don’t panic

This article on CNN this morning really brought home an issue that has bugged me for a very long time. And that’s the security of personal information by large corporations. We are required by our banks and credit companies to give up huge amounts of information about our lives. We tell them everything from when we were born to how much we make per year. Our bank even theoretically knows what we purchase. Credit card companies keep a permanent record of our so-called ratings as well as our personal information.

But we blindly trust them. We have to. It’s not like you could live a normal life in the US without a bank account. And you probably have a credit rating whether you want one or not.

So the idea that Bank of America could just LOSE the personal information for 1.2 million accounts, let alone government accounts, is absolutely criminal in my eyes.

But the part of this that really sets off my steam is that BofA waited two months to let anyone know! They claim that the federal law enforcement authorities prevented them from revealing the “theft” for that time, but if that’s the case, then there is something seriously wrong here as well. Had the problem been revealed immediately, people might have actually done something. They might have prevented billions in identity theft by simply having their cards replaced. But instead they then go and blame the baggage handlers at the airport.

Right. How convenient. Some random bag guy just happened to figure out what was in the package that he was randomly assigned to carry, and then he just happened to know how to access the information on the “tapes” (are they REALLY still using magnetic tape??) and then just happened to be able to walk off with it without anyone noticing. Yup. Oh, and what the hell was the personal banking info for government employees, including the Pentagon, and 40 other federal agencies, doing unsecured on a flight in the first place?! Don’t they use even the most basic encryption? Why not send the data via an encrypted link? Even 1.2 million records wouldn’t take more than a minute or two, and either the encrypted links (that the banks tout as a must for any online transactions) are secure, or they’re not. If they’re good enough for us, then they should be good enough for the big boy’s, right? Careful how you answer that.

So BofA, quit blaming someone else for your lapse in security. YOU and YOU alone are responsible for the information that we are required to put in your care, and the very fact that this happened at all is indication that YOU failed somewhere. Who did it is almost irrelevant. It’s more important that you NOT LET IT HAPPEN EVER AGAIN.

Oh, and you should immediately fire your CSO, as he is obviously incompetent.

Grrr… And yes, BofA “just happens” to be my bank… For now. I wonder how many times they have “lost” my personal information? After all, I’m just an average citizen and not a pentagon official.

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You would think that living in a desert, you probably wouldn’t need flood insurance. You would be wrong. Very wrong. In fact, many desert areas are more likely to cause you damage due to rain than much wetter areas of the country. It’s simply a matter of where the water can go.

Lately, San Diego has been getting an unusually large amount of rain. In fact, it’s been one of the wettest year’s on record. But heavy rain isn’t really anything new. And flooding has happened many times before. As a kid, I clearly remember a Mission Valley theater getting flooded right up to the middle seats. The valley IS a riverbed after all.

But developers don’t care about minor details like that. It’s prime real estate!! Let somebody else worry about flooding.

And every year, after they would open yet another over-priced condominium complex, right on the edge of the San Diego river.

Well, it seems that people are finally starting to get flooded.

The amazing thing here, is that despite decades of flooding, people still don’t have enough brains to get flood insurance on their $800k homes along a known flood track. They would rather blame someone else, or expect the tax payers to cover the costs of their own stupidity.

In the words of Homer Simpson, “DOH!”

CNN had this snippet today about a Virginia bill that will allow law enforcement to fine people $50 for low riding pants.

And although I come across as an old fogey, I say it’s damn well about time. Now if only we could get the Governator to do something similar for California.

And of course, there are those in opposition to such a bill. You would expect that the teens would have a problem, for sure. But then I read the reasons why Del. Lionell Spruill Sr., a Democrat, opposes the bill. He seems to think this is just a fashion folly. Maybe HIS kids are just expression themselves, but around my neighborhood, they are literally exposing themselves. I’ve said this before, but how in the world is taking a perfectly decent pair of pants, and wearing them in such a way that they are functionally blunted a fashion statement? Ever see a guy wearing lowriders try to run? And of course there’s the whole underwear thing… But that assumes that the kid is wearing any. What might have been a “fashion statement” to begin with, has become nothing more than a means by kids to push the limits of authority. This is nothing new, but at least in the past we kept out clothes on.

But even more infuriating than the obvious possibilities for increased wardrobe malfunction, is the rest of what this State Delegate said. I quote CNN’s paraphrasing:

“…the measure was an unconstitutional attack on young blacks that would force parents to take off work to accompany their children to court just for making a fashion statement.”

Say what?!

I see two really big problems with this. The first is throwing out the race card on something that has absolutely nothing to do with race in the first place. And yes, Spruill is black. Way to go man. You just set back racial equality in Virginia by at least a decade, maybe two.

Secondly, is this guy really complaining that parents would have to take responsibility for their children’s actions? You mean, parents might actually have to talk to their kids about right and wrong? And be accountable?!

Dear God… What is this world coming to?

CNN published this article today about the recent decision by PBS to air an episode of ‘Postcards From Buster’, which Jordan watches with fervent regularity, that depicts the children of two lesbian couples in Vermont.

The thing that really chaps my hide here is the o’ so typical response by the Christian community. I’m just tired of people who spend so much time complaining about how we are “brainwashing” our children into being “tolerant” of the gay and lesbian community. Oh please. But do we put up a real fight to reduce the number of murders and other violent or sexual acts portrayed on television? Not that I’ve seen. I can hear it now, “but those aren’t kid’s shows”… yeah? and the point is? Why don’t you turn it around.

Why should it be wrong for my child to view certain subjects, but okay for me? Sure, they might not understand what they are seeing and have nightmares or other long-term effects, but just because I might understand what I’m seeing doesn’t mean that it’s any better stuffed in my memory. We make the mistake of trying to shelter our children from everything in the world that we feel is “wrong”, instead of educating them enough so that when they do finally see something they are probably better off without, they will it least be prepared mentally and emotionally.

We don’t trust our children enough to make decisions about content on their own.

And when you really think about that, we are being complete idiots, because they are going to be exposed to that stuff, and it’s almost a certainty that it won’t be in our presence since we wouldn’t have allowed it in the first place.

I would hope that as my daughter is exposed to certain subjects, she will already have her questions answered. I would hope that she also knows how I feel about those subjects morally and ethically. I want her to be able to make her own decisions about how she feels about those subjects, because she’s going to anyway, and nothing I could do to shelter her is going to change that.

I don’t buy Reverend Terry Fox’s idea that, “Tolerance gives the public schools an avenue to literally brainwash our kids that every lifestyle is OK.” I’m sorry, but is he living in the same United States as I am? So much for the freedom our country has worked so hard to get to, which states that so long as a person stays within the confines of the law, any lifestyle they want is “OK”. That exact reasoning is why we sailed here in the first place. What constitutes an “immoral” lifestyle to the reverend, happens to be perfectly acceptable to others. But let’s turn it around again. What constitutes a morally acceptable lifestyle to the reverend is an abomination to most Jews… and also to about three-quarters of the rest of the world. Hmmm… Who’s brainwashed?