Monthly Archives: November 2011
Seven-Year-Old Indian Girl Weeps Stones
Meet The Seven-Year-Old Indian Girl Who Weeps Stones – Realbollywood
Doctors in India were dumbfounded when they discovered that a 7-year-old girl wept stones, and are clueless as to what may be causing the phenomenon.
According to local newspaper Tamil Nesan, Kura Nitya from a village near Hyderabad has been discharging stones from her right eye for the past 15 days.
She has been weeping about 12 to 25 stones a day.
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Her parents have approached several ophthalmologists, who were unable to diagnose what was causing the problem.
Her grandfather Gopal Reddy said that the stones began popping out on Oct 26.
“Initially, we thought it was some divine power and prayed to God for this phenomenon to stop,” the Star Online quoted Reddy as saying.
They kept the stones for medical tests.
Nitya said the lower portion of her right eye swelled minutes before the stones painlessly popped out.
Ophthalmologist Dr Kalyan Chakaravarthy said Nitya was medically fit and there was no logical reason for the phenomenon.
Idiots Busted For Cocaine Possession After Calling 911 67 Times For No Apparent Reason
Idiots Busted For Cocaine Possession After Calling 911 67 Times For No Apparent Reason – Weekly Vice
Bonnie Martinez, 36, and Clarence McDonald, 37, were jailed Tuesday after calling 911 67 times in a two-hour period for no apparent reason. Deputies pulled them over a short time later and made an arrest on cocaine charges.
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According to the Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office, Bonnie Martinez was driving a vehicle with McDonald as her passenger when McDonald called 911 and told the emergency dispatcher that he was being chased and shot at.
Investigators say McDonald was vague about his location and then hung up within a matter of seconds. He then proceeded to call 911 another 66 times – and in each instance hung up on operators within 30 seconds. During one of the calls, McDonald gave a brief description of the car he was riding in.
In response, deputies launched several patrol cars and a Sheriffs Office Air Service helicopter to help track down the would-be victim.
Sheriff’s deputies finally spotted McDonald at around midnight and pulled the vehicle over. McDonald was not found to be in danger, and he didn’t provide a viable reason for his repeated calls.
Deputies did, however, find cocaine inside the vehicle, which belonged to Martinez.
McDonald was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail on a charge of misuse of 911. Martinez was charged with cocaine possession.
Spanish Conservatives Declare Landslide Victory In General Election
Spanish Conservatives Declare Landslide Victory In General Election – Daily Mail
Spain’s opposition conservative Popular Party was last night set for a landslide victory in the general election, according to close of polling predictions.
Mariano Rajoy’s centre-right party was forecast to get an overall majority, with between 181 and 185 seats in the 350-seat Congress and more than 43 per cent of the vote.
The out-going socialists last night conceded defeat.
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Mariano Rajoy waves to supporters next to his wife Elvira Fernandez (left) and his party’s General Secretary Maria Dolores de Cospedal (right) from the balcony of the Popular Party headquarters in Madrid after the first results were announced
They were predicted to get their worst results in more than three decades of democracy since the death of dictator General Franco exactly 36 years ago yesterday.
They were forecast to win just 30 per cent of the vote, and between 115 and 119 seats, based on the response of voters questioned as they left polling stations.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had become so unpopular he did not stand at this election.
His chosen successor, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, had virtually given up on positive campaigning in the weeks before the election, instead warning of the dangers of an over-powerful rightist government.
Spanish voters have shifted as the country faces an economic crisis that threatens to see it follow Greece, Portugal and Ireland in needing international rescue.
Mr Rajoy, 56, had failed to lead his party to victory at elections in 2004 and 2008.
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……………Mr Rajoy is seen on a TV screen as supporters celebrate in Madrid after winning the election
And the predicted win in this election is all the more surprising given that he declined throughout the campaign to give any outline of what measures he will take to try to get Spain out of its worst economic crisis in three decades.
He ran with the slogan ‘vote for change’, but the only firm commitment he made was that pensions will not be hit.
Critics claimed that behind his refusal to be drawn on what the solution will be to the crisis that threatens to push Spain over the edge to follow Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Italy, was the necessity to take a stream of belt-tightening measures.
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………………Scenes of jubilation in Madrid after it became clear Rajoy would be Spain’s next leader
These would be so severe that virtually no one would have voted for him if he were to reveal them in advance.
Prime Minister David Cameron last night called Mr Rajoy to congratulate him.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: ‘The Prime Minister spoke to Mariano Rajoy at 9pm, congratulating him on the performance of the Partido Popular (Popular Party) in the Spanish election, and on winning a crucial argument at a vital time for Spain and Europe.
‘The Prime Minister said he looked forward to working closely with the new Spanish government.’
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……………………Vote Popular: Spaniards mark their ballot papers at a polling station in Madrid
‘Today the nightmare is over,’ the right-wing Gaceta newspaper said in an optimistic front-page headline.
The Vanguardia newspaper alluded to Spain’s precarious position in the wider euro zone crisis with ‘Europe is watching us,’ as it’s main headline.
The victory started looking likely earlier tonight as the opposition conservatives scored a landslide win to oust the ruling Socialists in an exit poll.
The TNS-Demoscopia survey carried out by Spain’s state-run television showed the PP obtained between 181 and 185 seats, compared to 154 in the last legislature. A majority in the 350-seat lower chamber is 176.
The Socialists, saddled by a stagnant economy and a 21.5 per cent unemployment rate, plummeted from 169 seats to between 115 and 119 seats, according to the poll, which gave no margin of error.
A mood of gloom and resignation had dominated the day as people went to the polls against a background of soaring unemployment, cuts in public spending and a debt crisis that has put Spain in the front line of the euro zone’s fight for survival.
Voters are angry with the Socialists for failing to act swiftly to prevent the slide in the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy and then for bringing in austerity measures that have cut wages, benefits and jobs.
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Time for change: Gabriel Chaparro, wearing a traditional Basque beret, votes in the small town of Alsasua, near the Basque Country, northern Spain
People now seem resigned to further slashes in spending on health and education in the midst of a European debt crisis that has toppled the governments of Ireland, Portugal, Greece and Italy and pushed Spain’s borrowing costs ever higher.
Retired, Juan Costas, 73, said voted for the PP although in the past has sometimes voted socialist.
He said: ‘At least we’ll see a change in stance.
‘They (the PP) seem more technical to me, it seems they understand the situation better and are more serious than the guys we have now’.
The conservatives won 43.5 per cent of the votes while the Socialists took 30 per cent, the poll said.
The Socialists won by about four points in the last election in 2008.
The numbers suggest Spanish voters have shifted to the right as they confront their worst economic crisis in decades and look to new leaders to pull them out of it.
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…Democracy: Two elderly women holding their ballot papers walk towards a polling station to cast their vote
The country is also at the forefront of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.
The Spanish government’s borrowing costs rose to levels near where other eurozone countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal had to request huge bailouts from the European Union and the IMF.
Pre-election polls had pointed to a crushing win for the conservatives, with Spanish voters expected to punish the Socialists for a jobless rate that the government itself has said will take years to chip back.
As the country’s new prime minister, Rajoy will be faced with the daunting challenge of resurrecting an economy that posted no growth in the third quarter of this year.
It will also mean having to address Spanish commitments to the EU on deficit-reduction with tax rises or spending cuts without jeopardising prospects for desperately needed economic expansion.
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………………………………………..A ballot box to collect the votes of Spanish senators
Socialist party spokeswoman Elena Valenciano said her party was awaiting official results but she seemed resigned to a defeat saying turnout was about 70 per cent, compared to 74 percent in 2008.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero decided against running for a third term as his approval ratings sank.
The Socialists chose veteran politician Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba as their leader for the campaign, but he struggled to differentiate himself from Zapatero, since he served in his cabinet for years.
Spain joined the euro in 1999 and enjoyed years of prosperity and a property boom driven by cheap credit.
When the market crashed in 2007 the government, companies and consumers all found themselves over their heads in debt.
The austerity measures, along with bail-outs and forced re-capitalisation of banks, have succeeded so far in keeping the country from an international rescue.
Occupy Milwaukee Commits ‘Recall Walker’ Fraud, Gives Kids Cigs For Their Sig (Video)
Caught on tape…
The Obama-endorsed Occupy Milwaukee goons were caught giving children cigarettes in exchange for their signature to recall Governor Scott Walker.
You can hear them chanting “We are the 99%” as they commit recall fraud.
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This video and pictures were collected on the corner of 7th and North Ave. in Milwaukee during the “Occupy Milwaukee” protest/takeover of the bridge. These appear to be children under the age of 18. They were also given cigarettes in exchange for their signatures. They were asked if it would be OK to contact them to enlist their help in getting signatures from their friends.
Daily Benefactor News – Moronic EU Officials Ban Claim That Water Can Prevent Dehydration
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Moronic EU Officials Ban Claim That Water Can Prevent Dehydration – London Telegraph
Moronic EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact.
Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month.
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Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large.
“The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials worrying about the obvious qualities of water and trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true.
“If ever there were an episode which demonstrates the folly of the great European project then this is it.”
NHS health guidelines state clearly that drinking water helps avoid dehydration, and that Britons should drink at least 1.2 litres per day.
The Department for Health disputed the wisdom of the new law. A spokesman said: “Of course water hydrates. While we support the EU in preventing false claims about products, we need to exercise common sense as far as possible.”
German professors Dr Andreas Hahn and Dr Moritz Hagenmeyer, who advise food manufacturers on how to advertise their products, asked the European Commission if the claim could be made on labels.
They compiled what they assumed was an uncontroversial statement in order to test new laws which allow products to claim they can reduce the risk of disease, subject to EU approval.
They applied for the right to state that “regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce the risk of development of dehydration” as well as preventing a decrease in performance.
However, last February, the European Food Standards Authority (EFSA) refused to approve the statement.
A meeting of 21 scientists in Parma, Italy, concluded that reduced water content in the body was a symptom of dehydration and not something that drinking water could subsequently control.
Now the EFSA verdict has been turned into an EU directive which was issued on Wednesday.
Ukip MEP Paul Nuttall said the ruling made the bendy banana law look “positively sane”.
He said: “I had to read this four or five times before I believed it. It is a perfect example of what Brussels does best. Spend three years, with 20 separate pieces of correspondence before summoning 21 professors to Parma where they decide with great solemnity that drinking water cannot be sold as a way to combat dehydration.
“Then they make this judgment law and make it clear that if anybody dares sell water claiming that it is effective against dehydration they could get into serious legal bother.”
EU regulations, which aim to uphold food standards across member states, are frequently criticised.
Rules banning bent bananas and curved cucumbers were scrapped in 2008 after causing international ridicule.
Prof Hahn, from the Institute for Food Science and Human Nutrition at Hanover Leibniz University, said the European Commission had made another mistake with its latest ruling.
“What is our reaction to the outcome? Let us put it this way: We are neither surprised nor delighted.
“The European Commission is wrong; it should have authorised the claim. That should be more than clear to anyone who has consumed water in the past, and who has not? We fear there is something wrong in the state of Europe.”
Prof Brian Ratcliffe, spokesman for the Nutrition Society, said dehydration was usually caused by a clinical condition and that one could remain adequately hydrated without drinking water.
He said: “The EU is saying that this does not reduce the risk of dehydration and that is correct.
“This claim is trying to imply that there is something special about bottled water which is not a reasonable claim.”
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Your Sunday reach-a round linkfest, the politics and babes edition-Updated all day so check back
Say Anything kicks things off with a much-needed look at Newt’s “Conservative” record
Dustbury has Ashleigh Ball
Sister Toldjhah calls BS on the OWS and Tea Party are the same So does Verum Serum
Big Government features photos of Michael Moore’s vacation mansion Gee, that whole evil Capitalism things seems to be working out for Moore after all.
William Jacobson: Boy, those stimulus funds really f’ed up our sidewalks!
John Lott:Team Obama giving new meaning to Friends With Benfits
That Robot Dude has an ugly site Obama’s numbers!
Wizbang: Some fat cats are better than others
Aleister is liking Gingrich
Weasel Zippers: John Bolton advising Rick Perry
Bob Belvedere’s Rule 5 done right!
The Eye features Summer Glau
The Feral Irishman hates alarm clocks, but MAN, look at those girls
The Full Metal Patriot likes girls with tats
Guns and Bikinis LOVES Girl Friday
OK, I see, Hookers AND Booze!
Jake Finnegan features Rachel McAdams, who is quite lovely
Maggie has the Top Ten hottest blondes
Pitsnipes shares my love of Asian women
Randy: Ecocrites!
RRR has Miss China
Proof Positive has a very dirty girl
Wyatt has the hots for Rosie? No, not THAT Rosie
The Last Tradition has Emily Scott
Chris: Obama screwed up Turkey Day too!
Hell on Earth provides us with a scorching redhead, Kimberly Phillips
The Lonely Conservative notes that the First Lady might be a tad out of touch with NASCAR fans
Trog keeps trying to motivate us
Death panels? Zion’s Trumpet has some bad news about those
Kurt wants a word with another Leftists professor
Adrienne is bragging
Duane offers up links and music
Robert: The worst book EVAH!
Donald Douglas: That Super Committee equals Super Suckage!
An Old Broad has some great links worth perusing
Dave C: The Rant of the Day!
The Backyard Conservative is still undecided
The Blogmocracy has a test for you
Cold Fury mourns the Constitution
Matt: Join the 99% or else?
Doug Powers: Oh of COURSE!
Gateway Pundit: Occupy Protester Busted With Handgun & Ammo in Rented Truck
Government Mess: Allen West!
Grandpa John finds the Missing Link
JWF Now THAT is a doll
Steve: Windmills suck!
William Teach: Blogless Sunday Pin up time!
Another addition to our Blogroll
POH Diaries: It has come to this?
Jill: Steyn on Penn State
Sentry Journal has LINKS!
How come Pat never invites me on these trips?
Mr G Guy? He is traveling too
The Classic Liberal combines politics AND a hot woman!
*VIDEO* Complete Thanksgiving Family Forum GOP Primary Debate – 11/19/11
Click on the image above to watch the video.
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Even Joe Biden is sharper than the idiots running the E.U.!
Oh dear, I think we have a new low in the Pit of Eternal Stupidity!
Brussels bureaucrats were ridiculed yesterday after banning drink manufacturers from claiming that water can prevent dehydration.
Wow! I did not think that such stupidity was even possible, but, I guess it proves that the Left is actually devolving.
Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month.
Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large.
Ukip MEP Paul Nuttall said the ruling made the “bendy banana law” look “positively sane”.
He said: “I had to read this four or five times before I believed it. It is a perfect example of what Brussels does best. Spend three years, with20 separate pieces of correspondence before summoning 21 professors to Parma where they decide with great solemnity that drinking water cannot be sold as a way to combat dehydration.
“Then they make this judgment law and make it clear that if anybody dares sell water claiming that it is effective against dehydration they could get into serious legal bother.
EU regulations, which aim to uphold food standards across member states, are frequently criticised.
Rules banning bent bananas and curved cucumbers were scrapped in 2008 after causing international ridicule.
U.S. Army Tests Hypersonic Weapon That Travels Five Times The Speed Of Sound And Can Hit Any Target On Earth In 30 Minutes
A hypersonic flying missile that can strike a target anywhere in the world in just 30 minutes has been unveiled by the U.S. military.
The Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW), which travels five times the speed of sound, was successfully tested yesterday.
It was launched by rocket from Hawaii at 11.30am, glided south westwards through the upper atmosphere over the Pacific at ‘hypersonic speed’ before hitting its target on the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands – some 2,500 miles away.
It comes hot on the heels of the U.S. Air Force announcement that it has taken delivery of eight, 15-ton bunker buster bombs, called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, that can blow apart 200ft of concrete.
And if it is rolled out by the U.S. military, it will mean America will no longer have to rely on stationing missiles in foreign countries.
The Pentagon did not reveal how fast the AHW, which unlike traditional ballistic missiles can be manoeuvred, reached.
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Zeroed in: The weapon, which could look similar to this Falcon HTV-2, left, was fired from Hawaii, glided south westwards through the upper atmosphere over the Pacific at ‘hypersonic speed’ before hitting its target on the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands – some 2,500 miles away
Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Melinda Morgan said the test was aimed at gathering data on ‘aerodynamics, navigation, guidance and control, and thermal protection technologies’.
The U.S. Army’s AHW project is part of the ‘Prompt Global Strike’ programme.
It seeks to give the U.S. military the means to deliver conventional weapons anywhere in the world within an hour.
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Project: The Pentagon test flew another hypersonic glider, dubbed HTV-2, earlier this year, which is capable of flying 16,776 miles per hour
Scientists classify hypersonic speeds as those that exceed Mach 5 – or five times the speed of sound – 3,728 miles per hour.
On August 11, the Pentagon test flew another hypersonic glider dubbed HTV-2, which is capable of flying 16,776 miles per hour. But it was a failure.
The AHW’s range is less than that of the HTV-2, the Congressional Research Service said in a report, without providing specifics.
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……………….Threat: USAF specialists stand under a mock-up of the new bunker busting Big Blu
Despite half the circumference of the earth at the equator measuring 12,450 miles, the maximum distance travelled by the AHW will be significantly less, as it will follow a trajectory rising into the upper atmosphere before making its descent.
The Pentagon has invested $239.9 million in the Global Strike program this year, including $69 million for the flying bomb tested yesterday, CRS said.
The news comes the day after the USAF revealed it would now be using the 15-ton bunker busting Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs.
B-2 Stealth Bombers will use the six metre long GPS guided rocket, dubbed the Big Blu and fitted with 2.5 tons of explosives, to smash open underground bunkers and tunnels suspected of containing weapons of mass destruction.
The delivery of the super bomb, and testing of the AHW, is in the same week U.S. President Barack Obama said America would act firmly against any nuclear proliferation activities by North Korea.
And it comes as an International Atomic Energy Agency report renewed calls for a pre-emptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Outrage!… St. Louis Mayor’s Office Lashes Out At Tea Party After Sexual Assault Is Reported At Occupy St. Louis Squatters Camp
What a pig.
Earlier today it was reported that a woman was sexually assaulted at the #Occupy St. Louis squatters camp earlier this month. The news only broke today after it was reported first by two local bloggers.
Later today in an interview with KMOV TV, the mayor’s Chief of Staff Jeff Rainford commented on the assault by lashing out at the tea party. He also called St. Louis Police Sgt. Gary Wiegert, the officer who broke the story, an extremist.
Outrageous!
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Man arrested for sexually assaulting woman at OccupySTL encampment
A 20-year-old woman participating in the OccupySTL protest reported to police that a man sexually assaulted her while she was in her tent on November 8, three days before tents were removed by the city. view full article
Jeff Rainford also told reporters that St. Louis did not have problems with the far left #Occupy squatters like other cities. Well, except for yesterday.
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Occupy St. Louis protesters broke into the Municipal Courts Building and hung “occupy everything” banners from the upper floors. (FOX2)
Then later the #Occupy goons shut down rush hour traffic on the Martin Luther King Bridge to Illinois.
New Baby Doll Says “Hey, Crazy Bitch”
New Baby Doll Says ‘Hey, Crazy Bitch’ – WKMG
Nationally sold baby dolls are causing a controversy because some say the toys utter a bad word.
The “You & Me Interactive Triplets,” which are being sold at Toys R Us stores in Orlando, are causing the uproar because one of the dolls can be heard saying what appears to be the phrase, “Hey, crazy bitch.”
“Oh, absolutely. She’s calling them a crazy bitch,” Kathy Wetter said.
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The dolls are recommended for children ages 2 and older, and there is no warning of explicit language on the packaging.
Toys R Us said it has received a number of complaints about the doll but added that the doll is just making baby talk.
A mother told Local 6 News that she’s worried her son might say the bad word.
“I don’t want him repeating what’s on there,” she said.
Toys R Us said it has no plans to take the doll off its shelves, but told Local 6 News that it would allow customers to return the toy with a reciept, if they find it offensive.
“I think they should be burned, and I would like to write the (toy maker) a letter,” another woman said.
Daily Benefactor News – Foreign Hackers Gain Remote Access To Illinois Water Plant Control System, Destroy Pump
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Foreign Hackers Gain Remote Access To Illinois Water Plant Control System, Destroy Pump – Wired
Hackers gained remote access into the control system of the city water utility in Springfield, Illinois, and destroyed a pump last week, according to a report released by a state fusion center and obtained by a security expert.
The hackers were discovered on Nov. 8 when a water district employee noticed problems in the city’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA). The system kept turning on and off, resulting in the burnout of a water pump.
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Forensic evidence indicates that the hackers may have been in the system as early as September, according to the “Public Water District Cyber Intrusion” report, released by the Illinois Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center on Nov. 10.
The intruders launched their attack from IP addresses based in Russia and gained access by first hacking into the network of a software vendor that makes the SCADA system used by the utility. The hackers stole usernames and passwords that the vendor maintained for its customers, and then used those credentials to gain remote access to the utility s network.
The theft of credentials raises the possibility that other customers using the vendor’s SCADA system may be targeted as well.
“It is unknown, at this time, the number of SCADA usernames and passwords acquired from the software company’s database and if any additional SCADA systems have been attacked as a result of this theft,” the report states, according to Joe Weiss, managing partner of Applied Control Solutions, who obtained a copy of the document and read it to Threat Level.
Control system software vendors often have remote access to customer systems in order to provide maintenance and upgrades to the systems. But this provides a backdoor for intruders to exploit. This is how a Romanian hacker obtained access into restaurant credit card processing systems in the U.S. a few years ago. The point-of-sale systems in several states were installed by a single company, which maintained default usernames and passwords for remote access into the systems that the hacker was able to use to breach them.
In the case of the utility company hack, the fusion report indicates that for two to three months prior to the discovery, operators at the utility noticed “glitches” in the remote access for the SCADA system. The report doesn’t indicate the nature of the glitches, but could refer to problems that legitimate users experienced trying to gain remote access into the system during the time the intruders were using log-in credentials.
“They just figured it’s part of the normal instability of the system,” Weiss told Wired.com. “But it wasn’t until the SCADA system actually turned on and off that they realized something was wrong.”
The fusion report indicates that the SCADA software vendor that was initially hacked prior to the utility company’s compromise is located in the U.S., but Weiss declined to name the city until it’s known which vendor was hacked.
“One thing that is important to find out is whose SCADA system this is,” Weiss said. “If this is a [big software vendor], this could be so ugly, because a biggie would have not only systems in water utilities but a biggie could even be [used] in nukes.”
Weiss initially published details from the report on his blog. He expressed frustration that the information apparently hadn’t been released to other water utilities so they could be on the lookout for similar attacks, complaining that he could find no evidence of the information in reports distributed by the Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control System-Cyber Emergency Response Team or other government and industry security lists. “Consequently, none of the water utilities I have spoken to were aware of it,” he wrote.
“There very easily could be other utilities as we speak who have their networks compromised,” he said. “This is unconscionable.”
The report didn’t name the utility company that was attacked or the software vendor that was initially hacked, but the DHS, after queries from reporters, identified the location of the utility company as Springfield, Illinois. City Water, Light and Power supplies utility services to that municipality. A spokeswoman for City Water, Light and Power said the incident did not occur at their utility and suggested it occurred at systems belonging to the Curran-Gardner Township Public Water District.
A woman who answered the phone at Curran-Gardner Friday morning, who would not give her name, said, “I cannot discuss it, and the manager is on vacation,” before hanging up.
A spokesman for Curran-Gardner later reportedly acknowledged that the burnout occurred with a well pump at its plant that services about 2,200 customers outside of Springfield.
“Whether the burnout of that pump was related to this what might or might not have been a hacking, we don’t know,” Don Craven, a water district trustee, told the local State Journal-Register newspaper. “From what we can tell at this point, this is one pump. The water district is up and running and things are fine.”
The DHS statement downplayed the severity of the incident.
“DHS and the FBI are gathering facts surrounding the report of a water pump failure in Springfield, Illinois,” according to a statement released by DHS spokesman Peter Boogaard. “At this time there is no credible corroborated data that indicates a risk to critical infrastructure entities or a threat to public safety.”
The fusion report indicated that the hack into the utility system shared a similarity to a recent hack into an MIT server last June that was used to launch attacks on other systems. In both cases, the intrusions involved PHPMyAdmin, a front-end tool used to manage databases. The MIT server was used to search for systems that were using vulnerable versions of PHPMyAdmin that could then be attacked. In the case of the water utility in Illinois, the fusion report said that the company’s log files contained references to PHPMyAdmin, but didn’t elaborate.
The hack of the SCADA system is the first breach of an industrial control system reported since the Stuxnet worm was found on systems in Iran and elsewhere last year. Stuxnet was the first known digital attack designed to target an industrial control system in order to cause physical damage. In the case of Stuxnet, the worm was designed to commandeer an industrial control system used at a uranium enrichment plant in Iran in order to periodically increase and decrease the speed of centrifuges used to enrich uranium and destroy the devices.
Weiss and other industrial control system experts warned last year that similar attacks would soon begin to target other industrial control systems in the U.S. and elsewhere. But no attacks had materialized – or at least been made public – until now.
“Everybody keeps asking how come you don’t see attacks on SCADA systems? Well, here it is guys,” Weiss said.
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THE DAILY BENEFACTOR now provides you with a large selection of NEWS WIDGETS containing RSS feeds from the most comprehensive news sources on the internet, such as THE DRUDGE REPORT, GATEWAY PUNDIT, THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER, WORLDNETDAILY, POLITICO, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, CNS, MICHELLE MALKIN, BREITBART, and THE JERUSALEM POST. Check them out!
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*AUDIO* Mark Levin: Podcasts For Week Ending 11/18/11
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http://www.marklevinshow.com
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*AUDIO* Joe Pags: Podcasts For Week Ending 11/18/11
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Nationalized child care? Nancy Pelosi is already thinking about that
The Nanny Statists like Pelosi would dearly LOVE for every kid to be raised by the government, the first step in such a plan? Nationalized day care!
Nancy Pelosi is hoping to regain her post as Speaker of the House and nationalize child care. I kid you not, she said that she’d like to do for child care what they did for health care. Apparently, she didn’t like being stuck at home with her children when they were little.
Last week, the California congresswoman hit five cities in five days, barnstorming for money to try to win the 25 more seats it would take to regain control. And if that happens — or when, according to her — at the top of her to-do list, she says, will be “doing for child care what we did for health-care reform” — pushing comprehensive change. …
Of the need for child-care legislation, she says, “I could never get a babysitter — have five kids in six years and no one wants to come to your house. . . . And everywhere I go, women say the same thing” about how hard it is to find the kind of reliable care that would make their family lives calmer and work lives more productive. When it comes to “unleashing women” in a way that would boost the economy, she says, “this is a missing link.”
Congress did pass such a bill, in 1971, but President Richard M. Nixon vetoed it because he thought it would undermine families and force them to put children in government-run centers.
Good grief, as if the government doesn’t already have undue influence over our children.
Government schools now teach our kids from age 5 thru 18, and you could make the 5-22 if every kid went to “free college”, a plan Democrats keep hinting at. What is next? Mandatory K-4, K-3, K-2, or how about the government just takes or baby at birth, you know, to achieve some common good? Can’t happen? You better think again
Gatordoug
darcprynce
Dave C
