Black Tuesday Comes Once a Month at Microsoft

microsoft-logo.jpgThe most valid thing you can do to prevent virus infection is to keep your patches up to date — 99.95% of virus’s use existing, known vulnerabilities that already have fixes.

Once a month on Tuesdays Microsoft releases their latest set of bulletins, and it’s your duty if you surf the net with Gates Gear to get yourself patched. Today’s the day, it’s Black Tuesday. If you don’t patch you can become part of someone’s botnet, the botmasters use your precious bandwidth to spam behind your back.

You don’t want to become the Russian Cyber Mafia’s biatch right? So go get patched.

The critical patches are listed below the fold: Continue reading “Black Tuesday Comes Once a Month at Microsoft”

Rathergate Redux

In the interview Dan rambled so much that there’s a rich field of contradictory potsherds to mine for prevarication — the archeologists in the blogosphere are going to be digging this for years.

It appears that Dan Rather just can’t help but get in these “he-said” “she-said” things. I watched his interview on Larry King, and as Death by 1000 papercuts points out, Howard Kurtz’s new book, “Reality Show“, is contrary to some notions put forth by Dan in the interview.

In the interview Dan rambled over  a lot of ground, creating a rich field of contradictory potsherds to mine for prevarication — the archeologists are going to be digging this for years.

AQ and Allies Murder 1,129 Muslims in September

Another grim milestone is reached along Al Qaeda’s march to grasp power within the Islamic world; Al Qaeda and their allied terror groups killed 1,129 Muslims in the month of September. The victims were murdered through an assortment of suicide bombings, targeted assassinations, mosque bombings, and marketplace bombings. Most of these deaths took place in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Algeria.

zawahiri-dajjal.jpgAnother grim milestone is reached along Al Qaeda’s march to grasp power within the Islamic world; Al Qaeda and their allied terror groups killed 1,129 Muslims in the month of September. The victims were murdered through an assortment of suicide bombings, targeted assassinations, mosque bombings, and marketplace bombings. Most of these deaths took place in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Algeria.

There were 1,380 other Muslims maimed and injured in the same incidents. These figures are gathered from terror reports during the month of September, and exclude deaths of Buddhists, Christians, Jews, and other denominations. Those deaths were far fewer in proportion to the number of Muslims murdered and maimed.

It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that this is going on, Al Zawahiri really leads now, and he got his start by murdering fellow muslims. The Muslim brotherhood, the Qutbists, and the hard-liner Deobandis who follow Al Qaeda are really the Neo-Takfirists; like the Azraqi’s of old they consider themselves above the laws of sharia they supposedly support. 

Pakistan Update: No Shutterdowns

In Pakistan it’s not a demonstration unless there are thousands, and the effective demonstrations typically bring whole cities to a complete halt. These are known as “shutter-downs” when all businesses put down their metal shutters to prevent damage during demonstrations which sometimes resemble near-riots.

The country is quiet in the wake of the presidential election while they await the Supreme Court ruling on the challenges. In Islamabad the All Parties Democracy Movement (APDM) demonstration was muted, and MQM Musharraf supporters were more numerous than demonstrators.

In Pakistan it’s not a real demonstration unless there are thousands present, and the effective demonstrations typically bring whole cities to a complete halt. These are known as “shutter-downs” when all businesses put down their metal shutters to prevent damage during demonstrations which sometimes resemble near-riots. During a shutter-down strategic intersections and roads are completely blocked by masses of people, and the city comes to a screeching halt.

The population of Islamabad is thin during the holidays since the city has an artificially inflated population as the hub of government — at least a third of the population leaves for a week or more to spend time with their full families in other cities during Eid.

In the Wazir region the cat and mouse continues with the Al Qaeda and Taliban, several more terrorists were killed after an ambush on a military convoy. 22 have been killed and the army spokesman says the assault on the terrorists hold outs continues with artillery and gunships.

Also in North Wazirisatan AQ forces captured 28 more soldiers; while in Swat/Malakand a tribal jirga rebuffed calls from TNSM’s Fazlullah for strict sharia law enforcement.

Musharraf Wins

As predicted, Musharraf won the majority of votes in the National Assembly in his bid for another five-year term as President of Pakistan. The results are held however, and he cannot be declared winner until the Supreme Court of Pakistan clears the challenges to his running for president.

Pundits have that taking 10-11 days, so in a couple of weeks we will know if the victory will stand or not. From Bloomberg:

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf took the majority of votes in a presidential election today, allowing the U.S.-backed military ruler to extend his eight-year rule amid protests by opposition parties.

Musharraf, 64, who took power in a military coup in 1999, got 252 out of 257 votes cast by lawmakers in the national assembly and senate, Qazi Muhammed Farooq, chief election commissioner, said in parliament in the capital Islamabad today. Votes were still being counted in the four provincial assemblies, state-owned Pakistan Television reported.

The Supreme Court barred the Election Commission yesterday from declaring a winner until a verdict is reached on a case challenging Musharraf’s eligibility. Presidential candidates Wajihuddin Ahmed, a retired Supreme Court justice, and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, vice chairman of Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, claim the law bars Musharraf’s candidacy while he heads the army.

“The results show the people want continuity, stability and economic growth,” Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told Pakistan Television in a televised interview after the announcement. “The election system was very transparent, and we are sure when the provincial votes are counted, the president would have a majority from there too.”

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Rudy at the National Federation of Republican Women

In the video below you will see key segments of Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s speech at the National Federation of Republican Women.

In the video below you will see key segments of Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s speech at the National Federation of Republican Women. The key segments cover:

  • The import of Republican women in politics and business
  • business growth versus stagnation,
  • why Canadians don’t want America to switch to nationalized health care and why you should have a choice of plans,
  • Why Victory is so important in Iraq — he also brings up important arguments about why we are still right to pursue that victory, the key reason he points to isn’t one you hear talked about much anymore, but it is clearly important looking forward to what we face besides terrorists today.

Pakistan Update: Elections Can Proceed, But…

The fabled deal between Musharraf and Bhutto appears to have been sealed with the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO,) and the Supreme Court ruled that the elections can proceed in the Assembly to elect Musharraf to another five-year term as President of Pakistan. However in a surprise part of the ruling the high court also stated that the election results could not be declared until after the Supreme Court decides on the challenges against him running for president.

In the background Chaudry Shujaat Hussein, leader of PML-Q which is Musharraf’s party is trying to stir up momentum against the NRO, since it must pass the assembly. He will be the odd-man out if it does pass as he can’t hope to field a candidate who could win in a contest against Benazir Bhutto for Prime Minister. The question remaining is do the Chaudry cousins have enough backing to upset the applecart?

Continue reading “Pakistan Update: Elections Can Proceed, But…”

AQ Update: Wealth of Intel Data from Al Tunisi’s House

In the wake of killing Al Qaeda’s senior leader in Iraq a treasure trove of intel date has been uncovered in his safe house. They have a roster of Al Qaeda fighters in Iraq, including their Biographies and photos.

This will lead to further finds as intelligence agencies and governments track those leads back to sources and originations in other countries. From USA Today:

tunisidocs_2.jpgThese images show documents that the U.S. military says it obtained after killing a senior member of al-Qaeda in Iraq. The one of the left is said to show a list of foreigners who entered the country to carry out “martyrdom” operations, while the one on the right is described as a biographical entry for one such foreign recruit.

The images were released earlier today by the Pentagon during a briefing on the death of Abu Usama al-Tunisi, an al-Qaeda in Iraq leader who they described as the emir of foreign fighters.

We’ve already seen a major AQ financier and recruiter captured, and as each lead is followed up more and more will be discovered. Iraqi forces also broke up a major meeting of AQ forces in northern Iraq, capturing an Iraqi Member of Parliament (un-named,) at the meeting.

The physical nature of groups that operate in cells is fragile and it takes a great deal of time to heal communications if a cell is fractured and if they truly follow the ideal dictates of inter-cell communications structure; which Al Qaeda does not always do.

It’s easier to ignore tight standards for inter-cell oversight for logistics purposes — and the hard fighting from Anbar Awakening and the US forces has created the need for AQ to break it’s inter-cell communications structure just to stay in the fight. One leader having a full roster is proof of that.

Continue reading “AQ Update: Wealth of Intel Data from Al Tunisi’s House”

Pakistan Update

Like a well-orhestrated dance movement fresh challenges were filed with the Supreme Court against Musharraf running for President in a pre-general election vote by the assembly. These might be better crafted than the last and actually get heard, but if not then time is running out to stop the final steps of the complex dance.

Like a well-orhestrated dance movement fresh challenges were filed with the Supreme Court against Musharraf running for President in a pre-general election vote by the assembly. These might be better crafted than the last and actually get heard, but if not then time is running out to stop the final steps of the complex dance.

In the Northwest Frontier Province the regional assembly was stopped from dissolution by a no-confidence notice filed by 31 legislators, mostly PML-Q, and just enough PPP members to make the margin needed for the the no-confidence. This prevents MMA and other parties in the All-Parties Democracy Movement from depriving Musarraf of a critical bloc of votes in the election.

Continue reading “Pakistan Update”

Second Suspect Arrested for Attempted Embassy Bombing

I hope they are not going to bill this as “just another crazy person”, but it appears that authorities might judging from the statement that “no link had been established between the two men and any Islamic Movement.” I certainly hope the Buddhists from Bosnia aren’t mad at us now.

Yesterday police caught a man trying to enter the US Embassy in Vienna, Austria. The man fled after a metal detector went off, but was quickly apprehended with a backpack full of explosives and nails.

Today police have arrested another man in connection to that case. From AP:

A second suspect has been arrested in connection with an attempted bomb attack against the US embassy in Vienna, Austrian police said Tuesday. Police said the man was arrested near Vienna on the basis of information given by the main suspect, a 42-year-old Bosnian, who was detained Monday after he tried to enter the US embassy with a rucksack containing nails and explosives. Doris Edelbacher, a spokeswoman for the Vienna security and counter-terrorism bureau told the Austria Press Agency that not too much should be read into the second arrest because the Bosnian appeared to want to implicate other people. The Bosnian suspect also appeared to be confused and no link had been established between the two men and any Islamic movement, Edelbacher said.

The main suspect tried to enter the embassy but explosives detectors at the entrance signalled an alarm and the man was detained in a nearby street as he fled.

Experts found two devices that looked like hand grenades in the bag, along with nails.

I hope they are not going to bill this as “just another crazy person”, but it appears that authorities might judging from the statement that “no link had been established between the two men and any Islamic Movement.”  I certainly hope the Buddhists from Bosnia aren’t mad at us now.