You’ll continue to hear in the news about North Korea supposedly attacking US and South Korean websites and networks.

Isn’t it interesting that as one poster on Yahoo stated in their comments:

What bill is trying to become law in the United States? “Coincidentally”, the Cyber Security Act of 2009. This bill will give the President the power to declare a cybersecurity emergency and limit or shutdown network traffic to any network. (SEC 18, 2). The President will also have the power to order the disconnection of any network (SEC 18,6) A few more cyber security attacks and this baby will be in business!

Now think about this folks for just a second logically.

North Korea cannot even get a satellite launched into space. Do you honestly think they can launch the kind of cyber attack that our government and the news media is expecting us to believe?

Give me a few proxies and I can make you believe North Korea is doing the same thing!

Are we being manipulated – once again – to further the government’s agenda to control the Internet?

Wake up people!

Are you people crazy or are you just that starved for attention?

Where in your neuro-transmitters have you made a connection that Microsoft equals secure anything?

One of the posts I read even stated the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard when it mentioned that this free product would give the main security vendors serious competition. I think the blogger is on crack.

And if this post sounds jaded, sarcastic, and just downright mean, well good! I’m glad I’m getting my point across!

Any software company who makes operating systems as unsecure as all of Microsoft’s has no right to claim they know anything about security! If they knew about security, wouldn’t they know how to make a secure Operating System? Hello?

I would trust Linux with a security software! I would trust Mozilla with a security software! Microsoft? NEVER!

In a more recent article at InformationWeek.com we get this genius quote from the “let’s all play nice” CEO of AVG:

“J.R. Smith, CEO of AVG, says Microsoft’s new offering will be good for consumers and good for the security market overall because it will raise awareness that security products are necessary. He expects that companies like AVG, Kaspersky, and Symantec will be able to provide more extensive protection than Microsoft is offering.”

(Source: http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/app-security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218100195&subSection=Vulnerabilities+and+threats)

However, I really like Lockergnome’s take on it all far better!

Certainly the sheeple will applaud this effort, as they are too lazy to check the many free offerings from companies whose purpose is to combat the digital nastiness, and glean the fact that a couple of gems are actually in the mix.

(Source: http://www.lockergnome.com/theoracle/2009/06/17/will-microsofts-security-essentials-be-essential-to-you/)

And to be brutally honest with you, faithful loyal reader, Microsoft should be considered malware!

After all, what would you call software that digitally spies on you? Malware!

What would you call software that performs stealth updates on your system? Malware!

What would you call software that sells you information to third party providers? Malware!

Oh and I have much, much, more! Just wait until tomorrow’s post!

The recommended course of action is to disable JavaScript capabilities in both software.

In Acrobat Preferences menu:

• Open the Edit menu.
• Select Preferences.
• Choose JavaScript.
• Un-check Enable Acrobat JavaScript.

Disable the display of PDF documents in the web browser.

To prevent PDF documents from automatically being opened in a web browser, do the following:

• Open Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Open the Edit menu.
• Choose the Preferences option.
• Choose the Internet section.
• Un-check the Display PDF in browser check box.

Do not open unfamiliar or unexpected PDF documents.

Read the Adobe Security Bulletin with links to update your product(s) – at the end of the bulletin – here:

http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-07.html

• Quickbooks  (US, Canada & UK)
• Quicken (US, Canada & UK)
• TurboTax
• Innovative Merchant Solutions
• ProSeries and ProSeries Express – tax years 2003-2006
• ImpôtRapide (Canada)
• QuickTax (Canada)
• Clearly Bookkeeping (UK)

There is a a potential security vulnerability which involves AnswerWorks software, which is licensed from Vantage and developed on Microsoft’s ActiveX platform. It’s used in the “Help” feature of the affected Intuit products.

You will need to download and install a patch to help protect you!

The patch links are available here:

http://about.intuit.com/support/security/

Richard is known for shaking up the industry and providing actionable guidance to vendors and end users. He recently re-launched the security blog ThreatChaos.com and is the founder of IT-Harvest, an independent analyst firm that researches the 1,200 IT security vendors. He was Chief Marketing Officer for Fortinet, Inc. the leading UTM vendor. Prior to that he was VP Threat Research at Webroot Software. Before Webroot, Mr. Stiennon was VP Research at Gartner Inc. where he covered security topics including firewalls, intrusion detection, intrusion prevention, security consulting, and managed security services for the Security and Privacy group. He is a holder of Gartner’s Thought Leadership award and was named “One of the 50 most powerful people in Networking” by NetworkWorld Magazine.

Join us live at TechnicalTidbits BlogTalk Radio!

Yes, we got people! Once again, MICE is growing and this time I’m doing it differently! In the past, I’ve pulled back and stopped or slowed the growth. This time, I hired help!

The first change I initiated was a change with me. I needed to learn how to grow the right way this time and have someone successful mentor me, challenge me, and keep me focused.  So, I hired Louise Barnes-Johnston (@LouiseBJ on twitter) from Frontline Results as my business/life coach!

If you listened to the archives on our BlogTalk Radio show, you will know she was the one responsible for getting me started on the radio show and was my first guest!

Louise has been a refreshing, objective observer in my business and life. She’s got me eating breakfast (Bran Flakes and banana’s) and taking time out to really eat it – not wolf it down.  And when I can’t see the forest through the trees, she just reminds me of the obvious and I’m back in focus again!

It’s going on 5 weeks with her now and all I can say is WOW! But the proof shall be in the website. And wait until you see what’s coming!

The next step I took was asking Anthony Valente, CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) and CEO of Network Defense Solutions to be a teaching assistant for me on my college-based online courses.  He has agreed to that and much more!

Let me tell you, Anthony is a dynamo! He has taken over answering the students for the week which has allowed me to get caught up on some much needed work. But he hasn’t stopped there! He’s come up with some OUTSTANDING ideas that through our company partnerships, we are going to rock the security community through our teaching! But I won’t spoil the surprises coming. You’ll have to watch for our announcement.

The next step was to hire help. Louise helped me realize that I just couldn’t try to be everything to everyone as I’ve tried to do in the past. And this is a big problem if you’re an entrepreneur.  Not only do we have “shiny object” syndrome – as Louise calls it – we don’t like to let go of our baby – our business.

First, the shiny object syndrome we entrepreneurs suffer from is getting excited about new ideas before we complete what we started. Sort of like when you see a shiny object somewhere and say, “Oh! What’s that?” Then you focus your attention on the new shiny object until another one diverts your attention. Thanks to Louise, I’m no longer chasing shiny objects! Well, ok, not as frequently anyway! (GRIN)

And I’ve learned to let go.

You should be receiving your first set of newsletters again.  (If you haven’t signed up, see the link to do so at the end of this post!)

While I’m still writing the content, I’ve hired a wonderful Virtual Assistant company, TCT Business Solutions, LLC.

I met Tracey, (@TraceyTarrant on twitter) through twitter. In fact, she and Louise were one of the first people I followed and had follow me! I didn’t even know what a Virtual Assistant (VA) was until Tracey explained it to me!

The wonderful thing about signing up with Tracey’s company is that she’s based in the USA! It makes me feel good to know that she hires people in the US and that I’m keeping US people employed by hiring her company.

The other side benefits are:

1. The service is a legitimate business expense and fully deductable.
2. She hires the staff so I don’t have to worry about interviewing and finding the right person.
3. She pays the staff so I don’t need to worry about filing employers taxes, unemployment, and all that other employee related stuff.
4. The service is affordable for someone who’s growing! If I do the basic business calculations to determine if I could afford an additional employee, the numbers say, “no!” I’m not even paying myself! So, Tracey’s company allows me the luxury of help without the high overhead of an in-house staff person.
5. She is so easy to work with! I had no clue what the heck I was doing hiring her company but one phone call from Tracey and I was at ease and at home. She makes the process totally painless!

Now, I write newsletters, Tracey’s company sends them out! No more late or “never sent” newsletters!

Which also brings me to our new newsletter service! We’ve signed up with Constant Contact since there have been repeated reports that people are not getting their newsletters when we do legitimately send them out.  So, I decided to join them and get deliverability.

Next on the agenda is getting a dynamic PHP menu set up here on the website. I wanted to move the site to Joomla to end my trials and tribulations of having to update every single page to add a new menu item, but the learning curve is too time consuming for me right now.  So, I’ve moved us back to the original design.

If you can do, or know someone who does  a PHP/MySQL dynamic menu that looks like the menu on our home page: http://mice.org, please get in touch with me immediately to discuss pricing! You can contact me by clicking here.

Finally, I will again be writing regularly here on the blog.

So, look for many new and exciting things to start happening, as well as your old favorites!

And if you’re not receiving our newsletters, you can check out the available list and a sample of all but one newsletter, and sign up here: http://mice.org/lists.

You can still get the Weekly Security Digest free for one year if you sign up now! I’m going to be canceling that freebie shortly and it will be fee based soon.

That being said, I need to get busy on the course edits!

The truth of the matter is, at last check, researchers had no idea what this thing was going to do. So I’m wondering why suddenly it’s a big thing? So, I did some more research on my own and supposedly, some people are saying it’s set to go off on April 1st but others have not mentioned it. So it makes one wonder if there’s too much hype.

According to Microsoft’s information posted:

What Happens on April 1, 2009?

Systems infected with the latest version of Conficker will begin to use a new algorithm to determine what domains to contact. Microsoft has not identified any other actions scheduled to take place on April 1, 2009. It is possible that systems with the latest version of Conficker may be updated with a newer version of Conficker on April 1 by contacting domains on the new domain list. However, these systems could be updated on any date before or after April 1 as well using the “peer-to-peer” updating channel in the latest version of Conficker.

(Source: http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/worms/conficker.mspx)

That’s all it’s set to do, update. And I believe what people are panicking about is just what is the update going to tell it to do?

You know, it’s April Fool’s day. Maybe it’s going to shoot out a message that say’s “Psych! Had you going!” Or maybe, “Ballmer Sucks!” I’d pay to see that one!

I know I’m making light of the subject but the truth is that we don’t know what it’s going to do! It’s that simple! The fervor with which the rumors are spreading is ridiculous! It sounds like we’re at the eve of 2000 again.

If you’re paranoid and this new worm has you frightened, then educate yourself. Yes, a shameless advertisement for our courses. Take one! Learn! Otherwise you’re a victim to every pundit who writes for the news.

First of all, let’s get the concept of a worm straight. As my students know, a worm is not like an ordinary virus that requires a user to do something to activate it – like in opening an e-mail or something like that. A worm does not require human intervention, it moves perfectly well on its own.

Secondly, if you are running a reputable Antivirus software program the worm is being detected in the scans, so you should be fine.

When I say reputable, I’m not discounting the free antivirus programs. Avast and AVG have confirmed they are protecting you.

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=41900.0
http://viruslab.blog.avg.com/2009/01/downadupconficker-worm.html

The other major manufacturers are reporting the same.

What bothers me the most in the reporting of this worm, is that thousands if not a million computers are infected with this worm. If that’s true, then are you telling me that hundreds of thousands of users are not using virus protection??? That scares me more than this worm does!

Okay, so if you’re running AV protection, you’re somewhat safe. But the real fact of the matter is, you need to protect yourself by getting Microsoft’s MS08-067 security update, and disabling Windows’ Autoplay and Autorun features. (Although I refuse to disable my autorun, autoplay features personally. And, I would like to think I’m relatively certain that I don’t have the worm. But I’ll do a double check to make sure.)

The patch is available here: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS08-067.mspx

The reason they recommend to disable auto play and auto run features is because the worm might spread through file sharing and through removable drives, such as USB drives (also known as thumb drives). The worm adds a file to the removable drive so that when the drive is used, the AutoPlay dialog will show one additional option.

For example, here is my normal auto-play screen:

A Normal Autoplay Window

This is the one with the extra worm file on top of the normal windows explorer option:

(Photo Courtesy of Microsoft Corporation)

If you select the first option, the worm executes and can begin to spread itself to other computer.

Currently, this worm has infected thousands of computers – not the millions as previously thought.

Now, for my techie friends and advanced students: the worm signature has been found. Yes! That’s right! The signature has been found and reported on yesterday. And guess what tool you can use to find it? One from our advanced class! NMAP!

Because the signature runs on anonymously on the surface, you should be able to pick it up with NMAP. However, there is a proof of concept scanner available here if you’d like to test it out: http://iv.cs.uni-bonn.de/uploads/media/scs.zip

This PoC has been developed because of the help from Dan Kaminsky, our love/hate security guru! I say that tongue-in-cheek Dan! (SMILE)

Now, for the average person again:  What are the signs that my PC has been hit? Microsoft’s advisory about Downadup, or Conficker lists several symptoms of infection, including these:

Account lockout policies are being tripped (because your password’s been hijacked, and changed, by the attacker).

Account lockout policies being tripped is a technical security explanation for the fact that you get locked out of your own resources. Whether they are your own computer, your router, and your programs. For the average user, it’s when you enter your password that you know is right, then an error message pops up claiming that you entered the wrong username and password and you’re sitting there saying, “WTF?”

Automatic Updates are disabled (because Conficker tries to keep the PC unpatched by turning off Windows Update’s automatic update, as well as Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), the Windows component used by Windows Update to actually deliver the updates).

You can actually check to make sure that these are running by:

1. Right click over you’re My Computer icon and choose: Manage.
2. Navigate to: Services and Applications.
3. Click the plus sign to get to: Services.
4. Once you click on Services in the list, you should see the list of services in the right side of the screen. They are in alphabetical order.
5. Automatic Updates and Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) should be set to automatic and started. BITS may be manual and not running but that’s okay as long as the Automatic Updates are running.
6. If you have your auto updates turned off, please use the link above to get your patch!

Various security-related Web sites cannot be accessed (because Conficker blocks access to a whole host of security companies’ sites in an effort to prevent antivirus software from being updated, which could result in the worm’s detection and eradication).

More technical information from Microsoft:
The following system changes may indicate the presence of this malware:

• The lack of response from, or the termination of, the following services:
  • Windows Security Center Service (wscsvc) – notifies users of security settings (e.g. Windows update, Firewall and Antivirus)
  • Windows Update Auto Update Service (wuauserv)
  • Background Intelligence Transfer Service (BITS) – used by Windows Update to download updates using idle network bandwidth
  • Windows Defender (WinDefend)
  • Error Reporting Service (ersvc) – sends error reports to Microsoft to help improve user experience
  • Windows Error Reporting Service (wersvc)
  • Users may not be able to run applications containing the following strings:
    autoruns
    avenger
    confick
    downad
    filemon
    gmer
    hotfix
    kb890
    kb958
    kido
    klwk
    mbsa.
    mrt.
    mrtstub
    ms08-06
    procexp
    procmon
    regmon
    scct_
    sysclean
    tcpview
    unlocker
    wireshark
  • Users may not be able to browse certain security-related Web sites with URLs that contain any of the following strings:
    agnitum
    ahnlab
    anti-
    antivir
    arcabit
    avast
    avgate
    avira
    bothunter
    castlecops
    ccollomb
    centralcommand
    clamav
    comodo
    computerassociates
    conficker
    cpsecure
    cyber-ta
    defender
    downad
    drweb
    dslreports
    emsisoft
    esafe
    eset
    etrust
    ewido
    f-prot
    f-secure
    fortinet
    free-av
    freeav
    gdata
    grisoft
    hackerwatch
    hacksoft
    hauri
    ikarus
    jotti
    k7computing
    kaspersky
    kido
    malware
    mcafee
    microsoft
    mirage
    msftncsi
    msmvps
    mtc.sri
    networkassociates
    nod32
    norman
    norton
    onecare
    panda
    pctools
    prevx
    ptsecurity
    quickheal
    removal
    rising
    rootkit
    safety.live
    securecomputing
    secureworks
    sophos
    spamhaus
    spyware
    sunbelt
    symantec
    technet
    threat
    threatexpert
    trendmicro
    trojan
    virscan
    virus
    wilderssecurity
    windowsupdate
  • Users may experience a Web browser time-out error when attempting to access URLs containing the following strings:
    avg.
    avp.
    bit9.
    ca.
    cert.
    gmer.
    kav.
    llnw.
    llnwd.
    msdn.
    msft.
    nai.
    sans.
    vet.

(Source: http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/Entry.aspx?Name=Worm:Win32/Conficker.D)

For more about technical signs of the worm see:
http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=WORM_DOWNAD.KK&VSect=T

All of your current AV programs should detect it! But definitely patch your system!

Debbie

Related Resources:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/09/03/09/Hackers_update_Conficker_worm_evade_countermeasures_1.html

http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=WORM_DOWNAD.KK&VSect=T

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS08-067.mspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/dd452420.aspx

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/30/conficker_signature_discovery/

Posted using ShareThis

Okay, that was very cool! I just posted this little blurb from a website I was visitng!

Sean Tan Marketing is a company (person) I’ve purchased graphics from before and I trust this guy when he recommends something. So I went to check it out. This is pretty awesome stuff!

Free, online, and easy to use!

While this may be a good thing because it means people are actually reading what I wrote, my intention is also being misunderstood based on the comments I’m getting.

First let me say that I have no problem with any company outsourcing. That’s not the issue. Nor, do I have a problem with workers who are here on HB1 visa’s. That’s not the issue. And I do not have a problem with any culture foreign or otherwise.  That’s not the issue.

Here’s what I take issue with.

1. American founded companies that told us way back that we – the American consumer – would benefit from their ability to outsource workers through lower prices.

Am I the only person in this country that remembers that? Is the news media correct that we have an ADD memory as American’s? Come on! Someone else has to remember this line of BS we were fed back then! And if necessary, I’ll freaking find references to it online!

2. American founded companies that lie about why they are using outsourcing.  They may speak out of one side of their mouth that they can’t find talent here, but the other side is speaking to the shareholders about the cost savings to their bottom line.

The truth is in the statement from IBM that they want their staff to outsource themselves! See: A President’s Day Call to Action.  But, at a rate of pay indicative of the country they are moving too! Is that not demeaning the American worker and the wages that American’s should be earning?

And what does this say about the country as a whole? That you’re company is willing to ship the citizens to foreign countries just to save a buck?

Surely, I cannot be the only person who sees how insane and ridiculous this is, am I?

You know, I use Comcast High Speed Internet and Cable services. The few times I’ve had to call them for problems, I’ve gotten a call center in Mexico and in Canada. I don’t complain. Comcast has NEVER undermined this country nor do they have a policy of NOT hiring American workers when American workers are called for.

I have worked along outsourced staff in many companies and I really feel the most for them. They feel that we American’s hate them for taking our jobs. And that’s just not true! There are many valuable outsourced HB1 visa staffers who provide a valuable service in areas that are needed and that American workers cannot fill. I’m not complaining about that!

In any company I’ve called you to boycott, I’ve cited that they have anti-American, or anti-American worker sentiment. Like Microsoft, Dell, and IBM.

I talked about IBM above and the same insanity about America is shown in Dell’s charging us – American’s – for support in English!

Let me ask you this? If you purchased a computer from Japan while in Japan and you had to call for service, wouldn’t you expect to get a call answered in Japanese? Yes you would!  And if you bought the same computer in French-speaking Canada, would you not expect that their customer service reps speak French? Yes you would!

Dell is supposed to be a freaking American company! Why do we have to pay for American English speaking support?

And I’m not even going to get into Microsoft anymore.  All I can say is Karma Baby, karma!

InfoWorld published an article with the headlines: Microsoft cuts software leasing costs to retain companies.  Which at first sent me jumping for joy until I read this:

“One reseller I talked to says he has never seen Microsoft doing this level of promotion and price cutting in the enterprise space,” he said. And “from Microsoft’s point of view, they’d rather have a low-priced subscription customer than a customer who simply didn’t renew their Software Assurance. They’re still making lots of money off it.”

I guess Microsoft’s crying wolf is much like the little boy in the fairy tale!

So, to clarify, we are not calling for a boycott of any company who outsources! We are calling for a boycott of American companies that have anti-American, or anti-American worker sentiment!

This is not a witch hunt for outsourcing companies. This is just a call to action to put our American money where our businesses support our country and it’s citizens! It’s not protectionism, elitism, nor ethnocentrism.  It’s called being American and supporting American business that in turn supports America!

And while I’m at it, I think we should call for a boycott of Citibank. Not for any anti-American sentiment but on the grounds of stupidity! How dare you pay out bonuses when you take bailout money!

If I had a Citibank account, I’d close it immediately and move to a local bank.

Money talks American readers! Start putting your money where your values lie! Put up or shut up! If you’re angry with the way the companies are handling workers, stop buying their products. If you’re angry with the way financial institutions are handling the bailout money and making stupid decisions, pull your accounts! If you’re angry with the stupidity of your congressional leader, tell them!

We American’s are offered a wonderful opportunity. We have the right to protest and speak our minds even though our elected leaders will do what the hell they want to anyway and despite our objections. But hey, at least we have the right to do so! And that includes how and where we spend our money!

That’s all I’m saying!

We are updating and upgrading again.

If you had noticed the Google Chat that was on the right and notice that it’s gone now, that’s because I’ve replaced it with the Meebo chat. You don’t need to login in to anything, you can chat right from here and it’s accurate as to whether I’m available or not.

The Google Chat or Google Talk box was annoying because it said I was always online – even when I wasn’t – and people would click the box which would then send up a notice to me that someone wanted to talk, and when I tried to find out who was there, they had abandoned the chat window. This will be far more accurate and enable me to chat with our users, or you can chat amongst yourselves while you’re here visiting!

So, as you can see by this simple change, we are adding new, and interactive content to make our site better and ourselves more accessible.

Now, for the site itself…..

I’ve mentioned before that we are like the shoemaker’s children who have no shoes in that we design websites for our clients and have not been able to update our own because we’ve been so busy!

It has been said that the mark of a good Manager (or Teacher for that matter) is when their staff (or students) go on to exceed them. I can confidently say that I’m a good Teacher (and Manager) because the reason I’m lacking help is that others have gone on to excel on their own.  (Or, it could be that I’m an evil taskmaster and they all left to do anything but work with me! SMILE)

Our former Director of Marketing and Emerging Technologies has moved on. He is now a contractor with a tech staffing agency doing what he loves with Excel and Metrics Reporting, along with pursuing his own teaching on his metaphysical/spiritual website: http://haumanadao.com/

One of our previous graphic designer/web developer, Brad Shirley, has gone on to opening a brick and mortar candle shop along with his online presence at: http://www.riversidescents.com. If you’re in the Wellsville, Ohio area, stop by Brad’s shop and tell him MICE sent you!

Another one of our previous graphic designers and former web design student, Doug Foss, has gone back to a 9-5 job and is working on building his passion in photography.  I found a reference to him on the web and apparently he’s working not only with his passion of photography, but doing the website for the Lake County Art League!  I actually found him in the PDF Newsletter!

However, one previous PC security student who has come back to help in co-instructing and handling our clients web security issues, is Anthony Valente.  He not only heads his own company, Network Defence Solutions, but he went on to obtain his CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) certification.  So, thanks to Anthony, I’m not totally abandoned! (GRIN)

Now that brings me to a few minor items I need to cover before I close.

1. We will be taking down the website itself – not this blog – but the main website to install Joomla Content Management System (CMS).

I’ve come to realize that I’ve made this site difficult to manage by having to make a new web page every time I need to post something. After conferring with Anthony on how to better manage this problem, he’s suggested I go with Joomla and I’m taking his advice.

This should, according to what I’ve read and he tells me, allow me to update and post content quickly which will allow me to finally populate the site with what needs to be here – INFORMATION!

I do not know how long it will take to finally migrate the information that’s already here to Joomla, but I’ve got a project plan mapped out. So, I have high hopes!

2.  If you are an independent or small company that does sub-contracting, please contact us by going to this page: Contact MICE and submitting info on your company or you using the form.  We will need the following:

a.  How you charge. Per hour or per project quote.

b.  Your availability.  As in, how much notice you require to do a project.

c.  Your skill set.

d.  You must be willing to complete the required W9 Form from the U.S. I.R.S.  (Not my requirement – the governments!)

e.  What method of payment you prefer and how you do your billing.

What we are looking for:  graphic designer, html coder, general virtual assistance type work (without a contract or commitment on a per use basis), and other programming assistance.

This is not an offer for employment. This is for sub-contracted, work-for-hire.

You will not be required to sign a non-compete because they cannot be enforced, I’m not a victim, and I believe in Karma. (Isn’t that simple?)  Plus, if you saw my other website (metaphysical-musings.com), you know I believe that there is enough of everything to go around. There is no recession in my economy!

That being said, I need to get busy and set up some more websites for everyone else but me! (Laughing)

You know what? I’m sick and tired of people bashing this country, bashing our economy, bashing everything about us, but yet jumping on the nearest flight to the US to take our money. Aren’t you?

I mean, let’s start putting the money where your mouth is – right?

Well, the article the Digg friend shouted, has to do with the new HB1 Visa approvals.  The Article actually listed the companies that received approvals for HB1 Visa’s in the U.S. in 2008.

Although 6 Indian companies received approval, I’m not addressing that. I can understand a company from India that does business in the U.S. needing those visa’s for its employees or additional support.

The one’s I’ve got my panties in a bundle over is the American, U.S. companies that have filed along with the anti-American, and anti-American Worker sentiment these companies have exhibited in the recent past.

So, I’m adding some more companies to the boycott list based on this new information.

Microsoft was ranked 5th (and I’ll link you to the article at the end of this post) in obtaining visa’s for foreign workers by obtaining 1,037 of them in 2008.

I’m adding Microsoft to our boycott list because of the following points:

1.  Microsoft was founded in the U.S.

2. Microsoft’s early profits were built from American consumer sales.

3. Microsoft, and specifically Bill Gates, Founder (since retired) has slammed the American worker and insulted our intelligence publicly.

In April of 2005, Bill Gates stated:

“The whole idea of the H1B thing is don’t let too many smart people come into the country. Basically, it doesn’t make sense,” Gates said.

Excuse me?

In all fairness, let me not take this out of context for you and finish what Gates was saying:

“You can’t imagine how tough it is to plan as a company where we say, ‘let’s have this engineering group and staff it.’ You get a few and then you go through these periods where nobody can come in,” Gates said.

He continued: “So, we’ll have Canadians waiting at the border until some bureaucratic thing happens where a few more get opened up. That’s just wounding us in this global competition.”

According to Gates, the core of the problem rests with members in Congress who want to step back to U.S. isolationism.

“It’s very dangerous because you get this reaction: ‘Okay, the world is very competitive, let’s cut back on trade; the world is very scary, let’s cut back on visas,’” he said.

Source: http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/article.php/3500986

Okay, so he was allegedly talking about protectionism and isolationism, but then why the smart ass comment about smart people? That statement really says what he (and many others) think about American’s and their brains – we’re stupid! Only foreign workers are smart.

Fast forward to March 2008 and once again, Gates goes before congress to plead his case.

This time he states:

“The thing that limits us is hiring the world’s best engineers,” he says, noting that 60 percent of the students at the top U.S. computer-science departments are foreign-born.

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88154016

Well damn you stupid American students in college! How dare you fall into the 40% that Gates doesn’t want to hire!

I could go on and on, but I think you get my point.

If we’re not good enough to hire, and we’re too stupid to be hired, then we must have stupid money that shouldn’t be spent on ANY Microsoft products!

We’ve already added IBM to the list based on their wanting American Worker’s to outsource themselves.  See: A President’s Day Call to Action.

But they fall 10th on the HB1 Visa list and thus earns another chalk mark for staying in the boycott category and our Boycott page!

And Cisco and Intel, we’re watching you too! You both are up in numbers on that chart, but thus far, we’ve found no evidence of an anti-American worker sentiment. So you’re safe so far!

If you want to see the full article and chart (with the option to download the Excel spreadsheet), see:  InformationWeek