Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Conficker Worm After Personal Information
The Conficker Worm
The worm's alarming outbreak entered a new phase Wednesday as clocks around the world ticked into the first day of April, the day it was scheduled to change programming.
But security experts appeared correct in their predictions that the day was likely to come and go without any major disruptions, even though the worm has infected anywhere from 3 million to 12 million PCs running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system.
Computer infections now are all about making money by stealing people's personal information. And Conficker's authors stand to make more money from renting out parts of their huge "botnet" to spammers or identity thieves than by destroying parts of the Internet.
"These guys have been pretty smart until now — the worm is unfortunately very well done," said Patrik Runald, chief security advisor for F-Secure Corp. "So far they haven't been stupid. So why should they start on April 1?"
But panic over the worm had reached a frenzy.
Companies were on high alert to any change in Conficker's behavior that could affect their systems. But a lot of the heavy lifting for big corporations has already been done. Most large organizations hurried to fix the vulnerability that Conficker exploits long ago — Microsoft released a software "patch" for it in October. Many smaller businesses and consumers started worrying about the problem later, making them more vulnerable to infection.
"Consumers are very, very, very aware of this — more so than I've seen in years," said Alfred Huger, vice president of Symantec Security Response. "Enterprises are certainly aware of this, and they're treating this seriously, but no more so than other threats they're faced with."
Detecting a Conficker infection is actually very easy. One of the telltale signs is if you're able to navigate the Internet freely but can't access Microsoft's site or the sites for the major antivirus software vendors. Conficker's authors included that feature to prevent infected machines from downloading programs that remove the worm.
That makes it harder to get the Conficker removal programs, but not impossible. Security experts recommend that people with infected machines find a friend whose machine isn't infected, and have that person download the removal tool and e-mail it to them.
That has likely started changing with the dawn of April 1. Now the programming on the latest version of Conficker tells those infected machines to generate 50,000 new Internet addresses each day that they can try and "phone home" for instructions.
Previously, they had been looking for commands from just 250 sites each day. The point of the change is to make it harder for the security community to pre-register those addresses and keep them out of the bad guys' hands.
Microsoft has offered a $250,000 bounty for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the people responsible for Conficker.
Just Who Holds U.S. Foreign Debt
It is absolutely no surprise that China and Japan are the two nations which hold the greatest portion of America's national debt, here are the numbers of our other lien holders. It certainly is a big list, but economist will tell you that foreign countries have held each others debt for centuries. Which may account for the real reason we have seen so many wars.
Who Holds America's Debt
Couple of quick notes:
Russia went from effectively holding no American debt at the start of 2007 to its current ranking of 7th place with $120 billion -- and climbing -- at the end of 2008;
While Treasury doesn't breakdown the oil producing states which hold American debt (together they are in third place), that group includes quite a few pariah nations:
Oil exporters include Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Gabon, Libya, and Nigeria.
Also, I did a search and asked the great Oz - 'Google', asking just how much foreign debt is owed to the United States? Time after time, with rewording and clarification, the search engine was UNABLE to tell me. But certainly is a glut of how much the U.S. OWES. But no one seems to know how much is owed TO US. I did find one curious fact out. Great Britain just paid off their WWII debt to us a few years ago. How is that for an extended payment plan.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Netanyahu Poised To Take Office
Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of Israel's right-wing Likud party, is due to be sworn in as prime minister for the second time, after a gap of 10 years.
His coalition government is the largest in Israeli history, with ministers ranging from the hard-liner Avigdor Lieberman to Labour veteran Ehud Barak.
Iran's nuclear program is likely to top its security agenda.
Western states have voiced concern at the coalition's likely stance on a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
Mr Netanyahu is expected to present his cabinet to parliament in the afternoon, after which MPs will vote on it.
In a televised news conference on Tuesday, US President Barack Obama - who backs Palestinian statehood - said peace efforts would not get "easier" with a Netanyahu government, but were "just as necessary".
CCTV Cameras Turned Off For G-20
The security operation at this week's G20 summit was thrown into chaos last night when it emerged that the entire network of central London's wireless CCTV cameras will have to be turned off because of a legal ruling.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has ruled that Westminster council's mobile road cameras - a third of the authority's CCTV network - "do not fully meet the resolution standards required" and must be switched off by midnight tomorrow.
Britain CCTV Cameras Return to Dark Ages
The blackout begins on the eve of the summit, when world leaders arrive in the capital and protesters take to the streets.
This is a joke right? We are sending The President of The United States to Britain to attend what is already going to be a security hotmess and their cameras, the very back-bone of their security systems in Britain are to be turned off!
It adds: "We are seeking authorization from DfT as a matter of urgency to enable Westminster to continue using its digital CCTV network." They will get it. I am betting. Somehow I think someone just lost their job over there. Ironic.
The 60 cameras in question use the latest digital technology and transmit images using Wi-Fi. While they are primarily for traffic enforcement, according to the council the cameras are "an essential additional tool" to tackle crime and disorder, and have been fixed to strategic locations across the capital ahead of the summit.
DISORDER IS WHAT IS ON THE MENU
Which includes a suggested dress code for Londoners.
1. Don't look like a banker. (Big One Here)
2. Don't carry any gadgets, like cell phones, Blackberries etc...
3. Don't take a bath or brush your teeth. (This shouldn't be too hard.)
4. Leave the Mercedes at home. (Scary, they will have to walk with the plebes)
Will they have to pull out their spyglasses and binoculars and quit depending on their monstrous technology? Not for a moment. This is one important summit and with the recent rise in violence in N.E., I don't think those cameras will be off for a second.
G-20 Summit Begins in London
Britain will get its first chance to see Barack Obama in London this week when a White House cavalcade - complete with armoured limousines, helicopters, 200 US secret service staff and a six-doctor medical team - sweeps into the UK. American Style.
Obama will fly into London for his first visit to the UK as President of the United States on Tuesday to take part in the G20 summit in the capital's Docklands area. He will not be travelling light. No President ever does but this trip will require extra security considering protesters are already waiting.
More than 500 officials and staff will accompany the president on his tour this week - along with a mass of high-tech security equipment, including the $300,000 presidential limousine, known as 'The Beast.' Fitted with night-vision camera, reinforced steel plating, tear- gas cannon and oxygen tanks, the vehicle is the ultimate in heavy armoured transport. Hard on gas mileage though.
In addition, a team from the White House kitchen will travel with the president to prepare his food. As one official put it: "When the president travels, the White House travels with him, right down to the car he drives, the water he drinks, the gasoline he uses, the food he eats. America is still the sole superpower and the president must have the ability to handle any crisis, anywhere, any time."
US security teams have already carried out three visits to prepare for Obama's first official visit to Britain. The first was a "site survey", the second a "pre-advance visit" which was carried out to pick sites that the president would visit. Finally there was the "advance trip", which took place last week. Its purpose was to set up equipment, sweep venues for electronic bugs, test food for poison and measure air quality for bacteria.
Is this a meeting or an invasion? Both most likely...So take the link above to see the over the top description of the very anticipated arrival of President Obama in the U.K. It's a hoot.
God Speed Mr. President.
Bill O'Reilly Boycotting Sean Penn's Films - BFD!
Upon seeing this 'newsworthy' item come up, and I use that term loosely. I expected to find some substance to the annointed man with a mouth to tell us why. I found huge posts from several news agencies, not even worth the space to write about it.
Instead they focuses on what the Great Papa Bear likes, his favorite this and favorite that. The only thing I didn't learn was what his favorite icecream was.
Bask in His Glory
...and I don't give a rats arse about that either. But I do think Sean Penn is a talented actor. If there is a film I know has Sean in it, I can expect a pretty good movie.
So, what is the big brouhaha? Honestly I thing everything I read sounded like small sound bytes used to promote Bill O'Reilly. A fluff piece if you will. Take the link above if you care enough to help him bask in his opinions. I don't.
So instead. I'm posting a trailer for one of Seans last Movies, MILK.
Whatever you think of Sean Penn, his personality, his choice of movies. Bill O'Reilly is just promoting himself at someone else's expense.....again.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
The Snooping Dragon - Social Surveillance of Tibetan Movement
Shishir Nagaraja of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Ross Anderson of Cambridge University have published a very interesting paper called “The snooping dragon: social-malware surveillance of the Tibetan movement” on how agents of the Chinese government managed to infiltrate the computer network of the Dalai Lama’s organization through ingenious social engineering and gain access to intelligence information that could lead to serious consequences.
The Snooping Dragon This is the link to the PDF from Cambridge University on a study over some amazing stuff on social-malware surveillance of the Tibetan Movement.
It is a must read.
In an online abstract in the above link for "The Snooping Dragon: Social Malware Surveillance of the Tibetan Movement," Shishir Nagaraja and Ross Anderson write that while malware attacks are not new, these attacks should be noted for their ability to collect "actionable intelligence for use by the police and security services of a repressive state, with potentially fatal consequences for those exposed."
It’s a very interesting report and points out that the techniques used are within the reach of motivated individuals as well as government intelligence agencies and ponders how much less well known organisations can cope with such attacks. It is a wake up call if there ever was one. It also lends weight to the sage advice offered in Ross Andersons “Security Engineering”. Both are well worth a read, even for those of us whose network security is not a literal matter of life or death....yet.
In a related article dated March 29th 2009, AP states that Chinese hackers crack computers in 103 countries. That will make for some happy faces.
Chinese Hackers
A cyber spy network based mainly in China hacked into classified documents from government and private organizations in 103 countries, including the computers of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan exiles, Canadian researchers said Saturday.
The work of the Information Warfare Monitor initially focused on allegations of Chinese cyber espionage against the Tibetan community in exile, and eventually led to a much wider network of compromised machines, the Internet-based research group said.
"We uncovered real-time evidence of malware that had penetrated Tibetan computer systems, extracting sensitive documents from the private office of the Dalai Lama," investigator Greg Walton said.
The research group said that while it's analysis points to China as the main source of the network, it has not conclusively been able to detect the identity or motivation of the hackers.
Calls to China's Foreign Ministry and Industry and Information Ministry rang unanswered Sunday. The Chinese Embassy in Toronto did not immediately return calls for comment Saturday.
Students For a Free Tibet activist Bhutila Karpoche said her organization's computers have been hacked into numerous times over the past four or five years, and particularly in the past year. She said she often gets e-mails that contain viruses that crash the group's computers.
The researchers detected a cyber espionage network involving over 1,295 compromised computers from the ministries of foreign affairs of Iran, Bangladesh, Latvia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Barbados and Bhutan. They also discovered hacked systems in the embassies of India, South Korea, Indonesia, Romania, Cyprus, Malta, Thailand, Taiwan, Portugal, Germany and Pakistan.
Once the hackers infiltrated the systems, they gained control using malware — software they install on the compromised computers — and sent and received data from them, the researchers said.
Prevention against such attacks will be difficult since traditional defense against social malware in government agencies involves expensive and intrusive measures that range from mandatory access controls to tedious operational security procedures.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
WTC Tower Name Change Called Unpatriotic
No More Freedom Tower
The tower being built atop Ground Zero to replace the Twin Towers which fell in the devastating terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, will now be known as One World Trade Center.
Steve Sigmund, the spokesperson for the Port Authority (who owns the site), says the name is more 'marketable.' One World Trade Center is the address of the future building.
That is what it all boils down to, isn't it? 'MARKETABILITY.' Some would say that is all it has ever mattered right from the get go. The audio tape of someone calling for firefighters in reference to WTC 7 was obvious. Listen to moment 3.30 on the tape when the instruction to 'pulling It', a term used in the business to demolish a building was issued. The fact that the towers, all of them were unmarketable before 9-11 seems to escape so many people amazes me. It doesn't take a member of Mensa to figure this out people.
Here is the tape on WTC 7 - It was a controlled demolition.
The Towers That Were
This is an emotional situation for most Americans. Experts, theorist, and conspiracy theories abound. But that is not what I am writing about today. The story of just who was really behind 9-11 will eventually see the light of day. I suspect the anger level to be higher than anyone can imagine then, and I can imagine a lot. We have gone into two wars over the rhetoric attached to this day in American history. This story is far from being over. It is a national wound, not a just a piece of real estate.
In the beginning the original architect designed a twisting form he wanted to imitate the Statue of Liberty, with a spire that rose to the deliberate height of 1,776 feet to recognize the year of American Independence. Politicians called the tower proof of the country's triumph over terrorism. Former Gov. George Pataki even said visitors to the iconic skyscraper "will know our determination to overcome evil" in a 2003 speech that first gave the Freedom Tower its name.
UPDATE:2009
The tower -- still is under construction with a projected completion date of 2013 -- no longer has the same architect, design or footprint on the 16-acre site. And this week, the owners of ground zero publicly parted ways with the Freedom Tower name, saying it would be more practical to market the tallest building in New York as the former north tower's name,
So it was changed to ONE WORLD CENTER
Many call the name change an unpatriotic shedding of what has come to be such a symbol of America's spirit. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have been hit for years in the newspapers editorials for years of missed deadlines and site changes.
"When you've broken your promises on everything else to do with redeveloping ground zero, it's no big deal to discard the name by which the public has come to know the iconic skyscraper at the heart of the plan," the New York Daily News wrote this past Friday.
I think a new name should be thrown in for consideration: 'Broken Promises'
'Broken Promises' by the United States and the Bush Administration to the thousands of people who died that day. Broken promises of a country led into at least one of two unnecessary wars. The deaths of those service men and women. Telling them that they were sent into harms way to protect our freedom.
Now I do understand the concern given privately that the significance of naming the new 102 story building 'The Freedom Tower', could make it more susceptible to future attacks than a symbol of defiance against it. But seriously people all of New York is a target. Colorado is a known target out here we often refer to as Ground Zero because of N.O.R.A.D. Give us some credit here.
"The fact is, more than 3 billion dollars of PUBLIC MONEY is invested in that building and, as a public agency, we have the responsibility to make sure it is completed and that we utilize the best strategy to make certain it is fully occupied," the P.A. said in a statement Friday.
Like the Port Authority was doing before the attacks, right?
"As we market the building, we will ensure the building is presented in the best possible way," he said. One World Trade Center is "easiest for people to identify with, and frankly, we've gotten a very interested and warm reception to it."
Do you buy this crap?
Did you know that concerns were expressed about the Freedom Tower three years ago. Port Authority employees were never expected to move into the tallest, most symbolic skyscraper being built at the site because they had survived 1993 and 2001 terrorist attacks and would find it too emotionally difficult to return.
Several other government offices were located in the original trade center, and the Port Authority is trying to finalize leases with the federal and state governments that would lease half the building. NO OTHER corporate tenants have signed on. The Port Authority has agreed to lease space in another tower being built at the site.
"Where One and Two World Trade Center once stood, there will be a memorial with two voids to honor the heroes we lost. In my view, those addresses should never be used again," Former Governor Pataki has said.
Okay, so what do we do with such expensive and emotionally tied real estate?
The Daily News and New York Post published editorials backing the former governor. But The New York Times on Saturday wrote that Pataki's name for the building became "its burden," and said the Port Authority was "quietly and sensibly" using another name to market the tower to high-profile commercial tenants.
Forget about it boys, this is sacred, hallowed ground, and no marketing just short of telling prospective tenants that nothing ever happened there is going to work. So you are going to have to deal with the fact this is how the American people are going to view this land. We must have our memorials and monuments.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday he prefers the name Freedom Tower -- said the building's true name may be left to the public....I think he is right.
"One of the things is we call things what we want to call them. So Avenue of Americas is a good example. It's Sixth Avenue to most people," the Mayor said. "If they name this One World Trade Center, people will still call it the Freedom Tower."
How many of us will always call it The World Trade Center? Do you feel the name diminishes the tragedy that took place there? What do you think?
Spanish Court Considers Trying U.S. Officials Over Torture
THE NEW SPANISH INQUISITION
Surprised? 'You can file this under "never going to happen.' Still if I were any of these people, I wouldn't leave the country. That goes for G.W. as well.
A Spanish court has agreed to consider opening a criminal case against six former Bush administration officials, including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, over allegations they gave legal cover for torture at Guantanamo Bay, a lawyer in the case said Saturday.
Human rights lawyers brought the case before leading anti-terror judge Baltasar Garzon, who agreed to send it on to prosecutors to decide whether it had merit, Gonzalo Boye, one of the lawyers who brought the charges, told The Associated Press.
The ex-Bush officials are Gonzales; former undersecretary of defense for policy Douglas Feith; former Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff David Addington; Justice Department officials John Yoo and Jay S. Bybee; and Pentagon lawyer William Haynes.
Spanish law allows courts to reach beyond national borders in cases of torture or war crimes under a doctrine of universal justice, though the government has recently said it hopes to limit the scope of the legal process.
Garzon became famous for bringing charges against former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998, and he and other Spanish judges have agreed to investigate alleged abuses everywhere from Tibet to Argentina's "dirty war," El Salvador and Rwanda.
Even if indictments are eventually handed down against the U.S. officials, it is far from clear whether arrests would ever take place. The officials would have to travel outside the United States and to a country willing to take them into custody before possible extradition to Spain.
It is unfortunately not going to happen. Bush gave himself and his peeps immunity before he left office. President George W. Bush always denied the U.S. tortured anyone. Didn't you believe him?
Okay, so....
The U.S. has acknowledged that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described plotter of Sept. 11, and a few other prisoners were waterboarded at secret CIA prisons before being taken to Guantanamo, but the Bush administration insisted that all interrogations were lawful.
'When you bring a case like this you can't stop to make political judgments as to how it might affect bilateral relations between countries," he told the AP.' It's too important for that.'
The proceedings against the Bush Administration officials could be embarrassing for Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who has been keen to improve ties with the United States after frosty relations during the Bush Administration.
Zapatero is scheduled to meet President Barack Obama for the first time on April 5 during a summit in Prague. We will see if the frost thaws.
I suspect a juridictional problem here of huge proportions.
Friday, March 27, 2009
The Drama Which Is Blogging. **Language**
WARNING LANGUAGE
We all know that signing in to comment on a blog...is a pain in the arse sometimes. Well most of the time. Some sites even want a sample of your DNA as well, before you are allowed to leave your tiny well thought out snippet.
This young man is clearly unhappy. I want to thank Aye We Can for this little piece which shows just what happens to some of us bloggers and our readers. Tragic as it seems, I think this young man is in need of a couple of weeks at camp....and no not computer camp!
Either that or we all start a collection for the medication he seems to be without.
Criticism Over Obama Invitation Mounts at Notre Dame
Hold on to your Rosary Beads
Graduation time rolls around and a whole host of dignitaries are invited by universities to speak at commencement ceremonies. Enter President Barack Obama, and a time honored invitation, the tradition to have new Presidents speak at graduation exercises at Notre Dame continues, or does it?
Well it seems the powers that be right here on planet Notre Dame do not want President Obama to come and speak for reasons that seem a bit hypocritical, and hide a deeper, darker side of criticism from Catholics there.
Reason Number One: Students fearing their commencement ceremony will turn into a circus. Thus causing a distraction.
Really? Because making this press statement will throw your hat into the political arena and most certainly open up a can of 'distractions.'
Reason Number Two: Many Catholics are angered by Obama's planned appearance at the May 17 ceremony because of his decisions to provide federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and international family planning groups that provide abortions or educate about the procedure.
There we have it. This is the real issue, right in a nutshell.
Catholic activism from the pulpit, to which any Catholic University has the right to their opinion. But couldn't they have thought of this before they extended the invitation. But alas, it seems the decisions made by a few at Notre Dame are forced onto the the many.....which is a consistent theme of the entire history of the Roman Catholic Church, when you do the math.
I know we the American taxpayer, will send Notre Dame the ENTIRE BILL for the cost of protection of President Obama while he comes to the university to speak. That should get their attention.
So who do we see front and center at this not so welcome, welcome mat? Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted and Bishop John D'Arcy. The Phoenix Diocese on Wednesday called Obama's selection a "public act of disobedience" and "a grave mistake." On Tuesday, Bishop John D'Arcy of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese, which includes Notre Dame, said he would not attend the ceremony because of Obama's policies.
So what to does a University with 'this secret agenda' go from here? We can't have a bunch of angry Catholics running around Notre Dame on their special day.
I know let's ask the students themselves and the alumni to see just where the fires of hell are coming from.
The consensus Thursday on campus was that any president should be welcomed at Notre Dame. However 70 percent of the alumni letters opposed having Obama giving the speech, while 73 percent of student letters supported his appearance. Among the 95 seniors who wrote letters, 97 percent supported the president's invitation.
"People are definitely entitled to their outrage, but I think the main thing is to see that it's an honor to have the President of the United States come to speak here whether you agree with him or not," said Katie Woodward, a political science junior from Philadelphia.
Justin Mack, a senior film major from Dallas, agreed.
"I didn't vote for him and there are a lot of things I don't agree with him or support. But I feel like for this event people need to put that aside," said Mack, a senior film major from Dallas. "My hope is that doesn't distract too much from what the weekend is about, which is the graduation."
Let me get this straight, you hope the President of The United States doesn't distract from your graduation by giving you snot nose children a nice well prepared commencement speech. A historical one at that.
Oh you narcissistic spoiled babies, grow up! Better you learn now that the world is not going to agree with you most of the time, and that compromise is one of the biggest things you will learn in life.
University spokesman Dennis Brown says Notre Dame does not plan to rescind the invitation. Anyone associated with the university can recommend a commencement speaker, he said, and the president consults with university officers to see who would be most appropriate.
Bob Reish, the student body president and a graduating senior, said there is a "general excitement" about Obama's visit, although he is aware there are people on both sides of the issue.
"He shouldn't be giving the commencement address because of his policies, but once you invite him you can't dis-invite him," one student said. "That would be rude."
Rude?....at this point your worried about appearing rude?
"We can't just forgive his viewpoints, we can't just let it go without expressing our thoughts on it," said Thomas Heitker, a freshman biology major from Columbus, Ohio. "But he's only speaking at three universities this year and to be one out of so many is something we should be proud about."
In the future kiddos, break with tradition and don't invite a president again. Save the taxpayers a great deal of money.
I also offer one more lesson you must have missed in your freshman American government class. The United States does not bow down to Rome, EVER.
You can always invite Former President George Bush back, I hear he doesn't get out much since leaving the White House. He spends his day trying to figure out which comic books to put in his Presidential library. What with the Universities in Texas recently fighting not to build his library on their campuses. I suspect he could use a field trip.
Congratulations Notre Dame Class of 2009. Now go get a job.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
North Korea Readies Missles; Makes New Threat
Here we going again. Do you remember the kid in school who acted up everytime he didn't feel he was getting enough attention. But once reprimanded in anyway by the teacher or peers just escalated their childish behavior?
WELCOME TO NORTH KOREA
According to reports posted on the Internet, including Reuters - North Korea said on Thursday that if the international community punishes it for next month's planned missile launch it will restart a nuclear plant that makes weapons grade plutonium.
Ooohaaah scare us some more you big over grown bully. Once of these days reall soon the rest of the world is going to take you seriously. Then you have to put your nukes where your mouth is.
I think they are already at this stage...Can you find Kim Waldo here.
The secretive state, who loves to go public with it's secretness, this week put a long-range missile in place for a launch the United States warned would violate U.N. sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for past weapons tests.
The negative attention Pyongyang doesn't like.
The planned launch, seen by some countries as a disguised military exercise, is the first big test for U.S. President Barack Obama in dealing with the prickly North, whose efforts to build a nuclear arsenal have long plagued ties with Washington.
North Korea warned that any action by the U.N. Security Council to punish it would be a "hostile act."
What these idiots seem to miss everytime they play with their big missles and big guns is that everything they do is a 'hostile act.'
" ... All the processes for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula ... will be brought back to what used to be before their start and necessary strong measures will be taken," the North's foreign ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the official KCNA news agency.
North Korea has frozen its aging nuclear reactor and started to take apart its Yongbyon atomic plant under a deal signed by regional powers in 2005 that called for economic aid and better diplomatic standing for the isolated North in return. Despite the agreement, the North carried out a nuclear test in 2006.
The South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo quoted a diplomatic source as saying the North could fire its Taepodong-2 missile, which has the range to hit U.S. territory, by the weekend.
By this weekend? I better start digging my fallout shelter now.
South Korea said the launch would be a serious challenge to security in north Asia, which accounts for one sixth of the global economy. Japan urged North Korea to refrain from action that would destabilize the region.
"We strongly urge the North to immediately stop the launch of a long-range missile, which would be a clear violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution 1718," South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae told reporters.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Bill O'Reilly Receives Honorary Douche Bag Award
So Often the things that go flying out of Bill O'Reilly's mouth are way out of line that you wonder if they are being said for ratings or just plain shock value. Here he is going after Amanda Turkel a Sexual Assault Victim, with a name. Amanda Terkel. She stood up for herself and her family stood behind her. Stories like yours O'Reilly do more damage. One can only guess that this is the fodder that O'Reilley fills his hear with his 'great compassionate heart' justifying his remarks.
Excuse me while I vomit now.
This is a disgraceful interview. So he wants to call her a liar too. You are such a big man O'Reilly. You make me sick. I have been a victim advocate for many years. Believe me O'Reilly also deserves our HONORARY NEANDERTHAL AWARD.
You have earned the both pal. Do us all a favor don't attend anymore dinners to raise money for victims of sexual assault. But oh no..you back your support up by saying..'O’Reilly has implied that women who dress in a certain way or consume too much alcohol should perhaps expect to be raped. Here is what he said on his radio show on Aug. 2, 2006, about Jennifer Moore, an 18-year-old woman who was raped and murdered:
'Now Moore, Jennifer Moore, 18, on her way to college. She was 5-foot-2, 105 pounds, wearing a miniskirt and a halter top with a bare midriff. Now, again, there you go. So every predator in the world is gonna pick that up at two in the morning. She’s walking by herself on the West Side Highway, and she gets picked up by a thug. All right. Now she’s out of her mind, drunk.'
This does not constitute this young women's consent to be brutalized.
You don't play the part well indeed I have come to the conclusion that you are one of many people at Fox who are a cesspool living heart donors.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
A Trip To The Hospital
I am taking a few days off from writing to have some very necessary surgery.
Be assured I am in great hands and will miss writing terribly.
See you on the other side.
Hummingbird
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