Czars...

[Maximus]

Seriously, what the fuck is with calling every top official in the white house a "czar"?

[jimmy olsen]

Alexander II's abolition of serfdom inspires us still. 

[MadImmortalMan]

Seriously, what the fuck is with calling every top official in the white house a "czar"?

It's an easy way to appoint someone in charge of something without having to go through the pesky process of congressional consent.

[crazy canuck]

Seriously, what the fuck is with calling every top official in the white house a "czar"?

They know going in the office holder will be incompetent and so they name the office accordingly.

[Viking]

Seriously, what the fuck is with calling every top official in the white house a "czar"?

Wikipedia is your friend.

Metaphorical uses

Like many lofty titles, e.g. Mogul, Tsar or Czar has been used as a metaphor for positions of high authority, in English since 1866 (referring to U.S. President Andrew Johnson), with a connotation of dictatorial powers and style, fitting since "Autocrat" was an official title of the Russian Emperor (informally referred to as 'the Tsar'). Similarly, Speaker of the House Thomas Brackett Reed was called "Czar Reed" for his dictatorial control of the House of Representatives in the 1880s and 1890s.

In the United States the title "czar" is an informal term for certain high-level officials, such as the "drug czar" for the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, "terrorism czar" for a Presidential advisor on terrorism policy, "cybersecurity czar" for the highest-ranking Department of Homeland Security official on computer security and information security policy, and "war czar" to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One of the earliest known usages was in "baseball czar", applied to Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who was named Commissioner of Baseball, with broad powers to clean up the sport after it had been dirtied by the Black Sox scandal of 1919. Although other Commissioners have been described as "czars", the term is less used than it once was, due to the Commissioner's power being made inferior to that of the owners.[20]

[Martinus]

Alexander II's abolition of serfdom inspires us still. 

[CountDeMoney]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9aymPARQGU&feature=related

[Fireblade]

I'm still holding out for an appointment as the Drug Czar.

[Barrister]

Alexander II's abolition of serfdom inspires us still. 

I agree - nicely done Tim/Jim. 

[saskganesh]

I'm still holding out for an appointment as the Drug Czar.

but then you would be part of the cocaine mob. and I would have to kill you through asphyxiation.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Seriously, what the fuck is with calling every top official in the white house a "czar"?

It's an easy way to appoint someone in charge of something without having to go through the pesky process of congressional consent.

But why the name Czar? Do we really want to have our top officials associated with ineffective autocrats whose mistakes resulted in a bloody civil war and one of the worst totalitarian empires in history?

[Syt]

Kenesaw Mountain Landis

Fucking hippie names.

[Syt]

But why the name Czar? Do we really want to have our top officials associated with ineffective autocrats whose mistakes resulted in a bloody civil war and one of the worst totalitarian empires in history?

[Razgovory]

I saw Glenn Beck ramble on about Czars tonight.  That fucker is nuts.

[The Brain]

  Syt, appointing Lincolns would smell too much of Caligula.