In his “BYTE OF THE APPLE” column for BusinessWeek, Technology Editor, Alex Salkever outlines “why Apple shouldn’t vote for Gore.”
“The failed Presidential contender is a business novice whose board nomination raises more questions about Apple’s governance. In The Global-Investor Book of Investing Rules (Financial Times Prentice Hall), shareholder activist and gadfly money manager Robert Monks, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, coined a new rule for investors: Short the stock of any company employing a former Tennessee senator on its board. After all, Albert Gore Sr. sat on the board of oil giant Occidental Petroleum (OXY ) during a period of corporate misdeeds back in the 1960s. Former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker of the Volunteer State was on the board of Waste Management (WMI ), another troubled outfit. Construction concern Stone & Young had on its board ex-Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson. It declared bankruptcy soon after his tenure.”
“Now comes 2000 Democratic Presidential nominee Albert Gore Jr., another former Tennessee senator, who has accepted nomination to Apple Computer’s (AAPL ) board of directors. If past is prologue, Apple shareholders better keep their eyes open and their ears peeled.”
Full article here.
Bob Crisler wrote: “…Dick Armey? Mouth-breathers.”
Let’s find out how much Bob actually knows about that which he is writing…
Dick Armey has a Phd. in Economics, and was professor and Chair of the Econ. Dept. at the University of North Texas. Oops! I guess Bob is either unaware of Armey’s intellect or he’s just trolling.
As for the Gingrich quote, Newt has been on an image reformation campaign for a number of years and in such a world he’s not going to slam Gore too hard for making stuff up. Nevertheless, let’s look at the Gingrich’s quote: “[Gore] systematically worked to make sure that we got to an Internet”. Now, in my mind, making sure “we got to the Internet”, even if “systematically” is a lonnng way away from a claim of “creating it”. This was a nice way for Newt to say that Al was telling a fib.
Remember, there are folks in Congress right now working on “making sure that we get to” cold fusion but that doesn’t make them a creator of the next big thing in inexhaustible fuel sources. As the Reason.com article points out, some people (including maybe even Gingrich) may think that nothing is actually real unless Congress gooses it with a few bucks, but the fact remains that Gore was only a part of the *popularization* of the Internet. Did he “help”, of course! but not “create”. And being part of a “futures group” does not count either. There are guys in “futures” groups right now supporting the concept of flying cars but that does not qualify them as creators if and when one is finally flying over downtown Cupertino.
Gore cheerleaders like Bob need to just accept that Gore told a whopper and move on. He tried to make it sound like his FUNDING EFFORT in the Congress “created” the Internet. Even the Daily Howler managed to completely overlook the fact that THE VERY NEXT DAY after the GoreGaffe(tm) Wired News pointed out his prevarication. So their defense of Gore was lackluster at best.
Of course, all this is moot since, of all people, Steve Jobs knows the Internet predates Al Gore. Gore is on the board because Steve lives in an isolated political world where he and his friends have a hard time imagining that the rest of the world is thankful that Al Gore has no political power.
Cheers,
-B
The vast majority of people don’t understand what the Internet is and have no idea how it came about. They assume the Internet refers to the hardware and software connecting to it. Just to set the record straight, there IS a difference in “creating” and “inventing” the Internet, because the Internet WAS created by Congress. The technologies specific to networking (TCP/IP, coaxial and fiber cable, collision detection, and so on) were invented by a great number of people long before and long after Congress took up the cause of the Internet. But the Internet itself was created by Congress in much the same way that Congress creates a National Park. If Teddy Roosevelt said “I was instrumental in creating Yellowstone National Park” no one would take issue with that. And no one would assume he meant he built Half Dome. The creation of the Internet involved re-allocating existing resources (DARPA and ARPA net, among others), authorizing funding, creating oversight agencies, awarding contracts, etc, and above all, having the vision to see how a freely availble resource such as the Internet would positively impact the country and the world.
It is typical of debate, now and throughout history, that we interpret our political opponents utterences in the worst possible light. But doing so cheapens us, not them. Scornful Sarcasm is a poor substitute for actual understanding. Unfortunately, it is much, much more common.