Part-Time Pundit

TippingPoint: An IPS That Doesn’t Work and Support That’s Even Worse

I recently got some demo equipment from TippingPoint to evaluate at my office, particularly their intrusion prevention system. This device may work for you, it may not, I simply have no idea because I never got a functioning device. The first one they sent out had major packet loss as soon as I turned on the IPS functionalist. After two days the sent out a new one. If that one was even plugged into the network (even in Layer 2 / dumb hub) mode, it dropped all packets.

I’m fair, sometimes things get broken in shipping or maybe you got a bad card but I wasn’t about to give them a third shot. After reporting the second device’s problems it took them a week to get back to me via email to get my address to send out a third device. By then I had already shipped all the devices back. If it takes them a week to get back to me without phone calls to tell me what I already know, it is doubtful that their support is up to par if I ever had a problem when this thing got into production.

It is simply not that hard to do rudimentary testing on a device for problems. Hint: if it drops packets, it’s broken. It’s much less hard for support to give you a courtesy call to let you know they haven’t forgotten about your failed and under-warranty device. In the end, they may write the greatest rules in the world, but their devices (or at least their testing of them) suck and their support is deplorable.

August 11th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Consumer Rants, InfoSec, Reviews, Technology / Internet | no comments

The ACLU and the Overturning of the Constitution

An appeals court has ruled that Arizona citizens can in fact vote on binding propositions. Recently, Proposition 200 was voted on in Arizona which required proof of citizenship to receive government benefits which illegal immigrants are not entitled to under law. The ACLU and the Mexican government argued on behalf of those trying to throw out the proposition. They lost on the appellate level however the promise to appeal “to the Supreme Court and even the UN.”

Skipping past the issue of illegal immigration for a moment, at what point was the Declaration of Dependence signed? When did the constitutionality of Arizona voter propositions become a matter of international “law”? When Americans travel to Europe, they have to pay for health care, why is it all the sudden different when people illegally cross a US boarder that they become de facto citizens entitled to all the benefits including voting? At what point did all local laws and propositions of the United States require approval from the UN General Assembly? The ACLU is trying to overturn a democratically initiated policy by subjecting all US policy decisions to UN deliberation.

Let’s be honest, if you grant welfare and free health care to illegal immigrants you are only encouraging people to come over here and do nothing. It’s one thing to cross the border to work; it’s another to cross the border for free government money. One could see Mexico’s position; they want that money flowing back across the border (as it does) to the family members back home.

The ACLU here is actually arguing that it is illegal to deny government benefits to those who come here illegally. The irony is that in so doing they are only ultimately going to bankrupt that very system by imposing large numbers of people on it and creating a huge incentive for people to cross the border every time they have a cold. If the ACLU doesn’t like the immigration law they should change it and we can have an intelligent discussion on that issue. What is unacceptable is arguing that US sovereignty has been abolished by the World Court.

International “Law” was never meant to impose domestic policy on sovereign nations, but the ACLU is looking to impose these very standards on the US because they can’t win at the polls. The voters have spoken and the ACLU is attacking democracy in response out of an apparent contempt for the people who want their laws enforced.

In effect, they are trying to rewrite the Preamble of the Constitution as follows:

We the Elite of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Bureaucracy, establish Secular Humanism, insure global Tranquility by silencing hate speech, provide for the common defense if that’s of with France, demote the Welfare of those we consider privileged while securing our own wealth, and secure the Benefits of Socialism for ourselves because there will be no posterity, do impose and establish this Living Constitution for the United States of America, so help us Kofi Annan.

See other posts on the ACLU at StoptheACLU

Also see the latest at OTB

August 11th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Law / Legal Issues, StoptheACLU | 4 comments

I was Wrong About NARAL & Planned Parenthood

I’m probably one of the few bloggers on the net that will admit when he was wrong, and I was wrong about Planned Parenthood and NARAL, and in general the Left as a whole. To lie requires intent. When they said John Roberts supports clinic bombers and extremists they did not intend to deceive. They sincerely believe that anyone against abortion is ipso facto a clinic bomber, terrorist, and extremist. They aren’t lying because they believe if you are against abortion, you are an extreme terrorist.

Even though poll, after poll, after poll, after poll say that the majority or near a majority are pro-life, they continue to label anyone pro-life as extreme. Anyone who dares speaks out against abortion is a clinic bomber to them and they consider any form of picketing as a form of violence and constitute criminal activity on par with the Mafia or the Klan.

While they believe violence against clinics is evil, they celebrate violence against non-violent protestors. Even the implication of violence against abortion providers must be stopped. (Hint: Any pro-life group that felt threatened by PP’s cartoon can just take the lawsuit against the Nuremberg Files, change the name, and re-file it). They insist they are trying to protect minors but they protect them against having their child rapist boyfriends arrested for their crimes.

So in the end, they aren’t lying. They sincerely believe in what they are saying. The problem is that their sense of reality is gone. The next time someone talks to you about the “divisiveness” in American politics, point them Left. It wasn’t the GOP that brackets out ideas and groups as unacceptable.

BNN Link

August 11th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | National, Pro-Life | 3 comments

Blocking Trackback Spam

I finally found something that seems to work decent that doesn’t block everyone but manages to get all the annoying texas hold-em and viagra trackback spam.

You can see it here, works only with Movable Type though.

August 11th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Blogging | no comments