Manny's toast, Heather and Pete ain't doing so hot either!

Earlier today what's left of the Federal Prosecutors Office here in Albuquerque released the indictments that Heather and Pete so badly wanted to be released before last November's election.

Currently, the best summary of this is by Heath Haussamen.

Turns out that they finally nailed the poster boy of sleaze in New Mexico Democratic Party Politics - Manny Aragon. Frankly no one in the state is surprised, the bigger question is why it took so long to nab him. Moreover, it turns out that its somewhat a bipartisan crime scene as another one of the folks nailed is a former Republican Mayor of Albuquerque.

Is this what Pete and Heather were screaming for? Really it is kind'a anticlimatic - who in NM is surprised that Senator Wackenhut is headed to the pokey? It ain't news when you find a rat in the sewer!

In no small way this venerates Iglesias. Since the Albuquerque Journal has done its best to slime him in order to absolve Pete Domenici, a.k.a Saint Pete, it will be interesting to see if they continue their series of attack "articles" on "the real issues that lead to his firing".

Beware the Marty Party!

The Bernalillo County Ward elections have occurred. One thing is clear, Robert Aragon, a candidate for Chair of the Bernalillo Democratic Party, is part of Mayor Marty's team. I got a personal taste of how Marty & Company (MartCo) works last Thursday night and needless to say they wouldn't have bothered grabbing Ward and Precinct chairs and the votes that come with them if they didn't see value in electing Aragon. Is the plan to turn us into the Marty Party?

So, we are now headed to the the County Convention next month where Aragon has a good chance of getting elected. Once enthroned we will see what he does. One thing you can bet is that Diane & Company will be watching his every move.

To me the bigger issue is how this sets the Democratic Party up for a two year grudge match between Diane and Mary with the prize being the Gov's Office and the State Party structure as its initial battle field. The race for Bernalillo County Chair is Marty's first strike. Diane will respond.

Lots are at stake in the next Governor's race - something often forgotten, especially by the Democrats, is the 2010 census. As a result of those numbers the State Legislature will start fighting about the shape of Congressional districts around 2012. Its critical that the next Governor be a Democrat to make sure that CD1 doesn't continue to favor the Republicans.

If last Thursday night was any indication, the Diane - Marty war is already going strong.

Yes, Novell is a Linux Company!

From LinuxToday:

March 18, 2007
BrainShare: The Heart of Novell

For the first time, I decided to attend Novell's BrainShare conference. In the past I have been resistant to attending single-vendor sponsored shows, because once you attend one, you'd better get yourself to others, if only to avoid bias. I was able to get clearance for both BrainShare and Red Hat's Summit in May, so I figured I'd achieved my balance.

The reason I wanted to attend BrainShare this year, specifically, was to find out for myself if Novell was really a Linux company, or if they were just talking the talk.

Imagine my complete and utter surprise when I discovered I didn't need to actually attend the show to learn the answer.

It happened like this: the flight to Salt Lake City this afternoon was full--very--and so there were three of us in our little row, me on the aisle, a gentleman from Maryland in the middle, and a lady from Utah at the window. Seasoned travelers will know that in this situation, it's going to either be hours of uncomfortable silence, or some conversation to pass the time.

The lady at the window was one of those chatty folks, so it quickly went that way for my row-mates. But though I tried to add something to their conversation, it quickly seemed that they were not interested in talking to me. I didn't really take this personally, since I was looking forward to reading a book I'd brought and listening to a new U2 CD my kids gave me.

During the course of the flight, I picked up snippets of their conversation and learned he was a networking engineer also coming to BrainShare. He explained to the woman what he did--deployed enterprise desktops for corporations. If he mentioned "Linux," I didn't hear him over the music and the noise of the plane.

I meant to ask him during the flight about his work as a Novell vendor, but there was never an opening. (They talked a lot.)

Finally, the plane landed, and as I was starting to get my things gathered, the young man reached into this laptop bag and pulled out an Novell Linux Desktop CD. As he gave it to her, he explained what it was and why it might help her in running her small business. Just like that.

It wasn't a planned thing, just a spontaneous moment. He didn't know who I was, because I'd never really gotten a chance to input anything to their chat. He just did it.

And then I was left thinking; if this is an independent contractor who works with Novell, and he's handing out Linux CDs to people on planes, then maybe there is something Novell is doing as a culture to foster this kind of spontaneous outreach. Maybe Novell is indeed a Linux company at its heart.

Not all of my questions were answered, but that was a big one I wanted settled for my own sake. I didn'y even have to get off the plane.

Tomorrow: Bruce Perens vs. Ron Hovsepian in a cage match battle royale! Or, maybe just jousting press conferences.

I've been working with Novell for about 2 years now and know that Novell is indeed a Linux Company. They are risking all on Linux - if Suse & Linux prospers they will survive - if it fails they are toast.

If I call Novell and tell 'em I'm headed to a meeting and want to hand out some DVD's of SLES10 and SLED10 they will overnight me dozens of nicely packaged sets just to spread the news. If I'm teaching a Unix/Linux class their only question is how many sets do I need.

Watch what Novell does, talk to its people and you will find that they are indeed a Linux Company and in my humble opinion, they are The Premier Linux Company on the planet today.

By-the-by, when you go to the Red Hat show - ask 'em why you can't easily download iso's of RHEL5 or even RHEL4 from their site. Its dead easy to get iso's from Novell but try and get them from Red Hat. Prepare to have a chat with a sales being that wants to know what you are up to!

I have always thought one aspect of being a Linux Company is that you are open - open to ideas, open to letting folks know what you are doing. open to supporting universal standards, and open to giving back to the broader Linux community. Compare Novell to Red Hat and you may ask yourself a new question - is Red Hat a Linux Company?

The Journal - another hit piece on Iglesias

Today the Journal published another piece in its character assignation series on David Iglesias. This time the henchman was Mike Gallagher and title was "Iglesias' Tenure A Low-Key Affair".

Not much else to report - same tone, same anonymous sources, same intent.

Oh yes, on its OP-ED page another installment in the series titled "Iglesias Earned His Firing".

Vote! Heather & Pete vs. Iglesias

Heath Haussamen has a poll on his blog, Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics titled:

Did Domenici and Wilson act unethically during phone calls to former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias last year?

So far the results are:


Wonder what the Journal's editorial board would think about this.........

Yet another conspiracy theory re: Novell's deal with Micro$oft

I hate Micro$oft as much as anybody but when will this nonsense stop.

The latest installment just arrived in Free Software Magazine:

Will Microsoft buy Novell?

The title says it all - if you've got some time to waste on a mix of supposition and silly paranoia check it out.

Update: I heard this one before!

The Journal and Coleman - at it again!

The article by Michael Coleman on the front page of this morning's Albuquerque Journal is a brilliant piece of political propaganda - the title and first paragraph are especially amazing. Frankly, I didn't think that he or the Journal were this capable but I guess when it comes to the defense of Saint Pete the Perfection new levels of creativity are called for and achieved!

With all the trash that is flying because of the firing on the Federal Prosecutors and all the new bits of info that have been added by the release of boxes of White House emails this is what Coleman centers on:

Gripes About Iglesias Not New - E-Mails Show Long History of Complaints.

WASHINGTON - "Newly disclosed e-mails show complaints from New Mexico Republicans about David Iglesias were long-standing and involved issues other than prosecuting public corruption cases that could embarrass Democrats."

There you have it - Saint Pete didn't do anything wrong. Pajama Pete's call was not about politics! It was not political! Hear them - it was not political! Iglesias was a disaster long before Pete made his saintly and widely misinterpreted call. The Publicans had been yelling about him for years because somebody said somewhere that an incident of voter fraud may have occurred but nobody really can remember when or where it was but no matter it did occur because the Republicans said so and dammit that lazy, useless Iglesias didn't put even one Democrat in jail because of it!

Have no doubt - the Journal is working hard to clear Pete's reputation and lay blame squarely on the real villain of the story - David Iglesias!

Has Heather soiled Saint Pete's gown?

After looking at what passes for journalism in the Abq. Journal a thread has emerged on Saint Pete and his unfortunate call to Iglesias - it appears that the Journal's game is to shift blame from Pete to whoever. Certainly their early choice is Iglesias but that may not be enough. Who will the spot lifter be - Heather or Allen Weh? Certainly Heather drug Domenici into this and Weh opened his mouth and drug Carl Rove into it - so both are viable candidates. It will be interesting to see if the Journal's view of Heather changes. They have had such a love affair with her for so long - breaking up could be hard to do!

The DOJ - just another part of Rove's operation

It appears that one news agency is still alive and kicking and actually trying to run down the story behind the whole Federal Prosecutor mess - certainly we know the Albuquerque Journal won't bother!

From McClatchy via Talking Points Memo we get this rare moment of candor from the head of NM's Republican Party, Alan Weh:

In an interview Saturday with McClatchy Newspapers, Allen Weh, the party chairman, said he complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to a White House liaison who worked for Rove and asked that he be removed. Weh said he followed up with Rove personally in late 2006 during a visit to the White House.

"Is anything ever going to happen to that guy?" Weh said he asked Rove at a White House holiday event that month.

"He's gone," Rove said, according to Weh.

"I probably said something close to 'Hallelujah,'" said Weh.

Lovely, now not only do we have both a Senator and Member of the House of Representatives putting their thumb on Iglesias but the head of the Republican Party in the State imploring Rove to do a hatchet job on the guy. Talk about piling on!

Guess Weh though he was helping out the Pajama Guy and Leather Heather by taking the fall for them but it only showed how the Department of Justice is now simply a subsidiary of the Republican Party. The fact that Weh said this to a reporter just serves to show how sick things are in the Bush Administration and the Republican Party. Instead of knowing it was wrong it was just business as usual for Weh.

More incredible work from Josh at Talking Points Memo........

"Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) now says that in response to complaints from constituents about US Attorney Iglesias's slow rate of indictments on corruption investigations, she called him two weeks before election day to allow him to clear his name. (my emphasis!)

I'm left speechless with Heather's concern for Dave Iglesias's well being -

This is classic Heather, covering her nefarious acts with her own sticky, itchy sweet form of slime - I'm sure the Journal ate it up, they always do! She's a filthy witch to the core, no ethics, no honesty, no human decency - only the perennial pursuit of power wrapped in a transparent lie.

Iglesias for Congress!

On the front page of the Journal we were greeted this morning with the Saint Pete's apology. Of course he assured us that he wasn't trying to influence the course of the investigation - just gathering some information. And of course that had NOTHING to do with him wanting Justice to fire Iglesias. As per normal, the servile sycophants at the Journal bought it all hook, line, and sinker -

The whole mess continues to bubble in the press and on liberal and progressive blogs all over the place so who knows where it goes next. Unfortunately this won't change Saint Pete's re-election prospects - he will be re-elected, pj's and all. After all he already has the vote of his worship, the Mayor - Marty the First.

Next up is soon to be Ex Federal Attorney David Iglesias. He testifies Tuesday before Congress. Hopefully that will provide some entertainment next week.

Lets all hope that Iglesias does a hatchet job on Heather when he goes before Congress, comes back to Albuquerque, changes parties and announces his run for Congress.

Now that's a race I could get behind!

Saturday Night play - ip_convert-02.pl

For a while I've been wanting a Perl program to demonstrate some basic issues of programming to students. While a bit more advanced than I would like this program does several things -

- it takes user input, in this case a system name, then runs an external program to convert that data into a real ip number
- it parses the number into 4 separate values and stashes each into an array
- it extracts these values from an array and uses a recursive function to convert them from a decimal to a binary number
- it checks that binary number and pads leading zeros to make it 8 bits long
- finally, it appends all the 8 bit numbers together to make a 32 bit sequence that represents the ip number in binary form

ip_convert-02.pl......
(requires dig so probably requires Linux).....
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
#
#
# Author: Michael
# March 3, 2007
#
# A program that demo's conversion of an ip number to
# a binary number
#
# Recursion code from:
# Higher Order Perl
# by Mark Jason Dominus
# 2005, Elsevier, Inc.
#
#
# usage:
# ./ip_convert-02.pl internet_sys_name
# i.e. -- ./ip_convert-02.pl login.swcp.com
#

# stash the number of arguments
# $#ARGV is ARGC in C, C++ land
$argNumber = $#ARGV + 1;

sub usageStatement {
print "\nUsage: ip_convert-02.pl internet_sys_name\n\n";
}

# test for presence of input
if($argNumber != 1) {
&usageStatement();
exit(1);
}

# a recursive function to convert an integer value
# to a binary number
sub binary {
# set input value to $n, keep it local
my ($n) = @_;

# check for base case, if found end recursion
return $n if $n == 0 || $n == 1;

# divide val by 2, set result to $k
my $k = int($n/2);
# divide val by 2, save modulus to $b
my $b = $n % 2;

# recurse $k
my $E = binary($k);

# as recursion unwinds build binary value
return $E . $b;
}

# a function to pad zero's on a binary number so that
# its standardized to 8 bits in length
sub bufferator {
my ($needZeros) = @_ ;

$blank = "";

while ( $needZeros ) {
$blank = $blank . 0;
$needZeros--;
}

return $blank;
}


# convert name to ip number
$ipNumber = `dig +short $ARGV[0]`;
chop($ipNumber);

# slit ip number into an array of numbers minus the .'s
@ipSegments = split(/\./, $ipNumber);

# setup variables to process the array of segments & store results
$i = 0;
$outBinPattern = "";

while ( $i < 4 ) {
# get bit pattern for each 8 bit segment
$binValue = &binary($ipSegments[$i]);

$binLength = length($binValue);

if ( $binLength < 8 ) {
$binLength = 8 - $binLength;

$buffZeros = &bufferator($binLength);

$binValue = $buffZeros . $binValue;
}

$outBinPattern = $outBinPattern . $binValue;

$i++;
}

print "$outBinPattern\n";
exit(0);
..........

Who, oh who, will run against Heather next time?

In retrospect Patsy Madrid must of scared Heather even more than I thought. Heather normally is the King of the cool, calm, and collected set. She's smart and has her act down to a tee. She's created the image that's surrounds her and is simply brilliant at playing the part. Doesn't matter that its all fake - she knows her character and acts the role perfectly.

Nothing besides simple fear could of gotten her to do something as stupid as calling a Fed Attorney and pushing him to indict some Dems to help her chances at getting re-elected.

So, while fighting an inner ear infection and allergies, I've been entertained watching the events of the last week at blogs like Talking Points Memo and New Mexico Politics with Joe M.. A sad whiff of reality arrived courtesy of Joe Monahan when I read about the two Dems "we" should be pinning our hopes on to exploit Heather's current woes. Please note I actually like both guys - Al Park and Jerry Ortiz y Pino. Politically I agree with much of what Jerry has done but to put it simply neither of 'em has a chance in hell of beating Heather. Al Park simply has no track record and Jerry's record will cause a good chunk of the district to flip out. His bill calling for Bush's impeachment will make even somebody who detests Bush, about 50% of the population these days, queasy. He's just too liberal for the Independents that decide the election in this district. Re: Al - Heather will dance all over him.

Sure, either of these guys can come up with a whole range of ads showing Heather for who she is but remember she still wins elections even with her negatives floating in the stratosphere.

Sad to say but neither of 'em have a chance to beat Heather. Now it appears that a posting has shown up on one of the big blogs, MyDD (you can see my response there) talking about Heather's new found vulnerability and how the Dems are ready to exploit it - well dream on.

We need another candidate!

The Albuquerque Journal schlepping for Heather once again

How anybody can read Michael Coleman's latest puff piece on Heather in the Abq. Journal and not feel very, very sick escapes me.

This little stanza is classic Heather slime using the Journal as her medium of choice:

Wilson said she was discouraged by what she learned about the Iraqi government during her trip.

"The central government is, frankly, weak," Wilson said. "The police are infiltrated by militias, and there are elements of the government that are loyal to different factions rather than to the government itself."

Where oh where has she been for the last 3 years? Does she ever read the papers or listen to the news? The rest of the Reality based world has known this for years, She must have taken the last election harder than I thought to be looking for a way out of the Iraq disaster.

Thinking about it again, no one should be suprised - its all pretty predictable. Heather's running for Senate and the Journal's doing its job as her sniveling bitch - schlepping to get her elected.

An initial conclusion on the Novell-Microsoft deal

For a while now I have been thinking about where I am on the Novell - Microsoft deal. Just ran across this article titled "Why I'm sticking with Novell's Linux desktop". Since Stephen was saying it as well or better than I can here it is ...

"Opinion -- Someone just asked me whether, now that Novell's become buddies with Microsoft, I'll be turning away from Novell/SUSE as one of my favorite Linux distributions. My answer is no. I'm sticking with SUSE Linux on both my desktops and servers. Here's why.

First, like many of you, I do think that Novell's deal with Microsoft is a mistake. While in the short run, I think the deal will be good for Novell. It will, after all, get its Linuxes into shops that would otherwise turn up their noses at anything without Windows in the title. In the long run, I can't think of a single software company that has ever done well in an alliance with Microsoft. Can you?

The deal also enables Microsoft to wield the FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) of patent lawsuits against the other Linux companies. Like its client company SCO once tried to do with SCOsource, Microsoft is asking other companies for royalties to cover IP (intellectual property) that it may not actually own.

Remember though, that SCOsource fell flat on its face. Except for Microsoft and Sun -- funny those two, eh? -- no one ever paid SCO any significant amount for SCOsource IP. I doubt very much that Microsoft will do any better.

In any case, that's Microsoft's business -- not Novell's. Recall, if you will, that the original study that showed that Linux potentially violates 283 software patents was written by Dan Ravicher, an attorney, executive director of PUBPAT (Public Patent Foundation), and an open-source supporter.

At the time, many people took this as an attack on Linux. That fire quickly died down as it became clear what Ravicher was actually doing. I wonder if that will prove to be the case with Novell as well.

In other words, before throwing out the baby of a great Linux distribution with the bathwater of open-source political correctness, I want to see how Novell's role in all this plays out.

Let me remind you that, both SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server) and SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) are both superb commercial Linuxes. In addition, openSUSE is one heck of a strong community Linux distribution. While I can say good things about many Linux desktop distributions -- MEPIS and Freespire both spring to mind -- for me, you simply can't find a better business Linux desktop today than SLED.

I like the KDE 3.5.5 interface. I like -- now that's it's finally fixed -- the easy YAST update system. And, I like the combination of powerful and up-to-date software programs like Evolution, OpenOffice.org, GAIM, and Firefox.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. What I like isn't proprietary or open-source software. What I like is software that works, and works well. And, by that pragmatic yardstick, SLED is still the desktop to beat, in my book."

-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Now will Novell get busy and push out Firefox 2 for SLES10 and SLED10!

Sun explains why it choose GPL for Java

and reading what Jonathan Schwartz says it seems that the Novell - Microsoft agreement did have something to do with their decision. From his blog:

"And in closing, I want to put one nagging item to rest.

By admitting that one of the strongest motivations to select the GPL was the announcement made last week by Novell and Microsoft, suggesting that free and open source software wasn't safe unless a royalty was being paid. As an executive from one of those companies said, "free has to have a price."

That's nonsense.

Free software can be free of royalties, and free of impediments to broadscale, global adoption and deployment. Witness what we've done with Solaris, and now, what we've done with Java. Developers are free to pick up the code, and create derivatives. Without royalty or obligation.

Those that say open source software can't be safe for customers - or that commercially indemnified software can't foster community - are merely advancing their own agenda. Without any basis in fact.

They're also fighting a rising tide."

As someone who has constantly criticized Sun I have to offer my congrats to them for doing the right thing. Now if they could put together an multi-processor opteron box at a sane price point I could reward them with some buisness.

Sun, a player in the Novell - Microsoft agreement?

A bit of interesting speculation about the implications of Sun's different options to Open Source Java and how their choice effects the Novell - Microsoft agreement:

Bradley Kuhn rips Microsoft’s patent pledge to shreds. But should we be surprised?
Will Sun blow up the Microsoft/Novell deal to Red Hat’s benefit?

Well, this is interesting.

Note this was published before Sun choose to use GPL to Open Source Java. The authors of the articles argue that the ideas that underpin .Net lived in Java before Microsoft created .Net. If so the ultimate IP owners may be Sun not Microsoft. Also, by using the GPL to open source Java they create immediate and long term competition for both .Net and Mono. Now that Java is open sourced using the same model as the Linux kernel it will not take long to fully integrated Java into Linux and its development efforts.

Samba Team responds to the Novell - MS agreement

I've been waiting for feedback from the major players in Linux land to the Novell - Microsoft deal.

Looks like the Samba Team is first up to bat and their response can't be good news for Novell -

From the Samba Team in its entirety:

Samba Team Asks Novell to Reconsider

The Samba Team disapproves strongly of the actions taken by Novell on November 2nd.

One of the fundamental differences between the proprietary software world and the free software world is that the proprietary software world divides users by forcing them to agree to coercive licensing agreements which restrict their rights to share with each other, whereas the free software world encourages users to unite and share the benefits of the software.

The patent agreement struck between Novell and Microsoft is a divisive agreement. It deals with users and creators of free software differently depending on their "commercial" versus "non-commercial" status, and deals with them differently depending on whether they obtained their free software directly from Novell or from someone else.

The goals of the Free Software community and the GNU GPL allow for no such distinctions.

Furthermore, the GPL makes it clear that all distributors of GPL'd software must stand together in the fight against software patents. Only by standing together do we stand a chance of defending against the peril represented by software patents. With this agreement Novell is attempting to destroy that unified defense, exchanging the long term interests of the entire Free Software community for a short term advantage for Novell over their competitors.

For Novell to make this deal shows a profound disregard for the relationship that they have with the Free Software community. We are, in essence, their suppliers, and Novell should know that they have no right to make self serving deals on behalf of others which run contrary to the goals and ideals of the Free Software community.

Using patents as competitive tools in the free software world is not acceptable. Novell, as a participant in numerous debates, discussions and conferences on the topic knew this to be the case. We call upon Novell to work with the Software Freedom Law Center to undo the patent agreement and acknowledge its obligations as a beneficiary of the Free Software community.

This ain't good. I really don't think Novell expected this kind of response from the Open Source Community.

No joy in mudville -

The Dems won just about everything in the state but it looks very, very bad for NM01. The hated Leather Heather looks like she has sneaked through. All her work of patting the heads of old folks has paid off yet again.

What about 08 - my guess is that she is off to try for the Senate but I could be wrong. Will Patsy run again - don't know but since we won't have the wind to our back this time it will be harder to win. Also, McCain's future is looking up. Allen, one of the largest wingnuts in the Republican party was trashed Tuesday so he's out of the race for Prez. That leaves McCain with one less opponent. That's good for him and if McCain makes it to the top of the ticket it will help Heather whatever she does.

Heather for Senate!

She's arrived alive, Saint Pete will retire in a year, and she will be running hard for the Senate in 2008! Watch for field trips to Northern and Southern New Mexico.

My guess is that she will win big in the South, break even in Albuquerque, and loose in the North. I'm sickened to say it but she can win!

NM-01 and a Senate seat will be open in 2008 - let the race begin!

You heard it here first!

UPDATE!: While spending 4 more hours at the Absentee Voter Wharehouse, this time as a Challenger, it was suggested to me that Steve Pearce was also interested in Pete's seat. Apparently a poll exists showing that Republican Party members would vote prefer him over Heather. So, at least the possibility exists of Pearce - Wilson primary race. Personally I don't think it will happen because the Republican Party won't allow it. Pearce isn't nearly as electable statewide as Heather. I can't see him doing well in NM01 and he will have to break even there so he can take the loss in el Norte.