Be Your Own Detective

Be Your Own Detective and Check Out Criminal Profiling:

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:18:00 +0000

Criminal profiling has become a popular way to catch criminals on TV and in the movies. The real truth is that criminal profiling has rarely aided in the arrest of criminals.

Wikipedia says: “Offender profiling is a method of identifying the perpetrator of a crime based on an analysis of the nature of the offense and the manner in which it was committed. Various aspects of the criminal's personality makeup are determined from his or her choices before, during, and after the crime. This information is combined with other relevant details and physical evidence, and then compared with the characteristics of known personality types and mental abnormalities to develop a practical working description of the offender.

Psychological profiling may be described as a method of suspect identification which seeks to identify a person's mental, emotional, and personality characteristics (as manifested in things done or left at the crime scene). This was used in the investigation of the serial murders committed by Ted Bundy. Dr. Richard B. Jarvis, a psychiatrist with expertise on the criminal mind, predicted the age range of Bundy, his sexual psychopathy [sic], and his above average intellect.”

Criminal profiling really got famous with The “Mad Bomber case in New York City from 1940 to 1956. George Metesky was not caught by New York City police for 16 years. He planted and detonated more than 30 small bombs around the city between 1940 and 1956, hitting public places like movie theaters and phone booths.

Psychiatrist James Brussel, was asked by investigators to study crime scene photos and other evidence in the cases. Brussel claimed the suspect would be unmarried, foreign, self-educated, in his 50s, living in Connecticut, paranoid and anting revenge against Con Edison. Note: (the first bomb had targeted the power company's 67th street headquarters).

Some of Brussel's predictions were just common sense, while others were based on psychological ideas. He said that because paranoia tends to peak around age 35, the bomber, 16 years after his first bomb, would now be around 50. The profile proved dead on: It led police right to Metesky, who was arrested in January 1957 and he confessed immediately.

Profiling is still today as much art as science, as few if any other cases have actually been “solved” by profiling.

The FBI has put a lot of resources into criminal profiling, even though there has not been a lot of benefit gained from it so far.

The most dangerous thing about profiling is that it can draw attention away from the real suspect instead of to the right one.

Richard Jewell was extensively investigated (and attacked by the media) following the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. This not only was unfair to Jewell, but delayed identifying the true culprit, Eric Robert Rudolph. The added cost of the false positive on Jewell was that FBI and local police did not search for other suspects.

The other weakness is that sometimes investigators are blinded by an totally wrong profile, and “clear” a suspect who is actually guilty.

What has made profiling so popular, is that in several really high profile cases (yes, pun intended) the profiles that were come up with proved to be correct like in the cases of Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer, and John Duffy the Railway Killer (England 1984)

Like I said – this is good stuff for movies and books, but it is too early to put too much credence into criminal profiling. Of course, it just may be we do not have enough good raw data to evaluate, or maybe we have not learned to best way to break down the data. Either way this art science is useful, but definitely not the end-all of investigations.

Investigating 1934 – Some interesting Facts:

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:54:00 +0000

There are two interesting weather facts about 1934:

1) It is the warmest recorded year in the history of the US
2) The highest winds ever recorded in the western hemisphere (231 MPH / 370 KPH) were in 1934 at Mt Washington New Hampshire.

Also, the further weather drought problems in the US Midwest continued in 1934 and some 35 million acres of farmland were utterly destroyed and a further 225 million acres were in danger.

The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 was passed.
The turning point in the great depression in America with unemployment decreasing to 22% .
Alcatraz federal penitentiary known as "The Rock" opens
The First Ever general strike in the US
Trampoline was invented by George Nissen and Larry Griswold
The president set up public works around the US including bridges, roads and flood control Dams in an attempt to put America back on it's feet.
The FBI had considerable success ending the careers with celebrity criminals and John Dillinger , Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson.
Donald Duck appears for the first time in "The Wise Little Hen"

In Germany Adolf Hitler declared himself the Fuhrer (not just Chancellor)
In Russia Stalin began his massacres
In China Mao Tse-Tung spread the communist doctrine.
The Loch Ness Monster is spotted for the first time
The Luxury Liner Queen Mary is launched in Scotland

World Cup Facts:
Winner Italy, Second Czechoslavakia, Third Germany, Fourth Austria

The Following People were Born in 1934:
Giorgio Armani July 11th -- Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Brigitte Bardot September 28th -- Paris, France
Pat Boone June 1st -- Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Charles Manson November 12th -- Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Bill Moyers June 6th -- Hugo, Oklahoma, United States
Ralph Nader February 27th -- Winsted, Connecticut United States

Be Your Own Detective: Internet Security

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:35:00 +0000

It seems that people are really stupid when it comes to internet security. I guess that is why there are so many scams running rampant across the internet.

Another way people are generally stupid is the use of passwords.

"I guess it's just a genetic flaw in humans," said Amichai Shulman, the chief technology officer at Imperva, which makes software for blocking hackers. "We've been following the same patterns since the 1990s."

Mr. Shulman and his company examined a list of 32 million passwords that an unknown hacker stole last month from RockYou, a company that makes software for users of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. The list was briefly posted on the Web, and hackers and security researchers downloaded it. (RockYou, which had already been widely criticized for lax privacy practices, has advised its customers to change their passwords, as the hacker gained information about their e-mail accounts as well.)

... More disturbing, said Mr. Shulman, was that about 20 percent of people on the RockYou list picked from the same, relatively small pool of 5,000 passwords.

Read the story here.

Here are the most used passwords:

So if you use one of these passwords - you may want to rethink what you are using!

Most Importantly - Stay Safe!

Bloggers Unite for Haiti

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:30:00 +0000

Today I am a part of bloggers Unite for Haiti.

We are as bloggers trying to help with aid to Haiti in our own way. I am sure that you are well aware of the over-all situation in Haiti.

First, I would like to point out that though I am currently in the Eastern Hemisphere, there are people in Haiti that I know and have known for quite some time. When you work with the UN as much as I have, this is something that happens.

The "Little Miracle" story of Tarmo Joveer is an example of what I am talking about. I have known Tarmo since around 2000. He was a part of the Eastonian Police Contingent that was deployed to the UN Mission in Kososvo. I remember their first official day and I met all 5 contingent members. Later on I joined with them in Eastonian Contingent meetings and felt a close camaraderie to them.

I remember when Tarmo left Kosovo he said he was getting a security job in Haiti. That was really the last real contact with him.

When I saw him on TV I knew it was him immediately.

I am glad Tarmo is a part of the good things that are happening in Haiti.

The road is long and hard to any kind of “recovery” for the people of Haiti. They hardly had anything before, and now what was there is all but destroyed.

So please donate if you can to relief efforts. There are some good sites that have various lists of ways that you can donate. One is Its Just Light which has a mirror page on Facebook .

If you have doubts as to where to send donations – send to an organization that you already know and trust. This will take a long time for Haiti, but for now just getting essentials to people can be a real issue.

God Bless the people in Haiti – and be Safe!

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:01:00 +0000

Scams continue to be prevalent across the internet. The most common as we all see is the phishing scam when unsolicited email asks you to give private information like real name, date of birth, social security number, etc.

Despite awareness, sometimes people get caught off guard – usually because they get in a desperate situation. Right now many are unemployed or have the homes being foreclosed on. Of course this leads to scammers going after the remaining few dollars the now downtrodden possess.

These are the biggest consumer scams of 2009 – According to Consumer Reports.

Acai Supplements and Other "Free" Trial Offers – these often cost up to hundreds of dollars, month after month.

Stimulus/Government Grant Scams —Offers for worthless assistance and advice on how to get government grants swamped consumers emails.

Robocalls — Owning a cell phone or having a phone number on the do-not-call registry didn't halt harassing automated telemarketing calls in 2009. The prevalence of robocalls violating federal telemarketing laws prompted the FTC to increase restrictions on the practice.

Lottery/Sweepstakes Scam — Victims received letters in the mail pretending to be from Reader's Digest etc. Informing them that they'd won millions. Any time anyone asks you to pay anything to go further in a contest – it is a scam.

Job Hunter Scams — Scams targeting job hunters varied and included attempts to gain access to personal information such as a bank account or Social Security number – just a variant of the phising scam.

Google Work From Home Scam — Need I say more?

Mortgage Foreclosure Rescue/Debt Assistance —victims paid hundreds of dollars up front for assistance they desperately sought after but never received.

Mystery Shopping —A seemingly real-looking check supposed to cover the costs, but they are fakes, and victims were out hundreds, even thousands, of dollars.

Over-Payment Scams — Over-payment scams usually targeted small business owners, landlords, or individuals with rooms to rent, and sellers who placed classified ads on sites like Craigslist. Once again this is usually a variant of the phishing scam.

H1N1 Spam —Spam e-mail focusing on products designed to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus were rampant in 2009.

For the whole story – go here.

If you want to investigate the email that these scams are sent from, you can try using email tracer. I have used it with limited success. It is not totally the answer, as we all know we can open an email account anywhere with false information. You will be surprised at how public records can give information on an email address. But is ain't half bad!

I hope you can stay away from being scammed – and most of all…
Stay safe!

Investigating the Earthquake in Haiti

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:38:00 +0000

OK, the title may be a bit misleading - this is really just a post about raising interest in helping with disaster releif in Haiti.

Many UN workers are feared dead including the head of the mission there.

There are many organizations that can help. Some other bloggers have joined in efforts to make an impact like at Angelawd.

Check out my detailed post on my other blog.

I have joined other bloggers at Bloggers Unite for this cause.

Pray for the victims and send help - whatever you can - and Be Safe!

Be Your Own Detective: Investigating Health Care Reform

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:47:00 +0000

Why is “health insurance change” considered health care reform?

I am just wondering, because health care and health insurance are way two different things. When you really boil down health insurance change – and I am yet to see it as reform, because the biggest reform is not taking place, it is not about health insurance – it is about taking rights away from the states.

Currently, all health insurance regulations (except for nationalized health insurance like medicare and medicaide) are totally controlled by the individual states. This puts the whole health-care debate in another light. My question is – why is this major key issue not being discussed by Congress? I mean both houses – not just the House of Representatives.
States’ Rights is a very important issue for the States. Plus this puts the matter (whatever the issue is) in the hands of State Government where it rightfully belongs closer to the people. Why is it that the President or Congress thinks that the Federal Government can take care of us better than the States?

What is really “funny” is a lot of Democrats say there is a lot of disinformation about the “health Care” Reform. So why call it health care reform at all. Call it what it is Health Insurance Adjustment. So who really is giving dis-information? Will Obama come clean? Actually, he is about the only one who really has. This is what he says are key issues in health care reform:

People with pre-existing illnesses or conditions will be able to buy affordable health insurance.
Children with such conditions will no longer be denied coverage.
Small-business owners who can't afford to cover their employees will get tax credits to help them do so.
Insurance companies will be required to offer free preventive care to their customers and will be prohibited from dropping coverage when someone becomes ill.

OK, here is what does not make sense – we are told it will not cost us any more – yet Insurance companies will be required to insure people with pre-existing conditions. Now think about it – why do they not cover those people now? Simple – it costs too much. The insurance companies will not lose money - they will pass on the higher costs to the customers.

There are much simpler ways to reform health Insurance than these ginormous bills that have been passed. One simple solution is to make all small businesses part of one big group plan. Small business owners have asked for this for years in many states. That way they have the same opportunities for health insurance coverage as the large companies at the same costs.

If this was real reform – ask yourself a simple question – If this is such a grand plan – what is Congress not required to follow the plan? Really, if it is so great – why not use it themselves?

I hope this helps - Stay safe!

Investigating Security Breaches

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:15:00 +0000

Wow! I am so amazed at the lack of qualified people in key positions in the intelligence community. Almost everyone knew that Leon Pannetta was totally not qualified to head the CIA. His only "qualification" was that he had badmouthed the Agency over a year ago.

So far there is no evidence of improvements to the intelligence agency or how it operates.

"Spokesman Robert Gibbs says Obama has full confidence in director of national intelligence Dennis Blair and CIA Director Leon Panetta. Both are among the high-level officials who will meet with Obama at the White House Tuesday to discuss the reviews the president ordered after the failed attack. "

Now for the other real winner: Dennis Blair seems to have a real grasp of the situation - or does he? Look what he says about guys that hide illegal stuff in their underwear:

"The threat has evolved, and we need to anticipate new kinds of attacks and improve our ability to stay ahead of them and protect America."

It has evolved? How ancient is hiding stuff in your shorts? Everyone knows this one. Maybe he means new kinds of attacks - like terrorists trying to blow up airplanes.

The best gaff is from the big O himself when he tries to explain about Guantanamo Bay:

“Make no mistake, we will close Guantanamo prison,” Obama said. The prison, he said, “was an explicit rationale for the formation of al-Qaida "

Unless he has some super inside information no one else knows - How did this prisons use for holding terrorists become rationale for the formation of Al-qaida? Especially since al-Qaida has been around longer than we have been detaing terrorists there?

Real genius - it appears we are all but doomed.

My Favorite Posts of 2009

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:14:00 +0000

Stuff from the past year.

1. Investigating Who is Right - Jessica Alba or Bill O'Reilly
2. Be Your Own Detective - Lie Detecting
3. Investigating "Climategate" Once More
4. Old Movie Stuff That Really Works

Still, on of my Favorites of all time is the great blonde joke. (Revised once more)

Investigating Obama

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:34:00 +0000

OK, most of you know that I am not an Obama fan. I definitely am not one of those who "praise" him or believe in him as if he were a messiah.

However, how often have you heard our President demand anything from another country? I have not heard him demand anythong from North Korea or demand that China show some human rights or anything eles. Oh, but let there be some mis-treatment of some muslims? Oh no! Now he demands that they be treated properly.

"US President Barack Obama on Monday strongly condemned Iran's crackdown on protesters and called on the Islamic regime to immediately free those "unjustly detained."

Sorry do not give me the he is not a muslim argument. his true colors have shown brightly. All this while on "Christmas vacation" - which we all know is really winter holiday. :)

Be safe!

Be Your Own Detective - Unravel This Arms Smuggling Mess!

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:34:00 +0000

The weapons recovered by Thai officials that came from North Korea have so far revealed an unusual history for a small air freight company. Unravelling this whole case may be more demanding than you think. Here is known background of information in this case:

The plane, according to the researchers, was owned by Overseas Cargo FZE, based in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates where the plane also made a landing.
The crew was hired by a Ukrainian air freighter called Aviatek. The search engine of the global aviation registry — http://www.aerotransport.org — had no listing for a company by that name.
The aircraft is registered in the former Soviet republic of Georgia but owned by a company in the United Arab Emirates.
It was leased to a company in New Zealand
which then chartered the plane to a company in Hong Kong,
by the nonprofit groups TransArms in the United States and IPIS of Belgium
The plane was registered to Air West, a cargo transport company set up in September
Air West's owner Levan Kakabadze said he had leased the plane last month to the SP Trading company SP Trading Limited was founded July 22, 2009, in Auckland, New Zealand.
On Dec. 4, SP Trading leased the plane to Hong Kong-based Union Top Management Ltd. created on Nov. 2.
There is no Union Top office at its Hong Kong address. Instead, there is a company called R & G Management Consultancy, according to a woman who answered the door. She doesn't know how to reach anyone at the company, nor did she know a man called Dario Cabreros Garmendia — who signed Union Top's incorporation in Hong Kong last month.

You can find the story here.

When you figure it all out - let me know!

Stay Safe! and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:07:00 +0000

This post will be just a bit out of the ordinary. Nothing to investigate or anything like that. All I want to do for anyone who stops by is to wish you a Merry Christmas! Christmas is a special timeand I hope everyone remebers the reason for the season.

New Ezine Series on Democratic Policing

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:23:00 +0000

I have started a new series of articles on Democratic Policing over at E-Zine. You can find all of my articles here.

I may post about them later - just wanted to give you a heads up about them.

Investigating "Climategate" Once More

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:17:00 +0000

Now, the odd thing is ... it is too cold in Copenhagen for the protesters to protest at the Global Warming Conference.

OK, here is what should not be a surprise to anyone this year if you believe in any sort of conspiracy at all. The Global Warming Conference is at a deadlock and they are waiting for President ~~of the world~~ Barack Obama to save the world (again). Interesting in light of climategate and all. I mean, we should have all seen this coming on the heels of his ~~totally undeserving~~ surprise award of the Nobel Peace Prize for ~~nothing~~ …er, I mean hope.

So the conference is at a deadlock and the "man" has to come in and rescue the conference and save the world – this time from Global Warming (that may not be happening). He could not be more than pleased himself. Let’s all hope he brought his teleprompter, because without it – we are all doomed.

I hope he doesn’t sell us (meaning the U.S.) out too much for the sake of making himself savior of the world (again).

Best of all – stay safe –

P.S. check in a few hours and see if I am right!

Updated - 19 December:

It looks like the Big Guy did not save the world. As a matter of fact all the Obama-niks seem to be disappointed with him. Apparently they did not like his juniour -high speech he gave. Do not blame his teleprompter though - apparently he had lots of help withe the speech as "The text, drafted by a select group of 28 leaders – including UK prime minister, Gordon Brown – in the early hours of this morning..."

OK, Stay Safe!

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:17:00 +0000

More Email Scams In the Holidays

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:16:00 +0000

OK - just a warning, but if you read blogs you are likely to be more savvy than just an email user - so I do not mean to insult your intelligence.

However, just a friendly reminder that scams, email scams, phishing scams, and the like always increase during the holidays (as most crimes like theft, robbery, and burglary).

So beware of anyone asking for more details no matter who they are pretending to be. If you bought stuff online, and you believe they may need something – make a phone call to the company for any additional information, so that you know who you are calling.

Another ongoing scam – the “duck scam”

"In the scam, one con artist goes into the store to ask about applying for a job. The scammer learns as much as possible about the store -- names of the clerk and managers, store phone numbers and general day-to-day operations of the store -- and then passes that information to an accomplice.

The accomplice then calls the store, usually within minutes of the first visit, and pretends to be the store's district manager. The con artist tells the clerk that he'll be sending a delivery person to exchange a key for the store's "day drop" of cash, which the scammer says is needed at another store for the evening shift.

The delivery person, one of the accomplices, then goes to the store with a key, exchanges it for the money and leaves."

The complete story can be found here.

Try to enjoy the holidays and be safe!

Be Your Own Detective - Why Not - ACORN did.

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:05:00 +0000

Once again ACORN pops up in the news. Now a suppossed internal investigation of ACORN shows there was ~~a lot of~~ no illegal activity. Hah! OK, if I am not mistaken they were caught on video telling people how to hide assets and how to run a prostitution ring. Funny, if ACORN were say, Republicans, a Conservative Organization, or Church or even a mafia family or similar, that would be considered conspiracy and organized crime.

Former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger was commissioned by the organization to conduct the investigation. Shown here is apparently describing just how big of a lie he needs to tell to get ACORN "off the hook." An Attorney General with these findings? Makes you wonder what folks got away with in Massachusetts.

Be Your Own Detective: Investigating "Scientific Consensus"

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:40:00 +0000

What is Scientific Consensus?

Wikipedia says: "Scientific consensus is the collective judgment, position, and opinion of the community of scientists in a particular field of study. Consensus implies general agreement, though not necessarily unanimity." - Not that I have all that much faith in Wikipedia - but it seems to make sense to me.

Scientific Consensus is ok to say what the consensus is - but basing policy and practices on said consensus could be dangerous. Just because almost everyone believes something does not make it true (eg. the flat earth, earth is center of universe, etc). Many breakthrough scientific discoveries were against the consensus. That is like the debate over "dark matter" which was invented to try to explain how the universe is expanding faster than it possibly can using Einstein's theory of relativity.

It is funny how we have nuclear power based on his theory, yet some of his theory does not fit real life. Of course some of his theory shows where Newton was “wrong” - even though a lot of physics is base on Newtonian "laws."

The point is consensus is not a good thing for science, other than basically finding a foundation for education purposes. In short, science is not, never has been and never should or can be about “consensus”. There is no consensus on dark matter. Anyone who claims that there is one on climate change or Anthropogenic Global Warming is twisting the term "consensus." The large amount of money and politically motivated capital injected into climatology are corrupting. Just as the lack of funding for any scientific project that studies the other side. As an example - we corrupt third-world countries when we flood them with huge amounts of aid. There is a difference between Science and Scientists. Science allegedly is pure, but Scientists are corruptible.

If you do not believe me, just check it out. Non-consenters were not and are not invited to the conference on climate change in Copenhagen - then they will again say they have a consensus - duh of course! Kind of like if you only invite rednecks to a party - there will be nothing but redneck views there. Maybe we should call this climate stuff "redneck science."

Of course the "big guy" will save the world at the climate conference!

Most of all – Stay safe!

Investigating "Climate Gate"

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:48:00 +0000

OK, this one is all over the place. Climate change research shows that the planet's average temperature over the last 11 years has been going down.

What a shocker huh? I know that there always has been and will always be climate change. But the lies that man has efected it much in any way is thinking way too much of ourselves. What about the polar bears ( the fact is there are more now than 30 years ago). What about the melting Ice at the polar caps? Ice melts all the time. The other lie that it will cause serious flooding if they all melt are not figuring the size of the oceans against the mass of the polar ice caps. It may cause a small rise - but in no way can it cause serious flooding. It would be like scraping a tiny layer of frost from a freezer and putting it in a glass of water. Change - yes - significant - no.

Increasing CO2 emmissions makes plants grow - but changing temperature? That takes real greenhouse gasses like water vapor.

Back to climategate. We all know now the truth - just in time for our Nobel Peace Prize winning bow to all royalties - real or not President goes to Copenhagen - probably now to make a real fool of himself.

Be Your Own Detective: Investigating Home Security

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:29:00 +0000

Now, we all have a need for some personal security. Some of us are very security concious. We scan the street for unusual vehicles, or look at the service company trucks with scrutiny. The boys putting flyers on doorknobs and the drivers and the cars that bring them to the neighborhood are noted, even if only mentally. The times these things and people show up seem to be pretty well known.

What we all would seem to notice immediately is someone who comes into our homes uninvited. Now, if the intruder is a small-ish child of 4 years old or so, we do not suspect that the intruder has any negative intentions. However, any adult that comes in uninvited, obviously has no good intentions at all.

Now picture this: The chief of a security company that touts how they can make your homes and businesses safer by using their services ends up with someone who gets into his own house uninvited and unawares of any of his security services. If the perpetrators took photos of themselves inside the head of the company's house, and then showed them to a competitor, or even worse, they were published in a paper or magazine such things would totally discredit the head of the security company. His company would suffer greatly in sales and he would likely be fired as head of the company if he was the the sole owner.

Enter Barack Obama - the one man responsible for safety and security of our nation and in a way all Americans. Because of his feel good policies and him being caught up in “celebratization” of himself and everything around him, a couple of knucklehead wanna-be celebrities are allowed to walk into not only the Whitehouse, but a state dinner honoring the prime minister of India. You would have thought normal security should be tight enough, but the increased security that should exist when a leader of a democracy that suffers regular terror attacks on it's own soil should be extremely tight.

Apparently, the total lapse in security by Secret Service can only be attributed to the all celebrities are welcome and the anything that adds glitz and glamour of the Whitehouse contributed to this lapse.

This is a total embarrassment of our Nation and our ability to have any security in these post 9/11 days. The "head of security has lost all credibility our nation has of being able to provide security. Yes, these were just celebrity wannabes, however, they just as easily could have been assassins, terrorists or spies. Think about it, if it were assassins, terrorists or spies - we would have lost less credibility as they would at least possibly have skills and training in breaching security. A fame grabbing couple who own a failed winery? – That is a total embarrassment.

Our President needs to apologize and show he can find someone with security knowledge in the Whitehouse. Or someplace in his administration.

Investiagting the Seals in Iraq!

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:32:00 +0000

In March 2004, 4 Blackwater operators were killed in Fallujah. Later their bodies were displayed on a bridge where Iraqis chanted anti-American slogans as the charred and mutilated bodies of U.S. contractors hang from a bridge over the Euphrates River in Fallujah, Iraq.

Later, A U.S. Marine writes on a beam of a bridge in western Fallujah, Iraq, where the bodies of two American contractors killed by militants were strung up in March 2004. An earlier message left by soldiers reads: "This is for the Americans of Blackwater that were murdered here in 2004, Semper Fidelis 3/5."

Now the Navy Seals who tracked down the terrorist responsible for their killings are on trial.

OK, it is odd how our priorities change during a time of war and as the war changes. So now a group of Navy Seals who did a wonderful job in tracking down and capturing a terrorist are on trial for "mistreating the prisoner" - and all he had was a bloody lip!

Give me a break! This is not how we should treat our heros! But it apparently is how we treat them.

You can see the story here.

Blonde Joke

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:46:00 +0000

For you to see the great blonde joke - click here.

Be Your Own Detective

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:50:00 +0000

I know it has been a while since i last posted. I keep trying to think of new issues and new ideas as to why you may need to be your own detective.

The most obvious reason now-a-days is that the economy has gone sour and many cannot afford a real detective. Like I have always said, I am in favor of a person using a real detective when they need one - there is no online service that can replace that. However, you may need to do some preliminary screening first to cut down on the detective time you really need.

Remember, these online services are not the end all to finding people, but I have found folks that otherwise I would not have, and it was not the kind of thing I would have hired a detective for.

So be safe, be sure, and when needed - be your own detective.

Identity Theft from Dead People

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:46:00 +0000

Dead men tell no lies... but do they run up bills? It so happens that some cases of identity theft involve people gleaning death notices and managing to steal enough information to steal the identity of a dead person.

This is not a new scam. As a matter of fact, in 1994, I arrested a guy for possesion of about 600 pounds of marijuana. He was driving a motor home that had the stuff tucked away everywhere. When he was arrested, he had a legitimate driver's icense and ID out of Georgia. Later we found out he was not the guy, because he usd the ID and Social Security number of a dead guy to get his license. He simply got the information from a death certificate - then got a copy of the guuy's birth certificate, used his social security number and obtained a driver's license.

We found out after we sent his prints in after his arrest that he had another identity, and later learned of the dead guy's true storey.

Now days the Social Security Administration has a dead persons ssn database. These records are updated when any deaths are reported. However, there are still some cases where the Social Security Numbers will not be updated.

Anyhow, there still are those out there that are stealing identities from dead people. It is mre difficult to do hat it used to be, but it still can happen. One of the ways to make sure it does not happen is reporting any death to the Social Security Administration.

Of course - you can use one of the search options I have here at this site to confirm any information.

Mopst of all - Be Safe!

Be Your Own Detective - Avoid the Cash for Clunker Scam

barryfromtexas@hotmail.com (Barry) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Beware of the "Cash for Clunker" Scam!

Yes, as soon as there is a new government program - someone turns it into a scam. The idea that you can trade that old clunker and gas-hog for a green machine or other new car is OK. However, beware of the scam - it works like this:

"According to NHTSA, there are a slew of fake websites that have suddenly popped up all over the internet advertising the program. These bogus sites look very official with their very credible displays of the banner ‘CASH FOR CLUNKERS.’ Mistake number one, the official name of the program is the Car Allowance Rebate System... ...They will ask you to pre-register for the program and some will even request your social security number. Giving out your personal information on these scam sites can only result in identity theft issues. Please note, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO REGISTER OR PROVIDE PERSONAL INFORMATION TO ANY WEBSITE IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM!"

The story can be found here.

OK boys and girls, there is only ONE official website for the program and that is www.cars.gov. That is the only official website for the program by the National Highway and Safety Administration.

As President Obama likes to say: Don't act "Stupidly" Don't give out your personal information when not needed.