Our computers are mainly safe

Have you seen the news stories that its possible for bad guys to read your encryption keys on your computer? Well as usual, a true story has been turned into a crisis to sell papers with the NY Times leading the charge. Our data is safer then the NY Times realize.

Chinese Eco-Propaganda

Eager to show off their mad eco-industrial-skillz, the Chinese government awarded a photojournalist of Xinhua, the Chinese organ, a top photo award. The photographer, Liu Weiqing, says,

"I wanted to capture the harmony among the Tibetan antelope, the train, men and nature,"

In other words, propaganda.

"It's such a perfect propaganda photo," says David Bandurski a researcher at the University of Hong Kong China Media Project. "They don't tend to give journalism prizes to reports that rock the boat." (emphasis mine)

The problem is, the photo is a fraud.

Iraq and Vietnam

The situation in Iraq is improving.

How the US media turned a military victory into a political defeat by selective reporting in Vietnam.

I Hear Voices (in Wikipedia)

Like most netizens, I turn to Wikipedia for general information and pointers about a topic. Of course, I read Wiki with a healthy dose of skepticism, knowing full well that any doof with a grudge can poison the well, as it were. The very strength of Wiki, the democratization of the encyclopedia, also means it's pretty common to encounter bias, inaccuracies and outright value judgments. Another drawback of the Wiki is the loss of a single voice for articles, it's difficult to find a well-written article that is cohesive in its presentation of information, in fact, reading some articles is much like an archaeological dig--you can detect layers and layers of edits and re-writes. Still, it's oft the only game in town for some subjects. Who can beat the price? Leading to the number one rule:

caveat emptor

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Church and State Separation

Very interesting article whereby a pastor openly endorses Obama, who was visiting the church.

the pastor of the Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ, speaking from the pulpit, advocated for Obama, possibly breaking the law. Pastor Leon Smith told the congregation that "the more he (Obama) speaks, the more he wins my confidence, and ... if the polls were open today, I would cast my vote for this senator.

Of course, the MSM doesn't follow up on this.

As much as the article doth protest, I think that we take separation of church and state too far in this country in that never the two shall mix in any context. This, to me, is a duality that I cannot support. If faith is true, then faith must inform politics. What then does separation of church and state mean? It means we must abide by the principle set by the framers: no religion should be excluded from public discourse or made verboten.

I found this comment by the pastor more disturbing:

[Pastor Leon Smith] urged them to [vote] the same, saying, “If you can’t support your own, you’re never going to get anywhere."

One blog commentator sums it up:

"In other words, blacks should always vote for blacks in order to “get anywhere,” which must mean that as President Obama is expected to favor blacks over whites in signing legislation, in awarding positions in government and in giving out lucrative contracts. He will not be the President of all the people, but of one slice of America. Note too that Obama apparently didn’t have any problem with that remark. Judging by his silence, that’s apparently what he intends to do." (emphasis mine)

I'm just as alarmed as he is, although I'm not quite ready to tar Obama with motives not yet proved out.

(hat tip Mark Stricherz at getreligion.org)

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Body Armor

Body Armor
I've seen the debates on Strategy Page and on the Military Channel about Dragon Skin verses the Interceptor vests. NBC has also weighed in and basically accused the Government of refusing to buy superior body armor for the troops because of corruption or sweetheart deals with the manufacturer of the current vest. And the president of Pinnacle Armor, makers of Dragon Skin has not been shy about saying his company's vest is superior and should be the Army standard.

I do NOT claim to know the answer, never having worn or even seen either vest in person.

However, Michael Yon purchased a Dragon Skin vest for $4,000 and is selling it on Ebay for what ever he can get for it. He WILL NOT wear it in Iraq and does not think it should be worn in combat. At his web site he states why he doesn't like DS. Here is what some other solders think of DS. Why should I accept the word of Michael Yon, well he has shown over the last 5 years he is a man of integrity and would rather tell the truth then be popular. Check out his web site to learn more about him.

Wall Street Journal

I've been an online reader of the WSJ since it was first launched back in 1997 or so. I always get nervous when someone buys a successful paper and says they want to improve it. I was and am nervous about News Corp owning the WSJ and now with the claim they want to replace the NY Times as the paper of record.

While having a good newspaper be the paper of record would be a good thing (and I do not think the NY Times is a good paper), I am not sure I want to see the WSJ move from a business paper to a general paper. Even if they just added the other parts to the paper and didn't change the business section. But I am just a reader not the owner so will have to wait and see.

Goodbye 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR

If you are someone who feels the need to shoot into the air to celebrate the new year, I have a favor to ask you. DON'T. Just do NOT shoot into the air please. See I really do not like having lead "rain drops" falling on my head. Thank you.

Some of the things reporters said in 2007. These are not gotcha comments but it sure does show the total lack of their objectivity or their total ignorance of history.

Finally, Christians returning to a Muslim country and why it is significant.

New Chapter of Life

Well, the most stressful quarter of my grad school life is over and the program is done. I have my MBA (and the school loans to prove it) and can think about life other then work and school.

However, the goal didn't come without costs. Last week I went to the ER with chest pressure and was in the hospital until Friday evening. Everything is ok, and the symptoms I was feeling were most likely stress related but it is a reminder that everything we do has a cost. Now, I get to recover again from all the tests and start to figure out the next phase of my life. Same company or not, etc. etc.

I think I may have to find a way for the boss to start writing again or his cats may end up like the horse in the movie godfather (jk, i think).

I don't really know what I'll be writing about in the future, the news and politics for some of it, but that will only go so far. I'm losing interest in politics as both sides are bad, although the left seems to take all the wrongs of the right and go farther. I'm tired of having to vote for the lesser fool or idiot.

I don't know if anyone who has visited here has heard about Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp and his story in The New Republic magazine. Basically he claimed that he and his fellow soldiers were behaving very poorly due to the stress of combat. At first, no one was sure if Beauchamp was a real person. So the Mil Blogs started to dig and they found out Beauchamp was real, he is a soldier and has or is serving in Iraq. However, the truth seems to have ended there. The things he wrote about he and is fellow soldiers were doing were "fabrications containing only "a smidgen of truth"" as reported by the Weekly Standard. Beauchamp's claim has been investigated by the military and he has signed a sworn affidavit say the stories in TNR are false. He said he joined the military to help his goal of becoming a writer. Well he has a lot of publicity, wonder if it is of the type he wants. Hat tip Lucianne.

Have a good day and will hopefully be here daily, on weekdays from now on.

Thrusday

Hmmm, making a plea for people to acknowledge the existence of this blog might work better if I wasn't the only one who visited it yesterday. Oh well, so much for trying to get sympathy visits and comments.

Class tonight so it will be a long day. All of my other semesters (I'm in my 6th and last semester), classes officially ended at 10pm but most got out between 9 and 10pm because the professors had covered the material. This semester, classes are still officially 6 to 10, but the professors keep us to 10 or 10:30pm. As I tell my classmates (while ducking) that at least we are getting our moneys worth, they counter that by 9:30 or so most if not all of the class is so brain dead we aren't getting anything out of it. That is true and makes sense. It is very difficult to concentrate 100% for 4 hours, especially after a full day at work. Oh well, enough rambling about school, it will hopefully be over in 12 weeks.

Two columns I found that I'd like to share:

Fred Thompson's on why schools do not teach Military History as a subject and what the consequences for us as a society is.

Mike Adams on how God can use a total screw up (Mike) and transform him into a new person. Also how God does have a sense of humor when it comes to answering prayers.

History Professor Turned Blogger Makes History

It appears that the recent exoneration of the Duke lacrosse players was in no small part due to history professor,
KC Johnson who meticulously documented the misapplication of justice by potentially-soon-to-be-possibly de-barred prosecutor, Mike Nifong who may have been pushing the case a little too hard so that he could

[use] the case to win support for his re-election campaign from Durham's black community, which largely sided with the players' black accuser.

Johnson spent his days and nights documenting the case, digging up facts, and applying comparison to what had happened. That is, just being a historian for the events as they occurred. His blog, Durham-in-Wonderland, continues to document the case, the impact, the outcome, and the context. From what little I've gathered, and I admittedly have not paid the case much attention, the case has become a lightening rod of race and justice. Here is an example from his Redeeming the Times post of today (April 16, 2007):

Essex Fells mayor Ed Abbot noted, “People had racial agendas, economic agendas, media-driven agendas, and who these boys were got totally lost. You feel like you’re in the middle of the forest screaming and no one can hear.”

Tricia Dowd, whose son, a lacrosse player, graduated from Duke last year, recounted her experience at the NCCU forum (yes, she actually went): “Maybe I’m naïve. I didn’t know there was so much hate in the world.”

And Nona Farahnik, who lived in the same dorm as Reade and Collin, lamented how “they became a perfect example of all the injustices in society, except in their case, justice went out the door. And the same people usually championing basic human rights were so intent on denying it to them.”

Imus

Radio shock jock Imus gets the ax for an ill-advised and crude remarks about the Rugter's team. Was he wrong? Yes. Was his remark hate filled? Yes. Is he within his rights to say those things? Yes.

Protected speech, as odious as it might be, is still free speech; although one is free to speak, one is not free of the consequences. Still, I can't help but suspect that his firing will bring a chill on like media, where other personalities are forced by the specter of job loss to toe the societal line and cave in to a vocal wing. It isn't official censorship, but a societal one.