Tips for Safe Online Shopping

"Shopping online does carry some risk, but so does shopping at brick-and-mortar stores. At least online shoppers don't need to worry about fender-benders in the parking lot, pick pockets at the mall, or getting the flu from all those fellow shoppers.

But the nice thing about shopping online is that by following some basic guidelines you can be reasonably sure you'll have a safe experience.

Secure your PC: The first thing you need to do is be sure your computer is secure. Trend Micro's education director David Perry, says that "bad guys these days are operating by planting a keylogger on your system that listens in, surreptitiously waiting for you to use your credit card or your bank password so that they can steal your money." So, even if you're dealing with a legitimate merchant, you're at risk if your computer is infected. Your best protection from these attacks is to keep your operating system and browsers updated and use a good and up-to-date security program. If you're getting or giving a Netbook or other PC for the holidays, make sure that security software is installed right away. Most security companies offer a free-trial version that will tide you over for a month or so, but be sure to subscribe so you get ongoing protection."

in reference to:

"Shopping online does carry some risk, but so does shopping at brick-and-mortar stores. At least online shoppers don't need to worry about fender-benders in the parking lot, pick pockets at the mall, or getting the flu from all those fellow shoppers. But the nice thing about shopping online is that by following some basic guidelines you can be reasonably sure you'll have a safe experience. Secure your PC: The first thing you need to do is be sure your computer is secure. Trend Micro's education director David Perry, says that "bad guys these days are operating by planting a keylogger on your system that listens in, surreptitiously waiting for you to use your credit card or your bank password so that they can steal your money." So, even if you're dealing with a legitimate merchant, you're at risk if your computer is infected. Your best protection from these attacks is to keep your operating system and browsers updated and use a good and up-to-date security program. If you're getting or giving a Netbook or other PC for the holidays, make sure that security software is installed right away. Most security companies offer a free-trial version that will tide you over for a month or so, but be sure to subscribe so you get ongoing protection."
- Tips for Safe Online Shopping - CBS News (view on Google Sidewiki)

With cancer screenings, 'more is not always better'

"Women across the USA have been shocked and angered by new advice to get fewer mammograms. Yet experts have been debating the risks of mammograms and other cancer screenings for more than a decade.

There's growing evidence that cancer screenings aren't always helpful — and can sometimes be harmful, say Lisa Schwartz and Steve Woloshin of the Veterans Affairs Outcomes Group in White River Junction, Vt. A number of medical groups also have scaled back their cancer screening guidelines:"

in reference to:

"Women across the USA have been shocked and angered by new advice to get fewer mammograms. Yet experts have been debating the risks of mammograms and other cancer screenings for more than a decade. There's growing evidence that cancer screenings aren't always helpful — and can sometimes be harmful, say Lisa Schwartz and Steve Woloshin of the Veterans Affairs Outcomes Group in White River Junction, Vt. A number of medical groups also have scaled back their cancer screening guidelines:"
- With cancer screenings, 'more is not always better' - USATODAY.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Report: FBI paid controversial blogger for help

I'll repeat what I've said before. We need a new agency that is set to fight terrorism, domestic and international. The FBI doesn't know how to fight terrorism. They butcher it every time. Fort Hood is the latest example.

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"A New Jersey blogger about to stand trial on charges he made death threats against federal judges apparently was paid by the FBI in its battle against domestic terrorism, according to a published report. The Record of Bergen Countyreported Sunday that Hal Turner received thousands of dollars from the FBI to report on neo-Nazis and white supremacist groups and was sent undercover to Brazil. Turner also claims the FBI coached him to make racist, anti-Semitic and other threatening statements on his radio show, but the newspaper also found many federal officials were concerned that his audience might follow up on his violence rhetoric. The newspaper reviewed numerous government documents, e-mails, court records and almost 20 hours of jailhouse interviews with Turner. He goes on trial Tuesday in New York, accused of making death threats against three Chicago-based federal appeals judges after saying in Internet postings in June the judges "deserve to be killed" because they had refused to overturn handgun bans in Chicago and suburban Oak Park."
- Report: FBI paid controversial blogger for help - USATODAY.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

4 police officers shot dead at Wash. coffeehouse

This kind of stuff is going on in Mexico.

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"A gunman burst into a coffeehouse Sunday and opened fire on four police officers as they sat working on their laptops, killing the three men and one woman in what an official described as a targeted ambush. Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said officers were looking for one male suspect who fled on foot, but haven't ruled out an accomplice. It wasn't clear whether the officers even had time to draw their weapons to return fire, Troyer said."
- 4 police officers shot dead at Wash. coffeehouse (view on Google Sidewiki)

Rumsfeld decision let Bin Laden escape: Senate report

One of Bush's great failures. But his biggest failure was allowing 9-11 to happen.

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"Osama bin Laden was "within the grasp" of US forces in late 2001 but escaped because then-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld rejected calls for reinforcements, a hard-hitting US Senate report says.The report, set for release Monday, is intended to help learn the lessons of the past as President Barack Obama prepares to announce a major escalation of the conflict, now in its ninth year, with up to 35,000 more US troops.It points the finger directly at Rumsfeld for turning down requests for reinforcements as Bin Laden was trapped in December 2001 in caves and tunnels in a mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan known as Tora Bora."The vast array of American military power, from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of the marine corps and the army, was kept on the sidelines," the report says."Instead, the US command chose to rely on airstrikes and untrained Afghan militias to attack Bin Laden and on Pakistan's loosely organized Frontier Corps to seal his escape routes."Entitled "Tora Bora revisited: how we failed to get Bin Laden and why it matters today," the report -- commissioned by Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- says Bin Laden expected to die and had even written a will."But the Al-Qaeda leader would live to fight another day. Fewer than 100 American commandos were on the scene with their Afghan allies and calls for reinforcements to launch an assault were rejected."Requests were also turned down for US troops to block the mountain paths leading to sanctuary a few miles away in Pakistan."The decision not to deploy American forces to go after Bin Laden or block his escape was made by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his top commander, General Tommy Franks," the report says."On or around December 16, two days after writing his will, Bin Laden and an entourage of bodyguards walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area. Most analysts say he is still there today."Rumsfeld's argument at the time, the report says, was that deploying too many American troops could jeopardize the mission by creating an anti-US backlash among the local populace."
- AFP: Rumsfeld decision let Bin Laden escape: Senate report (view on Google Sidewiki)

1 in 8 Americans on Medicaid

This is what Wall St greed and their servile government wrought.

We need revolutionary change: www.termlim.com

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"It has grown so rapidly in places so diverse that it is becoming nearly as ordinary as the groceries it buys. More than 36 million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples like milk, bread and cheese, swiping them at counters in blighted cities and in suburbs pocked with foreclosure signs.Virtually all have incomes near or below the federal poverty line, but their eclectic ranks testify to the range of people struggling with basic needs. They include single mothers and married couples, the newly jobless and the chronically poor, longtime recipients of welfare checks and workers whose reduced hours or slender wages leave pantries bare.While the numbers have soared during the recession, the path was cleared in better times when the Bush administration led a campaign to erase the program’s stigma, calling food stamps “nutritional aid” instead of welfare, and made it easier to apply. That bipartisan effort capped an extraordinary reversal from the 1990s, when some conservatives tried to abolish the program, Congress enacted large cuts and bureaucratic hurdles chased many needy people away.From the ailing resorts of the Florida Keys to Alaskan villages along the Bering Sea, the program is now expanding at a pace of about 20,000 people a day. There are 239 counties in the United States where at least a quarter of the population receives food stamps, according to an analysis of local data collected by The New York Times."
- The Safety Net - Across U.S., Food Stamp Use Soars and Stigma Fades - Series - NYTimes.com (view on Google Sidewiki)