On the heels of the Bush administration’s announcement that John Poindexter would be in charge of spying on citizens, Bush has decided to bring back another Iran Contra player, Elliott Abrams. He will be the new advisor to the president on Middle Eastern affairs. San Francisco Gate Article

Appointment’s like this just stun me with their audacity. Now we have two veterans of the infamous Iran Contra affair back in government service. One, John Poindexter, whe was convicted of lying to Congress (a charge that was later overturned on a technicality), and another, Elliot Abrams, who plead guilty to withholding information from Congress (and later pardoned by Bush Sr.).

It is almost too bad that Oliver North didn’t win his bid for Senate, they could have had a real party up in Washington.

Unfortunately, Abrams is a hard liner on the Israel palestine issue and will probably cause much difficult for the State departments attempts to bring about a peaceful resolution of that issue. I truly fear that this appointment will just further the agenda of the Sharone government in using military force to crush the Palestinians even more than he is already doing. It will also weaken Colin Powell’s position in the administration and make him seem more like an outsider. So much for one of the few sane voices in the current administration.

I wonder how long before he becomes the next Paul O’Neill?

Read below to find out another reason why:

link

On this cold saturday morning after thanksgiving (which was quite good, thank you for asking), I was browsing the New York Times and found several articles of interest. Links and comments below. Massachusetts to Press Microsoft Antitrust Case

Thank you Massachusets. Somebody came to the realization that the settlement put together by the Bush DOJ was completely worthless and would do nothing to stop the behaviours that got Microsoft into hot water in the first place. This is one of those sad, unseen consequences of the pro-business-at-all-costs mentality that enetered the White House with the Republicans.

I do not know whether the argument that the ruling as it stands now will have no substantive effects on how Microsoft conducts it’s business will hold up with the Appeals court, but it is nice to see at least one of the states continuing the good fight.

Mandate for the Middle

Jim Jeffords (Ind, VT) may not be a force to counter the Republican help Senate anymore, but he is really in a unique place to voice his opinions, and I appreciate that as an independent he only really has one group he answers to, his constituents. And I admire his guts for making that move. (I am sure there were less altruistic reasons for his actions, but I prefer to not think of them.) I think that the major political parties have gotten so entrenched in their own policies and cohesiveness that the system has lost the idea of representing the best interetsts of the country. I think the country would be well served by more indepentently minded people entering government. A few loonies thrown in might really shake things up.

His op-ed talks a good bit about the kinds of issues that are being ignored in today’s political discussions but shouldn’t be. Of course they are being ignored because they are “bad news” issues that aren’t particularly sexy. It is very hard to have a great “rah! rah!” press conference on coal plant emissions. (Although maybe showing laser guided bombs dropping down the smokestack would work. I should get Ari on the phone…)

Unfortunately his piece will be read and ignored by a majority of the population (or at least a majority of the minority that actually read any kind of news these days). ::sigh:: The system depresses me.

A week ago or so, I got an email from a friend of mine. She asked me some unix questions about a system she works with. As we coresponded I realized she had a bigger problem than she initially thought. This system is “managed” by a third party company that provides the software and support for the hardware. Unfortunately that does not include security support. That kind of support is supposed to be provided by one of her coworkers. To be polite, let us say that the coworker did not do a stelar job.

So I got to go and help confirm that the machine had been hacked into. It looks from the evidence left that it was set up as a drone in a DDOS network. The intruder whacked the log files, so who knows if they have been back. Unfortunately for my friend, it will cost her company $5000 to have the system restored. And unless her coworker learns about network security real quick, the machine will probably be just as vulnerable when it is “fixed” as it is now.

Thankfully, I think I did a good job of explaining all the horrible things that could happen, both to their data, and legally that they will bite the bullet and get the system rebuilt. I know that there have not been any definative legal decisions regarding a companies liability if it’s systems are used as a springboard for further ttacks, but I doubt they want to be a test case.

I really wish there was something I could do to help, other than provide advice. But although I am happy to provide advice for free, I can’t really offer to do the securing for free, as that is technically in her coworkers job description. Not to mention the assumption of some level of liability for the system’s security going forward. So for now, I will remain an unpaid advisor; the least I can do for a friend.

Most of my readers have heard me rant and rave on numerous occasions about the wonders of standards compliance, CSS, XHTML and other such web technologies.

But have I helped you learn about them? Well not until now! OK, so I lied, I’m not actually going to help you learn about them, but I am going to point you towards some of the cool sites I have found around the net that have helped me learn stuff.

W3C - OK, don’t actually follow this link, it is the obligatory “here lie the standards” link.

NYPL Online Style Guide - These guys are just cool. The New York Public Library has lots of great, straightforward information about moving to XHTML standards compliance.

A List Apart - Over 150 articles that tackle every issue you could think of about writing web pages. From making standards compliant HTML that actually works in different browsers to “How to Write a Better Weblog”. Very broad range of topics.

CSS Layout Techniques: for Fun and Profit - How to reproduce layout techniques that are not always obvious with CSS. Columns. Mmmmm.

css / edge - Pushing the envelope is an understatement when describing this site. This is the cutting edge, and Eric Meyer could care less if it works in your browser, it works in his. Mozilla (or derivative) is a must.

Internet Developer from Apple - Although geared towards Mac users, this site contains lots of good information on CSS, and a great discussion of the issues and solutions to dealing with fonts in a consistent way across browsers and OSs.

W3C HTML Validator - when you are ready to feel some pain, go here and check how your page does. The W3C validator is cruel to you until you get the hang of writing standards compliant HTML.

W3C CSS Validator - Same as above, but for your CSS.

Oh, and I will help if you have questions :)

In months past, I have thrown around my disappointment with the wishlist functionality incorporated in comercial internet retailers. They have an agenda; and it wasn’t about helping people keep track of what they would like bought. As with all companies, it was about making money. Not that that is a bad thing, but it limited the functionality that they could implement. For obvious reasons, the wishlist could only contain items from the store on whose site it was running. And a buyer could only “mark off” an item if they bought it at the store running the wishlist.

These business decisions make the lists difficult to use. I have items from all over the internet that interest me and there was no way for me to consolidate them. And amoung my friends we have had several situations where people at the last minute go and buy an item off of someones wishlist, but are unable to mark it off.

So in a spirt of energy and boredom, I set out to rectify the situation by writing my own. In talking with Matt and Elizabeth, I thing we put together a good site.

Go see: wishlist.confusticate.com

I seem to be having a hard time getting my brain to spit out ideas to write about here. So I am asking you, my numerous readers, to suggest some. What do you want me to write about? Maybe I’ll even do it.

After long last, I have recovered and digitized a movie I made in middle school for a history project. If I remember correctly, the point of the project was to explore the society and culture of a country. One of my classmates and I picked the food of Russia. So long before the Food Network, we wrote, directed, edited, and starred in “The Russian Gourmets” and here it is for you enjoyment (and ridicule).

The Russian Gourmets (13MB)

I looked out the window this morning towards our neighbors (the ones with the little hellions mentioned in previous entries) and my heart nearly lept out of my chest.

What was that in the driveway? A truck? An empty truck.

What are they doing? They are putting things in the truck!

The neighbors are moving.

I am sure I am loosing karma by rejoicing, but I don’t care.

Well, the results are in. Not quite sure what to say other than “BAH!” My hopes are that the complete republican sweep will result in a situation of increased infighting inside the party given their lack of a clear opposistion. It should also improve the chances of the democrats in the 2004 presidential elections.

Now the question is just how bad things will get in the next two years. I am afraid the combination of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, and Ashcroft will be pretty bad.

Duck and cover.