Exactly. File in E.D. of Texas, where nothing any tech company would care to touch is (a bunch of woods all within 3 hours of Houston, Dallas, or Shreveport, LA so no real reason for field offices/etc there). While Texas has lots of tech firms in the DFW, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston metros (the major cities of the 3 other court districts), the ED is pretty much a no man's land. If they had to file in say the West District in Austin or the North District in Dallas, they'd be screwed as the pool of jurors won't go along with their silly ideas like they do in Lufkin (their court of choice) or Texarkana. From what I've been reading however, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has been smacking the hands of the ED judges a bit more on patent cases, especially on change of venue requests.

In larger or more established companies, managers take a lot longer to develop. Maybe this quick transaction from intern to manager explains why so many smaller companies tend to get run into the ground...

I think you hit the nail on the head. Democracy is in no way synonymous with a free society and frankly has been historically antithetical to liberty where it's practiced. So, I'm with you there.

It takes some real intellectual dishonesty to mention anything from a study without talking about the conclusion.

Seeing as how I read the whole thing, the analysis can best be summarized as "It works, with caveats. The caveats are too big for us to make a definitive recommendation. More study required."

The fact that he moved up from an intern position tells them that he has the ability to adapt. This is the most important aspect of an employee. Some peoply only know how to do as they are told, others are problem solvers and seek to answer the great "Why?". After experiencing the working world and seeing my mother's small business employees in action, I can tell you that a critical thinker is a rare thing indeed.

It really depends on the situation.

If The New Manager is intent on making their fast-track bones by shaking things up, the entire tech level may soon be outsourced.

What is important is what you want.
Do you want to give management a try?
Do you want to learn The New Manager's style of managing?
Have you ever thought 'if I were running things we would not be doing X, we would do Y'?

I suggest you give it a shot, maybe you will like it.

If you turn it down, be sure to give The New Manager every reason to know that you are just too darn essential in the tech role to be moved out of it.

Either way: Get your resume out there, and start actively looking for a new job.

Good Luck!

For one thing, what percent is "nearly all"? For another, the settlement might well include revisions to the EULA.

The Corps may very well have used poor judgment that led to the disaster in New Orleans. But the law suit will not stand. In essence the Corps of Engineers is an extension of government and the publics control of funding through taxes limits both the quality and number of projects that the Corps can undertake. After the decades of budget cutting, which were a part of numerous republican presidential platforms, the failure of a project here and there could be easily foreseen. In essence the people of the United States are suing themselves. Yet the people were the ones who wanted all of the tax relief that led to this type of catastrophe. Higher courts will dump this law suit and claim sovereignty as an excuse.
                    The nature of this problem persists in that current policies are to simply build levies that will stand up to class III storms in New Orleans. It is a fact that class IV and class V storms will certainly hit New Orleans. Massive death and destruction will occur due to this ongoing policy.

More rugged than your average notebook, that is. (At least, the ones that I've been lugging about)