Rag Hand

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain has picked Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, as his running mate.

McCain often accuses Obama of being too young and inexperienced to be commander-in-chief. Now he chooses a running mate three years younger than Obama with only two years in office.

He’s undoubtedly using her to try and get the votes of the disaffected Clinton supporters.

McCain introduced Mrs Palin as someone who “understands working people”.

“She’s got the grit, the integrity and commitment to the common good which are exactly what we need in Washington today,” he said.

“She’s exactly who I need, who this country needs, to help me fight to turn the same old Washington politics on its head.”

McCain has demonstrated time and again that he represents the same old Washington politics.

Speaking of her time in office in Alaska, Ms. Palin said she had “fought corruption” and sought to serve the people.

What’s she gonna say? “I’m a politician so I think corruption is ok.”

Politicians: If they’re not lying they’re probably dead.

The only thing different about this election is that we now have a black man and a woman on the ballet.

Proving that both parties are moving past petty prejudices and letting crooks of any gender or color run.

Crooked politician: redundant

Well the “mainstream media” finally heard about the latest Wells Fargo hack.

In PcWorld they ran this article.

The compromise was first reported by The Breach Blog, which posted a link to a July 31 letter in which Wells Fargo notified New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte that nine state residents were affected by the breach.
The bank says that out of about 7000 customers they have good mailing addresses on 2000.

Mailing address??? “Hi I’m your bank and your personal data has been compromised, it’s being used to steal your identity, but I’m just going to send you a letter so the bad guys have more time to continue ruining your good name.”

That’s what I like a caring, responsible financial institution that provided more than lip-service. —For the unobservant and Wells Fargo that was Sarcasm

In recent years Wells Fargo has suffered a series of data losses ranging from stolen computers to outright hacks. With little to no press and then they go on happily taking more of our data that they also won’t be able to protect.

It’s strange how there are no real consumer protections built into the law as far as our personal data is concerned. –Of course this might have something to do with the huge dollars spent on lobbying and general political influence on the part of credit issuers and banks.

I had my ATM card used in Atlanta, I’m out here in the west. The first thing the “helpful” security person as Wells Fargo wanted to know was if the card had left my possession. I said no. He then asked if my pin number was written down and kept in my wallet. No again. We went through a series of questions all leading to the same point. What had “I” done to compromise my card.

This card carried the Visa logo which means you don’t need a pin to use it, but that concept seems to be beyond the understanding of the ATM security people, because mentioning that possibility simply caused them to continue along the “what happened to my pin” path.

When they got tired of implying that I was somehow the culprit, or at least complicit, I had to ask this putz to stop my card. HUH???? The very first thing I’d do is stop the card.

They also have a policy that says if I’m not willing to prosecute the fraudulent charge stands.

The bad guys win. For less than $80 I’m unwilling to take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks off from work to testify in Atlanta.

In the mean time Wells Fargo gets to keep their fee, the bad guy gets to keep what he bought, the store owner get to keep his profit and the only way I get my money back is to turn my life upside down.

Ok, boys and girls, here the deal:
There’s a penalty for having my card used without my permission, mostly for me. And this monster bank has enough influence so there is no penalty for their failure to protect the data of thousands of consumers. –Welcome to real life.

I’d change banks but they all have the same problems and play by the same rules. –Which are whatever the banks say they are.

We need some sort of reasonable, enforceable rules governing banking and data security. There should be a stiff penalty for failing to keep our data secure, and all breaches should be announced publicly. And obvious fraud should be considered just that, and the banks should credit the account and then investigate.

—I know, I know fat chance of either of those ever happening… A guy can dream can’t he?

Neither McCain nor his mother have any recollection of not one but two lawsuits.

From the AP:
In the 1980 lawsuit, filed shortly after John and Carol McCain divorced, Roberta (John McCain’s mother) sued Carol to reclaim some personal property, including paintings, a needlepoint screen and a pair of earrings. A settlement was reached in 1981.

In a brief telephone interview, Roberta denied filing the lawsuit. “I have never heard of what you’re talking about. … I will put my hand on a Bible,” she said, to attest that she had never sued Carol.

Roberta’s denial prompted laughter from her former daughter-in-law. “Yes, she sued me,” Carol said in a brief phone interview.

McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said in an e-mail, “Of course, by all accounts the divorce was completely amicable. After John and Carol McCain’s divorce, there was apparently some confusion about belongings that were Roberta McCain’s but we understand the court papers were unintentionally filed, and the matter never went further in the legal system. It went nowhere, and was of no consequence.

In the 1990 lawsuit, John and Carol McCain jointly sought $1 million in punitive damages after a property management firm mistakenly threw out some McCain family treasures from a garage the McCains shared with an adjacent townhouse. The lost items included letters McCain wrote to his wife as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

In his e-mail, Bounds said McCain “had no knowledge of the suit: He did not authorize the suit or participate in its filing.”

But the lawyer who represented the McCains said she did indeed speak to McCain and get his permission to sue on his behalf.

“You can be sure that I talked to and got the permission of any client who is listed as a plaintiff,” said attorney Barbara P. Beach.

It would be a serious violation to file an unauthorized lawsuit, and “I haven’t been disbarred yet,” Beach said with a laugh.

The problem is not that neither of them remember the suits. It’s that one of them wants to be President.

It’s bad enough that McCain wants to continue a series of failed policies, but to show signs of not being able to tell one war from another and of memory loss?

The one thing we don’t need is a President who isn’t sharp enough to remember the details of a situation that requires him to make quick informed decisions.

This whole thing would be laughable were it not for a real possibility of his getting elected.

I’m not a big fan of Obama, in fact I find some of his ideas to be a little frightening. But McCain has shown a degree of confusion that is indicative of a bigger problem and that is what worries me most.

In New York, in the spot where the twin towers once stood, is what is supposed to be a monument dedicated to the event and open to the public.

The rebuilding was to be a revitalization of a devastated site with stores and restaurants.

Now the Port Authority has turned over all security to the police, who in turn have outlined a security plan designed to limit access to the site.

According to a 36-page presentation given by top-ranking police officials in recent months, the entire area would be placed within a security zone, in which only specially screened taxis, limousines and cars would be allowed through “sally ports,” or barriers staffed by police officers, constructed at each of five entry points.

A dozen guard booths would be established at street corners where pedestrians or vehicles are most likely to enter the area.

And all service and delivery trucks for the trade center site would be directed to an underground bomb screening center at the south side of the complex.

From the perspective of the police this is the best method of preventing a third attack.

The Police Department’s overall plan for Manhattan security also includes measures to photograph every vehicle entering Manhattan, and scan its license plate, and then keep the information on file for at least a month.

This is the same Police Department that set up the checkpoint at the New York Stock Exchange, which is politely described as inhospitable. In fact it is so restrictive several small businesses have had to close their doors.

This makes the whole thing a perfect monument to post 9/11 America.

Jackbooted thugs make the rules – for our own protection – but when push comes to shove, we are no more secure than we were before.

However, we as law abiding, “free” citizens have fewer rights and less privacy, while the bad guys, who are breaking the law anyway, suffer no such constraints.

The bad guys win.

I found this in the NYT:
ANTIOCH, Calif. — From the tough streets of Oakland, where so many of Alice Payne’s relatives and friends had been shot to death, the newspaper advertisement for a federally assisted rental property in this Northern California suburb was like a bridge across the River Jordan.

Ms. Payne, a 42-year-old African-American mother of five, moved to Antioch in 2006. With the local real estate market slowing and a housing voucher covering two-thirds of the rent, she found she could afford a large, new home, with a pool, for $2,200 a month.

But old problems persisted. When her estranged husband was arrested, the local housing authority tried to cut off her subsidy, citing disturbances at her house. Then the police threatened to prosecute her landlord for any criminal activity or public nuisances caused by the family. The landlord forced the Paynes to leave when their lease was up.

Sociologists have long claimed that leaving behind high-crime, low-employment neighborhoods for the middle-class suburbs buoys the fortunes of impoverished tenants. An article in the July/August edition of The Atlantic Monthly, however, cited findings by researchers at the University of Memphis that crime in Memphis appeared to migrate with voucher recipients.

The bleeding hearts will tell you that the police discriminate against African Americans and to a degree this is true. But it is also true that a child raised in an environment of drugs, theft and violent crime will for the most part continue with the attitudes of their childhood. It’s call “socializing.” We behave in the manner we learned at a very young age. This is how culture is learned individual, and it’s taught mostly through observation.

Once when I had to ask some rowdy young men to leave a business, I talked with one briefly and his friend told him to “Stop it! You’re conversating!” In other words I was the enemy and he shouldn’t talk to me. How do you expect a young man in his teens to change with that kind of pressure from his peers?

The police have a duty to protect the neighborhood and the problem comes at least in part from the baggage the new people bring with them.

There has to be a different approach, but I’m uncertain what it will be. These people move from bad neighborhood and then the crime rate in a formerly quiet neighborhood goes up. What is the average cop going to think?

When I see a group of young men with saggy pants wearing hoods in the middle of summer I don’t see a fashion statement or a cultural difference, I see potential trouble.

One of the reasons that the crime rate is high in poor neighborhoods is that it is culturally accepted. Whether this is from a youngster trying to be one of the guys, belonging to a gang, trying to fit in out of fear or from drug use doesn’t matter. –It takes a rare individual to behave in a manner other than what is expected by his or her peers.

When you take them out of that environment the way they talk, move dress and behave in general will not change nor -on the whole- will their attitudes about personal property or drugs.

The police are simply following the theory that “if it looks like a duck…..”

The police are there to enforce the law and while it may not be true they are going to expect that the majority of trouble comes from the people who appear to be the trouble makers.