Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 682 Editor's Choice: 9
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Ahem.. is this thing on?
[Read the article: The "real" fake Col. Steven Boylan's e-mail]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You don't have to be in CENTCOM's network to forge a message that looks like it came from CENTCOM. But CENTCOM, and only CENTCOM, can match the message ID and other unique identifiers to logs in their mail servers and relays. So the question here is: does the letter in question have a message ID that matches an outgoing message, sent from within CENTCOM, by the Colonel, at the time the message is stamped with? Presumably, these records are kept securely by the military, and presumably the military follows their own security procedures making these logs effectively write-once, read only. This would prevent someone from simply removing the traces of this message after the fact. However, if the military is not using its own security procedures and recommendations, mail logs, as with any other log, can easily be tampered with. So, while a lack of traces of the letter in question would only be legally exculpatory assuming the military can prove within reason that their network security audits and logging procedures are tamper-proof, a positive hit on the message ID would be proof that the Colonel, or someone inside the CENTCOM military network, sent the email. Either way, as Greenwald points out, one would think that the US Military, Department of Defence would not want to be associated with network insecurity, or even a convincing forgery for that matter.
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@gordon
[Read the article: The "real" fake Col. Steven Boylan's e-mail]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]No, technically you don't. You have to either hack CENTCOM, or salon. I would guess the latter is more likely.
Again, as I said, I think the Good Colonel had one too many Jim Beams and wrote the letter himself, hit send, and is now dealing with the consequences.
The headers posted by Greenwald are not positive proof without someone from CENTCOM saying "yes, that came from us."
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Re: Re: @gordon
[Read the article: The "real" fake Col. Steven Boylan's e-mail]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree that it is unlikely that someone, posing as the Colonel, broke into CENTCOM's network and sent the message.
I also agree that it is unlikely, but not as unlikely, that someone got into salon.
I'm not going to scan either network (I like Cuba, but I don't want to live there), but I will say that I think that compared to CENTCOM, salon is probably made of Swiss Cheese. I would wager that CENTCOM's mail servers are not directly on the internet, and that there is some sort of MILNET <-> X29 <-> INET gateway in place. Salon's IDS or firewalls are only as clever as the people running them, minus the amount of usability the users (internal and external) require of the network and its services.
But what is possible and likely are two different things. I would not, as an administrator, be comfortable with saying "well, our network is secure so I know the email isn't fake." That's what we call in the industry "famous last words."
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Geez..
[Read the article: Kucinich, Ahmadinejad and the tongue stud]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Gore Vidal was right, our media is a bunch of raving mentally retarded lunatics. Present company excluded, of course.
*facepalm*
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Why Crazy?
[Read the article: Stop lying to yourself. You love Dennis Kucinich]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm definitely voting for him if Hillary wins the primary, as a write-in. Until then, let's focus on Edwards or Obama or, bless his heart, Dodd..
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Midland Afro Dialectic Constructions
[Read the article: Stop lying to yourself. You love Dennis Kucinich]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Not unique to Cleveland, but common to Northern US urban areas, is the construction "I love(s) me some .."
As in, "I loves me some Hot Sauce Williams!" (and who doesn't? Poor Boy, anyone?)
Alls I know is that if Michael Symon doesn't with tNICA, I'm fitn'a gets my Incredible Hulk /on/. *Believe dat!*
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People's Convention
[Read the article: The Ron Paul phenomenon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have in my bathroom Gore Vidal's short, sweet and imminently compelling screed "The Decline and Fall of the American Empire."
Actually, to be honest, it is among a stack of Vanity Fairs, Vice Magazines and a Calvin and Hobbes compilation; anyhow, I was reading his "People's Convention" last night wherein he discusses the prosciption that we amend the constitution "once a generation" and describes the two methods defined by the founding fathers: one, by a two-thirds vote of Congress, sent to the states to ratify, or two, by a two-thirds vote of state legislatures sent to the Congress to compel a Constitutional Convention.
I know this is only peripherally relevant to your post, but I would like to see you at some point in the future, address this idea of a "People's Convention" and your honest assessment of its viability as a remedy to so many of the wrongs you daily describe in our broken system of government.
Is it, to wit, time to rewrite the constitution from scratch? Are we an adult wearing a child's jacket, as Jefferson would say?
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I'm waiting for DHL, what's your excuse?
[Read the article: The Ron Paul phenomenon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Don't forget to come up for air once in a while, everyone. Have a nice lunch, go outside. And for goodness sakes, VOTE!, people.
Man.. this is absofuckinglutely fascinating, though, amirite?
PS: People's Convention. Believe it!
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@ scottfrost
[Read the article: The Ron Paul phenomenon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Does no one obey Godwin's Law anymore?
Hitler was a deranged murdering piece of shit.
Speaking of pieces of shit, you can call a piece of shit a rose and it will still stink.
Now, there are plenty of classically "progressive agenda" items I disagree with, moreover, some I agree with in principal but vehemently oppose the current incarnations of (public education being the top of my list). And I am sure that there are plenty of readers of Greenwald who find occasion to agree with my views (not that I make a habit of stating them, unless I'm good and riled up), but it always enrages me whenever I am labeled a "liberal" by someone who doesn't know me; and, to no ones surprise, least of all mine, Mr. Greenwald feels the same way about labels (see above).
So I guess what I am asking you is, "what is your point?"
Cheers!
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OT
[Read the article: Schumer: Arrogance or impotence?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I can't wait to hear your take on the GG/RP debacle (acronyms only! we don't want to rouse the suspicions of the google enabled RP drones!); as well as the award for an article garnering the most comments in a 12 hour period (remember remember the 6th of November?)..
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Interesting..
[Read the article: How George Bush really found Jesus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A rich kid who breaks other people's things and then refuses to pay for it? Sounds vaguely familiar.