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Name: ML Smith
Location: Rosemount, MN
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Economics
Cyberspace - The Final Frustration

Deadly Threat Within...Ignored

Posted by ML Smith on Monday, June 29, 2009 3:29:34 PM

    "Daddy, who owns Google?"
    They said they would bring us to our knees; that the real threat would come from within. 
Are we ready?

    Ask yourself this; where is America most vulnerable? Chances are good that you'll say "the Infrastructure." Now, since your brain is very much like a computer, what might you see in its dropdown menu for Infrastructure. You'll see education, transportation, renovation, health care...but there is another that stands out from the crowd - an entity without which there would be nothing in that dropdown - the Internet. Why? America, unlike other countries, has every conceivable bit of data online. As I write this, hackers are penetrating weak links in the fence, (the firewall that supposedly protects our most sensitive data) An internet blackout would paralyze the nation.

    Who controls the Internet? The FTC? The FBI? Homeland Security? Well here is a dropdown list that has gone untouched, with little monitoring and supervision from the federal agencies I listed.

    1. Mail fraud
    2. Identity theft
    3. Hacker access to classified data, including defense systems, weapons technology, military deployment and transmission of inter agency communications, to name a few. 

    Who is in charge here? No one? We can't have that so by default, the most powerful force on the net practically owns it and they call the shots. There was a time when the Internet was an information and knowledge sharing entity. That has changed. The boss wants something else...money. Result? The Internet and the vital information it protects is in the hands of an organization with a rap sheet longer than Al Capone's. Allow me to list for you some of the highlights.

    1. Class action lawsuit brought by Author's Guild for breach of booksearch agreements. $ at stake: billions
    2. Class action lawsuit in Texas - theft of trademarks for profit
    3. Class action lawsuit filed 5/15/09 by FPX for trademark infringement 
    4. Multiple copyright infringement class actions
    5. Already nailed for $90 million settlement with private sector vendor
    6. Class action lawsuit - defrauding advertisers with inflated reader "hits."
    7. Another class action suit for trademarked keyword fraud

    So who is the perp? Google. That's right...Google. If you have ever had your e-mail address stolen and you do your homework, you'll find that your address is being used to deliver bulk spam, act on vendettas, intimidate and censor. Nearly 70% of my mail is fraudulent. Who delivers it? Google. Bad news, but it could be worse. Who really owns Google?      
 
 
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A Fly on the Wall - Justice vs. Law

Posted by ML Smith on Tuesday, June 02, 2009 1:47:58 PM

    Hijacked - part 2 
    ML Smith

    [Flashback]   It happens. This one (the hijacker) literally walked right in, stole my address, changed my password, click-jacked his/her way to my IP and now follows me wherever I go. Given the content of the subject headers, I think I can safely assume there is a vendetta here. The FBI tells me there usually is and that the hijacker will eventually find someone else to hate and forget about me. I am not so sure of that. In any event it looks like Me_Me_Mail will be around for awhile. Google, the Internet giant of all giants, seems oddly unable to identify the culprit. That bothers me. But they also allow GMail to continue to deliver fraudulent messages - that enrages me. The big "G" probably doesn't have the time for such shenanigans; they do have plenty of time to censor my mail, which they did a few days ago when I foolishly thought I could e-mail an article critical of Google to the Washington Post. The Googleites stopped it cold, with no explanation. Evidently freedom of the press and free speech in general are not recognized by Google as the underpinnings of democracy. 

    Wow, what wouldn’t I give to be a fly on the wall at one of their board meetings.

    “Well, JR, we have the list you wanted.
    “Good. How many?”
   
    {Dammit, one of these guys just took a swipe at me. I think I'll stay on the ceiling} 
     
    “21,563. Should we terminate all of them?
    "No, not yet. There's too much revenue involved, and we'll need the numbers when we get down to final negotions. Once we have AOL, Live and Yahoo in the bag we own the Internet. Do you hear me? We own the Internet!!! We'll talk about the troublemakers once the deal is done." 
    “JR, there’s an issue with one of them...he-”
    “I know. The Smith guy. What now?”
    “Sir, he’s been sending articles to most of the major print media - making an issue of censorship and fee speech.”
    “JR, he’s right, and there’s more. He’s implicating us in fraud by association since we still mail that hijacker’s stuff. It makes us look bad in the public eye. You know, the Constitution and all that garbage about democracy.”
    “Is that so...well, what do you propose we do?”
    “Sir, if I may say so, he’s already been to the FBI.”
    “The FBI? To hell with the FBI! In fact - to hell with all of them - the USDOJ, the FCC, the FTC...and you know what? To hell with the Constitution! I’m not running this business for some wrinkled piece of parchment that nobody cares about anyway. Get rid of this Smith character. Zissman!”
    “Yessir.”
    “Make him disappear.”
    “Consider it done sir.”
    “Sir, what about the hijacker?”
    “You mean hijackers. They’re mailing bulk. Good revenue. Leave them be.”
 
#

    So I have a vivid imagination...so what? If even a fraction of that fictionalized scenario is true, we’re all in big trouble. Whatever happened to justice?
 

THE ULTIMATE CONTRADICTION...Justice vs. Law

     The United States Department of Justice is the umbrella agency for law enforcement in America. Paradoxically, the agency is bound by rigid articles fThe The United States Department of Justic is the umbrella agency for law enforcement in America. Paradoxically, the agency is bound by rigid articles of law that conflict with the misnomer “Justice.” The agency cannot change the laws it enforces and “justice” is neither its province nor is it obtained; except, perhaps, by sheer accident. The same is true at every level of law enforcement. Judges and District Attorneys must follow the law to the letter, as must all front line enforcement agencies; police, the FBI, ATF, DEA and...well I’m not so sure about Homeland. The Supreme Court renders opinions and decides appeals. Their conclusions often become legal precedents, but again, like the men and women involved in this work, (notwithstanding the normal and perfectly acceptable amount of corruption) they are expected to adhere to the highest standards of the law. As I see it, however, they are trapped in a philosophical dilemma that is addressed in almost every version of the Bible; the most comprehensive legal compendium in existence.

    Paradox defines the dilemma. Our Constitution, which mandates separation of Church and State, inadvertently legitimizes the biblical concept of justice by virtue of the mandate itself. Justice is desirable, but the actions required to carry it out are prohibited by both documents. While we have taken great care to separate the law of the land from the law of the Bible, most of us recognize that they are strikingly similar both in content and the degree to which they are ignored by humanity.

    Can you imagine the confusion, frustration and anguish that victims and law enforcement workers must deal with on an everyday basis - as a rapist goes free on a technicality; or a cold blooded murderer is sentenced to 7 years in prison for killing a child.

    Plea bargaining is a criminal perversion of justice and on close examination contradicts everything we believe in as a society presumably committed to protecting the innocent and prosecuting the guilty to the full extent of the law. How do we rationalize the fact that a murderer can admit his crime in exchange for a lesser charge? Who is served by this? The courts that are overloaded; the DA’s who embellish their conviction rates or the criminals that walk with GPS locators on their ankles? Perhaps Samuel L. Jackson said it best in Pulp Fiction. “May justice be visited upon thee with the full vengeance and wrath of the Lord!” Maybe that is how things work in the criminal underworld, but certainly not for Martha Stewart...O.J. Simpson finally got nailed - only because of his stupidity and arrogance.
 
    When a cop plants evidence on a known drug distributor, justice is being served while the law is being broken. Did he do the right thing? The law says that every man is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Yet we know that some men are guilty regardless of what a jury may decide. We also know that some are innocent despite the fact that they have been found guilty. Mistakes are made in the administration of law and in the misguided pursuit of justice. Again, paradox rules the hierarchy of mistakes in both action and concept. If I kill a man who has murdered my wife, I too am a murderer and if the state chooses, both of us can be killed. The rules say that I may not take the law into my own hands in the pursuit of justice. I am permitted to kill in self defense or by act of war but in neither case am I considered “in pursuit of justice” - another paradox. By definition, war is waged for a “just” cause. Like capital punishment, it is viewed as justifiable homicide.

    Law is a reflection of society’s need to prevent chaos, yet law itself is chaos because it represents mankind’s attempt to bring order to a random environment. As humans, we hesitate to accept this fact but the body of contemporary mathematical evidence effectively nullifies everything we believe to be true about the world we inhabit. There is no mathematical equation that validates the existence of justice. There is no written document of law that recognizes justice as anything more than a symbol of man’s desire to discriminate right from wrong. In the topsy turvy catalogue of law, doing the right thing is often wrong, while doing the wrong thing is often right. Many people don’t care one way or the other. I do.

    I want to do the right thing; the thing my heart and soul scream out for - I want justice! The same law that guarantees my right to pursue it says I cannot have it, unless it is sanctioned as an exception. There are exceptions. On our side of things, they are known as operatives. On the other side, they are terrorists. I want no part in any of this, but I have questions. Can I purchase an AK-47 from a gun runner and use it to kill the man who tortured and raped my nephew? No. Can I use the same weapon to kill Osama Bin Laden? Yes. Will I be prosecuted? A ticker tape parade would be more likely. Can I plant evidence in the home of the drug dealer who sells heroin to my child? No. Will the state incarcerate me for doing that? You better believe it. Internal Affairs has little interest in justice. Who does?

#
 
     Announcement

    Just a few reminders.
 
   Report Writer A+...resumes, reports, essays, manuscripts...24 hour turnaround...$35-$50...no money up front...if you're satisfied we'll bill you. Copies no charge. Drop your name and contact address in our comment box or send us a note at:

   ML Smith, PO Box 735, Rhinebeck, N.Y. 12572. We will get your job done FAST and it will meet the highest professional standards.
 
   Print Media: articles...short features...political commentarty...human interest...satire and outrageous humor. All on demand to your specifications...8 hour turnaround max...3 hours on most.
 
   Emerging Writers: Use our comment box to let us know you're interested. That's what Chuck Ames did and he's on the move. You could be too.
 
 
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"Who Said There's No Such Thing as a Good Cop?"

Posted by ML Smith on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 7:32:57 AM
  


NctsBxS40

If my partner had wheels he'd be a pushcart.

May 27, 2009
Nuts and Bolts

A few items on the agenda today before we go to our first "real" entry, which will detail some of the disasters I must cope with in a profession that exists outside the "norm" for lack of a better term, since most people never give a thought to this never ending police action on drugs. I know...they called it a war and if that's what it was we lost...badly. For every kilo confiscated 100 more made it to the streets. The cartels follow the standard business model; they write off projected losses as part of their operating budgets. We never made a significant dent. 
 
So what do all of these nonsensical letters and numbers mean? Here's the dope (Oops) scoop: 
Ncts = Narcotics...my division. We abbreviate everything. If you saw one our memos...well, it's moot - I can't put that here unless I go through it and black out the names to protect the guilty. That seems to be what we're all about lately anyway.
Bx = Bronx, the garden spot of New York City. In reality, (he still holds the record for 5 1/2 furlongs at Belmont) the Bronx can be pretty nice if you know where to go. Most do, unfortunately, and we see them often. In the upcoming segment, I'll tell you some interesting stories about a few select visitors.
S = South, our territory. I already told you a bit about that and more is on the way.
40 = 40th Precinct. That's more than this blog can handle, but we'll give it our best shot.
NctsBxS40...the name of the game.

On a more businesslike note, this blog was created for three reasons, as follows:
 
[1] To provide content (mostly Op-Ed) type articles and some short features as well to print media. As the economy continues to hack away at newsprint, editors are losing full-time writers and finding it more cost effective to look outside for print to fill space...in this case not the "final frontier," but an editor's worst nightmare. As a result, BxS40, (we even abbreviate the abbreviations) we offer content of any type and style on demand, which means we provide the work desired in 6 hours or less. Fees for standard articles ranging in length from 600 - 1200 words goes for $35 and longer pieces and short story/features from 1200 - 3000 words sells for $65. Why so cheap? In case you haven't noticed, Americans are sucking on the tailpipe of a multi-trillion dollar debt that is illiquid and toxic. Besides, I like to write - it's simply too much fun to worry about making money. 
[2] This blog will operate as an outsourcing network for emerging writers with honest to goodness talent. If you write and you've never been published, here's your chance. As long as your work meets or exceeds industry standards, we'll get you published...even if that first piece pops up on these pages.
[3] On a more personal note, I have a lot to say and Townhall is as good a place as any to say it. From law enforcement to technology and most everything in between, my head is pounding with ideas. No, not Ralph Kramden ideas, (if you've seen re-runs of the Honeymooners you'll get it) but ideas with substance and integrity - both are endangered species.
 
So don't wander too far. I'm putting the horse before the cart because it's the only way to pull the load, and believe me, the load is heavy. Here at BxS40 we'll make you laugh and we'll make you cry, and on that note note I will say "goodbye."
     
See you for round two coming to pages near you in a day or two. Thanks for visiting.
 
PS. Advertisers: Feel free to make donations. You are marketing your products on the best site this side of the Mason Dixon Line...whatever that is.
 

Another Day at the Office

My day at the office is just like yours, with a few minor differences, perhaps. Like you, I awake with the feeling that I'm the sole survivor of the century's worst train wreck. It's either that or I've just celebrated my 97th birthday. I try as best as I can to put things in their proper perspective - after all, I am only 33; still young by most standards. The feeling will subside...it has to; God help me if I live to see the world as it will be in the year 2053. By then, technological advances in the field of geriatrics will eliminate the need for a walker. I guess they will call it a crawler but again like you I know with some certainty that Social Security will be tapped out by then, so crawling will have to occur without equipment of any kind. So be it...like you my chances of living that long are slim to none and that's fine with me. Are we still on the same page? We are? Good. Shaving is the next significant activity and again, like you, I question the sense of this as it should never be attempted before that first cup of coffee. But we are creatures of habit - not easily humiliated when we greet our wives at the kitchen table looking like we just took a blast from a shotgun loaded with toilet paper. In any event the similarities probably end here. Why? It has everything to do with NctsBxS40, which in plain English is Narcotics, Bronx South, 40th Precinct. I do not call it that however; I call it Hell.
 
My office extends from River Avenue near Yankee Stadium to 161st and Morris Avenue - the heroin and cocaine capitol of the world. You might think my office is filthy and chaotic, but in actual fact the territory is organized and well managed by people who have been trained to run a business. These are not drug dealers; they are managers of self-medicating substance distribution. 161st Street is like the escalator at Macy's. You ride it to the department of your choice; usually somewhere deep in the east 160's if you know the right people. If you don't there is the open air market at Morris Avenue near the Methadone Clinic or the blind spot at the intersection of Park and Teller where the symbiotic relationship between law enforcement and drug distribution insures safety and guarantees consistency of a quality product.
 
Now...about this page. If the mechanichs of pseudo-web creation work as thay should, this page will carry information that includes the following:
 
[1] Links to the author's work at this site and others.
[2] Annoncements and information pertinent to the site.
[3] A good place to leave comments
[4] A listing of contents included in this blog
[5] Any other information that I haven't thought of yet as well as spontaneous rants and short commentary where appropriate.
 
Enjoy and visit whenever you have nothing better to do. Welcome to NctsBxS40!
 
Regards,
ML Smith
 
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