Astalavista claimed to be run by security experts. From http://astalavista.com/faq:

>> 03. Who’s behind the site?
>>
>> A team of security and IT professionals, and a countless number of contributors from all over the world.

>> 05. Is it true that the site is visited by script-kiddies and warez fans only?
>>
>> Absolutely not! The audience behind the site consists of home users, worldwide companies and corporations, educational and non-profit organizations, government and
military institutions.
>> All of these have been visiting the site on a daily basis for the past couple of years, contributing in various ways, or requesting services and information.

It was very clear that this was untrue.

So why were they hacked? I’ll let the hacker tell you:

Why has Astalavista been targeted?

Other than the fact that they are not doing any of this for the "community" but for the money, they spread exploits for kids, claim to be a security community (with no real sense of security on their own servers), and they charge you $6.66 per months to access a dead forum with a directory filled with public releases and outdated / broken services.

We wanted to see how good that "team of security and IT professionals" really is.

To sum up what you’re about to see…

Astalavista:

[+] Founded in 1997 by a hacker computer enthusiast
[-] Exposed in 2009 by anti-sec group

Apparently, gaining access to the self-proclaimed security expert’s site was as simple as:

anti-sec:~# ./g0tshell astalavista.com -p 80
[+] Connecting to astalavista.com:80
[+] Grabbing banner…
LiteSpeed
[+] Injecting shellcode…
[-] Wait for it
[~] We g0tshell
sh-3.2$

The person doing the work was kind enough to post a log of everything that he did with the shell at Pastebin.

The results are absolutely hilarious. Storing passwords in plaintext with MySQL databases. That’s secure, right?

select user,nickname,password,email from users where userlevel = 1;
| user | nickname | password | email
| pascal | prozac | ******** | info@astalavista.net |
| Ivan Schmid | rOOtless1 | ******** | ivan.schmid@comvation.com|
| qreymer | Palermo | ******** | eche@home.se |
| Christian Wehrli | g0atherd | ******** | g0atherd@gmx.net |
... etc.

Passwords removed to protect the possibly innocent.

Checking the .bash_history for some users reveals mysql connect strings with passwords in the strings themselves instead of letting it prompt for a password. All in all, if you’re familiar with Linux and security in any fashion, you can get a good chuckle out of how terribly managed this site for security experts is.

The log is quite entertaining. Our hacker was kind enough to show us some messages that were being passed around from the administrators of the site to talk about how they can make more money. Here’s a particularly hilarious one:

mysql> select iss_summary,iss_description from eventum_issue where iss_id = 16;
| iss_summary | iss_description |
| Website guidance | Virtual Girl which guides you trought the website.
We need a girl with who you can ( talk )!!!
Also for the News!
So my suggestion is a girl who read you the news loud if you like!
you can choose between read yourselfe or she read it for you or both!
Go to www.heise.de! There is an example for Voice News! It's a good thing!!!
Have a look on the example girls!!
http://www.yaoti.com/de/free_yaoti.html
or that
http://www.yellostrom.de/

After gaining root access, the hacker leaves us with an ending that is not unlike the fantastic explosion of the Death Star:

sh-3.2# cd /home
sh-3.2# ls -la
total 120
drwxr-xr-x 14 root root 4096 Mar 11 17:56 .
drwxr-xr-x 25 root root 4096 Jun 3 02:43 ..
drwx--x--x 9 admin admin 4096 Nov 28 2007 admin
-rw------- 1 root root 8192 Jun 4 03:03 aquota.group
-rw------- 1 root root 8192 Jun 3 02:45 aquota.user
drwx--x--x 6 astanet astanet 4096 Jun 4 09:51 astanet
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 29 2008 backup
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 17 2008 backup.14161
drwx--x--x 10 com com 4096 Apr 28 12:40 com
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 May 17 2007 ftp
drwx------ 3 jon jon 4096 Sep 21 2007 jon
drwx------ 2 root root 16384 Sep 11 2007 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 14 2007 my
drwxr-xr-x 5 mysql mysql 4096 Sep 24 2007 mysqldata
drwx------ 2 jon jon 4096 Sep 15 2007 test
drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 4096 Jul 29 2008 tmp
sh-3.2# rm -rf backup/
sh-3.2# rm -rf backup.14161/
sh-3.2# rm -rf ftp/
sh-3.2# rm -rf jon/
sh-3.2# rm -rf my/
sh-3.2# rm -rf mysqldata/
sh-3.2# rm -rf test/
sh-3.2# rm -rf tmp/
sh-3.2# cd ~
sh-3.2# rm -rf *
sh-3.2# rm -rf /var/log/
rm: cannot remove directory `/var/log//proftpd': Directory not empty
sh-3.2# rm -rf /home/*
sh-3.2# mysql
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 407156
Server version: 5.0.45-community-log MySQL Community Edition (GPL)
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.
mysql> show databases;
+-----------------------+
| Database |
+-----------------------+
| information_schema |
| astanet_ads |
| astanet_mailing_lists |
| astanet_mediawiki |
| astanet_membersystem |
| com_contrexx |
| com_contrexx2 |
| com_contrexx2_live |
| da_roundcube |
| dolphin |
| ideapool |
| mysql |
| test |
| yourmaster |
+-----------------------+
14 rows in set (0.03 sec)
mysql> drop database astanet_membersystem;
droQuery OK, 46 rows affected (0.81 sec)
mysql> drop database com_contrexx;
Query OK, 211 rows affected (2.72 sec)
mysql> drop database com_contrexx2;
Query OK, 237 rows affected (2.23 sec)
mysql> drop database com_contrexx2_live;
Query OK, 227 rows affected (7.63 sec)
mysql> drop database ideapool;
Query OK, 69 rows affected (0.19 sec)
mysql> drop database yourmaster;
Query OK, 158 rows affected (0.55 sec)
mysql> drop database astanet_ads;
Query OK, 9 rows affected (0.11 sec)
mysql> drop database astanet_mailing_lists;
Query OK, 24 rows affected (1.47 sec)
mysql> drop database astanet_mediawiki;
Query OK, 31 rows affected (0.51 sec)
mysql> show databases;
+--------------------+
| Database |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| da_roundcube |
| dolphin |
| mysql |
| test |
+--------------------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Let’s hope the “Security Experts” have off-site backups. In the meantime, you can check out the original here or download it in .txt format here.

The hacker left the ending with a wonderful quote suited for Astalavista.com/net:

What a journey! We’re not sure exactly why the "Terminator" had any influence on their naming (conventions) but we’re sure Arnold himself wouldn’t be in the wrong to say this pack of morons *wont be back*.

Well done anti-sec, well done.

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Students received calls and text messages letting them know that they should seek shelter and that the city was looking for a black male with a do-rag, no shirt, and a camo jacket. I spoke to a University student who is currently seeking shelter in her dorm room at the University. On her way back from the 7-11, there was apparently a long line of cop cars which seemed odd to her, for a Thursday evening. Police have not confirmed what they were investigating but it is almost certain, at this time, that it was a shooting.

She confirmed that a friend of hers was nearby when it occurred and that he was very shaken up by it.

“I can’t believe our school doesn’t send an email out.”

“Think of how many parents are freaking out right now.”

Students and parents are turning to their University web site and finding no information. At this time, both the alert section on the University website and the alert section in the University police website have no alerts of any kind listed.

The shooter is, apparently still loose as students have not received any indication from the University that it is safe to leave their shelter.

“There are still people walking around campus that have no idea. Some people didn’t even get notified.”

More as the story develops.

10:29pm EST: sources say that there was one victim shot nine times and that the suspect was last seen in or near the Bonnie. This has not yet been confirmed by any officials.

10:54pm EST: sources say two more people have been shot, though this has not been officially confirmed. The University still has no information posted to their alerts on their website. News sources say tactical teams were deployed in a couple of University buildings. Students reporting that a building check will be occurring. The initial shooting is reported to have occurred on Calhoun and Madison. Confusion and distress evident as students turn to their University website and find no information.

11:04pm EST: text message received by students form the University:

11:16pm EST: University finally updates their website with alert:

11:24pm EST: no further reports on any additional shootings beyond the first. Currently, one victim was confirmed to be shot in the chest. The victim was taken to the hospital and reports indicate that they did not survive the shooting, though no official word, yet.

12:13am EST: CNN has confirmed the death of the victim in the shooting.

1:30am EST: another update from the University that there are still no sightings of the shooter.

2:53am EST: another txt message update from the University@2:10am EST:

This issue arose when one of our designers was testing some of the new AJAX I had written in Chrome. It worked fine in Firefox and IE, but Chrome was choking on the XML that was coming back. Treating it as though it were equal to null and alerting the appropriate response that is written in to our AJAX JavaScript. A bit more testing revealed that Safari was also having the issue. Once we figured that out, it became evident that searching for issues with WebKit would help.

Both browsers use the WebKit application framework. Because of this, they both enforce (choke) on XHTML that is given to them which does not follow the standards of XHTML. One of these standards, is that virtually all HTML entities are not valid. Here are the three that are:

& nbsp;
& lt;
& rt;

All other html entities need to be converted to their XML-safe (ASCII) form. So:

& tilde; = & #241;

This can mess up AJAX that works in Internet Explorer and Firefox because they don’t mind dealing with XHTML coming back from an AJAX response with HTML entities. If you’re passing complicated strings with any entities in it through your AJAX requests, don’t expect them to work with any of the browsers using the current WebKit framework.

It took me a while to figure out what was causing the issue that our testers were experiencing, but once we did some searching, we found that others have talked about having this, or a similar problem, too.

We had experienced an issue with foreign characters creating improper RSS feeds for the same reason: html entities showing up when they shouldn’t be. I researched and wrote a function then that would convert all the HTML entities to their numeric format that would be safe. I applied this function to the AJAX responses coming back and presto, it worked.

So, I thought I would share this function with everyone in case someone else was having a similar problem:

function clean_string_for_valid_xml($string) {
   $entities_array = array();
   foreach (get_html_translation_table(HTML_ENTITIES, ENT_QUOTES) as $character => $entity) {
      $entities_array[$entity] = ‘&#’ . ord($character) . ‘;’;
   }
   return str_replace(array_keys($entities_array), $entities_array, $string);
}


Basically, we’re using the get_html_translation_table function to grab all of the entities. Then, we’re using the ord function to get the ASCII value for those entities. Then, we’re returning our string with the entities properly replaced.

Hopefully this works for you, or at least leads you to an answer that works for you.

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Inside, they confiscated 30 cannabis plants that were setup in a hydroponic grow.

They let him keep the 6 plants that he’s allowed to have, because he’s a registered patient in the state of Montana. He uses cannabis to help him with migraine headaches, pain and nausea.

However, they are charging him with production of dangerous drugs…dangerous drugs.

In addition, they are also charging him with criminal endangerment because his child was in the house. They claim “high-powered lights and a lit bunson burner” posed a fire hazard. The high powered lights being used to grow his medicine, and the lit bunson burner acting, more than likely, as a source of CO2 for this.

This is what the prosecutors are alleging according to The Missoulian. All of this done acting as though the child is not going to be traumatized by seeing officers break in the house, or by losing a father.

Now, he’s in jail in lieu of $20,000 bail.

Just sickening.

President Obama:

Remember that website you asked us all to visit? Remember when you asked the country to come and express their concerns? Well we did.

The number one listing for the request from your citizens was that we wanted cannabis to be legalized, taxed, or at the very least: left up to the states for governance. You and your administration have taken it upon yourselves to insult us by putting the response to our plea at the bottom of your archival:

(higher quality)

Is this a joke? A good and clear response is delivered for all of the other questions yet your administration, and you yourself, because I address you specifically, find this appropriate:

“President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.”

People are losing their lives every day.

You ask for an economic stimulus, yet you jail those who would stimulate an economy from nothing.

You ask for peace in our streets and for gangs to lower their holds on our citizens, yet you prosecute those who would take their power away.

In our town, a man has been taken away from his child for trying to care for himself and his pain, and now he’s being charged with “production of a dangerous drug.”

What is it, sir?

We’re allowed to have doctors and science tell us that we can use this plant to help ourselves. We’re allowed to have them and other patients tell us that there is nothing better for that which ails us.

What is it, sir?

We’re allowed to watch people die day, after day, after day from other medications and “drugs” that they are allowed to procure in the supermarket.

What is it, sir?

Don’t ask us for our opinion and then ignore it. It is not becoming of a President asking his citizens to sacrifice for the good of the nation.

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Apparently Google ads are intelligent enough to know what racist, tory, bigots usually need in their future:

(source)

Though, I’m not sure tattoo removal would be an option for all of them:

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This is a story worth sharing with anyone concerned in the tech community.

http://journalspace.com/this_is_the_way_the_world_ends/not_with_a_bang_but_a_whimper.html

Tuesday:

Journalspace is no more.

DriveSavers called today to inform me that the data was unrecoverable.

Here is what happened: the server which held the journalspace data had two large drives in a RAID configuration. As data is written (such as saving an item to the database), it’s automatically copied to both drives, as a backup mechanism.

The value of such a setup is that if one drive fails, the server keeps running, using the remaining drive. Since the remaining drive has a copy of the data on the other drive, the data is intact. The administrator simply replaces the drive that’s gone bad, and the server is back to operating with two redundant drives.

But that’s not what happened here. There was no hardware failure. Both drives are operating fine; DriveSavers had no problem in making images of the drives. The data was simply gone. Overwritten.

The data server had only one purpose: maintaining the journalspace database. There were no other web sites or processes running on the server, and it would be impossible for a software bug in journalspace to overwrite the drives, sector by sector.

The list of potential causes for this disaster is a short one. It includes a catastrophic failure by the operating system (OS X Server, in case you’re interested), or a deliberate effort. A disgruntled member of the Lagomorphics team sabotaged some key servers several months ago after he was caught stealing from the company; as awful as the thought is, we can’t rule out the possibility of additional sabotage.

But, clearly, we failed to take the steps to prevent this from happening. And for that we are very sorry.

So, after nearly six years, journalspace is no more.

If you haven’t yet, visit Dorrie’s Fun Forum; it’s operated by a long-time journalspace member. If you’re continuing your blog elsewhere, you can post the URL there so people can keep up with you.

We’re considering releasing the journalspace source code to the open source community. We may also sell the journalspace domain and trademarks. Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/jsupgrades for news.

Yea, ’cause OS X is really known for randomly overwriting entire disks.

It’s worth saying again: RAID configurations are not the same as backups performed routinely, separately, and on media that will last.

EPIC FAIL

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There are quite a few choices that are very good. Some, however, are being overlooked. Possibly because the news seems to keep itself involved with a certain someone above all of his other choices:

(Source)

Well, I for one, think some of those choices need to be looked at. It doesn’t seem that I’m alone in thinking this.

If you’ve read my blog before, then you know that one of the things that concerns me most in this country, and around the globe, is the war on drugs.

Please don’t think this is going to be another post loaded with statistics about how the war on drugs is terrible and destroys countless lives every year.

Instead, I’d like to explore a few of the recent choices that President Elect Obama has in regards to drug control.

Obama was known by many to be a friend to the medical cannabis and legalization movement that is occurring within our country and around the world.

“I got high for just the opposite effect, something that could push questions of who I was out of my mind, something that could flatten out the landscape of my heart, blur the edges of my memory. I had discovered that it didn’t make any difference whether you smoked reefer in the white classmate’s sparkling new van, or in the dorm room of some brother you’d met down at the gym, or on the beach with a couple of Hawaiian kids who had dropped out of school and now spent most of their time looking for an excuse to brawl. You might just be bored, or alone. Everybody was welcome into the club of disaffection. And if the high didn’t solve whatever it was that was getting you down, it could at least help you laugh at the world’s ongoing folly and see through all the hypocrisy and bullshit and cheap moralism.”

Source: Dreams from My Father - Barack Obama, p. 87 Aug 1, 1996

While Barack Obama may not have all the kindest things to say about cannabis, he was outspoken in his support for the end of federal raids on patients and dispensaries alike:

“I don’t think that should be a top priority of us, raiding people who are using … medical marijuana. With all the things we’ve got to worry about, and our Justice Department should be doing, that probably shouldn’t be a high priority.”

Source: June 2, 2007, town hall meeting in Laconia, New Hampshire

Indeed he, like others, has said he understands and realizes the legitimacy of the medical uses. However, he would want stringent rules:

“My attitude is if the science and the doctors suggest that the best palliative care and the way to relieve pain and suffering is medical marijuana then that’s something I’m open to because there’s no difference between that and morphine when it comes to just giving people relief from pain. But I want to do it under strict guidelines. I want it prescribed in the same way that other painkillers or palliative drugs are prescribed.”

Source: November 24, 2007 town hall meeting in Iowa

The Marijuana Policy Project even had enough material to put together a video showing Barack Obama speaking about the matter on numerous occasions:

So, it would appear, that Barack Obama would be ready to lead our country forward out of this terrible hole we’ve gotten ourselves into.

It would appear…

Actions, however, speak louder than words. So far, the actions are not holding up President-elect Obama. The actions I am referring to are the recent appointments you have made concerning drug policy in this country.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy is a very important organization in this country as it helps to determine a national attitude towards drugs and the enforcement, punishment, treatment and education associated with them. So far, Obama has managed to select a person who was already in the position, and is looking towards an opponent of the drug war for his selection for drug czar.

Beyond that, however, you have the Attorney General; who would be a key figure in helping the end of medical cannabis arrests and raids. So, who does Obama select? Eric Holder Are you serious? This guy:

(Source)

“The truth of the matter is that marijuana is a significant problem for the city. Crack cocaine still drives most of the violence in this city, but marijuana violence is increasing. We need to nip it in the bud.”

That was in the Washington Times in 1996.

Another person in Washington who thinks that crack and marijuana are to be uttered in the same breath.

4 years later, the Washington Post reported that he had won his battle:

“The D.C. Council voted yesterday to toughen the maximum penalties for the distribution of marijuana, making it a felony subject to a five-year prison term rather than a one-year misdemeanor”

So, we’ve got an Attorney General with a track record of pushing for harsher punishments for marijuana possession and distribution.

Wonderful. It just gets worse. Now, there is news that Obama will be selecting an ex-alcoholic Congressman Jim Ramstad for the top position in the O.N.D.C.P..

(Source)

The same Jim Ramstad who voted for H.R. 2586 which helps to allow the military to assist in operations with, and even divert tracking equipment towards, the drug war. Here’s a little piece of that wonderful text:

“(a) ASSIGNMENT AUTHORIZED- Upon submission of a request consistent with subsection (b), the Secretary of Defense may assign members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps to assist–

`(1) the Immigration and Naturalization Service in preventing the entry of terrorists and drug traffickers into the United States; and

`(2) the United States Customs Service in the inspection of cargo, vehicles, and aircraft at points of entry into the United States to prevent the entry of weapons of mass destruction, components of weapons of mass destruction, prohibited narcotics or drugs, or other terrorist or drug trafficking items.”

In addition, he’s voted against clean needle exchanges, which have been shown time and time again to aid in preventing the spread of HIV and other infections.

Clearly: he’s not the person to lead us out of the darkness.

Let’s look at one last decision that Obama has made: Dr. Donald Vereen.

(Source)

It may just be me, but I feel like anyone who has already tried to serve this country in the O.N.D.C.P., should not be allowed to be involved in it again. That’s like asking the ex-executive of a failed corporation to help make financial decisions…

He’s got a weird view on medical marijuana as well. Instead of being against it, he has decided to fit himself in a niche so he can deflect questions about it. This niche I’m speaking of is the small group of those spoken out against medical marijuana because there “is no suitable means” to introduce cannabis into the patient and therefore, he’s against it until everyone can figure out a better way than smoking.

Well, we’ve got pills, vaporization, food… would you like us to come up with an anal solution for medical marijuana as well? Is that the last nail in the coffin?

Then again: that’s just what he’s said recently. Now that he’s got a nice excuse to hide behind, you probably won’t hear him saying stuff like this again:

“It doesn’t matter what the excuse [for using marijuana is,] … you are going to get arrested just as fast. Individuals and individual doctors don’t make medical policy, and that’s what this is.”

Thanks President-elect Obama. Looks like you’ve given us a great group of guys to “hope” with.

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“Pfft… have fun going out to a party,” I told my friends, assuming that the elections would not be decided for quite some time. So I nestled in at home with some beer and some food for what would undoubtedly be a long, long night.

The news started pouring in as soon as polls started closing. The stunned looks on the faces of the reporters were like a mirror to what was happening inside. I left quickly to grab some beer, telling my fiancee that she should call me if any more states should go to Obama.

While standing in line at the grocery store the following message came through:

“Illinois - obama almort can cal.”

The message was simple enough: Obama was winning. I felt obligated to tell the cashier who was kind enough to help me with my groceries.

“Well shit, I hope I didn’t lose 15 bucks.”

My sudden rush of positivity was slapped in the face but it did not move my enthusiasm to return to the television in my home.

When I got home I looked at the map on the screen and had to blink a couple of times to see if the blue in my vision was a remnant of the headlights that were pouring in my face on the way home.

Hope.

The word entered my brain and refused to leave. Instead it bounced around inside and I heard it over and over like the many times I had repeated to people:

“Sometimes, you just have to hope.”

The rest, is a blur: tears, smiles, shouts and yelps of joy. Everything was different.

Or, was it?

The next day didn’t feel the same as the one before. There was something about the air and the energy. It felt as though the country was taking common breaths and that everything was just, somehow, a little bit better.

A few days have passed since the initial rush of information, decisions, quotes, photos, speeches and congratulatory conversation.

There is an electricity about, but it’s not the kind that shocks and awakens you. Instead, it feels like the kind of energy that lies dormant. Just enough to kill you if mishandled, but otherwise, harmless and humming.

Somehow, it just seems too easy.

The margin was just, so big.

While I can appreciate the arguments that many have where they can get over their fears of the gov’t thanks to the new direction it may be headed, I simply cannot accept what was put in front of me.

Of particular note is the fact that Fox News was the first to come out and openly badmouth Sarah Palin in what quickly became viral information.

“Africa, a continent… or is it a country?”

Sarah Palin, whether she likes it or not, failed miserably in more ways than one. Not only did she manage to disappoint the nation, but she set a poor example for the possibility of future female candidates. For the next few years, when people think of a female politician that almost made it to the Presidency, they will think of Governor Palin. Of her “You betcha,” “Gosh darn,” “Poohtn rearing” head.

Is it possible that the good ol’ boys conducted this on purpose? I propose that they, being the neo-conservative socioeconomic elite, knew that Barack Obama had something and that they knew he would be the next President-elect. They took the opportunity to make it clear to America that they did not want a woman in a position of power.

So, they intentionally picked the dumbest, least qualified female they could find that was in a public position.

Enter Caibou Barbie.

Indeed, there is also the fact that Obama is not yet the President that seems to be riding on the minds of the people as well. I’m certain that most of the nation is waiting with very eager anticipation for the day when George Bush is no longer the President of the nation that we love so dearly. This writer shares that anticipation.

However, if history has taught us anything, it’s that they always know far more than we give them credit for. While it feels like everyone is riding a perfect wave destined for the paradise of a new beginning, it still remains that there are unseen dangers lurking beneath.

Once the tide goes back out, much may be revealed.

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So good.

Racism, hatred, slashed tires, vandalism, voting machines reversing votes. It used to be that we would turn on the news and see other countries where elections were held like this.

Now, we get to see this happening in our own nation.

During this time it is important for Americans to ask the following question:

“Who’s creating your reality?”

We all feel that we know the right news station or news source to watch. Some people enjoy propaganda and others prefer a more balanced look. It is evident in the blind stares of the worshiping masses that seem to gather wherever the Republican campaign lands. Am I the only one who feels that they are akin to the giant mega-church sermons that we see on T.V. or hear about in the news? When religion gets behind politics then failure is inevitable. Why? Because you cannot govern a nation of people with mixed faiths upon a bastardization of religious ideology. It just doesn’t work. Yet people are tied to them believing that they are leading a “nation of Christians” against the “Muslim terrorists” to defend the “forces of good.” This is just from the snippets that I have seen from their political rallies and from the supporters that attend them.

We’re really going to let this person run the country:

In case you can’t read it, the shirt says: “I may be broke, but I’m not flat busted.” Yes, she was apparently that girl in college.

Barack Obama was quoted as saying:

“If I were watching Fox News, I wouldn’t vote for me, right? Because the way I’m portrayed 24/7 is as a freak! I am the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effete, politically correct, arrogant liberal. Who wants somebody like that?”

Everyone needs to step out of their own bubble and change the channel or pick up a different newspaper once in a while. It may be painful at first, but you’ll be a better person for it. This is especially true right now as the upcoming election determines the fate of the world. The freedoms that make this country great are slowly being taken away and abused in small bits of pieces during legislation so laden with pork you’d think the stacks of papers would grow curly tails and oink when passed.

The first military unit of around 5,000 troops has already been trained and deployed in the United States. We’ll see how long it takes until the first story appears where they are being used to assist in crowd control.

If our own military doesn’t get us, then maybe the private military will:

Just within the last few months and reported just a few days ago, the Federal government has found it important to spend time and effort to put pressure on medical marijuana facilities in the state of California. Even while we fight against the powers that be, they strike at us by attacking our weak and powerless. While we are spending billions of dollars at war in other countries we’re spending millions in our own communities on war with ourselves.

You have a responsibility to inform yourself and others about the dangers that are present in the country that we call home.

Vote.