Beer in the Headlights

Knock me over with a feather.

Would-be presidential assassin John Hinckley is a womanizing narcissist who juggles sexual relationships and "believes himself entitled to a life of leisure," according to federal prosecutors.

Hinckley maintains "fondling privileges" with one paramour, "rekindled" a relationship with a former girlfriend, has been "maintaining near simultaneous sexual relationships" with two women and "met a fourth woman" last year, according to the motion.

Wow. Weird. This is the man that shot Ronald Reagan, spurred the creation of a gun-grabbing organization and pushed Jodie Foster to become a lesbian. Given those credentials I find it very surprising that Hinckley could attract one woman to shag let alone juggle juggle a handful of them.

Fondling privileges? Say what? Is that akin to a "friend with benefits?"

I can just imagine if he's released from the mental hospital... Out will come the obligatory book and the much-touted appearances on Oprah, The View and Rachel Ray. He may even do a special prime time episode with Dr. Phil. Can you imagine the engaging discourse between Hinckley and Larry King?

Barack Obama celebrated Father's Day by calling on black fathers, who he said are "missing from too many lives and too many homes," to become active in raising their children.

"They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it," the Democratic presidential candidate said Sunday at a largely black church in his hometown.

The irony in that statement is quite rich. Obama's father left him and his mother when Barack was two years old.

I guess Barry does have a point. Without their fathers, many young black men could grow up to be Marxist bigots and run for president on the weak and vague pretenses of change and hope.

One news story highlights a litany of societal ills facing the UK.

An English teenager died from complications two weeks after taking two abortion pills, her mother told an inquest into the teen's death this week.

Manon Jones, 18, described by her mother as a devout Christian teen, opted to terminate her pregnancy at six weeks because she feared the pregnancy would cause conflict within her "Muslim" boyfriend's family, the Daily Mail reported Friday.

The teen took the first dose of medication to terminate the pregnancy on June 10, 2005, and the second two days later. On June 15, Jones felt light headed and experienced heavy bleeding so her boyfriend took her to Southmead Hospital in Bristol, England for a scan. She was told the scan was "normal," the report said.

A "devout" Christian teenager gets knocked up by her Muslim boyfriend and decides to kill the baby. She then suffers from some serious side effects and dies as the result of sub-standard socialized medicine.

But at least the RU-486 and misdiagnosis were "free," right?

I think young Miss Jones got was the recipient of a smiting.

I'm an IT guy by trade. I do contract work for the military and am quite familiar with computer security and many of the threats we face.

Recently our systems have gone to a minimum of 15 character passwords. I'm often asked by users as to why and I reply, "Simple answer? Hackers sponsored by the ChiComs."

Here's a frightening statistic for you:

The Pentagon last month acknowledged at a closed House Intelligence committee meeting that its vast computer network is scanned or attacked by outsiders more than 300 million times each day.

That paragraph came from an article about computers in certain Congressmen's offices being hacked. These Congressmen have been outspoken critics of the ChiCom regime.

Predictably the ChiComs deny any such allegations:

China denied accusations by two U.S. lawmakers that it hacked into congressional computers, saying Thursday that as a developing country it wasn't capable of sophisticated cybercrime.

"Is there any evidence? ... Do we have such advanced technology? Even I don't believe it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regularly scheduled news conference.

Look, if teenagers can hack into government and corporate systems using Windows-based computers from their families' DSL or cable connections, then the ChiComs more than "capable of spohisticated cybercrime."

Do poor, developing nations really have the means to engage in cyber-censorship? Sure they do. With the help of Cisco Systems, Yahoo, and Google. Fortunately some folks in DC are taking these US-based firms to task for their complicity in oppressing Chinese citizens.

Witnesses at a congressional hearing talked about dissidents in China, Syria and Russia who were imprisoned after posting their political thoughts on the Internet.

Routers, e-mail and other Internet services of U.S. companies helped the foreign governments track down the dissidents in some cases, the witnesses told members of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on human rights and the law.

Information presented at the hearing included a 2002 PowerPoint presentation reportedly produced by Cisco and the Chinese government. It gave an update on China's Internet security network and its goal to "combat 'Falun Gong' evil religion and other hostiles."

Falun Gong is a spiritual movement banned by the Chinese government as a cult.

Chinese government documents given to The Washington Times by the Global Internet Freedom Consortium and translated into English say, "The implementation and architecture of the second and third level (Golden Shield) network is solely based on Cisco switches, routers and intelligent administration systems."

The ChiComs' computer-related antics don't stop at search engine shenanigans or the Great Firewall of China. Take a gander at this:

U.S. authorities are investigating whether Chinese officials secretly copied the contents of a government laptop computer during a visit to China by Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and used the information to try to hack into Commerce computers, officials and industry experts told The Associated Press.

Surreptitious copying is believed to have occurred when a laptop was left unattended during Gutierrez's trip to Beijing for trade talks in December, people familiar with the incident told the AP. These people spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident was under investigation.

And then there's this little tidbit:

National security agencies are warning businesses and federal officials that laptops and e-mail devices taken to the Beijing Olympics are likely to be penetrated by Chinese agents aiming to steal secrets or plant bugs to infiltrate U.S. computer networks.

Chinese government and industry use electronic espionage to "easily access official and personal computers," says one recent report by the Overseas Security Advisory Council, a federally chartered panel comprising security experts from corporations and the State, Commerce and Treasury departments.

How about some more info on hacking efforts from China?

At the Naval Network Warfare Command here, U.S. cyber defenders track and investigate hundreds of suspicious events each day. But the predominant threat comes from Chinese hackers, who are constantly waging all-out warfare against Defense Department networks, Netwarcom officials said.

Attacks coming from China, probably with government support, far outstrip other attackers in terms of volume, proficiency and sophistication, said a senior Netwarcom official, who spoke to reporters on background Feb 12. The conflict has reached the level of a campaign-style, force-on-force engagement, he said.

The motives of Chinese hackers run the gamut, including technology theft, intelligence gathering, exfiltration, research on DOD operations and the creation of dormant presences in DOD networks for future action, the official said.

Chinese hackers were responsible for an intrusion in November 2006 that disabled the Naval War College’s network, forcing the college to shut down its e-mail and computer systems for several weeks, the official said. Forensic analysis showed that the Chinese were seeking information on war games in development at NWC, the official said.

What have we learned here today, kids? First, the ChiComs are not our friends. Secondly, US technology companies doing business with China need to be scrutinized for their involvement in thwarting free speech and attacking our systems. And last but not least, keep a close eye on your computer and where you go on the interweb.

U.S. companies "have a moral obligation to protect freedom of expression," said Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat.

But, but, but... He also said this:

“It’s time to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

Fairness Doctrine? What's that got to do with censorship?

Censor: "to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable"

Here's what the Fairness Doctrine is:

The Fairness Doctrine was a United States FCC regulation requiring broadcast licensees to present controversial issues of public importance in a manner deemed by the FCC to be honest, equitable, and balanced.

The FCC... The government. The government taking a look at content "of public importance" and censoring it or forcing companies to broadcast content counter to those views.

So how about the First Amendment?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Idiots like Dick Durbin have a difficult time grasping the phrase, "Congress shall make no law..."

While I appreciate Senator Durbin's efforts to expand on issue of free speech in China, I'd like for him to respect those same rights here in the United States - even if he doesn't like what many of us have to say about him, his party or their politics.

More like a Sodom and Gommorah side show.

Judge Alex Kozinski is more accustomed to appearing on lists to fill U.S. Supreme Court vacancies than in headlines involving pornographic scandals.

But on Wednesday, the chief judge of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California -- the country's largest federal appeals court -- was forced to suspend an obscenity trial he was presiding over after sexually explicit images posted to his personal Web site became public.

The Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site that Kozinski had posted sexual material on his personal Web site and then blocked access after being interviewed about it Tuesday evening.

Kozinski, 57, told the Times he thought the material on his site, which included a video of a man cavorting with a sexually aroused farm animal, couldn't be seen by the public. The judge said he didn't believe any of the images were obscene.

"Is it prurient? I don't know what to tell you," he told the newspaper. "I think it's odd and interesting. It's part of life."

He then suspended until Monday the trial of Ira Isaacs, who is charged with obscenity for selling movies depicting bestiality and extreme fetishes involving feces and urination. Appellate judges such as Kozinski occasionally handle trial court cases.

Odd? Interesting? Part of life?

No, no and no.

Small wonder the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has more of its decisions overturned by the US Supreme Court than any other Circuit Court. San Francisco liberalism. Freaks.

Seven years ago, he engaged Washington, D.C., federal court administrators in a battle over Web filters they installed to block porn from government computers. The computer-savvy Kozinski walked into a government computer room in San Francisco and personally disabled the filters for three appellate circuits, including his own, touching off a feud with administrators he ultimately won when they stopped blocking porn.

So Judge Kozinski thinks thinks that government employees can surf for smut on our dime? Nice.

Unfortunately federal judges need to be impeached by Congress. Not going to happen under Pelosi's watch.

Flim-flammery and bamboozlement

Young voters: Obama's race as an asset, non-issue

Younger (half) black guy = Cool, hip, trendy and helps assuage the guilt that's been driven into the heads of our youth by the NEA indoctrination squads in public schools.

Older white guy = Not cool and evokes imagery of crotchety SOB in plaid shorts with dark socks and sandals.

Certainly, the chance to vote for a black man is part of the appeal, Morgan says. "It's fine if they vote for him because he's African-American, as long as they don't stop there," she says. "But I would be voting for Obama whether he was white or whatever. The fact that he is African-American is a plus."

The way Patricia Turner sees it, Obama's race is just one factor that makes him more accessible to younger voters. Turner is a professor of African-American studies at the University of California, Davis, a diverse campus where she says no one racial or ethnic group is the majority.

She recalls a conversation at a recent university dinner where her table included a few Asian-American students and a white woman in her 30s who was married to a man of mixed race. Asked what struck them about Obama, they listed everything from his age and rearing by a single mother to the fact that he is biracial.

$50 and a dwarf with 20 hit points says he's a Paultard

For the first time since his 2000 release from jail, Duluth resident and DragonCon founder Ed Kramer is free from house arrest restrictions, following a recent order by a Gwinnett judge.

Kramer, who is in poor health, has spent more than seven years awaiting trail on charges he molested three teenage boys. Superior Court Judge Richard Winegarden ordered May 21 that Kramer no longer has to abide by an electronic monitoring system, provided he has no contact with witnesses or anyone younger than age 16.

Here's an example of Ed's work:

Call me critical, but if you're facing charges for molesting three teenage boys you may want to avoid publishing such material.

Here's one review:

“...learn more than you ever wanted to know about the dark side of human nature.”
- MediaPlus Magazine

But at least there's a humorous aspect to the saga...

Last October, a planned sit-in protest at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center in support of Kramer never materialized. Friends and DragonCon enthusiasts pledged to descend on Gwinnett from as far as New York, but they later backed out because of permitting issues, leaders said.

Just the image of a sit-in protest comprised of Wookies, Klingons, elves, wizards, evil clowns and other assorted riff-raff is the stuff of sketch comedy gold.