February 25, 2013

Slavery was the other fatal flaw in our 18th century Constitution

...Who or what were the framers of our government, that they should dare confirm and authorise such high-handed villany—such flagrant robbery of the inalienable rights of man—such a glaring violation of all the precepts and injunctions of the gospel—such a savage war upon a sixth part of our whole population?—They were men, like ourselves—as fallible, as sinful, as weak, as ourselves.

By the infamous bargain which they made between themselves, they virtually dethroned the Most High God, and trampled beneath their feet their own solemn and heaven-attested Declaration, that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights—among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They had no lawful power to bind themselves, or their posterity, for one hour—for one moment—by such an unholy alliance. It was not valid then—it is not valid now. Still they persisted in maintaining it—and still do their successors, the people of Massachusetts, of New-England, and of the twelve free States, persist in maintaining it. A sacred compact! A sacred compact! What, then, is wicked and ignominious?

William Lloyd Garrison

http://fair-use.org/the-liberator/1832/12/29/on-the-constitution-and-the-union

February 19, 2013

Mandiant's complete report is linked *here* from Business Insider

Mandiant says it felt compelled to expose this hack despite possibly compromising its ability to collect information. Here's why:

"The decision to publish a significant part of our intelligence about Unit 61398 was a painstaking one. What started as a “what if” discussion about our traditional non-disclosure policy quickly turned into the realization that the positive impact resulting from our decision to expose APT1 outweighed the risk to our ability to collect intelligence on this particular APT group.
It is time to acknowledge the threat is originating in China, and we wanted to do our part to arm and prepare security professionals to combat that threat effectively. The issue of attribution has always been a missing link in publicly understanding the landscape of APT cyber espionage. Without establishing a solid connection to China, there will always be room for observers to dismiss APT actions as uncoordinated, solely criminal in nature, or peripheral to larger national security and global economic concerns.

...MORE...



http://www.businessinsider.com/mandiant-report-chinese-hacking-explained-how-it-really-works-full-report-downloaded-highlights-2013-2

February 19, 2013

Software that gives oil and gas pipeline companies and power grid operators remote access ...

But the most troubling attack to date, security experts say, was a successful invasion of the Canadian arm of Telvent. The company, now owned by Schneider Electric, designs software that gives oil and gas pipeline companies and power grid operators remote access to valves, switches and security systems.

Telvent keeps detailed blueprints on more than half of all the oil and gas pipelines in North and South America, and has access to their systems. In September, Telvent Canada told customers that attackers had broken into its systems and taken project files. That access was immediately cut, so that the intruders could not take command of the systems.

Martin Hanna, a Schneider Electric spokesman, did not return requests for comment, but security researchers who studied the malware used in the attack, including Mr. Stewart at Dell SecureWorks and Mr. Blasco at AlienVault, confirmed that the perpetrators were the Comment Crew.

“This is terrifying because — forget about the country — if someone hired me and told me they wanted to have the offensive capability to take out as many critical systems as possible, I would be going after the vendors and do things like what happened to Telvent,“ Mr. Peterson of Digital Bond said. “It’s the holy grail.”

February 16, 2013

Bush conflated Al Qaeda with the Palestinians who are bombing Israel &that's why his lie worked

The neocons lumped Iran and Iraq's support of violent Palestinians with Al Qaeda and hence it became America's crusade to destroy all Moslem terrorists. We all know that Saddam was not helping Al Qaeda, but that real detail did not matter.

IIRC, Iran is still using Palestinians in a proxy war against Israel.

*Bombing: suicide bombers, rockets from Gaza, and whatever other means they can use to deliver nitroglycerin.

And, yes, I know about the illegal settlements in the West Bank.

February 6, 2013

The 100-or-more bystanders we have killed is a problem in the "tribal areas"

IIRC, we have killed over 1000 people and 140 were innocent bystanders, including that unfortunate wedding party.

It is creating a lot of resentment that will likely cause locals to join any force fighting the USA. It is possible that those unintentional deaths are totally negating the gains we have from the successful killing of our enemies in that region.

There is skepticism even within the military community. I don't know how to gauge whether the net gains from the program are positive.

I don't think the drone attacks are done casually. The President supposedly reviews every attack in advance.

I don't have any sympathy for an American who is a militant who is working with people who are plotting attacks against our military or civilian. I wish we could use manned aircraft to drop the bomb; then the live pilot could use judgement while on the scene.

January 25, 2013

The Sierra Club has accomplished the NEPA law,...

Five National Parks, and the Endangered Species Act, IIRC

They have blocked dozens of coal fired plants in the Ohio Valley, along with some partners.
*
All that you know about environmentalism is some crappy malaise you read at commondreams or counterpunch.

November 14, 2012

Federal judge rips Jon Husted for unconstitutional change to Ohio election rules

Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer

In a scathing 17-page ruling (Read the full ruling in the Document viewer below), U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley said a directive on counting provisional ballots that Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted issued on Nov. 2 was "a flagrant violation of a state elections law" that could disenfranchise voters.

"The surreptitious manner in which the secretary went about implementing this last minute change to the election rules casts serious doubt on his protestations of good faith," Marbley wrote.
...
Marbley noted numerous times that Husted, a Republican, set the new rules at 7 p.m. on a Friday.
"Ohio voters reasonably expect that the secretary of Ohio will abide by the General Assembly’s laws in administering a federal election," Marbley wrote. "For an executive of the state to (flout) state law in arbitrarily reassigning a poll worker’s statutory duty to a voter, with the result being disenfranchisement of the voter, is ‘fundamentally unfair and constitutionally impermissible.’"

Marbley, nominated to be federal judge by President Bill Clinton in 1997, has ruled on numerous issues regarding Ohio election laws in recent months. He has repeatedly stressed the importance of voting rights. "There’s nothing more important than the franchise and the right to vote," Marbley said during a hearing in June. "I grew up in the Jim Crow South and still remember the various mechanisms that were used to disenfranchise voters."
...

Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/11/federal_judge_rips_husted_for.html

---

Attorney Subodh Chandra chided Husted for wasting public money in an appeal of Judge Marbley's ruling. Chandra is representing the homeless. They are a group that needs political representation. Huge numbers of Ohioans have been displaced in the "mortgage crisis". Drivers license requirements are obviously designed to prevent them from voting.

I don't know if the federal Department of Justice can go after Jim Crow Husted.

The ruling is viewable at the link for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

November 7, 2012

MANY SAD RETURNS TODAY FOR THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION

SPENT more than $11.7 million against President Barack Obama - NRA defeated

SPENT more than $1 million against Sen. Sherrod Brown, OHIO - NRA defeated

SPENT more than $626,000 against Sen. Bill Nelson, FLORIDA - NRA defeated

SPENT more than $610,000 against Tim Kaine, Virginia (U.S. Senate) - NRA defeated

SPENT more than $341,000 against Sen. Claire McCaskill, MISSOURI - NRA defeated

SPENT more than $320,000 against Tammy Baldwin, WISCONSIN (U.S. Senate) - NRA defeated

SPENT more than $48,000 against Chris Murphy, Connecticut (U.S. Senate) - NRA defeated

What additional evidence is needed for elected officials and the media to finally discard the myth of the NRA's power to influence elections?

--Brady Campaign/Facebook feed

November 3, 2012

Kucinich:FirstEnergy Incompetence Leaves 127,000 Residents without Power

Cleveland, OH, Nov 1 -

Cleveland, OH (November 1, 2012) -- Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today released the following statement concerning FirstEnergy’s failure to return power to the people of Northeast Ohio. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that 127,000 area residents are still without power after FirstEnergy sent 200 linemen and nearly half its support staff to assist sister companies on the East Coast. Cleveland Public Power, by comparison, has only 1000 households remaining without power.

“FirstEnergy’s failure is frustrating on multiple levels and it raises serious questions about management of this Fortune 500 corporation. One hundred twenty seven thousand residents waiting in the cold is clear proof that FirstEnergy is unable to respond to a system wide emergency. With every merger and every expansion, FirstEnergy cuts staff to increase profits. They have cut so deeply, they are unable to respond to an emergency, leaving consumers to pay the price. We should not forget that this is the same company that caused a major blackout along the entire east coast because it was too cheap to maintain its tree trimming responsibilities.

“Secondly, FirstEnergy’s problem was foreseeable. Many of the residents who have called my office have raised questions about motivations. We had plenty of warning that a major storm was coming. FirstEnergy had time to send nearly 50 percent of its support staff to the East Coast. Why then did FirstEnergy not secure support staff from unaffected states before the emergency began? Media reports indicate FirstEnergy has requested support, but only after residents have been without power for days.

“FirstEnergy has a long and continued track record of incompetence. The company has a culture of cutting corners in order to increase profits. This is a company that owns nuclear power plants with abysmal safety records. We put our lives in the hands of a company that puts profits before safety.

“While I hope that all residents will soon have power, it is well established that global climate change will make severe weather more common. FirstEnergy needs to be held accountable. The people of Northern Ohio deserve better,” said Kucinich. “

October 9, 2012

Ohio S.O.S. Jon Husted forbids BOEs from calling or emailing voters about absentee ballot mistakes

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted issued a new, mind boggling directive on Thursday that adds even more confusion and potential slow-down to the process of handling absentee ballots.

According to newly-issued Directive 2012-48, Boards of Election wishing to notify a voter of mistakes on his/her absentee ballot can only do so “in writing by first class mail”. ”Notification may not be made via telephone, email, facsimile” or any other means.

This is a stark change from the policy under SOS Jennifer Brunner, who issued a directive in 2008 advising boards to “simultaneously use both email and first class mail” and which allowed telephone communication when other means were “impracticable or impossible”

The very first question on an absentee ballot request form is for Phone Number, which the form says is “Recommended”. And the online request form asks for both phone number and emails address. If they aren’t allowed to use the information to help speed up the process and help quickly notify voters of mistakes on their ballots, then why bother asking for it?

PlunderBund (http://s.tt/1pwM1)