Caught In The Middle

Numerous issues are impacting me that have me caught in the middle and [nearly?] powerless to change (at least in the near-term). The first two affect many people, not just myself.

The first is the recent (and ongoing) fight over the debt ceiling and budget. I and many people like me that are living solely on their Social Security/Disability income had to wait literally until the last moment, not knowing if they could pay their bills. You know, little things like rent, utilities, food & medications..

The right-wing's lack of concern for some of the more vulnerable citizens is disheartening, and the notable favoritism shown towards the upper class and corporations combined with their manifest contempt of those in need is despicable. I want to mention that the silence ("willful ignorance"?) on this subject by vast majority of the media is disgraceful, and will be looked back on (along with many other examples) as a major failure of the Fourth Estate during this time in our nation's history. The abdication of power and responsibility by this Fourth Estate has enabled  those with selfish and dangerous ambitions to take our country in a direction far from the ideals so thoughtfully laid out by our Founding Fathers.

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Caught between Mozilla - Firefox and security software

Since Mozilla started it's rapid release schedule for the Firefox browser many of the security add-ons & extensions I rely on haven't been updated to work with the current version (at the time of this post Firefox 6.0 has just been released). Previously, security software companies such as AVG (LinkScanner), Symantec-Norton, M86 Security (SecureBrowsing) and others had plenty of time between 'major releases' of Firefox to update their software (so it will work with whatever changes the new version of Firefox has).

That time has been drastically cut since this 'rapid release' initiative began.

This is from the "Mozilla Firefox: Development Process" page:

"Firefox uses a schedule-driven process, where releases take place at regular intervals. That means each release happens regardless of whether a given feature is ready, and releases are not delayed to wait for a feature to stabilize. The goal of the process is to provide regular improvements to users without disrupting longer term work."

- Further down the page:

Security Releases

"This proposal makes security updates occur along with Firefox releases, meaning we'll no longer be maintaining old branches. Having security branches for each major update is untenable if we release as often as we aim to."

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Extension Compatibility 

"Extension compatibility is the trickiest part of the transition. In particular, it's not what the policy should be when a user has extensions that are incompatible with a new Firefox release. Each release will have at least 12 weeks to identify extensions that are no longer working, but this issue will be complicated."

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On the Future Release Blog there's a post named "Every Six Weeks".

"We’re studying the effects of the process carefully; it’s a big change and we will be flexible in our approach as new information comes in. We may decide that 6 weeks is the wrong interval, for instance, though it’s worth remembering that Firefox maintenance releases have been released on 6-8 week intervals for years, and sometimes included major changes. We’re also paying close attention to the impacts this cycle has on our ecosystem of add-ons, plugins, and other 3rd party software that interacts with Firefox. We’re working with large organizations, too, to understand how rapid release can fit into their software deployment systems."

"Whatever adjustments we make, it’s clear that rapid release is a major improvement in our ability to respond to the needs of our users and the web. Every 6 weeks we have a new Firefox to evaluate and, unless some surprising and irreconcilable breakage is discovered, release to the world. No one will have to wait a year for the developer scratchpad now in Beta, or the massive memory and performance improvements already on Aurora, or the slick tab management animations soon to land on Nightly. Rapid release is already paying dividends, and we’re just getting started."

Johnathan Nightingale
Director of Firefox Engineering"
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Now as far as the security software (companies) side of things, I haven't read any comments directly from them about this issue. 

 However:

I have heard directly from M86 Security after I posted a comment on Twitter about their "SecureBrowsing" browser add-on:

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@M86Security Firefox just updated to v5. When will your #SecureBrowsing plug-in be updated?
(Posted 22 Jun)
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Their reply:

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@TRDaggett We do not have a definitive date at this time, as we are currently reviewing Firefox 5. We'll keep you posted
(Posted 27 Jun)
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It's now August 17th and Firefox 6.0 has now been released.... and if you go to the M86 SecureBrowsing (FAQ) page it says:

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5. Q: Where will SecureBrowsing work?
    A: SecureBrowsing has been designed to work on the most commonly-used Internet tools.
         The current version of M86 SecureBrowsing supports the following:

 Web Browsers:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0
• Mozilla Firefox 3.x and 4.0
• Google Chrome 10

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 BTW, Google Chrome's current version is 13x.

Despite the fact that @M86Security told me "We'll keep you posted", I've heard nothing from them [to date]. So if they were "reviewing Firefox 5" and still haven't gotten back to me by the release of Firefox 6..... 

Thoughts:

1.) They don't care enough about their users to (proactively) keep them informed.

2.) They're not able to keep their SecureBrowsing product updated (for 2 major browsers) in a timely manner leaving those users unprotected.

3.) M86 Security SecureBrowsing needs to append the FAQ page "Web Browser" information with a note regarding future updates to Firefox and Chrome or remove them from the list.

(Make a decision M86 Security. Then please inform your users.)

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I also use the (free to Comcast Internet customers) Norton Security Suite. This version complicates the update issue even further because it's different from both Norton Internet Security and Norton 360 and [probably] has it's own 'team' of people working on it's updates (including various browser add-ons).

I noticed that if I open up the Norton interface on my desktop and click on Identity Protection [View Details] it says that Norton Safe Web and Identity Safe are both on and working!

I called the Norton Security Suite support folks today and was told that they were working on the browser compatibility updates but they wouldn't provide any time table as to when they would be released. I want to mention that the support call must have gone to India because there was a noticeable delay and the woman was very hard to understand, So the combination of those two factors made for a poor quality support call (which I have to say has not been the case with most of my previous support calls involving outsourced support centers in India). It was unfortunate that I was already irritated by several factors including the fact that this was my second call to Comcast support about this matter. The first customer tech support person tried to transfer me to Norton support but used the wrong number, aborted, came back to tell me what she did, and then on the second attempt ended up transferring me to Netgear support!

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Finally, AVG LinkScanner (which I've used for years, since before AVG bought them out and ruined incorporated LinkScanner into their products) partially works with Firefox 6.0 but the feature that checks web [page] links and search results (like Google) hasn't been updated yet. AVG has been quite a bit quicker than Norton to update their Firefox add-ons. I can still use the AVG Toolbar to search via the AVG secure search feature or open the desktop LinkScanner interface and enter (and scan) a URL manually. It's not as convenient, but it adds a valuable security resource to my kit.

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Conclusion: 

Mozilla's rapid release schedule has created a security issue for Firefox users who rely on various security add-ons and extensions. I'm not saying that the problem is solely because of the faster schedule though. Other security add-ons (like Giorgio Maone's "NoScript" and Wladimir Palant's "Adblock Plus" ) have kept pace, but it seems likely that the security software produced by the bigger security companies has a much different (and complicated) process that it has to go through. A good analogy is probably that of an aircraft carrier vs. a Coast Guard cutter.

As I recall after Firefox version 5.0 was released my Norton Toolbar* and IPS 'broke' and after a few weeks some protection features (like search results) were updated but the toolbar wasn't (and still hasn't been updated).

Ultimately I hope to see [at least] two things happen. Security software companies who's products integrate with Firefox (and Google Chrome) will adapt to a faster update schedule, and Mozilla will adapt their release schedule to better enable security add-on software to stay current (and 'on the job'!). Rapid release schedules are great but not if it results in leaving your users vulnerable. 

Best practices call for a 'layered' approach to security. We need to work together as much as possible to increase Internet security.

*The Norton Toolbar includes the Identity Protection features like the 'Identity Safe' that I used daily. [Among other things] It securely stored passwords for websites and automatically logged me in to those sites. It also held 'cards' that I could fill with customized identity information which in turn could be automatically entered into forms on web pages.

Chris Matthews, Alan Greenspan, and Keith Olbermann

Watching Chris Matthews tonight, I couldn't help but be embarrassed for him. He melted like a pad of warm butter all over Alan Greenspan. As I see it, this is one of Chris' major flaws. He seems so personally awed by so many of the major players in and around Washington he exhibits no professional distance in his interviews. It's more like he's interviewing his best friend each time, and god forbid he ask them a hard question that would endanger their personal relationship. He's "embedded" himself in the Washington scene far too long and has lost almost all of his impartiality.

Even when talking about someone like president Bush, who's record of failure should speak for itself, he's stated how much 'respect he has for the man'. Sometimes when Chris says things like that it almost makes my head spin around and I think, did he really just say that?

What's equally weird are the times when he really seems to be back within the bounds of reality. Sure, if you're honest with yourself your feelings can change about certain things as you grow and learn, but as I've watched Chris over the years it appears depending on the day, his mood, or something unknown [to me] that he'll be on opposite sides of the issue.
It's like there's two separate Chris Matthews, one voice coming from his head and the other coming from his heart.

Now regarding Greenspan's comments tonight about how social security should ultimately be 'fixed', he says that cutting entitlements will have to be done.

Now I'm currently "living" on a single social security disability payment each month, similar to what retirees with no other source of income do (I have no 'assets' whatsoever).
I'm just trying to think about what they're supposed to do if their benefits are reduced.
Barely above the poverty line as it is, there is no way that they should have to even contemplate trying to get by on less than they already have, especially when the rich are getting richer (and growing in numbers). Greenspan's cold assessment doesn't include those factors it seems.

They seemed to dance around the fact that one of the major factors in the equation is the massive profits the HMOs and pharmaceutical companies suck out of the system, made worse by raising their rates far above the rate of inflation. The subject about reigning in that major problem is rarely mentioned, and when it is, the agents of the health care lobby (and their partners on strategic government committees) come to their rescue.

The way our government runs these days is shameful. Sure lobbyists aren't new or inherently bad, but the balance is so tilted to one side now that the public's 'representatives' don't work for them, but in many cases look to be working directly against them, giving much too much weight to the upper class and major business interests. And although there are some wonderful, caring people included in this upper class, all too many seem to live by the motto "I've got mine, if you can't get here by yourself, too bad" (or "Sucks to be you!")

When I try to distill this in my head and relate it to the Democrats and Republicans, the Democrats lean towards helping their fellow Americans who are in need, and the Republicans lean towards helping only themselves, and only those who share their philosophy (and wealth). And this attitude has been 'distilled' over the past seven years by the man and administration who promised to "unite" the country.

And briefly, I want to get into my feelings about why someone who I admire greatly, namely Keith Olbermann, is so reticent to say anything relating to some other members of the media's comments, especially (but not solely) in the case of Chris Matthews, "My good friend".

I hope he does speak up at least privately behind the scenes. I know he has to work with him, and it's unreasonable for me to expect absolute honesty from Keith in this particular situation, but from what I've seen of Keith's character, and the 'special comments' that are so right-on, he must cringe [inside] at some of the inane statements and positions Matthews has come out with. And to speak out against comments others in the media have made, as he does regularly (and rightly so), then neglect those made by his "good friend" is less than I expect (even if it is unreasonable) from the conscientious professional I admire.

The other night after the Republican debate Chris was his usual manic (rude?) self interrupting Keith and not taking time to hear the points Keith was making in favor of his point, whatever that was.. I got the feeling that even his good friend was testing his patience at that point.

So often Chris' interviews are more like an interrogation than an interview.
Chris calls it "Hardball", but all too often it's just him rudely pushing his own twisted philosophy down the throats of his 'guests'.

What makes me shake my head is every once in a while he acts perfectly normal, reasonable and courteous. Seriously, it makes me think he needs medication. I wonder what psychiatrists think when they watch his show?

Streams currently running...(ITB)

Number one, Novartis cut me out of their [$5 copay] assistance program with absolutely no warning so I haven't been able to take my Ritalin for around a month and I have no idea how to come up with the $300+ Wal-Mart wants for 100 pills.
Novartis is demanding that I provide a 'refusal letter' from Medicare part-D (which I can't afford) for them to continue providing assistance (in stark contrast to Novartis ads and those of the Prescription Assistance people [with the bus and the TV personality/shill for the drug companies Montel Williams]).
I find it interesting how their stated income limit (in the letter) is exactly the amount I get each month from Social Security...

Update: The real 'prescription assistance' people (the wonderful women at my local hospital) tell me that drug companies stopping their assistance with no warning has become commonplace lately!
Since the Bush administration gave drug companies the 'gift' of "Medicare Part-D" legislation it's been used as an excuse to drop needy patients while BS'ing the public with misleading advertisements. THIS is the culture that Bush&Co brought to Washington DC!

On a side note, yesterday on CNBC I heard them talking about Novartis and how they were in a 'good position' because they still have a number of years before many of their products go 'generic'.
I always thought that because Ritalin has been around for so long that it was available as a generic but not so. It wasn't until asking the price of Ritalin [without] the 'co-pay' assistance I found out that there still is no generic equivalent!

Q: Is it even 'legal' to cut someone off from their medication(s) with absolutely no warning?
Shouldn't there be a 60-90 day notification of some sort?
I need some advice on the subject but can't afford it, and I don't know of any local legal advocate service for the poor here in Concord, NH (even though Franklin Pierce Law School is right here in town).

I live on a single Social Security Disability payment each month and my only semi-asset is the 2000 Toyota Camry that was my father's until he passed away last April, so I live on the 'edge' of disaster constantly.

Recently I went without my [2] blood pressure meds for around 3 weeks because I couldn't afford the $8 they cost at Wal-Mart. You see by the first week of each month I'm almost out of money, so if my meds run out during the mid-to latter part of the month I'm 'SOL'.

Not having Ritalin manifests itself in a number of ways, and the main thing is motivation and being able to focus on one thing at a time (for a meaningful period of time). I've done more sitting in my chair watching TV [lately] with the PC three feet away and having absolutely no desire to make the effort to get up and use it.
I never noticed the effect while I was taking Ritalin, but after the first day without it all I felt like doing was sleeping. Then as the days went on a general malaise set in and I've found myself mostly sitting, and frequently having bouts of extreme sadness and feeling hopeless. Of course that exacerbates my chronic depression and anxiety.

One health emergency or car repair away from an even worse standard of living.

Actually, many of those things have already happened to a certain degree, which results in bills having to be put off, going without medication and living off the cheapest foods which are largely high in carbohydrates/fat. And don't forget the harassing phone calls (Concord Hospital!).
Right now it's 2 weeks into September and my car still isn't inspected because it needs rear brakes and I have just enough money left for the 'inspection' fee but not for the repairs.
(On the 'bright' side, I am saving on gas...)

Living with all this uncertainty just compounds the daily effects of my Depression. I've developed mental tricks to tolerate some of those by (now that I think about it, I don't at this moment know exactly how I deal with it). Some of the effects are undoubtedly manifested through my body as various maladies, and contribute to my 'dark days'.

It's so frustrating, the president and others in control seem to lie with impunity while the world falls apart, and the poor having many of the strands of their 'safety net' slashed by the Republican party in favor of more 'corporate welfare' and war costs. That frustration manifests itself in bad ways also.

The situation that our president has lied his way into stabs at me like a knife, and there seems to be no hope of things getting better for a long time. He and his surrogates continue to lie with impunity, playing out the clock until finally they will be gone and will try to pass the blame.
And the way things are these days, with the majority of the MSM too obliged to their corporate overlords to challenge BushCo's lies, they'll probably carry the president's water/message and blame Democrats in some absurd way.

Since Bush wormed his way into office, life for people like me has gone steadily downhill.
Cutting money for social programs while literally throwing money at 'big business' and the ultra-rich. Much of that is 'war profiteering' for friends and associates of the Bush/Cheney families.
I'm actually surprised crime rates aren't up dramatically with people claiming that "if the President and Attorney General (and so many others) can break the law and nothing happens to them why can't we?"

Here's the main reason that we're still in the quagmire called Iraq:
Republicans who continue to support Bush [period]. If not for their votes supporting Bush the war would be much further along towards some kind of conclusion.

To add to the outside influences, I've had a new neighbor for some months now. He's in his 20s, a survivor of brain surgery, a budding 'rapper', and fresh from Brooklyn, NY.
Now the previous occupant of the apartment was very quiet and respectful of his neighbors.
Jahar, on the other hand is not. He's got a big boom box that serves as his 'alarm clock' and when it comes on the bass is cranked all the way up and the thump makes it so that his neighbors can't enjoy what they're doing. A number of times the 'alarm' has gone off and he wasn't even there!
He's come up with some really childish excuses and came down knocking on my door recently babbling something about how he was sorry and that he 'cut the wires' and that it wouldn't happen again... but I hadn't heard a thing and didn't know what he was talking about. The very next weekend at around 10:30-11:00 PM the thing started blasting, I went up and knocked at his door (at times using a 'mule kick') but he wouldn't come to the door (as usual).
He's around 5'10" and 240 lbs. and he told me he was associated with a big gang in NYC so I don't know why he avoids coming to the door, but he told me later he was 'sleeping' through the blasting music and me almost kicking in his door....right.
NOTE: While I was knocking at his door two young black men came out of the elevator and one asked if he could be in my 'movie' (I was using a video camera to record the attempt to get the music shut down). I told him what I was doing whereupon he started laughing at me. His companion was even bigger than Jahar and wearing a black head-thing like the 'gangsta's' wear.
I told the kid to STFU but he was cackling like a hyena and disappeared down the hall. He later must have gone back to Jahar's apartment and told him what I was doing because Jahar came and knocked on my door asking me what was going on. That's when he claimed he was 'sleeping' through the whole thing.

Jahar thinks the solution to all my problems is just that "You need to smoke some weed!" although I don't think he does.

I think that what I need is for him to grow the f* up and have some respect for his neighbors!

Why don't I just be done with it and demand the landlord do something further? Not sure, I guess I'd rather he just behave/grow up. I don't want him evicted, but while the music is blaring, I feel like ripping his face off!
I guess that I forgive too quickly and screw myself in the process.

I just want to live in peace. I don't bother anyone (I have a powerful stereo w/ a subwoofer that could shake the whole building, but I won't use it [here] because I know it would disrupt my neighbor's lives and I don't have any right to do that)


To date I've written two complaints to the landlord (Hodges Corp./C.A.T.C.H.]). Those weren't done until I'd spoken to him and to date he still doesn't seem to get it. I've waited to complain again because I'd rather he 'conform' than be evicted.


That's all for now*, writing this has taken a lot of energy (and 2-3 hours). I don't have the wherewithal (or the patience) to edit myself, so here it is, raw (rah-rah-rah! [Big Bambu]).

Speaking of raw and unedited, I heard something on Public Radio the other night about Jack Kerouac the author of the "On the road" series of novels, and how his style of writing incorporated 'stream of consiousness' writing. I'd like to learn more about that, but for me and people like me there's a huge gap between wanting to get something done and actually doing it. So many other things take up space in my consciousness and thoughts and 'wants' come and go like wisps of smoke or the wind at times.
And like smoke, if you try to grab it it just disappears.


Until next time...whenever that may be, and remember "life is but a dream"**

Tom


* This is typical, I'm about to stop writing then I get on another subject and the stream continues meandering.
** Thanks to Dr. Wayne Dyer.