Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Boobs: Your TSA Feel Good Headlines o' the Day

Your daily roundup of Napolinews.

Woman: TSA Agents Singled Me Out For My Breasts

TSA employee accused of kidnap, assault

Guy Protests TSA Grope and Grab Policies in His Speedo

Man Depantsed by TSA

Since they're running the airport security lines so flawlessly, I for one propose the following plan:

Let's have them run the entire health care system. After all, it's only one-sixth of the entire economy.

I don't see how anything could possibly go wrong.


California 'College' Students: Please Jerry Brown, We Voted For You, So Hurry and Make Water Into Wine Plus Give Us Money

Earlier today the students of Citrus College in Glendora, California published an open letter ("Governor Elect Jerry Brown: We need your help") concerning the institution's financial health. And if the letter's economic illiteracy and intellectual bankruptcy are indicative of California in general, I recommend flushing twice and starting over.

Dear Gov.-Elect Jerry Brown,

...as the generation who is currently feeling the brunt of the state's financial hardships, we are asking for your help because we do care and changes need to be made.

-- Education is our priority. Please invest in it.

...College enrollment has gone down inpart [sic] because students cannot afford tuition costs, putting more weight on our already-impacted local community colleges.

The UC and Cal State systems have continuously imposed tuition increases while still making class cute [sic], in reality, making students pay more for less... We as students are not only handling with the pressures of succeeding in our studies, but also dealing with the stress of getting, seemingly unattainable, classes [sic] and trying to afford tuition...

Could someone interpret those last few sentences for me?

In order to pay for the ever-rising tuition, we also need to find work.

We need you to create jobs and offer tax incentives to keep jobs in California.

In short: we, the students of Citrus College, demand that you raise taxes to help increase the quality of education while simultaneously lowering taxes to keep jobs in California so we can find jobs.

According to the Los Angeles Times, California is ranked as having the third highest unemployment rate...

Next cuts and tax increases must be made in appropriate areas to bring back balance to this state's finances.

I'm sooo confused, students! Tax incentives, mentioned in the prior paragraph, are the opposite of tax increases.

One thing is certain, California needs to keep a closer eye on who is receiving public services like welfare and WIC...

The government should be run just like any other business and reduce the wasteful spending that they so often spend on overtime and unrealistic government pensions.

There should also be an increase in taxes... Alcohol and cigarettes should be more heavily taxed as well as the uncommonly thought of, junk food... For example, reconsider the soda tax.

Say, I wonder if heavy taxation of "junk food", "soda" and sundry other taxes will hurt entry-level jobs like those in grocery and convenience stores, mom-and-pop retailers and the like?

This is your second time as California's governor and our votes have shown we trust in your experience.

Please, do not let us down.

Sincerely, the students of the Citrus College Clarion.

Jerry Brown's first two terms as governor led to many of the problems you're facing now, kids. In fact, during the campaign, he was forced to admit to a series of screwups and Statist social engineering policies that helped bankrupt the state.

What color is the sky on your planet, Citrus College students?

Sorry, children, but you're about to find out for yourselves just how screwed up the the modern Democrat Party is. There are no unicorns, there are no free lunches, and your new governor is just like the old Jerry Brown: dumber than ever and owned lock, stock and barrel by the public sector unions.

Welcome to the Tea Party.


Larwyn's Linx: 10 Things You Need To Know About The DREAM Act

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Nation

10 Things You Need To Know About The DREAM Act: RWN
Democrats' Roadmap to Marxism: Ignore the Will of the People: PJM
Democrat Maffei Concedes to Ann Marie Buerkle in NY 25: GWP

'Next step for body scanners... trains, boats, metro': ProWis
Sanchez (D-CA) Caught in Sex, Vote Fraud Scandals: EmCor
All Those Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes in the U.S. Aren’t Happening: RWN

Economy

Obama Official: Say, We Really Need a Union Propaganda Arm: WZ
GOP Guvs Ready to Take on Public Sector Union Bosses: RWN
King goes nuclear on GZM developers for seeking 9/11 funds: WZ

Number of ACORN Vote Fraud Convictions in '10: 15 and Counting: WZ
Obama supporter Velma has a 'new reality': unemployment: AnBlkCon
Taxes, government dependency and happiness: RWN

Climate & Energy

'Homeowners Now Must Pay EPA’s Hidden Tax': ProWis
99 MPG 'equivalent' EPA rating for Nissan Leaf is a fraud: BlogProf
China Admits They’re World's Largest Greenhouse Gas Emitter: WZ

Media

The Washington Post Finally Gets One Right: Driscoll
Al Not-So-Sharpton Calls For FCC Crackdown On Rush Limbaugh: Equalizer
Weekly Featured Profile – Abner Mikva: NoisyRoom (Loudon)

TSA Groping and Obama's Black Revenge Narrative: AT
Where Is the Democrats' Tea Party?: PJM
WaPo’s Richard Cohen Shows His Bias And His True (Racist) Colors In Palin Hit Piece: RWN

Demented Liberals Twist Bristol Palin’s ‘Dancing’ into Tea Party ‘Conspiracy’: NewsBusters
The Top Ten Most Outrageous Moments of the 2010 Election: NewsBusters
Anticommunist Movies Break Through Hollywood’s Iron Curtain :RWN

World

North Korea Fires on South Korea; US to Respond as Soon as China is Paid in Full: Powers
North Korea Crisis: Obama’s Crisis Team Isn’t Exactly the Dream Team: PJM
White House Reponds to Korean DMZ Crisis by Gathering 20 Top Security Officials to Draft a Paragraph: Ace

26 Arrested in Belgium in Huge Terror Sting: Jawa
A Child Is Not Dead: Philippe Karsenty and the Al Dura Hoax: PJM
"Profiling" Versus Fixed Fortifications : Hindenblog

Pics from the Front: WZ
Canadian Health Minister refuses to answer questions about crumbling health care, says 'I'm eating my cookie!': LCR
U.N. Ignores Haiti and Darfur But Points Fingers at U.S., Israel: Fox

SciTech

Michelangelo Hid Anatomy Lesson in the Sistine Chapel: Human Brainstem Is Depicted in Image of God: TAB
More Hope & Change… Feds Are Now Using Mobile X-Ray Vans On U.S. Streets: GWP
This is... super... can we now get back to space?: Wizbang

Cornucopia

It's time for Undercover Boss, TSA Edition: WyBlog
The Top 10 Things You Never Hear Tea Partiers Say: RWN
My First Thankful Thanksgiving: AT

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Gates of Vienna

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Ain't Gonna Touch Her Junk: TSA Opts Out of Groping Napolitano and Other Lumpy DC Officials

The TSA has implemented an amazing new technology that magically identifies members of our beloved ruling class. The ruling elite is automatically exempted from naked-body scanning, full-body massages, and other finger-to-junk activities.

Cabinet secretaries, top congressional leaders and an exclusive group of senior U.S. officials are exempt from toughened new airport screening procedures when they fly commercially with government-approved federal security details.

Aviation security officials would not name those who can skip the controversial screening [Ed.: I can, your betters, peons.], but other officials said those VIPs range from top officials like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and FBI Director Robert Mueller to congressional leaders like incoming House Speaker John Boehner, who avoided security before a recent flight from Washington’s Reagan National Airport.

...while passengers have no choice but to submit to either the detector or what some complain is an intrusive pat-down [Ed.: what percentage of Americans feel having their junk touched is "intrusive"? That percentage will give you an approximation of the spin integrated into this AP "news story"], senior government officials can opt out if they fly accompanied by government security guards approved by the TSA.

Psst! Don't ask why the TSA can't automatically identify Eagle Scouts, grandmothers from Duluth, long-time frequent fliers and the American Legion baseball team from Kansas.

That question will only confuse and enrage Democrats who seem to enjoy ripping apart the fabric of society at your expense.


Cloward-Piven Democrats finally succeed in destroying American dream: Minimum wage earner nets more than family making $60K

Got Cloward?

Tonight’s stunning financial piece de resistance comes from Wyatt Emerich of The Cleveland Current. In what is sure to inspire some serious ire among all those who once believed Ronald Reagan that it was the USSR that was the “Evil Empire”, Emmerich analyzes disposable income and economic benefits among several key income classes and comes to the stunning (and verifiable) conclusion that “a one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimum wage) has more disposable income than a family making $60,000 a year.” And that excludes benefits from Supplemental Security Income disability checks...

America is now a country which punishes those middle-class people who not only try to work hard, but avoid scamming the system. Not surprisingly, it is not only the richest and most audacious thieves that prosper – it is also the penny scammers at the very bottom of the economic ladder that rip off the middle class each and every day, courtesy of the world’s most generous entitlement system...

You can do as well working one week a month at minimum wage as you can working $60,000-a-year, full-time, high-stress job.

First outlined by Columbia Professors Cloward and Piven in their blueprint for the destruction of American capitalism, the Democrat Party's dual policies of limitless welfare and open borders have finally succeeded.

America stands on the brink of economic catastrophe. The 2010 elections were a hopeful beginning, but only a beginning. We must unwind the treasonous policies of the progressive left and leave them no more a political force than the Whigs.


Hat tip: RightNetwork's Jim Hoft.

How's "Helicopter Ben's" Anti-Deflation Checklist Working Out?

In 2002, Ben Bernanke -- the nation's foremost expert on the Great Depression -- gave the infamous "helicopter drop" speech in which he described how America could avoid deflation.

As Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Bernanke has had more than enough time to try each and every policy prescription. How's he doing?

Here is Bernanke’s roadmap, and a “point-by-point” list from that speech.

1. Reduce nominal interest rate to zero. Check. That didn’t work...

2. Increase the number of dollars in circulation, or credibly threaten to do so. Check. That didn’t work...

3. Expand the scale of asset purchases or, possibly, expand the menu of assets it buys. Check & check. That didn’t work...

4. Make low-interest-rate loans to banks. Check. That didn’t work...

5. Cooperate with fiscal authorities to inject more money. Check. That didn’t work...

6. Lower rates further out along the Treasury term structure. Check. That didn’t work...

7. Commit to holding the overnight rate at zero for some specified period. Check. That didn’t work...

8. Begin announcing explicit ceilings for yields on longer-maturity Treasury debt (bonds maturing within the next two years); enforce interest-rate ceilings by committing to make unlimited purchases of securities at prices consistent with the targeted yields. Check, and check. That didn’t work...

9. If that proves insufficient, cap yields of Treasury securities at still longer maturities, say three to six years. Check (they’re buying out to 7 years right now.) That didn’t work...

10. Use its existing authority to operate in the markets for agency debt. Check (in fact, they “own” the agency debt market!) That didn’t work...

11. Influence yields on privately issued securities. (Note: the Fed used to be restricted in doing that, but not anymore.) Check. That didn’t work...

12. Offer fixed-term loans to banks at low or zero interest, with a wide range of private assets deemed eligible as collateral (…Well, I’m still waiting for them to accept bellybutton lint & Beanie Babies, but I’m sure my patience will be rewarded. Besides their “mark-to-maturity” offers will be more than enticing!) Anyway… Check. That didn’t work...

13. Buy foreign government debt (and although Ben didn’t specifically mention it, let’s not forget those dollar swaps with foreign nations.) Check. That didn’t work...

The Fed can certainly encourage inflation by offering money at seemingly attractive rates, but it cannot force the issue.

Right now, neither consumers nor businesses want the risk. They are too loaded up with debt already, no matter how attractive the Fed wants debt to appear. It's like trying to give a kid one piece of cake too many. At some point, extra frosting makes the cake look less attractive, not more. At that point the kid will not take another bite.

That is the point we are at now.

"Mr. Wizard, get me the hell out of here!"

Larwyn's Linx: Waters' Trial Delayed As Evidence She Lied Emerges

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Nation

Waters' Trial Delayed As Evidence She Lied Emerges: Lid
WikiLeaks Plans to Release Three Million Secret US Documents: WZ
Obama More Sympathic to Terrorists’ Rights Than to Ours: RWN

Illegal alien sex offender convicted in Chandra Levy case: Malkin
Texas US Rep. Ortiz concedes defeat to Republican: WashExam
Sen. Dodd Tweets: 'U Love Torturing Me w this S***': PunPress

Economy

Pay Cuts Aren’t Enough: Time to Lay Off Federal Workers: PJM
Teachers union boss rakes in $428K, demands sacrifice: WashExam
The Politics of Avoidance: RCP

As Of Today, The Biggest Holder Of US Debt Is Ben Bernanke: ZH
Ben Bernanke's Scorecard: Mish
Predictable: ObamaCare forcing mergers; increasing costs: BlogProf

Climate & Energy

Down With Upton!: RedState
Another Obama stealth land grab: Salazar and the NCLS: Malkin
Gore Finally Admits Ethanol Idea Was Another Brain-Fart: S&L

Goracle Plays The Scienceless Doom Card: RWN
Wegman whiners: this post’s for you :WUWT
Subsidies for plug-in cars: A scam for big business: WashExam

Media

All Hail Beastweek!: Driscoll
Retro Propaganda for a Retro Ideology: Zombie
Rush Limbaugh: “Keep Your Hands Off My Teabag, Mr. President”: GWP

Dear David Frum: It's time to begin thinking seriously: sisu
How Legacy Media Constantly Undermines Sarah Palin: RWN
Editorial Boards to the Little People Complaining About the TSA: Bend Over and Take it Like a Man!: Reason

Daily Kos: Allen West a “Virulent Bigot,” Meet The Press “Enabling Extremism” by Having Him on Show: WZ
Marc Ambinder: Exactly: Hewitt
NPR finally admits the Social Security trust fund is a fiction: Ace

World

Damn the Torpedoes: North Korea Shells South Korean Island: Belmont Club
Are North Korea And South Korea Going To War? Probably Not.: RWN
Israeli’s And Palestinians Agree: Obama Is A Big Problem On The Way To Peace: RWN

It’s All Because We Don’t Profile: LoneCon
Chutzpah: Ground Zero Mosque Developers Apply for $5M in U.S. Taxpayer Money: PJM
When in Danger, Profiling Is Rational: PJM

Terrorism Against Israel Applauded at UN – Obama Attendees Remain Silent: GWP
SmartPower Falls Victim To Taliban Equivalent Of Nigerian Email Scam: RWN

SciTech

Figures… Naked Body Scanner’s CEO Was Obama’s Special Guest on His Trip to India: GWP
Our Daughters and the National Obsession with Thinness: RightNet
Senate panel approves domain name seizure bill: CNet

Cornucopia

Politically Incorrect: MFA: iOTW
5 Famous Scientists Dismissed as Morons in Their Time: Cracked
Change Coming to MSNBC: Olbermann to Anchor FAILBLOG: RightNet

Image: Zombie
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Boston Herald's Tell us your TSA stories

Monday, November 22, 2010

The Tragic Idiocy of Political Correctness

Glenn Reynolds relays a note from a reader who'd rather remain anonymous.

...My wife and I are the guardians of a girl who came from a home where we believe she may have been sexually abused or witnessed sexual abuse of her mother. Her father had abandoned their family and the mother had struggled to survive and eventually turned to prostitution with the child in the house. This all happened when she was a preschooler. She did the most disturbing things when she was taken from her mother and placed in our custody. For example, she had the habit of walking up to any random male who paid any fleeting attention to her, such as a pizza deliveryman, hug him, and say “I love you.” We, along with child therapists have worked with her since we’ve had her, and now, 5 years later, she is a very normal middle grade schooler. She is successful in school, has close friends, and is good at sports and music We are protective. We keep an eye on her, especially the adults she interacts with.

At this point I will not take her to an airport. How could I? I am unable to justify the risk of exposing her to a situation where not only would she would be forced to submit to a stranger fondling her genitals, but my wife and I would be forced, under threat of a multi-thousand dollar fine, to “force” our child to comply. I can’t imagine anything more threatening to her mental well being, and the fine we would have to pay to refuse might cost us our house. This means that until the situation changes, she will not travel by air. Fortunately, we have no plans to travel by air anytime in the near future. We did earlier in the summer, ,and so it was only by sheer luck that we did not have to eat three plane tickets.

So when I read Guy Winch suggest that airports have “a mental health professional on staff or available as a referral ” for the poor TSA agents who have to grope people day in and day out, all I can think of is that if anything, the airports should have a mental health professional on staff to handle the inevitable situation where a prior victim of sexual abuse is singled out, groped, and melts down right there in the airport security area. The TSA agents are not the people most endangered by this outrageous policy, and when I see videos of TSA agents strip searching children, it is obvious that the TSA has never considered the potential of what they might be doing or have already done to both child and adult victims of sexual abuse, some of whom may not be known to their parents or guardians.

Here's a really tough question: what prevents the TSA from simply pre-screening the vast majority of American airline passengers who represent no threat whatsoever?

• The family of four traveling to Orlando for their sixth vacation in six years?
• The frequent flier who has 100 segments piled up over the last 18 months?
• The DOD contractor with a Top Secret security clearance?
• The grandparents who fly to Florida each fall and back to Michigan every spring?
• The 18 cheerleaders flying to San Antonio for a competition?

The list goes on and on. These are the same big government addicts who want to control your physical well-being and ration health care using a vast database of electronic health records and a panel of advisers who recommend treatments.

Yet they can't figure out that Joe Fubar is a cleared defense contractor working on the F-22 Raptor. Or that Mrs. Beasley is headed to Phoenix for the 12th year in a row to visit her best friend.

So they end up giving each air traveler the colonoscopy they will routinely deny to seniors because of the "Complete Lives" formula. These Democrats are a freaking joke. A sad joke, to be sure, but a joke all the same.


Democrats' Cavalcade of Corruption Continues Apace: New Evidence Against Maxine Waters May Make Her Radioactive in 2011

Quick quiz: which of the following Democrat luminaries enriched themselves the most at taxpayer expense? (Please choose only one*)

Max Baucus
Kent Conrad
Little Dick Durbin
Dianne Franken Feinstein
Barneys Frank
Tom Harkin
Alcee Hastings
Barack Obama
Nancy Pelosi
Charlie Rangel
Harry Land Deal Reid
Maxine Waters

*Chris Dodd, William Jefferson, Teddy Kopechne, Allan Mollohan and John Murtha are no longer eligible

Answer: I have no freaking idea. Why are you asking me?

Ed Morrissey explains that the rocket scientist known as Maxine Waters is the latest crook Democrat to visit the hot seat.

...The New York Times reported over the weekend that the House Ethics Committee suddenly postponed the trial of Maxine Waters on ethics violation because it found more evidence of direct intervention by her office to benefit the bank in which her husband owned a substantial interest.... [The emails show] her chief of staff directly coordinated with other members of the House Financial Services Committee on behalf of OneUnited...

The e-mails are between Mikael Moore, Ms. Waters’s chief of staff, and members of the House Financial Services Committee, on which Ms. Waters serves. The e-mails show that Mr. Moore was actively engaged in discussing with committee members details of a bank bailout bill apparently after Ms. Waters agreed to refrain from advocating on the bank’s behalf. The bailout bill had provisions that ultimately benefited OneUnited, a minority-owned bank in which her husband, Sidney Williams, owned about $350,000 in shares...

...A person directly involved in the investigation said the new e-mails could show that members of her staff continued to work on the bank’s behalf... “It may directly contradict a bit of Maxine’s story, if not the actual facts, the way she has told it,” said the person, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the trial.

Waters may not be the only Democrat in trouble if this is true. The e-mails used loaded but generic terms like “small bank language,” a code for the known interest Waters had in OneUnited...

That opens up questions about the ethics not just of Waters but of those committee members who cooperated with Moore and his pleas for “small bank” assistance. OneUnited ended up with millions in TARP money, and unlike other applicants, got to count that cash among its assets before actually receiving the money. The preferential treatment the bank received — unique among over 700 applicants for TARP money — seems oddly coincidental to Waters’ status and the newly exposed machinations of Moore on her behalf.

These Democrats make Bernie Madoff and Charles Ponzi look like shoplifters.


Sweet Fancy Moses: The Electronic Tomahawk Known as Stuxnet May Have Taken Out Thousands of Iranian Centrifuges!

The Associated Press has an exclusive report, relayed through diplomatic channels, that thousands of Iranian centrifuges have been shut down. The centrifuges are used to enrich uranium and could easily be employed to build nuclear weapons.

The diplomats told The Associated Press on Monday they had no specifics of the problem that led Iran in recent months to briefly power down the machines... But suspicions focused on the Stuxnet worm, the computer virus thought to be aimed at Iran's nuclear program. Experts last week identified the worm as calibrated to destroy centrifuges by sending them spinning out of control.


Iran is under U.N. sanctions for refusing to freeze enrichment, which it says it needs to make reactor fuel. The process can be used to produce the fissile core of nuclar warheads.

If this report is accurate -- and the attack can truly be attributed to Stuxnet -- it probably represents the most insanely sophisticated use of information warfare in history. That we know of.


Related: The 5 Most Amazing Details of the Stuxnet Cyberbomb

White House Unveils Sweet New TSA Poster

It would appear that -- rather than apologizing -- the TSA muckety-mucks are defending the strip-search-slash-rubdown of a 12-year old boy.

Napolitano's new marketing campaign begins now.


Larwyn's Linx: No Business, No Jobs; Palin may TSA Gawker

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

No Business, No Jobs: AT
Conservative Military Doctor Attacked by Liberal Punks: RightKlik
Jan Crawford Interviews Justice Scalia: Althouse

Pelosi horse-trading Haitian Orphans for DREAM Act passage :RWN
The Rise of Unchecked Presidential Power: AT
Federal Judge Says CAIR, ISNA, Hamas Linked: WZ

Economy

Reid pushes union monopolies in lame-duck session: WashExam
ObamaCare's Diabolical IPAB: Marathon
Awesome West: CBC preaches victimization and dependency: Hill

In Health Care, No Free Lunch: McArdle
'Patriotic' Millionaires Ask Government for Tax Hike: BSR
Iowa Governor's $100M Parting Gift for the Unions: BlogProf

ObamaCare To Reduce Competition, Raise Costs (Part 2,467): RWN
700,000 Medicare Beneficiaries to be displaced: HyScience
Unions Fighting Over 2012 Democrat Convention: RWN

Climate & Energy

Good grief: COAL-powered 2011 Chevrolet Volt named Green Car of the Year :RWN
IPCC Official: “Climate Policy Is Redistributing The World's Wealth”: GWPF
The Year Since ClimateGate: Through A Glass Soylent: CBullitt

Media

American In the Balance: Riehl
Sarah, Now You Get To Give Gawker A TSA Screening: LegalIns
Getting Past the Obvious: MoneyRunner

Top political scientist: U.S. voters are 'pretty damn stupid': WashExam
Carter: Fox commentators have ‘deliberately distorted’ news: Hill
Obama and Holder and Their Massive Failure to Think: AT

World

The Liberal Solution to Terror has Failed: StateBrief (Greenfield)
As Virulent Antisemitism Grows, Jewish and Government Institutions Refuse to Name the Real Cause: BRubin
Switzerland’s bare bottom of truth?: Crikey (NSFW?)

Communists, Democrats and RINOs Urge US Disarmament: NoisyRoom
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization? What is it? Why Does it Matter?: NoisyRoom
North Korea Working Hard on Nuclear Ambitions: Verum Serum

Suspected War Criminal Lands Cushy Job at the UN: JWF
King of Nation With Glorious Universal Health Coverage Comes to US for Medical Treatment: Malkin
Iran Introduces New Tie, Based on Islamic Values, Shaped Like a Sword: GWP

SciTech

American Soldiers in Afghanistan Now Using The XM-25 Rifle: WZ
Facebook Removes Ability to Look for Friends In Your Gmail Contacts: Geekosystem
Ask Maggie: Will Verizon kill its unlimited smartphone data plan?: CNet

Cornucopia

SNL's steamy ad for the TSA: Verum Serum
TSA Unveils New Genital Visualizers - LandlineTV: LandlineTV (NSFW)
OSS 117 :C&S

The Heroic Ordination at Dachau: Anchoress
Red Eye Insult Battle: Verum Serum
Go Left, Young Man :C&S

Images: American Digest (Kaching) and C&S.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: The Virtuous Republic

QOTD: "It's pointless to treat all Americans as if they're potential terrorists while trying to find and confiscate anything that could be used as a weapon. We can't search all passengers for explosives because Muslims stick explosives up their anuses. (Talk about jobs Americans just won't do.)

You have to search for the terrorists... Fortunately, that's the one advantage we have in this war. In a lucky stroke, all the terrorists are swarthy, foreign-born, Muslim males. (Think: "Guys Madonna would date.") ...This would give us a major leg up – if only the country weren't insane. " -- Ann Coulter


Sunday, November 21, 2010

Public sector union paradise: Ireland prepares for civil unrest

Here in the United States, the gargantuan public sector unions that control the biggest Blue States are -- by their own admission -- the vanguard of the Marxist left. Working in conjunction with the Democrat state political machines, the union bosses' interests are two-fold: (a) to harm the taxpayer; and (b) to eradicate the free market system.

Perhaps you think those statements are inflammatory. In that case, please consider the story "Ireland fears civil unrest as bank crisis deepens."

Trade union leader warns of riots if government imposes further 'draconian' cuts to public sector

One of Ireland's biggest trade unions warned today that the nation was on the brink of civil unrest as government officials negotiated a multibillion euro bailout for the country's ailing banks...

The Technical Engineering and Electrical Union said further "draconian" public sector cuts of €15bn (£13bn) over four years could lead to street disorder. It urged a campaign of civil disobedience unless the [Irish prime minister], Brian Cowen, calls an immediate election...

...A first priority is to restore confidence and halt an outflow of cash – Anglo Irish Banks revealed on Friday that customers have withdrawn €13bn of deposits this year. Measures under consideration include hiving off rotten loans into a freestanding "bad bank"... ...Ireland's European allies fear that without swift action Ireland's debt crisis could become contagious, weakening confidence in Greece, Portugal, Spain and in the euro as a currency...

David Begg, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said the union movement was calling for mass protests on 27 November to "allow ordinary working people to voice their opposition to a policy that could destroy 90,000 more jobs".

Consider this simply a preview of coming attractions in states like California, Illinois and New York, where the public sector unions rule the roost and have no interest in negotiating with the taxpayer.


The 5 Most Amazing Details of the Stuxnet Cyberbomb

The security firm Symantec continues to reverse-engineer the Stuxnet cyberworm and has confirmed that it is probably the most sophisticated infoweapon ever developed.

...there is now strong evidence linking the Stuxnet virus, which modifies code on SCADA and PLC control systems, to a state-sponsored attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme...

The virus was found to attack only frequency converter drives – power supply units that can change the frequency of the output and control the speed of a motor – from two specific vendors, one based in Finland and the other in Tehran.

Stuxnet also requires the converter drives to be operating at very high speeds, between 807 Hz and 1210 Hz, which are used only in a limited number of applications. Interfering with the speed of the motors sabotages the normal operation of the industrial control process...

Efficient low-harmonic frequency converter drives that output over 600Hz are regulated for export in the US by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as they can be used for uranium enrichment.

Symantec's analysis revealed the critical details of Stuxnet.

However, we can now confirm that Stuxnet requires the industrial control system to have frequency converter drives from at least one of two specific vendors, one headquartered in Finland and the other in Tehran, Iran. This is in addition to the previous requirements we discussed of a S7-300 CPU and a CP-342-5 Profibus communications module... The target system would potentially look something like the diagram below...

A frequency converter drive is a power supply that can change the frequency of the output, which controls the speed of a motor. The higher the frequency, the higher the speed of the motor...

[1] We are now able to describe the purpose of all of Stuxnet’s code.
[2] Stuxnet requires particular frequency converter drives from specific vendors, some of which may not be procurable in certain countries.
[3] Stuxnet requires the frequency converter drives to be operating at very high speeds, between 807 Hz and 1210 Hz. While frequency converter drives are used in many industrial control applications, these speeds are used only in a limited number of applications.
[4] Stuxnet changes the output frequencies and thus the speed of the motors for short intervals over periods of months. Interfering with the speed of the motors sabotages the normal operation of the industrial control process.
[5] Stuxnet’s requirement for particular frequency converter drives and operating characteristics focuses the number of possible speculated targets to a limited set of possibilities.

Stuxnet monitors the current operating frequency of these motors, which must be between 807 Hz and 1210 Hz, before Stuxnet modifies their behavior. Relative to the typical uses of frequency converter drives, these frequencies are considered very high-speed and now limit the potential speculated targets of Stuxnet... efficient low-harmonic frequency converter drives that output over 600Hz are regulated for export in the United States by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as they can be used for uranium enrichment...

Once operation at those frequencies occurs for a period of time, Stuxnet then hijacks the PLC code and begins modifying the behavior of the frequency converter drives. In addition to other parameters, over a period of months, Stuxnet changes the output frequency for short periods of time to 1410Hz and then to 2Hz and then to 1064Hz. Modification of the output frequency essentially sabotages the automation system from operating properly. Other parameter changes may also cause unexpected effects.

Awesome.


New York State Crosses the Streams: Nation's Most Expensive Medicaid Program Is Among Bottom Five In Quality of Care

Aren't Blue States fun?

A $9 billion state budget gap in the next fiscal year, combined with few new tax revenues and the prospects for property tax relief, leaves no palatable choices for how to balance the state's budget. To no one's surprise, Medicaid, where combined state, local and federal spending of $50 billion is the equivalent of a third of the state's all funds budget, looms as a prime focus for reducing state expenditures...

...New York's program has long been called "the Cadillac" of Medicaid programs. It spends the most of any state on Medicaid and the most per Medicaid enrollee, especially on its elderly enrollees. Yet, there is little proof that the quality of care is any better than in other states' programs... A recent study by CareChex, a medical quality rating service, placed New York in the bottom five states on overall quality of care ratings.

...in fiscal year 2007 New York's Medicare program spent $8 billion more than California's on long-term care, despite California having millions more elderly enrollees in its program...

When do we get to that Utopia the liberals are always promising us?


Poll confirms: Californians are nuts--they object to both tax increases and cutting spending on bloated social programs

Gee, this news will make balancing the Golden State's vertigo-inducting budget deficit easier:

Californians simultaneously object to increasing taxes in order to pare the state’s massive budget deficit and cutting spending on programs that make up 85 percent of the state’s general fund obligations, according to a new Los Angeles Times/USC Poll.

Californian’s belief [sic] that the state deficit – estimated last week at nearly $25 billion – can be balanced through trimming waste and inefficiencies rather than cutting programs. Even though tens of billions that have been cut from the state budget in recent years, just a quarter of California voters believed that services need to be cut in order to square the budget.

Voters have “a great bias toward spending cuts” rather than tax hikes, said Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, who co-directed the poll for The Times and the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences to the Los Angeles Times. “But when you get into it, they don’t want to cut the areas that matter.”

Truthfully, does this insanity come as much of a surprise from the state that reelected both the execrable Jerry Brown and Barbara "Don't call me ma'am" Boxer?


Foolproof Method for Avoiding the New TSA Groping Procedures

Not only can you avoid all of the new, intrusive TSA screening procedures when entering the country, you can also bypass customs. Just follow the example of the 700 illegal aliens who entered the United States using a single trail in Arizona over the course of one month earlier this year. They didn't get groped or scanned. No one gave them the slightest bit of trouble.


Talk of the DREAM Act and amnesty is reportedly driving the numbers of illegal immigrants up.

Thousands of undocumented aliens pour over the border every day, unchecked and uncontrolled. They don't have to undergo a virtual colonoscopy at a TSA checkpoint, but you do.

No groping. No full-body scanners. No customs. No criminal background checks.

No terrorist watch lists.

No screening for infectious diseases.

No checks for weapons.

No checks for narcotics or illegal drugs.

Who are these people?

No one knows.

On March 27th, 2010, Arizona rancher Rob Krentz was brutally murdered on his own property by an illegal alien.

Today, Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of the world.

Of 75,000 violent and property crimes in 2009, only 18% were 'cleared' (solved).

Of 8,732 violent crimes in '09, only 2,921 arrests were made.

Of the 522 rapes that year, only 72 arrests were made.

Less than half of the murders that year were cleared.

This is not an indictment of the police. This is an indictment of a federal open borders policy that endangers citizens.

An illegal who commits a crime, like Rob Krentz' murderer, can easily disappear back into Mexico.

You can't board a plane or a cruise ship without copious documentation and a virtual strip search.

Someday soon, if it hasn't happened already, terrorists bent on destruction will enter the country through the swinging doors in the Southwest.

Millions of pounds of drugs pass through the porous border every year.

It's only a matter of time until chem-, bio- or radiological weapons make their way to our cities through similar means. In the mean time, you're the one who has to be strip-searched.

Linked by: Protein Wisdom and Doug Powers. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: DREAM Act is a Nightmare

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Nation

DREAM Act is a Nightmare: WZ
Great News: Gun Control Advocate to Head ATF: PJM
How's That Gravitas Workin' for Ya?: LegalIns

TSA outrages: cancer survivors and kids get full treatment: Pundette
TSA: Refuse Airport Scan and Pat Down: Face Fine, Arrest: WZ
Why is the TSA strip searching little boys?: RedState

Economy

Immigration: A Modest Proposal: AT (Baehr)
CEI’s Vincent Vernuccio on Where Union Dues Go: RWN
US Mint Reports Soaring Silver Coin Sales: ZH

Make a check payable to the feds and STFU about raising taxes: RWN
Pension Management 'The Chicago Way': AT
American taxpayers officially on hook for 1.7 mile tunnel in SF: RWN

Climate & Energy

CARB Won't Tolerate 'Dishonest Statements': WUWT
Fred Upton Saying All The Right Things About Energy: RWN
O Takes Time Out of Running The World to Sell Electric Cars: WZ

Media

The Evil of Cultural Engineering: AT
Glenn Greenwald Plays Victim: LegalIns
Terrorist Street Art: Martyred Psychotic Killer Edition: Urban Infidel

If Only Obama Would Say...: Human Events
PBS Kook: I've Never Heard a Democratic Leader Accuse Bush of Lying Us Into War: NewsBusters
White House Insider: ” He Ain’t No Democrat “: NewsFlavor

World

Obama Jokes About Diverting Air Force One to Visit Hugo Chavez. Seriously.: Malkin
Missile Defense Basher Obama Heralds NATO Missile Defense Plans: GWP
Cheer Up -- At Least We're Not Europe:Ace

Muslims vs. Martyrs: AT
Israelis Lodge UN Protest Over Pali Use of White Phosphorous: WZ
The Tidal Forces Ripping Europe Apart: Lira

SciTech

'Mystery' contrail seen from space: NewsScientist
Gmail Call Recording Appears To Be Rolling Out Widely: TechCrunch
Whoa, Google, That’s A Pretty Big Security Hole: TechCrunch

Cornucopia

Stuff on the Slipper Slope: C&S
I'm Not Having Problems With This: Primordial Slack
Magazine’s Airbrushers Hospitalized for Exhaustion After Preparing ‘Aging Hollywood Lefty’ Issue; Updated: Powers

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QOTD: "The German computer security expert who first reported that the Stuxnet worm was designed to attack targets in Iran said the virus specifically attacked the country's nuclear program, in a report posted Friday... In his analysis, Ralph Langner said Stuxnet contained two distinct "digital warheads," specifically designed to attack military targets: Uranium enrichment plants and the Bushehr nuclear power plant...

Praising the sophistication of the attack code, Langner said, "it is obvious that several years of preparation went into the design of this attack." Describing the technological advancement it represents, he compared it to "the arrival of an F-35 fighter jet on a World War I battlefield." He called the technology, "much superior to anything ever seen before, and to what was assumed possible." -- JPost Staff


Saturday, November 20, 2010

The federal health care database that will hold all of the most sensitive, personal medical data for 300 million Americans

In August of 2008, a Consumer Reports investigation revealed that the federal government is among the worst offenders when it comes to data breaches.

CR analyzed records of publicly reported data breaches compiled by the nonprofit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and found that more than 230 security lapses by federal, state, and local government from 2005 through mid-June 2008 resulted in the loss or exposure of at least 44 million consumer records containing Social Security or driver license numbers and other personal data.

In late 2006, the House Committee on Government Reform issued a report entitled "AGENCY DATA BREACHES SINCE JANUARY 1, 2003". The conclusion of the report was as disturbing as it was terse.

Taken as a whole, the agency reports outline hundreds of instances of data breaches involving sensitive personal information since January 1, 2003. The reports show a wide range of incidents, involving employee carelessness, contractor misconduct, and third-party thefts. The number of individuals affected in each incident ranges from one to millions. However, in many cases, the agency does not know what information was lost or how many individuals potentially could be affected. Few of these incidents have been reported publicly, and it is unclear in many cases whether affected individuals have been notified or whether remedial action has been taken.

Data held by Federal agencies remains at risk. In many cases, agencies do not know what information they have, who has access to the information, and what devices containing information have been lost, stolen, or misplaced. In addition, in almost all of the reported cases, Congress and the public would not have learned of each event unless the Committee had requested this information.

Finally, each year, the Committee releases information security scorecards. This year the scores for many departments remained low or dropped precipitously. The federal government overall received a D+.

Among the incidents the report described:

• A laptop containing personal information on 30,000 applicants/LEADS, recruiters, and prospects fell off a motorcycle belonging to a Navy recruiter.

• A CD containing 30,000 veterans’ names and addresses was lost by a Government Printing Office subcontractor.

• A thumb drive containing personal records on approximately 207,570 enlisted Marines who served between the years of 2001 to 2005 was lost. A notification letter was sent to the affected individuals and the Marine Corps.

• A systems administrator discovered potential unauthorized access to the Air Force Personnel Center Assignment Management System containing personal information on 33,000 military members.

Other, more recent incidents of note include:

Sensitive information on about 1,000 patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military hospitals was exposed in a security breach, sparking identity theft concerns and an investigation by the Army.

The IRS hired a firm that had experienced several serious data breaches of customer information to manage and secure sensitive data.

Not to worry. That ObamaCare database of sensitive health care information that the Democrats are creating will be, I'm certain, protected with fortress-like security. It will never, ever be used to punish political enemies or reward political friends.


Like 'the arrival of an F-35 fighter jet on a World War I battlefield'

German cyber security expert Ralph Langner reported Friday that the infamous Stuxnet computer worm was specifically designed to target two Iranian nuclear capabilities.

Langner said Stuxnet contained two distinct "digital warheads," specifically designed to attack military targets: Uranium enrichment plants and the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Langner said that the portion of the worm that targeted Uranium enrichment plants manipulated the speeds of mechanical parts in the enrichment process, which would ultimately "result in cracking the rotor, thereby destroying the centrifuge."

He said the strategic importance of such an attack is that it was able to "attack and destroy centrifuge facilities that are unknown to IAEA inspectors and the world," saying that this was likely the main goal of the worm's first "warhead."

The second "warhead" targeted the Bushehr nuclear plant [by attacking] the external turbine controller of the Bushehr plant, a 150 foot "chunk of metal," that could "destroy the turbine as effectively as an air strike."

Praising the sophistication of the attack code, Langner said, "it is obvious that several years of preparation went into the design of this attack." Describing the technological advancement it represents, he compared it to "the arrival of an F-35 fighter jet on a World War I battlefield." He called the technology, "much superior to anything ever seen before, and to what was assumed possible."

Faster, please.


Related:
Stuxnet In Pictures: The Cyber-Weapon Said to Target Iran's Nuclear Infrastructure