After years of contempt for the blogosphere, it seems the old media has recently decided they’d like in on the action, at least in reporting the 2008 elections. Mashable has reported on cooperative efforts between YouTube and CNN, Facebook and ABC, Fox and MySpace, and now Digg and CBS.
ZDNet is reporting, “Google and Matsushita’s Panasonic unit are jointly developing televisions that display Internet content such as photos and videos.”
Nearly all of the TV and print media have had websites on the internet for some time, perhaps they are finally beginning to realize what we, social networkers, have known for a long time: The value of of readers’ input and interaction: PRICELE$$.
Ryan Randazzo and Allison Denny The Arizona Republic Nov. 3, 2007 12:00 AM
Sheriff’s detectives continue to investigate how a pipe bomb got into a contract worker’s pickup bed Friday, triggering a lockdown of Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station and trapping thousands of employees there for about seven hours.
Roger W. Hurd, 61, of Hartsville, S.C., said he was unaware of a pipe bomb in his maroon Ford when he was stopped by Arizona Public Service Co. security officials at the entrance of the nation’s top-producing nuclear plant, sheriff’s officials said.
APS security did not find more explosives after an extensive search of the plant and its grounds, located about 50 miles west of downtown Phoenix, eventually lifting the lockdown at about 3 p.m., the utility said.
. . .
Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies found nothing connecting Hurd to the incident after a search of his Goodyear apartment, Arpaio said.
“We feel the person driving the truck, according to him and the investigation so far, didn’t have anything to do with it,” Arpaio said.
Hurd was not arrested but was held for questioning at the checkpoint before leading investigators to his apartment. Arpaio said he did not expect Hurd to face charges.
It does not appear Hurd is a terrorist, said Capt. Paul Chagolla, a sheriff’s spokesman.
“No nexus with terrorism is in our investigation at this point,” Chagolla said.
The upshot:
The contractor who drove the vehicle is not considered to be a suspect. The security worked well enough to keep the vehicle with the pipe bomb from approaching the nuke plant. But this shows how easy it is to plant an IED or other contraband in or on someone’s vehicle, either to discredit the owner of the vehicle, to boobytrap the vehicle, or to cause other harm that will be blamed on innocent parties.
In the interests of accuracy…
One of my pet peeves is the delivery of an announcement ruling out terrorism, even before investigators have any clue about the incident.
In this case, it would have been more accurate for the spokespeople to have acknowledged that Hurd is not a suspect, that they don’t have a suspect yet, and that it is too soon to rule in or out terrorism on the part of anyone else.
Why do news stories about security incidents tell us so little?
Why are suspects’ names and backgrounds so often omitted from the news when the incident involves national security? What is being kept from us?
Typical reasons:
No real suspect has yet been identified: Something dangerous was found, but it’s too soon to say how it got there, or why. This appears to have been the case in this incident.
Downplaying faulty or inadequate security procedures: There are doubts as to whether security procedures were properly designed and enforced, and nobody wants to look bad in the news.
Political correctness: News media and the authorities typically keep identifying information away from the public whenever a suspect is from a predominantly Muslim country, or has a Muslim name–or when there is some evidence of terrorist ties or motives. It’s politically incorrect to talk about such things! As in the case with the Virginia Tech mass murderer, someone can be motivated at least in part by an interest in Islam or jihadism even if he or she is from a part of the world where few people have such associations.
Don’t let the public start asking about personnel policy…
Does the facility hire foreign workers under the H-1b visa program? This could explain an across-the-board policy decision to delay or avoid answering any questions about security incidents. In this day of mandatory “diversity” at all costs, the powers that be wouldn’t want taxpayers and voters to wonder about the obvious security risks inherent in allowing noncitizens to work in IT and engineering jobs at all, much less in a nuclear plant, of all places!
What about background checks?
For a US citizen, an employer can complete an ordinary pre-employment background check in less than a day. That’s fine for a person working as a cashier in a retail store, but that wouldn’t do for a nuke plant worker! A more thorough background investigation, such as that required for a security clearance, can take many months. The only reason that such an investigation can be completed at all is because, for a US citizen, information is available for verification from trusted sources in the US.
There is simply no way to verify such background information with regard to a foreigner with the same degree of completeness, promptness, and accuracy. Given the fact that we are at war, how can anybody possibly think that it is worth the risk to hire foreigners for jobs that allow any kind of access to American IT or engineering infrastructure?
For more government and media obfuscation and foot-dragging, see:
Will net neutrality keep the largest ISPs from restricting the way we use the Internet? Michael S. Malone thinks so. He says: “That does it: I am now a full-fledged convert to net neutrality.” Read the article and decide for yourself.
On the evening of October 25, I attended the protest of Islamo-fascism Awareness Week at the University of Washington. Here is my conversation with Zakariya Dehlawi, President of the UW Muslim Student Association. He insists that even though Islamic terrorists frequently invoke their religion before detonating themselves, we shouldn’t ever mention the word “Islam” when we’re talking about those attacks. The conversation is interupted by an angry Muslim man, who you’ll hear from next.
Here is the rest of my conversation with the Muslim man who clearly wanted to talk, but didn’t want to answer questions. Note that he says “you didn’t catch Osama Bin Laden.” He, along with the next member of the UW MSA, doesn’t appear to identify with the country in which this protest is taking place. This leads to the obvious question: which side are these guys on, anyway? The following clips includes both men, both of whom seem to justify the 9/11 attacks because of the American foreign policy.
The University of Delaware folds like a lawn chair!
Yesterday, the University of Delaware asked Asaf Romirowsky to step down from an academic panel at the University of Delaware because another panelist, University of Delaware political scientist Muqtedar Khan, didn’t want to share the podium with anyone who served in the Israeli Defense Forces.
And how dare the Pentagon get its advice from such a bigot?
If Khan was just an academic, that would be one thing. But he also straddles the policy world: Khan is a a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a Pentagon consultant. According to an e-mail he sent to the University, he gave a workshop at the Pentagon yesterday afternoon.
Your time and effort is well spent when you write or blog to raise public awareness about threats to our First Amendment rights, or when you write, call, or email to protest against infringements on these rights.
“But I’m not a prisoner and I’ve never been to Maricopa County!”
Doesn’t matter! If you’ve visited Phoenix New Times Online, your browsing history has been swept up into a nasty local investigation that has nothing whatsoever to do with you. Everything in the server logs pertaining to your visit is up for grabs.
If, that is, you’ve ever read the Phoenix New Times online. The alternative weekly has run several articles over the years critical of the so-called “toughest sheriff in America.” But when an investigative piece on a series of questionable Arpaio real estate transactions included the sheriff’s home address (possibly violating state law), Arpaio launched an incredibly broad, wide-reaching investigation that looks an awfully lot like retaliation.
Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, the executive editor and CEO, respectively, of Village Voice Media, were arrested at their homes on suspicion of violating grand jury secrecy, said sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Paul Chagolla.
Both were released from custody early this morning. Lacey posted a $500 bond, according to New Times.
The two, who together started New Times in 1970, were the authors of Thursday’s cover story revealing that a special prosecutor, retained by the county attorney’s office, had issued subpoenas to them and other staffers in a criminal case against the paper. The case stems from the paper publishing Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s home address more than three years ago.
. . .
Especially disturbing, Lacey and Larkin wrote, is that one subpoena asks for online profiles of anyone who read four specific articles about Arpaio and profiles of anyone who visited the paper’s Web site since Jan. 1, 2004. The county officials also want to track what Web users did while on the site, the story says.
Michael Lacey, the executive editor, and Jim Larkin, chief executive, were arrested at their homes after they wrote a story that revealed that the Village Voice Media company, its executives, its reporters and even the names of the readers of its website had been subpoenaed by a special prosecutor. The special prosecutor had been appointed to look into allegations that the newspaper had violated the law in publishing the home address of Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s home address on its website more than three years ago.
The weekly and its leadership has been in a long running battle with Mr. Arpaio, after the weekly published a series of stories about his real estate dealings.
How did Arpaio become entrenched in power?
He’s no hero!
Too many conservatives admire Arpaio from afar, thinking he has the answer to problems of crime and social disorder.
It’s true that there are some very real problems in Maricopa County, especially in regard to illegal immigrants, and some people are content with the fact that Arpaio seems to be addressing those problems and are unwilling to look any further.
Nonetheless, riding roughshod over due process of law, common decency, and everyone’s privacy is never the way to go. Think about it: If you enter Arpaio’s jurisdiction and you get picked up for something you didn’t do, especially if you are physically fragile, you’re out of luck. Don’t think it can’t happen to you!
To top it off, Arpaio has such an effective PR campaign going that you’ll be unlikely to get anybody’s sympathy or help. He has played on public anger at rampant crime to make a seeming virtue of his smug, self-righteous, and cruel behavior. Even so, these tyrannies don’t last forever. When the bovine effluent from Arpaio’s reign of terror finally reaches the rotary ventilation enhancement device, Maricopa County will become known as an object of derision and a place to avoid.
I hope the folks who always moan about the federal government is always evil and federalism is always da bomb read this. Local government can be very tyrannical, and often it’ only the feds who can set these kind of tin-badge tyrants straight.
You are correct in pointing out that state and local authorities can become tinpot tyrants too. However, I take issue with your assertion that the feds can set them straight. That doesn’t seem to be happening! It’s the job of the local citizenry to do that! In other words, it all comes down to YOU!
1389
What to do?
Vote with your feet and boycott the place! If you live or have a business in Maricopa County, Arizona. move out! For everyone else, don’t visit!
Arpaio the Voyeur - So concerned about his OWN privacy! (Updated 10/20/07)
Dennis Wagner The Arizona Republic Sept. 12, 2006 12:00 AM
Maricopa County inmates have won a settlement with Sheriff Joe Arpaio over his live Internet broadcasts that showed prisoners being booked, photographed and, in some cases, using a toilet at the county jail.
The Sheriff’s Office agreed Monday to pay the legal fees for the inmates, plus $500 in damages to each of the 11 who remain in the case that was filed five years ago in U.S. District Court. Arpaio also agreed to accept the court order blocking the so-called jailcam.
. . .
Donna Hamm, executive director at Middle Ground, said the inmates all were pre-trial detainees, presumed not guilty under the law, subjected to public humiliation, with women prisoners shown partly undressed as they used a toilet.
Recently, the folks at Global Incident Map posted a notice, USA Airport Security Alert for Toys with Remotes. In a nutshell, although radio-controlled toys are not prohibited on aircraft at this time, passengers carrying such toys will be subject to additional screening:
Citing ‘credible specific information’ about terror tactics, Transportation Security Administration officers nationwide on Monday stepped up their scrutiny of passengers carrying remote-control toys aboard airplanes…
Do you enjoy RC toys? Here’s what you need to know to stay safe!
Radio-controlled toys should be good, safe fun for both children and adults. While it is disgusting enough that anybody would set off bombs as an act of terrorism, it is truly sick to put a bomb into a toy.
According to the article in The Coloradoan,an innocent person’s remote controller could accidentally trigger a remote bomb planted by a terrorist.
Remote controls on toys and items such as garage-door openers transmit radio waves and can be converted to crude detonators, though sophisticated terrorists shun them, said aviation security consultant Rich Roth, a former Secret Service agent. Such a bomb could be detonated prematurely, thus defeating a terrorist’s plans, he said.
“The problem has always been that there are so many kids with toys out there that if some kid fires up a toy and sets off a (terrorist) bomb, that’s not good,” Roth said.
So here are the take-home lessons for EVERYONE:
Do not turn on the remote controller for any of your own radio-controlled toys in a public place. This is especially important in and around airports, train stations, buses, and other transportation facilities. You don’t want to affect anything else that might be using the same frequency.
If you notice anything that looks like a radio-controlled toy left unattended outdoors or in a public place - use caution. Radio-controlled toys are fairly expensive and people normally don’t abandon them. Ask around to see if anybody knows whose it is and how it got there. If there isn’t a good reason for it being there, consider it a suspicious object and call the local authorities to check it out. Don’t just absent-mindedly touch it or push it aside. Take care not to step on it or run over it with your vehicle!
If you see something, say something! Keep your eyes open for any type of terrorist-training or jihadist-recruitment videos when you’re exploring YouTube or other Internet video hosting services. Notify the video hosting service and the appropriate authorities. See the Reference Material resource page on 1389 Blog for specific information about where to report suspicious activities.
UPI gets it all wrong about the number of people and the amount of equipment that would actually be needed to produce the videos coming out of al Qaeda’s as-Sahab Institute, as the terror network’s media arm calls itself. Obviously, they are thinking in terms of the resources that UPI would have used to make such videos!
The truth? You’d be surprised how little money and how few staff it actually takes.
An Internet video expert at Hot Air explains what it actually takes to make these “viral” Internet videos. He describes the type of al Qaeda operation that our military and intelligence agencies - and anyone else in a position to notice something suspicious - should be looking for.
CBS has no room for Christians or for American Southerners.
For those who are not aware of this, it’s part of the Christian faith that believers are required - yes, REQUIRED - to tell the truth about our beliefs, and to bring the Good News to everyone we can reach. Taqiyya has NO place in Christianity. Florida televangelist Bill Keller was simply doing what a good Christian should do on a Christian talk show. But CAIR, a Muslim pressure group affiliated with Hamas, bullied CBS into dropping Keller’s show.
Here are two accounts of the disgraceful way CBS Corporation treated Florida televangelist Bill Keller:
But that’s not all. The CBS website has been providing a forum for over-the-top hate comments. CBS has allowed random crazies to spew filth and venom on the CBS website, particularly against American Southerners. After they got enough complaints, they eventually deleted the comments and, in effect, pretended the comments had never existed.
A high-traffic mainstream media site such as CBS has no business ever allowing unmoderated comments to appear in the first place. They should publish a comment policy with enough moderators to enforce it. They refuse to take any responsibility for what happens on their site, and they have no respect for Southerners or for anybody with traditional values. With that corporate mindset, it’s no wonder that the networks and the mainstream media have been steadily losing their audience!
Now let CBS know what you think of this!
Address of CBS Headquarters: 51 West 52 Street, New York, New York 10019-6188
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