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Tuesday, December 02, 2003 |
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Fast!
11:58:23 PM 
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 Flaw in Linux kernel allows attack (hell freezes over again!)
The Debian Project warned on Monday that a flaw in the Linux kernel helped attackers compromise four of the open-source software project's development servers.
During several intrusions Nov. 19, the flaw enabled an attacker who already had access to a server to remove the limitations that protected the system from everyday users. The technique is known as a privilege escalation.
Members of the development team found the flaw in September and fixed the latest version of the core Linux software, or kernel. The fix came a bit late, however. The latest version of the kernel, 2.4.23, was released Friday, eight days after the Debian breach.
10:39:19 PM
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Moral Superiority: Not all it's cracked up to be..
The Fraser Institute, up in the People's Republic of Canada, has released this study on firearm legislation. Short version, not surprising to anyone with a clue, is that it doesn't work. “What makes gun control so compelling for many is the belief that violent crime is driven by the availabi... [Capitalist Lion]
10:26:21 PM
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France Surrenders Again.
It seems that the French health system is making headlines again, this time it seems that they unable to cope with the apparent fact that French anti-bodies have been unduly... [American RealPolitik]
10:22:18 PM
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Quote of the Day
There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.
- Ken Olson, DEC (1977)
8:27:57 PM
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"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." --Benjamin Franklin [American Realpolitik]
6:52:49 PM
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Pictures of the Day 
Yes we do have fall in Central California. After the first frost we get a lot of color. These Japanese Tree Lilacs have very large leaves which only turn a sickly brown and shrivel up. The first good wind knocks them down. The ones you see still on the trees were not touched enough by the light frost we had. Scott - I can't get the leaf sucker started! Captain Poopdeck
Number 1....., Number 2....., Number 3.....
4:42:07 PM
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A Collective Apology. I don't do a lot of fisking, but this one was too good to pass up. Some liberal asshole I've never heard of attempts to formulate a liberal apology -- and in so doing, exposes the liberal Left for precisely what it is: a supercilious, condescending and timorous bunch of turds. Here we go.
I regret that we got the Muslim world so mad at us and that we couldn't come up with any... [Kim du Toit]
3:54:33 PM
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emotional needs.
After years of study on this subject, I have come to a conclusion: Wimmen are ..... [Gut Rumbles]
10:20:52 AM
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Oh my goodness! Thanks Bob
Those of you with dialup please be patient while this loads. You will be greatly rewarded! Captain Poopdeck
9:56:51 AM
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Back in the U.S.S.R. [WSJ]
Remember Gerald Ford's famous gaffe? In a 1976 presidential debate, he declared, "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration." Would that it were true--and of course it became true, 13 years later. But that statement may have cost Ford the election, which he narrowly lost to the execrable Jimmy Carter.
Now Howard Dean has committed the same gaffe, only in reverse. On yesterday's "Hardball," Dean was asked by Joseph Nye, dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, what he would do about Iran. Here's what he said:
The key, I believe, to Iran, is pressure through the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is supplying much of the equipment that Iran I believe mostly likely is using to set itself along the path of developing nuclear weapons. We need to use that leverage with the Soviet Union, and it may require us buying the equipment the Soviet Union was ultimately going to sell to Iran, to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
That's four times Dean mentioned the Soviet Union--a country that hasn't existed for almost 12 years.
Dean has also been trafficking in crackpot conspiracy theories. On yesterday's "Diane Rehm Show" on WAMU radio (link in RealAudio format, exchange begins at 42:39), the erstwhile Vermont governor had this to say:
Caller: Once we get you in the White House, would you please make sure that there is a thorough investigation of 9/11, and not stonewall it?
Dean: Yes. There is a report, which the president is suppressing evidence for, which is a thorough investigation of 9/11.
Rehm: Why do you think he's suppressing that report?
Dean: I don't know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I've heard so far--which is nothing more than a theory, it can't be proved--is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is? But the trouble is, by suppressing that kind of information, you lead to those kinds of theories, whether they have any truth to them or not. And eventually they get repeated as fact. So I think the president is taking a great risk by suppressing the key information that should go to the Kean commission.
Now, it's true that the Bush administration sought to withhold some classified documents from the Kean commission, which is investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. Such disputes are nothing unusual; both the Nixon and Clinton administrations sought (unsuccessfully) to use executive privilege to withhold information from prosecutors investigating possible presidential crimes. In this case, there are no serious allegations of wrongdoing, and the information in question is sensitive for reasons of national security, not just protecting the office of the president.
Besides, as the Daily Record of Parsippany, N.J., noted last month, the White House and the commission reached a compromise that will allow some access to such information. Dean is out of bounds to cite this "suppression" as an excuse to raise nutty conspiracy theories. If a Republican candidate had said of Bill Clinton, "The Clintons may have murdered Vince Foster--but it's only a theory," he would have been pilloried in the media, and rightly so. Will Dean get the same treatment?
9:41:36 AM
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The UN gets a clue! [stolen from Electric Venom]
1991: The U.S. says Saddam Hussein is a very bad man and must be removed from power. The U.N. says, "No, let's try sanctions and international monitoring."
1993: The U.S. says Syria is a major training ground for al-Qaeda and other terrorists that represent a global threat. The U.N. says "Nonsense. You just don't understand their culture." The World Trade Centers are bombed.
1996: The Taliban take control of Afghanistan. The U.S. warns: "We better step in and stop this." The U.N. says: "Let them rule themselves."
1998: Osama bin Laden issues a fatwa instructing fundamentalist Muslims to kill Americans and their allies. The U.S. says: "We need to eliminate this Osama guy." The U.N. says: "He's entitled to 'free speech.'"
1999: An Indian Airlines plane is hijacked on Christmas Eve. Its eventual landing point: Qandahar, Afghanistan. The U.S. says: "The Taliban has hooked up with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda now." The U.N. says: "There's no proof of that."
2000: In January, an al-Qaeda summit occurs in Malaysia, unbeknownst to the world. In October, the U.S.S. Cole is attacked. The U.S. says: "Al-Qaeda is involved, and we're pretty sure Iraq and/or Iran is, too." The U.N. says: "Sorry. Still no proof. Besides, the sanctions are working."
2001: The WTC is bombed. Again. The U.S. says: "al-Qaeda is behind this." The U.N. says: "Probably so, but that doesn't mean that Iran, Iraq or Syria are involved."
2002: President Bush declares Iraq, Iran and North Korea to be part of the "axis of evil." The U.N. condemns him, saying: "There's no such evidence."
2003: The U.N. condemns the American-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein. North Korea reveals that it already has nuclear technology. U.N. inspection teams discover evidence of nuclear-related activity in Iran. The U.N. building in Iraq is bombed. The U.S. reveals proof tying Saddam Hussein to Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network.
Today: The U.N. notices:
Only a lack of technical expertise is stopping al-Qaeda from carrying out a chemical or biological attack, a United Nations report has warned.
7:48:55 AM
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© Copyright 2004 Lopsided Poopdeck.
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