The Storm computer virus had been spreading since early in the year, grabbing control of PCs around the world. By August, Storm had infected nearly two million computers with a secret program that turned those PCs into unwilling slaves (or "zombies") of those controlling this network (or botnet) of computers. Many of you may have noticed a lot of recent spam directing you to look at an online greeting card, or accompanied by pdf files. That was Storm, the largest single spam campaign ever.
Meanwhile, the FBI announced that Operation Bot Roast had, so far, identified over a million compromised PCs, in scores of botnets. The FBI is trying to get in touch with as many of these computer users as possible, and direct them to organizations and companies that can help them clean the zombie software out of their computers. Help can be had for free, although many of the compromised PCs were found to be clogged with all manner of malware (illegal software hidden on your machine to feed you ads or simply track what you do).
The Navy has pulled the plug on a YouTube video shot aboard the San Diego-based aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan because it shows sailors inappropriately using safety equipment, a Navy spokesman said. The four-minute, 18-second music clip, titled Women of CVN76: 'That Don't Impress Me Much,' was posted May 23 on the popular Web site for videos. It was viewed more than 31,000 times before its removal last week reportedly at the urging of Adm. Kirkland Donald, the Navy's director of nuclear propulsion.
Navy commanders have counseled the airman who produced the footage, said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, a spokesman for the San Diego-based Naval Air Forces command.
The incident illustrates the challenges that the military faces in an age of digital cameras and online video-sharing. The Pentagon frequently has found itself on the defensive for security or other reasons on issues involving the Internet and technology.
The theme of the Reagan video, set to a tune by country singer Shania Twain, is that women serving aboard the Reagan can do the same jobs as men. Until 1994, the Pentagon barred women from serving on combat ships. The video was a lighthearted and positive depiction of the service of women officers and sailors aboard aircraft carriers and in Navy squadrons, Brown said. It showed the good humor and camaraderie of the ship's crew.
But it also included fleeting shots of the door to the ship's nuclear power plant and of a sailor dancing while wearing a full-body radiation suit items that might alarm the Navy's nuclear-propulsion officials, who are hypersensitive about the security. Under Pentagon rules, images of any part of a ship's nuclear plant cannot be shown to foreign nationals.
The nuclear community is totally paranoid, said Norman Polmar, an independent Navy analyst from Alexandria, Va. They should be security conscious. But we're not the only people in the world with nuclear technology.
Brown denied that anything in the video compromised operational security. What worried Navy officials, he said, was the lack of propriety in a few scenes involving the use of safety equipment.
Neither the Navy nor the ship's command sponsored the video, Brown said. But Women of CVN76 spotlighted sailors from many departments of the carrier. Even the commanding officer, Capt. Terry Kraft, made a cameo appearance.
Brown said someone brought the video to the Navy's attention last week. Kraft was then summoned to the Pentagon for a meeting with Donald, a four-star flag officer who is near the top of the Navy's chain of command.
Bet that was a fun meeting.
The Navy didn't identify who made the video, except to say that it was a sailor assigned to an aviation squadron. The man who posted the footage uses the online moniker PUMPIT01. His other YouTube videos prominently feature members of VAW-113, a flight squadron based in Ventura County that embarks aboard the Reagan.
Earlier this year, the Army tightened regulations on war-zone bloggers out of fear that enemy fighters would glean useful intelligence from them.
Last week, the military newspaper Navy Times revealed that the online mapping site Google Earth carried a satellite photo that showed the exposed propeller of a U.S. nuclear submarine in drydock. The propeller is considered to be highly sensitive military technology.
Recently, the Department of Defense cut off access to 11 Web sites including YouTube and MySpace, a social-networking forum from its workplace computers. In doing so, Pentagon officials cited concerns about the amount of bandwidth used in accessing the sites, but some critics said it amounted to censorship.
At the same time, the Defense Department has used YouTube to post battle footage from Iraq, according to The Washington Post. It's kind of a double-edged sword, said William Knowles, a Chicago-based analyst who operates C4I.org, a Web site about government and military security. It's one thing to have digital cameras on the battlefield, on the warship. But you'd hope there would be guidelines (about how to use them).
Staying ahead of the latest technology is immensely difficult for Pentagon security officers, analysts say. It's just like wildfire, said Fred Villella, a retired Army colonel from Encinitas who runs the military security consulting firm System Defenses International. I don't know if we're ever going to be able to catch up with the capabilities that are out there.
#1
The NAVY always were tight-assed pricks, no humor seen or present in their Officer ranks.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/18/2007 11:12 Comments ||
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#2
Which NAVY are you talking about, Redneck? The nukes, the airdales, the SeaBees, the SEALS, the boomers, the bubble-heads, the FMF, or the skimmers?
Humor? The Thresher was a real knee-slapper, eh? And the Forrestal, the Thach and the Belknap all had great punchlines. I bet a nuke-accident would certainly cause great amusement. I bet it's especially funny when a cat-launch goes wrong, a marine falls overboard, or an AB gets hit by a rotor. I found it especially amusing when I got wounded during an operation because somebody fucked up. The two-year hospital stay and rehab was real Comedy-Central material.
Yeah, we officers should stand back and laugh our fucking fool heads off.
If and when you pull your head out of your ass, do some research on the number of Navy nuke accidents.
Here in Computer Land, when things go tits-up, we just reboot the server. Maybe some lost business and whiney customers. In the military, when it all goes wrong you end up with twisted, smoking wreckage and dead comrades. It's like running with scissors - explosive, fragmentation scissors. They can't afford mistakes. Sometimes being a 'tight-assed prick' can have survival value.
#7
Thanks Pappy for proving my point. We're talking about a sailor dancing wearing rad equipment, not opening the seals to look at the pretty blue glow.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/18/2007 18:42 Comments ||
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Paris Hilton has unveiled her namesake clothing line.
... so to speak.
The 26-year-old heiress, author, singer, perfume designer and reality-TV star met a crowd of fans at the Los Angeles event. "It's a dream come true to have my own clothing line," she said, wearing a gold sequined mini-dress. "It's just Paris style: fun, bright and flashy."
"You might call it 'floozy!'"
The collection, which Hilton described as "really comfortable" and "really affordable," includes shoes, T-shirts and jeans. Hilton said she spent a year submitting and approving designs. "It's just from my closet to their closets," she said. "I'm just excited about it and everyone really loves it."
"It's all designed to be worn without underpants, of course! And if one or both of your honkers escape, they won't stray far!"
Additional pieces will be released next month, she said.
"Really, it's getting harder to come up with more places to accidentally bare! I'm working on it really hard, though. I managed to expose one of my ovaries last week, in fact!"
The heiress also discussed other newsy matters in her life: her pregnant pal, Nicole Richie ("She's going to be a great mom," Hilton said), and the pending sale of her Hollywood Hills home. "I'm going to miss my house because I love it. I really designed it to be my perfect taste," she said. "But too many people know where I live and I'd rather be in a gated community."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
She needs to be in a gated community, all right - one where they don't let her out.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/18/2007 15:56 Comments ||
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All the lefty blogs, with Wonkette leading the way, are cackling that Jenna is preggers. Dunno if that's fake but accurate or not...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
We'll know in 7 months or so.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/18/2007 11:13 Comments ||
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#2
Who cares, I hope she is pregnant and the Bush though them a HUGE White House wedding. What are they going to cackle about? Heterosexuality? Marriage? Love? Might keep the left busy so we can get some serious work done.
A strong undersea earthquake struck eastern Indonesia on Friday, the US Geological Survey and local officials said. No tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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The British Broadcasting Corp said on Friday its Russian-language FM broadcasts have been taken off the air by its Moscow distributor, which said its programs were "foreign propaganda." The decision by Bolshoye Radio leaves the BBC's Russian-language services available only on medium and shortwave broadcasts.
"Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Putingrad and all the ships at sea...hey, is this thing on?"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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The senior Air Force commander in the Pacific this week threw cold water on a Chinese military proposal to divide up the Pacific Ocean into U.S. and Chinese spheres of influence.
Gen. Paul V. Hester was asked about China's recent plan to give the United States control of the eastern Pacific region, while China would control the western Pacific.
"Our policy is not to cede space to anyone," Gen. Hester said in a telephone press conference from Hawaii. He said the United States "needs to be" in the western Pacific, "as opposed to running through a proxy, if you will, by ceding a certain part of territory and asking them to take care of it for us."
The proposal was made to Adm. Tim Keating, the overall commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, during a recent visit to China. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
08/18/2007 00:19 ||
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#1
Divide? Hee hee hee.
No.
Ours.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
08/18/2007 2:05 Comments ||
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#2
???
Maybe it's the Chinese version of April Fools Day or something.
#3
"If I see that the Russians Chinese are amassing their planes for an attack, I'm going to knock the shit out of them before they take off the ground."
#4
Russian resuming air patrols and this. Now China and Russia are having war games together.
Posted by: Boss Craising2882 ||
08/18/2007 7:36 Comments ||
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#5
Another Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere? No thanks.
Posted by: Glinesh Dark Lord of the Hemps6193 ||
08/18/2007 8:34 Comments ||
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#6
China couldn't "control" their coastline if we decided to make it so... nice try. Next time you want to play "Superpower Navy", make sure you bring one
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/18/2007 9:09 Comments ||
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#7
After the US, the big dog in Asia is Japan.
China is a poor third in terms of power projection.. and perhaps even less.. India has a carrier and an LPD..
Posted by: john frum ||
08/18/2007 10:13 Comments ||
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#8
Please, please, pretty please, let me have some ocean to play superpower in, whaddya mean NO?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/18/2007 11:23 Comments ||
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#9
No - China justs wants free reign for controlling all the oil in the ocean between them and Singapore.
Chinese emergency teams are searching for 172 miners who were working underground when a coal mine flooded, state media has reported. Amid heavy rain in Xintai city, 450km (280 miles) south of Beijing, rescuers have already led 584 miners to safety, Xinhua news agency said. Senior Communist Party officials are now co-ordinating the rescue effort.
They're doomed.
China's coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world, with more than 5,000 deaths reported annually.
"There were 756 miners working under the ground when the accident occurred," Zhang Dekuan, deputy secretary-general of the provincial government, said. Of these, 584 were rescued, he added.
Xinhua reported that the mine, in eastern China's Shandong province, was overrun with surface water at about 1430 local time (0630 GMT) on Friday.
ABC News' Rick Klein Reports: Former Sen. John Edwards on Friday fired the latest round in his ongoing verbal feud with Ann Coulter, calling her a "she-devil" at a public event before quickly adding that he shouldn't engage in name-calling. My ears are burning!
Edwards, Dimwitted-N.C., was railing against the right-wing media -- including Fox News and Rush Limbaugh -- when he reminded a crowd in Burlington, Iowa, that his wife stood up to Coulter in a public spat earlier this summer. Ripped her a new one, she did!
"We know these people. We know their game plan. They're going to attack us personally," Edwards said. "They attacked Elizabeth personally, because she stood up to that she-devil Ann Coulter. I should not have name-called. But the truth is -- forget the names -- people like Ann Coulter, they engage in hateful language." Shame on anyone who would do that!
In June, Coulter went on ABC's "Good Morning America" and said she had learned her lesson after being blasted for suggesting in a joke before the Conservative Political Action Conference that Edwards was a "faggot." "If I'm gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot," Coulter said. Snort! :-) Err, ahem. :-|
That prompted Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, to call in to MSNBC's "Hardball" and challenge Coulter directly. "I want to use the opportunity to ask her politely to stop the personal attacks," Mrs. Edwards said.
The call left Coulter uncharacteristically flustered -- and was shamelessly quickly turned into a fund-raising appeal by the Edwards campaign. Good job, Ann! The more you can get Defeatocrats to spend their money on this guy, the better!
#1
But the truth is -- forget the names -- people like Ann Coulter, they engage in hateful language.
All Ann does is play by the same rules that the party of 'personal destruction' has played by for generations. As the old saying goes - they can dish it out, but they can't take it. BTW 'hateful language' is code talk for 'disagreeing with me'.
#2
remember, Elizabeth Edwards is the peace-loving spouse that hired the two hate-bloggers for her husband's campaign. Elizabeth is a stronger man than John. "She-Devil" is just weak-ass, Breck Girl, and I bet Ms. Coulter had a great laugh over it
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/18/2007 9:01 Comments ||
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#3
She'll kick your ass and make you like it, pretty boy...
#6
Her eyes will make you dig your grave and lick the shovel clean, pretty boy........so watch it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/18/2007 11:59 Comments ||
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#7
Excuse me for asking such a silly question, but what does any of this childish nonsense have to do with the issues facing this country which one would normally expected to be debated in a presidential campaign? And why is Elizabeth Edwards somehow always involved in these brouhahas? If John Edwards had any sense at all, and I'm not saying he does, he would tell his wife something like "I love you, dear, and we're all terribly sorry about your disease. But would you please just STFU?"
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
08/18/2007 12:47 Comments ||
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#8
Just means Lizzie had her hand up John-boy's ass and was animating the muppet.
Posted by: ed ||
08/18/2007 14:26 Comments ||
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#9
Yeah he's ready to be a leader of the free world.
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/18/2007 15:01 Comments ||
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#1
I don't doubt it, do you know what a house costs in Maryland or Virginia, in an "appropriate" area for a politico? I doubt you could find one for less than $900,000. And that would be a real dump.
Former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert officially announced today that he would not seek re-election to Congress, saying he still hoped to be an advocate for his home state of Illinois. Mr. Hastert, who became speaker at the height of the Clinton impeachment era, had served in the post until the Republicans lost their majority in Congress last year. The former wrestling coach and teacher ruled over the House as George W. Bush became president in the wake of the 2000 election mess and through the 2006 midterms, all the while in charge of the membership.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
Sad to say that I'm glad he's gone.
Getting in front of the William Jefferson and his 9 frozen Salmon P. Chase's flap the way he did illustrates that nice guys do not, necessarily, make good legislators or leaders.
Another icon for the usefulness of term-limits...
#6
When Thompson hired the pro islamist Spencer Abraham, the boy went out the window in my book.
Glad to see I'm not the only one who feels this way. How much is Abraham being paid? Who's willing to bet more than a plug nickel that some percentage of those big bucks aren't going out the back door as terrorist fundingzakat?
Probably not a good idea. He started out by being pretty but unknown. Now he's reaching the pretty but stoopid stage. The more he opens his mouth, the dumber he gets. At the rate he's going, by December he's going to have the IQ of a stalk of broccoli.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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Barack Hussein Obama
Went to school in a muslim country which he touts as a foreign policy credential. Check.
Offered to bomb nuclear-armed Pakistan to look tough. Check.
Slandered our troops in Afghanistan (that they just put in aristrikes on civilians.) Check.
Was against the Iraq war because he believed Sadam DID possess WMD's. Check.
NEW DELHI - The United States cannot renegotiate a historic nuclear energy deal with India which has drawn strong criticism from politicians in New Delhi, the main US negotiator said in remarks published on Friday.
The comments by US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns come amid a growing chorus of demands from communist allies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs government to scrap the historic pact they say is unfair and imposes American supremacy.
We cant renegotiate it because the agreement is done, a statement from Indias Outlook magazine quoted Burns as saying in an interview. Neither government wishes it to be renegotiated because it is now complete. The interview is published in the latest issue of the magazine, due to hit the stands on Saturday.
Burns said he did not want to respond to criticism from Indias left parties as that would amount to getting involved in Indian politics, the statement said. So I dont have any particular message for them except to say that in the 21st century we have seen the global balance of forces shifting, he said. That it is in the common interest of India and the US to be partners, certainly on the effort to bring peace and stability in south and east Asia.
Washingtons refusal to consider renegotiating the agreement came as communist parties, whose support is crucial for the survival of Singhs coalition government, began a two-day meeting on Friday to decide their strategy on the deal. Singh has strongly defended the deal, saying it is crucial for Indias development and would not impact New Delhis foreign or security policies. Last week, he refused to budge and dared the communists to withdraw support.
While tough words have since been exchanged between the two sides and triggered fears that the coalition could be destabilised, the top communist leader indicated on Friday a compromise may be possible. The honeymoon may be over but the marriage can go on, Prakash Karat, general-secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the largest of the four left parties in parliament, told reporters ahead of the party meeting.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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President General Pervez Musharraf said on Friday he had decided to contest the presidential election for another term because the country needs him.
Talking to federal and provincial ministers, senators, members of the national and Punjab Assembly, and district nazims from Gujranwala, Kasur, Okara, Sialkot, Hafizabad, Sheikhupura, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Narowal and Lahore at Chief Minister's Secretariat here, President Musharraf said that he wanted to complete the mega projects and reforms introduced by him in the next presidential term.
A Pakistan Muslim League member who attended the meeting told Daily Times that President Musharraf denied that Pakistan was fighting the war against terrorism under foreign pressure. The president told the public representatives that the government had decided to participate in the war against terrorism in Pakistan's interest, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I know Perv is a favorite chew-toy here at the 'burg but Pakistan does need him or someone like him who can keep the country from turning into Yet Another Islamic Sh*t-hole (but with nuclear weapons).
And yes, the 'someone like him' choice would be the better option except for the fact that there do not seem to be any candidates among the current Paki players.
A plan to build an international airport on a man-made island off the coast of north Tel Aviv has been given a significant boost, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
A feasibility proposal approved at a meeting of the government-appointed National Planning Committee in Jerusalem last Tuesday calls for the construction of several islands 400 meters off shore. Under the plan, Sde Dov Airport in Ramat Aviv would be replaced by the island airport.
On and off the table for more than a decade, these artificial islands were deemed feasible for the first time, and a source close to the committee said further research was under way.
A panel chaired by the Interior Ministry's head of building and planning, Shamay Assif, drafted a general proposal for a chain of artificial islands stretching from Bat Yam to Netanya, the largest of which would hold a new international airport. "We are a growing economy. We are a small state. We need more power plants, more storage facilities for fuel, more harbor and airport facilities - things that usually take up a lot of space," Assif told the Post.
Representatives of the Airports Authority and the Transportation Ministry were not prepared to comment at this time.
Environmentalists say that the construction of artificial islands would disrupt the sedimentary flow along the coast, damaging the local ecosystem, and destroy the tourism industry on the Tel Aviv waterfront. Environmental watchdog organizations urge the Interior Ministry to investigate construction of an airport in the Negev, an option that Assif called "very complicated." Send all the watchdogs out into the Negev for a few months to do an in-depth analysis of the proposal.
"We think it would be very irresponsible for us, the government, not to consider islands in the sea [for an international airport]," said Assif, who added that the National Planning Committee expressed a preference for smaller islands and a regional airport over a larger island that could hold an airport large enough to take the strain off of Ben-Gurion.
"Within 10 to 30 years, we will certainly have to think about creating another international airport," he said. "There will be an environmental impact. We know that small islands would have less of an environmental impact that bigger ones," said Assif. He added that the environmental feasibility of building an airport was still being studied. Oh lord. Environmental impact reports have worked their way over there now. Their decision-making process is doomed.
Man-made islands are found across the world, including in Hong Kong and Dubai. However, none exist in open-sea conditions similar to those off the coast of Tel Aviv. "Our sea is not calm," Danny Kaiser, who was Tel Aviv's city engineer from 2000 to 2005, told the Post.
No sea is.
The Mediterranean coast experiences high winds and waves, and reaches great depths, he said. "To build an artificial island, one must have a very good reason."
An airport "is the one and only reason to build these islands. Otherwise, we are not yet at that point where we need artificial islands for people to live on... If the pros outweigh the cons, they will build it," he said. Getting Gazans to supply the sand taken from their emergency cesspool berms for cheap would be a good pro. Then you could cancel the project.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/18/2007 21:11 Comments ||
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#10
That "inshalla" crap doesn't maintain rotarty wing aircraft very well now, does it? Seems like lately old Allah ain't keeping the IRG under his wing too much either.
#1
When I saw it had been attacked by F4Js I believed planes had straffed the memorial. Too much reading about the F4F Wildcat, F4U Corsair and F4 Phantom.s
#5
These are FATHERS that have been shafted by the system, YOUR system. Apparently you've signed on to leftist liberal lies about dead-beat dads. I haven't been to this site before; are all you a bunch o' fookin' hairy-feminist lovers? If not, step up to the plate and defend those fathers that want their kids in their life. Don't just sit here bitching; do something, or suffer the consequences when it's your turn..
#6
2/3s of child support cases are in arrears in the US, probably higher in the UK where the nanny state absolves people even more from their actions. You can dip your dick but you can't dip into your wallet to raise the child YOU produced? Want to talk about shafted? Compare the number of mothers and children struggling to make rent to the number of dads clambering for custody. I dare say it's 100:1.
What this shows is a lack of responsibility and an unwillingness to face the consequences of their own making, much like the whining from those who so cavalierly violated the most sacred American national symbol and suffered the consequences. Want sympathy? Assure child support is paid by those who owe it and not the taxpayer. Only then will the long suffering public give a damn about you and your childish defacement of our symbols.
Go back to England and petition your own MPs or go piss on Nelson's statue. I don't care which.
Posted by: ed ||
08/18/2007 16:07 Comments ||
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#7
I actually think this is good agit-prop, using the same method as the Usual suspects; I wish them luck, though, modern western societies have be re-rigged as fatherless societies, from "father knows best" to "family guy" (the show with Peter Griffin) if you wish, with all that entails. Courage, fellows!
#8
"Yet again Fathers 4 Justice in the UK has led the way with an audacious protest to raise the global profile of fatherlessness and the social catastrophe it is causing in first world countries."
Ya know, I thoroughly agree re: the social catastrophe, but the part about "once more the UK has led the way with an audacious.... " is pretentious posturing crap IMO.
Let's see. Non-citizens go to my nation's capital, scale a key landmark/memorial and people are surprised / outraged they were arrested? Post 9/11 they're lucky they weren't shot first and questioned later.
Sorry guys. I am 100+% behind promoting fatherhood. I am also quite aware of deadbeat dad cases that affect families I know. Deadbeat is wrong. Keeping fathers from kids is equally wrong and a social disaster.
But climbing the Lincoln Memorial in the height of tourist season, post 9/11, isn't "audacious". I can think of a lot of terms for it, but that one somehow doesn't spring to mind ....
#9
Assure child support is paid by those who owe it
America has recently made passport renewal contingent upon having all delinquent child support over a few grand paid in full. You'd be amazed how these deadbeats suddenly can cough up tens of thousands of dollars when an overseas boxing match or business deal is suddenly at stake.
I watched my father liquidate most of our family's assets to pay high-priced lawyers so he could get child support payments whittled down to $75 bucks per kid each month. How curious that nearly all of his children have moved out of state or refuse to talk to him ever again.
Absentee fathers are a principal contributor to modern society's high juvenile crime rate and poor scholastic performance. The black community, especially, is crippled by such neglect. These slacking self-indulgent wankers should be pilloried and horsewhipped.
As a baby boomer, I've had to put up with these sorts of 'clever' stunts for decades, aimed at a large variety of 'causes'. It's soooo last year / decade / generation.
When anyone - much less foreigners - does it on the Mall, at a memorial I love, it goes beyond being tiresome to me and moves smack into anger-making territory. No matter what the cause they are protesting / advocating / advertising / hoping to get Gretta Van Susteren or Nancy Grace to interview them for.
#11
as a divorced father who spent close to $40K to get custody of my three kids, and successfully raised them myself, I have the ability to say good message - stupid presentation. Idiots. Way to turn people against what is an otherwise righteous position, F4J's!. BTW - my youngest turned 18 yesterday and starts college monday, so I have the right to be proud. For Brits to do this on an American National Memorial shows a tin ear of terrible proportions
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/18/2007 17:41 Comments ||
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#12
I have the right to be proud.
You most certainly do, Frank. Both of my parents attended one of the finest universities in this entire world yet neither of them ever bothered to help their children with any homework or gave a royal shit about them getting a higher education. Oh, did I mention that my father was a school teacher?
lotp, your rant and anger are both entirely justified.
#13
BGTW, anon5089 made an important point. Father's rights issue is just a part of the problem. Men have been diminished and ridiculed for years in ads, TV shows and movies. It's corrosive and has had horrible effects socially.
I'm not willing to go back to a time when women were equally ridiculed and treated as inherently stupid / inept. (Yes, there was such a time in living memory, alas.)
Somehow we've got to find a way to restore dignity to our culture and respect both sexes on an equal basis without either ghettoing one or pretending there aren't differences between them. Us. Y'all.
#15
Thx - it helped that I had children that were inherently good people, and family support in every way
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/18/2007 18:35 Comments ||
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#16
Father's rights issue is just a part of the problem.
Definitely so butspeaking as a manthose rights deserve to be on a back burner until socio-economic gender equality is finally achieved. Women are still inherently discriminated against in the working world, both financially and in terms of career advancement. During the 1980s my college graduate sweetheart was outraged at how Iwith only a high school diplomamade more money than she did.
However, once that gender equality is obtained watch for all hell to break loose over things like a father's right not to have an unborn child aborted, custody and ex-wives paying child support to men who have custody. It will certainly make for some interesting times.
#17
A man friend of mine has recently gone through a flesh-eating divorce and custody battle; the results were beneficial to no one, particularly the child.
I'm not sure how scaling the Lincoln Memorial helps the cause of my friend and his kid.
#18
lotp agreed. Congrats too Frank on your youngest.
I divorced after my kids were grown and out of the house, so that was good. Although I wish that my kids would have a dad, he has to do alot of work first, but it may be too late, the kids have already disowned him. Sorry too much info.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/18/2007 19:11 Comments ||
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#19
Glad to see this!!! Men in the U.S. are 4th class citizens. Too bad we don't have any "men" in the U.S. who have the balls to do this. Thanks to our UK brothers!!!!
Because the U.S. education system doesn't properly cultivate its most promising pupils, as many gifted as non-gifted students drop out of school.
About 5 percent of both populations leave school early, Time magazine reported Friday. This is, in part, because those who write education policy generally focus on students of impoverished means or who have learning disabilities; they don't create programs that nuture children who are intellectually exceptional.
U.S. schools spend more than $8 billion a year educating the mentally retarded and about $800 million on programs for the gifted.
U.S. schools spend more than $8 billion a year educating the mentally retarded and about $800 million on programs for the gifted.
Although students who score 55 or lower on IQ tests require "special" education, Time said students with IQs that have IQs of 145 or higher often have trouble interacting with average kids and learning at an average pace. Of 62 million U.S. school-age children, about 62,000 have IQs above 145, while roughly the same number of children have IQs below 55.
A recent report showed students in six countries, including Japan, Hungary and Singapore, scored significantly higher in math than their highest-achieving U.S. counterparts, suggesting the U.S. education system isn't helping them achieve their potential.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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Of 62 million U.S. school-age children, about 62,000 have IQs above 145
Journalists aren't known for their math skillz.
Posted by: ed ||
08/18/2007 1:37 Comments ||
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#2
"And the trees are all kept equal
by hatchet, axe, and saw."
-N. Peart
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/18/2007 6:05 Comments ||
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#3
This is quite true. There are school districts that do an outstanding job with their gifted students -- some of whom also have ADD/ADHD or dyslexia, compounding the problem -- but most assume that gifted students will respond, at best, to extra homework. I know a number of parents in that situation who choose to home school the children; private schools are even worse at distinguishing normal bright children from gifted, who may not be any brighter, but think differently.
On the other hand, from what I've read and heard about the education systems of countries cited, I suspect they don't address the needs of the gifted any better; it's just that there's so much homework that everyone is too exhausted to notice. Trailing daughter #2 is friends with a lovely Korean exchange student who so enjoyed her first year here that she finagled a second year at a nearby school; back home kids are accustomed to getting no more than four hours of sleep a night -- they catch up as best they can during class time when they're supposed to be reading. Under such conditions thinking differently is a liability, even as the brightest normals thrive.
The level of math and science skills in our high school grads, including their ability to think in an analytic, logical way, formulating and testing hypotheses, has declined measurably in the last 20 years.
The 'New Math' was supposed to teach concepts to kids who would pick up the tactical skills along the way as they needed them. It's clear that for many, neither concepts nor tools are learned. I've seen more than I want of undergrads in universities here who cannot do basic algebra, who don't grasp basic concepts in statistics and who just aren't comfortable putting together a linear proof.
These kids aren't about to major in engineering, computer science or the natural sciences. They do 'qualitative research' in the social sciences because complex analyses using structural equation models are beyond them - and they don't have the confidence or the core skills to learn how to do them.
We're now into our 2nd generation of such students - i.e. some of our faculty fall into this boat and therefore think the skills aren't needed.
Meanwhile, Chinese and other foreign students here may be iffy on the concepts, but they can differentiate equations and manipulate numbers with fluency. Which is one main reason they make up such a high proportion of grad students in our engineering programs.
#6
I took a GED at 16 and escaped the tyrany of leveled window blinds regardless of sun, desks in dead straight rows, and "New Knowledge" around ten to fifteen yers old.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/18/2007 11:28 Comments ||
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#7
Teachers unions, government schools, lack of challenge, and laziness. Romans spoiled rotten.
#8
Our local community schools have done a great job, as many have brilliant parents with skills in math and science required for the regional engineering and high tech jobs, and do not put limits on gifted students. They identify bright kids early on and tend to group students according to learning styles, as all are not rote learners. If the subject or level the student is capable of is not offered, they may take the desired class through local colleges at state expense. We have had middle school kids taking college level calculus and go on to graduate with dual degrees from MIT in four years. We also have a high proportion of dual-parent homes supportive of education as compared to the many single- parent poverty-stricken barrios and ghettos. Also, some believe kids with ADHD and other disorders often self-medicate with illegal drugs, contributing to the drop-out rate of otherwise intelligent kids. Educators and policy makers are too often comparing apples and oranges and falsely blame the teachers for a societal problem.
An Australian psychiatrist says clinical depression is being over-diagnosed.
That's because there's a fine line between depression and being unhappy. I believe there's also a certain controversy over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
Dr. Gordon Parker of the University of New South Wales said many people being diagnosed with depression may just be feeling a bit blue, the Australian Broadcast Corp. said Friday. "My personal view is that it is normal for humans to become depressed," he said.
Oh, Gawd, that tears me up! Stop, please!
"We can call that normal depression and there's also clinical depression."
I think it's where the twains meet that the problem lies.
Clinical depression was once diagnosed in about 5 to 10 percent of the population, he said. Current diagnostic criteria would cover up to 90 percent of the population.
Cheeze. Wotta downer. I may spend the rest of the day eating worms.
Parker says criteria introduced in the 1980s broadened the definition of depression to include minor conditions. "Clinical depression in the old days was black melancholia," he said. "Now we've got blue becoming the new black."
I was a lot happier back before the color shift. I'd come down with a case of the glums in the morning but by lunchtime I was my old self -- nasty, snarling, brutish...
For the progressive movement green has become the new black ...
Ian Hickie of the University of Sydney rejected Parker's theory in a debate published in the British Medical Journal. He said people with lesser forms of depression are more likely to be at risk from premature death than the general population and often go on to develop major depression. "The increased treatment rate is a Godsend," he said.
"Yeah. With the increased business we can finally afford that vacation to the south of France."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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Or are some realists finally grasping that under the massive black hole of national health care funding, that the ever rationalized 'syndrome' as the justification for any behavior will sweep all the funding into collapse [kill the goose that lays the golden egg]?
For tens of thousands of years, man existed at the basic level of survival [and still does in many places on the Earth]. I'm sure that wasn't a laugh riot. Had to be hard between planting and hunting season just to find food, particularly given the vagaries of weather and climate. Life is tough. Has to be even tougher if you live in a society that allows you the luxury of sitting around mopping about and not worry about were the next meal is coming from. /sarcasm off.
#2
I was a lot happier back before the color shift. I'd come down with a case of the glums in the morning but by lunchtime I was my old self -- nasty, snarling, brutish...
And your point is? We should all be so functional!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Paris Hilton has unveiled her namesake clothing line.
The British Broadcasting Corp said on Friday its Russian-language FM broadcasts have been taken off the air by its Moscow distributor, which said its programs were "foreign propaganda." The decision by Bolshoye Radio leaves the BBC's Russian-language services available only on medium and shortwave broadcasts.
NEW DELHI - The United States cannot renegotiate a historic nuclear energy deal with India which has drawn strong criticism from politicians in New Delhi, the main US negotiator said in remarks published on Friday.
President General Pervez Musharraf said on Friday he had decided to contest the presidential election for another term because the country needs him. 
Officials say the incident, which was caused by a technical problem, occurred near Tamarchin in West Azerbaijan Province Friday night.
Because the U.S. education system doesn't properly cultivate its most promising pupils, as many gifted as non-gifted students drop out of school. 
An Australian psychiatrist says clinical depression is being over-diagnosed. 
