Monday, February 28, 2005
Computer Pioneer Dead at 61
>
JEF RASKIN, CREATOR OF THE MACINTOSH COMPUTER, DIES AT 61
Pacifica, CA February 27, 2005--Jef Raskin, a mathematician, orchestral soloist and composer, professor, bicycle racer, model airplane designer, and pioneer in the field of human-computer interactions, died peacefully at home in California on February 26th, 2005 surrounded by his family and loved ones. He had recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Jef created the Macintosh computer as employee number 31 at Apple in the early 1980s, revolutionizing computer interface design. Jef invented "click and drag" and many other methods now taken for granted by computer users.... [Full Press Release]
Sunday, February 27, 2005
How to Remove SearchMiracle/EliteBar
How to Remove (Delete, Uninstall, Get Rid of) SearchMiracle/EliteBar.
Darren_st maintains an informative site on SearchMiracle/EliteBar (also known as ETBRUN) which links to a freeware EliteBar Removal Tool developed by an Italian named Giancarlo Calo. The site provides:
1) background on SearchMiracle ("It was created by a company called Entranet Media who own a web site called www.searchmiracle.com.... the Trojan Downloader will [...] download files from a web site @ install.searchmiracle.com.");
2) a history page giving versions and the dates they were released (a placard informed me that I had the most recent version: "Version 59 (approx 1st January 2005) EliteToolBar");
3) a description of the method of infection it utilizes; and,
4) walks the reader through a process to remove it.
His description of the adware/virus generally squares with what I experienced but I have no way of knowing whether or not it is updated to the latest version of the Startpage trojan. My experience seems to have been slightly different and this may mean that the version I encountered was an upgrade.
Some who have downloaded the EliteBar Removal Tool have posted positive reviews. As always, each reader will have to use his best judgment. I make no representations whatsoever concerning the site or the software.
Also see:
[re: SearchMiracle.EliteBar Search Miracle Elite Bar EliteToolBar Elite Toolbar Elite Tool Bar Elitum ETBrun YupSearch Yup Search.]
Saturday, February 26, 2005
A genius explains...
Daniel Tammet is an autistic savant. He can perform mind-boggling mathematical calculations at breakneck speeds. But unlike other savants, who can perform similar feats, Tammet can describe how he does it. He speaks seven languages and is even devising his own language. Now scientists are asking whether his exceptional abilities are the key to unlock the secrets of autism. Interview by Richard Johnson... [go to the full article]
Source: The Guardian.
MSNBC joins the fray.
Friday, February 25, 2005
Selmer Bringsjord's and David A. Ferrucci's Brutus 1.
For some people, writing a novel is a satisfying exercise in self-expression. For me, it's a hideous blend of psychoanalysis and cannibalism that is barely potent enough to overcome a series of towering avoidance mechanisms - including my own computer. Writers and computers nowadays are locked in such an enduringly dysfunctional embrace that it can be hard to tell us apart. We both rely heavily on memory, for instance. We are both calculating, complex and crash-prone. And like Hebrew National hot dogs, we both seem to answer to a higher power: writers, according to Plato, were divinely inspired; computers have Bill Gates.
"Dave Striver loved the university - its ivy-covered clocktowers, its ancient and sturdy brick, and its sun-splashed verdant greens and eager youth...."
Source: New York Times.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
More "Elite Bar Adventures" Links and Info.
Popdex crawls over 14,000 sites daily to determine the most popular links on the Internet.
1. TypeNow.net Themed Fonts Movie and Music Fonts
http://www.typenow.net/themed.htm
2. Matthew Yglesias: Closet Tolerants
http://yglesias.typepad.com/matthew/2005/02/closet_tolerant.html
3. via blogs
http://gilbertwesleypurdy.blogspot.com/2005/02/elite-bar-adventures.html
4. Blizzard Entertainment - World of Warcraft
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/
The following additional blog postings contain links to "E.B.A.": Blog Herald; La Coctelera (in Spanish); and News Burst. I haven't brought over links used for advertising or from subscription blogs. Of course, pretty much everybody has managed to list the piece without the blog name.
Remember that there are further comments and clarifications to the article in the most recent Mailbag piece.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Thanks to Blogwise.
Thanks to Deskfeeds.
Category: Entertainment">Home > Entertainmentcom,1999:blog-10644518 2005-02-14T17:19:49Z Blogger This is an Atom formatted XML site feed. It is intended to be viewed in a N ...
Deskfeeds has been added to the sidebar links of the Gilbert Wesley Purdy Online Bibliography in the "RSS Directories" section and will be added shortly to the O.D. sidebar.
Who's keeping score?
By far the largest volume of hits came from the blog Metafilter. The first to link was the MT Law blog, which I had quoted in the piece. I could not find the permalink (or the posting) from Fishbucket but if the owner sends it along I will back-fit the link into this post. It was probably the second largest source of hits. Either MT Law or a Hungarian blog, IT-Biztonzag, was third. The following blogs also posted links: And I Am Not Lying, for Real; Legal Line; Look at this...; New Links; Privacy Digest. Thanks to Stat Counter for most of this information.
As for the correspondence, I dealt with that in the most recent Mailbag piece.
Just when I will ever get to arts and lit (etc.), who can say? Starting this blog has devoured so much time that I may be weeks in catching up on my various obligations, writing and otherwise.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
More from the Mailbag re Startpage.sj and SearchMiracle/EliteBar
First I would like to point out that I have not said, nor should anyone understand, that the Blogspot "Next Blog" button has a virus. The point is only that the random blog approach loads-up blogs, into one's browser, that one might otherwise choose not to visit for reasons of system safety. Presumably, we all try to steer clear of sites that are, for one reason or another, questionable. Regardless (for example) what one might think of sex sites, etc., they tend to purvey much more adware and many more viruses.
Next, many thanks to Timothy Klein for doing a bit of research of his own that I was not able to do. According to Timothy:
from looking at the source for the web-page in question, and downloading the Javascripts it downloads with wget and reading them, this is both specific to Windows AND Internet Explorer.
Unfortunately, Internet Explorer is my only real choice for the time being , regardless of the fact that I understand it as being the target of virtually every virus or bit of adware presently being designed.
Timothy's comments about the blog "owners" in question are also worth considering:
the author of the blog in question may not even realize their page
is doing this. IOW, they may not be malicious. It appears that the "cover"
action is a bit of Javascript to play music. The author of the blog MAY have
just cut-and-pasted that bit of code, hoping to snaz up their blog with sound.
Or not.
I had no wish to imply that the blog owner was intentionally malicious. In fact, I would be pleased to learn that they were totally unaware and just a little chastened.
I'll quote Rob Thomas's comment in full:
It's really sad you struggled with all those other, wierd,
programs, when the two best ones, hijackthis and spybot are free, small, and
easily downloaded. Also, 'defragging' and 'registry cleanups' do absolutely
nothing to remove adware or virus infestations. Don't waste your time next time 8)
I do not defrag in order to get rid of a virus. Whenever I suspect a virus, or other form of malicious code, is generating new files, perhaps with vital data strings, I alternate anti-virus/virus-removal attempts with defrags -- hoping the latter will maximize computer speed and either 1) alter a data transmission or 2) cause the virus to have to search a bit for where its data has gone. How likely this is, I can not say with certainty, but it seems to help. As for registry clean-up, I'm sorry but I have to disagree there.
More importantly, about Hijackthis and Spybot: In researching the connection between SearchMiracle/EliteBar and StartPage.sj I have come by enough information to say that they were working in tandem much earlier than February 10, 2005, when Panda Software first detected StartPage. A brief check shows desperate forum members crying out for help, to defend against StartPage symptoms at least as early as September of last year. The following forum-post gives some very helpful information, including, it would seem, the fact that neither SpyBot nor Hijackthis worked, at that time, against StartPage: http://www.techsupportnewsletter.com/showthread.php?t=29990
My piece was intended, actually, to be a piece alerting everyone to the fact that StartPage.sj (/sk) was the source of the problems people were having getting rid of their SearchMiracle/EliteBar. I have since learned that it showed up in all scans, of all commercial anti-virus software, prior to February 10th, as quasi-harmless "adware.elitebar". It is designed to overcome resident anti-virus software, as its first task, such that scans indicate it is adware. Instead it is a very sophisticated, voracious and destructive virus. After protecting itself and its Search/Miracle component from detection or removal, it apparently harvests site information and transmits it back to a remote data base.
If Timothy Klein discovered only adware, he is absolutely correct. The initial injection is just that. The adware then pings the data bank and alters the IE browser such that the next software download or information placard that arrives at the subject computer has all of its button-urls replaced with the destination-url of the StartPage trojan. Click! It's all over!
The following free online virus scan and information links have recently been added to the Gilbert Wesley Purdy Online Bibliography: Bit Defender; Free Country; Freedom; House Call; Panda; and Symantec. As I pointed out in the previous post, the Panda Software online scan can also remove StartPage.sj.
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** Have you checked out the Online Bibliography yet? **
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Friday, February 18, 2005
Elite Bar Adventures
Spyware on Blogspot?
If you look to the upper right hand corner of this webpage, you will see an icon to go to the "next blog." Clicking on this icon will take you to a randomly selected Blogger blog. Yesterday I was surfing the web on my home computer and hit the "next blog" icon a few times to see what's out there. One of the hits was nana***.blogspot.com (the actual name has numbers in place of the astisks). Pop-ups immediately appeared on my computer immediately after I visited the nana blog, even though I have a pop-up blocker installed. I started getting messages about system resources, etc. I immediately closed all of my browsers, but it was too late. When I re-opened my browser it went to a different home page. My computer was hijacked! Sure enough, Ad-aware (from lavasoft) indicated that my computer had been infected with the Search Miracle/Elite Bar virus.I sent Blogger an e-mail to investigate. I will post their response. In the meantime, I will not be clicking on the "next blog" icon in the near future.
The blog I was directed to, at the time my computer was attacked, was called "Cut Me Deep". But far more happened than the simple download of the SearchMiracle/EliteBar adware. Realizing that the destruction of my Yahoo Pop-Up blocker, and a flood of pop-up ads, at the rate of some dozens per minute, the considerable majority advertising Microsoft Anti-spyware/adware, indicated a possibly serious attack, I brought out the full bag of tricks and went to work. Norton is my first line of information/defense but it, too, was disabled after a few preliminary scans.
I needed information from an uncorrupted source and logged back online and went to the Symantec Free Virus Scan page and spent an hour and more getting the Active-X scan files to download. Another hour was required in order to complete the search. Symantec informed me that I had about ten files infected with EliteBarB adware and nearly 1500 files infected with some generic form of the adware called simply: "adware.elitebar". But one detail of the scan report was shocking: the majority of the infected files were Norton/Symantec program and data files. There were perhaps 10 other infected files, most of them infected with the "B" version of EliteBar adware. Something was clearly out of place.
After a day of chasing down the the parasite files and digging out the Windows registry entries inserted by EliteBarB, my computer worked considerably better with the exception that pop-up ads continued at a much faster rate than normal. This lasted for another couple of hours, as I managed to do a Windows program integrity scan (no errors) and tried to disrupt any lingering remnants of the adware by doing repeated defrags and registry optimizations. Soon the Norton package was again inoperable: clearly attacked by the EliteBar adware! I was furious. This "adware" was a sophisticated and voracious virus. Surely, a criminal act. Why wasn't anyone going after these guys?
The next day again, I decided that the Norton/Symantec data file corruption was something I had to get around somehow. I decided to try another Free Virus Scan site and to see how the results compared. As luck would have it, I choose Panda Software's Scan (a company nominally headquartered out of Bilboa, Spain). Panda's Active X files downloaded reasonably quickly. The scan was reasonably quick as well. But the results were very different. Like Norton/Symantec, Panda informed me that I had some files infected with EliteBarB, but only 5 rather than 10. Panda also told me that I had some 1500 infected files all tolled... But the files, it informed me, were not infected with some generic form of EliteBar adware. It identified them as a "startpage.sj" trojan!!!!!! This trojan, it informed me, had been detected for the first time two days before it attacked my computer. No further information, of any substance, was available.
While Norton/Symantec only gives free scans, Panda also gives free decontamination of all detected worms and viruses (but not of any spyware or adware -- you must buy their software for that). I decided to take the decon. Sure enough, once the trojan was removed the pop-ups were reduced to a normal level and my computer ran normally again. Only the EliteBarB remained and I had manually removed its brain.
But now I notice that shortly after pages are loaded up in my browser they begin to display dozens of links to a search engine with the address www.searchmiracle.com/. Numerous web searches inform me that this is the sign of SearchMiracle/EliteBar adware. Not only that, but they inform me that startpage.sj (there is also an ".sk" version) appears nowhere on Yahoo and in only a few listings on Google almost all of which are sites of Panda or its subsidiaries. Because Panda clearly operates under a number of subsidiary names in various parts of the world, it is possible that only Panda lists an advisory for startpage.sj and only it has the software to remove it. As for the search engine www.searchmiracle.com/ , it provides no information about its owner and none is available via any major search engine.
- PokaPoka.exe + Nothing = YupSearch (October 19, 2005). What do people mean when they say they have "YupSearch" instead of "EliteBar"?
- Elite Toolbar Remover Information Page (October 17, 2005).
- LQfix Information Page (October 15, 2005) There's a new tool in town!
- How to Remove PokaPoka. (October 12, 2005) Does your EliteBar variant include PokaPoka.exe?
- EliteBar Removal Tool Updates to 2.0.1. (September 21, 2005) The EliteBar Removal Tool now comes in two flavors and two generations!
- SearchMiracle.EliteBar Then and Now (September 21, 2005). Hijacks, heroes, updates and links.
- EliteBar Removal Tool Updates to 2.0.0!!!!! (September 15, 2005). Includes expanded list of infections removed by the removal tool.
- More on Variant ADW_ELITEBAR.D. (May 27, 2005). "It is a standard XP with two top-end commercial anti-virus programs. Moreover, one of the anti-virus programs -- Trend Micro's PC-Cillin -- we already know..."
- Diabolical new EliteBar variant Strikes the Web!!!!or the one the EliteBar Removal Tool can't remove (May 22, 2005).
- EliteBar Removal Tool Updates to 1.3.0!!!!! (May 20, 2005). Includes expanded list of infections removed by the removal tool.
- Adware & Malware Indentifier Index (updated regularly). "The following is an in-progress index of some of the more common malware toolbars/browser helper objects at large on the Internet."
- EliteBar Removal Tool Alert: Update V.1.2.2.!!! (April 18, 2005). "The new variants of the malware also completely conceal the presence of the EliteToolbarRemoverV10.exe, so that if you are opening the archive you can only see the readme.doc file that is attached to that and you cannot see the *.exe even if though it is really there!"
- HijackThis vs. SearchMiracle/EliteBar (April 11, 2005).
- How to Remove SearchMiracle/ EliteBar (February 27, 2005)
[re: SearchMiracle.EliteBar Search Miracle Elite Bar EliteToolBar Elite Toolbar Elite Tool Bar Elitum ETBrun YupSearch Yup Search.]
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Poets of the Palm Beaches Competition
2005 Annual Poetry Contest
ELIGIBILITY: This contest is open to Palm Beach County Residents only. You must maintain at least a part time residence in Palm Beach County to be eligible for this contest.
DEADLINE: Categories (1 - 4) Postmark, 03/19/05. Student Poetry (5) Postmark 04/09/05..
CATEGORIES: (1) Free Verse (No more than one page in normal font. 40 line limit)(2) Standard Form (Sonnet, Villanelle, Pantoum, etc. 39 line limit)... [More]
Monday, February 14, 2005
The following new links have recently been posted at the Online Bibliography: Art Journals: Art Newspaper, The; Arts/Lit Blogs: Edward Renehan, The Page, Wood S Lot; Classical Lit/Languages: Classics Pages, Perseus Project, Poesis Latina Hodierna; Cyber Law: Cyberlaw Blog / Stanford U., Law Meme Blog / Yale U.; Publishing Law: Author's Lawyer, Contract Watch, Scriviner's Error. There are hundreds over there, all tolled.
Housekeeping Note
How Filled with Joy, Happy and Well-Informed...
How filled with joy, happy and well-informed
with flowers, upon her golden tresses, that garland,
as if it sent itself to her above all others, and
as if its only desire were to kiss that forehead!
All of the day that cloak is contented
that cups her breast with the threat to set it free,
and those golden strands ask only
to touch her cheeks and neck without an end.
But happier yet the lace like joy itself withal,
gilding a secret place, made still gentler,
that fondles and strokes the breast, which he charms.
And that purest binding, that which covers us all,
seems to say to me: "I want to cling here forever!
"And what still finer embraces await these arms!"
Gilbert Wesley Purdy has published poetry, prose and translation in many journals, paper and electronic, including: Jacket Magazine, Poetry International (San Diego State University), The Georgia Review (University of Georgia), Grand Street, SLANT (University of Central Arkansas), Consciousness Literature and the Arts (University of Wales, Aberystwyth), Orbis (UK), Eclectica, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. Links to his work online and to a selected bibliography of his work in paper venues appear at his Hyperlinked Online Bibliography.
Return to the Poetry Index >>>
To Himself
Now you will rest forever,
My tired heart. The fabulous deceit
That I myself believed eternal has ended.
Ended. How sharply I feel,
In we of the dear deceit,
There is no hope, desire being spent.
Rest forever. So many
Palpitations. Your flutterings
Serve no one, nor do you dignify the earth
With your sighs. Life is bitter and empty,
Nothing more. The world is a slough.
Calm yourself now. Despair
For the last time. Fate gave your kind
No gift but death. At last
Nature disdains you, the brute
Power that, lurking, imposes the common day,
And the infinite vanity of all things.
Gilbert Wesley Purdy has published poetry, prose and translation in many journals, paper and electronic, including: Jacket Magazine, Poetry International (San Diego State University), The Georgia Review (University of Georgia), Grand Street, SLANT (University of Central Arkansas), Consciousness Literature and the Arts (University of Wales, Aberystwyth), Orbis (UK), Eclectica, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. Links to his work online and to a selected bibliography of his work in paper venues appear at his Hyperlinked Online Bibliography.
Also at Virtual Grub Street by/about Giacomo Leopardi:
- The Giacomo Leopardi Page (with links to holographic manuscript images, essays, poetry, translations, photos and more);
- The Infinite by Giacomo Leopardi;
- To the Moon by Giacomo Leopardi.
Friday, February 11, 2005
The Infinite
This solitary hill has always been dear to me,
And this hedgerow, which closes in the view
So well that one need hardly look upon the west.
But sitting and reflecting, from out of the endless
Expanse of night sky, and the supernatural
Silences and so profound stillnesses,
It comes to me here how I beguile myself;
For a moment, then, the heart no longer fears.
And, like the wind I hear whisper among these leaves,
I hear within that infinite silence a voice:
It overwhelms me with the eternal,
And the seasons passed away, and that present
And living, and with its own sound. Thus within
This immensity my thoughts are drowned...
And it is sweet to be shipwrecked in this sea.
Gilbert Wesley Purdy has published poetry, prose and translation in many journals, paper and electronic, including: Jacket Magazine, Poetry International (San Diego State University), The Georgia Review (University of Georgia), Grand Street, SLANT (University of Central Arkansas), Consciousness Literature and the Arts (University of Wales, Aberystwyth), Orbis (UK), Eclectica, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. Links to his work online and to a selected bibliography of his work in paper venues appear at his Hyperlinked Online Bibliography.
Also at Virtual Grub Street by/about Giacomo Leopardi:
- The Giacomo Leopardi Page (with links to holographic manuscript images, essays, poetry, translations, photos and more);
- To Himself by Giacomo Leopardi;
- To the Moon by Giacomo Leopardi.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Call for Submissions - 02/10/05
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The "Cat Calls for Submissions Page" is an new adjunct page to Gilbert Wesley Purdy's Hyperlinked Online Bibliography. Selected calls will first be posted on The Catalyzer Journal's Full RSS feed and the Obiter Dicta Atom feed after which time they will be listed on the "Cat Call for Submisions" page accessible by link from the Online Bibliography. There are presently seven active calls listed on the "Cat Calls for Submission" page.
If you wish to have your own call for submissions posted, contact Gilbert Wesley Purdy at gwpurdy@yahoo.com. A confirming link may be required in order to post the notice.
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Publisher: Private individuals.
Publication: Travelers' Tales (anthology)
Genre(s): Nonfiction prose.
Source of Call: Written Road Blog via Vagabonding.
Deadline: May 1, 2005.
Publication Date: Spring 2006.
Comments: "We're searching for funny, quirky, meaningful, adventurous and personal nonfiction tales based in Prague or its environs in the Czech Republic for an anthology of travel stories. We seek good writing about uncommon experiences that captures a sense of place and reveals something about ourselves. Writing beyond the anecdotal is encouraged."
Full notice available at: http://www.writtenroad.com/archives/001771.shtml (Prague and Czech Republic).
Full listing of Travelers' Tales calls: http://www.travelerstales.com/guidelines/
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Pablo Neruda Centennial
As consul to Rangoon, his tasks were not onerous. His voyage to the city actually amounted to a tour of Europe and the Far East. He made his first visits to Paris and Madrid, communed with the ghost of Rimbaud at Djibouti, was robbed in Shanghai, and arrived in Rangoon after what would have been a lifetime of experiences for most people. For him it was only the beginning of a life of adventure and poetry that would make him an almost legendary figure.
Such minor diplomatic posts were apparently provided, from time to time, by the governing elite of the country, to educate promising young Chileans in the ways of the world. Burma, India, Ceylon, India again, Java and Singapore: Neruda's posting changed almost yearly. In the process he met Mahatma Gandhi and the Nehrus. His sense of the injustice of colonialism had already begun to form, and his attendance at the great Panhindu Congress, of 1929, encouraged it even more.
The work of a consul was nowhere particularly burdensome nor was the salary ever sufficient, and the young consul was left with long stretches of days to fill as best he could. He spent the time learning the local landscapes, seeking beautiful lovers, and, most of all, reading. After leaving the university and his homeland, he began desultorily reading the great works of the western tradition. He also continued his already extensive reading in Rilke and the great French writers from Baudelaire to Proust.
His own poetry was proceeding apace. His Twenty Love Poems and a Desperate Song (1924), first published some years before he left for the Far East, had already brought him a degree of fame in his homeland. It remains among his more popular books, and four selections from it appear in The Essential Neruda.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Federal Budget
According to CBSNews:
President Bush wants to make his tax cuts permanent. And now he's talking about simplifying the tax code. "I will lead a bipartisan effort to reform and simplify the federal tax code," the president said at last month's Republican convention. Former IRS commissioner Fred Goldberg says something has to be done. "Tax reform is an imperative at this point," Goldberg says. "I think the current system is broken beyond repair." But it's not gonna be easy. "Fundamental tax reform will bring the lobbyists out of the woodwork like cockroaches," [Scott A.] Hodge says. That's because the current tax code includes incentives for social policies that we've gotten used to -- like eductions for home mortgage interest, charitable donations, even the purchase of fuel-efficient cars. The simpler the tax code, the less likely all these special exemptions will be in it. "Fundamental tax reform will bring some of these politically motivated social policies to an end," says Hodge.
Privatization of Social Security is also on the list, as is expansion of sub-minimum-wage Workfare. As for overtime rules, the issue has been tabled until after the election. He fully intends to allow elderly to purchase Canadian drugs, if they prove to be safe, after the election. A great deal, it turns out, that one might think he wished to remove as an election issue he assures us is only waiting until after the election.
The Scott A. Hodge referred to, in the CBS piece, is the President of the Tax Foundation and rose through the ranks of the Heritage Foundation to his position. The Heritage Foundation was the immediate progenitor of supply-side economics, just prior to the Reagan Administration, and is particularly well known for manufacturing supply-side "experts" via its minor league system. The Tax Foundation was itself formed in 1937 in order to oppose the Depression-era tax policies of then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It receives its grant monies from many of the same sources as the Heritage Foundation and makes the absolutely bizarre claim that it is "non-partisan". In other words, The Tax Foundation began as a Hoover-ite, laissez-faire propaganda unit and has since been wedded to the resoundingly supply-side Heritage Foundation in a marriage of first cousins.
After a mid-2001 luncheon with Pamela Olson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy, the Tax Institute informed its members that:For the long term, economists at the Council of Economic Advisers are studying a number of proposals to fundamentally overhaul the tax code, including the flat tax and the national retail sales tax. Any Administration action on these proposals will have to wait for a second Bush term.
For the supply-side economist the Hoover-ite program lives on. These 80 years have only been a brief interlude. In his or her mouth, the phrase "bring some of these politically motivated social policies to an end" -- or any of its standard variations -- means one and only one thing: bringing graduated taxation to an end.
The "politically motivated social programs" referred to also consist of such items as the minimum-wage, college tuition assistance, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Federal Communications Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade
Commission, the Department of Energy and the like, all or large portions of which are slated for demolition in the aftermath of "tax reform". Without graduated taxation, and the insidious government interference it underwrites, corporate America will once again be unleashed in all of its glory. Market forces will make the decisions once made in these bastions of socialism.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
Busy! Busy! Busy!
For today, I will pass along some further GWP links:
Most recent article: "Where the Strange Worlds of Fundamentalism and Homelessness Meet." The Catalyzer Journal.
Most Recent Review: "The Citizen Strikes Back." The Catalyzer Journal.
Present Number 1 Google Listing: "A T'Ang Canon". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore.
For a slew of new links to interesting and/or practical sites, check out the Bibliography's spiffy new sidebar. I will be mulling over Obiter Dicta's "linking philosophy" as I grapple with its technical aspects.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Two from the Mail Bag
It also means that I receive feedback of one sort or another on a regular basis. I’ve decided to pass along some of the more interesting and/or informative items in a “Mailbag” feature. The first item looks bland enough:
From: "MOUN"
To: gwpurdy@yahoo.com
Subject: Congratulations for your nice article
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 13:50:17 -0500
Gibert, Congratulations for your wonderful article. As a matter of fact it is in the english forum. Georges Saati
Email: http://us.f503.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=simi@mrsimi.com - Website: http://www.mrsimi.com/We suggest http://www.moun.com/ for the latest news in 4 different languages!!!Email: http://us.f503.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=moun@moun.com
Bland enough, that is, if it weren’t for the fact that the article referred to is “The Theater of Coup: Who is Guy Philippe.” which appeared in The Catalyzer Journal during March of last year. George Saati appears prominently in the article as “the co-founder of the extreme right-wing Haitian party Movement for National Unity, known by its acronym MOUN,” and a member of “The Opposition” which eventually overthrew Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide with scads of U.S. consulting help. Whether or not the letter is actually from Mr. Saati, who can say?
I’m removing all identifying marks, as it were, from the second letter in order to save the correspondent embarrassment. Many of you out there have undoubtedly received letters in your e-mail boxes asking you to help free-up money trapped in a foreign bank. Generally the sender claims to live in an impoverished African country. The family patriarch has died in a political purge, or some such thing, leaving the family account in limbo. The amount is in the millions (US$$) and the money is allegedly trapped due to a legal technicality. The recipient is requested to help to circumvent the technicality by acting as an agent for the sender. The recipient will be entrusted with large sums of money for transfer to a US bank where it will then be safe and will be generously remunerated for his or her kindness. The following letter gives a somewhat vague (but nonetheless recognizable) description of the transaction and a very specific description of the results:
From: XXXXX@XXXXXX.com
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 07:59:54 EST
Subject: XXXXX news
To: XXXXXX@XXXXX.com, XXXXXX@XXXXX.com, gwpurdy@yahoo.com
Here's another important piece of news which everyone in the US should know about.Nov. 28 brought Xxxxx Xxxx an e-mail, which as result, brought the FBI saying for the first time that this scam's check for $55,290.10, which cleared the sender's and our bank, should've been kept by the church. Xxxxxx Xxxxx had sent $6,000 of those monies to cover the supposed costs of the exchange, which was to bring $7.3 million to this poor ministry, along with an authenticate certificate and power of attorney from Europe. After sending the money, he checked upon the company who was supposed to have sent the check. The check was forged. Our secret service and FBI said they had never heard of a scam which the perpatrators sent money in advance, and that Xxxxxx Xxxxx should've kept the money. This loss is not covered by FDIC, and now we are responsible for the repayment of the $6,000. Thanks again for your support, but this is an issue of the attack we find ourselves, which the rest of the nation should be aware. G-d bless.
Rev. Xxxxx Xxxxxxx, Associate Pastor
I receive at least a half-dozen such “requests” each week. Be advised: they are all scams and they must be pretty successful scams if someone is spending all that time and money putting out e-mail and snail-mail letters in vast quantities.