Summer In The City: Hot and Painful

Summer In The City: Hot and Painful

As I went into the neighborhood dive on a sidestreet in Cedarhurst, I did notice Ruby wasn’t there but ‘Denny’ was. 

Apparently I forgot that Ruby was on Vacation somewhere in the northeast with a lady friend chasing ‘beefcake’ and drinking.  (If anyone deserves a vacation its Ruby, between patrons stripping, police raids and ‘family guys’ looking to collect on ‘loans’ to friends of the establishment, Ruby was very, very frazzled).

It was a hot Thursday Afternoon when I ate my lunch in the empty bar and Denny was reading ’50 Shades Of Grey’ (no, I didn’t ask).  After a discussion on politics and history, Old Pete, the sanitation guy, strolled in for his afternoon libation.  It was in discussing bars and who would go to them I found out one of the bartenders who worked at the sidestreet was the daughter of the owner of the  Purple Frog in Lynbrook (once a cool place to hang out).

After eating lunch I left to visit Reeta at Game On.  It was a real cool thing to do for a guy just floating around on a Thursday Afternoon because being on the road was dangerous.  Teeny boppers driving Mercedes, Lexus and new Mustangs were running people off the road and causing road rage while elderly drivers observed the road with horror, driving as if in a funeral procession.

While at the Game, I found out from Reeta that it was Develynn’s birthday. Develynn was there with Bud and they wanted to celebrate. 

Bossman (aka Woodro) sent a platter of sandwiches for Develynn along with all kinds of delicious side dishes.  Not to be outdone and always looking for an opportunity to grill, Big Bro grilled some steak he had marinating since the 4^th of July.  Poppy J lets Big Bro (aka ‘Big B’) store all kinds of goodies at the Game.

While all the locals, the kids and the dregulars materialized out of thin air, they all complained about the driving and how Merrick Rd. from Horton to Central had become a NASCAR qualifying drag strip (not as fun as the drag strip off of Route 440 in Blount, Tennessee).  When the choppers flew overhead and started circling I did wonder if someone violated parole again.  But it was worse.

A special report came on the news that an Elderly person drove their car into the Dunkin’ Donuts in Valley Stream, injuring 6, one critically who had to be air lifted to the hospital.  The roads got progressively worse as the day turned to night and the police were nowhere to be seen.  Meanwhile, the party continued and the crowd mellowed out.

Krizz’ee saw the crowd and couldn’t wait to get started as Reeta was finishing up her day which got crazy when Bossman (Woodro) and his wife Amy showed up with the rest of the crowd.  

As barelegged young girls in daisy dukes and sheer halter tops that worked overtime to contain jiggling tits, wandered in from the pool hall next door, a loud thud echoed as the sun went down. 

Nobody inside noticed, nobody outside, who was smoking and joking cared.

Then a siren was heard off in the distance, then several sirens, then fire trucks and ambulances were running vehicles off the road (payback).  About a half hour later Stan D. (a patron, a midweek regular) came into the Game, he was shaking, pale white and totally upset.  Reeta served her last drink of the day to Stan and asked him what was wrong.  Stan started slowly and everybody got quiet as he spoke.

Stan said, “I was there, I saw it!  I was driving my van west on Merrick just past Rockaway and this white SUV crossed over into the other lane and ran over this guy on his Harley, he was sitting at the red light waiting to go and this guy in the white SUV just ran his ass over, he was pinned under his bike.”  Reeta asked, “He couldn’t get the bike off of him.”

Stan said, “No way, the SUV was on top of the bike!  I jumped out of my van and ran to the man under the bike, the guy driving the SUV wanted to move his vehicle and the biker, I screamed, ‘NO’ don’t do anything until the fire department gets here, we might paralyze the guy if we move anything.  The poor son of a bitch was screaming in absolute agony even after the EMT’s and the fire department got there, they med-evac the guy out….I don’t know if he’s gonna make it.”

Stan started to shudder even more as he tried to hold back some tears thinking about what he saw and the trauma it put him in, let alone the victim.

Isley bought Stan a drink as everyone started to talking about the piss poor driving going on and how law enforcement goes after the wrong people.  

Some commented that ‘the law’ doesn’t show up until there is damage to wade through or bodies to sort out.   I just knew I had to get the fuck home and drove like I had six eyes.  Thank God I did.

As I turned from the highway down Broadway in Lynbrook, a man ran out of the Twin Harps Bar right into the street backwards into the path of my car. 

 I swerved into the oncoming lane and missed him as he held his cell phone to his head.  He didn’t even notice me until he turned around to see me at a complete stop looking at him like the asshole he was.  His friends snatched him out of the street.  No cops.

It sure enough is summer in the city.  Innocent people are getting hurt as stupid people pay the price.  Do drive carefully and if you’re hanging out call a cab.

RJ

Account Hacking and Cyberspying: Why you?

Account Hacking and Cyberspying: Why you?


Informational/Non-Fiction

It’s all about money, power and the subjugation of you.  The internet is the last ‘wild west’ type frontier and the government wants to tame it.  


Actually that is an understatement, your government wants to control it!   In articles you must read including but not limited to: http://blogs.computerworld.com/20268/gmail_hacked_by_cyber_spies_google_issues_security_warning_for_state_sponsored_attacks, http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57472064-501465/yahoos-password-leak-what-you-need-to-know/ and http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/06/opinion/rushkoff-online-monitoring/index.html (Will Your Internet Provider Be Spying On You)


What is also happening now by coincidence is the hacking of email accounts.  Just two days ago The Los Angeles Times and Reuters have reported that Yahoo confirmed that over 400,000 email accounts have been hacked and passwords stolen.  That means someone can access your email and if you use the same password for other accounts, hack them too.  It happened to Google back in April.

Our own government is engaged in cyberwarfare in the name of national defense and counterterrorism.  But the truth is a little darker.  I will not get into details, look those up for yourself but ask the question, why now?  With media and recording corporations like Sony, Warner Bros., Google etc., losing billions of dollars to piracy and the proliferation of international hackers as well as cybercrime, your government is stepping into the internet policing business.

The last major computer scare/virus was to give Microsoft and Apple the excuse to put tracking cookie software in your updates and downloads.  This was done at the request and for the Government, but no one wants to pass up a profit opportunity.  And that means tracking you.  I leave you with a comment in response to a blog entry that sums it all up:

"Since New York Times recently reported that Stuxnet is a US State Sponsored Cyber virus - which if you recall was accidentally released into the wild and affected and attacked innocent end-user machines as collateral damage, and with the ongoing US-Israeli state sponsored cyber warfare weapons of mass destruction 


(operation Olympic Games) including the more recent releases of Duqu and Flame virus.... can Google clarify if through its detailed analysis as well as victim reports if Google will apply the same exacting standards and warn end-users (both in the US and abroad, example: Iranian users) of these domestic (US) state sponsored attacks as well?

Even if Google was to choose to go the higher route, wouldn't this kind of undermining and subterfuge (however unintentional) really go unnoticed by its host nation? Or are exceptions of convenience made in these cases due to the close ties that Google has with the US intelligence agencies and the confirmed but secret and classified collaboration that the Google has with the CIA and NSA in regards to GMail and Google Accounts? No doubt there is a clear conflict of interest going on here. To me this smells more like Google catering to State Sponsored Propaganda than really caring about the security and privacy of their end-users."

You need to contact your Congressperson and let them know that you know about your rights being violated and you want absolute truth about tracking and your internet access and usage rights protected.   If you don’t, one day you will get a visit from the ‘Matrix’ or the Federal Governments version of it.


Right now you can protect yourself by changing passwords every thirty days and keep them on a written log, on a rolodex or on an encrypted file.  If your into downloading movies by torrents, think about doing it on an un-secure network (not your internet connection) on a portable device.  You won't get noticed if you watch your usage.  


RJ

Your Internet Reality Expires Monday

NEWS / INFORMATIONAL /
NON-FICTION / WARNING!!!


Well, it's that time again.  It is time for a public service announcement.  Not that any of you actually give a damn about V.D., CDC warnings, government failures or the insidious and evil nature of your government to ruin your lives if you’re not rich, pretty, connected or live in the right neighborhoods.

Now I’m going to inform you on something that maybe 15 years ago you could care less about, but now, you may have a problem living without.  

(An aside to my illustrious staff of contributors – after tomorrow, it may not matter that your almost totally useless)  

This is not a Y2K warning.  This is a legitimate internet threat brought to you by the Government of the United States.

I’m just repeating a threat broadcast by Google, Tech Republic, Reuters, The Times-Herald Record and even Fox News.  “To cut to the chase last November, the FBI announced the successful shutdown of a major click-jacking fraud ring in a joint investigation with Estonian authorities and other organizations, including anti-malware company Trend Micro. Seven individuals, including six Estonians and one Russian, were charged with wire fraud and computer intrusion crimes.

The investigation, dubbed, “Operation Ghost Click“, included the takedown of a botnet comprising nearly 4 million infected computers. Authorities raided datacenters located in New York and Chicago, removing nearly 100 servers. The computers that were members of that botnet were infected with the malware known as DNS Changer that has been in circulation since 2007.”

If your computer is affected there are ways to find out.  Go to  http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/security/preparing-for-the-dnschanger-internet-outage/7863 to get information to find out if your infected and how to clean up your computer.  

Why do this?  If you don’t, late Sunday Night or early Monday Morning July 9, 2012 you will no longer have internet access.  That right, you non computer literate Facebook junkies and internet porn purveyors won’t get to your source.  NO INTERNET ACCESS.

  

The problem is serious enough that the FBI, according to Tech Republic and the Times Herald Record, has setup a web site of their own where you can “find out if your infected” and the FBI will help you.  If that doesn’t scare the shit out of you here is some more news you may not be aware of. 

“Due to the potential impact the removal of these DNS servers would have on millions of users, the FBI had the malicious servers replaced with machines operated by the Internet Systems Consortium, a public benefit non-profit organization, to give affected users time to clean their machines.

Originally these temporary servers were to be shut down in March, but the FBI obtained a court order authorizing an extension because of the large number of computers still affected. 

The new deadline is July 9, giving more time to those still infected to fix their computers. As of March, the infected still included 94 of all Fortune 500 companies and three out of 55 major government entities, according to IID (Internet Identity), a provider of technology and services.”

Welcome to the 21^st Century.  George Orwell is alive and well and being held at a FEMA FREEDOM CAMP.  (Ok, maybe that isn’t true, maybe)  Until you can trust the adjustment being made to the “MATRIX” go to http://www.dns-ok.us/.  You will probably be redirected to an FBI web site and told to get some free government issue software to solve the problem. 

If this isn’t acceptable to you, you really don’t have many choices.  If you call your anti-virus software provider (Norton, McAfee, etc.) they will charge you $99 to $150 dollars to eradicate this virus.   You may also want to check out http://www.dcwg.org for more detailed information and help.

This isn’t bullshit.  Although I know that’s what your usually looking for.

You know who!

What Do We Really Celebrate?

The birth of this nation we call the United States of America, born on July 4, 1776 was a monumental event. 

The change was how nations and governments would establish themselves and break from the autocratic rule of Monarchies, Clans or Tribe rule and Religious principalities.  

This nation was not established on a common language, religion or ethnicity, it was founded on a set of beliefs and convictions.

Thomas Jefferson and the men and women who founded this nation were not gifted by the Almighty with some power that made them demigods or gave them a status of superiority.  

The founders of this country, both men and women were thoroughly flawed individuals who had their own ideas, dreams and desires that were not based on religion, but how they chose to live?

They were men and women out for profit, smugglers, plantation owners/slave holders, merchants, tradesmen, inventors, insurrectionists, and assorted low life’s who banded together to create a place they could profit from and enjoy a very lucrative life even if it meant enslaving a population both domestic (American Indians) and imported (African Slaves). 

Although America has fought with itself on several occasions (The first was the Whiskey Rebellion where several tax agents were beaten and killed attempting to collect a tax on whiskey which was used as currency.  George Washington, President at the time imposed Militia law also called martial law and raised 13,000 troops to put down the rebellion) we are a nation always in transition.

Although America as a nation has been at least duplicitous if not downright disingenuous in its treatment of some of its citizens, this country has been blessed by Almighty God to prosper and rise up despite being a nation of uneducated, inarticulate and ethnocentric peoples. 

Through war, fortune, guile and some would argue ‘providence’, America is where the least of humanity comes to live out the greatest of human blessings, which is freedom.

  

There has always been an ongoing fight between the ‘classes and the masses’, those with huge amounts of wealth and resources and those who want to work to be either accepted by those with wealth or resources – to steal, manipulate, cheat or lie to get their own wealth and access to resources.  This tension, called many things, capitalism, the American Dream or ‘accessing opportunity’ goes on to this very day.

But no matter who you are or where you’re from, with a little more than hard work and applied thought, you can make it in America.   Tomorrow, the nation celebrates its 236^th Birthday.  When we celebrate ‘Independence Day’ what are we really celebrating?

Some say we celebrate free speech and the right to bear arms.  But our Supreme Court ruled that its ‘free speech’ to pretend you won the Congressional Medal of Honor and front yourself as a ‘hero’ marginalizing the very worth of the valor it took to make this country free.

Some say we celebrate freedom of religion, even though some religions exclude persons based on race, income or status.  Some religious leaders have done sick and perverted acts upon children, women and the downtrodden in the name of God, justifying beatings, their admitted cult organizations and its crimes as an ‘ordinance from God’.

Some say we celebrate our victories in the great conflicts of history, the Mexican American War, the American Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, The Boxer Rebellion, World War II, Korea, Desert Storm I, Desert Storm II and soon Afghanistan. 

But we still don’t fully acknowledge the ‘conflict’ in Vietnam and the men and women who fought it.  Although a military victory, the American public still views it as a ‘stain’ or defeat.

So what the 4^th of July or ‘Independence Day’ boils down to for the average American living in America is their sacrifice, their beliefs, an Americans own reverence for their ‘America’.  Thomas Jefferson, who was both an eloquent spokesman for the rights of man and an abuser of slaves put it best, so I will quote him.

Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  He also wrote, “— And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Tomorrow, I will be with family, friends, a family of friends to observe our nations birth.   We will munch down on burgers, dogs, steaks, seafood and other summer food.  We will spend the day staying cool and relaxing until dark.  We will watch the fireworks and be mesmerized by a display of light and sound. 

No matter how much you love our government or how much you love to hate our leaders the America you live in is the America you have.  You can bitch about it or you can change it.  Some say you need money to have power.  Some say you need influence to make change.  In America all you need to do is believe in you.  The God of providence is with you, either to kick your ass or to offer a shot of booze.

A woman on a bus in Alabama started the process to destroy ‘segregation’ an American abomination, Rosa Parks was a seamstress.

   A woman in the American Revolution with little resources or possessions followed her husband into battle, bringing water to the wounded and eventually taking her fallen husbands place at a gun in battle, Molly Pitcher didn’t ask for permission.

A Massachusetts school teacher appalled at the treatment of both women and slaves made her home a major stop on the ‘Underground Railroad’.  Lucretia Mott fought her town, her state and her nation for the rights of slaves and of women.  Lucretia Mott was not as well known as her friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton but she was the backbone for universal women’s suffrage.

The American Revolution ended with the Battle Of Yorktown, what is not widely know is that a double-spy, a slave by the name of James Armistead, who moved quietly and effectively between British and American camps learned of the British plan to send 10,000 troops to Yorktown.  Armistead a spy for General La Fayette, gave the critical details that enabled Washington and La Fayette to defeat Cornwallis. 

Armistead was given his freedom after General Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette submitted a letter to the Virginia Legislature petitioning for Armistead’s freedom.  Armistead changed his name to La Fayette in gratitude.  It was the cunning and intelligence of this spy that literally won the American Revolution.  He was only a slave.

However you choose to observe the 4^th of July consider how many souls had to die to keep that freedom.  What is more, considered how many lived their lives to keep you free.  Consider now those living their lives to make this freedom last.

Happy 4^th of July.