The end of the article was amazing. Nothing better than bitching about your work being stolen and then finding out that your communications director endorses the process by tipping off Gawker. Oh the irony..
While Python is always a safe choice, another strategy would be to investigate what the new programmer is trying to accomplish. Most people aren't like "I'm going to learn a programming language as an academic exercise!", they want to actually do something.
If they are interested in writing web apps you might suggest Flash. If they are interested in writing a 2D video game you might suggest Python. If they are interested in performing numerical analysis of math functions you might suggest getting a girlfriend.
My favorite Slashdot comment on this subject matter was:
"Every developer wants to think of themselves like House, M.D. where if they left the company it would fall apart. In reality, everyone is replaceable and if you got hit by a bus today in three months the company will have completely recovered."
>> "When programmers develop 'for fun' we write documentation."
That's because they get something out of it. Namely, people won't use undocumented software and the authors want their software to be used.
In a corporate situation we don't document our software if we don't have to because we don't care (usually) whether or not people use it. If the company cares, it will force engineers to write documentation and we will do it because we don't want to get fired.