Gov. Rod Blagojevich is the state executive who just won't quit. The transcripts from the wiretaps that lead to his arrest last week are pure [bleeping] comedy gold. They are also scandalous and a tragic smear on public service. Pity the honest politician or public official in the land of Lincoln because Governor B-Rod is sucking up all the oxygen. The tapes and transcripts provide a cautionary tale about politicizing things that should not be politicized. It should remind us that what is true of an empty senate seat should also be true of information technology.
That lesson was hard learned by the German industrial giant Siemens, which this week agreed to pay the equivalent of $1.4 billion to US and German authorities to settle a sprawling corruption scandal. The news service AFP reported, "The 161-year-old conglomerate with activities from nuclear power stations to trains [and large information systems] has acknowledged that up to [$1.8 billion US] may have been used illegally to win foreign contracts." The settlement allows Siemans to keep doing business with governments all around the world, but not by B-Rod-style rules. Besides, the company appears to have played in a league well above B-Rod's pay scale.
If all of that wasn't enough to induce year-end head scratching, Digital Communities blogger Ulf Wolf provides a fascinating chronology of a transcontinental Internet scam that bobs and weaves (as most frauds do) to seperate the gullable from their money.
That lesson was hard learned by the German industrial giant Siemens, which this week agreed to pay the equivalent of $1.4 billion to US and German authorities to settle a sprawling corruption scandal. The news service AFP reported, "The 161-year-old conglomerate with activities from nuclear power stations to trains [and large information systems] has acknowledged that up to [$1.8 billion US] may have been used illegally to win foreign contracts." The settlement allows Siemans to keep doing business with governments all around the world, but not by B-Rod-style rules. Besides, the company appears to have played in a league well above B-Rod's pay scale.
If all of that wasn't enough to induce year-end head scratching, Digital Communities blogger Ulf Wolf provides a fascinating chronology of a transcontinental Internet scam that bobs and weaves (as most frauds do) to seperate the gullable from their money.