Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Beer Mug Assault and Burning Crosses

I ran into this last night:
"Charges: Woman attacked non-English speaking Applebee's diner"
KARE 11 Staff, KARE (November 5, 2015)

"A woman is charged with assault for allegedly smashing a beer mug across a diner's face at a local Applebee's -- all because the victim wasn't speaking English, according to the complaint.

"Jodie Marie Burchard-Risch, 43, was charged with third-degree assault for an incident that occurred on Oct. 30 at the Applebee's in Coon Rapids.

"According to the criminal complaint, Burchard-Risch was dining with her husband when she became upset after hearing the victim speaking in a foreign language in the neighboring booth...."
Managers at Applebee's tried to get Burchard-Risch to leave at that point. She did: after yelling a bit more at the other diner and using her beer mug as a weapon, hitting the other woman's face.

One of Applebee's managers followed Burchard-Risch out of the restaurant, staying with her until responding officers arrested her.

The victim has a deep cut across her nose; a cut on her right eyebrow and a big, deep, cut on her lower lip. That's bad, but it could have been worse. Apparently her eyes are okay, and she probably got medical attention promptly.

Burchard-Rish was charged Monday: and there may be more legal trouble coming.

Hate Crimes and Attitudes


I'm not a big fan of hate crime/bias-motivated crime laws, mostly because I think they wouldn't be needed if America's courts paid attention to earlier legal sanctions against slander and physical violence.

That said, I think this attack looks a lot like a 'hate crime.'

The violence of the attack encouraged my suspicion that the 'non-English' language would be Arabic or Spanish. I was wrong. The victim was speaking Swahili:
"Attack on diner at Coon Rapids Applebee's being examined for hate-crime charges"
"The victim, targeted because she wasn't speaking English, suffered deep cuts on her face in the beer-mug attack, according to assault charges."
Shannon Prather Star Tribune (November 7, 2015)

"An Anoka County prosecutor said Friday that authorities are looking into possible hate-crime counts against a woman charged with attacking a diner at the Coon Rapids Applebee's because she was speaking Swahili.

"The victim suffered deep cuts to her face when she was struck with a beer mug Oct. 30 as she ate lunch with her husband and friends, Anoka County authorities said this week.

"Jodie Burchard-Risch, 43, of Ramsey, was charged Monday in Anoka County District Court with third-degree assault.

"On Friday, the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) called for hate-crime charges against Burchard-Risch...."
At this point, I could start ranting about the dangers of insufficiently-American foreigners, the need for beer mug control laws, or why restaurants breed violence and obesity.

That would be silly — but no more silly, I think, than many political debates. And that's another topic.

I'm not a Swahili-speaking young woman, so why should I care what happened in that restaurant?

For starters, I don't think 'my end of the boat isn't sinking' makes sense in situations like this. If I don't care when folks who aren't just like me get hurt, I can't reasonably expect sympathy if I'm the next target.

I don't fit today's 'victim' stereotype, but some 'real Americans' might see folks like me as a threat to 'their' country.

I look like a WASP, but I'm not. I'm a half-Irish Catholic. Happily, most Americans have realized that many Irishmen aren't violence-prone drunkards with criminal tendencies.

I've discussed attitudes, bias, and internment camps, before. (A Catholic Citizen in America June 21, 2015; Another War-on-Terror Blog September 12, 2009; January 22, 2009)

Avoiding Hasty Generalizations


I've seen a few folks who might speak Swahili in the small central-Minnesota town I call home, but I haven't heard that language here — apart from someone saying the Lord's Prayer in Swahili at the parish church.

I have, however, heard Spanish more frequently in recent years: mostly while standing in a grocery checkout line: and, rarely, an east-Asian language I didn't recognize.

My lack of violent response to these 'foreign threats' is no virtue. I see new families moving in as a sign that my town is in good shape, and likely to endure: at least for another generation or two.

Besides, as an American, I'd be very concerned if folks weren't pulling up stakes and moving here.

Maybe it's easier to divide the world into 'people like me' and 'foreign threats.' But that attitude doesn't make sense. Not to me.

Sure, some folks who speak Swahili, Arabic, Spanish, or Latvian, might try to blow up the post office or kill me. But but assuming that all Africans, Arabs, Hispanics, or whatever, are threats that makes about as much sense as assuming that all Christians are in the Ku Klux Klan. And that, sadly, is not another topic. (A Catholic Citizen in America January 18, 2015)

Living with difference:
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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Boston Marathon Bombing: Sauntering Through the News

Maybe I'd get more attention if I picked some position, and harangued endlessly about it.

Rattling on About Rosicrucians

Maybe I should post daily, warning anyone who reads this blog that the Boston Marathon bombing was engineered by the same cabal of Illuminati, Rosicrucians, and space-alien lizard men who really run the CIA and NBC, control our brains with radio waves from cell phone towers, and are responsible for annoying television commercials.

Somebody might believe that tripe, though, and I don't want to be responsible for increasing the world's nuttiness.

On the other hand, maybe I'm really a shape-shifting lizard man: and have hypnotized myself into believing that I'm human.

No, I don't think so.

News and Routine

There's been something in the news more-or-less daily since the Boston Marathon bombing: mostly the routine sort of stuff that news services do when there isn't a significant change to report.

That's about what I expected, since American law enforcement usually takes investigations of serious crimes in a frustratingly methodical, rational way.

There are exceptions, of course, like the infamous Steven Hatfill and Richard Jewel fiascoes. (February 15, 2011)

Students and Life Lessons

It's likely that at least one of the three college students arrested this week got a terrible shock:
"Boston bombings: Suspect's classmates appear in court"
BBC News (May 1, 2013)

"Three college classmates of the Boston bombings suspect have appeared in court, accused of hindering the police investigation into the attacks.

"Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev - both from Kazakhstan - threw away Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's laptop and backpack, police say.

"Robel Phillipos is accused of lying to investigators. None of the three are implicated in plotting the attacks...."
Maybe all three knew that they were helping terrorists. Maybe not. The young men from Kazakhstan are 19. That's 'old enough to know better,' but young enough to lack the common sense some of us eventually acquire.

I've never attended college in a foreign country, but can imagine that if had, and a buddy of mine asked me to throw a backpack and laptop away I might agree. Maybe not after I saw what was inside the backpack: but I'm nowhere near as nice and trusting a chap as some.

I won't rant about how America should drive all 'foreigners' out and not let anyone in. That, in my considered opinion, would be silly, wrong, and downright self-destructive. I'll grant that I'm a bit biased. All my ancestors were 'foreigners' here not too long ago.

Russia and Secrets

Maybe Russian security officials had a good reason for not telling their American counterparts about a potential terrorist.

Maybe they were simply being the sort of bureaucratic nitwits that add fuel, knowingly or not, to weird conspiracy theories.

Or maybe the FBI is on the verge of uncovering a conspiracy of space aliens and immortal brush salesmen, disguised as Russian officials. No, I don't think so.
"No evidence Boston bomber radicalized before first FBI interview, sources say"
Catherine Herridge, FoxNews.com (April 30, 2013)

"Investigators have found no evidence -- so far -- that Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev was radicalized before the FBI interviewed him in spring 2011, two sources tell Fox News.

"The FBI investigation ran from March through June 2011 after the bureau was contacted by the Russian Security Services, which said Tsarnaev and his mother were followers of radical Islam.

"The two sources, one within the intelligence community and the other a congressional source, both of whom would not discuss the investigation on the record, emphasized that the U.S. went back to the Russian authorities three times seeking more detail on the elder Tsarnaev brother, but it was only within the last week that Russia's wiretap evidence was presented to U.S. authorities.

"When Tsarnaev from his six months in Russia, in July 2012, the following month he established his own YouTube channel with links to known Islamist groups, including the Caucasus Emirate. According to the two sources, no evidence has been found that Tsarnaev 'created his own media, including video recordings,' which is seen by the intelligence community as an indicator or marker of radicalization...."
What this news item seems to indicate is that American law enforcement is acting the way they usually do: and so, sadly, are their Russian counterparts. (February 19, 2010)

In the news:
Related posts:
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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Snap Judgment and Ricin

Oops. Last Thursday I wrote a post which assumed that an Elvis impersonator had sent poison letters to U. S. government officials. The letters really did contain ricin, but the fellow's house didn't.

That may be why charges were dropped against him.1

Meanwhile, law enforcement is searching someone else's house. Eventually, I suppose they'll find a house with ricin, and someone living there who might plausibly have sent those letters.

Then again, maybe not. Some crimes don't get solved.

It's possible that Paul Kevin Curtis really did send those letters, and had the good sense not to leave evidence lying around. Not everyone who commits crimes is sloppy, and that's another topic.

Due Process and Embarrassment

If Mr. Curtis is guilty, and if new evidence points to him, I'm fairly confident that he'll be arrested again and tried for sending potentially-lethal substances to offices in Washington. I'm no great fan of the current administration, and do no hold members of Congress in awe. However, trying to poison whoever opens letters for an elected official is at best a daft way to make a point: and is ethically unsupportable.

If Mr. Curtis is innocent, which the current lack of evidence suggests, I hope that he's able to recover from this accusation.

I'm more than a bit embarrassed about simply assuming that an accusation is true. It's not that I don't trust law enforcement: rather, I know why we have the occasionally-frustrating legal processes we do. 'Guilty until proven dead' may feel good, and is certainly easier to manage than the American judicial system: but if I'm ever accused of a crime, I won't mind having a chance to demonstrate that I am innocent.

Another, and very serious, accusation has been made against a young man who was videotaped planting explosives at the Boston Marathon. I'm more confident that he actually is guilty. In that case, there's a video recording of what he and his deceased brother did, and their anything-but-innocent behavior while killing a police officer and exchanging fire with others.

I'm quite confident that the surviving brother arranged for death and destruction at a public event. However, I also think that it's a good idea to go through the usual judicial process: even when the case seems obvious.

Related posts:
In the news:
1 Excerpts from the news:
"Charges were dropped Tuesday against the Mississippi man accused of sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and others, while authorities searched at another man's home in connection with the case.

"The surprising move was announced in a brief document filed in federal court in Oxford hours after Paul Kevin Curtis was released from custody. The charges were dismissed without prejudice, which means they could be re-instated if prosecutors so choose.

"Attorneys for Curtis have suggested he was framed, and an FBI agent testified in court this week that no evidence of ricin was found in searches of his home. At a news conference Tuesday, they declined to discuss whether they were told what new information the government had uncovered...."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)
"U.S. prosecutors dropped charges on Tuesday against a Mississippi man accused of sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama, a U.S. senator and a state judge, according to court documents.

"The surprise decision came hours after Paul Kevin Curtis was released from a Mississippi jail on bond.

"Prosecutors said the 'ongoing investigation has revealed new information,' but provided no additional details, according to the court order dismissing the charges.

"Curtis told reporters he respected Obama. 'I would never do anything to pose a threat to him or any other U.S. official,' he said. 'I love this country.'

"He said he had no idea what ricin was. 'I thought they said "rice," I told them I don't eat rice,' he said...."
(Robbie Ward, Reuters)
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Saturday, January 19, 2013

Algeria, the Amenas Gas Facility, and Harsh Realities

Quite a few folks stopped living rather abruptly in Algeria a few hours ago. Some of them were hostages, killed by their captors. Others were the killers.

I'm not happy about that. It's a tragic situation. But I'm not surprised, either.

People: Nice and Otherwise

I think that most folks are decent enough people, who want to raise their families, earn a living, and live with some degree of security. They're no more likely to take over an industrial facility and kill hostages than I am.

On the other hand, some folks simply aren't nice. They don't behave well, even if they're asked politely. When they behave badly for personal reasons, we often call them criminals. When their motives are more ideological, news media tends to call them "militants." Another term is "terrorist." Either way, they're - - - simply not nice.

There have been relatively tranquil eras. This isn't one of them: Particularly for a place folks have been calling Algeria recently.

North Africa: Background

Folks have been living in that part of north Africa for upwards of 1,800,000 years, but our records start much more recently: around the time that king Gala had ties with Cathage, and king Syphax sided with Rome. You hardly ever hear about Massylii and Masaesyli these days, and that's another topic.

Carthage, Chlodowech, and All That

Roughly two millennia after the Carthage-Rome wars, Chlodowech's successors invaded and held this territory. By that time Chlodowech's Franks had taken over a good-sized chunk of Europe: what we call France: and that isn't quite another topic.

Recent Centuries

About two centuries ago, France took parts of north Africa from the Dey of Algiers, who ran part of the Barbary States, which was a sort of client of the Ottoman Empire - a whole lot more topics.

France lost control of Algeria about a half-century back. These days, Algeria's called (الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبي, or Al Jumhuriyah al Jaza'iriyah ad Dimuqratiyah ash Sha'biyah, or the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria. I'll stick with "Algeria" for the rest of this post.

Folks in Algeria, along with just about everyone else in that part of the world, have had their hands full: sorting out the mess left from centuries of colonial rule and the Versailles treaty. More topics.

The Last Few Hours


(FoxNews.com, used w/o permission)

A few hours ago, Algerian troops attacked forces holding hostages at the Amenas gas facility. The 'militants' killed their remaining hostages before being killed by Algerian troops.1

Ideally, Algeria's President President Abdelaziz Bouteflika would have politely asked the militants to please let their hostages go: after which Mokhtar Belmokhtar and company would have released them. After, of course, resolving whatever misunderstanding had prompted the raid in the first place.

Crime, Death, and Other Unpleasantness

We don't live in an ideal world, and that's not how things work.

The United States government tried acting as if taking hostages, blowing up airliners, and similar activities, were crimes: the sort of thing we generally let the police force and social workers deal with.

I think the deaths of assorted athletes, tourists, diplomats, and travelers, helped America's leadership decide that their 'let the police handle it' attitude wasn't working. (January 22, 2010; August 5, 2007)

Eventually, America's policy became 'we will never negotiate with terrorists.' As I recall, this happened during the Reagan administration. What we're supposed to remember about that president is Oliver North, so maybe it was somebody else. Or, not.

"Never" and a Grain or Two of Salt

Particularly where national policy is concerned, I take terms like "never" with the proverbial grain of salt. Anything involving human beings is going to get very complicated, very fast, and "never" is a fairly simple idea.

Even so, I think the basic idea is sound. Folks who run outfits like Al Qaeda are very unlikely to change their minds about killing anyone who doesn't agree with them. Given the circumstances, I don't think it makes sense to "negotiate" with them in hopes that they'll start behaving nicely.

It's fairly easy for me to have that opinion, since I don't know anyone who died as a result of what those "militants" did in Algeria. If I did - well, that's a hypothetical situation: one which I hope I never face.

I gather that this particular run-in with "militants" was handled by the Algerian government. Even so, a spokeswoman for the American State Department repeated what's been this country's policy for a few decades: "The United States does not negotiate with terrorists." (FoxNews.com)

Harsh as it may seem, I think it's still a good idea.

More:
Related posts:
1Excerpts from today's news:
"Algeria crisis: 'Captors and hostages die in assault' "
BBC News (January 19, 2013)
"Algerian troops have ended a siege at a gas facility in the Sahara desert killing 11 Islamist militants after they killed seven hostages, Algerian state news agency APS has said.
"The hostages were summarily killed as the troops tried to free them, it said.

"Foreign workers were among the hostages, but the nationalities of the dead are not known.

"UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed the crisis was over and that lives had been lost.

"At a joint news conference with his US counterpart Leon Panetta, Mr Hammond said the loss of life was 'appalling and unacceptable and we must be clear that it is the terrorists who bear sole responsibility for it'.

"Britain was pressing Algeria for further details, he added.

"Mr Hammond said the kidnappers' leaders would be 'held to account for their actions'.

" 'The full force of the UK and US and other allied countries will bear down upon them,' he said.

"The militants had been involved in a stand-off since Thursday after trying to occupy the remote site.

"Clearing mines

"On Friday, 573 Algerians and about 100 of 132 foreigners working at the plant were freed, Algerian officials said...."
"One American dead in hostage siege in Algeria"
FoxNews.com (January 19, 2013)

"Algerian authorities gave no indication of how many people were still captive at natural gas complex in Algeria the day after an American worker was found dead at the plant and the U.S. sought to secure the release of Americans still being held by Al Qaeda-linked terrorists.

"Frederick Buttaccio, a Texas resident, died of a heart attack during a raid by the Algerian military to end the standoff, Fox News confirmed Friday. The general manager of the complex, Mark Cobb, also of Texas, was able to escape with members of his Algerian staff and is safe....

"...It was not immediately clear whether Buttaccio was the only American killed in the hostage standoff....

"...Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she spoke by telephone with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal to get an update on Americans and others in danger at the sprawling Ain Amenas refinery 800 miles south of Algiers. She said the 'utmost care must be taken to preserve innocent life.'...

"...Clinton talked to reporters after the Obama administration confirmed that Americans were still being held hostage, even as some U.S. citizens were being flown out of the country for recovery in Europe. The Algerian state news agency reported that 12 hostages had been killed since Wednesday's start of an Algerian rescue operation, and world leaders steadily increased their criticism of the North African country's handling of the attack....

"...Clinton, however, defended Algeria's action. 'Let's not forget: This is an act of terror,' she told reporters in Washington. 'The perpetrators are the terrorists. They are the ones who have assaulted this facility, have taken hostage Algerians and others from around the world as they were going about their daily business.'...

"...Still, the U.S. flatly rejected an offer by the militants -- led by a Mali-based al-Qaida offshoot known as the Masked Brigade -- to free two American hostages in exchange for the release of Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind sheikh convicted of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks and considered the spiritual leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Both are jailed in the United States.

" 'The United States does not negotiate with terrorists,' State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said...."
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Thursday, March 1, 2012

"Chinese Hackers" - - - And Keep Reading

The headline is attention-getting. Which headlines are supposed to be. So was the article's lead paragraph:
"Chinese hackers took over NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, Inspector General reveals"
FoxNews.com (March 1, 2012)

"Chinese hackers gained control over NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in November, which could have allowed them delete sensitive files, add user accounts to mission-critical systems, upload hacking tools, and more -- all at a central repository of U.S. space technology, according to a report released Wednesday afternoon by the Office of the Inspector General...."
I've posted about 'cyberwar' and how important it is to keep the wrong people from getting at anything from my credit card number, to launch codes for nuclear missiles.

Simple? Not

The headline's accurate. So is the lead paragraph.

But there's more going on than "could have allowed...." I put a slightly longer excerpt from the article at the end of this post.1

The article links to a nine-page document:
It's not particularly turgid prose. Certainly not compared with some government documents I've slogged through: If you're interested in what's going on, I suggest you read it yourself.

The report has good news, and it's got bad news.

First, the bad news: NASA, and a whole lot of other government and private outfits, could do a lot better when it comes to keeping their data secure. This is hardly 'news.'

Now, the good news: The Office of Inspector General (OIG) and other agencies around the world have started tracking down and dealing with folks who aren't nice when it comes to other people's data.

Turns out, there are a lot of folks who haven't been nice. And they don't fall into one simple category of 'bad guys.'

Conclusions, Crazy and Otherwise

There's a summary of events and actions at the end of that NASA cybersecurity report.

I might be able to take data from that report; pour in assumptions, biases, and a generous helping of paranoia: and claim that a secret cabal (that's the best kind) of Romanians, Estonians, and Texans, are plotting to take over the world by hacking into the accounting systems of Minnesota companies.

That would be - crazy talk.

I could also claim that the report proves that China's leaders are plotting to take over America's computer networks.

That would be - not so much crazy talk, as arguing ahead of facts. 'Way ahead of facts.

I'm not at all comfortable at how many hack attacks on American - and other - computer networks 'just happen' to come from servers in China. I'd like to believe that China's current leadership has gotten past the 'good old days' of Mao's cultural revolution, and want to make China a better place for the folks who live there. I'd also like to believe that everybody could just get along.

But this is the real world: and national leaders don't always have the best interests of their citizens in mind; or a sensible view of what their citizens need. And that's another topic.

Very Cautious Optimism

I insist on seeing some good news in that Cybersecurity report.

Government agencies in America and elsewhere are apparently treating crimes which are committed primarily online as - crimes.

After what look like serious investigations - not just knee-jerk accusations and assumptions - action has been taken. Correctly, if that catastrophic drop in spam was the result of two rogue Internet Service Providers getting shut down.

China's leadership may have decided to join the rest of the world, where it comes to treating online crimes as 'real' crimes. Okay - that's on the strength of just one arrest: but that's a start.

Mr. Martin's Cybersecurity Summary, Summarized

Here's what I got, after parsing out Mr. Martin's "NASA Cybersecurity..."summary:
  • February 2012
    • JPL systems hacked
    • A Romanian national was indicted in the Central District of California
      • Following convictions in Romania for related criminal activity
    • Result: losses of over $500,000 to the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) Program
  • January 2012
    • Unauthorized accesses into numerous systems belonging
      • NASA
      • The Pentagon
      • The Romanian government
      • Commercial entities
    • Romanian authorities a 20-year-old Romanian national for this intrusion
    • Result: products from a variety of NASA scientific research efforts were inaccessible to the general public for a brief period of time
      • No long-term damage to the underlying programs was reported
  • November 2011
    • JPL IT Security reported suspicious network activity involving Chinese-based IP addresses
    • NASA review disclosed that the intruders had compromised the accounts of the most privileged JPL users
      • Giving the intruders access to most of JPL's networks
    • The Office of Inspector General (OIG) continues to investigate this matter
  • November 2011
    • Following an earlier international fraud scheme
      • That compromised more than 4 million computers worldwide
        • Including 135 NASA systems
      • Over $15,000,000 in assets from the operation have been seized
        • So far
    • Indictments announced
      • By the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York
      • Six Estonians
      • One Russian national
  • February 2011
    • Hacked
      • Two NASA systems
      • A Minnesota-based company's pay and accounting system
    • A Texas man pled guilty to wire fraud in Federal court in Minnesota in connection with the crime
    • Result: more than 3,000 registered users were denied access to oceanographic data supplied by NASA for several days. Direct remediation costs in this case exceeded $66,000
  • February 2011
    • Distribution of malware that caused NASA data to be compromised
    • A British citizen was sentenced in England to 18 months' imprisonment for his role
    • Result: about 2,000 NASA e-mail users were infected with this malware as part of a worldwide computer fraud scheme
  • December 2010
    • Following the hacking of seven NASA systems
      • Many containing export-restricted technical data
    • A Chinese national was detained
      • By Chinese authorities
      • For violations of Chinese Administrative Law
    • This detention
      • Followed
        • An OIG investigation
        • Lengthy international coordination efforts
    • Significance: "This case resulted in the first confirmed detention of a Chinese national for hacking activity targeting U.S. Government agencies. Seven NASA systems, many containing export-restricted technical data, were compromised by the Chinese national."
  • March 2009
    • Following unauthorized intrusions into NASA JPL systems
      • Two computer systems used to support
        • NASA's Deep Space Network
        • Several Goddard Space Flight Center systems
    • Italian authorities
      • Raided the home of an Italian national suspected of taking part in the intrusions
      • Suspect the individual of being a member of a hacker group responsible for an Internet fraud and hacking schemes
    • Result: Good question
      • NASA officials assured us that no critical space operations were ever at risk
  • Other incidents
    • (No date given)
      • 53 NASA systems were affected by the criminal activity sponsored by McColo Inc.
        • None of the systems were mission critical
      • Twenty-one NASA systems compromised as part of criminal activity hosted by rogue ISPs
      • OIG investigations followed
        • Rogue ISPs were identified by NASA OIG and other law enforcement agencies as a major source of
          • Child pornography
          • E-mail spam
          • Stolen credit cards
          • Malicious software
        • Result:
          • Shutdown of rogue Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
            • "McColo Inc."
            • "Triple Fiber Networks,"
          • The U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California ordered McColo Inc. to pay the Federal Government a $1.08 million civil judgment
          • Worldwide reduction in spam of approximately 50 percent shortly after the ISPs were taken offline
    • 2009
      • Following theft of
        • Cisco Systems, Inc., proprietary code
        • Numerous intrusions into NASA systems
          • Including Ames Research Center's Super Computing Center
      • A Swedish citizen indicted in 2009
      • Swedish and U.S. authorities agreed to have the subject tried in Sweden
      • The subject
        • Was found guilty
        • A "formal criminal history" was filed by Swedish authorities
      • Result: several instances when the Ames Research Center's Super Computing Center was temporarily shutdown to clean up after the intrusions
        • Losses to NASA were estimated at over $5,000,000
Relate posts:
In the news:
1Excerpt from the news:
"Chinese hackers took over NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, Inspector General reveals" Foxnews.com (March 1, 2012) "Chinese hackers gained control over NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in November, which could have allowed them delete sensitive files, add user accounts to mission-critical systems, upload hacking tools, and more -- all at a central repository of U.S. space technology, according to a report released Wednesday afternoon by the Office of the Inspector General. "That report revealed scant details of an ongoing investigation into the incident against the Pasadena, Calif., lab, noting only that cyberattacks against the JPL involved Chinese-based Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. "Paul K. Martin, NASA's inspector general, put his conclusions bluntly. " 'The attackers had full functional control over these networks,' he wrote.... "...Beyond a wealth of exploration programs, such as the recent GRAIL mission to study the moon and the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory, JPL manages the Deep Space Network, a network of antenna complex. "Martin released written testimony about the attacks in the report 'NASA Cybersecurity: An Examination of the Agency;s Information Security,' presented to the House Science, Space and Technology Committee investigations panel on Wednesday. It details a host of security lapses and breaches of protocol at the space agency...."
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Friday, December 30, 2011

Egypt: NGO Raids, Police, and Office Equipment

I'm still cautiously optimistic about "Arab spring."

What we've seen so far is more about upsetting the apple cart, than building new and better governments. Durable autocracies in Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt, are gone. Syria's boss got dropped from the Arab League. Bahrain's king may be learning that killing his subjects isn't a good idea.

That's cautiously optimistic.

Years, Decades, Generations

There's a chance that at least some of the countries where folks ousted an autocrat will have trouble for years. Maybe decades. Some may even elect a home-grown equivalent of Iran's ayatollahs.

But I think that enough folks in places like Egypt and Libya have gotten a taste of freedom: and liked it. They've also learned how to use the Internet and other Information Age technologies and social structures: and are catching up on what's happened in the last few thousand years. Particularly since the 18th century.

In the long run, generations from now, I think there's a good chance that folks in the Middle East will develop governments that serve the citizens: not just the local gentry.

Meanwhile, it's rough going.

'Because We Can?'

Egypt's old-school autocrat, Mubarak, is out. Right now, Egypt has a military government. That, by itself, isn't bad news: not in my opinion, anyway.

Raids on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs): that's bad news.1

At least two of the NGOs have been observing Egypt's elections. They "...may have received illegal foreign funding and have been operating without licenses from the Foreign Ministry and local ministries...." (CNN) 'Obviously' they're foreign spies?!

Actually, it's anyone's guess why Egyptian police took stuff from these outfits.

Maybe it's just because they have the power to do so: and like to flex their muscles. Or maybe not.

'Commies,' 'Hate Speech,' and Stolen Office Equipment

An op-ed in the United Kingdom2 said that it's probably because Egypt's current bosses don't like it when folks act on their own volition. He may be right about that.

I remember the 'good old days,' when 'regular Americans' had conniptions when commies and pinkos disagreed with them. More recently, defenders of 'tolerance' have labeled opposing views as "hate speech." Tomayto, tomahto.

A partial list of what got stolen confiscated may suggest another motive:
"...Police took laptops, desktops, video conferencing equipment, cell phones and other electronics, Hughes said. They also took between 15 and 20 boxes of documents...."
(CNN)
Here in America, that's several thousand dollars' worth of merchandise. I don't have too much trouble imaging that an enterprising, and ethically-challenged, enforcer might decide to supplement his income with a little informal taxation.

However, I think the UK op-ed author has a very plausible explanation. I think I can understand why Egypt's current bosses want to control what others say, and how they say it. But that doesn't mean I think it's a good idea.

Related posts:
1 News and views:
"NGOs puzzled by Egyptian raids"
CNN (December 30, 2011)

"A day after Egyptian police raided the offices of 10 nongovernmental organizations across the country, the groups remained in the dark about what the authorities were looking for.

" 'We asked them if there was something specific we could help them find,' Julie Hughes, Egypt country director for the National Democratic Institute (NDI), told CNN Friday. 'They refused to answer.'

"Two other U.S.-based agencies, Freedom House and the International Republican Institute (IRI), were also raided.

"Police took laptops, desktops, video conferencing equipment, cell phones and other electronics, Hughes said. They also took between 15 and 20 boxes of documents.

"The actions were part of an investigation into allegations that groups may have received illegal foreign funding and have been operating without licenses from the Foreign Ministry and local ministries, according to Adel Saeed, spokesman for the general prosecutor's office...."
"Egypt rights groups blast raids on NGO offices"
AP, via CBS News (December 30, 2011)

"Several Egyptian rights groups on Friday accused the country's ruling military council of using 'repressive tools' of the deposed regime in waging an 'unprecedented campaign' against pro-democracy organizations.

"The groups' joint statement came just hours after security forces stormed offices of 10 rights organizations, including several based in the United States. The Interior Ministry said the raids were part of the investigation into foreign funding of rights groups.

"The military, which took over control after a popular uprising toppled longtime President Hosni Mubarak in February, has often accused the groups of promoting protests with the help of funds from abroad...."
2 Op-ed about Egypt's police raids:
"Egypt's raids on NGOs are about control"
Brian Whitaker, guardian.co.uk (December 30, 2011)
"Restricting NGO funding is typical of authoritarian regimes happy to take foreign aid but less happy about human rights

"Imagine you live in Saudi Arabia and want to start a discussion group with some friends. The only way to do it legally is to ask the king's permission.

"Musa al-Qarni dutifully wrote a letter to the king but never got a reply – so he went ahead anyway. A few months later, Qarni was arrested and carted off to jail after secret police commandos stormed the villa in Jeddah where he and several men 'widely known for their advocacy on issues of social and political reform' were meeting.

"In most Arab states any sort of civil society organisation, even something as innocent as a youth group or stamp-collecting club, has to be registered with the authorities, and if the authorities don't like the sound of it they may refuse or simply ignore the request, leaving the applicants in a legal limbo.

"In Bahrain and Oman they can refuse permission on the grounds that the organisation is unnecessary or, in Oman's case, 'for any other reasons' decided upon by the ministry of social affairs. In Qatar, if a society wants to admit non-Qatari members it must ask the prime minister first...."
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Sunday, November 6, 2011

Benazir Bhutto Assassination Trial: With Real, Live, Defendants

Pakistan's prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated on December 27, 2007, in Karachi. Karachi street lighting just happened to fail when the attack happened. The city's phone service just happened to be not working at the same time.

That's a lot of "just happeneds."

If the assassination had been in lower Manhattan, with a curiously coincidental power failure and communications systems failure, I might be more suspicious than I am. But Karachi isn't New York City, Pakistan isn't America, and not everybody has reliable power and telecommunications services.

I've been over this before:On the other hand, Pakistan's alleged national government has a long and dubious history of 'just happening' to foul up efforts to protect them from terrorists. Then there's the Mumbai connection - and that may not be another topic.

Bhutto's assassination, and Pakistan's national 'government,' are in the news again. Seven people have been charged with having a hand in Bhutto's assassination. Two of them are Pakistani police officers.

They may be guilty of having helped kill Benazir Bhutto. Or not. I really don't know.

I think it's interesting, and guardedly hopeful, that some of Pakistan's bosses are going to the trouble of having a trial. Particularly when it would be so easy for the 'guilty parties' to 'sign a full confession,' and then conveniently 'commit suicide.'

Maybe I'm being too cynical about this. On the other hand, Pakistan's so-called national leaders have not been acting in a way that encourages trust.

Excerpts from the news:
"The anti-terrorism court of Rawalpindi Saturday framed charges against seven accused including two police officers in the assassination case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

"The seven accused including two police officers pleaded 'not guilty' when the judge informed them about the charges of murder. The judge, however, went ahead with framing the charges and asked the prosecution to produce witnesses in the court from November 19 onward. During the in-camera trial held at Adyala Jail, ATC No 1 Judge Shahid Rafique framed charges against seven accused including former City Police Officer (CCPO) Syed Saud Aziz, SP Rawal Town Khurram Shehzad, Sher Zaman, Aitzaz Shah, Rafaqat Gul, Hussnain Gul and Abdul Rahseed.

"The ATC judge charged the two police officers with breach of security as they removed the security box of Benazir Bhutto, ordered the hosing down of crime scene and thus destroyed the proofs. Also they did not order post mortem of any innocent citizen killed in the blast. It has also been charged that they were involved in the Benazir Bhutto assassination plan.

"While the five others were accused of 'criminal conspiracy' for bringing the suicide bomber from the tribal belt in the northwest and keeping him in a house in Rawalpindi. The charges framed against them by the court include terrorism, murder, attempted murder and becoming part of the murder conspiracy.

"According to the investigation team probing the case, accused Hussnain Gul was the handler, who brought the suicide bomber from Waziristan and kept him in his house in Rawalpindi.

"Rafaqat Hussain and Abdul Rasheed were alleged that they knew about the conspiracy and concealed the same. Aitzaz Shah, the juvenile accused and suicide bomber, and his handler Sher Zaman were also accused of the same charges....

"...Former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, currently living in self-imposed exile in Britain and Dubai, is also wanted in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case. The prosecutor said Benazir was killed in a bomb-and-gun attack because president Musharraf had not provided enough security to her....

"...Agencies add: The ATC court did not indict Musharraf in the case.
Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said the court would deal with Musharraf's issue later."
(The Nation)
"Seven men, including two senior police officers, were indicted Saturday for conspiracy to commit murder in the killing of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a defense attorney told CNN....

"...Malik Muhammad Rafique, a senior defense attorney for the officers, Saud Aziz and Khurram Shahzad, said there was "no evidence connecting the two men to criminal conspiracy to assassinate Bhutto.""
(CNN)
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Sunday, June 12, 2011

Business-As-Usual in Bahrain: Poet Imprisoned

Ever wish people would stop criticizing the President?

Think 'there oughtta be a law' against saying bad things about America? Or Australia, or India, or whichever country you call "home?"

Some countries work that way:
"Bahrain tries ex-lawmakers, imprisons poet"
CNN (June 12, 2011)

"...Meanwhile, poet Ayat al-Qormozi, 20, was found guilty of assembling at Pearl Roundabout, the epicenter of anti-government demonstrations in the kingdom earlier this year. Additional charges included speaking out against Bahrain and the king.

"The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights said she read a poem criticizing government policy at the Roundabout.

"Mubarak, the government official, said Bahrain had freedom of speech, but that there were limits.

" 'Freedom of speech in this country has its boundaries and cannot touch on the leadership, and cannot call for the overthrow of the government,' he said.

"Her poem, he said, 'caused incitement and hatred to his majesty the king and to the prime minister' with lines such as 'we are people who kill humiliation' and 'assassinate misery.'..."
I think it's reasonable, in America, that calling for the overthrow of our government to be illegal.

That's what we have elections for - to swap out the current nitwits for new ones, who at least may do less damage.

Laws against criticizing the government? That makes revolution sound more reasonable. As I recall, that's part of why colonists got fed up with George III's administration, back when.

And that isn't, quite, another topic.

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Thursday, May 26, 2011

Patriot Act Provisions Renewed: Finally

I think - and hope - that there are quite a few members of Congress who read the news daily; and who have more on their mind than getting reelected chasing that sexy new intern.

I'd prefer to believe that many of this nation's leaders realize that their constituents are in more danger from Al Qaeda, than from the FBI - and that the CIA is not the single greatest threat to freedom in the world. Although I'll grant that the following statement reflects my own opinions. After all, maybe the world really is ruled by space-alien, shape-shifting lizard men. And that's another topic.

America's Freedoms Threatened - or, Not

What set me off this evening was news that the House finally got around to giving the okay to a four-year extension of the Patriot Act. That's a set of rules set up during the previous administration, that lets Federal officials search records and do wiretaps in a way that's appropriate to the Information Age.

The idea was that:
  • Terrorists might want to kill more Americans
  • They should be prevented from doing so
    • If possible
  • The old-fashioned process for approving searches and wiretaps needed an overhaul
I think extending the Patriot Act is a good idea: but that's not a universally-held opinion.

I've harangued on the Patriot Act, FISA, and related ideas before.

Bottom line? I think stopping terrorists before they kill people is a good idea. I also think that checks and balances is a good idea. I even think having two sets of elected officials vote on things like the Patriot Act is a good idea. And that's yet another topic.

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Sunday, May 1, 2011

Osama bin Laden Dead: It's a Milestone

It looks like Osama bin Laden is, in fact, dead. President Obama said so: and he seems to have pretty good evidence to back up the claim.

That does not, in my opinion, mean that the war on terror is over and everything will be peachy-keen from now on.

There is, I think, little reason to believe that Osama bin Laden has taken a central role in planning terrorist activities for the last few years - although that's possible.

The End of the War on Terror? Not Hardly

I think there's even less reason to believe that with the death of bin Laden the various Al Qaeda affiliates, the Taliban, Al Shabaab, the folks who run (northern) Sudan, and all the rest will act like the followers of Thulsa Doom in Conan. There will not, in my opinion, be a magical moment when these dedicated folks see the error of their ways and toss candles into a pool.

In my opinion, the idea that the wicked, wicked west is against Islam, and that Islam is all about burqas, is too firmly set in the minds of too many folks.

On the other hand, I don't think that Osama bin Laden's death is a tragic misuse of resources that could have been used to protect alpine Milk-vetch, restart the Keep America Beautiful campaign, or whatever.

On the whole, I would rather that a person who does what Osama bin Laden did could be arrested, held for trial, and prevented from harming more people - by an orderly legal process with safeguards for victims, as well as for those who are wrongly accused.

We don't have anything like that arrangement. Not now, not beyond a few national systems like the one we've got here in the United States. I've discussed the problem of what to do about people who won't play well with others in another blog:
"...I think that, someday, maybe, there will be an 'international authority with the necessary competence and power' to simply arrest someone like the Libyan colonel. (Catechism [of the Catholic Church], 2308)

"Until we have something like Tennyson's 'Parliament of man, the Federation of the world,' we'll have to make do with the United Nations. Or whatever's cobbled together after that...."
(A Catholic Citizen in America (March 22, 2011)

What I Think

Osama bin Laden's death will, I'm pretty sure, be used by Al Qaeda and others in an effort to whip up hatred toward America - and anybody else they don't approve of. He'll almost certainly be called a martyr. Here's what I think of the current situation, briefly:
  • Was it right to hunt for Osama bin Laden?
    • Interesting ethical issues notwithstanding, yes
    • America didn't have much choice, in my opinion
      • Not hunting down bin Laden would have indicated that killing thousands of Americans was acceptable
  • Will bin Laden's death end the war on terror?
    • No
Finally, excerpts from tonight's news:
"Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden dead, Obama says"
Edition: U.S., Reuters (May 2, 2011 (12:00am EDT))

"Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed Sunday in a firefight with U.S. forces in Pakistan and his body was recovered, President Barack Obama announced Sunday.

" 'Justice has been done,' Obama said in a dramatic, late-night White House speech announcing the death of the elusive mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the New York and Washington.

"Obama said U.S. forces led the operation that killed bin Laden. No Americans were killed in the operation and they took care to avoid civilian casualties, he said.

" 'The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of men, women and children,' Obama said...."
"Obama announces Osama bin Laden killed by U.S."
Michael A. Memoli and Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times (May 1, 2011)

"Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted terrorist, was killed in Pakistan as the result of a U.S. military operation, President Obama announced to the nation Sunday night.

"The historic revelation comes about four months before the 10th anniversary of the devastating Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, which were executed by the Al Qaeda network helmed by Bin Laden and prompted the start of a war on terror that has dominated U.S. foreign policy.

"Bin Laden, 54, was a member of a wealthy Saudi family and has been on the FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives List since 1999...."
"Usama Bin Laden Is Dead, Sources Confirm"
FoxNews.com (May 1, 2011)

"Usama bin Laden is dead, putting an end to the worldwide manhunt that began nearly a decade ago on Sept. 11, 2001. The architect of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil was killed a week ago inside Pakistan by a U.S. bomb.

"President Obama announced the stunning development during an address to the nation late Sunday night from the White House.

" 'Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Usama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda.'

"The U.S. had been waiting for the results of a DNA test to confirm his identity before going public. Sources said the vice president informed congressional leaders late Sunday night that the world's most wanted man had indeed been killed...."
"CIA operation kills Osama bin Laden in Pakistan"
Los Angeles Times (May 1, 2011)

"A CIA-led operation has killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and recovered his body after a tortuous decadelong hunt for the elusive militant leader who commanded the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. government officials said Sunday night.

"CIA Director Leon Panetta called key members of Congress late Sunday to describe the killing of the Al Qaeda leader, and President Obama is expected to make the announcement on national TV.

"The U.S. and allied countries invaded Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 attacks because the Taliban government there was sheltering Bin Laden. The Taliban were ousted from power, but the Al Qaeda leader was not captured. The United States has been at war in Afghanistan ever since...."
"Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden dead - Obama"
US & Canada, BBC News (May 1, 2011)

"Al-Qaeda founder and leader Osama Bin Laden has been killed by US forces, President Barack Obama has said.

"The al-Qaeda leader was killed in a ground operation based on US intelligence, the first lead for which emerged last August.

"Mr Obama said after 'a firefight' US forces took possession of his body.

"Bin Laden was accused of being behind a number of atrocities, including the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001...."
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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

An Act of Terrorism in Colorado, Sort of

A homemade explosive device was found and dealt with at a Colorado shopping mall earlier this month. It looks like prosecutors are going to call the crime an act of terrorism. I figure they know what they're doing - but I also think that this may not be the sort of ideologically-motivated terrorism we're used to.

Reviewing the last week or two in the news:
"A man suspected in an attempted bombing at a Denver-area shopping mall was arrested in nearby Boulder on Tuesday.

"Earl Albert Moore, 65, a former convict with an extensive criminal record, was captured at a grocery store six days after authorities found a pipe bomb and two propane tanks while extinguishing a small fire in the food court at the Southwest Plaza mall in Littleton...."
(April 27, 2011, Los Angeles Times)
"...Moore, who is considered dangerous, was released from federal prison April 13 after serving time for his conviction in the May 2005 robbery of a West Virginia bank, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Federal court records show that Moore pleaded guilty to robbing the bank in Crab Orchard, W.Va., of $2,546.

"A judge sentenced Moore to between 15 and 19 years in prison, but a federal appeals court in 2006 ruled his stiff sentence was 'unreasonable' and Moore's sentence was reduced to seven years...."
(April 25, 2011, FoxNews.com)
"...Federal law enforcement officials have called the planned mall bombing an act of 'domestic terrorism.'..."
(April 25, 2011, Fox 31 (Denver))
"A busy shopping mall near Columbine High School was evacuated on Wednesday after authorities responding to a small fire at the retail complex found two propane tanks and a pipe bomb, officials said.

"Twelve years to the day after two Columbine High School students shot dead a teacher, 12 students and themselves on April 20, 1999, the devices were discovered at Southwest Plaza Mall, about a mile from Columbine...."
(April 21, 2011, Reuters)

Nobody Got Hurt - This Time

I'm sincerely glad that Earl Albert Moore, who apparently planted that bomb, has been caught. I'm also sincerely glad that nobody got hurt or killed. And I hope - very sincerely - that the American judicial system will decide to restrain Mr. Moore for a very, very long time.

Assuming that he actually did plant the bomb - and DNA evidence points that way (CBS News) - I don't think it's particularly safe to let Mr. Moore run around loose.

So, does this prove that:
  1. Retirement-age men are terrorists?
  2. Shopping malls encourage terrorism?
    • And therefore should be banned?
  3. American judges are nitwits?
No, across the board.

On the other hand, all three points are (slightly) true.

#1 Retirement-age men are terrorists?

No, not all men in their mid-60s are plotting to kill people. On the other hand, it doesn't look like all terrorists are poverty-stricken teenagers and twenty-somethings. Osama bin Laden is a case in point.

#2 Shopping malls encourage terrorism?

In a way, the folks who say that New York City was asking for it, having a World Trade Center, have a point. America is a large, prosperous country: one which folks are trying to break into, not the other way around. That makes the high-profile examples of our economy and society prime targets for folks who can't stand the thought of anybody not in lockstep conformity with some impractical set of preferences.

That doesn't mean that I think America is the cause of all the world's ills. I've gone over this sort of thing before:

#3 American judges are nitwits?

Let's remember that it was an American court that sentenced Mr. Moore to "between 15 and 19 years in prison." And some dude in a federal appeals court who made the April 20, 2011, attempted bombing possible.

Not all American judges are nitwits, in my opinion. But some are: again, in my opinion. I think a more charitable explanation might be that many of America's judges honestly, sincerely, believe in an ideology that looks good on paper - but has very little applicability in the real world. And that's another topic.

I do think it's interesting that Mr. Moore had been out of prison for one week, when he apparently tried to kill people at that Colorado Mall. His release date, as given in the news, was April 13 ,2011. The attempted bombing happened on April 20, 2011.

Terrorism and Having a Mean Streak

I haven't run into speculation about why Mr. Moore may have planted that bomb.

It might, maybe, have been because he rejects the capitalistic warmonger policies of the white male authoritarian power structure in Amerika. I doubt that very much: but it is, based on what little I've read, possible.

Maybe Mr. Moore liked it in prison, and wants to go back. Again, it's possible. Likely? I don't know.

Or maybe Mr. Moore simply doesn't like people who didn't rob banks and get sent to prison. From some points of view, it isn't 'fair' that all those folks in the mall were free when he was in prison.

Or maybe Mr. Moore was bored, and wanted something to do that day. That, I think, is quite unlikely.

What to do With Folks Like Mr. Moore

Quite a few folks say that anybody who robs a bank, or kills someone, or commits a serious crime, should be killed. From an emotional point of view, I think I understand that desire. I also think that 'feeling like killing someone' isn't a good reason for killing someone.

I also think that America is a very wealthy country. Folks who can spend what we do on Super Bowl advertising can afford, I think, to restrain the Mr. Moores among us.

Finally, I - do - not - trust - the American judiciary to make life-and-death decisions. When the United States Supreme Court can raise someone from the dead - maybe I'll change my mind.

I've discussed capital punishment (and thinking with one's endocrine system), mostly in another blog:Somewhat-related posts:
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Barack Obama's Birth Certificate, and Getting a Grip

As I've said before, this isn't a political blog. Not in the sense that I say one person or party is always right, and everybody who doesn't agree is stupid. I can't ignore politics, either, since this blog's topic is the war on terror - and politics affects decision-making.

I didn't vote for President Obama in the 2008 election, and I do not agree with many of his policies. But I am not "against" him as an individual. I think America could have a better president - and that's another topic.

Some reactions to candidate Obama and President Obama remind me of the way another set of folks reacted to George W. Bush. And that's not another topic.

There's been a sort of conspiracy theory going around that Barack Hussein Obama isn't a 'real' American. My guess is that the notion will be as firmly-planted in popular culture as the idea that the CIA blew up New York City's World Trade Center. Or that Elvis lives - although the latter seems to be fading.

Today's news is, in my opinion, interesting: but hardly a surprise; and almost certainly not the end of 'Obama ain't no reg'lr American.'

President Obama's Birth Certificate

A selection of news about Obama's birth certificate:
"This is the document the 'birthers' have clamored for -- President Obama's long-form certificate generated at the time of birth, with more details than the short-form summary the president previously had produced.

"His failure to make this document public is what the birther movement has used to argue Mr. Obama is not a U.S. citizen. They say the short-form (even though certified by the state of Hawaii) could be a phony document created well after the fact...."
(CBS News)
"The White House has released President Obama's long-form birth certificate, saying the document is 'proof positive' the president was born in Hawaii.

"The release marked an unexpected turn in the long-simmering, though widely discredited, controversy over Obama's origin. Obama's advisers have for the better part of three years dismissed questions about the president's birth, directing skeptics to the short-term document released during the 2008 campaign. But as the issue gained more attention at the state level and particularly in the 2012 presidential race, Obama said Wednesday that it was starting to distract attention from pressing challenges like the budget...."
(FoxNews.com)
"President Barack Obama released his long-form birth certificate, saying he wanted to end the "silliness" of false claims he was born outside U.S. that were distracting from urgent debates over the nation's future.

"Renewed questions about his birth have dominated the news in recent weeks even as the country is in the middle of a debate about the federal budget and how to cut the nation's debt, Obama, 49, said at the White House. He said the issue should have been settled during the 2008 campaign and that he wouldn't normally engage critics who are raising the issue...."
(The San Francisco Chronicle)

(FoxNews.com, via Snopes.com, used w/o permission)

Could it be a forgery? Is this part of a massive conspiracy? Are space-alien, shape-shifting, lizard-men involved?

Could be, but I doubt it.

Barack Obama, and Plan 9 From Outer Space

I've discussed the president's birth record before:
"...All public knowledge of Barack Obama indicates - strongly - that he was born about 10 years after I was, in the State of Hawaii. And it turns out that he may not have a 'long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate ... within the vital records maintained by the Hawaii Department of Health.'1

"Does this mean he's not 'really' an American? Or that 'the truth is out there,' and some vast conspiracy is keeping 'regular Americans' from knowing it?

"At this point, I don't think so. Or, rather, I don't think there's reason to assume that Barack Obama isn't, legally, an American citizen, born in one of the 50 states.

Although just barely. Hawaii became a state in 1959. Oddly, I haven't run into anybody claiming that Hawaii isn't really a state in this country. And that's almost another topic...."
(January 29, 2011)
I think that most folks, if they've tried dealing with government bureaucracies, would agree that a state office taking a year or so to dredge up a particular record - isn't really all that surprising.

In my considered opinion, I think that President Barack Obama:
  • Is definitely not a WASP
  • Has a distinctly non-British name
  • Was
    • Born in Hawaii
    • A legal candidate in 2008
    • The current president of the United States
I also think that the CIA did not blow up New York City's World Trade Center.

Conspiracy theories can make entertaining stories. But the notion that Barack Obama isn't 'really' an American? I think that's as plausible as the screenplay for Plan 9 From Outer Space.

Why Release the Birth Certificate Now?

As I said, this isn't a political blog - but who wins the 2012 presidential election will make a difference in how America reacts to folks who want to kill Americans.

I ran into this opinion on televised news: that Obama released his birth certificate now, because Donald Trump has been making an issue of it. I think that's a plausible bit of speculation.

The argument is that Obama wants to win the 2012 presidential election - and to do so will have to get more votes than the Republican candidate. Donald Trump apparently wants to be the Republican presidential candidate in 2012 - and Barack Obama wants to run against Donald Trump.

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Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.