Free Republic

This evening, at 11:15 p.m., the House of Representatives voted to pass their health insurance reform bill. Despite countless attempts over nearly a century, no chamber of Congress has ever before passed comprehensive health reform. This is history. But you and millions of your fellow Organizing for America supporters didn't just witness history tonight -- you helped make it. Each "yes" vote was a brave stand, backed up by countless hours of knocking on doors, outreach in town halls and town squares, millions of signatures, and hundreds of thousands of calls. You stood up. You spoke up. And you were...

When it comes to the controversial mixing of religion and politics in the LDS world, much of the discussion has focused on national campaigns and high-profile ballot initiatives. But perhaps we should be more concerned by how some in our church may be using their membership to influence local elections. This problem only recently came to my attention when I heard about a vicious e-mail circulating around a Utah County town, attacking one of the mayoral candidates there. I obtained a copy of the e-mail -- which, of course, was written anonymously -- and the more I read, the more...

Note: The following text is a quote: Hamilton Man Sentenced to 30 Months' Imprisonment for Threatening to Bomb Cincinnati Airport and Other Cincinnati-Area Landmarks CINCINNATI—Frederick D. Purvis, 43, of Hamilton, was sentenced in United States District Court here today to 30 months' imprisonment for a series of messages he sent in November, 2008 in which he threatened to blow up seven Cincinnati-area landmarks including the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. He was also sentenced to serve six years of supervised release after his prison term. Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, James A. Zerhusen, United...

SNIPPET: "UPDATED - Wednesday, October 28, 2009: A "New Facebook Login System" spam campaign is in circulation, launched by the same botnet. Sampled updatetool.exe once again interacts with the Zeus command and control at 193.104.27.42."

SNIPPET: “WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s Consul General in Chicago personally knew both David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, nabbed by the FBI for planning to carry out a major terror attack in India at the behest of LeT, the US authorities have claimed. The FBI in its revised chargesheet filed before a Chicago court said the Consul General of Pakistan in Chicago personally knows both Rana and Headley alias ‘Daood Gilani’, as all three of them are from the same high school. According to the website of the Pakistan Embassy here, Dr Aman Rashid is the Consul General in Chicago. “On...

I am using Outlook Express Backup Wizard to move my messages from an old computer to a new one. It seems, however, to have overlooked the backup of my "sent" messages. Has anyone run into this issue? The backup and restore options do not provide "granularity" as far as specifying which mail folders do or don't get backed up or restored. Thanks.

With painful honesty, Katie Piper, the former TV presenter tells why she has finally waived her right to anonymity – and reveals the awful events that changed her life for ever However much she would like to forget them, the details of how she lost her dreams, her identity and very nearly her life will stay with Katie Piper for ever. They are burned into both her memory and her face. Katie, 26, has remained fearful and anonymous in the 18 months since the man she met on the internet attempted to destroy her, so few will recognise her name....

Mr. (Forgiven Sinner) (Street) Peoria, IL Dear Mr. (Forgiven Sinner): Thank you for contacting me to share your concerns about federal funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). I appreciate hearing from you. I've seen the videos and I am appalled by them. I am also troubled by the discoveries of voter registration fraud, and I am glad ACORN reported the incidents to the authorities. These employees have been fired, and ACORN is being investigated by state and federal agencies for misconduct and potential misuse of government funds. Anyone who has broken the law should be...

An easy way to send an email to your congressional reps to let them know you are against Obamacare. Go to this link and fill in the blanks. A letter for each rep will be created and you can add or delete from it.

•If a conservative doesn’t like guns, he doesn’t buy one. •If a liberal doesn't like guns, he feels that no one should have one ------------------------------------------------------------------- •If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat. •If a liberal is, he wants to ban all meat products for everyone. ------------------------------------------------------------------- •If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy. •A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good. ------------------------------------------------------------------- •If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life. •If a liberal is homosexual, he loudly demands legislated “respect.” ------------------------------------------------------------------- •If a black...

An internet security expert is calling for better security on web-based email accounts after a recent surge in hack attacks. Hotmail, Google and Yahoo! have joined a growing number of email service providers whose users have been duped by hackers into giving over their passwords in phishing attacks. Phishing involves using fake websites to lure people into betraying personal details such as bank accounts or login names and other private data. Dr Mark Gregory, a senior lecturer in network engineering at RMIT, says internet security must improve as it is too easy for criminals to set up fake sites to...

Note: The following text is a quote: "Mr Spencer or whatever you call yourself,i pray u die not except you die a Muslim." Today's Hate Mail Bag specimen comes to us from Tinubu, Nigeria: Mr Spencer or whatever you call yourself,i pray u die not except you die a Muslim. Cos if you dont, then am giving you tidings of rottening in Jahan'nam.Stop being a hypocrite for you yourself know that you are not telling the the truth of the seal of faiths.(AL ISLAM-MADIN). ASHADU ANALAILLAHA ILALLAH WA'ASHADU ANAMUHAMMADAR RASULILLAH. ALHAMDULILLAH BI NI'IMATIL ISLAM. I'm told all the time that...

Nearly 30 former Procter & Gamble workers who were fired for e-mailing pictures of naked people and off-color jokes about President Obama through the company's computers are fighting to collect unemployment benefits, saying they didn't do anything wrong because "everyone else" did it, too. At a hearing Friday in South Scranton, the company's attorney, Ben Josielevski of Scranton, said the workers broke harassment and discrimination policies that are laid out in the company's business conduct manual, which employees are required to sign. Twenty-nine workers at the Procter & Gamble plant in Washington Twp. near Mehoopany were fired in two rounds...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/09/more-from-the-threatener-tell-you-fool-followers-you-are-going-to-be-deceased-very-soon.html More from the threatener: “tell you fool followers you are going to be deceased very soon” More just in from this guy, apparently with something that masks his IP, as this time he writes from 74.50.97.246, which traces to Tampa. If anyone can provide any information on tracing, please let me know. Robert.... that’s really good of posting the threat... It was really good I found you in a local supermarket. and I followed you.. so i know your address now.. tell you fool followers you are going to be deceased very...

Another Hate Mail from London (from a different Hate Mailer from the other London Hate Mail Bag entries) provides a thoughtful and incisive analysis:

BULLETIN -- NEW YORK POLICE AND FBI RAID HOMES IN QUEENS IN TERRORISM INVESTIGATION.6 minutes ago from BNO Headquarters

Note: The following text is a quote: "Are you guys agents of satan?" This Hate Mailer, like so many others, assumes that I am Jewish (in reality, I do not have that honor). This is because his Koran tells him that the Jews will be the worst enemies of the believers (5:82), and he believes that by telling the truth about jihad and Islamic supremacism, I have become an enemy to the Muslims. Note also that there are several veiled threats in this one. He refers to Ka'b bin Ashraf, who was murdered by Muhammad's men -- on the Muslim...

email sent to me about an hour ago. No I didn't watch his majesty, I decided to work on my houseplants instead and build a shelf ----------------- I just finished laying out my plan for health reform at a joint session of Congress. Now, I'm writing directly to you because what happens next is critical -- and I need your help. Change this big will not happen because I ask for it. It can only come when the nation demands it. Congress knows where I stand. Now they need to hear from you. Add your voice: Ask your representatives...

Security: A Senate bill lets the president "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "nongovernmental" computer networks and do what's needed to respond to the threat. Didn't they just collect our e-mail addresses?We wish this was just a piece of the fictional "Dr. Strangelove" that fell to the cutting-room floor, but it's not. It is a real piece of disturbingly vague legislation sponsored by Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. Senate Bill 773 would grant the administration emergency powers (where have we heard that before?) in the event of a cyberemergency that the president would have...

Note: The following text is a quote: International Arms Dealer Arrested for Conspiracy to Supply U.S. Fighter Jet Engines to Iran Jacques Monsieur, a Belgian national and resident of France suspected of international arms dealing for decades, has been arrested on charges alleging that he conspired to illegally export F-5 fighter jet engines and parts from the United States to Iran. Monsieur is scheduled to have his arraignment today in federal court in Mobile, Alabama. A six-count indictment returned on Aug. 27, 2009, in the Southern District of Alabama charging Monsieur, 56, and co-defendant Dara Fotouhi, aka Dara Fatouhi, 54,...

Two conservative organizations, a physicians' group and a social policy think tank, are suing the Obama administration for privacy and free speech violations over a recent attempt to get people to e-mail the White House about any "fishy" misinformation they hear regarding health-care reform. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia, claims that the call for such information was designed to shut up opponents of President Obama's health-care reform proposal and to chill free speech. In the lawsuit, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) and the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education (CARE) claim...

SNIPPET: "Two Pakistani students arrested over an alleged terror plot have returned to Pakistan after deciding to leave the UK voluntarily, the Home Office has said. Abdul Khan, 26, and Shoaib Khan, 27, were among 12 people held by police after raids in north-west England in April, but the pair were never charged. The Home Office tried to deport them, saying they remained a security threat. It is understood the men decided to leave after being denied bail while appealing against deportation." SNIPPET: "Twelve students were arrested in the terror raids in Manchester and Liverpool as part of Operation Pathway,...

I have recently switched to DSL and need to cancel my dial-up service (MSN). I've researched and researched, but I can't find a definitive answer to this question: When I cancel my dial-up service, what happens to my email account (msn.com address)? Will I still be able to access my old email account via Hotmail? How to proceed? Recommendations?

The White House hired a private communications company based in Minnesota to distribute mass e-mails, helping to shed light on how some recipients received e-mails in support of President Obama's health care plan without signing up for them, FOX News has learned. The company, Govdelivery, describes itself as the world's leading provider of government-to-citizen communication solutions and says its e-mail service provides a fully-automated on-demand public communication system. The confirmation comes after the White House acknowledged this week that people were receiving unsolicited e-mails from the administration about health care reform and suggested the problem was with third-party groups that...

"In just the first three months of this year, her campaign—still existing, though in skeletal form—brought in $4.7 million by renting and selling the addresses on the email list to groups ranging from President Obama’s inaugural committee to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s campaign for California governor to her own Senate committee, not to mention EMILY’s List, which seeks to elect female abortion rights supporters, and Media Matters, a progressive organization that monitors the media...To them, Clinton’s vaunted list—estimated to include as many as 2.5 million email addresses— is a virtual license to print money for Democratic pols and causes."...

House E-Mail System Overloaded by Healthcare MessagesUpdated: 2:40 PM Aug 16, 2009 Reporter: Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Amid a boisterous debate on health care reform, people flooded members of Congress on Thursday with so many e-mails that they overloaded the House's primary Web site. **SNIP** A spokesman for Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, said e-mail traffic related to health care has exploded in recent weeks. Sean Brown said the office has received 2,761 e-mails on the subject since the debate heated up five weeks ago. In the five weeks before that, the office received 368 health care-related e-mails. He...

Who should be fired over the ill-conceived (and possibly unlawful) FLAG@whitehouse.gov scandal? Emanuel? Axelrod? Douglass? Sebelius? Are any news outlets asking who should be fired? Are any Republican leaders calling for any firings? Steele? McConnell? Boehner?

SNIPPET: "Subject line: "How long will Spencer Be free":"

Major Garrett of Fox News asked Robert Gibbs White House spokesperson a very simple straightforward Health Care slash illegal email question yesterday. How did people who never had any communications with the White House receive unsolicited emails concerning Health Care from the White House.(see story) Gibbs’ inability to give a coherent answer left egg on his face as well as questions about the Obama White House violating the American people’s personal privacy not to mention the violating of the 2004 United States CAN-SPAM Act. Watch in horror (or delight) as Gibbs begins to look and sound like a fox biting...

Note: The following text is a quote: National Guard Embraces Social Media By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill Special to American Forces Press Service ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 12, 2009 – Even in the 140-character brevity demanded of a “tweet,” the enthusiasm National Guardsmen have for communicating through Twitter software is evident. “Just shot my first rounds from a M1A1 Main Battle Tank. Killed 3 of 4 targets. Best Tank on the planet!” And it’s not just the rank-and-file who are communicating, although among Twitter’s millions of users -- the company won’t say exactly how many -- one stands out: He...

Dear Friend, Anyone that's watched the news in the past few days knows that health insurance reform is a hot topic — and that rumors and scare tactics have only increased as more people engage with the issue. Given a lot of the outrageous claims floating around, it’s time to make sure everyone knows the facts about the security and stability you get with health insurance reform. That’s why we’ve launched a new online resource — WhiteHouse.gov/RealityCheck — to help you separate fact from fiction and share the truth about health insurance reform. Here's a few of the reality check...

New email endorsement shows AARP going all-out for Dems, ObamacareBy: Mark Tapscott Editorial Page Editor 08/07/09 7:29 AM EDT Not that there was any doubt about it, but a new email campaign by AARP's liberal Democrat-dominated Washington staff makes it crystal clear that the leadership of the 40-million member seniors group is going all-out for Obamacare and the House Democrats' version of it, H.R. 3200. The email alert is especially interesting because AARP is a tax-exempt non-profit that is barred from participating in partisan campaigns, though it is allowed to do a limited amount of legislative lobbying of Congress. No...

I heard this from a caller on a local radio station. Apologies to all if it's already been suggested. To me, the idea is brilliant in its simplicity! Simply forward ALL of your junk/spam email to flag@whitehouse.gov

Welcome to the Year of the Rat. In Waltham, the city wants to pay packy employees for ratting out college-aged drinkers. In Washington, the White House Health Reform Office wants you to report any anti-Obama rumors that come your away. They’ve even set up an e-mail address for you to rat out your annoying right-winger colleague. Think I’m exaggerating? Read the message from the whitehouse.gov Web site for yourself: “Scary chain e-mails and videos are starting to percolate on the Internet. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain e-mails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep...

I got this in my email today. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is a directive from the President to "get in people's faces", organize a mob, astroturf, etc. I don't know. This seems like agitating to me. [this is an excerpt] Let me see. Opponents of the President's health care plans are "mobs" but these people are what? Minions? Dupes? Stooges? Blackshirts? Here's the email: From: President Barack Obama info@barackobama.com Date: Wed, Aug 5, 2009 at 10:24 AM Subject: This is the moment This is the moment our movement was built for. For one month, the...

Should a federal court dismiss charges against the college student who hacked into Gov. Sarah Palin’s e-mail account? Yes No, but 25 years seems like an excessive potential sentence No, and throw the book at him

KNOXVILLE - A defense attorney for a University of Tennessee student accused of accessing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's e-mail account is asking a judge today to toss out the case.

Note: The following text is a quote: Spam, Phishing, and Malicious Code Related to Recent Celebrity Deaths added June 26, 2009 at 10:44 am US-CERT is aware of public reports of an increased number of spam campaigns, phishing attacks, and malicious code targeting the recent deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. These email messages may attempt to gain user information through phishing attacks or by recording email addresses if the user replies to the message. Additionally, email messages may contain malicious code or may contain a link to a seemingly legitimate website containing malicious code. US-CERT would like to...

While on the phone with my Congress critter's office this am, I was specifically asked to contact as many representatives, even from my state, to express my opinions. I found this link for FR. It links to all states and territories, as far as I can tell.

We have studied your CV. We are a small consultancy company situated in Poland, Warsaw. In current moment we have an open position of Financial Manager. Position of Financial Manager requires part-time work from the candidate. The job consists in remittance of pay-offs from our customers. Activity description: because of our local legislation we are hindered in acquirement of pay-offs from our United States based customers. However customers from United States compose the main part of our consultant business. In current moment we do not possess a representation of our Firm in USA, that why we need a Financial Manager,...

Below are excerpts of e-mails, obtained by The State newspaper in December, between Gov. Mark Sanford's personal e-mail account and Maria, a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The State has removed the woman's full name and other personal details, including her address, e-mail address and children's names. McClatchy special correspondent Angeles Mase visited the 14-story apartment building in Buenos Aires Wednesday where the woman lives, according to the emails, which included her address. The woman at the address answered to the name in the emails and, at first, agreed to speak to a visitor, but she declined after the visitor...

A recent computer intrusion that forced the FBI to shut down its computer network and disrupted FBI operations was traced to an e-mail containing malicious code that originated in China, according to FBI officials. The forced shutdown of the network affected one significant FBI operation -- the May 20 arrest of homegrown terrorism suspects in New York, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. "The Chinese shut down our network," said one FBI official familiar with assessments of the attack.

The e-mail chain between Elizabeth (Don't call me Liz!) Becton, a staffer for Rep. Jim McDermott, (D-Wash.), and a Democratic lobbyist who is a friend of a friend of mine has been forwarded around Washington all week because it perfectly encapsulates the frustration of lobbyists in both parties in dealing with some of the more arrogant Democrats on Capitol Hill. The e-mail exchange started with a seemingly innocuous request by the lobbyist to set up a meeting with her client, JPMorgan Chase, and McDermott (I've taken out the identifying names and phone numbers only): Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:05...

The National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone calls and e-mail messages of Americans are broader than previously acknowledged, current and former officials said. The agency's monitoring of domestic e-mail messages, in particular, has posed longstanding legal and logistical difficulties, the officials said. Since April, when it was disclosed that the intercepts of some private communications of Americans went beyond legal limits in late 2008 and early 2009, several Congressional committees have been investigating. Those inquiries have led to concerns...

An American, a Japanese and a Canadian were sitting naked in a sauna when suddenly there was a beeping sound. The American pressed his forearm, and the beep stopped. The others looked at him questioningly. “That was my pager he said. “I have a microchip under the skin of my arm.”

I love it when a reader decides to send a nasty e-mail from his company e-mail address in response to one of my columns. In this case, the e-mail came from Brian Sturtevant of Southern California Edison, who obviously disdains pro-lifers. Mr. Sturtevant wrote: 'You people disgust me. Although, I suppose we should all thank you.....in exchange for the murder of one American hero, we now have a National Martyr who will serve as an effective recruitment tool for the rights of women for decades to come. I expect to see all of you pushed back into the cave from...

Note: The following text is a quote: Former State Department Official and Wife Arrested for Serving as Illegal Agents of Cuba for Nearly 30 Years Couple Allegedly Conspired to Provide Classified Information to Cuban Government A former State Department official and his wife have been arrested on charges of serving as illegal agents of the Cuban government for nearly 30 years and conspiring to provide classified U.S. information to the Cuban government. The arrests were announced today by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Channing D. Phillips, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; Joseph Persichini, Jr.,...

For those who are having a little trouble understanding exactly what Google Wave is all about, seeing it in action might help you wrap your head around the concept. Google has released video of Thursday's keynote speech at Google I/O in San Francisco, where the company publicly demonstrated Google Wave for the first time before about 4,000 developers. Google Wave is an ambitious, if incomplete, attempt to reinvent e-mail and Internet communication in general.

SNIPPET: "On 15 May 2009, the Jihadi Brigades of Internet Incursion, which appear to be a part of the Shumukh Forums, announced a successful “incursion” of over 250,000 email addresses. Their announcement stated: We bring good news to the Islamic Ummah of the continuation of the electronic jihadi media raids in support of the truth in a time of disgrace and shame. Your brothers in the Jihadi Brigades of Internet Incursion have targeted 265,612 email addresses belonging to citizens of the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding countries … with emails containing Usama bin Laden’s “Practical Steps to Liberate Palestine,” which the...

Anyone have the Master Email list?