NSFW Remember when Google’s motto was “Don’t be evil?”

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Got a notice from Google saying that my blog could no longer have sexually explicit or graphic nude images on it.

Well that’s not a big deal for me since I’ve not been using a blogger site for at least a few years. 

I was intrigued, because they go on to say;

We’ll still allow nudity presented in artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific contexts, or where there are other substantial benefits to the public from not taking action on the content.

What exactly does that mean?

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How are they going to determine the artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific contexts wherein explicit nude images are allowed?

Who set them up as the arbiters of good taste? 

One man’s obscene image is another mans art.  We’ve already been down this road with Robert Maplethorpe images. 

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The view of a man bottoming for a greek god (or one who looks like a god) is by some measures beautiful to some people. I could make an argument that such an image is educational, or that such an image artistic or even scientific. 

Why do men participating in such behavior keep going back for more? Is this a function of low self esteem or do they keep doing it because it feels good?

Some societies (Islam) call images of nude women obscene. While others (Generally the rest of the world) call them artistic. The Venus di Milo comes to mind. 

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I saw this coming a long time ago and that’s why gentle reader this blog is on a site that I own, and pay for.

Blogger had a habit of making some content simply disappear with no explanation and if the owner of the content didn’t have a backup well too bad!

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I find myself wondering what the driving force for this is. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to discover that Google has run afoul of global political correctness, and are caving in.

As I said it’s not a problem for me. While their records correctly state that my blogger site, years ago had nude material. All my data was removed from their site and the only thing left is a pointer directing my readers to this site.

It’s a real pity that their records don’t indicate that I haven’t logged into that site in over a year. It’s sad that they didn’t record my numerous attempts to get rid of the blogger site and the failure of their site to process my request.

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As to Google being evil? They’re getting there with each passing day. Complicity in censorship is a big signpost to me, and depending on who they’re trying to appease… Well they might be branded traitors.

I won’t be surprised if soon we won’t be able to find a wide variety of artistic images with our Google search engines.

After all we wouldn’t want to offend anyone now would we?

Here’s a thought… 

Boycot Google for a day. 

Yippee! I’m one of the People Anthem has Screwed again!!!!

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As expected, I got the “We’re Sorry” message from Anthem.

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Honestly I’d rather have them pony up the money for two years on my existing LifeLock membership rather than someone I’ve never heard of. 

At least The credit fixing service is based in Texas and not off shore. I note that the product Anthem is signing us up for is identity repair, NOT Identity theft monitoring.  Since there are a lot of children who were covered under Anthem Policies, Two years of repair is next to useless since children are unlikely to know that their identities have been compromised for possibly decades.

I have no children to protect in this situation, I mention it because the hot ticket in ID theft today isn’t adults, it is in fact children. The crime goes un-noticed for years and by the time a child or their parents figure out something is amiss it’s a sisyphean task to correct the damage.

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It’s my opinion that this email and Anthems 2 year plan is nothing more than corporate hand waving to make it look like they’re taking responsibility for their carelessness, and that they’re taking corrective action.  

I strongly suspect that the measures Mandiant suggests will be deemed as “Too Costly” especially when it’s far cheaper for them to say “We’re sorry” and pay for credit repair that most people won’t take advantage of.

My suspicion is based on experience with large corporations, as an employee and as a victim of ID theft. 

As an employee I’ve sat in meetings where cyber security was discussed and watched executives choose to risk private data (Credit, SSNs, Addresses, Phones, credit ratings, you name it…) because a breach was less expensive to deal with than spending the money on infrastructure upgrades.  The infrastructure has to be constantly upgraded and results in a year over year line item on the budget, whereas a breach is a “one time” expense and since it’s technically a “loss” it’s apparently got a more favorable tax position. 

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Ironically, the same company then lost an HR laptop that contained the whole employee database. We’re talking thousands of employees worldwide and that database residing on a laptop was in violation of the policies and procedures of the company.  Once again the response was, “We’re sorry” we’ll pay for credit repair and monitoring.

Every time I hear of another data breach and the inevitable “We’re Sorry”, I can’t help but see the South Park episode where the oil company drilling has opened a dimensional portal and allowed Cthulhu access to Earth and ushered in 1000 years of darkness…

I didn’t include the whole memo from Anthem, it was pointless. 

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Bottom line is that in addition to the three or four companies that I worked for and who allowed my data to be stolen, The couple of banks where my information has been stolen, now my data has been stolen from an insurance company.  They say they don’t believe my health records, or my credit information has been stolen but they’re less than convincing about it.

When I couple their data breach with the sudden uptick in healthcare related SPAM I have to wonder. 

My SPAM filters have been getting one hell of a workout since Dec 1 2014. I thought it was the usual bullshit running up to Christmas, but now I’m thinking it’s because of the Anthem breach.  Probably the quickest turn on the hack was to sell email addresses.

That would buy time for further analysis and allow full IDs to be pulled from the data, packaged and sold. I have no doubt that every single one of the records stolen from Anthem are already in China, Russia, or Mexico and that there are a ton of counterfeit me’s running all over the place.

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The NSA doesn’t have to spy on us, they can buy all the information they’d ever want on the open market.

Between Google, and data breaches I’ll bet the NSA is considering closing their sophisticated data monitoring centers. Think about the savings!

Yeah, I’m pissed. 

Anthem screwed me due to ACA, Anthem screwed me for an entire year of insurance that was almost completely useless, and now Anthem has screwed me again only this time the screwing will last for years

I’d honestly like to see their assets redistributed to all of us that they’ve hurt in various ways.

Maybe then Banks, Insurance Companies, The Government, and various other businesses would take data security seriously.


Update March 8, 2015

Almost Two weeks later, The Los Angeles Times published a more in-depth Op-Ed that makes many of the points I di in my post.  They wrote their article with only slightly less snark than I did.

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-anthem-is-warning-consumers-20150306-column.html#page=1

OK I’ve got something to say about “American Sniper”

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I’ve read the book, I’ve seen the movie, and Michael Moore needs to shut the fuck up.

When he waddles his Jabba the Hut ass out into a battle field humping 90LBS of equipment and takes on a bunch of fuckers trying to KILL HIM, then maybe I’ll take what he has to say about war, guns, and soldiers a little more seriously.

Until then will someone please tell him to shut his pie hole? I think he’s said quite enough.

Here’s my take for what its worth on Chris Kyle and American Sniper.

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It’s a story of a man struggling to choose between something he does very well, his duty to his fellow soldiers, regardless of the branch of the military they were in, his country, and the love of his life & family.

You can’t read the book without noticing that past a little bit of swagger, and a smidgeon of embellishment, this guy was a real human being.

As to the embellishment… who hasn’t heard “War Stories” from a favorite uncle or grandparent? Chris Kyle didn’t get the opportunity to be that uncle, or grandparent, his life was cut tragically short in part because of his career after the Seal Team.

He was killed trying to reach out & help other vets truly come home.

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As a man, he was stressed about the same things that all of us were stressed about. Am I doing the right thing? Did I make a difference? I could have done that better.

Chris Kyle, from his own words was someone that I’d probably have liked. I don’t know that we’d have been friends. I can say he sure was someone that I’d have respected and might have enjoyed joking and teasing with. I’d have gone to any shooting range with him and no doubt learned a lot.

Chris Kyle was not a racist xenophobe. He called people that were trying to kill him and his team-mates, “Savages” with good cause. “Savages” put explosives in the hands of their children and are surprised when their children are killed. Civilized people get their children out of harms way.

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As far as Chris Kyle was concerned the “Savages” he was killing were evil of the most despicable kind. I suspect that, in part was why he was able to do four tours of duty without being killed. That belief that the evil was around him probably kept him sharp.

But the story is about so much more.

Again Mr. Kyle puts it best. “One day I’m in a war, then next I’m home.”

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How the hell do you deal with that transition? I mean flying from the West coast to the Southeast can strip my gears, One minute I’m in a super liberal Kumbaya place and the next I’m home in a land of Sunday go to meeting “Rednecks”.

I can’t imagine having bullets flying at me one day and my child on my lap the next.

In the book Mr. Kyle talks about his relationship with his wife. Its beyond obvious that he loved her very deeply and loved his children as much or more. She was the love of his life. The book also gives you Taya Kyle’s perspective, which is sometimes a little different than his.

The story ultimately is about him, his loves, and foibles played out against the harsh reality of war. In the end, he makes his family his primary duty and it’s not a simple decision or easy for him to do. The Seals were his family just as much as his wife and children.

How do you choose between one half of your family and the other?

The nuances don’t come through as clearly in the movie as they do in the book. This is not the fault of the movie script so much as it is a matter of the time the movie had to tell the story.

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The bottom line is this, the progressive leftists want to see only the harshness. They want to view this man only as a wind up soldier forgetting that he was fighting for them too.

They don’t want to be reminded that he was a human being and that he had depth and character and a moral compass that pointed north.

Acknowledging those facts means that they would have to abandon their preconceived notions and might actually like the movie, the book or God forbid, BOTH.

Read the book, see the movie then make up your own mind.

See past the battles for buildings and ground. See instead this man’s journey, I think you’ll appreciate this guy as a hero, but more importantly you’ll appreciate him as a man.

You should also know, I cried at the end of the book and again at the end of the movie.

My best friend looked the other way while I wiped away tears at the end of the movie.

I guess that’s why we’re still friends after a lot more years than either of us admit to.

You can always tell when…

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I’ve been interrupted once too many times while trying to write a blog.

Usually I start out having a simple point, then I get interrupted four, five, ten times, and I meander all over hell and gone.

Its been happening a lot lately. The meandering, the interruptions, the loss of my thoughts.

Usually, I’ll trash the whole blog entry. 

There are two reasons for this;

1) I have no clue what the hell I was intending to say,

2) Whatever the hell I did in fact write sounds like a literal translation of Mein Kampf, an Obama speech, or Dianetics 

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All of which read like gibberish and should probably never see the light of day.

Which explains why you’ve been spared, and “You’re Welcome!”

I have a problem with censoring myself. Sometimes I go too far and sometimes I write past the end of the story or point.

Problem is, there’s a lot of stuff rattling around in my head lately and I’m having a problem keeping up with writing it down. 

I need a computer that understands me and that I can just talk at.

I talk to my current computer all the time. It, like my other half ignores me. 

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I suppose that’s why I write books and blogs. I think I have something to say and apparently my readers think so too, so the hell with my computer and other half!

I’ll keep writing. You guys keep reading and our relationship will be just peachy.

I’ll try to get back to writing a blog every day or every other day. 

After all, there’s a lot of weird stuff in my curdled brain.

Stop Apologizing!

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The President and his administration are once again apologizing and creating excuses to explain why Islamic folks do the crap they do.

Yeah I’m not narrowing my focus to only those who are cutting off heads.

We know (regardless of many media apologist reports) that there are NO-GO zones in various parts of Europe. You don’t need formal paperwork and signs to understand you’re in danger when you walk into a neighborhood. American black people have been talking about this phenomenon for decades.

Having taken a wrong turn in Harlem and spending years working in South Central LA, I can assure you that white neighborhoods aren’t the ONLY neighborhoods where you can feel threatened because of your mere presence.

Recently, there was a gentleman in Paris who spent 10 hours walking through no go zones that the French government deny exist.

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Read more about his day here. This is similar to other videos depicting the “War on Women”. I’m not saying this is definitive proof of NO-GO zones, but it’s as valid as 10 hours as a woman in Hjab in NY or 10 hours walking in NYC as a Woman.

So as far as followers of Islam… I paint them all with the same brush. My other half cringes and is not happy that I’m blind to the shades of gray between “Good Islam” and “Bad Islam”.

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I see the shades of gray as so fractional that the differences are irrelevant. Just the same as a percentage of .0003 or .0007 contamination of Plutonium with Uranium in the warhead of an atomic bomb doesn’t matter all that much to the city or people that were just vaporized.

A scientist somewhere might be concerned that the weapon’s yield was off by a couple of kilotons but in the long run it doesn’t matter, the city is still ash.

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Perhaps a better example would be that it doesn’t matter to the guy dying of Polonium exposure if he was injected with Polonium 209 or Polonium 210, he’s still a dead man.

That’s a better description, given the infiltration of so many cities in the West by Islamic populations that seek to impose their religion and sharia law in major metropolitan areas. According to our leaders apparently all the rest of us are supposed to accept it.

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I refuse. I refuse to apologize for wanting to maintain my cultural integrity. None of the European people should have to apologize either, although their government officials seem to feel compelled to bow and accept growing Islamic influence.

Remember when England, steadfast in its defiance, stood against German military technology, even though their cities were being bombed to rubble? It’s hard to believe that England is that same country today. Especially when reports are coming out about Islamic control in English schools, or systematic rape of English schoolgirls in heavily Islamic areas. Rapes I might add, that were reported to local authorities but then covered up because the authorities didn’t feel that they had the necessary backing from the government to prosecute the crimes.

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Even Germany has been contaminated to such an extent that a growing group of protesters against Islamization of their country are denounced as Xenophobes by the leaders of their government.

Merriam-Webster defines Xenophobe – “One unduly fearful of what is foreign and especially of people of foreign origin.”

These folks are protesting the loss of their cultural inheritance. It’s not xenophobic to point out that endless accommodation to Islam is eroding German culture.

Well, at least its not any more xenophobic or racist than pointing out shutting down parts of LA to celebrate cinco de mayo in America is seriously screwed up. Cinco de Mayo is Mexican Independence day. Ya don’t see government sponsored Fourth of July celebrations in Mexico City even though there are a ton of American citizens there. Another blog piece for another time…

Recently, I saw an article in one of the German news sites (which I can’t find now) that said some butchers were being forced to remove pork products completely from their shops if they wanted to have government contracts. NewImage Think about that one!   Germany is renown for its pork products but in order to appease Islam while maintaining lucrative government contracts the butchers can’t have pork in their shops at all.

This is the kind of thing the Pegida protesters are talking about, they’re not afraid of Islam, they just  don’t want to lose their heritage to Islam.

All the while, their leaders keep apologizing… Much like out leaders.

President Obama says, “we should address the grievances terrorists exploit”

I think we’ve tried that… for decades.

Come here for an education, here are billions in aid from the generous tax payers of America. What? Its not enough? Oh well here are trillions over the next 10 years. 

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None of these things improved the conditions in these countries. The problem isn’t that simple. Educating folks from poor nations simply makes those folks want to stay here (in the West).

Does the President really think a 25 year old male educated in engineering is going to want to go back to a repressive country where goats are running in the muddy streets to build bridges or microwave relays?

What incentive would this newly minted engineer have to return home when he could stay in a country with running water, paved streets, and sexually unrepressed women? Is that smart guy going to want to go home where infant and child mortality is 40% and start a family where there is no hospital for 100 miles, or is he going to take a job in New York making 150K a year, buy a couple of BMWs, marry a slightly damaged woman, have a family, then retire to Florida?

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Dumping money into these countries does nothing. A large percentage of the cash or goods have no accountability. We don’t know where it goes after we deliver it to the local government… Until… we notice that they’ve got a really big army thats well armed with brand new Chinese weapons.

Or the presidental palace suddenly triples in size and has solid gold toilets and servants to carry water in buckets to refill the tanks after each flush. We politely look the other way while the leader of those same “aided” countries pins another medal on themselves, and their people are starving and dying in the streets.

The so called “Grievances” our President wants us to address will only lead to more appeasement.

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“Don’t draw pictures of Muhammed”

Ok, we wont.

“Don’t insult Islam”

Ok, we wont.

“Give us the ability to make nuclear materials”

Ok, here are more centrifuges

“Don’t interfere in our marriage rituals. 9 year old girls can be married. Your interference even when we are guests in YOUR country,  is a violation of our freedom of religion.”

OK, Just please don’t do any honor killings.

“Honor killing is a part of our religious law, you can’t stop us from practicing our religion. In fact if we’re living in your country, your right to freedom of religion has to be enforced. You say you embrace all religions and therefore must protect ours.”

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Uh, OK, we guess you’re right.

“We want military aid to defeat the enemies of our fathers.”

Umm, Who exactly are they?

“You wouldn’t understand, just give us the weapons and training to use them.”

Umm, OK. Look, you’re not going to bomb Israel, are you?

“We promise… we’re only going to destroy the enemies of our fathers.”

Uh HEY! You did bomb Israel.

“We were aiming for the hated Infidel enemies occupying our ancestral lands… Was that Israel? Oh well.”

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Look you need to stop killing people.

“We’re only killing those we are directed to klll by the Prophet. You know, women under 12 who do not have sex with their husbands, men who do have sex with each other, Christians, Jews, intellectuals, the educated, Old women who don’t get pregnant, anyone that questions our authority, and people that just look different from us.”

Doesn’t that mean that eventually you’re going to have only you?

“Yes, are you questioning our authority?”

Uh nope, not at all.

My fellow Citizens of the West we need to help followers of Islam to become a happy and productive people and then terrorism will end and the world will be at peace…

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“Very good, my little puppet. Remind me to kill you before I rape your daughter. You shouldn’t have to see that.”

We’ve tried to address their grievances, and gotten exactly no improvement.

Historically, we know that NO amount of appeasement is ever enough. See the History of World War II for a quick primer.

Its well past time for us, in the West to go full on crusader on these vermin. Yes, I specifically chose those terms to be inflammatory.

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I honestly don’t give a rancid demonic fart about followers of Islam blowing themselves up, radicals or otherwise, Hell I’d give ‘em the fucking vests and park their asses in the Rose Bowl then charge admission…

“Alright, Ladies & Gentlemen… the number to dial is area code 555, the prefix is 666 and one of you lucky folks is going to dial the magic four digit code that will get this party started. Now, without further adieu, START YOUR DIALING!”

BOOOOOOMMMMMM!

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“Who dialed 4321?  There she is, ladies & Gentlemen, What’s your name dear? Mrs. Sweet? How old are you Ma’am? 95! Wow, Isn’t that nice folks? Congratulations Mrs Sweet, thank you for coming out tonight. You’re our lucky executioner for the evening. Everyone give this lovely lady a round of applause…”

I no longer care about Islamic beliefs, rationale, or this backward death cult.

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Practitioners of this religion have become poster children against religion in general.

They are an example of a retrograde culture and should be put to work in menial jobs shackled to their tools and forced to build a monument to their stupidity in stone.

Its well past time we in the West called Islam what it is, Insanity, Terrorism, Institutionalized Hatred & Xenophobia, or more politely. A religion whose time has come & gone like the worship of Ra, Quetzalcoatl, or Zeus.

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Let’s stop trying to whitewash it and stop fucking apologizing for noticing the ills of this particular belief structure.  If indeed Islam is a religion of Peace, then it’s followers need to do a whole lot better job of reigning in their extremists.

Perhaps its time for the West to hear an apology from Islamic folks.