ramblings of a {sys,net}admin…

Just over a week ago, I wrote a letter to the editor of the Bedford Times-Mail about an article they ran called “Former officers sentenced for fraud”. Surprisingly enough, I checked the newspaper’s site yesterday and they actually published my letter to the editor.

Now I just have to remember to stay away from Mitchell for a while as I’m sure everyone from the Mitchell Police Department will be looking out for me.

A few minutes ago, my home phone rings and the caller ID says it’s a cellular phone in the 317 area code. I go ahead and answer, since I’m actually kinda expecting a call from there. It goes something like this (first, note that Sodrel is a Republican and I’m a hardcore Democrat):

Him: “Hi, this is $name calling from the Indiana Republican Party. We’re taking a brief survey and I’m wondering if you’d be interested in participating?” Me: “Sure.” <evil grin> Him: “Okay, first off, do you plan on supporting Congressman Mike Sodrel?” Me: “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… okay, sorry… HAHAHAHAHA, okay. Okay. Um, no sir, absolutely not.” Him: “Okay, well, thank you. Have a good night.” Me: “Wait! Wait, sir!” Him: “Yes?” Me: “That’s it?” Him: “Well, sir, I did it would be brief. Besides, we’re looking for volunteers and I’m guessing you’re probably not–” Me: “Oh, yeah. Heh, well, good luck with that in this county. Good night.” Him: “Thanks. Good night.”

In the last election, Congressman Sodrel was incredible “dirty”, which automatically turns me off from any candidate. I think that’s completely wrong, and voting against candidates who do that is my way of dealing with it. (Besides, Sodrel’s opponent’s daughter works for the same organization as I do and I support Baron Hill 100%). Congressman Sodrel lost two counties in our state (out of 92) in the last election. This county was one of them (hence, the “good luck with that” comment).

The Bedford Times-Mail ran an article today entitled “Former officers sentenced for fraud”, which describes the effective “slap on the wrist” given to two former officers of the Mitchell (Indiana) Police Department for committing fraud.

Feel free to read the full article for all the details, but in a nutshell: John Flynn, a dispatcher for MPD, hit a deer in his truck. Assistant Police Chief Michael Brewer falsified a crash report for Flynn, lying about the date of the incident, giving Flynn time to obtain full coverage insurance from Progressive Casualty Insurance Company.

This pisses me off majorly for two reasons: first, as a former resident of Mitchell, I’m all too aware of how all the law enforcement and public officials “look out for” one another; secondly, my vehicle insurance is through Progressive. It’s shit like this that makes MY insurance rates go up. Anyways, the fact that the officers got off with a suspended sentence (that means NO jail time whatsoever) is a huge disservice to all of us citizens. I felt so strongly about it that I composed a letter to the editor, shown here:

After reading “Former officers sentenced for fraud” (Times-Mail, 03/02/06), I was awestruck at the sentences imposed on the defendants in this case. This seems like just another case of law enforcement looking out for their own.

The defendants in this case — both employees of the Mitchell Police Department when the incident occurred — received 180-day suspended sentences and one year of probation each. Brewer and Flynn received the equivalent of a 10-minute “timeout” that parents often give their children. I’ve seen harsher sentences handed down for MUCH lesser offenses.

Those involved in prosecuting this case have committed a huge injustice to all of us as citizens. This case had the opportunity to be a huge lesson to those that we trust “to serve and protect” and present a major deterrent in case others have the same idea of abusing their power in the future. It could have caused them to think twice before violating the ethical code and high moral standards that we uphold them to.

Unfortunately, the officers involved are not the only ones who have done us wrong. The prosecutors of this case should be held accountable for not prosecuting this case as fully as they could have. Indiana Code 35-44-1-2 declares “Official misconduct” to be a Class D Felony, punishable by up to three years in prison. I’ve reread the article many times, but nowhere did I see any mention of a conviction for “official misconduct”.

Perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps an investigation by the Indiana State Police and an admission of guilt from one of the involved parties was not sufficient evidence for a conviction for “official misconduct”. Then again, perhaps it’s just another clear cut example of the “good ol’ boy network” that dominates our local governments.

Kudos to Mitchell Police Department Chief Mike Hardman, who contacted the Indiana State Police to initiate an investigation in this matter. Perhaps there is at least one person in local government that us citizens can depend on.

As a paying customer of Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, you can bet your socks that I’ll be contacting them as well to encourage them to pursue this matter to the fullest. It’s fraud like this that causes all of our insurance costs to rise.

Brewer	Flynn

There was an interesting post by Eugene Smith on the full-disclosure list today entitled How to Determine My System Vulnerabilities.

The post itself isn’t as interesting as the domain portion of Eugene’s e-mail address, mpls.frb.org. That’s the Federal Reserve Bank, folks.

Here’s Eugene’s original post:

I have three servers running Linux Red Hat OS. I would lke to find a source for information regarding “How Too” when it comes to determining what level of kernel, SSH, PHP, ect my servers are running. I do know how to check some of these things but am looking for someone who is very knowledgeble and is willing to answer questions about this OS.

Gene Smith Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis IT/ Telecom 612 204 6355

Now, you tell me. Should we be worried?

I have no idea if this was intentional or not, but there are Social Security Numbers (SSNs) on documents on the U.S. Department of Justice’s web site. Follow the link and type “SSN” into the search box, then sift through the results.

Here’s one document on the DOJ web site with an SSN (jump to page 33). I didn’t go through all of the search results, but did find that one fairly quickly. I’m sure these records are considered “public information”, however, in my opinion, the DOJ is setting a very bad example by including the SSNs in these documents.

Democrats demand Sodrel return funds

Ninth District congressman accused of accepting contributions from former House Majority Leader DeLay

Ninth District Congressman Mike Sodrel has been busy the past few days: he voted to reduce protections in the federal Endangered Species Act, and in favor of a resolution asking the Supreme Court to support the Pledge of Allegiance in schools.

And he refused to consider returning campaign money connected to just-indicted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Friday, the head of Indiana’s Democratic Party demanded that Indiana Republican Sodrel “return every penny” connected to DeLay’s influence and his political action committees.

“Southern Indiana residents have always expected their congressmen to abide by the strictest of ethical standards,” Daniel J. Parker said in a news release.

“Mike Sodrel should make clear to Hoosiers that Tom DeLay doesn’t represent our values. He should return DeLay’s tainted money immediately.”

Parker said DeLay has given more than $100,000 to the most recent Sodrel campaign. He said the cash came from two sources — direct contributions from his Americans for a Republican Majority PAC (ARMPAC) or from entrenched Republican House members who through a DeLay-led effort diverted their own campaign funds to fellow Republicans in close races.

Sodrel spokesman Cam Savage, reached on the road in Pennsylvania, said people should acknowledge that DeLay has been accused but not convicted. He said his boss would have no reason to return legally made campaign contributions.

“There is a presumption of innocence in this country, and we believe in that,” Savage said. “Obviously, this is a political ploy by the state Democratic Party.”

The allegations against DeLay say he misused campaign funds to get other Republicans elected.

Federal campaign finance reports show that Sodrel has received a total of $20,000 in 2004 and this year from DeLay’s ARMPAC.

Sodrel also has been designated to receive funds from DeLay’s Retain Our Majority Program (ROMP). Since 1999, the Texas Republican has channeled millions of dollars from the coffers of lawmakers safe in their seats to those perceived to be vulnerable to Democratic opposition.

During a ROMP event March 17, DeLay raised $1.5 million to funnel to 10 colleagues at risk of losing their seats, according to a story in The Hill, a newspaper that reports on the events of Congress.

Sodrel was one of the 10.

More than 90 lawmakers participated in that night’s fundraiser, The Hill reported. Each was allowed to attend after agreeing to transfer $1,000 — the maximum allowed by law — to the ROMP initiative.

A look at 2004 contributions to Sodrel’s campaign shows 26 such $1,000 donations to Sodrel from other House members, from Florida to California.

“If Sodrel is saying DeLay never raised money for him, I would be interested to hear that,” said Mike Edmondson, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party.

Savage said the ROMP money was not connected to DeLay, bristling at the suggestion the contributions were tinged with wrongdoing.

“ROMP may be his (DeLay’s) brainchild, but the money does not come from him and it’s a big stretch to make,” he said. “Besides, both parties have the same program. The Democrats call theirs ‘Frontline.’ Generally, House members in the same party support each other. It’s the way politics works.”

Christopher Collins of the Indiana Daily Student wrote an excellent article entitled The Moral Hypocrisy:

Do you ever get that feeling that you don’t belong? Thursday, President Bush’s inauguration promised me four more years of feeling out of place.

As a Democrat living in one of the two blue counties in Indiana, I was able to fool myself into believing that Kerry had a chance at winning. The November election showed how wrong I was. I thought the Bush administration was on its way out, but in reality, our country will continue to be dominated by the tyranny of the majority. Ideologically driven hypocrites, who hide behind their Bibles and religious rhetoric, will still be allowed to dismantle democracy and pen anti-democratic policies like the Patriot Act.

[…read more…]

If your brain is larger than a peanut, you may remember that the “real” reason for the U.S. invasion and takeover of Iraq was because of all those weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein was hiding out over there.

If you’re the attentive type, you may even recall Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation of satellite photos of supposed Iraqi chemical weapons depots to the United Nations Security Council.

Yeah, you remember all that? I thought you might. Well, now the British Broadcasting Corporation is reporting that the United States has stopped the search for WMD in Iraq. We didn’t find any WMD, but we did spend over $150 billion looking for ‘em.

Maybe that’s why Bush felt the need to cut $300 million in education funding last month.

“[W]hen a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental–men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost… [A]ll the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre–the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” –H.L. Mencken, Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920

Citizens of the world, we, the people of the United States of America, now have our moron.

President Bush wished the students of the nation a very Merry Christmas as he pulled $300 million from education funding this week.

The Washington Post (registration required, see BugMeNot) ran an article yesterday entitled Change Means Fewer Students Will Be Eligible for Pell Grants which details how the Bush Administration is pulling back $300 million in funding from the federal Pell Grant program. This program makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of low-income students to earn an education every year. Without it, a large portion of those students would never have the chance to go to College and earn a real education.

The change will take Pell Grants away from an estimated 80,000 to 90,000 students. Bush Administration officials said, however, that it will save the government at least $300 million in the 2005-2006 academic year.

Way to go, President Bush! Deal with the declining economy by pulling $300 million from education. As a student and staff member at a State College, I know, work, and deal with many of the students who will be affected by just such a change.

This is why I’m involved in the College Democrats. This is why I voted for John Kerry.