Were you given a digital photo frame over the holiday?

Did you connect it to your computer?  You may be PWN3D:

An insidious computer virus recently discovered on digital photo frames has been identified as a powerful new Trojan Horse from China that collects passwords for online games - and its designers might have larger targets in mind.
...
The initial reports of infected frames came from people who had bought them over the holidays from Sam's Club and Best Buy.  New reports involve frames sold at Target and Costco, according to SANS, a group of security researchers in Bethesda, Md., who began asking for accounts of infected devices on Christmas Day.
...
...the researchers also found four other, older Trojans on each frame, which may serve as markers for botnets - networks of infected PCs that are remotely controlled by hackers. - San Francisco Chronicle

It's the old autorun game...

Best Buy should have been alert for this kind of stuff already.  The mass merchants (Sam's Club, Target, and Costco) had better learn quickly.

Elsewhere:

Via:  Instapundit

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...and happy Valentine's day

The Archbishop would probably call it “cultural accommodation”:

The British government has cleared the way for husbands with multiple wives to claim welfare benefits for all their partners, fueling growing controversy over the role of Islamic Shariah law in the nation's cultural and legal framework.

Bigamy is outlawed in Britain, but authorities have never prosecuted Muslim men who had legally married more than one woman abroad and continued to live with them after immigrating.  Shariah permits men to have up to four wives at one time.

Now, after a review that began in November 2006, a panel of four government departments has decided that all the wives of a Muslim man may collect state benefits, provided that the marriages took place in a country where multiple spouses are legal. - Washington Times

Via:  From the Maas via Ace

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Mmmmmmmm!

Some fresh-ground “Australian Mountaintop” coffee, with a splash of whipping cream. (And sugar.)

Goes altogether too well with iced persian rolls.

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Says it all, really

(I usually don't link to videos, but there's always an exception.  This one is choice!)

Bob Chirdon of Toledo's WTOL-TV has an editorial about “the kerfuffel between [Toledo] Mayor Finkbeiner and the Marines.”

Backstory:

Via:  Thurber's Thoughts

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*Now* can we call them enemies?

From The Guardian:

Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.

Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced "another 7/7" and the loss of "British lives on British streets" if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence.

Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists.  He faces accusations that he himself took more than £1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE.

“Got a nice little country there.  Wouldn’t want anything to happen to it...”

Bryan, at Hot Air:

Keep in mind that there is more to Saudi terror activity than this single threat.  To this day, Saudi funding props up Wahhabi missionaries and madrassahs and mosques worldwide.  Saudi Wahhabi funding backs what’s left of the jihad in Chechnya and continues to fund the jihadists in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, not to mention Darfur.  Fifteen of the 9-11 19 were Saudi.  Wherever you find jihadist activity, chances are you’ll find Saudi petrodollars fueling it and Saudi personnel leading it.

LATER:  Glenn Reynolds:

Maybe Blair should’ve had ’em killed, or something... Or at least gone public with the story and frozen all Saudi assets in Britain.

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It's about time someone revisited this

A plan introduced by U.S. Rep. Mike Ross [D-Arkansas] to encourage alternative and renewable energy relies on oil drilling in Arctic wildlife lands and the Gulf of Mexico to meet its goals.

Ross’ bill, the “American-Made Energy Act of 2008,” also would create tax credits to build new nuclear power plants throughout the United States, with an aim of having 40 percent of the nation's power come from nuclear sources.

Ross, a leader of a group of fiscally conservative Democrats known as the Blue Dog Coalition, is a co-sponsor on the bill with Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif.  Ross told reporters on a conference call Thursday that technology would allow companies to drill for oil without endangering the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern Alaska. - “Ross bill calls for energy ‘independence’ on back of oil drilling” by Jon Gambrell

It’s unfortunate that Democrats invariably want to micromanage:  According to the article,^[1] the bill includes taxes on the produced oil, accompanied by a bunch of “behaviour modification” tax credits

...to fight global warming, encourage renewable energy operations and help consumers buy plug-in electric and flex-fuel cars.

Oh yes, and

...subsidies to encourage liquid fuel production of [from?] coal.^[2]

Still, it’s always fun when somebody maneuvers the environmentalist Luddites in Congress into a put-up-or-shut-up position. Back in 2005, the Congressional Democrat + R.I.N.O. coalition defeated a bill that would have expanded drilling in Alaska.  With gasoline above $3 and diesel hovering in the $3.25 region, will they dare to do it again?

AFTERTHOUGHT:  Where's George?

Elsewhere:

Via: IP

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^[1] The complete text of the bill is not available yet.
^[2] Arkansas has a bunch of unexploited coal.  Surprise!

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Party of the pig

The Republicans should change their mascot:

The House GOP had an opportunity to ensure that their commitment to end pork-barrel spending got taken seriously by appointing a porkbuster to [fill the vacancy on the House Appropriations Committee]... Jeff Flake would have delivered that message, as his record on earmark reform is unmistakable. Instead, the GOP selected Jo Bonner (R-AL), a person whose record on pork reform equals that of ... Steny Hoyer, John Doolittle, and James Moran.

Oink! Oink! Oink!

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Carved in stone

David Kopel:

...A perfect example of the importance of inscribing in stone the noblest statements of public virtue, so that those statements will be known to future generations, and will be used to encourage liberty and responsible self-government.

How an article from the Northwest Ordinance made its way into an amicus brief.

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It only makes sense

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MSNBClinton

“This is the second time in a month we've caved to a political campaign, kowtowing under pressure for what were basically legitimate observations... We're not even pretending to be journalists anymore.” - “MSNBC insider,” quoted at TV Newser

Advice for talking heads: Next time, call President Bush “a monkey” instead. It's safer.

Backstory here and here.

UPDATE 080211 19:04: (Via IP) The grovel continues. Reality trumps fiction, again.

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