Accessing Data on Joe the Plumber

Michelle Malkin has a couple of articles on the illegal accessing of Joe the Plumber’s personal records by several different government bureaucrats who had access to government computer systems. I won’t go into detail of that part of it right now.

It is stated in one of the articles that some of these data accesses were done as a favor to a reporter friend.

I’d like to point out that the only reason the public (and the victim) knows about this illegal access is that the liberal media published the results.

If they got interested in your records, for instance, you’d never know about it - unless they told you, or the press.

I wonder how many of us have been illegally snooped by these ‘public servants’ or others like them?

Big Brother is Watching You. NOTE that, at least in this one, known, case, the miscreants doing the snooping all have a Democratic, or liberal, or left-wing agenda. But I bet this goes on all the time, probably sometimes without even political reasons; “as a favor to a friend”, etc.

There are laws against this sort of access. There are also ‘gun free zones’ which also don’t work. The lesson here is that if there is no mechanism to enforce a law, that law is useless to prevent criminals from doing their dirty work. The law may punish them if they’re caught – but it won’t stop them from doing the deed. Many, many people have died in “gun free zones” because those who might have been able to stop a killer were disarmed by the law. Of course, those killers are easy to catch, in the sense that their crime announces itself loudly. This is not true of illegal data access, or ’snooping’.

And I suspect that many, many people have been ’snooped’ – and the victims never find out about it.

Law as applied now cannot stop this. Got any ideas?

-Popgun

Financing Social Security

They’ve been talking for years about how, along about the time I might need it, we’re going to run out of money to finance Social Security.

Kind of makes you wonder how in the world Obama is going to finance medical care for everybody, and huge government hand-outs to people who don’t pay income tax, and all that other stuff he wants to spend money on.

Just sayin’.

-Popgun

Why I’m Voting For McCain

I’ve written in the past about the many reasons I’m NOT voting for Obama. It occurs to me that I haven’t really made it clear why I AM voting for McCain.

There are a great many reasons. The belief system, the values, the moral stance, the policies of McCain and Palin are much more in line with my personal belief system. Economics, abortion, gun rights, right on down the line I’m in agreement with these people, and in fact I admire them. No need to go into specifics, but when you get right down to it, I believe they have the correct direction for the U.S.A., especially compared to the competition.

The very fact that Obama has tried so very hard to conceal certain aspects of his beliefs and his radical associations, while John McCain and Sarah Palin have concealed nothing at all, is very revealing. For instance, after a two year campaign, it only became clear in the last couple of weeks that Obama is a strong supporter of ‘redistribution of wealth’, by whatever name you want to call it. Why is it that this only became apparent in the last couple of weeks? Because Obama concealed it, knowing that it would work against him in this campaign. Obama is an onion that you have to peel layer by layer, with obfuscation and misdirection all the way. I perceive this as dishonesty. I don’t know enough about what he really thinks to trust him.

Whereas, John McCain and Sarah Palin are open books, with histories and records that are available for inspection. And we, the people, need to have confidence that we know how our President and V.P. will react, to represent us properly in any given situation. Acquiring this confidence is easy with the McCain ticket; with Obama, not so much.

Motivation is another factor. I’m not intending to criticize any specific politicians, but it is my perception that the great majority of them try to get the jobs they have for reasons involving personal wealth, benefits and power. It is my opinion that very few politicians get into politics specifically because they actually want to serve their country.

Having spent this election cycle studying all of the candidates, it is my belief that both John McCain and Sarah Palin do in fact actually want the job in order to serve our country. And ultimately, that is the difference.

-Popgun

#$%^& Vista!

It happened again!!

Working along in my CAD system in Vista; Vista arbitrarily decides to install updates, dumps me out of my CAD system WITHOUT LETTING ME SAVE MY WORK, and begins to install updates that require a reboot. I’m about to turn off the automatic update feature if I can find it. This is totally unacceptable.

NEVER another Microsoft product.

I sure wish my CAD program ran natively on the Mac. It’s the only program I use that requires Windows.

-Popgun

Efficiency in Big Companies

Our company sold three pumps to a major engineering firm. We, in turn bought the pumps from the pump manufacturer. The pumps became ready to ship last Thursday.

It took 40 different emails, going in all directions, cc’d multiple times for a total of 241 recipients, to get these pumps shipped.

This is called “efficiency”.

-Popgun

Obama’s Socialist Beliefs – From His Own Mouth

Here’s an article at Hot Air with audio of Obama professing his belief in “distributive change”. Very revealing. What Obama told Joe the Plumber was not some sort of verbal stumble. If what he wants is not Marxism, you’d have to use a razor blade to find the difference.

Finally, we’re getting at the truth. I hope it’s not too late to get the word out.

-Popgun

Video of Obama That MSM Won’t Release – Why?

If true, it seems that there is a video of Obama being held by the LA Times, that they won’t release.

It’s obvious why they won’t release it. Yet another unsavory relation of Obama’s. This time, it’s Rashid Khalidi, a PLO operative and critic of Israel.

Obama consistently demonstrates a desire to know, communicate with, spend time with – people who hate the United States. There’s a trend here, folks. Wise up!

You know, I’ve got to wonder how Obama ever got through the Democratic Party’s vetting process. Surely they have one?

I’ll say no more here, the article I’m linking to is much more complete. Go to Gateway Pundit.

-Popgun

There Used To Be a Line…

There used to be a line that few crossed. That line separated what was acceptable and what was not acceptable in media attacks of the President of the United States, and by extension, any politician.

There was a time not so long ago that the office of the POTUS was respected, even if the person in that office was incompetent, or a fool, or immoral, or lead us to mistakes that cost lives. The incumbent might be chastised by the media or derided by late night talk show hosts, but a certain respect for the office remained. Disagreement might exist with the President’s policies (or morality, in the case of Bill Clinton), but actual hatred was usually not a factor.

No more. Beginning with President Bush: the media, Hollywood, and others on the left, began a hate-mongering propaganda campaign that has lasted for most of his term; there was so much of it, and it was so virulent, that it has become a major factor in shaping this election. In effect, the liberal left and the media has brain-washed a large part of the population of the U.S. to hate Bush, and revile anyone remotely associated with him.

Understand, I’m not talking about disagreeing with Bush’s policies. I’m talking about the virulent, naked hatred that the liberal left and the media have spawned.

This hate-mongering has now been established as the way anyone on the liberal left (including most of the media and Hollywood) attacks anyone on the conservative right.

For instance, consider the instant, intense, vicious attacks on Sarah Palin. These attacks were way, way beyond reason; most of them were not based on her policies or qualifications. They even descended to attacking her family, and telling a great many outright lies. Why? Just because she had the temerity to run on the ticket with John McCain.

And another example: The left gave Joe the Plumber the Palin treatment, and all he did was ask Barack Obama a question. Obama caused his own embarrassment by his answer; that wasn’t Joe the Plumber’s fault. So now, anybody that asks Obama a question more difficult than what color his socks are can expect to receive vicious, personal, hate-filled vitriolic attacks.

This behavior marks a fundamental change in the way politics is done in the United States. And not for the better.

Many people are no longer making voting decisions based on policy – they’ve been conditioned to vote against anything associated with Bush and the Republicans. It doesn’t help much to point out logically the many reasons it might not be a good idea to vote for Obama – reason doesn’t enter into it.

And that may eventually be the downfall of the U.S.A.. A large portion of the population have handed their voting franchise over to the propagandists; they will not do their own research, and think about probable outcomes of policies, and vote for the best outcome. Instead, they will vote for reasons having nothing to do with reality.

We should not allow our own opinions to be distorted by the propaganda of either the liberal left or the conservative right. We should do our own research into each candidate’s background, voting record, and history; and form our own opinion about what is best for the country. If enough honest, informed voters actually try to make informed decisions, the country will do well. If too many of us vote according to baseless opinion and outright lies, this country will eventually fail.

Just like with computers – garbage in, garbage out.

-Popgun

The End of Days

This is strictly an opinion piece. This is what I think will happen if Obama is elected. And also what I fear MAY happen if Obama is elected.

If Obama wins the election, we will have the most liberal President in history, linked with a congress that has large Democratic (liberal) majorities. There will not be any brakes on what our government does – it will all be the liberal, Democratic way. The predictions listed here won’t happen all at once, and some may take a few years to manifest.

Expected results of the election of Obama:

1. There will be an increased government bureaucracy ; and increased government spending to go with it.
2. Since that has to be paid for, there will be increased taxation. Yes, on everybody with an income, one way or the other. ALL taxes eventually filter down to the wage-earning citizen.
3. Obama will attempt to implement his medical care program. If he is successful, medical care may become less expensive – but the quality and availability of care will decline over time. (As is the case in Great Britain and Canada).
4. It will increasingly be a bad environment for business; more taxation = less profit. Look for more business to relocate overseas. There will be more unemployment. Prices of consumer goods will increase as the additional taxation is passed on to customers.
5. There will be inroads made against free trade agreements with other countries. Imports will cost more. Exports will decline, further damaging our economy.
6. The economy will decline to deep recession levels, at best. (This may happen no matter who wins).
7. Our military will, over time, be defunded and emasculated, in order to shift funding to other (welfare type) programs.
8. There will likely be new attacks by terrorists both inside and outside the U.S. who think Obama won’t retaliate.
9. There will be a general withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
10. Iran will be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Iranian influence in the Middle East will increase.
11. Drilling for oil in the U.S. will be curtailed, while Obama’s alternate energy “Manhattan Project” will be implemented. As a result, until alternate-energy-powered cars are economically available, you will pay more for gasoline. Lots more. Both ground and air travel will decline over time as it becomes too expensive.
12. Obama will select liberal judges for the Supreme Court, who are not strict interpreters of the Constitution. The Democratic congress will rubber-stamp them.
13. Pro-abortion groups will be in their ascendency – laws allowing unlimited abortion will be passed within the limits imposed by the (liberal) Supreme Court.
14. Institution of the ‘Fairness Doctrine’ which will shut down conservative talk radio, and make it harder for any right-wing message to be heard.
15. Every possible obstruction to our Second Amendment gun rights will be implemented. The Second Amendment guarantees that we can own guns. However, there is no such guarantee about cost, quantity, or type. Obama will not protect manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits, and he is in favor of restricting ‘certain types of guns’. Laws will be passed requiring hardware modifications that will make most guns either useless or out of the financial reach of most Americans.

Potential results – not as likely as above, but possible:

1. Nationalization of the oil companies (already called for by some Democrats).
2. Suppression of free speech will become more prevalent. Try Googling “Obama’s Truth Squads“. 487,000 hits!
3. The public school system will become a tool of indoctrination for the political left. (See Obama’s involvement with the Annenberg Challenge – purposed to indoctrinate school children with Bill Ayer’s beliefs!)
4. Total collapse of the economy to depression era levels – or below.
5. Iran will attempt to destroy Israel with it’s new nuclear weapons, due to their belief that we will not retaliate.
6. The end of the United States as a world power.

I do actually believe the above is how it will go. I truly hope that I’m wrong.

-Popgun

Things That Make You Want To Shoot Your Computer

A person I know has a brand new laptop running Vista. It came with Symantec’s Norton A/V 2008. At the end of the trial period, he used the option on the system menu to uninstall it. Mysteriously, at that point, his 3G Alltel modem won’t work. It’ll dial, connect, and then claim the computer on the other end doesn’t want to talk.

Poking around with it, I found that Norton is apparently not completely uninstalled by using the – wait for it – “Unistall” menu selection. I am not amused.

I found at least two services running that I was able to identify as being associated with Norton. I was able to turn them off, but it doesn’t seem to have helped.

Manual removal using a guide I found on the internet failed, because some of the files are write-protected in such a way that they can’t be deleted. The next thing to try is Symantec’s “Removal Tool”. Of course, since the Uninstall option distributed with the program didn’t work, I don’t have a lot of hope for this, either.

Everything else is working fine – except the cellular modem. Somehow the (partial) uninstallation attempt did something to the modem, or its settings, or maybe the firewall settings, that we haven’t figured out yet.

It is hard for me to understand how a company can stay in business that produces crap like Symantec’s antivirus products. And I would be amazed by this if I hadn’t seen similar behavior with their products over the last few years. It’s been about two years now since I got rid of my last Symantec product, and I do not recommend their software to any of my friends or clients. Incredible incompetence. I have spent more time fighting Norton Anivirus than I ever spent recovering from a virus.

Very simple, Symantec – ‘Uninstall’ should work. If you can’t get this right, what good are you?

-Popgun