"bleeding edge"? Please don't start until you define "bleeding edge" DOM (not Javascript it lands in all DOM implementations too!) features, read when various "bleeding edge" features started to get support in other browsers, and when their candidate recommendations occured.

I don't always rely on group security policies; but when I do, I make sure they are not in the kernel.

Java devs tell this to JS devs a lot. You must fix your problem without changing anything. Warts must stay.

How many average people use applications that need high performance? Twitter is the top end of performance with realtime data applications for most people I know, games usage does not occupy enough people/time to be near the amount of time that people spend doing email, twitter, travel booking, coupon hunting, review finding, etc. Who the hell needs C level performance on most daily needs?

Bundled in the dynamic languages here but anything that doesn't have pointers fails the OP's test... which is a lot these days.

Python, Ruby, Lua, PHP, Lisp, Perl, Awk, etc. are bad : they lack pointers and strong types. Oh and lets not forget type coercive language in respect to strings (or pointers since that was brought up) ...

I have never seen a C++ programmer without a degree either, C++ must be pretty awesome to require a degree! You heard it on the internet, so it must be true. On a more serious note: colleges that still state that the web is not where programmers go are wrong. How many problems involve networking, and how much better is the tooling for using existing robust (HTTP) apps vs proprietary binary protocols? Also, how easy is it to add a GUI that consumes that API via a browser vs. QT, SDL, wxWidgets?