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Libya Elects Engineer To Acting Prime Minister Post
PolygamousRanchKid writes in with this quote from CNN: "Libya's transitional government picked an engineering professor and longtime exile as its acting prime minister Monday, with the new leader pledging to respect human rights and international law. The National Transitional Council elected Abdurrahim El-Keib, an electrical engineer who has held teaching posts at the University of Alabama and Abu Dhabi's Petroleum Institute, to the post with the support of 26 of the 51 members who voted. ... El-Keib emerged victorious from a field that initially included 10 candidates. ... He is currently listed as 'former faculty' on the website of The Petroleum Institute, which said he served as chairman of its electrical engineering department and lists him as an expert in power system economics, planning and controls."
PRK adds: "Has there ever been an engineer in the top spot? ... Is this a good idea? Or are techies doomed in politics?"
the record for humanities is horrific:
Hitler was a painter.
Mao was a librarian.
Stalin was a preacher.
Yours In Moscow,
K. Trout, C.I.O.
Ah, but there's essentially a political vacuum in Libya right now. The "status quo" is practically anarchy - there's no politicians interested in maintaining it. So it just might actually work, there.
That's funny, because our director oversees a team of developers, yet he couldn't write a line of code to save his life. By your measure, he can call himself, if not a developer, then at least someone who "knows a lot about developing", which is "just about the same thing". No, just no.
James Carter was a US Navy officer in the nuclear power field.
No, that doesn't make him a nuclear engineer.
It makes him pretty knowledgeable about Naval Nuclear Power Plants, but most any Senior Chief in Naval Nuclear Power would have been at least as knowledgeable.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Carter had been greatly influenced by a sermon he had heard as a young man, called, "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"
Jimmy Carter is a, let's say,"complex" subject.
In the real axis he's a nuclear engineer. In the imaginary axis he's a Baptist preacher.
He didn't say "nucular" but then he didn't quite say "nuclear" either... it was more like "nukiyuh" as I recall.
I don't think he personally deserves 100% of the blame for the "failure" of his presidency, but he certainly deserves some of it. (They all do.) He presided over a rough time for the country with some unpleasant structural shifts underway. But in any case, he has been much more successful as an ex-president.
As for Lybia, I'm somewhat encouraged by their choice of an engineer for this job, rather than a career politician or clergyman, or some other charismatic type. The last thing that country needs is a new "Dear Leader." They need someone who can learn quickly in a wide range of topics, someone who can make informed decisions with a minimum of tribal bias, and deal with the myriad problems of getting the country back on its feet again.
Good luck to them! I hope they can make it work.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
Electing an engineer to a public office means exactly jack-shit. After graduating with an engineering degree, I can say that I've known plenty of engineers who were assholes, idiots, or both.
If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.