More on Republican "so called" Republican dirty trix

Interesting.

Right after last night's story that I posted about the Fed Worker that was found hanged in Kentucky, with the word "FED" on his chest, I found this delightful, yet esoteric article in the book review section of this week's NEW Yorker, discussing of all things, The Dreyfus affair (talk about ANCIENT history)

Yet, this article DOES matter. In it, Adam Gopnik makes a very interesting point.

First he introduces Louis Begley's new book, “Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters” (Yale; $24).
And then he cuts to the chase. Mr. Begley discusses the Dreyfus affair, and uses it as a metaphor for showing and warning us, as a "pointed warning and reminder of how fragile the standards of civilized conduct prove in moments of national panic."

Well. I am going to skip a great deal of Mr. Gopnik's article, discussing why it does matter, what happened, and why the USA (think Guantánamo Bay) has similar problems. You can read the article (even if you don't subscribe--use the link above!)


Gopnik makes a very astute point, which is as valid today (Rush Limbaugh and associates) as it was 100 years ago.

He says,

"The trouble was that, like most happy endings, the happy ending was not the end. The good guys won in a way that only made the bad guys worse.

As with Watergate, the immediate outcome of the affair gave a misleading impression of unanimity; in truth, while the good guys thought the other guys had absorbed it as a lesson, they had merely resented it as a defeat."

This reminds me SO SO much of the what I think of the disloyal opposition party, in their new scare tactics against Health care, so called Tea parties, and the birth certificate experience, that I cannot help but use my common sense, and create a new mental arithmetic for myself that shows that all these items add up to a new state of DENIAL for republicans in the USA.

Combine that with the fact that they are now the minority party, and that could easily mean that
we will have :

No health care reform
No meaningful anything in the next few years.

And again, as I have said all along, the republicans are the party of NO Health CARE reform.

Six times in sixty years, and now close to a seventh time killing it.

Let's bring back the fairness doctrine to the radio and television airwaves.
that would mean Fox News might actually live up to it's so called motto of "Fair and Balanced", instead of the right wing spin it puts on EVERYTHING.

Augh. (yes I know talk like a pirate day was LAST week!)

Prediction: Iran Will Fall July 15th: Your Guess?

Hey. It's my blog, and I'll prognosticate if I want to... (repeat 3 times)

OK. Today (Wednesday, June 24th, one and a half (almost 2 weeks) after the "so-called" election was held.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the June 12 election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would not be reversed. It was (also) accompanied by a vow that the nation's rulers would never yield to demands from the streets.

So. Since the "Supreme Leader" Ayatollah has stepped out THIS far on the ledge, then I think that it is quite telling to start a ledge pool.

Date and time of the crash of the Revolutionary Republic of IRAN:
Leave a comment with YOUR date and time of the fall!:

Note/warning: I have a previous history of correctly predicting long term trends and outcomes.
search the archives for my background.


I swear that this post is absolutely non-satirical, however, looking at the labels for this post, I would swear it was from the 2008 (or even the 2000 STOLEN) US elections. What Irony!

This American Life: the financial Crisis:

Hey. This week's "This American Life", covers the financial crisis.


38 minutes into the show, they discuss the lack of regulation, and how it seems
that it never was done.

The CULPRIT is FORMER senator Phil Gramm. Now a financial industry consultant.

He slipped a paragraph into an appropriations bill which TOTALLY deregulated
all credit markets, and SPECIFICALLY FORBID EVERY state from regulating them too!

He now works for the financial industry.
minute 41 of the program discusses regulating the Credit Default Swap market.

This was UNDONE in 1998, congress was asked to regulate this market, but Senator Gramm slipped this provision into a bill IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!!!
in the year 2000.

NOTE the SAME Phil Gramm that USED to be an presidential advisor to JOHN MCCain
before he said, "there's no financial crisis, and we're a nation of Whiners."



Minute 52: the Stock injection Plan:

Instead of this PAULSON plan, the fed would just buy shares in the banks...

The STOCK INJECTION plan was INCLUDED in the House and SENATE bill..

(halujah...) THIS is an OPTION...


the stock injection plan would essentially buy shares in a bank, and be able to do with the company just what they did with AIG.

(throw out the bums, give them cash, and you own the company!)

cheers...
Highly recommende
Here's a link audio should be up on monday 10/6 http://podcast.thisamericanlife.org/podcast/365.mp3
right click, to save on your desktop, and simply listen to it.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes.

The background I believe that:
* We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION.
* It's going to be as BAD as the last one.
* The current failures only bring us 25% into the problem!!
* According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the
depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%.
* We need a new deal.
* After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon...
* We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills.
* Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything.
SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society...

But....
We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

Here's what I came up with:

We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

Palin as President

Now. This Palin's for YOU...

Oh. By the Way...

To quote:

" I am....practicing very hard (and cursing very liberally, while trying to practice saying
the following...)

• President McCain. OK I can accept this one.
  

• Vice President Palin (See picture above)
  

but I am having much trouble saying...

President Palin??

and of course, after this the inevitable (in 2012) President Hil. OR President Clinton.

And consider this my election Preview.

Obama has lost.

Totally. Historically. Without a prayer.

and a conversation with someone ELSE (NOT me ... for a change, who said...)

What, you expect Palin to be a political Veep, no way, she's got five kids, with a special needs one too. She'll be in the Veep's mansion breastfeeding for the next four years..

And I answered, "besides being Sexist that's a terrible thing to say...", and they said, "You're right, she's totally unqualified and a terrible choice. But he screwed up, and the Republican base, as well as the entire rest of the population is gonna vote for her because her daughter rebelled and got knocked up.

And I said, well doesn't the fact that she believes in Abstinence only sex education mean her value systems in today's day and age are screwed up? It just goes to show that her values are so out of touch with what our country needs...And to say it was just a rebellious daughter bemoans the fact that the daughter might never heard of what a condom was FROM who her PARENT, who SHOULD have been teaching something USEFUL to her.

And then he answered, " Well you know, that's the exact reason Obama's gonna lose. ONLY because it became such an issue, and any parent, no matter what the religion can understand the rebellious teenager."

ARGUUUH.

OK. Practice again.
President McCain.
Vice President Palin.

No calls in the middle of the night.

Although, if that happened, we'd have a female president AND vice president (Pelosi)..

Hmmm.... Hormone alert.

cheers. (practice saying Republican President...1,000 times)

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes.

The background I believe that:
* We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION.
* It's going to be as BAD as the last one.
* According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the
depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%.
* We need a new deal.
* After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon...
* We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills.
* Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything.
SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society...

But....
We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

Here's what I came up with:

We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

Hacking the Wiley Hacker (hazklng Hckrs!)

What goes around Department:

What goes around, comes around....(AP/Via ABC) says

The Hacker's conference (BlackHat2008) in Las Vegas tells people:
That their 'show' network is NOT secure, and they should be prepared to be 'outed' if they don't PRACTICE SAFE COMPUTING...since the

public Wi-Fi network, always has widespread snooping on ANY traffic passing over it...

Three (french) journalists captured what they claimed were usernames and passwords of reporters from at least two different media outlets — eWeek and CNET News.

The eWeek reporter told organizers his login credentials looked like they were legitimate, while the CNET information appeared to be bogus.

Does it matter if they were legitimate or not?

Everyone attending the Black Hat convention is warned that the conference's public wireless network is being monitored by hackers.

People who send sensitive personal data over it are cautioned they might have that information posted on the Wall of Sheep, a forum to embarrass security professionals who don't follow proper security procedures themselves.

I like that. The Wall of Sheep. Can we have a local one too???

Black Hat organizers said the reporters were ONLY caught when they took their purloined S*T*O*L*E*N prized passwords to the Wall of Sheep workers and asked them to post the information.
(EMPHaSIS aDDed by MB)
The workers refused. When questioned, one of the French journalists said he was trying to "educate the press" about the importance of sending data securely, organizers said.

A staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), said his organization is investigating whether Black Hat organizers can take legal action against the French journalists. He said the breach may have even broken criminal laws.

The EFF is a civil liberties group focused on free speech and privacy on the Internet and often takes up journalists' legal cases.

HooLaLa... Wake up little suzie, we've gotta get home!
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+

OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes.

The background I believe that:
* We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION.
* It's going to be as BAD as the last one.
* According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the
depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%.
* We need a new deal.
* After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon...
* We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills.
* Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything.
SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society...

But....
We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

Here's what I came up with:

We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

microSQUISH bids for YAHOO -- My thoughts

Micro$oft and Yahoo.

by Mark Brown
Usage: Creative Commons attribution with email back to me at markbnj at excite dot com

When asked about my feelings about the news this morning that Microsoft (MS) is seeking to acquire Yahoo (Y) for almost 45 billion dollars, my stomach churned. You see, Microsoft IS a monopoly that controls almost 90% of the market for computer operating systems.

I remember a few years back, a group of people in the United States sued Microsoft, claiming that MS was a monopoly(*). Among the different solutions, I liked one in particular. It was to split Microsoft into three different parts. An Operating Systems company, an Applications company, and an Internet company. If we fast forward, (or look back to the year 2000, when our society was first being taken apart by the current president, George W. Bush), we see that the Bush administration stopped the anti-trust prosecution and settled with MS.

I am both FOR and AGAINST this merger.

Pro-Merger
========

Microsoft is worried about its survival. Of course it wants to, and should be allowed to compete against Google. Now that Google has introduced live Google-Documents and Spreadsheets, Microsoft has (and has had) every right to compete, and compete hard against competitors.

Yahoo, and the companies that it owns are the most traveled to web location. Microsoft is an industry laggard in the Internet. Together, they can better compete against Google.

Google is the new Microsoft. Microsoft is no longer the incumbent. Google is the market leader. It is not fair to precent Microsoft from attempting to compete against Google.

Anti Merger
========

Microsoft is a monopoly. The US gave up its monopoly fight when it changed to a republican administration in 2001. The European Union didn't give up its fight, and won certain concessions from Microsoft.

It's time to use this proposed merger to DEMAND that Microsoft divide itself into parts.
Part ONE: Operating Systems and Languages
Part Two: Applications
Part Three: Internet, hardware and other companies

I feel that this MUST be an absolute requirement for any acceptable permutation of permission to be given by the Department of Justice. Microsoft has not changed any of its business practices. I think that once the Operating Systems Company is freed from the other two businesses, a great deal of benefits to everyone who uses a Microsoft computer will happen.

Without a separation of the OS from everything else, it is allowing Microsoft TOO much power to compete, and will even surpass Google, because of it's monopoly on the desktop.

An additional point I would argue for is that once Microsoft discontinues support for a version of its operating system, that the now discarded code should enter the public domain, and become open-source software. This will lead to new innovations, and even allow Microsoft to eventually compete for support contracts for its old unsupported OSes.

Summary
=======

Essentially, I think it's both a good move, and a bad move. Good for Microsoft and Yahoo, but terrible for consumers and other citizens of the United States. The negative effects of the deal can easily be mitigated by requiring Microsoft to divest itself (and the Yahoo Mail servers too) into different parts. I think this way, the playing field will be fairer to everyone, including everyone who uses a non-Apple (or non-LINUX) PC in the world.

By suggesting that older operating systems be recycled, we can encourage more competition and make our system much fairer.

Remember the following items from the DOJ anti-trust suit:

Internet Explorer is (STILL) distributed and required in Windows. IT cannot be removed from WINDOWS XP/2000/Vista.


Notes:
------
(*) You do remember that the Department of Justice sued Microsoft, don't you? The US settled, and the European Union (EU) didn't settle, and THEY got more then US consumers did.