I AM A DIASPORAL JEW OF THE ASHKENAZ TRIBE AND I HEREBY DECLARE BUELAHMAN AND LYNDA OF BUELAHMAN'S REDSTATE REVOLT TO BE ABSOLUTELY FREE OF ANTI-SEMITISM OF ANY KIND. THEIR VIEWS ON AMERICA'S ISRAEL POLICY IS THE SAME AS MINE. IT IS THE SAME AS WELL OVER 30% OF THE ISRAELI PEOPLE AND OVER 70% OF THE DIASPORAL ASHKENAZ COMMUNITY IN THE WORLD OUTSIDE BOTH THE UNITED STATES AND ISRAEL.
I don’t pretend to understand Afghanistan, but I do know it’s a big, poor, backward Islamic country in Central Asia with all sorts of warring factions that have been at it for decades, or even centuries. I know that American soldiers have been fighting there for eight years and that the situation is still a huge mess.
And now President Barack Obama, after sending 21,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan in March, is set to announce next week that he’s going to send over another 30,000 or so, which will bring the total number of US troops in that big, poor, backward, bewildering, violent Islamic country to about 100,000.
I don’t know much about Afghanistan, but I’m pretty familiar with America, familiar enough to know that America is not up for this. I don’t know if it’s possible to pacify Afghanistan – or Pakistan, Iraq, Iran or anyplace else in the region. I don’t know if this can be done even with millions of American troops fighting for 100 years.
But I do know, as I think everyone knows or should know, that America is not ready to fight Islamism like it fought Nazism and Communism, which means that in its wars in the Middle East, America is destined to lose. The only question is how long these futile adventures will last.
Actually, America fought one war in the Middle East that was not seemingly futile, not at all – the one in 1991 against Iraq. That was a “necessary war,” to use Obama’s term for the mess in Afghanistan. Back then, Saddam Hussein invaded an American-allied country, he electrified the entire Middle East, he was bidding for control, direct or indirect, over two-thirds of the world’s oil – he had to be stopped and turned back.
So president George H.W. Bush set a very clear, reasonable goal – forcing Saddam out of Kuwait – then sent half a million soldiers to do the job, accomplished it in six weeks with minimal allied casualties, then brought the troops home, leaving Saddam and Saddamism in ruins. That was a so called “good war.” But Afghanistan? After 9/11, the Americans should have retaliated by carpet bombing select areas of that country, killing tens of thousands of people, terrorists and civilians both, to let al-Qaida, the Taliban and everyone in the Islamic world know that there is a terrible price to pay for attacking America and killing 3,000 innocents.
Instead, America decided to “transform” the region. The result is that another 5,000 Americans have been killed, soldiers this time, bombs are still going off every which way in Iraq, and now a new president, this one a liberal Democrat, not a Republican neocon, is driving deeper and deeper into Afghanistan.
And what about Pakistan? And Iran? Are they next? “All options are on the table,” says Obama.
AMERICA’S PROBLEM is that it still wants to be a military superpower but is no longer willing to pay the price in blood and money, so it tries to do it on the cheap and as painlessly as possible, and winds up fighting endless wars with impossible goals in distant, hellish places.
If the US were serious about taking on a military challenge of this scope, it would reinstate the draft. This isn’t Grenada they’re dealing with, this is an enemy with outposts across the Middle East, and parts of Africa too. And the US means to go to war against this enemy with a volunteer army that’s drawn from less than 1 percent of American families!
“The problem in this country with this issue [of Afghanistan],” said Democratic Congressman David Obey, “is that the only people who have to sacrifice are military families, and they’ve had to go to the well again and again and again and again, and everybody else is blithely unaffected by the war.”
The American people won’t stand for a military draft; it’s a taboo subject . They won’t even stand for a war tax; that’s another taboo. But neither will they stand for the idea that America is not a military superpower anymore. And nobody in that country, not even the messiah of change, has the guts to tell them that they can’t have it both ways.
So the US pretends it can fight World War III like Grenada, its army is so far beyond overextended that there isn’t a word for it, the country spends more and more billions of dollars that it doesn’t have, and this has been going on now for almost a decade.
At this point, is anybody confident that if and when the US gets out of Iraq, after all these years of horror and devastation, it will leave behind a stable, decent, more or less pro-American country?
Is anybody confident of such a happy end to the war in Afghanistan?
I don’t think so. I think if America knew right after 9/11 what it knows now, there is no way on earth it would have started these wars.
But now Obama wants more – not because he believes he can salvage the situation in Afghanistan, but because he’s afraid of what will happen if he abandons it to the likes of al-Qaida and the Taliban. Which is a very legitimate worry. I worry about that too.
But the only way the US can salvage Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Pakistan, or Iran, or any country in the Muslim world, is to fight like it fought every other major war in its history – with a draft, with war taxes, with a clear, reasonable goal and the readiness to pursue it to the end.
Is America up for that today? No, it’s not, I’m happy to say, because, like I said, even millions of American soldiers fighting for 100 years might not be enough to neutralize the threat of Islamism.
It’s fight or flight, which means the only choice left is flight. The US is not a military superpower anymore, and it’s just hurting itself and a lot of other people by pretending.
The time has come for America to wrap up these endless, failed third world wars.
It’s not going to be easy. And the worst part is that after Obama deepens America’s commitment with 30,000 new soldiers, getting out is going to be even harder.
Facts
Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States.
By the fall of 1621 only half of the pilgrims, who had sailed on the Mayflower, survived. The survivors, thankful to be alive, decided to give a thanksgiving feast.
Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the second Monday in October in Canada.
The Plymouth Pilgrims were the first to celebrate the Thanksgiving.
The pilgrims arrived in North America in December 1620.
The Pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to reach North America.
The pilgrims sailed on the ship, which was known by the name of ‘Mayflower’.
They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day in the fall of 1621.
They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The drink that the Puritans brought with them in the Mayflower was the beer.
The Wampanoag Indians were the people who taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate the land.
The Pilgrim leader, Governor William Bradford, had organized the first Thanksgiving feast in the year 1621 and invited the neighboring Wampanoag Indians also to the feast.
The first Thanksgiving feast was held in the presence of around ninety Wampanoag Indians and the Wampanoag chief, Massasoit, was also invited there.
The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days.
President George Washington issued the first national Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in the year 1789 and again in 1795.
The state of New York officially made Thanksgiving Day an annual custom in 1817.
Sarah Josepha Hale, an editor with a magazine, started a Thanksgiving campaign in 1827 and it was result of her efforts that in 1863 Thanksgiving was observed as a day for national thanksgiving and prayer.
Abraham Lincoln issued a ‘Thanksgiving Proclamation’ on third October 1863 and officially set aside the last Thursday of November as the national day for Thanksgiving. Whereas earlier the presidents used to make an annual proclamation to specify the day when Thanksgiving was to be held.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt restored Thursday before last of November as Thanksgiving Day in the year 1939. He did so to make the Christmas shopping season longer and hus stimulate the economy of the state.
Congress passed an official proclamation in 1941 and declared that now onwards Thanksgiving will be observed as a legal holiday on the fourth Thursday of November every year.
Over 30 years ago– I had read a small leather-bound book about the Shroud. I enjoyed the starting point that the researcher used . Art. It was amazing and thought provoking. Anyway– since then I have always found the research facinating. Of course I am lost when it comes to why no DNA research– but thats just me. lol
Sun, Nov. 22, 2009
Researcher says faint text proves shroud’s authenticity
By Ariel David
Associated Press
ROME – A Vatican researcher asserts that nearly invisible text on the Shroud of Turin proves that the artifact revered as Jesus’ burial cloth is authentic.
The assertion made by Barbara Frale in a book drew immediate skepticism from some scientists, who maintain the shroud is a medieval forgery.
Frale, a researcher at the Vatican archives, said Friday that she used computers to enhance images of faintly written words in Greek, Latin, and Aramaic scattered across the shroud.
She asserted that the words include the name “Jesus Nazarene” in Greek, proving that the text could not be of medieval origin because no Christian at the time, even a forger, would have labeled Jesus a Nazarene without referring to his divinity.
The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ’s image was recorded on the linen fibers at the time of his resurrection.
The fragile artifact, owned by the Vatican, is kept locked in a special protective chamber in Turin’s cathedral and is rarely shown.
Skeptics point out that radiocarbon dating conducted in 1988 determined it was made in the 13th or 14th century.
While faint letters scattered around the face on the shroud were seen decades ago, serious researchers dismissed them because of the test’s results, Frale said in an interview.
But when she cut out the words from photos of the shroud and showed them to experts, they concurred the writing style was typical of the Middle East in the first century A.D. – Jesus’ time.
She believes the text was written on a document by a clerk and glued to the shroud over the face so the body could be identified by relatives and buried properly. Metals in the ink used at the time may have allowed the writing to transfer to the linen, Frale said.
“I tried to be objective and leave religious issues aside,” Frale said. “What I studied was an ancient document that certifies the execution of a man, in a specific time and place.”
Frale is noted in Italy for her research on the medieval order of the Knights Templar and her discovery of unpublished documents on the group in the Vatican’s archives.
Earlier this year she published a study contending the Templars at one time had the shroud in their possession. That raised eyebrows because the order was abolished in the early 14th century and the shroud is first recorded in history about 1360 in the hands of a French knight.
But her latest book, The Shroud of Jesus Nazarene, in Italian, raised doubts even among experts.
“People work on grainy photos and think they see things,” said Antonio Lombatti, a church historian who has written books about the shroud. “It’s all the result of imagination and computer software.”
Lombatti also rejected the idea that authorities in the time of Jesus would officially return the body of a crucified man to relatives after filling out some paperwork. Victims of the most cruel punishment used by the Romans would usually be left on the cross or were disposed of in a dump to add to the execution’s deterring effect.
People are people everywhere we go aren’t they. I had prior looked into a company called ‘PLUG’ and it actually has stock– it is wave energy. Now listening to this I kept answering outloud… ” Hell we can’t get people to stop killing people and you want to change people into tree planters. Well and good but in a world gone mad… well, really… what are we doing??? and for heavens sake… Carbon Credits exchanged globally– and Carbon swopping??? Geeeeeeeeece
Accidentally last night, I watched a PBS documentary titled “How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin”. I cried so hard. I had no idea about this little known, to me, huge part of history. I Immediately flashed back to the time of my daughters and my reunion. It was filmed live-time in 1998 for The Learning Channel– and as a heart felt thank you, I will never ever forget or regret giving Boris [ the TLC Reunion cameraman-- from Moscow] my ‘Meet the Beatles’ album! I never fully understood his weeping when I gave it to him… not until now. I sincerely hope that you can watch this program . It is just Awesome, and above all just plain humbling. I never knew– I just never knew. Below are 6 links to the documentary that someone was awesome enough to post on youtube!!!
Brief::
Mon, November 9 | 9PM How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin
This is the extraordinary and untold story of how the Beatles punctured the Iron Curtain. In August 1962, award-winning director Leslie Woodhead made a two-minute film, in Liverpool’s Cavern Club, with a raw and unrecorded group of unknown rockers — the Beatles. Twenty-five years later, while making a series of films in Russia, Woodhead learned just how powerful Beatlemania was in the Soviet Union. Even though the Beatles never performed there, their music and rebellious style had soaked into the lives of a generation of Russian kids. This film features personal stories from members of Russia’s Beatles generation, who talk about how the Fab Four changed their lives, gave them hope and helped to undermine the foundations of the Soviet system. The music was the number one enemy of the State, and teens learned English, revolution and gained strength to over throw the Communist system by listening to underground recordings made using old x-ray film negatives called ‘bones’. To this day, the Beatles remain engrained in the life changed hearts of a once hostage entire youth of a nation .
Barack Obama was elected on 4 November 2008 after a campaign that promised change.
One year on, BBC’s Newsbeat traveled across the country to find out how people feel in Obama’s America.
In the first of five reports, Jonathan Blake travels to Tennessee where unemployment is highest among young people to see how he’s trying to fix the economy.
Lisa let a little common sense slip out to her regular readers (I am one) that made me very proud. I wasn’t completely sure of her stance since she stopped polititting (she isn’t quite as verbose about her political thoughts as she used to be). She became “real”, which is why i still like her, her family and her blogging.
But, today she finally came out and said it. ENOUGH!
Enough of the bogus circular arguments. Enough of regurgitating the same old Party of No stance or the same old kowtowing “public option” stance. It is time to go full bore with Single Payer and show you ignorant naysayers that it will be one of the life and money saving ways to go. It is, by far, the most humane way (not that Americans are or understand what that means).
How it warmed my heart to read:
Last night, I posted on my Facebook about this because I am soooo tired of this “conversation.” It’s ridiculous. Health care is a human rights issue. I asked the question: If you weren’t in a position of having insurance right now – would you oppose reform? Because I honestly do believe that it’s easy to oppose change when you are comfortable. One of my commenters there linked to this article that demonstrates, that even when you are insured, you are not guaranteed coverage. The insurance companies hold all the cards.
Well, here’s the thing I say to those opposed:
We’ve heard your side and we’ve tried it your way. For years. The insurance companies get rich. People die waiting for health care. Or go broke. And bankrupt. Mine and Mathman’s first money troubles started as a result of a huge dental bill. I myself, can’t do anything that requires quick movements like running, throwing or jumping because when I do, I pee myself because carrying and birthing three babies wrecked me. Even with our insurance, I cannot afford the co-pay for the surgery to get my pee place fixed. Not life threatening, but damned inconvenient and annoying. I mean, what if I needed to run for my life? It’s bad enough that I run like a girl, but a girl with wet drawers? Come on now! You’ve heard me refer to the sneeze and squeeze, yes?
TMI? Well, this is a health care post. You’ll live.
There is no more need to debate this issue another second because the opposed will not be convinced. So let’s do this – let’s try something new and radical like universal, single-payer health care. If in three years, people hate it, then they can go back to the mess we have now.
My guess is that we’ll be happy enough with the new and radical, but we’re going to have to drag some Americans’ asses along. That’s how it always is, you know. I mean, just ask MathMan. Back in 1987, when he tried to get me to use his brand, spanking-new hotrod of a Tandy 1000 personal computer to write a paper for some college class, I looked him dead in the eye and uttered these words….”No thanks, I’ll stick with the typewriter.”
And, yes, Lisa is always that hilarious, even when she is making a monumental point. Check her out here.
Many of you have shared your thoughts with me about my situation (here and in emails). I cannot tell you how much it means to me (especially my buddy, Lynda).
I wanted to speak about friends for a sec. I have old classmates that I say are “friends”. I have people that I see at least weekly that I call “friends”. I have Principals (those I sell for) that are “friends” and visit here, in a few cases… don’t tell Rob I said hello. I have thousands of acquaintances and even customers that I call “friends”. But, that little word is like the word “love”. It carries all sorts of shades of differences and depth of meaning.
My 30th class reunion is this Saturday. I was initially instrumental in helping get the thing rolling and even came up with a blog for the class reunion. (PS: I am the gorgeous redhead with the freaky striped shirt on front… I know all you old women love red heads)
The class president and I have the same first name (which is Raymond, for those that don’t know). (Hi, nice to meet cha)
Anyway, “the other Raymond” has been calling and writing, trying to prod me into coming because A) I couldn’t afford it and B) I am an embarrassed mess. He, as a wonderful friend, offered to pay for everything for Susan and I ($40) and has been relentless in prodding me along.
Last reunion, I was pretty darn successful in my business and everything was exciting and happy. BuelahLady was the only prego woman there and we would have won the prize for youngest child, except for the fact that BuelahBaby was in the belly at the time. As far as I know, we have the youngest child in the group.
Just in the span of 9 months, I have basically had my business fall apart. Not from inactivity or less work hell, I have been working harder than ever), but due to this entire financial debacle that is attributable to our government and the banking class that robbed us blind. I am pissed about that and it shows in my writing and comments at other blogs.
Then, yesterday, another friend called (this guy and I were extremely close in high school… and I have plenty of stories to tell about that crazy fucker some day) and he wanted to do what we did last time, he and his wife come to my house to stay and us go to the reunion together. It occured to me in his words that it had been at least 3 years since I had spoken to him. One of my very best friends and it has been 3 freaking years?
He didn’t know anything… that we had to sell our house, that Susan and I both had back surgeries and/or that we were devastated financially.
He said, “Why didn’t you call me?”
For what? Hell, I am a 47 year old white male who was fairly affluent (at least for a redneck) and better off than most people I know personally.
He said, “Do you remember several years ago, you met me at Hardee’s, gave me a $100 bill, and never said a word about it afterwards?”
I admitted that I did not remember that. It was then that he said, “Raymond, you have friends that love and care for you very much. We know what you have done to open your house to people (I housed a family of 4 from Germany for over a year because they couldn’t afford to make it on their own… I have housed family members for months on end… I have given thousands of dollars to needy folks here or there.” Etc, etc, etc
He went through a list of things he remembered me doing for others that honestly I forgot. Or, more aptly, I never register those things to be remembered. What I mean is, I never give with expectations of anything. I have only lent money a couple of times and I don’t like that. If I have it, I’ll GIVE it. At least, that is the way it was when I had it to give.
Look, I am no Saint. I can be the meanest fucking Dickhead you ever came into contact with. There is no doubt. But, true to myself, I can be the lovingest and most supporting clod ever, too. You cannot find a better friend or meaner enemy. Yeah, I am a screwed up mess, for sure.
I never think to ask for help, because I have always been the “go-to” man. I have always been the helper, not the helpee. I am the guy that fixes everything… that can think his way through ANYTHING. But when it comes to asking for help, I don’t know how to do this, to be honest.
What I told Bubba (yeah, I am friends with a “Bubba”, imagine that) was that the help I really need is getting to know more contacts that I can sell to. I don’t want handouts. I don’t want freebies or the government to take care of me and my family. I want what is honest, right and noble.
But I also have some sage friends, like my Girlfriend, Lynda (and no, not THAT kind of girlfriend) who have actually experienced some of this (even Bubba has been through the Big B… bankruptcy). My buddy Lisa has shared advice with me that is so wonderfully sound. Kelso and Diane have been warm and receptive and most importantly, supportive (even though I can give Diane hell). My sister, who doesn’t have a pot to piss in, has offered to do anything she can to help (she waits tables for $2/hr + tips). Even my Mom offered to watch BuelahGirl and would have given me the $40 for the reunion.
I cannot begin to tell you all how much I appreciate you all. It brings tears to my eyes to know that I have emotional support from “friends”. Real friends.
But we must acknowledge something in all of this: I have come to the realization that what is happening to me is intentional (not me, solely, as a target, but we are ALL the target). I am no right-wing fool like Limbaugh and Beck and O’Liely, but I do believe that our government is doing whatever it can to bring our economy down and kill the dollar. Why they are doing it, I have yet to ascertain, but I have my suspicions of world currency and the only way they will be able to get rid of all this toxic debt is through the failure of our dollar or all out war (maybe a combination).
I thought I could out think them, but medical issues screwed me. I thought I could bob and weave through the changes in the manufacturing base and still come out on top (yet they have been able to send the manufacturing to slave labor countries.
By God, this is ME we are talking about. I ALWAYS succeed (at least that WAS my mindset).
If I am correct about the intention of this fiasco, then it is high time all us “friends” get real and shut this mutherfucker down. It can be done and I have a plan. But we must do this together.
My buddy D-Cup at PoliTits has a great post called Little Bird up today (trying to determine the mathematical probability that two Jews would be shopping at the same Publix in rural Georgia looking for the same customary candles… her hubby, MathMan is the perfect solutions-provider for that**See Note).
The other part was sharing about gifts that she and her family received in the mail… which is the perfect entrée into sharing about the Christmas gifts that we have received in the mail this year (especially since a couple of them came from regular visitors to this blog).
So here’s the deal: I sell equipment for various companies and a couple send me a Christmas gift every year.
This is a regular gift from the same company the last three or four years and is probably the best peanut brittle I ever ate. I am torn, because they used to send a gift package that included different chocolate covered delights (pretzels that were divine) from a Sarris Candies in Pennsylvania (that link takes you to the old gift package and you see the new below… I’m just sayin’. Agreed, that is some good peanut brittle, but compared to the Sarris stuff… let’s just say that the economy is apparently hurting many of us).
LOL
Below are two gifts from the same company (Italian that has a sales office in the US). The first is a can of flat biscotti (which is truly excellent and, no, I don’t read Italian) and the second is a bottle of fine extra virgin olive oil blogged about here. Perhaps someone (like my friend, Kelso’s Nuts) may have some recipe suggestions. The most exquisite cooking oil I ever used was peanut oil to fry catfish in (and I make some of the best you will ever eat, as a matter of fact). So, any help is appreciated.
As you all know, I am a redneck and the people who sent the Italian stuff knows this.
So, I responded with an email that said:
Thanks for the gift package, but I think the wine is ruined. BuelahLady and I drank the whole thing last night (it tasted awful) and I have the runs real bad this morning. Oh yeah, I never did get a buzz.
On another note, the frisbees you sent break very easily, so we can’t use them as you intended.
But it’s the thought that counts…
** I’m jealous that I cannot get my better half to blog (either here or her own place)
FRANCISCO – Users of all current versions of Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer browser might be vulnerable to having their computers hijacked because of a serious security hole in the software that had yet to be fixed Monday.
The flaw lets criminals commandeer victims’ machines merely by tricking them into visiting Web sites tainted with malicious programming code. As many as 10,000 sites have been compromised since last week to exploit the browser flaw, according to antivirus software maker Trend Micro Inc.
The sites are mostly Chinese and have been serving up programs that steal passwords for computer games, which can be sold for money on the black market. However, the hole is such that it could be “adopted by more financially motivated criminals for more serious mayhem — that’s a big fear right now,” Paul Ferguson, a Trend Micro security researcher, said Monday.
“Zero-day” vulnerabilities like this are security holes that haven’t been repaired by the software makers. They’re a gold mine for criminals because users have few ways to fight off attacks.
The latest vulnerability is noteworthy because Internet Explorer is the default browser for most of the world’s computers. Also, while Microsoft says it has detected attacks only against version 7 of Internet Explorer, which is the most widely used edition, the company warned that other versions are also potentially vulnerable.
Microsoft said it is investigating the flaw and is considering fixing it through an emergency software patch outside of its normal monthly updates, but declined further comment. The company is telling users to employ a series of complicated workarounds to minimize the threat.
Many security experts, meanwhile, are urging Internet Explorer users to use another browser until a patch is released.
Vulnerability in Internet Explorer Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Published: December 10, 2008 | Updated: December 13, 2008
Microsoft is continuing its investigation of public reports of attacks against a new vulnerability in Internet Explorer. Our investigation so far has shown that these attacks are only against Windows Internet Explorer 7 on supported editions of Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, Windows Vista Service Pack 1, and Windows Server 2008. Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 4, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, and Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 on all supported versions of Microsoft Windows are potentially vulnerable.
This update to the advisory contains information about a new workaround and a recommendation on the most effective workarounds.
The vulnerability exists as an invalid pointer reference in the data binding function of Internet Explorer. When data binding is enabled (which is the default state), it is possible under certain conditions for an object to be released without updating the array length, leaving the potential to access the deleted object’s memory space. This can cause Internet Explorer to exit unexpectedly, in a state that is exploitable.
At this time, we are aware only of limited attacks that attempt to use this vulnerability against Windows Internet Explorer 7. Our investigation of these attacks so far has verified that they are not successful against customers who have applied the workarounds listed in this advisory. Additionally, there are mitigations that increase the difficulty of exploiting this vulnerability.
We are actively working with partners in our
Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) and our Microsoft Security Response Alliance (MSRA) programs to provide information that they can use to provide broader protections to customers. In addition, we’re actively working with partners to monitor the threat landscape and take action against malicious sites that attempt to exploit this vulnerability. Current trending indicates that there may be attempts to utilize SQL Injection attacks against Web sites to load attack code on those Web sites. If you’re a Web site operation, please review Microsoft Security Advisory (954462), which provides information on tools you can use to analyze your Web site’s code to help protect against SQL Injection attacks.We are actively investigating the vulnerability that these attacks attempt to exploit. We will continue to monitor the threat environment and update this advisory if this situation changes. On completion of this investigation, Microsoft will take the appropriate action to protect our customers, which may include providing a solution through a service pack, our monthly security update release process, or an out-of-cycle security update, depending on customer needs.
Microsoft continues to encourage customers to follow the “Protect Your Computer” guidance of enabling a firewall, applying all software updates and installing anti-virus and anti-spyware software. Additional information can be found at
Protected Mode in Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 in Windows Vista limits the impact of the vulnerability.
•
By default, Internet Explorer on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 runs in a restricted mode that is known as
Enhanced Security Configuration. This mode sets the security level for the Internet zone to High. This is a mitigating factor for Web sites that you have not added to the Internet Explorer Trusted sites zone.
•
An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less affected than users who operate with administrative user rights.
•
Currently known attacks cannot exploit this issue automatically through e-mail.
For the last two weeks I have wondered where the f– the web-mail log-ins with odd names were coming up for. I kept thinking : Has my server changed?” Thank goodness I just clicked onto something else.
I like stuff as much as the next guy. My closet is stuffed with stuff, my shelves groan with stuff, boxes full of stuff jam my garage. I like stuff just fine.
But I would not kill for it.
Last week, a 34-year-old man was trampled to death by a mob rushing into a Wal-Mart to buy stuff. Jdimytai Damour was a seasonal worker manning the door of a store in Valley Stream, N.Y., as shoppers eager for so-called ”Black Friday” bargains massed outside. The store was scheduled to open at 5 a.m., but that was not early enough for the 2,000 would-be shoppers. At five minutes before the hour, they were banging their fists and pressing their weight against the glass doors, which bowed and then broke in a shower of glass. The mob stormed in.
Four people, including a pregnant woman, were injured. And Damour was killed as people stomped over him, looking for good prices on DVDs, winter coats and PlayStations. Nor was the mob sobered by his death. As authorities sought to clear the store, some defiantly kept shopping; others complained that they had been on line since the night before.
And here, it seems appropriate to observe the obvious irony: Black Friday is the traditional beginning of the Christmas shopping season, Christmas being the holiday when, Christians believe, hope was born into the world in the form of a baby who became a man who preached a gospel of service to, and compassion for, our fellow human beings.
It is hard to see evidence of either in the mob’s treatment of Jdimytai Damour, and if your inclination is to heap scorn upon them, I don’t blame you. But I would caution against regarding them as freaks or aberrations whose callous madness would never be seen in sane and normal people like ourselves. That would be false comfort.
You may think I’m talking about mob psychology and to a degree, I am. From soccer riots to the Holocaust itself, human beings have always had a tendency to lose individual identity and accountability when gathered in groups. You will do things as part of a crowd that you never would as an individual. Theoretically, anyone who lacked a strong-enough moral center and sense of self could have been part of that mob in Valley Stream.
But it’s not just our common vulnerability to mob psychology that ties the rest of us to last week’s tragedy. It is also our common love of stuff. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a starker illustration of our true priorities. Oh, we pay lip service to other things. We say children are a priority, but when did people ever press against the door for Parents’ Night at school? We say education is a priority, but when did people ever bang against the windows of the library? We say faith is a priority, but when did people ever surge into a temple of worship as eagerly as they do a temple of commerce?
No, sale prices on iPods, that’s our true priority. Jdimytai Damour died because too many of us have bought, heart and soul, into the great lie of American consumerism: acquiring stuff will make you whole. ”You, Happier,” is how a sign at my local Best Buy puts it. As if owning a Jonas Brothers CD, an Iron Man DVD, a Sony HDTV, will elevate you to a level of joy otherwise impossible to attain. Hey, you may be a total loser, may not have a friend, may not have an education, may not have a job, may not have a clue, but it will all be OK as soon as you get that new Canon digital camera, especially if you get it for 50 percent off.
It would be nice to think — I will not hold my breath — that Damour’s death would lead at least some of us to finally see that for the obscene lie it is, to realize that seeking wholeness in consumer goods is an act of emptiness, not joy.
This drives me NUTS! In my field of Social Work [years ago]… I can not even begin to tell you how many soldiers were lost due to PTSD ‘after’ being placed into unjust wars much less insane circumstances. WWI saw this very same thing– as well as WWII. No one wanted to se it for what it is. It is about time someone woke up and made this program a reality! It should of been S.O.P. anyway years and years ago!
Filner Advocates ‘De-Boot Camp’ for GIs
November 22, 2008The Washington Post
A key House leader is proposing to establish a “de-boot camp,” where returning service members would undergo mandatory diagnosis for brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in order to reduce instances of domestic violence and suicide.
Rep. Bob Filner, chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said Wednesday he will lobby the Obama administration for the de-boot camp and other new initiatives for service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as veterans from the Vietnam era.
“There were more suicides [postwar] by Vietnam veterans than those who died in the war. We cannot make the same mistakes again. Mental illness is an injury that has to be dealt with,”Mr. Filner said during an editorial board at The Washington Times. “We all have to understand what they are facing. We all have to understand PTSD.”
The California Democrat said he wants the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to reduce a backlog of claims by granting all claims made by Vietnam veterans who say they suffer illnesses from exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange.
He said he also advocates a “radical” new approach to veterans health care that would allow veterans living in rural areas to have more choices to access health care, even private alternatives, rather than travel hundreds of miles to veterans hospitals.
Mr. Filner, who is not a veteran himself but represents a large veterans constituency in the San Diego area, said he would even support privatizing psychological care for veterans suffering from PTSD.
Many active-duty personnel are returning home as veterans who are “wounded psychologically,” he said during an hourlong meeting with editors and reporters. “If they don’t kill their wives or themselves, they end up homeless.”
“Something is going on that we are not dealing with,” said Mr. Filner, 66.
With a survival rate at 95 percent, nearly 1 million new veterans will emerge from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The psychological wounds are going to last a very long time,” Mr. Filner said. “The public has to support the new veterans.”
After the Vietnam War, there was a failure to distinguish between the war and the warrior that lead to social displacement, mental disorders, homelessness and even suicide, Mr. Filner said.
News reports suggest that as many as 1,000 veterans a month attempt suicide. A third of those diagnosed with PTSD have committed felonies, Mr. Filner said.
“This is a moral issue, and I think [President-elect Barack] Obama will agree with that,” he said.
The “de-boot camp” Mr. Filner envisions could last weeks, even a month, to prepare the military and National Guardsmen to re-enter society. It would include mandatory evaluations by medical professionals to diagnose brain injuries and PTSD.
Currently, the military only offers a two-hour lecture in which “kids are falling asleep,” Mr. Filner said. “It’s so boring.”
While diagnosis would be mandatory, seeking psychological help would be voluntary. Such help would include educational and vocational counseling and would involve spouses and family.
Mr. Filner said he would like to see more access to necessary private hospital care for seriously wounded veterans in rural areas where they may not have the major medical facilities that are available in urban centers.
“In terms of access to that care for rural veterans, who may be away from main centers where their community may have good care, they ought to be far more open to specialties that may not be available within their locale, then we ought to get them into the private system as quick as we can,” he said.
Unfortunately, VA hospital officials all too often are “very hesitant about doing it” because of cost considerations, he said. “They don’t want” care delivered outside the VA hospital system “because if everyone is going to the Mayo Clinic, it’s going to cost a lot.”
But Mr. Filner said he favors expanding access to private care “in certain situations for rural veterans in some specialty areas,” adding that “they’ve got to be far more open and quick about allowing that to happen.”
Mr. Filner also addressed The Washington Times/ABC News investigation into ethical questions about experiments that involve human subjects — specifically, the smoking-cessation drug Chantix that has been linked to dozens of suicides and suicidal behavior.
A study that specifically targeted veterans suffering from PTSD included more than 100 who were taking the drug, but the VA failed to notify the participants of the new Food and Drug Administration warnings until nearly three months later.
“There has got to be really tight kinds of controls on this kind of research,” said Mr. Filner, who expressed disappointment that the VA did not pull the program, which he said was “problematic” for “fragile” veterans.
The entire culture at the VA must be overhauled, Mr. Filner said.
“For a lot of veterans, VA means advisory instead of advocate,” he said. “People in there are really good people, they just need to be inspired.”
BuelahMan
Lynda
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