[pfreivald]

As a person with several family members and friends in the intelligence community, and who has a security clearance himself (for work in quantum cryptography funded by the DoD, thank you very much), all I really think when I see will.i.am is *black rage*.

This is a man who equated the CIA with the KKK, the Bloods, and the Crips.

That he is affiliated with FIRST at all is irritating. That his approval of what we do is being trumpeted as if it matters even a little is aggravating.

It's great that will.i.am thinks FIRST is dope. It really is, because perhaps some kids will take a second look at FIRST and decide to become a part of it. One hopes that Paris Hilton would look at FIRST and say "That's Hot," to similar result.

But there is something terribly wrong with this organization, of all organizations, using an entertainer's approval as validation for its coolness.

If FIRST's "Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology" depends on borrowing "cool" from entertainers, then it's never going to be successful at changing the culture.