Intercepted Data

Not Just Drones: Militants Can Snoop on Most U.S. Warplanes

Updating this morning's Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones (WTF?)

From Wired: The problem is in the process of being addressed. But for now, an enormous security breach is even larger than previously thought. So the same security breach that allowed insurgent to use satellite dishes and $26 software to intercept drone feeds can be used the tap into the video transmissions of any plane. Since the top commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, issued strict new guidelines on the use of airstrikes, the United States has turned nearly every plane in its inventory into an eye in the sky. Sending video down to those ROVER terminals has become job No. 1 for most American air crews flying today. And U.S. troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan have come to depend on the feeds. “For sure,” Lt. Col. Greg Harbin told the Los Angeles Times, “I would be dead without this technology.” Still, some Air Force officers downplayed the significance of the ROVER’s security hole. “If you’re an insurgent, you need to know when and where [aircraft] are flying and then be within the line-of-sight footprint of the feed for any chance of successfully using the information real-time,” one officer writes. “This is much to do about nothing. You have bigger fish to fry.” ”

Criminal Harassment

We need a Restraining Order!

“ Senate Gets Ready for All-Nighter December 17, 2009, 6:56 P.M. The Senate is likely to be in session all night after they return to session after a nearly six-hour break at 12:01 a.m. Friday morning. Democrats said the unusual nighttime session is necessary to get around the Republicans’ refusal to agree to any shortcuts to passage of both a Defense Department spending bill and a health care reform measure. ” Inquiring minds want to know - where will those Republicans be during this go around?

NATION's SOS

Weep for me, Katrina vanden Heuvel, because life is unfair ... .

Nation Magazine Editor needs your money, because it's not a good time to be old media "progressive."  This morning we sent out our end of year fundraising appeal. You can read the full text here but the gist of it is this: The Nation is facing a significant budget shortfall, at a moment when support for investigative journalism is collapsing. The definition of "journalism," and the debate over how people get their content, who pays for it and what form it takes is changing every day. As The Nation's Editor, these shifts in the media landscape are fascinating. As The Nation's Publisher, these changes are alarming. Reporting--real, gritty, atrocities in Iraq-{Ahem} hands-on journalism--costs serious money.   Blah-Blah-Blah Katrina vanden Heuvel Dear Nation Friend: I’ll admit it: a year ago at this time, we expected more. Barack Obama’s election marked a remarkable moment in our country’s history — a milestone in America’s scarred racial landscape, a victory for the forces of decency, diversity and tolerance, and an end to eight years of destructive, swaggering unilateralism. A year later, it’s clear we’re a ways from reshaping the prevailing order of our politics and economy. That will take more than one election. And in this winter of discontent   Blah-Blah-Blah Katrina vanden Heuvel ” Badanov

On Line TV Series

Dirty Bomb Diaries

“ A few months ago, a friend of mine told me about an online show called “The Dirty Bomb Diaries.”  While I was skeptical at first, as I had not watched much online media, I was pleasantly surprised by the 16-episode drama.  The show follows the story of an unprepared woman as she deals with the fallout of a dirty bomb attack in her city. From finding food and water, to dealing with possible nuclear poisoning the show was riveting from start to finish. [More] ”

Friendster

Amazing Discoveries

Internet Archaeologists Find Ruins Of 'Friendster' Civilization

Comeuppances

Greenpeace out-Alinsky'd

CLAP CALP CLAP!

“ Global warming skeptics from CFACT yesterday pulled off an international climate caper using GPS triangulation from Greenpeace’s own on-board camera photos to locate and sail up long-side of the infamous Greenpeace vessel, Rainbow Warrior. Then in Greenpeace-like fashion, the CFACT activists unfurled a banner reading “Propaganda Warrior” which underscored how the radical green group’s policies and agenda are based on myths, lies, and exaggerations. ”  Watts Up With That? - more

Today's Outrage

"Fiercely Determined ...  "

“ Washington: Sounding a more centrist note, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday there is a “fierce determination” to reduce the deficit...“We have got to send a message about our concern for the deficit,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.). Copenhagen: "The United States is prepared to work with other countries toward a goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion a year by 2020 to address the climate change needs of developing countries," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a news conference. ”   Mary Katharine Ham ...

Leftist Bitches

Lisa Simpson, Enemy of the Week

Pricey iPhone

Attention Gummint Employees

$1,963,447 iPhone

The perfect gift for your "Wookie"

Science Reporting

People to spit on

In passing

some easy targets

but she doesn't sound Black .. “ Stand Up Notes From Flyover Country: Pressure ‘Law & Order’ Advertisers Better yet - quit watching Rubio Leads Democrat by 14 Points; Crist Leads Dem By 6 Points RINO on endangered list Gallup: 64% Oppose Obama on Closing Gitmo Gallup's sample did not include Nobel committee members: Jihad maneuvers taught at New York compound Chilling' new video: How to slit throats No wonder Oregon Sen. Wyden is such an ardent proponent of national health care ... it will force states that didn't adopt these idiotic universal health care schemes to bail out the ones that did. Obama Warns Federal Government Will Go Bankrupt without Healthcare Reform GHACK! Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones (WTF?) Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber -- available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet -- to regularly capture drone video feeds .... Repeat of 2006 dirty trick in race against Harry Reid? ROBO CALL SCRIPT: “Hi, this is Sarah Brady from the Brady Campaign to prevent gun violence ... asking you to vote for Danny Tarkanian for secretary of state. He supports common sense gun laws like the ban on military-style assault weapons. " Whence Obama After Richard Nixon defused the 1960s student revolt by abolishing the draft, the brain trust of the revolutionary left shifted its strategic focus to Antonio Gramsci's teachings, realizing that it is the intelligentsia, not the proletariat, that is the true revolutionary force in society; ”