Much as I don't approve of people messin' with the Internet in that way....

GO JOHNNY RACINE!!!!!!!!

That man should be paraded in an limo down the financal district of NYC.

Hacking sites you like -- Bad!

Hacking sites you don't like -- Good!

Pfeh!

How are y'all with graffiti? Approve of it on buildings you don't like, but not on buildings you do?

Twittishness, pure and (especially) simple (minded).

Twit-ish-ness?

Twit is a term used to make personal attacks. Usually reserved for Aesops' Sour Grapes. So I suppose to be twit-ish, means to behave in a manner that behooves a twit, but not necessarily essentially a twit. To be a 'ness' would mean what exactly?

Twitishness. Amazing word choice Don. I suppose you mean that in the Pickwickian sense?

Inquiring minds would like to know. Perhaps choosing here to bring it to my attention would be something you would care to explain.

You could also describe my mood as perturbed and churlish, but I can not decide if it is exactly twitishness.

Graffiti; as in to knowingly devalue an otherwise pristine artifact with crude and lewd renderings would be something you would be more familiar with, judging by your example. Would this by chance be a feeble and misguided attempt at changing the lexicon to suit your desire to exercise free expression?

How so?

It's an amusing story and in the scheme of things not exactly worth much attention. Good for a chuckle.

On the otherhand. Lighten up Don.
I've met people like Don. They tend to be ignored for their unending view that they are smarter/more knowledgable than everyone else and will go on for hours trying to demonstrate exactly that.. But they miss the joke as people role their eyes when they approache. You know they do Don, but you really believe it's because they don't understand how smart you are.
God Don. You are such an idiot.

..yep the man got some ball`s,no it`s not the "proper" way to act,but for some of us we proudly STAND UP AND APPLAUD!!!!!!!!

Good on you, Mr Racine, I for one heartily approve of what you did..

The problem with Don's posts - what makes them so offensive and downright irritating - is that he often (not always, but often) has a point. Like now.

May we always have such "Pointers-out of uncomfortable truths". Don's sometime abrasive style shouldn't blind us to the fact that he's usually at least partly right, and in this case, pretty much 100%. I still stand by the first paragraph in this post though, while acknowledging that I don't have a logical leg to stand on, the reaction's purely emotional.

Well, if stupidity is a punishable offense, then the one who dishes it out should not be blamed.

Come now. Who amongst us (that could) didn't think about it?

I had to work real hard to stop myself DDOSing the Al-Faisal site - but I'm a sysadmin with principles so in the end I traced their IP block and sent the following to their service provider:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I would like to draw your attention to a banner-paid site that you are currently hosting at http://www.concernedmuslims.com

Whilst I would be one of the foremost exponents of freedom of speech on the web, I have to question the wisdom of hosting a site in the current environment that advocates the use of chemical and biological weapons on Americans, Jews, Hindus and all non muslims. I would further suggest that a site which proclaims that the Holocaust was a fabrication to secure the creation of the state of Israel (which is funny only in as much as Israel was founded after the fall of the Ottoman empire in 1919, and the Holocaust was from 1939 to 1945) can only have been posted to promote hatred and incite racial violence on the streets of my country.

I think it only fair to point out that such content presents a clear and present security threat to your network because of the outrage that such content may cause. I was affronted enough to write this email. Others may be offended into more direct action. Unless this site has been set up as a honey-pot by your Dept. of homeland security I would ask you to consider suspending this service at your earlist convenience.

Guess what. Two days later the ISP pulled the site :)

*nods approvingly*

Don, somehow you didn't read the article correctly.
The guy has been charged, and he is pleading guilty.
It's one of those humorous crimes which while we get a chuckle from it, is still a crime. The guy has the deciency to plead, and not waste taxpayers money with a lengthy trial.
he'll probably get a slap on the wrist and be banned from using a pc for a while.

Meanwhile, the Don group holds protest marches, damages peoples property, destroys public property,blocks roads and costs others time and money while streets are blocked. then cries blue murder when caught, and lawmakers have to make more laws governing those senseless marches.
I think all protest marchers should have to buy a permit, have a photo id taken, and abide by routes sent out on the protest application.

At least the money collected can be used to pay for the damages these so called "peacefull marches" cause.

Look, If you knew me in person, I would be the last person to advocate direct action taken against any form of offender. I most likely would wait for the authorities to deal with it. In this case, there are no authorities but the free market, which ethically is next to none.

But I personally would love to see thier collectively irresponsible carcasses rot in hell for what they did because despite the collective will of most responsible media, I have actually seen the footoage they broadcast. It is horrendous. I have never seen anything like it. The utter disregard for descency only underlines how great a problem 'the arab street' really is.

Screw them. If the one who does the screwing has to pay the price from a freedom loving peoples government, then I am adamant that this constitutes a serious injustice. If I were the one directly responsible for this hack, I would be absolutely confident of my patriotism and gladly pay any price. However, I would not expect my brothers and sisters of freedom to relish my punishment. I would expect them to protest on my behalf.

Let us not let idiocy reign again!

I think the guy is paying the price of his patriotism.

Personally, I applaud him. But, we must follow the laws to remain a civil country. They apply to everyone without exception. What bothers me is these so called peace protestors break all kinds of laws, and get away with it, plus they teach their young to do the same. This is what erodes society, a generation of morons teaching another to be the same or worse. This applies to all aspects of our American society. Gambling, prostitution, queers, all once deemed immoral, has now become "the American way". Morality has been eroded, and this will lead to the breakdown of our nation.

Agreed Kelly;

What makes us civil is our respect of laws. What you are describing is a change in the status quo, which these libertines believe will benefit them. It has been done using the rule of 'victimization' and 'oppressed peoples' right of redress. Courts have been stacked for so long that it seems to some as if that is the only 'vision of justice' possible. From that we get 'Universal Jurisdiction' of Belgian courts. Excuse me?

LBJ had his War on Poverty, which at the time seemed the only sensible thing to do. Its ultimate effect has been not only to make large sections of the populous dependant on the dole and indemnifide (who is responsible for that?), but these psuedo intellectual attacks against the status quo AS AN INDUSTRY.

It has paid quite hansomly to make these changes, or they simply could not exist. What is most evident and most damning as a mindset is that of undermining the will to do anything to save the foundations of our liberty.

What is most often the rub are the viscissitudes of the 'shades of grey' within most of thier arguments. Moral Relativity is being taught in prestigeous and respected colleges. There is nothing inherently wrong with such studies, but academes who teach them should be carefully screened for thier predeliction for pedagoguery.

Who didn't have to read 'Quite on the Western Front'?

Back in the beginning.......of the Iraqi project...I went to http://www.aljazeerah.info/ to see what kind of propaganda they were promoting. It was unbelievable. They were just as guilty of terrorism by spreading hatred and mis information, as the terrorists holding weapons. If I had the ability to melt down that site, I would have. Anybody that had a problem with that.......could kiss my a--. If the law wanted to make a martyr out of me by prosecuting me........no big deal. It was worth the price of admission.

Officer Don said, "Hacking sites you like -- Bad!

Hacking sites you don't like -- Good!

Pfeh!"

How about "Hacking sites that don't promote unwarranted hatred --Bad!

Hacking sites that promote hatred and terrorism --VERY, VERY GOOD!"

Shall we take a vote on this????

Do you suppose by chance the guy that hacked al Jazeerah has been flooded with congratulatory emails???

I would certainly send him one if I had his email address, Jeff. One thing you will notice is that there are always a lot more liberals and terrorist advocates making major public spectacles of endorsement for their favorite assholes and against the U.S. than there are right thinkers doing the same. Most of us don't have so much free time on our hands, or something, and we have faith in our present leadership to do the right thing. John Racine, the illegality of his action notwithstanding, is to be praised and I hope he does, in fact, get off with a slap on the wrist.

Simon, re your email to the ISP and its results:

Well Done!

I agree, it was absolutely criminal what Al Jazzera did, But yet, the liberals embraced those reports as gospel. It made me really wonder whats happening in our own society.

I'm not a die hard Republican, nor a democrat. I see life as whats best for the people.
Interesting you mentioned health care. I don't think either side has the answer, I know that the share holders of these insurance companies are making money, and right now, under our current system, the government cost of health care per person is around $5,000. And that 30 million have no health care at all. Our death rate is higher than other countries like Canada, the UK with universal systems, which costs them $2300 and $1700 respectively per person. and everyone is covered.
I know rising costs are going to push the costs up towards the $ 8-10 thousand mark by 2010 if we don't do something about it. It's one of these issues where capitalism just don't work well if you expect to keep paying shareholders. Certain social programs are a must. I personally don't care for the death for dollars program. I don't think that Americans who work all their lives in lower paying jobs, who get ill for no fault of their own, should loose their life savings because of our system.
American can well afford a universal system, the insurance companies will disagree, but we know their motive.
Anyways, last post guys, nice site, I'll be back some day. I travel alot so I don't get to play much .

Yah, Yah... I get paid to protect from the likes of the guy, but I think he was not properly charged. Given the way this thing rolls off my tongue, I'd a charged him with splooging. Doesn't Al-Jazeera sound, like pornographic? I'm sorry, but I think this guy just upped his cachet in the hacker's realm. Probably get a job just like mine.

Kelley said, "I don't think that Americans who work all their lives in lower paying jobs, who get ill for no fault of their own, should loose their life savings because of our system."

I agree. I've seen it wipe out alot of people. There are tactics that people can use to avoid losing everything, but most people don't think about it. They have far more urgent problems to think about.

Kelly brings up good points, wish I could have had this conversation, I know JeffB, you would like to have a discusion on that too.
I can tell you how Canada went into universal health in the early sixties. Before that, things were tough in Canada. I can even remember those days when I was a young kid, (very young) I had 3 older brothers, MoM had troubles paying the doc bills sometimes.

Bubba,
LOTS of folks go to Calgary for MAJOR stuff, simply because the major stuff usually means major bills, and if you don't have good insurance down here? - Mortgage the farm, OR the business, OR put your spouse on the market :o) , OR go to Canada. You folks like our money! I like to go to HBC. Still have one, don't you?