SHODAN for Penetration Testers (The Next Hope) from theprez98 on Vimeo.

Last month I was fortunate enough to attend the George Clinton and P-Funk All Stars concert at the B.B. King Blues Club in midtown Manhattan. It was an early birthday gift from my Fiancé, quite possibly the best birthday gift I’ve received in quite some time (if ever). Because of George Clinton’s policy of allowing fan recordings (much like the Grateful Dead’s policies), I was able to shoot some video at the concert. It isn’t the best video as it was shot on my iPhone 3G, but still not horrible. I figured I would share it for all those true funk fans out there. Already looking forward to my next George Clinton concert (this one was my 5th).

We will continue to see the same problems over the next few years, only worse.  As I write this, the DOW sits at 7495(!!!) and people continue to lose their jobs, homes, and savings.  Yesterday our new President Obama has signed into law another bailout bill, and by the market’s reactions, it is probably not going to help.  Many of the same people who’ve gotten us into this mess in the first place are still in positions of power in both government and private industry.  The fools in the US Government continue to give $BILLIONS$ (In reality it’s now in the $$TRILLIONS$$) to their old pals in the private sector that caused this mess through greed and corruption. Now millions of American tax payers for generations to come will suffer the consequences, while these greedy bastards continue to live the good life.

There are many people who feel they have the solution to our problems.  Truth is, nobody knows what the best fix will be, but I can tell you printing money and giving it away to the same people who fucked us in the first place, is not the solution.  Harder times are on the horizon.

Please enjoy the episode of PBS’ Frontline: Inside the Meltdown.  Encourage others to see and understand how this mess has happened, and continue to educate those close to you.

Thankfully, Cynthia Mckinney was more receptive to answering the moderator’s questions than she usually is in interviews.  One example of her usual and more difficult style would be when Greta Brawner interviewed her for an hour for CSPAN’s series entitled, Road to the White House.  She displays an Palin-esque quality of avoiding any direct question and talking about whatever she feels.  This becomes annoying at best – angering at worst.  Coming from someone who generally supports her and agrees with much of what she says, I can only imagine what it must have been like to hear her reapetedly ignore the questions posed by NPR’s Neal Conan on Talk of the Nation for someone unfamiliar with her.  NPR’s Scott Simon of Weekend Edition can also be credited with giving her some airplay in one of Cynthia’s better, albeit brief, showings.

Bob Barr is polling at a modest 1.5% nationally and has also benefited by being featured on Road to the White House.  I feel he had a far better showing on both Washington Journal and Road to the White House due to actually presenting some sort of concise message.  Not only that, but he succeeded in the simple task of answering questions posed to him.  What a radical move.  Especially considering the hosts of CSPAN and NPR tend to be far more fair in comparison to most moderators.  NPR’s News & Notes also gave him a few minutes to detail his campaign goals alongside Weekend Edition’s profile of the candidate.

Unfortunately for Barr and Mckinney, neither of them appeared in the only Third Party Debate after the one at Columbia was canceled.  Complete with caller responses immediately following the event, Ralph Nader and Chuck Baldwin were the only two to take part.  This is a really pathetic result for something I personally deem to be quite important.  I was personally influenced by the Libertarian platform presented by Michael Badnarik in the 2004 election as a result of CSPAN airing the Third Party Debate.  Ralph Nader and Chuck Baldwin were both also featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition.

After viewing and listening to the minimal coverage the Third Party Candidates receive, I honestly have to say I’ve been the most impressed with Chuck Baldwin’s performances.  He comes off as the most honest of all the candidates and presents the most compelling message.  He is the most outspoken against real issues such as the Federal Reserve, the New World Order, gun rights, and other Constitutional principles.  This is not an endorsement, however.  Unfortunately, I disagree with him in regards to some other elements of his platform.

At the end of the day I am still an undecided voter.  All I know is that I reject the two corporate puppets that most media outlets present to us as the only options.  Its sad that many people believe them.

Joseph Biden has stated that “we’re going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis” and that he can “guarantee you it’s going to happen.”  He continued to state that “it’s not going to be apparent that we’re right” in regards to how an Obama/Biden administration would handle such a situation.  Here – take a listen for yourself:

He isn’t the only one that feels this way.  When questioned about Biden’s statements, Fmr. Secretary of State Madeline Albright felt that “its just a statement of fact, frankly.”  Sen. Joe Lieberman appeared on Face the Nation on 06.29.2008 and echoed Biden’s sentiments by saying that “our enemies will test the new president early.” He also went on to tell Bob Schiffer to “remember that the truck bombing of the World Trade Center happened in the first year of the Clinton Administration.  9/11 happened in the first year of the Bush Administration.”  I’d like to personally thank Joe the Politician #2 for narrowing the timeline for when the next terrorist attack or crisis will strike America and the world.  It will happen with in the 1st year of the next President’s term.

However, that is not close enough.  I think I’d like to narrow it down a bit more.  Lets see what Fmr. Secretary of State Colin Powell had to say while appearing on Meet the Press on 10.19.2008:

In case you missed it, Colin Powell stated that “there is going to be a crisis [to] come along on the 21st or 22nd of January that we don’t even know about right now.”  Oh, really?  What an interesting thing to say.  However, don’t worry!  The United States Military is already in place and engaged in homeland tours – for your protection of course.  Who needs a 2nd amendment and Posse Comitatus when you have the US Army on American soil to protect you?  Oh, wait.

As you may have heard, I’ve decided to make my new film, “Slacker Uprising,” available for free to everyone in the United States and Canada. It is the first time ever that a major feature-length film is debuting as a free download on the internet — legally. I am doing this for two reasons:

1. Next year it will be 20 years since my first film, “Roger & Me,” so I’d like to give those of you who’ve supported my work over the years a thank you gift in the form of a brand new movie; and

2. I hope the release and wide distribution of this new movie will help to bring out millions of young and new voters on November 4th.

“Slacker Uprising” takes place in the wake of “Fahrenheit 9/11,” during the run-up to the 2004 election, as I traveled for 42 days across America, visiting 62 cities in a failed attempt to remove George W. Bush from office. My goal was to help turn out a record number of young voters and others who had never voted before. (That part was a success. Young adults voted in greater numbers than in any election since 18-year-olds were given the right to vote. And the youth vote was the only age group that John Kerry won.)

And now, enjoy Slacker Uprising by Micheal Moore:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

If you liked what Gov. Jesse Ventura had to say in his speech, check out his new book:

The Rally for the Republic was even carried on CSPAN-2 on Tuesday 9/2/2008 in it’s entirety, and was probably more press coverage than Dr. Paul got during his entire race for the nomination. Better late than never I guess, as the message is still very important, maybe even more-so now than ever.

Since dropping out of the 2008 race for the republican presidential nomination, his organization has transitioned into the Campaign For Liberty.   Ron Paul’s people say that there is a major announcement coming next week, so keep your eyes out for that.

Ron Paul made an appearance on the Colbert Report last night on 9/4/2008. Check it out:

If you haven’t done so yet, be sure to pick up a copy of Ron Paul’s latest book:

Help spread thew0rd and keep on fighting for your rights.

Something that pisses me off every time I hear about it, is when the police use a Taser on a “suspect” for little or no reason. Every day you hear of a new story about police officers using Tasers excessively. Television shows like “Cops” and “Jail” show officers using Tasers on people with little or no provocation. Officers always claim that they “fee threatened” or “fear for their lives”. I believe the use of Tasers should be outlawed and banned in the USA. When you watch these videos of police using a Taser, many times it is hard to believe that the office could have felt threatened.

Now, I do agree that officers should have options for non-lethal force when appropriate. But it seems that the policy has become “Taser first, as questions later”. As for a Taser being non-lethal, there are hundreds of incidents where people die from the Taser. It’s like playing Russian roulette. There will be continue to be hundreds of unnecessary deaths each year due to Tasers.

If you don’t know about the Police brutality, or don’t have an opinion about it, check out the following and put yourself in these people’s shoes for a moment…

Here’s a story from just a couple of weeks ago of a 16 year old boy who somehow fell over 30 feet from an overpass. The police came to respond, but they then decided it would be appropriate to Taser him 19 times… If the kid was acting crazy it was because of the shock from the fall, not drugs or alcohol (none was found in his blood).

This next video shows a Utah Highway Patrol officer pulling over a young man with his pregnant wife in the passenger seat. The man driving the van is asking why he’s been pulled over, and is complying with officer requests. When the victim turns to walk away from the officer, the UHP officer unleashes when the guy has his back turned. Another example of officers choosing to Taser instead of talking.

CNN Coverage of the above:

In what may be the most sickening use of force, an off duty officer uses a stun gun on a father holding his newborn baby. Again a total case of “shock first, ask questions later”:

I mean, what is a guy holding a baby going to do to threaten an officer?? Apparently the nurses forgot to take off a bracelet on the baby and an alarm went off, as if he was trying to kidnap the baby… But the mother was there as well, the officer just would not listen. Shameful.

Apparently speaking truth to power is also a taser offense. By now you may have heard of the “Dont Taze Me Bro” incident, well below is the video. This guy asked if John Kerry was a member of Skull and Bones, and got mobbed by police officers, taken down, and tased:

Again, more shameful shit. Keith Olbermann from MSNBC gives a great summary:

Finally, for anyone trying to say that Tasers are non-lethal, consider the fact that hundreds have died from the violent electrical shocks from Tasers. That does not sound like non-lethal at all, in fact it sounds quite lethal.

We need to stand up as a people and have Taser use by Law Enforcement banned.

Last week I attended the “computer security” conference HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth), held every two years in NYC. The title of this year’s event was “The Last Hope”, but it may not be the last. Unfortunately I had to work Friday and was not able to get to the convention until about 4pm, luckily it was being held only 2 avenues away from my workplace. I had never attended HOPE in the past, although I have gone to Las Vegas for DEFCON several times in the past 10 years. HOPE is organized by the crew over at 2600: The Hacker Quarterly.

All told, the event was interesting, and I was glad to attend. However, maybe I’m just getting old but “the scene” just doesn’t hold my attention as it once did. Oh well. The convention took place at the Hotel Pennsylvania, which was scheduled for demolition soon, hence “The Last HOPE”. However by the end of the convention it was announced that plans to demolish the hotel have been put on hold due to the bad economy, so HOPE will take place again at it’s usual spot in 2010.

Some of the sessions I attended were great, others not so great. Amongst the good ones were:

• Bagcam – How Did TSA and/or the Airlines Manage to Do That to Your Luggage? By: algormor
• A Hacker’s View of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) By: Phil Lapsley
• Hacking the Price of Food: An Urban Farming Renaissance By: Bicyclemark
• Methods of Copying High Security Keys By: Barry Wels and Han Fey
• One Last Time: The Hack/Phreak History Primer By: Jason Scott

Looking back at the list of talks, I wish I’d attended more/different ones. Guess I am just getting old. Oh well, there’s always 2010. I spent a good amount of time in the Lockpick Village playing around and picking a couple locks, its always fun to open locks you’ve never touched before. I picked up a copy of Emmanuel Goldstein‘s new book: The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey, this huge tome was well worth the money. It’s jam packed with stories from the past 24 years of 2600 history. I should have gotten it autographed when I saw Emmanuel at the conference, but he was busy. Again, oh well.

Even though I am kind of burned out after being in the scene for the past 15 years or so, I will probably end up attending again in 2010. It’s much easier that traveling to Las Vegas for DEFCON since I now reside in NYC.

Check out Photos from TheLastHOPE over at flickr. Search twitter for #thelasthope for people liveblogging the event. Finally, check out the video below. It was created by the folks at MAKE Magazine, who were in attendance at the conference as vendors. Overall I think the video captured the spirit of the event, good work MAKE folks!

Until 2010, peace.

I think most people would be amazed if they found out that banks create money out of “thin air”, most would even disbelieve the concept. Banks create money out of debt. When you go to take a loan from a bank, you are not borrowing on someone else’s savings, the bank is basically printing the money on demand. Our economy survives because people are in debt. If all debt were to be repaid, there would be virtually no money left. It boggles the mind.

The following video “Money As Debt” breaks down how our money system works in simple terms, that is easy for anyone to understand. I believe everyone should watch this video at least once to gain a basic understanding on how the monetary system works, and what it means for you and your family. This video simply lays out “how it is”. Enjoy.

When I see stories about our government sanctioning torture, spying on Americans, murdering innocent Iraqis, warmongering, hiring mercenaries to fight our wars, cronyism and turning America into a police state, I get really pissed off and nervous. What pisses me off most is that the average American doesn’t know or care about any of these issues, at least not enough to try to change things. They toss up their hands and say “What can I do?”.

I’ll tell you what you can do. Start talking about these issues with anybody who isn’t aware. Start voting for principled politicians (are there any?). Get involved with non-profits and local politics. Stop making excuses for being ignorant. The reason all of this is allowed to happen, is because the majority of people allow it to happen. Those in power COUNT on your apathy and ignorance to further their plans for control of the populace.

I was raised to believe that America was “the land of the free”. A place where different people can come together in a common belief of freedom and liberty. You don’t mess with someone and they cant mess with you. Live and let live. That is not the America that I see today. Through the politics of fear we have allowed the government to erode our civil liberties, invade our privacy and label whole groups of people as ‘the enemy’. All under the guise of “preserving the American way”. I would like to remind everyone of a famous quote by Benjamin Franklin: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” I think Keith Olbermann did a great job explaining the path America is headed down in the video below.

And if you still dont think that any of these issues affect you, think about this poem from Pastor Martin Niemöller about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

The time has come for anybody who claims to care about their fellow man, to take a stand. Start caring and start fighting for your liberty and that of your family. You think that all of this stuff doesn’t affect you, but it does.

I’ve always been a fan of lock picking. Its fun. Below are some links related to the lock picking events this year:
Hackers click locks open at conference in US
White House High-Security Locks Broken: Bumped and Picked at DefCon

Got to love Defcon. 12 year old girl bumping a lock:

Besides all that I haven’t heard too much in the way of other news. It usually takes people a week to sober up and remember all the really important things that went down at Defcon. So I will keep my eyes open and post any more interesting bits that came out of the convention this year. If you know of anything that went down, or would like to share your experiences this year please comment below!

When I use the term "Web2.0" I am using the term to describe not only software, but the way we interact with eachother through the software.  Besides the enhanced and friendly user interfaces of some Web2.0 sites, this new generation of the web is all about sharing.  We are just being able to communicate in virtually any medium anywhere in the world, in near real-time.  This is a revolutionary advance that will have profound effects on how we work, play, and communicate across the globe.  Web2.0 is all about making these technologies easier to use, easier to share, and and easier to find.  Collaboration and transparency aren’t just buzz words, they are principals shaping a new society. 

Many people are writing off Web2.0 as the "Second Internet Bubble" and unfortunately I believe that they are mainly correct.  But just because some companies will go out of business and some venture capitalists loose a couple million, it’s no excuse to write off the techniques and theories that are driving this movement.  The ideas of collaboration, transparency, and open source are just starting to emerge in the popular culture meme across the globe.  Large multi-national corporations and Governments are beginning to embrace some of the social theories put forth from this new global cyberculture.  Web2.0 gives more power to the person at the keyboard, instead of just reading the Web like a newspaper, YOU are the web.  Your friends are the web.  It has never been easier for the average person to share their knowledge and experiences with the world.  Technology is worth understanding, because in the Web2.0, every voice can be heard.

I encourage everybody to jump into new technologies with gusto.  Don’t be afraid of technology, it’s here to help you.  Once you understand what this new software and philosophy is all about, you can begin to share it with others.  As more people form loose social networks and begin to collaborate on a large scale, the better the "web"/"content"/"value"/"internet"/"experience"/"connection" will be in the future.  There is a wealth of human knowledge that has yet to be shared.  As we have more access knowledge we humans can begin to better understand everything.

From a pure new user standpoint I would suggest using the following websites to become accustomed to "Web2.0" tools and concepts.  Don’t be afraid, they wont bite.  If you don’t understand something, search google!:

• Netvibes ( personal start page )
• Del.icio.us ( social bookmark sharing )
• Picasa ( google’s photo sharing service )
• Gmail ( google’s free email service )
• Meebo ( web based instant messaging for aim, icq, msn, yahoo, gtalk, and meebo widgets )
• Craigslist ( localized public message board )
• Ziki ( online identity management, if you use more than 2 "web2.0" sites, you should use Ziki)

I’ve given you enough homework for today.  Stay tuned for more information on living with technology in future installments.  I’m not done with this topic by a long shot….
 

I’ve found that trying to get people interested in learning more about how to use technology is like pulling teeth. If you show them some web application or widget they say "hey thats cool" but do not really understand what they are seeing. The promise of Web 2.0 principals and the often forgotten fact is that this revolution is all about YOU. YOU create the data, YOU share your knowledge, YOU have the power to mix up data from all over the world to view it how you want. And its supposed to be simple. It’s getting simpler everyday. Without further adieu, the videos…

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