There’s a new report out on US cyber security(PDF)

It’s a big-ass problem:

a growing array of state and non-state actors are compromising, stealing, changing, or destroying information and could cause critical disruptions to U.S. systems. At the same time, traditional telecommunications and Internet networks continue to converge, and other infrastructure sectors are adopting the Internet as a primary means of interconnectivity. The United States faces the dual challenge of maintaining an environment that promotes efficiency, innovation, economic prosperity, and free trade while also promoting safety, security, civil liberties, and privacy rights.

Yikes. So how does the government feel about this?

Leadership should be elevated and strongly anchored within the White House to provide direction, coordinate action, and achieve results. In addition, federal leadership and accountability for cybersecurity should be strengthened.

OK, good. I’m glad to hear that, because the last guy wasn’t really up on this stuff. He had this guy named Richard Clarke, remember? Right before 9/11 he got politely demoted for making a nuisance of himself by whining about a group called Al Qaeda. He asked to go to cyber-security, but wasn’t in the National Security Council anymore because oldster politicians think computers suck and wish they’d just go away.

So cool — glad that we’ve got someone in the White House who cares about keeping computers safe so that it’s easier for computers to Run All the Things of Man. Now that we’re down with cybersecurity, what are we going to do about it?

Well here’s an action plan from p. 8:

• Appoint a cybersecurity policy official responsible for coordinating the Nation’s cybersecurity policies and activities; establish a strong NSC directorate, under the direction of the cybersecurity policy official dual-hatted to the NSC and the NEC, to coordinate interagency development of cybersecurity-related strategy and policy.
• Prepare for the President’s approval an updated national strategy to secure the information and communications infrastructure. This strategy should include continued evaluation of CNCI activities and, where appropriate, build on its successes.
• Designate cybersecurity as one of the President’s key management priorities and establish performance metrics.
• Designate a privacy and civil liberties official to the NSC cybersecurity directorate.
• Convene appropriate interagency mechanisms to conduct interagency-cleared legal analyses of priority cybersecurity-related issues identified during the policy-development process and formulate coherent unified policy guidance that clarifies roles, responsibilities, and the application of agency authorities for cybersecurity-related activities across the Federal government.
• Initiate a national public awareness and education campaign to promote cybersecurity.
• Develop U.S. Government positions for an international cybersecurity policy framework and strengthen our international partnerships to create initiatives that address the full range of activities, policies, and opportunities associated with cybersecurity.
• Prepare a cybersecurity incident response plan; initiate a dialog to enhance public-private partnerships with an eye toward streamlining, aligning, and providing resources to optimize their contribution and engagement
• In collaboration with other EOP entities, develop a framework for research and development strategies that focus on game-changing technologies that have the potential to enhance the security, reliability, resilience, and trustworthiness of digital infrastructure; provide the research community access to event data to facilitate developing tools, testing theories, and identifying workable solutions.
• Build a cybersecurity-based identity management vision and strategy that addresses privacy and civil liberties interests, leveraging privacy-enhancing technologies for the Nation.

Ambitious — especially the public awareness campaign. How should they go about doing that? My vote is for a public viewing of the movie Hackers in every city.

U Street crazy fun part 1

U Street crazy fun part 2

One of the most inspiring things about this crazy impromptu rally is that it’s happening in the same place where protesters gathered in 1968 after news of MLK’s assassination spread around DC. That protest quickly became the DC riots of 1968, in which $27 million dollars (not adjusted for inflation) worth of damage was done and the military eventually occupied the District under orders from LBJ. To see and be a part of such a huge celebration of unabashed happiness 40 years later, in the exact same place, on the night of the election of the nation’s first black president, was a really special thing.

Mr. McCain, whom we chose as the best Republican nominee in the primaries, has spent the last coins of his reputation for principle and sound judgment to placate the limitless demands and narrow vision of the far-right wing. His righteous fury at being driven out of the 2000 primaries on a racist tide aimed at his adopted daughter has been replaced by a zealous embrace of those same win-at-all-costs tactics and tacticians.

It’s amazing to think how far Obama has come since this time last year, when the pundits all basically predicted that he would be merely a talented politician sharpening his claws for a later fight. I’ll be waiting with scarcely contained excitement for November 4th.

“This is uncharted territory,” said Kenneth M. Goldstein, the director of the Advertising Project at the University of Wisconsin. “We’ve certainly seen heavy advertising battles before. But we’ve never seen in a presidential race one side having such a lopsided advantage.”

I’m sure they’ll still have it, but after this, who would take it? Then again what GOP candidate can you think of other than John McCain who ever would’ve taken it in the first place?

• Bailout Clash: 200 Economists Vs. The Senate
• RMS hates cloud computing; says you should too
• Microsoft still paying people to search
• Polls: Obama Way Up, Palin And Economy Dragging McCain Down
• Ruby on Rails Code Quality Checklist
• First official release of Roodi
• GOP, RIP?

Crazy week and crazy times in general…

So, when Barack Obama says he will put some lipstick on my pig, I am, like, Are you calling me a pig? If so, thanks! Pigs are the most non-Elite of all barnyard animals. And also, if you put lipstick on my pig, do you know what the difference will be between that pig and a pit bull? I’ll tell you: a pit bull can easily kill a pig. And, as the pig dies, guess what the Hockey Mom is doing? Going to her car, putting on more lipstick, so that, upon returning, finding that pig dead, she once again looks identical to that pit bull, which, staying on mission, the two of them step over the dead pig, looking exactly like twins, except the pit bull is scratching his lower ass with one frantic leg, whereas the Hockey Mom is carrying an extra hockey stick in case Todd breaks his again. But both are going, like, Ha ha, where’s that dumb pig now? Dead, that’s who, and also: not a smidge of lipstick.

…

Now, let’s talk about slogans. Ours is: Country First. Think about it. When you think of what should come first, what does? Us ourselves? No. That would be selfish. Our personal families? Selfish. God? God is good, I love Him, but, as our slogan suggests, no, sorry, God, You are not First. No, you don’t, Lord! How about: the common good of all mankind! Is that First? Don’t make me laugh with your weak blinking! No! Mercy is not First and wisdom is not First and love is super but way near the back, and ditto with patience and discernment and compassion and all that happy crap, they are all back behind Country, in the back of my S.U.V., which— Here is an example! Say I am about to run over a nun or orphan, or an orphan who grew up to become a nun—which I admire that, that is cool, good bootstrapping there, Sister—but then God or whomever goes, “It is My will that you hit that orphaned nun, do not ask Me why, don’t you dare, and I say unto thee, if you do not hit that nun, via a skillful swerve, your Country is going to suffer, and don’t ask Me how, specifically, as I have not decided that yet!” Well, I am going to do my best to get that nun in one felt swope, because, at the Convention, at which my Vice-Presidential candidate kicked mucho butt, what did the signs there say? Did they say “Orphaned Nuns First” and then there is a picture of a sad little nun with a hobo pack?

My officemate and I cackled back and forth about this thing for most of the morning.

The country has just endured the worst leadership in modern history, and no lessons have been learned. Despite what we have witnessed over the past eight years, tens of millions of people are willing to instantly repeat the same mistake and elect another sadistic ignoramus to national office because she’s able to hide these qualities behind the deceptive dazzle of charisma. This cannot be allowed to happen.

That John McCain is a shameless panderer who’ll do anything to get elected president has become increasingly obvious over the eight years he’s spent reversing every principled position he’d ever taken. That John McCain has renounced every shred of honor that ever attached to him is clear to anyone who bears witness to the parade of scummy lies he calls his advertising campaign — a campaign that no less a bottom feeder than Karl Rove said has gone “one step too far” by “attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the 100-percent truth test.” That John McCain has cravenly sold his soul for a prize that he doesn’t even seem to want for any reason other than just to have it is undeniable to anyone who looks into his now-dead eyes. He’s a walking corpse.

Read the whole thing — it’s got great pacing and tone for a piece on a liberal blog (where the quality of writing is usually pretty pedestrian.)

As Mark Shields said Friday on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, “we may be seeing Palin’s high point right now.” I think it’s over. The feeding frenzy is about to begin.

The investigation also concluded that several of the officials “frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relationships with oil and gas company representatives.”

The investigation separately found that the program’s manager mixed official and personal business, and took money from a technical services firm in exchange for urging oil companies to hire the firm. In sometimes lurid detail, the report accuses him of having intimate relations with two subordinates, one of whom regularly sold him cocaine.

Can we stop this crap already? Can we finally see that this is what deregulation run amok actually leads to? Can there be any doubt that if McCain/Palin wins this election, this kind of thing will only be ratcheted up?