[Quote:]

Members of one of America’s oldest Protestant churches officially apologized Friday — for the first time — for massacring and displacing American Indians 400 years ago.

“We consumed your resources, dehumanized your people and disregarded your culture, along with your dreams, hopes and great love for this land,” the Rev. Robert Chase told descendants from both sides. “With pain, we, the Collegiate Church, remember our part in these events.”

The minister spoke at a reconciliation ceremony of the Lenape tribe with the Collegiate Church, started in 1628 in then-New Amsterdam as the Reformed Dutch Church.

Why does it take a religion always multiple centuries to admit a mistake?

[Quote:]

Hundreds, if not thousands, of lobbyists are likely to be ejected from federal advisory panels as part of a little-noticed initiative by the Obama administration to curb K Street’s influence in Washington, according to White House officials and lobbying experts.

The new policy — issued with little fanfare this fall by the White House ethics counsel — may turn out to be the most far-reaching lobbying rule change so far from President Obama, who also has sought to restrict the ability of lobbyists to get jobs in his administration and to negotiate over stimulus contracts.

The initiative is aimed at a system of advisory committees so vast that federal officials don’t have exact numbers for its size; the most recent estimates tally nearly 1,000 panels with total membership exceeding 60,000 people.

Don’t wave to children

[Quote:]

Virgin Media will trial deep packet inspection technology to measure the level of illegal filesharing on its network, but plans not to tell the customers whose traffic will be examined.

The system, CView, will be provided by Detica, a BAE subsidiary that specialises in large volume data collection and processing, and whose traditional customers are the intelligence agencies and law enforcement.

The trial will cover about 40 per cent of Virgin Media’s network, a spokesman said, but those involved will not be informed. “It would be counter-productive because it doesn’t affect customers directly,” he said.

CView will operate at the centre of Virgin Media’s network on aggregate traffic, the spokesman emphasised, and seek only to determine the proportion of filesharing traffic that infringes copyright.

The system will look at traffic and identify the peer-to-peer packets. In a step beyond how ISPs currently monitor their networks, it will then peer inside those packets and try to determine what is licensed and what is unlicensed, based on data provided by the record industry.

And if they think real-time deep-packet-inspection is expensive, they should try real-time packet-decryption next…

I don’t understand why a warrant is needed when they want to do deep-envelope inspection on the content of letters you write, but not on email you send. But then again, next I’ll be asking for silly things like a fair trial and such…

And don’t get me started on how they think they can differentiate between “licensed” and “unlicensed” content…

[Quote:]

Four Archbishops, including Cardinal Desmond Connell, will be named over their mishandling of hundreds of allegations, including not reporting crimes to the police.

The senior clerics’ motive was to protect the church above defenceless children, the report will find.

The Dublin Archdiocese Commission is the third inquiry in the last four years to rock the Catholic Church in Ireland following independent investigations into abusive priests.

The pattern of senior clerics moving abusers from parish to parish rather than dealing with the problem will also be addressed.

The 700-page report includes 45 potted histories of a sample of priests from 1975 to 2004 who were investigated by the Commission.

It is understood only ten priests will be named, as they are either dead or in jail, with the rest given aliases.

So a report by the Catholic Church that says that abuse was covered up, is actually itself covering up all the abuses but ten.

Why am I not surprised?

[Quote:]

Yano-Horoski, appearing pro se, requested a conference in February to seek a deal with IndyMac Bank on the $292,500 mortgage she took out in August 2004 on her East Patchogue home.

Following a series of hearings attempting “to obtain meaningful cooperation” from the bank, Spinner ordered that a bank representative attend a conference in September.

Karen Dickinson, regional loss mitigation manager for IndyMac, appeared and “made it abundantly clear that no form of mediation, resolution or settlement would be acceptable” to the bank, Justice Spinner wrote.

Notably, the judge wrote, the bank asserted that the borrower had previously defaulted on a forbearance agreement when in fact the agreement had not even been sent out until after it was due.

“Defendant, through Plaintiff’s duplicity, found herself to be in unique and uncomfortable position of being placed in default of the ‘agreement’ even before she had received it,” Spinner wrote.

The bank also rejected an offer Yano-Horoski’s daughter to buy the house at fair market value.

“It was evident from Ms. Dickinson’s opprobrious demeanor and condescending attitude that no proffer by Defendant (short of consent to foreclosure and ejectment of Defendant and her family) would be acceptable to Plaintiff,” the judge wrote, adding that even a “desperate” offer of a deed in lieu of foreclosure was “met with bland equivocation.”

Spinner ordered another hearing last week at which discrepancies surfaced about how much was actually owed.

The bank claimed a balance of $527,437 was due, but Yano-Horoski gave a much lower figure –according to two bank letters, she owed around $285,000 as of August 2009.

Spinner pointed out that a prior affidavit by a bank representative, “presumably one with knowledge of the account,” tabbed the principal balance at $290,687.

The large disparity, coupled with Dickinson’s conduct, swung “the pendulum of credibility” heavily to the homeowner, the court held.

[..]

The judge concluded that the banks’ conduct was “wholly unsupportable at law or in equity, greatly egregious and so completely devoid of good faith that equity cannot be permitted to intervene on its behalf.”

But he went further than rejecting the foreclosure.

If the case was simply dismissed, he wrote, the court “cannot be assured that Plaintiff will not repeat this course of conduct.”

Also Spinner said that monetary sanctions were “not likely to have a salubrious or remedial effect” and, in any case, would not benefit the homeowner.

Imposing sanctions would bring little benefit to the homeowner, the judge wrote, leaving the “appropriate equitable disposition” of canceling the debt and discharging the mortgage.

Thus, he concluded that the original principal amount of $292,500 “should be cancelled, voided and set aside,” the mortgage be discharged and the bank barred from any attempt to collect on the note.

[Quote:]

American International Group Inc. employees unwinding the insurer’s derivatives may leave in March if they don’t get their promised retention bonuses, said a lawyer representing some of the workers.

Staff in the Financial Products unit may depart if the company, under pressure from regulators, doesn’t pay the $198 million it previously committed, Andrew Goodstadt, a partner at Thompson Wigdor & Gilly LLP, said today in an interview. There will also be “instant litigation” against New York-based AIG if the awards aren’t sent, he said.

Yeah, sure, there are still good smart people working at AIG, and those may deserve a bonus if they perform well. Are these guys part of that group?

Financial Products, the unit blamed for pushing the company to the brink of collapse with bets on subprime home loans. Remaining employees are now working to reduce the number of derivative trades as AIG sells assets to repay loans included in its $182.3 billion bailout.

So, these are the guys mopping up their own mistakes, and they want a bonus for cleaning up their own garbage.

I’d say let them resign. Fuck ‘m. I’m sure there are some burgers that need flipping.

And how’s the rest of AIG doing? Well….

[Quote:]

Middlesboro and Clinton are two tiny, impoverished towns in southern Kentucky with a combined population of 12,000. In 2008, Middlesboro’s per capita income was $13,189 a year, only a few hundred dollars more than the average worker earned in third-world Mexico. That is if they were lucky to even get a job. Real unemployment hovers somewhere around 30%, and the state is so broke that half the people eligible for unemployment benefits can’t receive them. Life may be tough and most people live in poverty, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be made a little poorer. That’s the lesson locals learned after bailed-out insurance villain AIG took over their water utility and instantly raised rates to squeeze an extra $1 million in profits out of its new customers, forcing some to consider choosing between running water and food.

[..]

Residents had been getting their water bills like clockwork for as long as anyone could remember, but confusion and disorder set in as soon as Utilities rolled out its new and improved billing system. Monthly statements started coming late or didn’t come in for months at a time. People were double-billed and double-penalized for bills that never arrived. One month, a bill would include sewer fees, the next month it wouldn’t—and you’d be charged if didn’t catch the omission. It’s obvious the new invoice system was designed for pure harassment, creating chaos and reaping the rewards of the late fees it generated.

[Quote:]

In the face of a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Ramon Cortines ordered an immediate hiring freeze Monday and cut other expenses, including travel, conferences and food at district meetings.

[..]

The only exceptions to the hiring freeze will be for classroom teachers, principals, assistant principals, cafeteria managers, school police officers, bus drivers teachers’ assistants, education aides, special education assistants and plant managers.

So they aren’t allowed to hire… well… ehm…. janitors?

[Quote:]

I remember somebody reading My Pet Goat at one time, but that must have been a different president.

More suggestions are welcome, of course

[Quote:]

Every school pupil in England is to be taught that domestic violence against women and girls is unacceptable, as part of a new government strategy.

Boys, however, well, feel free to kick the snot out of them.

[Quote:]

From 3AM on Wednesday November 25, 2009, until 3AM the following day (US east coast time), WikiLeaks will release over half a million US national text pager intercepts. The intercepts cover a 24 hour period surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington.

To foster a deeper understanding, the messages will be released to the global community “live”. That is, the first message, corresponding to 3AM September 11, 2001, five hours before the first attack, will be released at 3AM November 25, 2009 and the last, corresponding to 3AM September 12, 2001 at 3AM November 26, 2009.

Text pagers are mostly carried by persons operating in an official capacity. Messages in the archive range from Pentagon and New York Police Department exchanges, to computers reporting faults to their operators as the World Trade Center collapsed.

This is a significant and completely objective record of the defining moment of our time. We hope that its entry into the historical record will lead to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of how this tragedy and its aftermath may have been prevented.

While we are obligated by to protect our sources, it is clear that the information comes from an organization which has been intercepting and archiving US national telecommunications since prior to 9/11.

How many organizations are there that “have been intercepting and archiving US national telecommunications since prior to 9/11″? I know of only one…

[Quote:]

At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, “snatch and grabs” of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help direct a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.

[Quote:]

But there is one thing I think I can say, and it’s about this:

One of the concerns raised by the military intelligence source is that some Blackwater personnel are being given rolling security clearances above their approved clearances. Using Alternative Compartmentalized Control Measures (ACCMs), he said, the Blackwater personnel are granted clearance to a Special Access Program, the bureaucratic term used to describe highly classified “black” operations. “With an ACCM, the security manager can grant access to you to be exposed to and operate within compartmentalized programs far above ’secret’–even though you have no business doing so,” said the source. It allows Blackwater personnel that “do not have the requisite security clearance or do not hold a security clearance whatsoever to participate in classified operations by virtue of trust,” he added. “Think of it as an ultra-exclusive level above top secret. That’s exactly what it is: a circle of love.” Blackwater, therefore, has access to “all source” reports that are culled in part from JSOC units in the field. “That’s how a lot of things over the years have been conducted with contractors,” said the source. “We have contractors that regularly see things that top policy-makers don’t unless they ask.”

I don’t know anything about this particular case. But that is an all-too-plausible arrangement. If you read Tim Weiner’s Legacy of Ashes — or, say, my review of it last year in The Nation — you’re familiar with the theme of presidents just wanting a meddlesome priest to be gone and not caring about how it happens. A related dynamic is that top-level presidential aides interpret their mandate as keeping knowledge of the dirty work as far away from the Oval Office as possible.

[Quote:]

Cars and trucks slammed into each other 28 times at Western Avenue and 63rd Street in 2006, the year before the Daley administration installed red-light cameras there in the name of safety. In 2008, the year after cameras went in, accidents at the Southwest Side intersection soared to 42, according to state data.

It was not an aberration. Cameras are said to reduce accidents, but collision records compiled by the Illinois Department of Transportation indicate that accidents increased at many city intersections the year after red-light cameras were installed. In fact slightly more intersections saw an increase than a decrease, the data show.

The city tells a very different story. Crash statistics compiled by the city reflect broad success in reducing accidents with cameras, and the city could not explain why the numbers are so different.

How about “it’s in our own best interest if the numbers turn out that way”?

Or how about “we’re not using accidents but revenue to measure effectiveness”?

[Quote:]

The issue has been festering for months: Why were AIG’s counterparties—including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and UBS—paid 100 cents on the dollar when the feds rescued the insurance giant, helping raising the cost of the bailout to nearly $200 billion? A new report issued by Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky now reveals that government officials, notably then-New York Fed President and current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, grievously damaged the nation and capitulated to the very banks they should have been supervising.

Barofsky’s report reads like a case study in failed negotiation. The New York Fed didn’t have the backbone to stand up to Wall Street, didn’t understand its capacity to protect taxpayers, and didn’t appreciate that its responsibility was to taxpayers.

[Quote:]

A quick hand washing could keep hospital staff from spreading germs that lead to nearly two million in-hospital infections a year. The HyGreen system reminds them to scrub—and keeps a record of who doesn’t. After cleaning their hands with alcohol-based sanitizers, doctors and nurses place them under the HyGreen sensor that sniffs for alcohol, which kills 99.99 percent of germs, and sends a wireless “all clean” message to a badge worn on the person’s shirt pocket.

A wireless monitor on patient beds searches for the message—if it’s absent, the badge vibrates, reminding the wearer to sanitize his hands. During a five-month field test of HyGreen at the University of Florida’s medical center, infection rates dropped to zero.

[Quote:]

The first person jailed under draconian UK police powers that Ministers said were vital to battle terrorism and serious crime has been identified by The Register as a schizophrenic science hobbyist with no previous criminal record.

His crime was a persistent refusal to give counter-terrorism police the keys to decrypt his computer files.

The 33-year-old man, originally from London, is currently held at a secure mental health unit after being sectioned while serving his sentence at Winchester Prison.

[..]

A full forensic examination found nine nanograms of the high explosive RDX on his left hand, but JFL was given police bail. His passport was seized, however.

JFL says he does not know how the RDX, which has has military and civil applications, came to be on his hand. A result of five nanograms or less is routinely discounted by forensics and no charges were ever brought over his result of nine nanograms.

He returned to Paddington Green station as appointed on 2 December, and was re-arrested for carrying a pocket knife.

[..]

In his final police interview, CTC officers suggested JFL’s refusal to decrypt the files or give them his keys would lead to suspicion he was a terrorist or paedophile.

“There could be child pornography, there could be bomb-making recipes,” said one detective.

“Unless you tell us we’re never gonna know… What is anybody gonna think?”

If I ever make plans to visit the UK, stop me. Here’s another reason why:

[Quote:]

Police officers are now routinely arresting people in order to add their DNA sample to the national police database, an inquiry will allege tomorrow.

The review of the national DNA database by the government’s human genetics commission also raises the possibility that the DNA profiles of three-quarters of young black males, aged 18 to 35, are now on the database.

[Quote:]

My biggest problem with Bing Cashback is a hidden “feature” that I’m calling “negative cashback.” Here’s a quick demo:

Step 1: Use Bing to find pricing for a fairly popular product, the Canon Vixia HV40.

Step 2: Expand the listing for Butterfly Photo.  The store price is listed as $758 with 2% cashback, giving a total price of $742.84.

Step 3: Click through to Butterfly Photo, and verify Bing has the correct price.  Yes, the prices matches.

Step 4: Open a different web browser or clear your cookies from butterflyphoto.com in your current one.  Go directly to their site and check the price.  $699!

So, if I go directly to butterflyphoto.com, I pay $699 with 0% cashback.  If I use Bing Cashback, I pay $758 with 2% cashback, or $742.84.  Using Bing cashback has actually cost me $43.84, giving an effective cashback rate of -6.27%.  Yes, negative cashback!  Is this legal?  False advertising?  I don’t know, but it’s pretty sketchy.

[Quote:]

After being pointed to this post by a writer over at InformationWeek, a Microsoft spokesperson said, “With more than 1,000 retailers and 17 million product offers, the Bing cashback program aims to ensure Bing customers get the best available deal on the Web. Within the cashback program, each retailer sets the allocation of products and pricing of those products, which are delivered to Microsoft through a realtime data feed. We have tools that will catch discrepancies, and in this particular case, there was an error in the information delivered to us. When we notice an inconsistency or one is reported to Microsoft, we work with the merchant to correct the issue immediately. Overall, this case is an isolated instance within the larger Bing cashback and we are working with Butterfly Photo to resolve this specific issue as soon as possible.”

If you participate in any such program, from Microsoft or others, always do your homework and double check prices.

You’ve probably read this news about a cluster of Antarctic icebergs were heading towards New Zealand.

Here’s how a Dutch news paper reported.

You don’t need to be able to read dutch to see what’s wrong with it, take a look…

[Quote:]

[Quote:]

This is an incredible (and genuine) image by a chap who specialises in ‘astrophotography’. He was taking a photo of the sun using something called an H-alpha filter and caught the jet passing through the frame purely by chance.

See here for more of his astrophotography.

[Quote:]

A man wearing a dress forbid Patrick Kennedy from participating in ritualized cannibalism, and told other men who wear dresses not to allow Rep. Kennedy to participate in this pagan ritual at any of their indoctrination and donation-reception centers. For some reason, this is national news.

[..]

Kennedy has publicly complained that he is no longer permitted his mid-day wine and crackers snack. Tobin, interestingly enough, has a different position:

In his statement, issued in response to the Kennedy interview, Tobin said his advice to the congressman was “pastoral and confidential,” and he was surprised that Kennedy chose to discuss it publicly.

“I am disappointed that the congressman would make public my request of nearly three years ago that sought to provide solely for his spiritual well-being,” he said.

In an October interview, Kennedy criticized the bishops for threatening to oppose the overall bill if it did not include those restrictions. That prompted Tobin to call Kennedy’s position “unacceptable to the church and scandalous to many of our members.”

Tobin said Sunday only that he asked Kennedy not to take Communion.

“I have no desire to continue the discussion of Congressman Kennedy’s spiritual life in public,” he said. “At the same time, I will absolutely respond publicly and strongly whenever he attacks the Catholic Church, misrepresents the teachings of the church or issues inaccurate statements about my pastoral ministry.”

There you go. Tobin sought only to blackmail Kennedy privately, rather than make his withdrawal of snacktime public.

[Quote:]

European ministers have signed a declaration outlining policies to deliver ‘smarter’ online public services by 2015.

At the fifth Ministerial eGovernment Conference in Malmö in Sweden on 19 and 20 November 2009, EU ministers agreed measures to make e-government more accessible, interactive and customised.

The aims over the next five years are:

- to empower businesses and citizens through e-government services designed around users’ needs, better access to information and their active involvement in the policy making process;

- to facilitate mobility in the single market by seamless e-government services for setting up business, studying, working, residing and retiring in Europe;

- to enhance government services by reducing the administrative burden, improving organisational processes and using ICT to improve energy efficiency in public administrations.

Empower, facilitate, enhance… why do I get the feeling this is going to end up as a wasted billion euros on ICT projects?