House of Eratosthenes

Second, I’m inspired to recall a rather lengthy discussion that took place, of all places, here at The Blog That Nobody Reads. The subject was Barack Obama’s less-than-inspired comments about lipsticks and pigs and newspapers and fish and I had the feeling at the time it would be revisited. Blogger friend Buck’s scolding comments looked reasonable, in their own way, to me from the very beginning:

The Republicans, OTOH, make me frickin’ SICK by assuming the mantle of The Perpetually Offended. That’s the LEFT’S schtik… and a sorry one it is and always has been. To watch the McCain campaign play this game turns my stomach. Besides that… Palin has ZERO need for a frickin brigade of White Knights riding to her defense…damsel-in-distress style. That woman can more than take care of herself, so let her do it. If she chooses to.

The Left was doing a wonderful job of imploding, and then WE come along and help them recover with this idiotic and dumbass move.

Way to go, McCain campaign. And shame on all you that have bought into it.

I steered the discussion away from this, because I was not (and am not) familiar with whatever righteous indignation might have been radiating from McCain HQ. I don’t give a rat’s ass, because I don’t believe in noble, decent public servants. I think they’re all scumbags.

Well, I don’t think that. But I think that’s what we should be presuming, when we cast votes. Trying to figure out who’s pure-of-heart is a Dickensian game…a sucker’s game. It’s Washington, DC. I believe in the power of the beltway crowd to go to bed on Sunday Night as Dr. Henry Jekyll and wake up on Monday as Edward freakin’ Hyde.

But Buck’s sentiments do have merit in places. Like right here. I’m humming his tune, as the right-wing blogomaniacs go into meltdown and “How *dare* you pry into her e-mail??” It’s probably technically illegal. But if she’s transacting state business on a Yahoo account, in violation of policy and in an effort to get around an investigation, that’s much worse.

And that brings me to the third point. And on this point, rubico speaks for me (although I’m inclined to believe the fellow is a likable dumbass):

I read though the emails… ALL OF THEM… before I posted, and what I concluded was anticlimactic, there was nothing there, nothing incriminating, nothing that would derail her campaign as I had hoped, all I saw was personal stuff, some clerical stuff from when she was governor…. And pictures of her family

The most incriminating thing I saw was something where she was bitching at somebody about some guy. I’ve spent a few years in network security, getting my career more firmly wrapped around policy & procedure stuff than around my technical stock-in-trade…which is a completely different story entirely…

Language Advisory …but the point of it is, I do have some understanding of company policies about using business e-mail for business stuff and personal e-mail for personal stuff. I’ve written and edited those policies. This most incriminating tidbit selected from all the Palin e-mail evidence pile I was shown — would fall squarely into the “personal” category (so long as it kept a lid on confidential information, which certainly seemed to be the case). In a nutshell, based on the information that came my way, and I did open Pandora’s box and inspect the contents as best I could…she’s clean.

I have invited left-wingers to float me some examples. They are the “reality based community,” after all. And you haven’t long to wait, when you go looking for some of them to fling their spittle around about what an OUTRAGE!!!! it is that the Governor of Alaska is using Yahoo for government business. I’ve been challenging them to choose, for me, the one single most glaring example of Palin using personal e-mail for business. Preferably, with the effect, intentional or otherwise, of getting around this investigation I keep hearing about.

So far, they haven’t given me squat. It isn’t hard to figure out why. They don’t have it.

That’s not hard to guess. That’s usually the case when lefties are acting OUTRAGED!!!! about something. If the facts are on your side, pound the facts, if the law’s on your side, pound the law. If neither one is on your side, pound the table.

Fourth: Why do I think Rubico is a likable dumbass? Because of this:

…and it finally set in, THIS internet was serious business, yes I was behind a proxy, only one, if this shit ever got to the FBI I was fucked, I panicked, i still wanted the stuff out there but I didn’t know how to rapidshit all that stuff, so I posted the pass on /b/, and then promptly deleted everything, and unplugged my internet and just sat there in a comatose state

Fifth: This “white knight fucker,” likable or not, is an even bigger dumbass.

The “white knight fucker” was the /b/tard who thought that going through Sarah Palin’s email wasn’t cool. He logged in, changed the password, and sent an email to a friend of Palin’s warning her and letting her know the new password. Unfortunately, he then posted a screenshot of this email to let the other /b/tards know their fun was over. He failed to blank the password, and they all tried to log in and change the password — which tripped the automated Yahoo! freeze.

I LOL’d. Really, I did.

Sixth: I must give high marks to the link you find above, from which these excerpts are taken. It’s Michelle Malkin’s site, and it lays to rest an awful lot of rumors that have been floating around about this, which never did make too much sense, with some rational explanations that do.

Here’s the short version: there is a site called 4chan.org. It is an image posting site based on a popular Japanese site. The site contains multiple boards, each of which is dedicated to a particular subject. The most notorious of these boards is called /b/. /b/ is the board dedicated to random images. /b/tards, as its denizens are called, are interested only in their own amusement. Their sense of humor runs the gamut from sick to cruel to merely strange. Lolcats, as made famous by http://www.icanhascheezburger.com, originated on /b/. A lot of memes start there. There is a lot of racist humor — pictures of excited and happy black people in proximity to fried chicken abound. There is a lot of pornography. Sometimes it’s child pornography, although posting that is moderator grounds for banning — no, it’s not a pedophile ring; /b/tards post it because they think doing so is funny.

4chan does not log participants. Most people don’t use or have usernames, and post instead as “Anonymous.” And every so often, a number of /b/’s anonymous denizens decide to make somebody’s life hell. Sometimes it’s a random person who offends /b/’s sense of propriety. Sometimes it’s a forum dedicated to a serious topic. Sometimes it’s Scientology. And Tuesday, it was Sarah Palin. Or it would have been.

Sarah Palin’s email account was hacked by one person. Not a group.

This person read her emails, then posted the username and password on /b/. This happened at about 4 in the morning on Tuesday. The idea was that the sea of Anonymous /b/tards would download the emails, upload porn, and cause all manner of mischief. Anonymous is not a group of hackers. Anonymous is more like gremlins. They are hyperactive adolescents in search of amusement and joy, which they often get by upsetting people and making messes. That’s what was happening here. Anonymous did not hack the account. A hacker tried to throw Sarah Palin to Anonymous. Not all of Anonymous was having it. One person threw a crowbar in the works. Other /b/tards were displeased to miss a chance at the lulz. The moderators stepped in. The thread was deleted.

Later, other individuals created threads reposting screencaps of emails and the inbox, and put together a collection of these files. All mentions of these were purged by the moderators. So then some bright /b/tards decided to email what little stuff they had to the media.

That’s pretty much it.

Wow. Just. Flippin’. Wow.

Some people are real … turds. I’m sorry. There’s just no way around that.

Of those turds that vote in our elections, I’m gonna guess most of them have donkey brains. If they can put their iPhones or laptops down and get off of Mommy’s couch and brave the sunshine.
- philmon | 09/18/2008 @ 23:26
Thanks for the quote, Morgan. I’m honored. Really.

I read all the stuff yesterday you’ve linked and quoted. And my reax were pretty much identical to yours. Not surprising, given our backgrounds and such.
- Buck | 09/19/2008 @ 18:20

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On Palin’s E-MailThursday, September 18th, 2008

On Palin’s E-Mail
Thursday, September 18th, 2008