Month: January 2005

  • PLANET BLOGBAT…Orbiting a New Star


     


     


     


    Dear Xanga:


     


    I’m moving out and I’m taking the kids with me. I have found someone else.


     


     


    P.S. I still own the house.


     


     


    Requiem aeternam, dona eis Domine; et lux perpetua luceat eis Okay, here it is kids. The Blogbat blog has moved to more robust digs (www.blogbat.us). Though you may find a few of the finer aesthetics yet uncompleted, it is already much better than the Xanga offerings in more than a few important ways. Chief among which are storage, archiving, better stats, Trackback and a non-exclusive comments feature (Xanga requires you also be a Xanga member in order to post comments in a blog hosted by Xanga).


     


    Xanga also claims to own the rights to any content posted in draft form (i.e. “unpublished”), which very few of its users know, but which could be very bad indeed since many bloggers post their latest as drafts first. Xanga additionally claims the right to any content of a blog hosted by them if either the user of Xanga terminate the user’s membership. Fortunately Xanga and I never got into a legal tussle over either of those ridiculous, presumptuous and certainly untested claims.


     


    With regard to the sidebars I mentioned to you a little while ago as having some difficulty corralling in Movable Type: after a time of little progress and a few recommendations I had decided to use Sekimori Design to do the dirty work. SD is an excellent web design group that has been under the employ of many a blog of note including Michelle Malkin, Instapundit, Power Line, IMAO, and Vodkapundit, among others. I also looked into SK Designs which is owned by Shirley Kaiser, a woman who truly does a beautiful job with her clients’ websites and blogs, not to mention her own.


     


     


    Know Thy Blog But after I made the decision to go the paying route I realized it was nothing more than a cop-out for any industrious and inquisitive soul worth his day-job pay. As well I realized that I would never be satisfied posting at a blog made with someone else’s hands. So I changed my mind, rejoined the good fight and today have quite a bit of good news regarding the success of the process to give you. Included in this process I learned how to create not just one sidebar, but much more. The left and right-hand sidebars soon to come are still being tested but will be added to Blogbat once their style and exact content are decided upon.


     


    As for Xanga, I haven’t ruled out using it for something, as it is mine for life – but any such thing has yet to be considered beyond continuing as a sort of emergency depot, whereat I will post if for some reason the host of my new blog, Hosting Matters is down, such as was the case last week when it was repeatedly hit with denial of service attacks.


     


    At present however I am simply taking my favorite posts and reposting them, backdated, to the new spot.


     


    Once the sidebars are up, the new blog will formally be considered complete, although work to finesse its appearance will without any doubt continue. As for content, all new posts will henceforth exclusively be made at blogbat.us.


     


     


     


     


     



     


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    P.S. This and all original content on this blog published at Xanga or not is © 2003-2005 Blogbat and is under no circumstances subject to invalidation. For more information about using any material covered therein, go here. ;)


     

  • Consumer Reports Gets an “F”


     


    Posted at Blogbat.us


     


     


     


     


    WorldNet Daily has published an interesting pair of articles about Consumer Reports and its apparently highly partisan leadership.


     


    Consumer reports used to advertise that they would not allow ads in their publication (maybe they still claim this) so they could be free from influence by sellers of any of the products Reports was reviewing.


     


    If anyone wondered why Consumer Reports would then begin to point its readers to seek abortions through Planned Parenthood as a single, one size fits all solution with no drawbacks to any unplanned pregnancy, now the picture becomes a little clearer.


     


     


    Read more…


     

  • POLITICAL DARWIN AWARDS


     


     


    Thank You David Livingstone


     


    Also posted at Blogbat.us


     


     


     


    To our first winner:


     


    Thank you David Livingstone for giving us a face, gaping teeth and all, which matches the small mentality of the Liberal Left. But even more so, for showing all of America the Lunatic Fringe is still alive and well and as unworthy as ever of their vote.


     


    David Livingstone of “black-thursday.com” wants everyone who voted for Kerry to protest Bush’s 2nd inauguration by not going to work and not making any purchases on that day. The fun begins on the front page of his website, where he introduces us to his to his need for human attention clever idea by announcing in a form of self-perceived sarcasm (that actually turns back around and bites him) “The Idea Is Simple. Just Like The President.” This, the same President who also maniacally masterminded a new source of Halliburton profits, manipulated the media and got himself re-elected.


     


    Livingstone then encourages his fellow Liberals to:



    ”- Call in sick to work” (not the first time the Libs have told a fib, is it folks?)
    ”- Don’t buy anything” (except of course what is being said on this website)
    ”…and write to your newspaper, your senator and your representative to tell them why.” (Because they will really be interested to hear from you and the rest of the padded head-protector brigade)



     


    Liberals staying home and not working or spending their money of course will devastate a whole portion of our economy. It is estimated that porn and sex-industry merchants/prostitutes and drug dealers will lose billions of dollars from this, along with robbers*, arsonists*, rapists*, child molesters*, abortion doctors, the NEA and even Michael Moore, who will be unable to sell any of his propaganda films during the boycott, no doubt costing him a substantial sum (mostly from college professors who usually spring at the chance to unleash the film on their captive and unsuspecting audiences of college students).


     


    It might also be noted that “Loonystone”, a self-employed “consultant” probably has a little more freedom to take days off from work without any negative consequences than the average waiter, manicurist, school teacher or even executive. By the arguments employed by his “cause”, one might even argue that he’s seldom greatly missed during any absence from gainful productivity. On the other hand, it could also be possible that if he indeed has one or two serious clients, they might not miss him for long. So regardless of your infantile behavior, it still is an adult world I would presume, Mr. Livingstone, so sniping at your neighbor because you don’t like the man up on the hill will not win you many favors.


     


    This is perhaps the perfect explanation for the larger picture’s results of this and similar Lib behavior over the years and why Miss Ann Coulter is very excited indeed about the prospects this cry-baby pout-in will offer for Conservatives. As she pointed out tonight on FNC it will do nothing less than give great aid to the already advanced process whereby the Left continues to further alienate itself and the whole Democrat party from the American voter. Howard Dean becoming the next DNC Chairman, of course, would be the cherry on top.


     


    Congratulations, David Livingstone for being our proud first wiener winner of the Political Darwin Awards.  


     


     


     



     


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    Related:


     


    Ann Coulter: Liberals Love America Like O.J. Loved Nicole


     


    Heather Mac Donald on the Liberal Rank and File: It Takes All Kinds


     


     


     


    Footnote:


    In an election-season survey, Democrat Presidential Candidate Senator John Kerry admitted his support for restoring the recognition of voting rights to ex-felons: “I believe that restoration of voting rights is the first step…We need to go further. . . with more supervision and support. And we must insure that former felons have access to education, job training and opportunities.”


     


    What does an educated felon do? We might ask Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels or von Ribbentrop? Or we might just ask the Democrat Party, since they’ve been flirting with such since the Civil War. As Heather Mac Donald points out back in a 2003 article for the City Journal, “70 percent of state convicts are re-arrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within three years of their release.” Then I suppose they become consultants and protest presidential inaugurations.


     


     


     

  • Tales of the Courageous Reporter


    So hot and heavy it dropped like an anchor


     


     


     


    America’s favorite leftwing news writer and CBS Anchor has decided not to go on the air tonight after news of the humiliating excoriation of a report by the CBS panel investigating the famous forged memos was broken, according to Drudge.


     


    At least for the four top CBS executives who were fired today and Dan Rather who apparently knows a thing or two about tough reporting, there was no admission in the report of any bias. It was just a random act of memo-forgery by people admittedly passionately partisan, such as the now unemployed news producer Mary Mapes.


     


    So far, no one has admitted either that they did anything wrong including those now dispatched from the company. Danny Rather has maintained ever since the scandal broke that he was but a mere “reader” and had never been directly involved in the now infamous 60 Minutes National Guard story.


     


    But if in fact you did nothing wrong as you claim Mr. Rather, why are you hiding like a scared little girl?


     


     


     


     



     


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  • PLANET MORONIA


     


     


     


    “Another Round in Progress”


    Attack on Blogopshere Host, Part II


     



     


    Hosting Matters has “confirmed attack” for second time since yesterday.


     


    The attack was discovered by HM staff this evening at 21:21 CST.


     


    All Hosting Matters client sites are down presently.


     




     


     


    UPDATE   22:52 -


     


    AS I just posted at Free Republic, it looks like HM may be getting wise to the ways of the dark side. Annette from HM says:

    “…we managed to trace the attacker back to what looks to be the actual origination point. The current attack has been blocked. If we see another round, I have requested that the NOC simply nullroute the IP address that is the target of the attack. Should this happen, we will re-IP all sites on that IP except the target site. If it comes to that, we will naturally post an update to that effect.”

    In otherwords, HM says they are back, but so far the sites seem still inaccessible.


     


     


     


    UPDATE II   23:33 (Hopefully the last) -


     


    HM sites seem to be up again. Looks like sending the packets to the affected IP into the etherworld did the job. Congrats again to HM. Every time this happens HM gains a little more information about the source, so disgruntled and uncreative Lefties beware.


     


     


     


    UPDATE III   23:40 –


     


    HM sites seem to be up again. Or Not:


     


     


    “This is in progress at the upstream level. While we have been seeing intermittent access, there will be a few moments of complete inaccessibility (which may have passed while this was being typed) as the NOC stops advertising our IP space in order to get source and destination pairs for blocking. Stand by.” – Annette @ HM support forum


     


     


     


    UPDATE IV   00:37


     


    “All IP space except for one block is accessible at this time. We are awaiting word on whether we can expect to have the affected IP only nullrouted or if the entire block will remain nullrouted for the time being. Stand by.” – Annette @ HM support forum


     


    …Apparently that last block includes Little Green Footballs, Wizbang! and some others including my future home, Blogbat.us.


     


     


     


    So far, dramatic as watching a cat sleep. More to Come.


     


     


     


    UPDATE V   00:56


     


    Blogbat.us made the wrong Top Ten Seven…


     


    “The following servers will have new IPs assigned immediately: ares, bia, davinci, hermes, iambe, minerva, urania. Unless you manage your own DNS, and are in the affected IP block, this will not affect you.” – Annette @ HM support forum.


     


     


    This means these seven holdouts should be back up shortly.


     


     



     


     


     


    Earlier posts:


     


    Yesterday’s Attack


     


     


    Related Posts:


     


    DMAT Servers Hijacked to Attack Others in “Official Act of Cyber Terrorism”


     


    GOP CONVENTION: Protest Warrior Site Hacked


     


     


     


     



     


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  • NOTES FROM THE GARDEN JOURNAL


     


     


     


     


    It’s a sick world


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


    Really sick


     



     


    See website


     


     


     



     


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  • BREAKING


     


    Major Blogosphere Web Host Down in DDoS Attack


     


     


     



     


    As I originally posted at the Free Republic at around 10:05 PM Central Standard Time (not long after I initially discovered the issue) Hosting Matters, the webhost for Little Green Footballs, Wizbang!, Michelle Malkin, Instapundit, Powerline and others including Blogbat’s future home at blogbat.us (which is why you may not see my banner above), had gone down for an unspecified period of time - at least for an hour by the time of the posting at FR.


     


    No one truly knew what the cause was until about an hour after that when HM’s emergency support forum (which is maintained on a different domain and host) confirmed the cause of the outage to in fact be a denial of service attack.


     


    A statement in the forum to the host’s users posted by Stephanie at HM at 11:08 CST says,


     


    We have confirmed that the tonight’s trouble is being caused by a DDOS attack. We are working as fast as possible to get things back up. We will post more information as we have it.


     


    For a short time, the host’s main page, hostingmatters.com returned to the web along with the Wizbang! blog, but this was short-lived and others have not yet returned.


     


    An hour later at 12:19 CST Stephanie indicated they were still investigating the attack and trying to bring everything back online, however she said they didn’t yet have an expected time-frame for this.


     


     


     


    UPDATE 04:25 :


     


    After several ups and downs Hosting Matters is back online! As of this moment so seem to be its happy clients as well. Three cheers for a difficult night in the office to Stephanie, Annette and all the rest who kept slurping coffee until connectivity was restored.


     


     


     


     


     


    Thanks to Free Republic forum member, Trippin who posted the link to the HM emergency support forum which conclusively showed the outage was due to a DDoS attack.


     


     


     


    Related earlier posts:


     


    DMAT Servers Hijacked to Attack Others in “Official Act of Cyber Terrorism”


     


     


     


     



     


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  • ELECTION UPDATE (HUMOR)


     


    Congressional Democrats and Ukrainian Former Prime Minister to Form New Country


     


     


     


    Reports have been coming in today that say after today’s resounding defeat in Kiev of the Pro-Russian former government head Yonukovytch, whose court challenge to the election that was lost to the Viktor (Yuschenko, that is) last week, and the U.S. Congress’ certification of the election of President W., the ousted and disconcerted of both countries plan to find buy acquire land to start a new country.


     


    Their options however are anything but bountiful. California Senator Barbara Boxer is quoted as saying that, ”if it weren’t for Reagan’s dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the glorious Bureaucrats’ Workers’  State of the Soviet Union we might have some place to go without having to seem conservative by emulating the hard work of nation-building. We looked at China but no one can understand their languages which change from one province to the next, even though Michael Jackson (who is one of our long-time supporters) and a few of the older congressmen were all very positive about the potential of that region.”


     


    Boxer and 31 Congressmen along with assorted Hollywood celebrities, university professors and members of the college-aged Kids for Kommunism and the Public Edukation Reform Committee feel they cannot ever achieve a utopia as long as they are in a place in which constant opposition to their views not only exists and is expressed publicly, but is actually even popular.


     


    “A country cannot be governed like the Special Olympics”, former PBS Commentator Bill Moyer told the Associated Press today, “America is governed by the ignorant as it has been for the past 200 years and nothing will ever change that. Especially not as long as there is a Fox News.”


     


    There is no word yet whether the deal will include keeping Fox News out of their new country. Fox News even recently began airing in Canada in spite of the collective groan of the left-wing government-media establishment there.


     


     


     


    A “Tentative Deal” for Exodus Struck


    In a statement released later today Barbara Boxer admitted things were seeming bleak until today but stated that a solution was at hand:


     


    “Nevertheless, because Canada’s prime minister Paul Martin has expressed interest in our plight we believe a deal can be reached with their government for a homeland. We have talked with them about their concerns about mass illegal immigration migrant politicians especially in predominately French-speaking parts, but I believe we have struck a tentative deal with Québec Ottawa that will cede to us a generous portion of the Northwest Territories for us to live in where nobody from Texas will bother us, on the condition we grant the Communist Chinese army access to oil there. But this too will be good since I believe it will give us a place where we can finally have that historically inevitable government we were promised in the late 19th century and our first trading partner. Canada has offered us a generous opportunity to finally show the world how socialism was really, really, really meant to be. Also in the agreement we will help the Chinese, as I have mentioned, with obtaining oil from the region. This will be a great opportunity for us to experience the expansive outdoors of the great northwest while enjoying Gaia, our mother-earth goddess and the true satisfaction which only comes through working with your hands. Some people say it will be harmful to the environment to have unregulated oil drilling there. But clearly, I think we all agree there are times where the pressing needs of the State must temporarily supersede the needs of nature. But we will be making regular burnt offerings at our Gaia altar just in case. Others say the weather there isn’t so good with the winter snow and biblical floods from summer rains but I think it provides just the air that helped create the great Nordic countries of Europe. This will be a workers’ paradise with free healthcare flown in from Canadian doctors every Saturday. Truly, every boat will be counted.”


     


    In a similar statement Yunokovitch repeated the California Senator’s outlook for his new digs, unfortunately this blog lacks Cyrillic font support.


     


    No word yet from the White House on about the exodus but Republican Senate Majority Leader Tom DeLay was quoted by one source as saying, “there are plenty of mental hospitals right here, why do they need to move away?”


     


    One of the 31 congressmen was quoted as he left the Capitol for the day, “Once we find our marbles, we plan to take all of them and go home.”


     


    Word has not arrived yet as to who exactly will be in charge or when their first elections are scheduled – or even for that matter if local Eskimos against the elections could succeed in preventing them – but this new coalition remains optimistic about their future successes. “The Berlin Wall was an experiment that succeeded but was not allowed to survive long enough to come to its fruition. If we can keep out the influences of those red and orange places long enough, then our people will remain pure and able to come to the right and correct decisions concerning the policies which will affect their future. The public will be more thoughtful so we will have no difficulty with having free and regular elections,” said Democrat Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones who was at the helm as her fellow representatives protested the Bush certification. “I think we have a golden chance here to create the environment that will allow for proper decisions to be made in government for the greater good of all - we can now work collectively for this,” Jones said.


     


     



     


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  • TRAGEDY ISLAND


    Many Woes for Stricken Insuls






     


     


     


     


    First Tsunamis, Now Child Sex Ring?


    O’Reilly and Hannity and Colmes today tackled the issue of the possible new wave of disastrously tragic opportunistic kidnappings by those in the sex trade of children left orphaned or estranged after the destruction of the Tsunamis. I mentioned the problem of the notorious sex trade in the region last week, but I stated a hope at the time the tsunamis might disrupt that activity. It seems instead it has only provided more opportunity for this heinous and unimaginably cruel, violent and godless behavior.


     


    The story hit the presses today that one Swedish boy was apparently kidnapped after the tsunamis. The father is no doubt at wits’ end. In the ensuing days after the giant waves flooded eight countries and took from this earth 150,000+ lives there have been not just a few outrages. When the world’s most generous nations are accused of being stingy, while some of the Middle East’s wealthiest hardly give a dime or China barely gives any more than Taiwan, a country of only 20 million as no one in the UN hints at a criticism. We saw the cruel rejection of Israeli aid in some countries, just because it was Israeli without giving the victims a chance to vote on the matter. We even heard about how the Thai government ignored warnings to alert the public of a possibly imminent tsunami, helping to doom thousands more souls that would likely have otherwise lived to see their families another day. But the worst outrage by any standard is that many that survived are being swallowed up by a monster that according to Compassion International in a report titled, “Sexual Exploitation: Childhood Lost” is the third-largest income generator worldwide, just behind illegal drug and illegal arms sales. In fact, over 30 million women and children have been trafficked in Asia in the past three decades alone, making it “the largest slave trade in history”, Compassion quotes UNICEF as stating, yet another number suggests an even larger problem, estimating at least 10 million children are presently being commercially exploited for sex around the world, of which most in Asia are living in Thailand, India, Taiwan and the Philippines.


     


    Truly the vultures in the south-Asian child sex trade pale all else by comparison. And truly, something needs to be done now to nip this nightmare in the bud. While it is regrettable some of these sex-offenders survived the tsunamis (and still have no fear of God), steps must be taken now by anyone who can to put a stop to this. How this is done is another matter and if you ask me, I think these vicious criminals should be nailed to trees by their rib cages and left for dead- and as a warning. But I can be primitive sometimes.


     


    Profile of Rescue in the Dragon’s Lair


    A friend of someone I know in Nashville runs an orphanage north of India in Nepal. The man and his wife work independently to provide a home, along with food and medical assistance for girls trying to escape the Asian child sex trade. They even at times will “buy” these girls from their “owners” in order to get them out of the hell they are in. Girls as young as 11 are frequently kidnapped or sold by their parents to these sex rings. The Nepalese ring is particularly notorious. It is said the first thing they do to the girls after tearing them away from their families and all that they know is rape them until they stop resisting…and no longer cry. In such a way they are robbed of their very souls and all of their childhood dreams. Many never make it to adulthood – a good number of those will commit suicide. The man and his wife’s “safe house” not only provides a way out, but even, as I understand it, actively works with any means available to rescue even more. The government in Nepal is hopelessly corrupt, as are many in the region, but this act of mercy is winning some cooperation last I heard. Meanwhile thousands wait for some hope.  


     


     


    Related:


     


    Swedish Boy Feared Abducted from Thai Hospital after Tsunami


    Swedish and Thai police were jointly conducting the search effort for the adolescent, Kristian Walker, who was apparently last seen Monday with an unknown German man at a hospital near the resort of Khao Lak.


     


    Jakarta, Indonesia: Steps Taken to Halt Child Trafficking



     


    Fears Rise of Child Trafficking


     


    Asia Observer: Child Trafficking Continues to Threaten Young Women in India


     


     


     



     


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  • Saying, “TAK!” to a Happy New Year


     



     


     


    Party-goers and the like once more filled the streets of Ukraine’s capital city to celebrate the New Year – their first coveted year of freedom. With a country separated on Election Day between orange parts and blue parts, an American can certainly identify. But it is indeed wonderful to hear how peaceful things have really been. And for good reason. One need only take a casual stroll down the road of Ukraine’s recent history to see there is little doubt Ukrainians have suffered violence at the hands of outsiders more than any country should be forced to. It is hopefully for this reason that cooler heads will continue to rule the day – and freedom will prevail.


     


    The Ukrainians are a hearty and generous people, they have suffered much, but now they are in charge of their own destiny. But even some ethnic Russians are happy to part ways with the old regime – something I think is vastly under-reported in all of this. Freedom knows no ethnicity, after all. Ideas exist in men’s heads, not on their faces.


     


    “Tak”, by the way means “yes” (as well as having other affirmative uses as a flavoring participle). While similar to Russian in some ways, Ukrainian is actually very distinct. But to understand its relationship, the word “Tak” is to the Russian ”Da” what “Yes” is to the German ”Ja”. Alles klar?


     


    So there is much to celebrate in Ukraine. That and having arguably the handsomest First Couple anywhere in the world with President-elect Yuschenko and his lovely and capable wife. They are sure to achieve a celebrity status all their own.


     


     


    Yanukovych hopefully fading away gracefully:


     


    From the AP: Ukrainian PM Resigns, Vows to Keep Up Election Fight



    The Prime Minister may believe it is time to slowly fade away while talking tough to save face in hopes that merely acting like an opposition party member as Viktor Yushchenko was in actuality, may help him retrieve his party from the status of political afterthought and perhaps one day recover his lost bid for the presidency.


     


    Meanwhile, revelers in Ukraine’s capital city of Kiev (or Kyiv, to say it right) will be out in force tonight to celebrate the New Year and the prospect of blessed freedom it hopes to bring, along with a decidedly citrus flavor.


     


    And here is just some of that revelry, coupled with the apparent sober clear-thinking that no doubt has helped Orange Revolution supporters stay on track. This is from shortly after Yuschenko was declared the Victor on Monday, care of Orange Ukraine blog:


     


     


    - “We’ve done it. This is victory, victory for the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian nation. It took us several hundred years to get here. We had 14 years of independence, but now… we are free.” – That’s a powerful statement. I hope Yushchenko stays true to it.


     


     


    - The greatest good news, Dan…Now comes the next major job – keeping this man alive!


     


     


    - Hallelujah!


     


     


    The friends of freedom around the world hope he stays alive for a long, long time too.


     


     


     


     


    Resources:


     


     


    The Orange Ukraine blog is a terrific place to go if you really want to take the pulse of the Orangies. There is even a place to order t-shirts and other memorabilia as well as hear excellent interviews (in mp3 format) with the blog’s creator, Dan McMinn, an American ex-pat who now abides in Kiev with his wife and works for a local software company.


     


    A good site for those who need to catch up on some of the basic Ukraine facts can visit this site: http://www.uatour.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?lang=en&page=main.


     


    You can also listen to that famous and infectious song everyone (at least the supporters of Yuschenko) in Ukraine seemed to be singing of late, particularly while they were protesting for a clean election after Yanukovych had won under such fraudulent circumstances. The song is performed by Tartak, a local group out of Kyiv. The euro-hip-hop tune was composed in just a few hours, but it’s actually quite catchy. You can visit their website here.


     


     


     



     


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