virus assholes

My wife got an email from cochranbuilders@verizon.net at Mass. College of Art where she works. It is a warning about one of the most horrific viruses yet, as reported by CNN. It says do not open any message with an attachment entitled POSTCARD. It is a virus that opens a postcard image which burns the whole hard disc C of your computer. They go on to say that this virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his or her contact list, and if you were unfortunate enough to receive it, shut down your computer immediately.

CNN says that this virus has been classified by Microsoft as the MOST DESTRUCTIVE virus ever, and the folks at McAfee say that there is no repair yet for it.

This country's over reliance on information technology leaves us vulnerable to any terrorist asshole with an agenda of ruining the American economy. I have always thought that it was unwise to put all of our eggs in that particular basket, while at the same time allowing countries like China to steal our manufacturing base.

Sooner or later some terrorist is going to come up with some virus that will be so destructive that you won't even have to have your computer on. Our over reliance on things as simple as calculators could one day come to haunt us. We had better hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

Ralph Nader Must Die!

Okay, that's a little extreme, but like the character who stays too long on the stage, he should at least exit, stage left.

Face it folks, this is not about saving the American people, this is purely ego driven. He is addicted to the attention of the crowd. Like Muhammad Ali fighting that one last fight, even after the doctors warned him of the damage it could do.

Time. To. Go.

By syphoning votes from Al Gore and allowing George Bush to steal the election, you share in the responsibility for the deaths of almost four thousand American service men and women, and countless Iraqi men, women and children. You said you had to right to run, and even though I hated to, I agreed with you.

By syphoning votes from John Kerry, someone who would have worked to bring a sane end to the Iraq fiasco, you were indirectly responsible for allowing him to be swiftboated out of the election. But again, I agreed with your right to run.

Now, even though I still champion your right to run, there is the chance that you will facilitate the election of the Manchurian Vampire, John McCain, who, according to his own words, believes that we can and should be an occupying force in Iraq for hundreds of years.

Time. To. Go, Sir. 

Like Fidel, Sylvester Stallone, Karl Rove and King George himself, you have stayed too long. We need you to go away now.

Where Have All My Heroes Gone?

National Public Radio commentator Daniel Schorr used to be my hero. Throughout the Watergate scandal, Tricky Dick Nix  had the temerity to add him to that historical honor roll Nixon called his "enemies list". Since then, Mr. Schorr's political insight has been an inspiration, and his commentaries were (and actually still are) something I look forward to hearing every week.

So you can imagine how surprised and dismayed I was to hear him stoop so low as to plagerize my remarks without attribution.

Here's my beef: a few years ago, when the Iraq debacle was heating up, I sent an email to NPR comparing Baby Bush's folly to an old joke I once heard. Although I will be the first to admit that it was not original, nevertheless, I would have thought that he would say how he was reminded of it.

What I wrote was something like this: Bush's going into Iraq to find the terrorists who attacked our country on 9/11 reminds me of a joke I once heard, where one night, a guy comes upon his friend crawling about on his hands and knees, searching for something on the sidewalk. He is under a streetlight. When his friend asked him what he was looking for, he said "I dropped a fifty-cent piece around the corner". "Well why are you looking for it here?", his friend asked. "Because there's more light over here!" was the terse reply.

I was, of course, alluding to the fact that none of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqi, and aside from his feeble incursion into Afghanistan, there was no mention at all of the Saudi Arabians or Egyptians who were the actual perpetrators.

However, instead of giving me credit, he began his radio commentary by saying "I'm reminded of the old joke where..." rather than saying "A listener reminded me of the old joke where..." 

Now I am not one to squabble over small matters, and it could even be that someone on his staff just handed him an edited version of my email without giving him the source- but this came at a time when Mike Barnacle and other journalists were under the gun for their own problems with plagiarism, and I thought it somewhat hypocritical of him to lambast them.

So if you're reading this, Danny Boy, please be honest enough in future to at least let everyone know how you were "reminded" of some of your stories. Unlike our illustrious president, I still believe you are capable of original thinking.

Where Have All My Heroes Gone?

National Public Radio commentator Daniel Schorr used to be my hero. Throughout the Watergate scandal, Tricky Dick Nix  had the temerity to add him to that historical honor roll Nixon called his "enemies list". Since then, Mr. Schorr's political insight has been an inspiration, and his commentaries were (and actually still are) something I look forward to hearing every week.

So you can imagine how surprised and dismayed I was to hear him stoop so low as to plagerize my remarks without attribution.

Here's my beef: a few years ago, when the Iraq debacle was heating up, I sent an email to NPR comparing Baby Bush's folly to an old joke I once heard. Although I will be the first to admit that it was not original, nevertheless, I would have thought that he would say how he was reminded of it.

What I wrote was something like this: Bush's going into Iraq to find the terrorists who attacked our country on 9/11 reminds me of a joke I once heard, where one night, a guy comes upon his friend crawling about on his hands and knees, searching for something on the sidewalk. He is under a streetlight. When his friend asked him what he was looking for, he said "I dropped a fifty-cent piece around the corner". "Well why are you looking for it here?", his friend asked. "Because there's more light over here!" was the terse reply.

I was, of course, alluding to the fact that none of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqi, and aside from his feeble incursion into Afghanistan, there was no mention at all of the Saudi Arabians or Egyptians who were the actual perpetrators.

However, instead of giving me credit, he began his radio commentary by saying "I'm reminded of the old joke where..." rather than saying "A listener reminded me of the old joke where..." 

Now I am not one to squabble over small matters, and it could even be that someone on his staff just handed him an edited version of my email without giving him the source- but this came at a time when Mike Barnacle and other journalists were under the gun for their own problems with plagiarism, and I thought it somewhat hypocritical of him to lambast them.

So if you're reading this, Danny Boy, please be honest enough in future to at least let everyone know how you were "reminded" of some of your stories. Unlike our illustrious president, I still believe you are capable of original thinking.