Macs.

Farmers and ranchers in hicksville don't buy macs do they?

Re:CORRECTIONS

[bobKali]

REAL Americas, myself included, wouldn't spit on him if he were on fire.

Speak for yourself. I'd spit on him (of course only if I were sure it wouldn't put said fire out.)

Besides, as I recall he also got less that 50% of the popular vote, meaning that the majority of people voted against him.

Re:CORRECTIONS

[FredFnord]

>Besides, as I recall he also got less that 50% of the popular vote, meaning that the majority of people voted
>against him.

Clearly you don't recall terribly well, then, do you?

-fred

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[Anonymous Coward]

"He is also a visiting professor at the University of California Los Angeles, Fisk University and Middle Tennessee State University. Mr. Gore received his B.A. in Government with honors from Harvard University in 1969, and attended the Vanderbilt University School of Religion and the Vanderbilt University School of Law.

Notice it said "attended," not "graduated from." He failed out.

Will Al Gore get a free Al-book?

[MsGeek]

That's what inquiring minds want to know today!

Gore's public profile

[goetz]

I think this may yet be another move to improve his public image and diversify his profile. Look at all the stuff he's done since losing the 2000 race: Publishing books, being a senior advisor to Google and a visiting professor to UCLA, an apparence on Saterday Night Live..

Personally I hope Al Gore will make another run for presidency. Given the way things are looking (wars and tax cuts), 2004 is in the toilet (I think Gore said he wasn't going to run anyway)..

Since we're sort of on the topic, let me ask the Slashdotters this question: wouldn't you rather see Gore running the country than another run-of-the-mill politician who has no appreciation for, and is completely ignorant of, science and technology?

1st profit, 2nd Al Gore, 3rd underpants!

[zenst]

Is this apples way of avoiding any SCO like attacks that Mr Gore invented the internet and as such all internet devices belong to him and should pay a levey for the privledge.

I highly suspect that there is more to this strategic(benifit of doubt given) move than meets the eye. Beyond the obvious profile in certain market penetration opertunities and usual PR (again benifit of doubt given) I'm at a loss.

I suspect that given the facts Sherlock Holmes would conclude that it is mearly marketing build up for a new product launch and given rumours and ratifications of wireless standards and the cost and storage capacity of solid state these days and user demand for more power/smaller and longer running times. A new iPOD with video/wifi wouldnt't be that bad.

Still he may have been popular in China and with markets opening up there, again marketing of the strategic kind.

Well I might have missed something but if all else fails they still have the backward underpant gnomes approach :D.

Re:COUNT ME OUT! Gore's a fucking jerk.

[Dolphinzilla]

Amen Brother - I was really thinking about getting an i-book, not anymore - I won't support any company that hires a two-faced loser like Al Gore, I can't see what value having him on your board of directors would do - Apple never ceases to amaze at the bizarre business decisions they make....

bribery and/or blackmail

[Goonie]

Most of that "support" is through a combination of bribery and threats.

Australia and America, for instance, have just sat down to start negotiating a free trade deal. In the past, the US has been in no hurry whatsoever to do such a deal (mainly because any deal will involve reducing protection for their agricultural industries). Now, all of a sudden, it's all systems go. Maybe that's a coincidence. I doubt it.

Re:Customer friendly?

[SirSlud]

The hit list for wintel is 3 times as long, and explains a 3rd of those points against Apple.

Apple does these things because the PC/OS world hasnt been an open market since the dawn of time. Therefore, they're forced to run their own monopoly in order to coexist with the wintel monopoly.

Cannot see how this is a Good thing...

[TitanBL]

Political partisanship aside - Gore is wanker. Sure, he is a nice guy, heart full of compassion, but that does not change the fact that he comes off as a wimp. Not the kind of image Apple needs - Apple has enough 'carisma'. I mean, even his fellow democrats avoid him like the plague. The guy is political poison. As hard as I try - I fail to see how this is a GOOD thing for Apple's PR and management.

A mysterious, robotic voice.

[CleverNickName]

Whenever I turn on my iBook, this robotic voice says, "You are hearing me talk."

It suddenly makes sense, now.

If you need me, I'll be parked under the Sun Sphere.

Re:A mysterious, robotic voice.

[Uart]

Urge to use last mod-point rising...

no! Must not mod up the Wheaton....

More Details

[Guppy06]

The Apple press release goes on to say that Al Gore's membership on the board will be a unique one. His duties will involve presiding over board meetings and, yet he will only be allowed to cast a vote in the event of a tie between the other members.

Mr. Gore was quoted as saying "Damn it, not again!"

Re:Just as I was getting interested...

[PrimeWaveZ]

Hey, I work for Apple, but am a Republican and voted for GWB. I'm not going to let the dynamic Algore (hehe) sway me away from a superior mesh of hardware and software. While I don't agree with his politics, I use and promote the best products out there.

A news report called him "Tech Savvy"....

[dochood]

... a few years ago because he could "Check his own e-mail" !!! I'm not kidding !!!

On the news of his joining Apple, at first I thought, "Oh, no! I just bought an Apple!" but then I remembered that I really don't like Jobs either, and still bought it. I bought it for the technology, not the people in the company.

dochood

Seems like a perfect match ...

[Ninja Programmer]

When I think of Al Gore and Apple together, why do the words "Runner Up" keep coming to mind?

Re:Seems like a perfect match ...

[ralphart]

>>When I think of Al Gore and Apple together, why do the words "Runner Up" keep coming to mind?

Er, not to troll, but I seem to recall Al Gore won the popular vote...he just lost the Supreme Court vote.

Re:Seems like a perfect match ...

[bmetzler]

Er, not to troll, but I seem to recall Al Gore won the popular vote...he just lost the Supreme Court vote.

Uh, no. If you are not trolling, it was the electoral vote that he lost. The electoral vote is the Constitutional method for determining presidents.

-Brent

Re:Seems like a perfect match ...

[kakos]

Hey and what do you know! Both are in second place due to underhanded and sneaky maneuvering by their opponents.

Re:Seems like a perfect match ...

[pressman]

Yes, and the electoral college is a holdover from the days of slavery when southern slaves were counted as 3/8 of a human being for the purpose gaining the plantation owners more representation in Congress and the electoral college. Whatever happened to the ideal of 1 person 1 vote. The electoral college in this day and age gives a disproportionate amount of power to states with lesser population.

It is a sign of the appocalypse if an election is determined by the state of Florida!

The electoral college must be dismantled and we must finally get to a point where an individual's vote actually counts again.

Re:Seems like a perfect match ...

[bmetzler]

The electoral college must be dismantled and we must finally get to a point where an individual's vote actually counts again.

What do you mean? An individual's vote *never* actually counted. In the beginning, individual's did not even vote for most of the federal candidate's. We live in a republic.

-Brent

Re:Seems like a perfect match ...

[pressman]

I never mentioned anything about a republic versus a democracy. We live in a rapidly crumblic democratic republic. Democracy tends to survive better in smaller communities where the populace can actually get together to discuss the issues at hand that affect their communities. Republics occur to manage for the shear geographical size of a large populace.

Rome was a republic and look where that got them! And let's face it, we're the New Rome?!

First RMS' birthday, now this

[LittleLebowskiUrbanA]

Methinks this maybe more than even the Trolls of Slashdot can handle! Biggest troll topic ever? No to mention this will probably set off a few political discussions which open more troll topics. Think I'll refrain from reading the comments on this one :)

Gore , Bush and Jobs

[charmer]

I have all along been saying that Jobs prefer Gore, not Bush. Economy would be better if Gore were president.

charmer.

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[b17bmbr]

i didn't vote for him, but, i think this could be good. he is fairly pro-technology guy. plus, apple is trying to reclaim lost education market. algore is tight with the teachers unions. forget politics, apple is a corp., and they need access. algore brings that.

most schools have purchased their tech over the last few years. soon it will be obsolete. and there is not funding like there might be in business. school funding works diffedrently, we have to spend when we get it, and can't bank funds, or delay purchases. sucks. but that is how it is. soon schools will need to enter the next wave of tech purchases and directions. apple wants a shot at that. not a bad move for apple.

Re:COUNT ME OUT! Gore's a fucking jerk.

[snarfer]

Gore was IN the military.

Bush DESERTED the military, during Vietnam. He refuseed to take a drug test and disappeard from duty!

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[Phantasmo]

Yeah, but on the other hand, there are people who he will have "disappeal" with (almost an equal number). Meaning that on balance some people will switch to Apple for him and some will leave. It is a risk to say which way. If 1000 switch to Apple, and 999 leave, I can't say that things really would be worth it for Apple, follow me here?

America may be 50-50 on guys like Gore, but in my country (Canada) he's pretty well liked. America's left wing (Democrats) is pretty well in line with out centre (Liberals), and I'm sure that this is true in many countries. So, sales may not improve too greatly in the US, but they could really jump in forgeign markets such as the Frozen North, eh?

Horror stories

[k2r]

Well, actually I wouldn't even believe anything the American Regime telling me.

There's probably about as much truth in your story as it was in the blatant lie about the babies taken out of the incubators as a justification for the last war:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0906/p25s02-cogn.h tm l

Or like in the al-quaeda Hussein connection theories.

Even if Saddam Hussein is a criminal mass-murderer, what I'm absolutely positive about, this doesn't give the strongest force on this planet right to just go to war against the innocent people in this country.

That this country happens to have the biggest sources of oil directly after the US' dear allies Saudi-Arabia is pure coincidence, of course.

And by the way, as an example, there are a lot of christian churches in Baghdad where as you'll be killed for a christian service in Riyad. But Saudi-Arabia means good business for the US, so they must be okay. Even if the women have to hide under a tablecloth...

OK, breaking or getting out of any international contracts should have shown us how much the US-regime cares about anything than itself. Breaking the law doesn't matter to them, because they are the law.

Your president has tried to destroy willingly everything that has been achieved within the last 50 years to keep us from WWIII.

Since there are a lot of countries that are way more threatened by other countries than the US is by Iraq, who will tell them not do preemtively strike?

The only message to any country on this planet your regime is sending is: "Get nukes and ICBs as fast as you can! Then they will not touch you."

Wow, great GWB.

Not to speak of Hussein and the taleban having supported by exactly your wonderful land of the free for years and years. Do you know the picture on which Mr. Rumsfeld shakes hands with Mr. Evil Saddam Hussein?

It's very hard to differentiate these days, to keep yourself from yust being anti-american in old europe.

Freedom fries anybody :-)

k2r
(Please excuse syntax and spelling, I haven't slept much within the last days due to the whole thing, am quite furious and English isn't my native native tongue, obviuosly.)

Another famous person?

[DaveQat]

Will CommanderTaco go down in history for helping invent the Internet Troll with /.?

this HAS to be a joke

[nurb432]

Or a damned nightmare..

someone wake me PLEASE...

Re:COUNT ME OUT! Gore's a fucking jerk.

[betis70]

Did he say Bush was better than Gore? No. He just said Gore is a fucking jerk. You made that inference. Maybe it was correct, maybe not. Based on the post you can't tell.

beats the sugar water guy - can play corp politics

[johnjones]

I personally hope that he can stand up to jobs and knows that he does NOT know Fsck all about technology

people who know where their limits are and get advice i.e. humble are the people you want

at last jobs hass someone who can really play politics......

regards

John Jones

Re:Get over it, he did...

[mikec]

The "major funding" he took credit for wasn't to "create" the internet, it was one of many funding initiatives over the years to expand the internet. The internet was created before Gore was in congress.

Who's next?

[3ryon]

It's amazing the steps Apple will go to in order to get a 'switcher' ad from a celebrity.

Re:Didn't Al Gore

[saddino]

No, and he never said he did either. This is a great example of media paraphrasing blunders.

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[BWJones]

If 1000 switch to Apple, and 999 leave, I can't say that things really would be worth it for Apple, follow me here?

No.....Basic math, this is still a net +1 user for Apple. Now repeat X's N.

There isn't much of an accomplishment to find in getting businesses do something (a) required by law and (b) they get paid going rates for.

When was the last time you were able to coordinate several large telecommunications companies?

Additionally, I'd say the same to Google - maybe he is a great business adviser, but he doesn't have a track record that proves it yet.

But then he does have the job.

Visiting professor = nothing. Guest lectures from time to time. Hardly an academic in the true sense of the word. Hardly a trendsetter/influencer. He got a degree from Harvard, but never from Vanderbuilt. He never pursued them, simply attended a few non-credit classes. But again, he is solidy educated, just not an academic with heavy contacts there.

Your point? I'm not sure I follow your logic. However, I will respond. As an academic as you call it, I will say that yes, getting a visiting professorship implies that you have a track record and have something to add to the academic discourse.

The logic is that insiders on the board know people and can easily work with them for positive change. It is good he is an outsider, that avoids "tunnel vision". But being an outsider also has negatives. Think Jimmy Carter. IE, "insider" = "no political capital" = "no influence".

No influence? How about being a former submarine officer in the U.S. Navy, a former member of the Trilateral commission, mediating the Camp David Peace Accords in 1978 with a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt coming out of that, Chair of the Conflict Resolution Program, Chair of the International Negotiation Network, cooling tensions with North Korea in 1985, negotiating that eventually resulted in the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995, a Nobel Peace prize winner this year, etc...etc...etc....

This man still has political influence and access that most folks in current government can only dream about.

My point is that he can navigate, but the people the road leads to are not in his camp. Yeah, he probably knows who to call, but he doesn't have any sway really at this point.

Prove it. As a former VP for eight years, by picking up a phone, this man can have just about any world government official on the phone within the hour if need be and my guess would be that some degree of influence can be exerted here. But what does this matter to Apple? What matters is that he can guide Apple to appropriate places in business, government and academia. That is the role of a director, to advise and guide. Yes?

Re:LAWYERS USE MACS! BREAKING NEWS, BUSH EXPOSE!

[Bassman59]

A typical A.C.: Yes folks, it's a curious thing, it seems many lawyers use macs. Al Gore isn't the only one. Have a look at Dubya posing with his PowerBook on the campaign trail...

Dubya is not a lawyer. When he applied to the law school at the University of Texas, he was told that "he would make an excellent law school student. Just not at the University of Texas."

Small wonder he hates lawyers!

So, anyway, that's why he took the preferential legacy admission tip and headed off to Yale, where he bumbled his way through an MBA program.

(Which, of course, is proof enough that an MBA is a joke of a degree.)

His Use...

[Cnik70]

Al will be used to improve the Apple's Sleep Mode :)

Oh boy...

[athlon02]

is there a way I can elect to make sure my future purchases from Apple don't get to Gore's pocket?

Not just for Liberals...

[DesScorp]

For all of Apple's reputation as a computer for Liberals, a lot of prominent Conservatives use them. Rush Limbaugh is a longtime Mac user, as is Neo-Con Andrew Sullivan. And unless I'm mistaken, Tom Clancy was a Mac user at one time as well.

Re:influence?

[pi radians]

bush is smarter than gore

Bush isn't smarter than the average American.

where are the EE's ?

[johnjones]

it just struck me that their is no one with any technical knowledge on the board

I mean Hardware people with an EE degree. Apple they keep saying is a hardware company it might pay to have someone who knows what the differance in a process can make to a product...

let alone understanding tape out times

regards

John Jones

Re:where are the EE's ?

[TopShelf]

Strictly speaking, that's not necessarily needed on a BOD. What is needed are people with sound business and organizational acumen, who can challenge the executives and ensure that the interests of shareholders are being served.

Re:where are the EE's ?

[constantnormal]

I seem to recall that Lou Gerstner left Nabisco to bail out IBM and save it from itself.

Last time I looked, there wasn't a lot of computing knowledge in making and selling Oreos.

It may be that the technology end of things is better left to the people in the trenches. The very notion of senior management having an opinion on technology scares me a bit. I think Apple has plenty of EEs, but they don't really have any business in the board room.

Wrong!

[ElGanzoLoco]

Steve Jobs
CEO, Apple
CEO, Pixar

This statement is wrong! It should read:

Steve Jobs
CEO, Apple
CEO, Pixar
God

Got it? Now repeat after me...

There's no need to bail on Apple over this

[coolmacdude]

All of you who are saying you'll never buy a Mac because of this are going a little too far IMO. Every company makes controversial decisions. How many times has Microsoft done something that has made your blood boil? (I think more /.ers use Windows than are willing to admit.) Just because a company makes one decision you don't agree with is not a good reason to permanently boycott them. If you were Steve, you could hire whoever the hell you wanted. Point is, you are not and everyone "thinks differently" and has their own opinion of the right man for the job. This is not a political rant (I did not vote for Gore), but maybe he will bring something to Apple that they can use. He's not Phil Schiller, he's not going to be in your face and most people will probably forget all about this after a few months.

HA HA HA HA HA, +5 Funny!

[iSwitched]

You were joking right?

So you're going to boycott any company with assholes on their boards of directors, are ya?

Better start doing some serious investigating, since 99% of the big-boys in this country are gonna have someone that someone somewhere hates on their boards. Looks like you're gonna have a tough time buying anything in this country, and that includes sleeping, eating, hell, even wiping your ass after you crap.

Best of luck to you.

Re:COUNT ME OUT! Gore's a fucking jerk.

[yomegaman]

Geez, if you want an iBook just buy one. Denying yourself the computer you want isn't going to hurt Al Gore any, you would just be punishing yourself. I'm sure every company must have employees whose politics you don't approve, so I'd be careful about adopting that as a standard for doing business. It would save you a lot of money, though. :-)

Powell & Haig used to be on AOL's board...

[The Lynxpro]

Just thought I'd point that out...back in their successful days. Perhaps ol' Gore can score some government contracts for Apple. Or perhaps they (Apple) are betting that if Gore actually changed his mind and ran in 2004 (since Gephardt is a fool) and this time won constitutionally, then the DOJ would throw away that pile of feces known as the Microsoft settlement and go full guns a'blazin' (and dropping some legal equivalents to the new M.O.A.B. bomb) on Redmond...

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[witort]

Disclaimer: I voted for him

Did you go for the dimpled chad, the hanging chad, or just punch that sucker all the way through?!

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[Vagary]

4. Al Gore knows government. True, but he knew the last government. That's a problem. He knew a lot of key decisons makers and might have been able to leverage those. Now there is a new government, and many decisions of scale and size are made by political apointee's and their sub-ordinates. This means he in fact has very little leverage for Apple now that GWBush is in office.

Presidents come and go, but mandarins are in it for the long haul. And we all know who's actually making the decisions...

"Coalition of the Billing"

[Gorimek]

The governments who support the US do it mainly since they don't want to piss of the US. They know what the US does to countries that piss them off.

Japan knows it will need help with North Korea later, and do what they have to, etc.

While they were trying to get a vote through the security council and get Turkey's support, a lot money was also thrown around, coining the phrase "The Coalition of the Billing". That's apart from the dirty tricks.

I'm not aware of any democratic country where the public is not against the war, except perhaps Poland.

Re:Customer friendly?

[xetaprag]

Aggressive legal department that goes after anything that even remotely looks like an Apple design, sending cease-and-desist letters to theme/skin designers Apple's business/marketing strategy has been focused on branding. In a branding strategy the business isn't just selling a core product, it is selling other abstract entities (images, ideas, concepts, etc.). Apple's 'look-and-feel', its GUI quirks are a part of an overall technology 'experience' offered to consumers. From the very beginning (when the sledgehammer smashed the giant screen) Apple has sold ideas and image FIRST, technology SECOND... Apple is fighting to protect a BRAND.. not technology...

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Sell my PB?

[betis70]

Was Rush just appointed to the Board of Directors of Apple? If he was, at least he has an ounce of business experience, unlike Gore.

This is a stupid business move, plain and simple.

Jobs Needs a Running Mate

[Vagary]

Remember when Jobs demanded that jobsforpresident.org be shutdown? It wasn't because he didn't want to be President, it's because he didn't want to blow his load too early! He wants to be a darkhorse candidate, so he needs to come in late. Gore isn't really there to be on Apple's BoD, he's there to advise Steve!

But who will his running mate be? It seems like Woz has been out of the spotlight too long. Who else would fit?

Ask him if he will give up his stipend

[The Ape With No Name]

Because Tennessee Higher Ed is getting the blue-veined throbber from the state legislature (cuz taxes are Communism and a sign that the apocalypse is nigh) over funding. Ask him to give his check to MTSU to defray some kid's education or give some underpaid English adjunct a raise.

the difference between Dem and Rep

[sirshannon]

the difference is the same as the difference between the two football teams in a championship game. They have different sponsors, different owners, but that is about all. Their fans pick a side and root blindly for their team.

welcome to US politics.

Re:the difference between Dem and Rep

[Jonny Ringo]

I am going to befriend for that comment. THANK YOU! You win for most acurate description.

Defending the constituion is the only thing that matters to me. And its being anilated as we speak by BOTH sides.

Bad Joke

[Dukeofshadows]

Now he can just be the worm in the Apple leadership...

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[bofkentucky]

Sen. Frist (R-TN) is a kick-ass heart surgeon and Sen Edwards (D-NC) is a pretty good ambulance chaser, notice that they are both from the south, I'm trying hard to think of other non-career politicans (or military transfers), please submit below.

Re:influence?

[Bassman59]

AC: bush ... is one of the few presidents to have a master's degree.

Because they wouldn't let him into law school. And he got a Gentleman's C in the MBA program.

OK, one refutation coming right up

[davebo]

Here's a little something Rush has said in the last few weeks - particularly relevant with the unstable state of the world today.

You can get this quote from the Rush Limbaugh transcript archive from Tuesday, Feb 25, 2003:

Rush: "the one nation on earth to whom this is only and all about oil is France. France imports most of its oil, and gets the vast majority of that from Iraq. They have sweet economic deals that go back to the 70s made between Saddam Hussein and Jacques Strap Chirac, and I'm telling you, their opposition to this is rooted solely in their desire for an uninterrupted, continued supply of oil from Iraq."

Let's see what the Department of Energy has to say about this little bombshell:

"French imports come primarily from Saudi Arabia and Norway, followed by the United Kingdom (UK), Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, and Russia. In July 2001, the Iraqi government stated that it would reconsider oil projects with French companies and no longer give French companies "priority" due to France's support of the U.S.-British "Smart Sanctions" proposal at the United Nations Security Council."

So - no, France does not import "the vast majority" of its oil from Iraq, and any "sweet deals" they had worked out were apparently ended in 2001 because France wanted to continue sanctions against Iraq.

Think of all the "anit-France" bashing going on in the U.S. right now. Don't you think this kind of claim from Rush helps contribute to that? Does it really have the same impact if Rush says, "for France, this is all about oil from their 4th largest supplier that cut their oil companies out in 2001 because of their willingness to continue with sanctions?"

I don't know - maybe you'll say "well, it's just one little misstatement", but it's symptomatic of a pattern. There is more than one of these "little misstatements" that get thrown out there, that nobody bothers to follow up on, and that shape the tone of the debate (for the worse, I'll say - because it's not based on the truth).

Browse his radio transcripts (see the link above). Look for particularly inflammatory claims, or statements of fact. Do some research on your own to see if it's exactly as Rush has proclaimed. Perhaps you'll find out 99% of what he says is true. Perhaps not. But at least then YOU can say with confidence that you trust what he says because YOU have checked up on him.

oh, yea - I did a fair amount of looking, and this was the most recent, least biased source I could come up with. Feel free to find a more recent (than Jan 2002) article from an equally repudiable source to prove me wrong.

Re:OK, one refutation coming right up

[jxs2151]

My first instinct is to note that you just spent the better part of two hours coming up with a tidbit that while slightly misspoke is certainly not wildly wrong. Then I thought that certainly wouldn't be fair to someone who is obviously passionate about Rush.

First, while I would agree that when the cited DOE report was filed the majority of France's oil did not indeed come from Iraq but Saudi Arabia, the amount of oil France imports from Iraq is stunning:

During the month of November 2002 France imported 0.223 million barrels from Iraq and only 0.106 million barrels from Saudi Arabia.

During the year of 2002 France imported 0.953 m bbl compared to 2.910 m bbl from Saudi Arabia.

It appears that while Rush is in error about the main source of France oil, their imports from Iraq FAR exceed those of any other country except Saudi Arabia. In fact, France imports enough oil from Iraq to render their reasons for opposing war suspect, which is the point Mr. Limbaugh was trying to make with hyperbole typical of all pundits.

All figures http://www.eia.doe.gov/ipm/imports.html

So, if 99% of what Rush says is correct and he is not too damn far off in the one case you spent two hours tracking down, I am willing to give him a wary pass on this one. Certainly doesn't compare to the outright lies coming from the left.

Re:OK, one refutation coming right up

[davebo]

Nothing pleases me more than when someone wants to debate things and uses facts to support their argument. I commend you, sir. Now, with the plesantries out of the way . . .

This statement is not correct:

"their imports from Iraq FAR exeec those of any other country except Saudi Arabia."

It would be correct if you added "from all OPEC countries." UK & Norway aren't in OPEC. Saudi Arabia & Iraq are (you can see for yourself here.) And, as my previous post stated, UK & Norway were numbers 2 & 3 on the list (Saudi being #1, and Iraq #4 as i recall)

Referring to the excel spreadsheet (t310.xls) you can download from the link you provided - look at rows 12 & 13. Row 12 is total gross import of oil - for the year, adding up that row, I get 26.88 m bbl. Row 13 is gross imports from OPEC :the sum for that row is 8.55 (same units). So OPEC provides 31.8% of France's total oil imports. The other 68 odd percent come from other sources (including Norway, the UK, and other various and sundry countries), which, unfortunately, weren't broken out in this spreadsheet. Now, let's continue with the math - using your number of 0.953 m bbl total Iraqi oil, with a total of 26.88 m bbl, we can get the actual percentage coming from Iraq.

Iraq provides 3.5% of the total imports to France. November 2002, the month which you mentioned had the greatest Iraqi imports, the figure came out to 4.3%.

Interestingly enough, from the same link you provided, you can download a spreadsheet with the U.S.' oil imports. (it's table 3.7, or t37.xls). I did the same series of mathematical manipulations for the U.S. as I did for France (going by gross imports - not sure what net is, but doesn't change that much.)

Iraq provides 3.9% of the total imports to the U.S. (5.316 m bbl from Iraq, total of 136.259 m bbl).

So, since France gets 3.5% of its total oil imports from Iraq, and that fraction is large enough (by your & Mr. Limbaugh's argument) to make them want to oppose the war . . . wouldn't that mean the U.S., with our 3.9% dependance on Iraqi oil, would be even less willing to "rock the boat," if you will?

And if you think the 0.9 m bbl France imports in Iraq is stunning - what do you think about the U.S.'s 5.3 m bbl?

BTW - go read through the transcript this Rush quote came from. He spends a significant amount of time discussing France's dependence on Iraqi oil as the sole reason they're against the war. When you read that, keep in mind the relative percentages of imports for the US & France. Really think about it. Now ask yourself - was his statement really "not too damn far off"? I contend in the context in which he used it, it's very far off. And I also contend if you do more fact checking like this, you won't find he's 99% correct.

Also - I'm not going to let you get away with the line "certainly doesn't compare to the outright lies coming from the left." When somebody says something like this (doesn't matter who, doesn't matter what political affiliation) my BS meter goes off. Everybody's BS meter should go off. What lies? Be specific. I'd be happy to research whatever you point out, so that I know the truth, because I don't like to be fed BS. But you've got to give some details.

People want to manipulate you. They will lie to you. They will not tell you all the facts. You've got to dig deeper. When somebody from the right or the left tells you something "big" - go investigate.

By the way - it took me no more than 10 minutes the first time I went looking for this. Quite a bit longer on this reply, obviously.

Oh - yea, thanks for the link on oil imports. It's really a wealth of information.

Re:OK, one refutation coming right up

[jxs2151]

Oh - yea, thanks for the link on oil imports. It's really a wealth of information.

Gladly. Both of us got an education on this one.

what do you think about the U.S.'s 5.3 m bbl?

I think it makes liars out of those chanting "No Blood for Oil" since we can and do buy the stuff on the open market anyway. Now you understand what I am referring to when I mention the lies of the left.

The agenda that is so dearly held by liberals makes them adopt the attitude of "Any means justify the ends", since to them the end is so important. In adopting this attitude, they sacrifice the truth, which inconveniently stands in the way of their end.

I still don't know why I bother to defend Rush, I don't even listen to him 'cause he irratates me. I do however see him as a necessary conterweight to the lies of those with an agenda.

Re:OK, one refutation coming right up

[davebo]

I think it makes liars out of those chanting "No Blood for Oil"

I think this is the same sort of sloppiness with the facts (from the left) that Rush is guilty of (from the right). It's a catchy slogan they've heard from somebody else and can easily parrot back. I doubt 99.9% of the people chanting that have bothered to do any research about who gets oil from where.

But I wouldn't call them "liars," any more than I'd call somebody that after listening to Rush's show told me that France got most of its oil from Iraq. If I was feeling kind, I'd call them "misinformed" or just "duped." If I wasn't, I'd call them gullible idiots. Both groups are guilty of the same sort of laziness. Which lets both be manipulated to benefit someone else's agenda.

It's been a good chat.

Re:OK, one refutation coming right up

[jxs2151]

I'd call them gullible idiots

Gullible is what I call people who are mostly unaware of what they are doing. These folks, on the other hand, are well aware that they are doing.

It's been a good chat.

I wish all my discussions on /. were like this.

Re:OK, one refutation coming right up

[kalidasa]

Read that more thoroughly. France has oil deals that will come into effect as soon as sanctions are lifted, regardless of the 2001 changes. And I'm saying this as a critic of the current administration. Rush's problem is that he's not looking our motivations as carefully as he's looking at France's motivations.

Re:OK, one refutation coming right up

[davebo]

On this point, I can't speak with certainty. You very well may be right. And I've got to get a poster out today and get ready for a conference, so I'm not going to have time to do the research.

Let's grant that you are correct - that France gets some sweet deals as soon as sanctions go away.

Does that make Rush's comment, that for France, this is all about oil, because France gets all of its oil from Iraq through deals cooked up in the 70's primarily correct?

I'd argue no - France still gets a very very small percentage of it's total oil from Iraq. And, since France has been arguing for continued inspections and sanctions rather than war, I don't think you can say they're trying to trigger the deals established earlier.

So I'd still say Rush is wildly misstating France's motivations for opposing attacks on Iraq.

Your thoughts?

Re:OK, one refutation coming right up

[kalidasa]

You're right there: it doesn't make Rush's comment substantially correct. I don't think that oil is the only thing entering anyone's equations about the war. But I do think it is more significant for every decision than is being allowed by some. I also think that France's policy is partly motivated by a will to power, a belief that France still is, or at least still should be, a power to reckon with on the world stage. And I think the policy is partly motivated by a commendable internationalism and hesistancy about the use of force.

Did you see the Frontline special about Wolfowitz and the anti-Iraq lobby? Very revealing. As is the *Threatening Storm* book (remembering title from top of head), though perhaps not in quite the way the author intended. The war is a kludge: we screwed up the end of the Gulf War, we screwed up sanctions, and now we've screwed up the diplomatic arrangements with regard to enforcing the UN mandate. If Hussein were the only one to suffer from the war, it would be one thing...

Straight from my Constitutional Development notes:

[lpret]

I'm in a great class called Constitutional Development, and I'm just going to insert some notes on the issue:

Noting that the Equal Protection clause guarantees individuals that their ballots cannot be devalued by "later arbitrary and disparate treatment," the per curiam opinion held 7-2 that the Florida Supreme Court's scheme for recounting ballots was unconstitutional.

The precedent of Baker v. Carr allowed the Supreme Court to frame this case as a LEGAL question (rather than a political question) because they were able to argue that citizens of Florida were having their INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS violated and therefore, the Court argued that this made this case a LEGAL question.

Even if the recount was fair in theory, it was unfair in practice. The record suggested that different standards were applied from ballot to ballot, precinct to precinct, and county to county.

Because of those and other procedural difficulties, the court held that no constitutional recount could be fashioned in the time remaining (which was short because the Florida legislature wanted to take advantage of the "safe harbor" provided by 3 USC Section 5).

The per curiam opinion limited its holding to this present case only.

It was how they were to be recounted that was being questioned by the Supreme Court. So do a little homework first, and I'll finish studying for my test...

Re:influence?

[ktambascio]

Bush/Gore SAT scores

The (possible) big picture

[Jon Abbott]

As some have heard, there was a grassroots campaign back in 2000 to elect Steve Jobs as President of the U.S... Perhaps having Gore to the board of directors is bringing this idea one step closer to reality?

Ho Lee Shiet

[dewhite]

Wow, talk about a surprise. When I cued up slashdot to read some news, I was totally expecting to hear about precision strike teams taking Iraq's republican guard apart. How 'totally the opposite' is this?

The Real Al Gore Switch ad

[pauljlucas]

I was winning the election in Florida, ballots were being counted on a PC, and then it was, like, beep beep beep beep, and then, like, half of the ballots voting for me were gone. And I was, like, huh? It devoured my ballots. They were really good ballots. And then I had to get them counted again, and I had to get it done fast before the Supreme Court stopped me, and they weren't as good. It's kind of ... a bummer.

Re:The Real Al Gore Switch ad

[WalterSobchak]

Both comments well done!
The original for, duh, originality and the reply for fine-tuning it.

Wonderful, I am still lauging... "My name is Al Gore..."

My name is Alex, and I am a switcher since 1984

Re:The Real Al Gore Switch ad

[deanj]

Er, except at no point was Gore leading in the election recounts. If he was, the counting would have stopped right at that moment....

Re:Hmmm..

[coolmacdude]

I agree. Just because I don't agree with Gore politically doesn't mean he couldn't be of some use to Apple.

Re:Sell my PB?

[evilviper]

Choose your computer on the basis of what works, not politics.

And suddenly, there are no more Linux users.

How long

[onShore_Jake]

I guess that means that we can soon expect the new digital lifestyle device... iLockbox!

Now that's strategery

Re: Al Gore Joins Apple's Board Of Directors

[BWJones]

Did you go for the dimpled chad, the hanging chad, or just punch that sucker all the way through?!

Thanks, that made me laugh out loud for the second time today. :-) To answer your question, I punched that sucker clean through.

Re:No. Gore won.

[nursedave]

You're an idiot. Count after count done during that time and after show he won. Sorry.

If true then

[fudgefactor7]

expect the end of all new and cool looking Apple products. Al Gore is the most dull person on the planet, expect a new Apple direction to reflect that. Maybe they'll go with the beige box idea, that's pretty well boring.

Re:Sell my PB?

[Winmac]

I might just do so.
I want to do that to my PC, but I tend to end up running (and reinstalling) windows a little too much.

mac

Re:Is this the same Al Gore that sold us out?

[SoupIsGoodFood_42]

...George W. Bush uses a Mac too

Well, they are designed to be easy to use. "Apatche web serva?! Can I c'ntrol our choppers from this?"

Re:Gore got more votes.

[nursedave]

Because it kept going on, and on, and on, and on - sort of like Democrats crying about losing the election, which they most definately did. They recounted time and again, and it all comes up a Bush win (that means Gore lost, to those in Rio Lindo) Hurts, don't it?

Oh man

[thatguywhoiam]

That's just beautiful. Mod him up, someone. *sniff*

Common Sense.

[Erris]

Al Gore never claimed he invented the internet, and anyone who jokes about it is just showing their ignorance. (sorry timothy)

Let's examine dates, shall we? Ask the tree himself what he did. Well, it's a little dishonest, Gore dropped out of law school, but the dates are hard to refute.

When the internet was "invented" in 1969, Al Gore was acting as a combat reporter in Vietnam. Comendable enough, but the Senator's son had it much better than most. We can imagine his grasp of computing was about as broad as his expressed interst in such things at the time and for years to come, ZERO.

In the next five years he failed as a farmer, priest and lawyer. No biggie, lots of nice people fail at many things and the effort is commendable if not exceptional. Yet, where is the interest in computing while Unix is being created?

In 1976, Gore started his long and unbroken career as a politician. According to this empasioned defense Al Gore made his first concrete contribution to what we know of as the internet with, "High Performance Computing and Communications Act in 1991." Not bad, he beat Bill Gates to caring, but it's hardly the kind of stuff you could call "instrumental".

Clearly, however, he suffered from his associations with one of the most agresivly dishonest administrations in US history. We can give credit to Al Gore for the 1996 Telecomunications Act, which failed, and the DMCA. It's a mixed record by someone who's writing proves a deep ignorance of many important technical matter. It's right to distinguish between people who understand technical details and those who pretend to know. It would be one thing if he stood on his record honestly. His agradizing and pretenses were blatant enough for people who wanted him elected to notice. The New York Times, the Washington Post and other paper called him on this.

I can only imagine that Apple thinks Gore has some influence to wield in shcool and government computer purchases. It's inconcievable they hired him for technical reasons.

Re:Common Sense.

[sfwriter]

Ignoring your sarcastic temporal hair splitting around the word "invent" which Gore never said, I'll move on to:

"In 1976, Gore started his long and unbroken career as a politician. According to this empasioned defense [politechbot.com] Al Gore made his first concrete contribution to what we know of as the internet with, "High Performance Computing and Communications Act in 1991." Not bad, he beat Bill Gates to caring, but it's hardly the kind of stuff you could call "instrumental". "

Not Instrumental? That act provided much of the foundation for the Internet you use today. Hell, the provision for exposing more undergraduate students to the Internet probably did more to popularize the Internet than you can measure.

The HPCC represented the culmination of years of lobbying, explaining, and educating on Gore's part, but in addition to this, he helped privatize the Internet paving the way for pretty much everything the public would recognize. He was also an outspoken champion of technology in general, which is the point he was making.

I've met him several times, and he is by far the smartest politician I have EVER met. He could clean Newt Gingrich's clock with one frontal lobe tied behind his back.

I guess the most relevant meeting I ever had with him was in Nashville around 1995. I was part of an Internet startup, an ISP, and got to shake hands with him. He was there as a speaker and essentially a technology cheerleader. I thanked him for helping make our little company a reality.

This was years before the "invented the Internet" nonsense. Even then I credited him with being a visionary about it. He didn't see it as an academic problem, or a network between research institutions, or a defense project, or even a place to find 800 kinds of porn. He saw it as a tools for transforming society.

Read his 2000 Red Herring interview and prepare to be stunned.

-Sandy

Re:Common Sense.

[Idarubicin]

Question: when did Al Gore claim to invent the internet? That's what you (rightly) dispute in your (overly lengthy) tirade--but did he ever make the claim in the first place?

I've seen this purported claim tossed about for years--but when did he say it? Can someone link to a transcript of a speech or interview? I'd appreciate it.

I don't know if he made the claim or not. If he did, it was a dumb thing to say, on par with most other politicians (far be it from me to mention GWB here.) From what I gather, most of what he has said has been fairly bright--he's allowed to have an off day.

For those that are wondering, I didn't vote Bush or Gore in the last election--I don't live in the United States. I'd just like to see someone set the historical record straight on the contentious (tempest in a teapot?) issue.

Re:Common Sense.

[lizrd]

This snopes article explains it pretty well. Basically he did work on some legislation that helped the internet have a big boom in the '90s, but saying "I took the initiative in creating the Internet" is still quite a stretch.

Keep facts out of this

[baldass_newbie]

This is Slashdot.
Besides, liberals and socialist foreigners don't like to be confused by facts, especially when it comes to politics.
Good post.

Re:Keep facts out of this

[SANTA'S LIST]

Facts and Politics huh?

You're right about one thing though, this is Slashdot. Redneck conservatives and pseudo-intellectual objectivists don't like to be confused by reason, especially when it comes to economics.

Bad post. Coal for you.

Re:AUGH! STOP REPEATING THAT!

[charon_on_acheron]

As quoted at snopes.com: "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

Did he say he "created the Internet"? No. He said he "took the initiative in creating the Internet."

What exactly is the difference in those two phrases? Please analyze both wordings, and tell us what each one says in a purely grammatical sense. Yeah, right, like anyone does that. We hear words, correlate them to ideas we have from other areas, and interpret the meaning from there. This is the important point.

Al Gore knew who would be watching his intreview. There were a lot of people who owed their jobs, salary level, or stock portfolio to the Internet, in one way or another. He knew that he could say he was instrumental in bringing about the proper government support and funding that enabled the Internet to grow as large and all-encompassing as it was. But that doesn't sound nearly as great as saying he was responsible for "creating the Internet." And many people watching would love to reward someone who they thought "created" that wonderful Internet that is making them so much money.

Look at the quote again. ""During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." The first clause is just filler, easily discarded by the average viewer/listener. But everyone noticed the main clause, which was phrased just right. Gore claims that it is accurate because he sponsered several bills that gave funding to the expand the military-only DARPA-net, and that grew into the Internet of today. And us techies know that Gore did nothing to invent the technologies that the Internet is based on. You clutch onto that straw, that he wouldn't say something that 'us techies' could so easily prove false.

But he wasn't talking to the small percentage of techies watching the interview. He was grandstanding for the masses of non-technical people who watch politicians before an election. They have no idea if he 'made' the Internet, or 'created' the Internet, or 'invented' the Internet. But then he says that "I took the initiative in creating the Internet", and all those non-techies hear it as "I created the Internet." Hell, most techies hear it that way, at least the first time. Even you and others who now argue so vehemently that "he didn't say that" probably thought he did say that, until you could see the words in print, analyze exactly what he did say, and realize he isn't taking credit for creating the Internet.

If you think I am blowing hot air, do a little experiment. Print the sentence out, and have someone read it to you. Does it sound, even remotely, like that person is saying they 'created the Internet'? What if Vint Cerf read the sentence to you, would it sound like he meant that he created the Internet? Now read the sentence to a group of people who know nothing about this discussion. Read it to your mother over the phone. Ask them what they think it means. I bet most of them will say it sounds like someone is claiming to have created the Internet. Remember, with politicians, it isn't what they say, it's how they say it, and who hears it.

Not accurate .... he DID say that

[adzoox]

He said that he helped with the funding and creative force that became the internet and that Tennesee was one of the first universities to fully utilize it because he saw how great it would become. Therefore he recommended quick adoption (and providing funds for) internet "capabilities" in public institutions. He was inferring that he was a reason the internet got started so quickly. The question asked by Wolf Blitzer on CNN was, "What do you think has been your greatest contribution to education?"

Re:Not accurate .... he DID NOT say that

[saddino]

Wrong. He did not say "I invented the Internet" (as the original poster stated). Nor did Gore's words infer "that he was a reason the internet got started so quickly" as you put it.

He said, in referring to his very vocal support for the passage of the bill that led to the PUBLIC Internet:

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system. "

Re:GORE DID CLAIM THAT

[Trailer Trash]

The snopes article validates my statement. While the author there starts out claiming that Gore didn't make the statement that he did, he changes his stance by the third paragraph. He points out that Gore started in Congress in 1977, well after the creation of arpanet, and that "it's hard to find any specific action of Gore's that one could claim helped bring the Internet into being, much less validate Gore's statement of having taken the 'initiative in creating the Internet.'"

And, by the way, Bugs Bunny is a Warner Bros. character, unlikely to show up at Disneyland anytime soon.

MDC

Pretty clear all the Democrats have the Karma

[chippcom]

Conservatives beware! "Mod Down Area Ahead!"

Does this mean Apple is moving....

[cebarro]

Back to Beige?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:No. Gore won.

[Squinky86]

"no, gore won!"
"no, bush won!"
etc. etc.
babies, this is getting nowhere fast! Bush WON, maybe not the popular vote, but the electoral vote. That's what counts and that's what keeps power in check. Now, ya'll babies just stop ya'll's gruge match and get your mommies to change your diapers.
Bush won, end of story, whether you like it or not.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:yes, 2 replies is lame . . .

[davebo]

...but i noticed something else. my original source for the amount of french imports is clearly incorrect.

using the more recent figures I get from your link, Algeria & Nigeria both provided France more oil than Iraq in 2002 (1.376 m bbl vs. 1.196 m bbl vs 0.953 m bbl). Which puts Iraq at only 4th among OPEC countries (Saudi Arabia being #1). Since 68% of France's oil has to come from someplace else, I suspect the UK & Norway (simply by proximity, which saves a bundle on shipping costs) still provide more than Iraq.

Al Gore and the Internet

[scubacuda]

For what it's worth, here is a page w/links related to the "Al Gore creating Internet" myth/joke:

In a CNN interview on 9 March 2000, Al Gore claimed "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

Was Al Gore really the "Father of the Internet"? Well, no. Albert Gore, Junior, was not elected to Congress until 1976, although his father Albert Gore, Senior, was previously a Senator. Junior represented Tennesee's Fourth District in the House of Representatives, then was elected to the US Senate in 1984. (Source: "Current Biography Yearbook 1987", page 213, edited by Charles Moritz, published by The H.H. Wilson Company, NY, copyright 1987 and 1988.) The Pentagon funded the original development of the Internet, and the military contracting company Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN) began constructing it in 1969. (Source: see the Internet history FAQ pages listed below.) It was originally called ARPAnet, since the agency that funded it was named ARPA. By 1973 it was a modest success.

Wired News does a nice job of debunking Gore's claim.

The CNN interview in which Al Gore claimed that he created the Internet:

• CNN transcript of Gore interview
• RealAudio audio-video file of Gore CNN interview

Internet history FAQ pages:

• The History of the Internet
• Internet Society (ISOC) All About the Internet
• Evolution of the Internet

Re:Al Gore and the Internet

[saddino]

These references serve only to debunk a false interpretation of Al Gore's statement. Al Gore meant that his work in Congress led to the creation of the public Internet, not ARPAnet.

Microsoft Bookshelf 96 has this to say on the subject:

"In 1991, Vice President Al Gore, then a U.S. senator, proposed widening the architecture of NSFNET to include more K-12 schools, community colleges, and 2-year colleges. The resulting legislation expanded NSFNET and renamed it NREN (National Research and Educational Network). This bill also allowed businesses to purchase part of the network for commercial uses. The mass commercialization of today's Internet is the direct result of this legislation."

Clearly, Microsoft thinks Al Gore had a lot to do with the creation of the public Internet, hmm?

Iraq delenda est

[knowledgepeacewi]

Iraq delenda est.

Re:Iraq delenda est

[knowledgepeacewi]

please note the sarcasm.

On politics of various sorts

[randolph]

1. In the National Opinion Research Center count of ballots, there were more than 113,000 ballots cast for two or more presidential candidates. Of those, 75,000 chose Mr. Gore and a minor candidate; 29,000 chose Mr. Bush and a minor candidate. Had the balloting been properly run there's little doubt that Gore would have had a clear, though slim, victory. (NORC is a social science research unit at the University of Chicago; they are world-class experts in sampling and polling.)
2. Back when Al Gore was in college, he used to do stand up comedy. As his recent showing on Saturday Night Live (warning: annoying site) shows, he still can. I don't know why he came across so poorly during the election.
3. He's been pro-technology, pro-space, and has known from computers for a long time.
4. Since he's on the Apple board, he is apparently an Apple stockholder. Corporate directors don't usually do that much, but the position does provide for the making of and using of connections.

Heck yes.

[ccmay]

I'm more right wing than Limbaugh or Clancy. And I love my Mac and hate Microsoft.

-ccm

Re:Heck yes.

[pressman]

Wow. And you proudly proclaim this?

Re:Heck yes.

[ccmay]

Wow. And you proudly proclaim this?

Yup. What's your point?

-ccm

Re:Heck yes.

[kalidasa]

Wow. And you proudly proclaim this?
Yup. What's your point?

Not a problem, Genghis.

Re:Heck yes.

[pressman]

Right wing is more of a pejorative than anything else these days. Conservative isn't a dirty word, but right wing conjures images of Crhsitian Fundamentalist wingnuts with bad hair, neo-nazis, and anti-government miltias with guns and bombs at their disposal.

Do you really mean to brag about being right wing? Or are you really a very conservative Republican?

Re:Bad move Steve

[Graymalkin]

A troll is a troll but W's last name couldn't get him into Harvard. It did get him into Yale however.

Re:No. Gore won.

[nursedave]

Amen!

Re:Bad move Steve

[ccmay]

A troll is a troll but W's last name couldn't get him into Harvard. It did get him into Yale however.

I beg your pardon but W. does indeed have an MBA from Harvard to go with his bachelor's degree from Yale.

Not that I give a shit about the Ivy League anyway, but it seems clear that his academic record beats Gore hollow.

-ccm

2000 election...

[nickos]

I never understood why Bush didn't call for a new general election after winning in such dubious circumstances. It would have been the only way to restore some sort of legitimacy to American politics.

Re:2000 election...

[jpop32]

I never understood why Bush didn't call for a new general election after winning in such dubious circumstances.

Why on earth would he do that? He had too hard of a time stealing 2000 election, it would be moronic to call for a new one.

Re:2000 election...

[FuzzyDaddy]

I never understood why Bush didn't call for a new general election

Perhaps because there is no provision to do this under U.S. law. We do not have a parlimentary system.

I'm not sure which is funnier:

[sc00p18]

A. The fact that Gore's statement has two sentences yet he used the word "initiative" three times, or

B. The last sentence on the page: "Even if Al Gore had never entered the political arena, we'd probably still be reading web pages via the Internet today."

(emphasis mine)

Alternate Universe 1A

[efudddd]

Microsoft® today announced that George W. Bush, the former Governor of Texas, has joined the Company's Board of Directors.

"George brings incredible privilege and connections to Microsoft from having been born into a wealthy family. George is also an avid PC proponent whose assistants have long used Microsoft Office®. As a strong proponent of the death penalty, George is going to be a terrific Director, and we're excited and honored that he has chosen Microsoft as his first post-campaign springboard to power."

President Gore declined to speculate what effect Bush's appointment could have on Microsoft's antitrust case currently before the Supreme Court.

Gore Declares W4R against 4x15 0f 3v1L

[Agave]

Former Vice President Says Bill Gates Must Leave Redmond Within 48 Hours

Al Gore has identified Sun Microsystems, The GNU Project, and Microsoft
as part of an 4x15 0f 3v1l designed to suX0r consumers. After a long
campaign against The GNU Project, a software liberation organization,
Gore declared a moral victory even though Apple failed to capture the elusive "RMS".
He then turned his attention to the leader of the Evil Empire
and declared they were not complying with Justice Department resolutions
to separate msweap~1.dll from the Windows operating system. When Gore made
his intentions known, John Ashcroft vowed to veto further Justice
Department sanctions against Microsoft. Apple spokesman Steve Jobs said,
"It is clear that giving Microsoft more time to disarm Windows is only
helping Microsoft. We must act to prevent the suffering of all Americans."

Re:Not accurate .... he DID NOT say that

[adzoox]

Again, he DID say that. He was asked in a debate and then he later clarified it on CNN. The quote you used was only the partial answer. The items I mentioned from the original post is how he clarified it. While he wasn't claiming to be the Thomas Edison of the internet, he made two false statements: "I made initiatives to create the internet" and Tennessee was the first state to have it educational institutions thanks to him.

The internet was devloped at MIT based on the ARPAnet (government network) Al Gore had nothing to do with either. Even the TRUE inventor of the internet says that Al Gore even reduced federal funding for MIT during those times because he thought hackers would learn to take advantage of the government records system and defense contract corporations. I can't provide the quote because that was from the Tech TV special about the internet. Now I am forgetting the guy's name.

He is cool because he went on Futurama twice!

[Oliekirk]

http://www.gotfuturama.com/Multimedia/FrameGrabs/4 ACV08/Grabs/pic00104.jpg I know nothing else about him but he won/lost an election at the same time, but he has been a cartoon charactar on the best tv program twice and done his own voice!

Re:Yes, too fucking bad

[ChrisNowinski]

Right, except for the fact that he never said he discovered Love Canal a character in Love Story was based on him, that he based his statements on a newspaper article and that he never said he invented the internet. I guess, except for all your points, you are completly right.

Re:AUGH! STOP REPEATING THAT!

[Art Tatum]

He didn't use those exact words, no. But when you say you took the *INITIATIVE* in *CREATING* the Internet, it means almost the same thing. Initiative implies taking the lead in something. I hopefully don't have to tell you what "creating" implies.

It's not quite as stupid as saying, "I invented the Internet!" but it's damn close.

If and But

[MohammedNiyalSayeed]

If my aunt had a dick she'd be my uncle.

But she doesn't.

I'm thinking I should probably have explained my message a little more, as people who still obsess over what might have been, even when that "might have been" would have been demonstrably pathetic for the affected, don't necessarily pick up on stuff like this right away. Then again, I don't get paid to teach school to people who have developmental problems.

New Apple order forms to follow!

[WasteOfAmmo]

Customer: You got my order all wrong, I ordered 2 Power Mac G4's. You sent me 2 iPod's, 1 PowerBook, and something called GoreTunes!

Apple Hotline: Sir, our new automated Ordermatic punchcard order form system is never wrong. I have your order form here, clearly you ordered the iPod's.

C: I thought about the iPod's but I did not puch the chad's out!

AH: They are clearly dimpled sir, you did intend to order them.

C: I DID NOT.... fine, what about the G4's!

AH: You did not order the G4's sir. If you look at the form closely you will note that the chad you punched out is clearly lined up with the PowerBook and not the G4 product which is lined up with the hole below and to the left of that one.

C: No the hole I punched is beside the #$%@$ G4!

AH: Sir! Due to space constraints on the new form some lines overlap slightly. You will notice that it is quite obvious the G4 line only covers 3/8 of the chad you punched out the while correct line covers 5/8 of the hole and is therefore the clear choice of those intending to buy the PowerBook product.

C: ENOUGH! Where are you guys located anyway... Florida! Doesn't matter! And what then is this GoreTunes thing?

AH: Oh well that is our latest product sir! It is an MP3 player that comes pre-loaded with live Al Gore karaoke recordings such as:

• Who let the dogs out?
• I'll count it my way.

and hit single Steve/Al duet "Work'n 12 to 2; What a way to make a liv'n."

[click]

Someone please Mod this up as FUNNY!

[pressman]

Someone please Mod this up as FUNNY!

No, no, no and no.

[saddino]

For the last time, Al Gore DID NOT say this.

And thanks, but I don't need a history lesson. I'm not arguing that Al Gore had anything to do with the development of ARPAnet, I'm arguing that Al Gore helped push legislation that led to the creation of the public Internet.

Since you're memory is escaping you, I'll help you out. Here is the exact CNN quote:

=====
CNN'S WOLF BLITZER: I want to get to some of the substance of domestic and international issues in a minute, but let's just wrap up a little bit of the politics right now.

Why should Democrats, looking at the Democratic nomination process, support you instead of Bill Bradley, a friend of yours, a former colleague in the Senate? What do you have to bring to this that he doesn't necessarily bring to this process?

AL GORE: Well, I'll be offering my vision when my campaign begins. And it will be comprehensive and sweeping. And I hope that it will be compelling enough to draw people toward it. I feel that it will be.

But it will emerge from my dialogue with the American people. I've traveled to every part of this country during the last six years. During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.
===

Notice he doesn't say "I invented the Internet" and notice that Wolf Blitzer's question is not a followup about some supposed "debate" statement.

And since I bet you're still not convinced, here's what Microsoft's Bookshelf 96 has to say about the public Internet:

===
"In 1991, Vice President Al Gore, then a U.S. senator, proposed widening the architecture of NSFNET to include more K-12 schools, community colleges, and 2-year colleges. The resulting legislation expanded NSFNET and renamed it NREN (National Research and Educational Network). This bill also allowed businesses to purchase part of the network for commercial uses. The mass commercialization of today's Internet is the direct result of this legislation."
===

Face it, Al Gore helped make the public Internet possible, and Microsoft and others agree. This is exactly what Al Gore meant when he said "I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

This is NOT a false statement, no matter how much you desire it to be so.

The imaginary Al Gore quote "I invented the Internet." exists only in the heads of stubbornly biased, narrowminded conservatives.

Re:GORE DID CLAIM THAT

[saddino]

According to Microsoft's Bookshelf 96:

"In 1991, Vice President Al Gore, then a U.S. senator, proposed widening the architecture of NSFNET to include more K-12 schools, community colleges, and 2-year colleges. The resulting legislation expanded NSFNET and renamed it NREN (National Research and Educational Network). This bill also allowed businesses to purchase part of the network for commercial uses. The mass commercialization of today's Internet is the direct result of this legislation."

So I would think that Al Gore's quote was pretty much on the mark.

Yes!!

[adzoox]

About Al Gore inventing the internet: You made that whole quote block up, because it turns out that I was wrong; it was Bernard Shaw; the day after the debate. Also Tennessee was NOT the first state to have an educational internet infrastructure, not by a year. He may have helped funding, but so did every Senator and every state including my own. He didn't even draft a SINGLE funding bill. I am NOT a narrow minded conservative. In fact, I think Al Gore may bring some international business wisdom to Apple. I just think it is a bad move for Apple due to the joke (true or not) and the fact that he is a losing Presidential Candidate + he is a VERY opinionated politically (and socialistic about medicine and environment) which will polarize some those that ARE narrow minded.

And as for the word "initiative", that is double political speak. I have taken a lot of initiatives to make Apple Computer number 1. I was even on the creative team for retail store development AND I am opening a store of my own this summer. I didn't, however, come up with the idea nor has ANY of my efforts as a Mac User/Tech/salesman helped Apple beyond a miniscule way (i'd love to THINK it has kept them in business)

Did you know that George Bush signed one of the biggest technolgy for education budgets while he was Governer of Texas? He could have made the same claim! His dad DID help fund the devleopment of ARPAnet and as Vice President he DID make iniiatives for the internet and probably as President too.

Re:Yes!!

[saddino]

You made that whole quote block up

Why don't you just check at CNN yourself and then get back to me?

Accusing me of making things up is pretty damn low. Are you really so ignorant that you would say anything in order to protect your Gore-said-he-invented-the-Internet fantasy?

And when did this become a Gore v. Bush debate? You don't know what I think about Gore and you don't know what I think about Bush. Their political views have nothing to do with the simple fact that Gore never said he invented the Internet.

No go find someone else to accuse of "making things up."

Ass.

Re:Yes!!

[adzoox]

You are not referring to the same thing I am talking to - this ALSO NOT the quote that was misconstrued as "inventing the internet" - he said this during a Presidential debate - your quote came BEFORE he even announced candidacy.

I didn't accuse anyone of taking sides, but who is showing more beligerance and intelligence, a name caller or someone that has the courage to debate you?

Re:Yes!!

[saddino]

Courage? Let's see...first you accuse me of making up a quote from CNN. I show you the actual CNN transcript. Then, instead of apologizing, instead of admitting that the quote is accurate, you try to change the subject! That doesn't sound courageous to me at all. A truly courageous person would say, "Okay, I'm sorry I accused you of making that quote up."

If you really want to be courageous, go ahead and look at these links (some are pro-Gore, some are anti-Gore) and then admit you're wrong.

Here:
In fact, as CyberAlert readers know, Gore made the boast not at a political gathering but in an interview aired on the March 9 edition of CNN's Late Edition/Prime Time

And here: ...in a March 9 interview on CNN's Late Edition/Prime Time Gore insisted: "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

And here:
Several times, George W. Bush and his campaign have questioned Al Gore's credibility. One of their favorite examples is when on 09March 1999, Gore told CNN's Wolf Blitzer....

And here:
During a March 1999 CNN interview, while trying to differentiate himself from rival Bill Bradley, Gore boasted: "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

And here:
"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet," Gore said during an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer

And here:
In March of 1999 while appearing on a CNN program hosted by Wolf Blitzer, Al Gore briefly alluded to his role in the development of the Internet. This comment became controversial overnight and was used to the former Vice President's disadvantage during the 2000 campaign.

And EVEN here:
March 9, 1999; CNN interview
CLAIM: "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

Or, if you still want to believe Gore said "I invented the Internet" during a debate, than go ahead. But I will reserve the right to get pissed off when people like you falsely accuse me of lying.

Re:Yes!!

[adzoox]

That response was obsessive compulsive psychobabble. These boards are NOT about apologies; they are about debate. I don't like your opinion, you don't have to like mine.

your 5th comment down refers to using it to "disadvantage" - i am speaking of when he REAPPEARED to clarify the remarks he made. He said something to the effect that Tennessee U was first to have educational internet widespread because of him and that he signed Bills into law (which are hardly initiatives) that made the internet happen. As I said, every Senator did what he did to bring about the internet. He is also on record as thinking the ARPAnet should not be made public or any form thereof.

You are referring to something entirely different. Why you would care to defend something with irrelevant quoutes and seemingly make this post your thesis is beyond comprehension.

Re:Yes!!

[saddino]

Clearly you've made up this entire story about Al Gore "reappearing" and saying something about Tennessee U. Lying and making up stories isn't going to help your, ahem, "debating" skills, but whatever floats your boat.

Have a nice day.

Nader Next?

[Michael_Burton]

I see a rapid spiral of escalation. What's next? Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader elected to the Microsoft Board of Directors?

wha, who voted for him?

[spiffy_guy]

As an Apple stockholder I am shocked! I mean sure the guy is intelligent and all, but this is just crazy. Other than coining the term "information superhighway" which is a lousy term Gore is unqualified for this position.

Just like other big companies.....

[seichert]

Unfortunately government has corrupted our industry. From prosecuting Microsoft to shutting down Napster, they have to assert their control. Apple is dealing with this the way other big companies are, by paying off one politician / or ex-politician in order to fight off the others. In addition, federal taxation is so high and the federal government controls so much spending that companies need an insider to get a piece of the pie. Apple lost to Microsoft because in the 1980s they tried to get public schools hooked on Apple computers. I.e. they went for the government market. Microsoft focused on the business customer (i.e. the free market) and won. Now the federal government is seen as the big pie, so they will all hire lobbyists, politicians, etc. to help them get a piece. Truly disgusting.

Understandable confusion on Gore's part

[demars]

Actually, when Al Gore was informed that he got the majority of votes to be elected to the Apple board of directors, he initially thought that meant he would _not_ be joining the board. It was then explained to him that board elections do not operate under the same rules as American presidential elections...

Re:Understandable confusion on Gore's part

[valkraider]

Unfortunately the ballot process confused the members, while they *meant* to vote against Gore - none could remember really well which was a no vote... Aye? Nay? It's all so complicated. Apple should computerize the process.

Re:Understandable confusion on Gore's part

[demars]

The main obstacle to computerization is that they haven't been able to come up with a satisfactory computer simulation of a "hanging chad."

Re:FP

[Dr_Cornholio]

Hey pal, the purpose of the flamebait mod is to avoid possible flame wars. With all the anti-war, anti-american sentiment going on around the world, (and yes, this site is read by people from other countries, not just americans) I think it was a very fair call

It's 'real Americans' like you...

[FredFnord]

...who make me more and more scared for the future of America. You clearly know exactly what the country should be, and would be just as happy if you could run it the way you want, without recourse to such sad little things as elections and representational government.

And, more and more, with spin and with massive amounts of money, you're getting things your way. Now when I express my opinions I'm labelled a terrorist, and I'm actually scared to say them out loud at work because, frankly, I think I might be fired for it. And in this economic climate, that's no joke.

So thank you, Real Americans, for curtailing our freedoms more and more.

-fred

So your claim is...

[FredFnord]

...that the nefarious left, in the shape of all of the people marching around and chanting slogans like 'no blood for oil', are fully aware that we're not at all interested in the oil in Iraq, that in fact we'd be doing exactly this same thing if there were no source of wealth at all in Iraq, and are instead protesting for some nefarious purpose of their own?

Ah, the left-wing conspiracy theory.

I know it's real... it's conveniently located in my breast pocket. Okay, so it's not a BIG conspiracy.

-fred

Re:So your claim is...

[jxs2151]

Study your history. Partiuclarly the piece around the time of the Russian Revolution, Lenin, Germany's complicity with the Bolsheviks, the duping of the "workers" in Russia for use as protestors, etc. I can back up my contentions, can you?

Perfect match indeed...

[FredFnord]

In both cases, the superior product destroyed by a group with dramatically more money for marketing and absolutely no interest in hewing close to the facts or winning on merit.

Damn, that's eerie!

-fred

Re:Sell my PB?

[PhoenixK7]

Your comment IS a troll, but there's a fanatical user base because portage works _REALLY_ _DAMN_ _WELL_.

You get to customize exactly what you want out of a system without compiling everything manually. Define your USE variable in make.conf, ask it for the apps you want and off it goes and builds all the deps with pretty much exactly what options you want (to be certain the use value doesn't give you control over every option but it gives fairly fine-grained control).