August 1, 2003

Microsoft's Web Site Brought Down By Attack Information Week - Microsoft's Web site was made inaccessible for an hour and 40 minutes Friday afternoon when a denial-of-service attack overwhelmed the site with traffic, making it impossible for legitimate page requests to get through. 8:43:41 PM

If Roman Catholic politicians are going to be lead by the pope on how to vote on laws then wouldn't a law banning divorce be a lot more important than a law banning same sex marriages? In case these politicians need to be reminded, here is what the church says about divorce: "Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other till death. Divorce does injury to the covenant of salvation, of which sacramental marriage is the sign. Contracting a new union, even if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in situation of public and permanent adultery.  Divorce is immoral also because it introduces disorder into the family and into society. This disorder brings grave harm to the deserted spouse, to children traumatized by the separation of their parents and often torn between them, and because of its contagious effect which makes it truly a plague on society." 12:35:37 PM

Andrew Sullivan has begun to feel abandoned by his church: Leaving the sacraments would be a huge blow to the soul; but the pope just called the love I have for my boyfriend "evil." That's a word he couldn't bring himself to use about Saddam Hussein. How can I recognize what I know to be true with what the Pope has just said? I cannot. It doesn't leave many options but departure.   8:43:25 AM

Canadian Minister held 3 weeks in Lebanese prison for crime of visiting Israel Israel Insider - Lebanese authorities arrested a Canadian minister earlier this month on charges of collaborating with Israel, Lebanese Prosecutor General Adnan Addoum acknowledged Wednesday. Addoum said Bruce Balfour, 52, was arrested on July 10 at Beirut airport on a military court order issued in absentia, which accused him of the crime of visiting Israel and "collaborating with the enemy." He described the circumstances of his detention. "When I arrived at the Beirut Airport on Thursday, July 10th, at about 9:30 PM on British Airways flight 6703, I was arrested because a computer entry said that I have been in Israel at one time, which is true. But please tell me where the crime in this is. My freedom has been taken away and I have been treated horribly. This is against all international law and moral code of every civilized country in the world.   8:34:05 AM

Feds warn of broad Internet attack MSNBC - Government and industry experts consider brewing hacker activity a precursor to a broad Internet attack that would target enormous numbers of computers vulnerable from a flaw in Windows software from Microsoft Corp. 5:25:27 AM