Banky For President

Coming on the heels of the Benazir Bhutto assassination, there are a few making claims that the US should have done more to prevent the bombing, or at the very least, offer more guidance on how Bhutto should have been protected.

At first glance, its sounds pretty absurd, doesn’t it? The US is to blame because a foreign leader is killed on foriegn soil? A deeper look reveals a shadier underbelly that most Americans would rather not admit.

Americans don’t settle for the peace loving type of presidents. You remember the kid on the playground that stole your lunch money and threatened to pop you in the face if you told anyone? That’s how we like our presidents and we’ve been voting for these types since time began. The only exception, in my mind, being Jimmy Carter, and let’s face it, the republicans really had no shot in that election.

People fancy that John F. Kennedy would have removed us from Viet-nam. Only with perspective do we think getting out of Viet-nam was a good idea. Any attempt to de-escalate that war would have painted Kennedy or Johnson as soft on communism, setting the stage for exactly what we got in 1968, a Nixon presidency.

Liberals have been branded as big spenders and rightly so. But the conservatives are every bit as big of a spender as any liberal. They just spend money on different things. The cost of policing the world AND subsidizing businesses and citizens have created a national debt of 9 trillion and rising. We have a spending addiction because we think we can print money whenever we need it. And fighting a nameless, faceless enemy is pretty expensive. It also forces us to get embroiled in a foreign government’s state of affairs so much that the line is blurred as to where their sovereignty begins and our policing ends.

Contrary to our wishes, we’ve set up a Pax Americana, waged with weapons of war upon the world.

As long as our policy remains getting involved in conflicts we have no business being in (either morally or monetarily), we’ll continue to shoulder the blame for the problems of the world.

And no matter the candidate that gets elected next November, they’ll be forced into a policy that deep down we can’t live without. We won’t allow our president to be “soft on terrorism” and we’ll demand that whoever our enemy is at the time, they must be brought to justice. The Axis of Evil will still be there in November and if left un-checked our very way of life, our own survival, will be at risk. We can’t sit idly by.

After all, it’s the american way.

1. No one has made this association before? Brilliant.
2. “AP – Just call her Queen e-Lizabeth“
3. “God is not exclusive, he is on the side of the whole of humanity with all its variety.” (Sure. As long as your Christian.)

Meet the new Director of the Environmental Protection Agency in my upcoming administration. Not only is he smart but looks like he can blow stuff up like a pro.

via Derek

Are there mitigating circumstances where privacy is superceded?  By a sense of humor mayhaps?

Apparently a Doctor in Phoenix Az. is in hot water after taking a picture of a patient’s penis during a Gall Bladder surgery.  The penis in question has a tattoo on it and made said doctor chuckle so he took a photo with his cell phone.

Again said doctor made another lapse in judgement when he started sharing said photo of said penis to colleagues and others who presumably would find the situation as funny as he did.

Someone apparently didn’t find it as amusing and reached out to authorities.  The said doctor is now on administrative leave pending review.  My guess is that the doctor will probably be canned, and the “victim” will probably sue.

Doesn’t the fact that the tattoo says “Hot Rod” play a role in the decision process here friends?  Don’t you trade some kind of rights when your “member” becomes a piece of marketing advertising?  On some level don’t you WANT someone to see it?

As a disclaimer, I should probably tell you that I have a tattoo somewhere in that area too.  Most of the time it reads “TiNY” but in some cases it reads “Ticonderoga NY.”

How many of you think this is a big deal?

To save you the trip, the story is about a security manager’s challenge of ensuring that when an employee leaves the company his/her access is disabled at any point that might cause a security breach.

Here’s the best quote: “Unfortunately, we have neither the budgetary nor the human resources to” ensure an employees access gets disabled properly.

My sense is that people look at this as not so big a deal and those preaching the values of security within an organization are easily identified as this guy:

It’s only when something like this happens that we wish we wouldn’t have compromised security to gain speed to market or shave a few seconds off our call average.

Here are three things to think about if you are about to start building a secure application:

1. Follow the standard practices — Leverage existing standards like OASIS or Project Liberty if you’re thinking about muckin around with your customer’s identity.

2. Do your research — Just because all the cool kids are using OpenID doesn’t mean you should. Think about how easy your solution can be phished and what it means if some savage miscreant gets a hold of that username/password.

3. Think about End-to-End — It’s not just about getting users logged in, its about ensuring those who deserve access are provided access. And keeping those who no longer have the privilege, out. If you can figure a way to get them into your database, think of the process you will need to take to get them out.

The most embarassing thing that can happen to your company is when your customers’ identity/privacy is compromised. Much like any important relationship with someone you care about, once you lose their trust, the road to recovery is a long one.

In addition to kicking the asses of the elderly, I can also take on Kindergartners:

Remember “The children are merciless and will show no fear”

22

Also,

The Dark Knight Returns: It appears likely the latest trailer will premiere sometime Sunday.

As I get closer to the holidays, the insane-o-meter is erratically creeping into the red. I saw some old lady walk down the street in downtown Buffalo with an Elf hat on, in broad daylight, in the midst of a snow storm, carrying a DVD player back to her car, and she smiled, “Isn’t the weather just grand?”

Yeah . . . I punched her.

Don’t worry. I got mine when she hurled that DVP-NS57P at me and hit me squaw in the nuts. While I spent the customary 10 minutes writhing in pain waiting for it to subside, I was able to hail a cab and go on my merry day.

And much like the swelling on the sack decreased, so did my holiday angst. . . til I saw this. So did you know that the White House grounds are a protected National Park? After I win in November, that won’t stop me from dismantling the place and setting up a Taco stand where the Oval office stood. Or maybe create a parking lot with extra wide spaces. Don’t you hate having to cram into a space when you’ve got a mini-van? I’ll sell all the bricks on eBay and, I dunno, maybe buy the old elf lady a really nice DVD player. You know like a HES-V1000 where you can play like 300 DVDs at once.

“Sure, Barney. You and Miss Beazley could be Junior Park Rangers if you want to,” . . . Are you f*cking kidding me? Why doesn’t he make the overgrown rats President and Vice President while he’s at it? But let’s face it Barney would be a horrible president. I mean its obvious to anyone that the only reason Barney even got to be the first dog is because his daddy is president.

My name is Banky and I approved this message.

If this is true, Morgan Spurlock may have accomplished the impossible . . . make George Bush look like even more of a dumbass than he already is.

Did Spurlock find Bin Laden?

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The Fam at Thanksgiving

Originally uploaded by bankythehack3000

Spent time with my wonderful mother and family in Dallas Texas last week (The stars at night, are big and bright . . .). I’m glad I have such a great family. We don’t see each other a lot, but when we do, it’s not about how we’ve wronged each other in the past or a bunch of fake smiles to get through the hour or so we are around each other. We hang out, chit-chat, do what comes naturally. I can relax around my family and when you’re in a fairly big Irish Catholic one, at that, being able to relax makes me enjoy them all the more. It’s great to see the 80+ year old matriarch interact with the 12 year old grandson (who incidentally has learned to neg women. That’s my boy!)

I just wish it wasn’t around the holidays. I really hate this time of year. Why? Well holidays suck for one. Not like Britney Spears sucks where your constantly suprised at the level of suckage one can bring upon themselves, but more like David Hasselhoff, a degree of suckage you’ve come to know and expect. Because with all these new memories we are building, I just can’t let go of the ones that came before with the people missing from the picture. Like the year my dad yelled at Santa Claus to get the reindeer off the goddammned roof. Or how my brother looked like Santa Claus, quite literally, up until the day he died.

And the presents? The people who love the holidays because of the presents either have kids, are kids, or are in need of, or have had, a lobotomy. So the message to the rest of us is . . . “sorry you can’t let go of the past, here is a DVD or an iPod. Hope it works out for ya.”

Don’t get me wrong. I have a great life, a great job working in an industry that I love. I got a woman who loves me and I love her. And my dog thinks I’m the greatest. And that’s really the best gift of all, knowing all that and being able to appreciate it.

I just can’t help but notice, though, there should be 11 men on the field instead of 10.