Friday, September 19, 2008

Hacking Sarah


No reason to get excited
The thief he kindly spoke
For there are many here among us
Who think that life is but a joke
'All Along The Watchtower - Bob Dylan'


A message I received following the hacking of Sarah Palin's email:

What worries me though, is always the possibility that something underhanded could also be taking place, and everyone is rushing to get their stories straight, and cover things up, and that it will be two years from now, just like with Watergate, before we find out who lies at the end of the money trail.


Trust but verify.

This release has all the signs of an amateur and a kid. So I believe the story out of Tennessee.

Think about this: Obama's camp is a coalition of forces that hate each other only slightly less than they hate the Republicans. That's been the Democratic Party for years, but this time Obama's message has stirred up a hornet's nest of accusations of racism sexism, ageism and the other isms. On top of that, the millenials are out for themselves and Obama is the golden path.

That is a LOT of rage, anger, whoopee and hurrah. This cranks up the mammal brain. It's called endorphin addiction. It results in oxytocin going to the brain, the so-called 'pleasure' hormone. The rage is making them feel good. It affects all of us and if you stir up enough of it, you can drive an election like cattle to the slaughter house. This was the trick of George Wallace, Huey Long and yes, George W. Bush. All you have to do then is play multiplication by division, such as playing the evangelicals against the hispanics, thus the double message out of the Obama camp last week.

Along the way, this activity causes the fringes to become active. People feel empowered and they take rash actions because they are trapped in that endorphin/oxytocin cycle. So kids toss rocks at cops and the technically trained hack web sites. It's not different from what we did in the 60s.

Don't attribute to malice that which may be simple stupidity, the sign says.

There is one thing to watch out for. Endorphin-addiction is just like any other. Once the rage is removed, the body is still hungry for it and tries to get the same high, so it will transfer the addiction to another substance or cause. When done to large groups of people, post event, they start to mill around like cattle looking for fresh grass and a watering hole. That makes them easily led.

Note that the feminist movement followed hard on the heels of the anti-war movement that followed hard on the heels of the civil rights movement. Once these things are spun up, it's hard to stop them and easy to direct them. Thus in the early 70s, we saw those posters that said "Beware leaders regardless of their calling cause."

Dampen the paranoia. My guess is this was just a kid with connections and some simple social hacking chops. It's a lesson to any of you using Yahoo and Google Gmail. It isn't secure and it is harvested for fun and profit.

That's the Web. Let the buyer beware.

You've Got To Serve Somebody

This week:

o Federal crime. Emails hacked. Obama supporters only disappointed that dirt wasn't found. Guess what? There isn't any. Palin is a good egg.

o CBC columnist Heather Mallick says Palin's look is that of a "toned-down porn actress." husband is Todd a "roughneck," son Track is "terrified," and pregnant teenage daughter Bristol is a "pramface," boyfriend is a 'ratboy', her supporters, "white trash", Alaska as a “frontier state full of drunks and crazy people.” and "Canada's ugly stepchild".

Meanwhile, Obama says nothing as usual and goes camping with celebrity advisors until Pelosi sends him instructions while the American economy melts like cheese on a flame-broiled burger.

This isn't that complicated. We've been ripped off and we want

1. Our money back.

2. Heads on pikes in front of the White House.

Get a clue.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

The Chinese Menu Party

Want to join the Chinese Menu Party? In our party, you get to choose one from column a and one from column b. So now an Obama/Palin ticket is a winner, and you can still get Hillary with the fortune cookie.

People want to say this is the people against the rich Republicans. This is actually two parties of the rich spending half a billion dollars to capture the larger half of 10% of the voters who will turn into pumpkins the day after the votes are confirmed.

Oh sinner man, where ya gonna run to.

Monday, September 15, 2008

If This Train's Going To Hell, Get the Best Seats

Ok, yeah, it's all going to hell. Greed. The usual suspects. Left screaming at right; right screaming at left. Chains rattling. Doors Creaking! Piggy banks breaking! BoogeyMan at the back door!

BOO!!

Here's the thing: if you've been around awhile, you've seen this before. In 1974, the economic chickens of a long war without raising taxes to pay for it came a roostin'. Oh what shall we do?

We stayed home. We watched TV with friends on Saturday night with lots of snacks. We played in the parks. We rode our bikes. We went to free concerts. We staged free concerts. Our Dads worked on the cars of our friends. Our friends painted the houses of our Dads. We slowed down.

It was drab. It was glorious. WE made do.

America only changes when her back is against the wall and now is such a time. WE took out the loans. WE bought the SUVs. WE voted for the (insert your favorite demon here)s!

It can be terrible for the ambitious social mavens to have to dance to a folk singer instead of a rock band, or listen to a recording instead of going to an opera, or cook with neighbors instead of being served by strangers...

But it can also be the best times of your life. Go out and see what you can find.

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