THE REAL THREAT: CYBER ATTACKS

HACKERS BASED IN NORTH KOREA

 

 A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

(July 8, Washington, DC) Since the terrorist attack on American soil in September 2001, the issue of “Homeland Security” has allegedly been on the top of the agenda for our vast “Intelligence Community.” It appears that despite the reports of “across the board” improvements and the untold billions upon billions of dollars that have been dumped into the coffers of every alphabet agency related to national security, Internet based attacks traced back to entities in, or possibly even the government of, North Korea have been escalating since July 4th. Many government Ministries in South Korea have been victims of this “aggressive” wave of cyber warfare as have many of our own Federal agencies, some actually charged with cyber security. What the hell is going on?

These cyber attacks, some in the form of “denial of service” bugs, come in the wake of North Korea’s belligerent launching of mid to long range missiles despite stern warnings from the United Nations and President Obama against such military activities. Presently, the United States Navy is involved in an embargo of sorts, as they “shadow” North Korean flagged ships hoping to interdict that country’s ability to export arms or weapons of any kind. Tensions are always high on the Korean Peninsula and the erratic, vocally hostile behavior of North Korea’s demented “Dear Leader”, Kim Jong Il, have recently been escalating. North Korea has openly, defiantly announced their intention to continue their nuclear weapons programs and have already demonstrated some relatively primitive nuclear capability. “Primitive is perhaps an understatement regarding North Korea’s ability to weaponize nuclear materials”, said Cleavon F. Lortch, Director of the Council of Asian Nations For Nuclear Peace. Lortch is an expert of nuclear arms and has long followed North Korea’s efforts.

What is highly disconcerting about these attacks which are on-going, is the virtually non-existent response of our government. More than Kim Jong Il lobbing missiles out into the Pacific, these cyber attacks are proof that who ever is responsible has a level of technological sophistication in hardware, software and manpower, that presents a clear and present danger to the United States.

“I am stunned that this is not headline news. No matter if these are just denial of service raids, the mere fact that external, hostile players have infiltrated some of our government websites, is, in my mind, very close to an act of war”, commented Dr. William Donovan of the Cyber Security Unit at BronxWest Consulting. Dr. Donovan continued, “Our Homeland Security apparatus should get their heads out of their asses, the President should tell North Korea in no uncertain terms that we will hold that government responsible for any cyber warfare activity originating within their borders. This is damned serious and could get worse very quickly.”



Links:



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070800066.html?hpid=topnews

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124701806176209691.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124657680388089139.html

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hM1x-CC9vClHGSq6RSvkKHZaZ5sg

Copyright TBC 2009 © All Rights Reserved

Copyright BronxWest Consulting 2009 © All Rights Reserved

DISGUST

(July 6, Too Many Places In America) Disgust is more than a feeling, an emotion. It is a sickness that infects the spirit and soul in profound ways. Disgust is widespread today. Disgust is alive and well in places all over the country.

Disgusted people could give a shit that Michael Jackson died or that politicians are cheating on their wives, quitting their jobs and just being as obstinate, criminal and self serving as ever. Disgusted people don’t understand why big banks get billions of tax payers money, why general Motors should be saved or even how to get their minds around a number like one trillion.

Many of the disgusted are unemployed and have been for far too long to not be disgusted. Some have abandoned the job search while others still knock on doors, read want-ads, ask if a friend of a friend knows of anybody looking to hire. The disgusted are becoming familiar to rejection but not at all used to it. Their unemployed status defies every cell in their bodies and for far too many nights they sit watching infomercials, staring at the walls as the room slowly brightens to another jobless day. It is understandable how, by now, after months of not working, of little or no income and no prospects, disgust has become a heavy, itchy garment put on and worn every day.

Bills began piling up months ago. For the first few months most were somehow able to juggle; pay this one this month, pay that one next month. Meager savings, transferred into checking accounts in small increments, have run dry. There is no more and there is no more on the horizon.

Pride has taken an awful beating and, in some cases, it is down and out for the count. How many times can person be humbled, virtually forced to ask a brother or sister, a close friend or relative for “a little something”, a small loan “just to make it work this month”?

The layoff occurred before Christmas. The cold seemed an appropriate condition for the newly unemployed. To remain idle, without sustainable income as the calendar pages flipped and the summer set in has been as terrifying as it is disgusting.

People are disgusted, primarily, and not necessarily rightfully, with themselves. All of this has to be their own fault, right? They are disgusted with employers who got the best they had to give every day for years at a time - yes, jobs that had once been much more than only their source of income, dismissed them unceremoniously. Tough luck, you know how it is.

With the sense of purpose eroded over all these months, the sense of accomplishment and worth stolen along with a job no longer theirs, disgust slowly begins to fill the void. Disgust can easily give way to acute anger, sometimes an outburst totally disproportional to the event. Disgusted and angry people cannot see very far; the next bill in the mail, the next collection agency phone call, the next time some creditor must be told “Listen, buddy, you can’t get blood from a turnip.”

There is also fear. What will happen if I get sick? Or my kids? Or my wife? What about Mom and Dad, they can’t be making it either? Disgust can develop into dread and than back to anger because, at the heart of it all, it’s money. Actually, the lack of money.

Disgust, for some, may manifest a resentment - he’s got a good job, I don’t. People never before prone to resentment, jealousy or envy now find increasing segments of their daily internal monologue occupied by these very sentiments.

To the disgusted we speak of here, all happiness has been sucked out of life; there is no pleasure, there can be no diversion from the crushing problems of chronic unemployment, despair and debt. These ar the other two “D’s” completing the triple headed monster - disgust, despair and debt. You have to live it to know how it tastes, what it does to your body and mind and how it slowly deflates a spirit until wanting to see another day becomes a fifty-fifty proposition.

Disgust is usually reserved for things, objects, scenarios or events; disgust in the common usage is something triggerd by an external stimulus or one’s reaction to a certain stimulus. When disgust is directed at one’s self (maybe self loathing is more grammaticaly correct, but, who gives a shit) that can be a moment of truth. The past races by with a dizzying sense of disorientation - where did it all go? It seems like only yesterday I was... fill in the blank.

It is not natural to be disgusted with one’s self or, at least, not for very long. This chronic disgust, hopelessness and sense of profound uncertainty can play tricks with your head. It can become the soil for some really odd, wild, irrational thinking. Rationality suffers when disgust is dominate. Reasoning is impaired because all points of reference have dramatically shifted. “I have never been in this position before.” Indeed, new ground, uncharted territory, the heavy sense of being trapped. Trapped. No way out or around these current problems; no way to pay the bills, no way to buy enough food for everyone.

The car needs tires and a brake job. The roof leaks, the toilet leaks and the bedroom window has been broken since Thanksgiving. There is no one to call because the phone is about to be disconnected; they will only leave you alone for so long before they yank it out. Good. Who needs the damned thing anyway?




Copyright TBC 2009 © All Rights Reserved

SARAH PALIN - UNPLUGGED

AS REAL AND SINCERE AS IT GETS
Pundits and Commentators Missed The Point















WHO HEARD WHAT ?


( July 3, Wasilla, Alaska) Clearly the woman was tired, worn down by her baptism by fire onto the national political stage. Her ascendancy, apogee and ultimate waning was as rapid an arc and decline as has ever been seen in the American political realm. It took a toll on this 45 year old, mother of five and, for some reasons, the chattering class cannot and will not accept her words as honest.

Unfortunately, the majority of American’s receive the “news” not as unbiased, objective reporting but rather through the ideological prism of each media outlet. Pundits and other asinine talking heads declare their opinions on each and every move and word of a politician , for some odd reason, it is their interpretations and pronouncement that become fact for the rest of the public. The examples of this dangerous phenomenon are many; the toll they have taken on our public discourse and governance has been disastrous. Responsibility seems to be divorced from the newsertainment world which was once, what we knew as the “Fourth Estate”, the media outlets that served an important, if not profound roll, in our democracy. Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press were forever codified in our Constitution but, over the years, the media insinuated themselves into the headlines and story lines forever forfeiting objectivism for crass popularity.

Moments ago one of the most dynamic political personalities in years announced her resignation from office and wish to return to private life. Sarah Palin, the media star and target, first term Governor of Alaska and former Vice Presidential Candidate in 2008, stood before the assembled press and informed them of her impending retirement from politics.

Then, the trouble began.

The words of her speech were still reverberating off the lake she stood in front of when the critics opened fire. The talking heads and cables TV newsertainment blowhards criticized Governor Palin not only for resigning with 16 months remaining in her term but for what they called “a rambling, sometimes incoherent speech.” This response from the media seemed to become the truth cemented in the public’s mind by the time the Saturday newspapers hit the stands.

Let’s concede that her impromptu resignation speech was not grand political oratory, it was not a finely crafted document calling upon the host of rhetorical clichés’ and the regular tired bullshit hyperbole that seem to be essential to a political speech.

Right or wrong, due to her circumstances beyond her control and her suddenly being pushed from obscurity to the national public stage, thrust into the last months of a historic Presidential Election, she was as much a victim of the press as she was victim of her own shortcomings. Still, few politicians could have thrived in the environment, the incredible scrutiny, attention, and interest that Palin was bombarded by from her introduction as John McCain’s running mate.

It was obvious very early on that she was grossly unprepared to ever be our Vice President. But, to her credit, she campaigned often and hard perhaps recognizing on some deep visceral level that she was not going to be the Vice President because John McCain was going to get his fossilized kicked mightily by Barak Obama.

The future will produce a wide array of magazine articles, essays, scholarly works, books, cable TV specials and every other form of media today all attempting to understand Sarah Palin: he life, her politics, her decisions, ethics, accomplishments as Governor and of course her role in the GOP ass whupping of 2008. That is normal and how it should be.

For now, maybe, we just witnessed a nervous woman facing an always hostile press with some heartfelt reasons for her seemingly abrupt resignation. Everything from ongoing FBI ethics scandal rumors as well as a host of other sordid and tawdry gossip has been given weight in her decision. All of any of it may or may not be valid bit, for now, all we have are her words.

So what if they were clumsy, awkward and disjointed. Who cares that her delivery was not polished. Who can imagine the pressures she has lived with over the past 10 months and not understand her desire to have more normalcy, to fade off the stage for the time being.

Sarah Palin will have a future in public life, most likely not in elective politics, but a public role in the discourse regarding a handful of core GOP issues. She can do what she wants; anything from hosting a TV program, writing a book or becoming a spokesperson for causes she has aligned herself with. That is her business and she and her family should be allowed to return to some semblance of privacy and normality.

Maybe she will just be a footnote in history, a continuing target of contempt by pundits and bloviators of all persuasion. Comedians will continue to get some mileage out of her many awkward interview moments and the wealth of oddball remarks she has made publicly. So what.

Perhaps she has decided that she has had enough of national politics and has absolutely no intention of ever running for any Office again, let alone The Presidency. She got a good taste in a brief time of the game that steamrollers veterans and novices alike.

Good for you Sarah.

Take some time to decompress and spend time away from the harsh reality of such a high profile public existence.



Related Links:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/03/AR2009070301738.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/03/sarah-palin-resignation-s_n_225557.html

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/07/reagan_palin_and_that_vanity_fair_palin_story.php

http://www.theweek.com/article/index/98198/Sarah_Palin_Vanity_Fair_and_2012




Copyright TBC 2009 © All Rights Reserved

ANOTHER LA CORONER'S CRIME SCENE BLUNDER?

TIME WILL TELL











(July 2, Valhalla, NY) The Forensic Pathologist is armed with many tools; some highly sophisticated, new generation technology, others, age old tried and true methodology. Pathology, be it Anatomic or Forensic is often a shade more art than science. The Pathologist either during the gross examination of the deceased in the morgue at autopsy or peering into the fine lenses of a high powered microscope probing slides of tissue samples, hours or days later, at times, must make a call based on interpretation. Clearly, there are times the gross examination and subsequent morphology reveal a clear answer to the questions associated with a particular death. At other times, though, answers to profound questions require hour upon hour of arduous concentration; careful analysis of toxicology and other lab tests, painstaking review of all the accumulated evidence, and the Pathologists’ ability to connect the gross, physical and microscopic dots.

Evidence, be it the actual corpse or fiber and trace elements can quickly make or break a case. There is no room for compromise in a homicide investigation; no margin for error when investigating any death that meets the criteria for a Medical Examiners review. Any unattended death, any suicide, death by accident or unnatural causes will trigger a Medical Examiner’s intervention. All unexpected, sudden death, even an obvious suicide is automatically handed over to Homicide and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for that particular jurisdiction. Often death is not what it appears to be.

Despite their long history and the relatively high volume of unnatural deaths they process annually, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office, seem not to have yet mastered the most elementary aspects of crime scene securement and investigation. Their blunders, missteps and sheer ineptitude have been as famous as the roster of the deceased whose ultimate fate in the judicial system was fumbled. The Forensic Pathologist and Homicide Investigators are in the sacred and unique position to speak for the deceased when the death was a matter of criminality. or even the suspicion of wrong doing. To mishandle a homicide case in any form or fashion that seriously jeopardizes the Prosecutor’s, the District Attorney’s (DA) ability to obtain righteous justice is a severe breach of the public trust and the primary duties of their Offices.

Time and time again we have seen how the gross negligence of the LAPD and “The Coroner”, has allowed the guilty to go free or the mysteries of a particular death to remain forever obscure and uncertain.

Now, it’s the cause and circumstances of the death of Michael Jackson that may be forever ambiguous due to the inability of the LAPD Homicide Unit to perform their duties properly. When will they learn? How many times must they be subjected to rightful public scorn and ridicule because of their clumsy, careless, stupidity?

The OJ Simpson murder trial has forever cemented in the public conscience the gross fallibility of the LAPD and those members entrusted with over seeing a murder investigation; actually a double murder. Nicole Brown Simpson and her acquaintance, Ronald Goldman were brutally massacred in the alleyway around Ms. Simpson’s home. The crime scene was, by all accounts, as bloody and gruesome as most cops had ever seen. Perhaps it was the shock value of the scene or just plain old incompetence but, months later, the certain killer, OJ Simpson was acquitted based largely on the sloppy and amateurish handling of the crime scene by LAPD. They were exposed to the world as a bunch of bungling, fumbling, idiotic fools. Their collective clumsiness allowed a guilty man to walk away from a double homicide charge of which there was little doubt he was in fact guilty.

Their latest series of blunders occurred at the home where Michael Jackson allegedly died or was at least in fatal distress before his death. That home, the entire property should have been immediately sealed and preserved as a crime scene. The fact that Jackson associates were able to enter and exit the property, the home and rooms within for two days after his death is beyond comprehension. The absolute need to preserve a crime scent, to maintain the security of evidence and strictly control access are fundamentals that cannot be compromised for any reason. Who knows what evidence may or may not have been tampered with or even removed and destroyed during that two day interval?

Perhaps the virtually immediate pronouncement from the LA Coroner’s Office that ‘there were no signs of foul play” set the stage for LAPD to not treat that scene as a true crime scene. In any event, simply given the high profile of the deceased and the certain media circus, legal battles and other complicating factors, one would think that all law enforcement agencies involved would have been ultra vigilant in the execution of all facets of their duties. Why leave any doubt on their end, should have been their rallying cry. From the top down every MOS should have been reminded of the importance of what they do and how this case will most definitely bring with it a level of scrutiny, analysis and publicity of unprecedented proportions.

If the LAPD and LA Coroner are this sloppy and unprofessional in their job performance processing the death of a world wide celebrity, how sloppy must they be with the unremarkable deaths that they encounter on a daily basis?


Links



http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/07/attorney-general-aiding-lapd-in-jackson-investigation.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8130948.stm

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hPLRw0C5J9ESGnxkc_F6I2QbVoFwD994IO880

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b131843_coroner_confiscates_meds_jackson_home.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/21/us/simpson-case-has-errors-coroner-says.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/26/entertainment/main5116666.shtml





Copyright TBC 2009 © All Rights Reserved
Copyright Bronxwest Consulting 2009 © All Rights Reserved

CULTURE AND VULTURES:

WHAT WE CELEBRATE AND WHAT WE DON’T

THE CHANGING FACE OF AMERICAN CULTURE...

...CAN ONLY CHANGE SO MUCH



Culture:
the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.

Popular Culture:
contemporary lifestyle and items that are well known and generally accepted, cultural patterns that are widespread within a population; also called pop culture

ENOUGH

(July 2, McPherson, KS) This dusty, windswept town is as close to the actual geographical middle of America as one can get. This is middle America on the map and, by some sociologists and demographers opinions, a fair representation of the much revered “Middle America Values.” Pollsters of every stripe love a location and population such is found here; it all seems to fit some ideal version of the United States; our lives, people, ethics, mores and, yes, our culture.

If a stranger from say, New York City, were to come to live here, they’d soon find out there are vast differences regionally in what the collective “we” consider culture. Yes, the various mass media platforms expose the folks here to all the same movies, music, entertainment and the like, as much as everywhere else. Young people in particular are more apt to adopt styles and attitudes promoted in the media than are older people - adults - those who have lived through the turbulence of their own youth and whatever was considered “pop culture” then.

We ought to be careful, selective, actually, in what we allow to be regarding in our society as cultural. The definitions provided above (courtesy of Random House Dictionary @ Dictionary.com) are concise and detailed. Accordingly, for an individual to have “cultural significance” they must make a profound contribution to our society that, in some way, enhances our collective lives. Sadly, we really do not celebrate culture here in America. No. We celebrate celebrity in ever increasing phases that are, fundamentally, contributing to the erosion of any real “culture.”

We have had schisms and upheavals before but, we also had eras of true appreciation for the achievements of men and women who in real terms made strides in their given endeavors that made us all a better people, a better Country. Fortunately, our history is richly populated by men and women who most certainly contributed greatly to our culture. Some of these individuals have made such profound advances in their specific realm that all of our lives will never be the same.

The recently deceased Michael Jackson was definitely not among them.

It is in many ways large and small a sad testament to our society that this man is being hailed as a “cultural figure.” Sure, he was a gifted, talented recording artist and performer but nothing he produced will stand the test of time and the rigors of the definition of a “Cultural Contribution.” Arguably, Jackson, does not even meet the criteria as an icon in “Pop Culture.” Simply being “famous”, a “celebrity”, does not translate into cultural significance. Appearing on the cover of cheap, sordid tabloids for decades is also not a good place from which to make your case as a contributor to our culture.

He perhaps could have been considered as an entrant into the Pantheon of American Cultural Contributors but, as the self proclaimed “King of Pop” and a highly eccentric, perhaps psychopathologically damaged man, he will forever be remembered as something of a “freak”; a child prodigy who vaulted to solo success as a recording artist, made and squandered several fortunes and appeared to exist in a cocoon of illusion and childishness at best; predatory pedophiliac, neurosis, psychosis and criminality at worst. The fact that he gained worldwide fame as a performer is more a matter of musical trends, the convergence of entertainment, technology and marketing.

THE LINES HAVE BEEN BLURRED OR LOST FOREVER

Alex Haley, one of the most gifted American writers of his generation died on the same date in 1995 that the Brooklyn bred thug, former Heavyweight Champion of the World, Mike Tyson, was sentenced to five years in an Indiana prison for rape. The Alex Haley bio and obit was buried in most major papers way in the back while the scum bag, Tyson, was front page news. Who contributed more to our culture - the author of the groundbreaking novel “Roots”, or an illiterate brute who raped a young woman in Indianapolis?

And therein lies our dilemma.

We have come to mistake celebrity media notoriety, entertainment value and infamy for fame with cultural / societal value. We elevate jocks and shlocks to lofty positions in society and fail to recognize those who labor in the shadows but forever alter our lives and, in some cases, history. Why? Why do we actually celebrate stupidity? Why does a movie entitled “Dumb and Dumber” rake in millions at the box office? Why does course, crude, juvenile bathroom humor dominate morning radio while most people make fun at NPR for being “serious” or, God forbid, “Liberal”? These are the questions we must ask ourselves particularly at this time of profound challenges to our way of life. We are jeopardizing our role of the lone Super Power once we allow intellect, education and seriousness to be ridiculed, scorned and discouraged.

****************************

News and entertainment became mutant bedfellows in the 1980’s; a decade that produced the initial wave of pseudo-celebrities designated as cultural forces. The beginning of the end may have been the election of a dimwitted, former radio announcer and B-list actor, Ronald Reagan to the Office of the President of the United States. If this garbonzo could serve as our chief executive, the lines between real and unreal had most decidedly been breached. It was all downhill from there.

...AND THEN, THE MATTER OF RACE

Apparently the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons of the world have failed to notice that the White House is now inhabited by an African-American President. Does President Obama represent the end to the centuries old racial divides in this country? Of course not. However, he is living proof that in so many, many ways we, as a Nation, have moved beyond some of the most destructive influences in our interracial relations.

Why are the professional negroes coming out of the woodwork to stand besides Michael Jackson’s obviously illiterate father? Why do Jesse and Al insist on hauling the issue of race into the public spectacle that has become Wacko Jacko’s death? It is people like these who are the cultural vultures always poised on the tired wooden fence that encompasses our society, forever eager to pounce and insert race as an issue in any event, good, bad, or otherwise.

Michael Jackson appears to have spent his adult life and a small fortune on plastic and cosmetic surgical procedures to distance himself physically from his racial heritage. Why? Just another of his myriad of quirks? Perhaps. Probably no one will ever be able to definitively state why MJ bleached himself into an unnatural color. Why he subjected himself to so many cosmetic procedures that he bore scant resemblance to his childhood photos at the time of his mysterious death?

Then, of course there is the “chicken or the egg’ question. Did MTV make Michael Jackson a superstar or did Michael Jackson make MTV an overwhelming phenomena in the entertainment industry? Who knows? Who cares? Such questions fall into that gray area dividing true cultural importance from brief cultural fad.

If there is any true sorrow in this event aside from the passing of a 50 year old life, it is the fact that the parasites and vultures who exploited this man in life are determined to do so, and then some, in the wake of his death. For some base reason users and abusers cling to talented, successful people like a leach to a bare back. They suck the money away, live vicariously through the character they are attached to and, when the gravy train comes to a grinding, smoking halt, they all bail out or fight to retrieve what they feel they deserve. There is no sympathy or honor among thieves and, make no mistake about it, virtually everyone associated or considered in the “closest circle” of Michael Jackson’s staff and advisors, confidantes’, gofers, flunkies, body guards or medical staff had any vested interest in his best interests. But, that was entirely his fault. May he find a peace in death that so obvioulsy eluded him in life. Now let this whole story disappear from the daily media.

******************************

Dr. Charles Drew was an African-American physician who made remarkable breakthroughs in the area of blood transfusion, plasma separation and blood products storage in the years between 1930 and his death in 1950.

Dr. Drew died an early death after a motor vehicle accident left him severely injured in the Deep South. He was refused a blood transfusion at a local hospital because he was “black” and could not be given “white” blood.

Charles Drew is a cultural hero of epic proportions yet, how many of us today even know who he was let alone what he contributed to our society, medicine and humanity?

Not many.

Of course, he lived in a time where the pursuit, the endeavor itself was divorced from fame or monetary rewards.

It is sad that people mourn the oddball that was Michael Jackson while a man like Dr. Charles Drew is but a footnote in history.

Culture.

Culture?

Think about it.

Just a few links:



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/30/debbie-rowe-not-kids-biol_n_223054.html

http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/Jackson.html

http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/michael_jackson.htm

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1615203/20090702/jackson_michael.jhtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Drew




Copyright TBC 2009 © All Rights Reserved