Breaking News Thread

[socalrappy700]

The beginning of the end for GM in my opinion.  I don't think GM is going to make it out of this one, who would want to buy a car from a company in bankruptcy.

U.S. plans to ease GM into bankruptcy

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090401/ts_nm/us_autos_report_sb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration is seeking to ease General Motors Corp into a "controlled" bankruptcy by persuading some creditors to agree to a plan that would divide the company into two pieces, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Citing people briefed on the matter, the Times said the plan is to push GM into a structured bankruptcy "somewhere between a prepackaged bankruptcy and court chaos," using taxpayer financing for leverage.

The administration is drawing in part from its experience with troubled banks, seeking to create a new, healthier GM, but leaving behind its liabilities and less valuable assets, possibly for liquidation, the Times said on its website.

Under the plan, GM would file for prearranged bankruptcy, the report said, and would then use a sale authorized under Section 363 of the U.S. bankruptcy code to sell off desirable assets to a new company financed by the government.

These more valuable assets might include Cadillac and Chevrolet, as well as assets the company needs to run its business, the Times said.

Plans are still under discussion and details are subject to change, the report said.

GM officials warned on Tuesday there was a rising chance it could file for bankruptcy by June.

One plan under discussion would be to form a new company of the automaker's best assets, while laggard brands and money-losing assets would remain under bankruptcy protection, a person familiar with that strategy told Reuters.

President Barack Obama's thinking on the crisis facing GM has not changed since Monday, a senior administration official told Reuters on Tuesday.

"Nothing has changed on this," the official said when asked about a Bloomberg report that the president has determined that a prepackaged bankruptcy is the best way for GM to restructure and become competitive. "This report is not accurate."

The White House wants the 60-day period for GM and a 30-day period for Chrysler to play out, as announced by the president on Monday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

[Krandall]

Doing the worm: Tweak in 'Conficker' sparks fears
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090331/ap_on_hi_te/tec_conficker_countdown

SAN FRANCISCO - Even if it's not an April Fools' joke, the latest moves by the dreaded Conficker worm are by no means an Internet Armageddon, either. The worm's alarming outbreak entered a new phase Wednesday as clocks around the world ticked into the first day of April, the day it was scheduled to change programming.

But security experts appeared correct in their predictions that the day was likely to come and go without any major disruptions, even though the worm has infected anywhere from 3 million to 12 million PCs running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system.

Computer infections now are all about making money by stealing people's personal information. And Conficker's authors stand to make more money from renting out parts of their huge "botnet" to spammers or identity thieves than by destroying parts of the Internet.

"These guys have been pretty smart until now — the worm is unfortunately very well done," said Patrik Runald, chief security advisor for F-Secure Corp. "So far they haven't been stupid. So why should they start on April 1?"

But panic over the worm had reached a frenzy.

Lori Lynn Pavlovich, a mother of four from Racine, Wis., unplugged her PC and vowed to stay offline for a week after seeing a local TV news report about the worm.

"I get scared real easy when it comes to stuff like that," she said. Pavlovich, who says she keeps her antivirus software and security patches up to date, got back online 24 hours later after a relative assured her that her system was safe.

In the last six months, the worm has also caused sleepless nights for the technicians who maintain corporate and governmental computer systems. European media reported that the French military grounded some of its fighter planes after the Navy's network was infected over the winter.

Companies were on high alert to any change in Conficker's behavior that could affect their systems. But a lot of the heavy lifting for big corporations has already been done. Most large organizations hurried to fix the vulnerability that Conficker exploits long ago — Microsoft released a software "patch" for it in October. Many smaller businesses and consumers started worrying about the problem later, making them more vulnerable to infection.

"Consumers are very, very, very aware of this — more so than I've seen in years," said Alfred Huger, vice president of Symantec Security Response. "Enterprises are certainly aware of this, and they're treating this seriously, but no more so than other threats they're faced with."

Detecting a Conficker infection is actually very easy. One of the telltale signs is if you're able to navigate the Internet freely but can't access Microsoft's site or the sites for the major antivirus software vendors. Conficker's authors included that feature to prevent infected machines from downloading programs that remove the worm.

That makes it harder to get the Conficker removal programs, but not impossible. Security experts recommend that people with infected machines find a friend whose machine isn't infected, and have that person download the removal tool and e-mail it to them.

Many companies that have already protected their networks from Conficker have become concerned again because of the publicity the worm generated in recent weeks as the April 1 change to Conficker's programming approached.

Michael La Pilla, manager of the malicious code operations team at VeriSign Inc.'s iDefense division, said some of his company's customers were asking for immediate notification about changes to Conficker's behavior, instead of the hourly updates that many receive.

The bad guys behind Conficker haven't been able to reliably communicate with the computers the worm has infected. That means they haven't been able to program the PCs to send spam, carry out identify-theft scams, or perform any other kind of cybercrime.

That has likely started changing with the dawn of April 1. Now the programming on the latest version of Conficker tells those infected machines to generate 50,000 new Internet addresses each day that they can try and "phone home" for instructions. Previously, they had been looking for commands from just 250 sites each day. The point of the change is to make it harder for the security community to pre-register those addresses and keep them out of the bad guys' hands.

Microsoft has offered a $250,000 bounty for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the people responsible for Conficker.

The hoopla surrounding a very arcane change to Conficker's programming code was reminiscent of the doomsday fears about the Y2K bug, when the dawn of the millennium was thought to threaten computer networks by interpreting the new year as 1900 rather than 2000.

"There are a lot of people who are on standby waiting to see what happens," said George Kurtz, senior vice president of McAfee Inc.'s risk and compliance division. "Ultimately, it could be a big event or Y2009 — April 1 rolls around and nothing happens. But that doesn't mean it's the end of the story."

[Flynbyu]

GM needs a structured bankruptcy to get out of Union contracts that ass rape them on labor costs. It will be a huge negative when it comes to selling their product. I disagree with Obama's administration saying it's a "green car" issue. It's not. Even as fuel prices soar, people still buy American muscle....Trucks. No one wants to buy American sedans because of the hype surrounding foreign cars like Toyota and Honda, but no one is buying them right now either! Korean auto makers are doing very well as their quality has increased substantially and they offer a very cheap product.

I watched a CNN clip on a Buick dealership in China. They interviewed a first time car buyer buying a new Buick Lucerne. He paid $15000 USD for a new Lucerne. The Lucerne he was buying was built in China at a GM factory. A new Lucerne here is $30,000.

WTF?

~Brian

[Colorado700R]

labor cost are less than 1/2, plus zero benefits (Government sponsored), most electronic components are made in country so no tariff or taxes.

[socalrappy700]

Thats messed up.  But I'm sure its not just the labor costs.  Their materials are coming from China so they don't have to deal with the import costs.  

I'm still not sure GM is going to make it out of this one.  

[Flynbyu]

Oh and Randy....Funny a little virus grounded an entire Airforce and disrupted the French Navy.

They probably threw up the white flag for a couple of days.

~Brian

[Peelz]

Late Breaking Story

The women at the YFZ Latter Day Saints Ranch stole Rick Astley's haircut.

Yes I find the name of their ompound hysterical too. These are the people who let kids get married at 12 years old. if you didn't know.

Rick:
(album surely in Brians repertoire)

[Flynbyu]

Rick rocks man.

F*ck all of you haters.



~Brian

[Krandall]

Oh and Randy....Funny a little virus grounded an entire Airforce and disrupted the French Navy.

They probably threw up the white flag for a couple of days.

~Brian

have a link?

[Flynbyu]

Oh and Randy....Funny a little virus grounded an entire Airforce and disrupted the French Navy.

They probably threw up the white flag for a couple of days.

~Brian

have a link?

It was in your article you posted....

"In the last six months, the worm has also caused sleepless nights for the technicians who maintain corporate and governmental computer systems. European media reported that the French military grounded some of its fighter planes after the Navy's network was infected over the winter."

~Brian

[Krandall]

oh, gotcha! I thought you found something more.

[Flynbyu]

French fighter planes grounded by computer virus

French fighter planes were unable to take off after military computers were infected by a computer virus, an intelligence magazine claims.

by Kim Willsher in Paris UK Daily Telegraph

Last Updated: 11:43AM GMT 07 Feb 2009


French fighter jets were unable to take off after military computers were attacked by a virus Photo: AFP

The aircraft were unable to download their flight plans after databases were infected by a Microsoft virus they had already been warned about several months beforehand.

At one point French naval staff were also instructed not to even open their computers.

Microsoft had warned that the "Conficker" virus, transmitted through Windows, was attacking computer systems in October last year, but according to reports the French military ignored the warning and failed to install the necessary security measures.

The French newspaper Ouest France said the virus had hit the internal computer network at the French Navy.

Jérome Erulin, French navy spokesman told the paper: "It affected exchanges of information but no information was lost. It was a security problem we had already simulated. We cut the communication links that could have transmitted the virus and 99 per cent of the network is safe."

However, the French navy admitted that during the time it took to eradicate the virus, it had to return to more traditional forms of communication: telephone, fax and post.

Naval officials said the "infection"' was probably due more to negligence than a deliberate attempt to compromise French national security. It said it suspected someone at the navy had used an infected USB key.

The Sicmar Network, on which the most sensitive documents and communications are transmitted was not touched, it said. "The computer virus problem had no effect on the availability of our forces." The virus attacked the non-secured internal French navy network called Intramar and was detected on 21 January. The whole network was affected and military staff were instructed not to start their computers.

According to Liberation newspaper, two days later the chiefs of staff decided to isolate Intramar from the military's other computer systems, but certain computers at the Villacoublay air base and in the 8th Transmissions Regiment were infected. Liberation reported that on the 15 and 16 January the Navy's Rafale aircraft were "nailed to the ground" because they were unable to "download their flight plans". The aircraft were eventually activated by "another system".

Liberation also reported that Microsoft had identified the Conficker virus in the autumn of 2008 and had advised users from October last year to update their security patches. IntelligenceOnline reports that "at the heart of the (French) military, the modifications were, for the most part, not done." It was only on the 16 January "three months later" that the navy chiefs of staffs began to act.

"At that point, the chiefs of staff and the defence ministry had no idea how many computers or military information systems were vulnerable to having been contaminated by the virus," said Liberation.

The French press also reported that the only consolation for the French Navy was that it was not the only ones to have fallen victim to the virus.

It said that a report in the military review Defense Tech revealed that in the first days of January 2009 the British Defence Ministry had been attacked by a hybrid of the virus that had substantially and seriously infected the computer systems of more than 24 RAF bases and 75 per cent of the Royal Navy fleet including the aircraft carrier Ark Royal.
 


~Brian

[Colorado700R]

I like this Idea 

(CNN) -- If Craig Blair gets his way, anyone filing for unemployment or food stamps must show that they are drug-free. He's a state lawmaker in West Virginia who has introduced a bill to require random drug testing for benefits and lays out his case on a Web site called notwithmytaxdollars.com.

Blair and his supporters say drug use is rampant and taxpayers are growing alarmed with how the government is spending their money.

"The message that we're trying to send is, first of all, we need to respect taxpayers and how their monies are spent," the Republican said. "And drug addiction is in epidemic proportions, and not only in West Virginia but throughout the United States."

His bill would require random drug testing for any government assistance: welfare, jobless benefits or food stamps.

Someone who failed the drug test would get the benefits and 60 days to clean up. If he failed the next test, he would lose benefits for two years.

"It seems ironic that welfare and unemployment are both designed to get you back to work and everything, but how is that possible if you're on drugs?" Blair asked.

Lawmakers in 10 states are considering some type of legislation to tie the expansion of safety-net spending to random drug testing. Similar measures in Michigan and Arizona have failed, either struck down by the courts or found to be too expensive.

amFIX: Should people be drug tested before getting benefits?

Graham Boyd, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Drug Law Reform Project, calls it "typical political theater."

He says the measures will be challenged in court and struck down. Random drug testing is costly, and he called such measures "cruel" during a recession.

"If anything, [you'd think] people would be more compassionate now that people have lost jobs," Boyd said

But as the recession tightens its grip, momentum is growing in a handful of states to put strings on the vast expansion of safety-net spending.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 10 states (Florida, Arizona, Hawaii, California, Illinois, Iowa, Arkansas, West Virginia, Virginia and New York) are considering some form of legislation requiring random drug testing for food stamps, jobless checks and other state entitlements.

It could affect millions of Americans who are turning to expanded benefits signed into law as part of the economic stimulus package.

According to the Labor Department, a record 5.6 million people from all walks of life collect jobless checks, and the government says that almost 32 million now use food stamps.

Ron Haskins of the centrist Brookings Institution takes issue with lumping jobless benefits with other state benefits.

"Unemployment insurance really is not a welfare program. It's an insurance program, which means that they've paid into the program each month they've had earnings," Haskins said. "Unless we want to cancel insurance policies because someone doesn't pass a drug test, I think that's really quite a mistake."

Critics also say that these measures don't address drug treatment, the costs of administering the tests or privacy concerns, and that they could prevent drug users from seeking benefits.

But lawmaker Blair said he has been inundated with support for his bill and says epidemic drug use and a worsening economy means it's time for some "tough love."

It's the intersection of several issues -- drug abuse, the recession and bailout overload -- and has generated passionate debate among CNN viewers.

Angie: "If we're going to drug test American citizens who receive taxpayer-funded services, then I'm assuming these drug tests will be administered to the CEOs of AIG, Citi, Wells Fargo and Bank of America as well. Shouldn't the CEO, who receives trillions of taxpayer dollars, be held to the same standard of accountability as the unemployed?"

Ron: "Monies would be better spent on cutting out the sources. The concerns over Mexico's drug cartels would be better invested than random screening of welfare recipients. ... Address the problems, not the symptoms."

Bob: "I get more than a little disturbed when I read that unemployment benefits are considered by some right-wingers to be 'taxpayer-funded handouts.' Handouts? Really? Hmmmm. Seems to me that most people pay, oh, I don't know, unemployment taxes when they are working so they have a safety net if they lose their jobs."

Albert: "Not unless they intend to offer rehab/recovery/counseling if applicants test positive. Will they be screening for alcoholism or gambling addiction? What about nicotine addiction?"

Tami: "I'm in favor. I've also been drug tested for my job. A stipulation for receiving unemployment benefits is that you are actively seeking employment. A person can't be too serious about their job search if they are high."

But Blair said, "You've got to keep in mind to that there is only a limited supply of money out here, and this is not going to hurt anybody that's not doing illicit or illegal drugs. And the fact is that if we can get this people off of the drugs and make it so they're work-ready, that will help us in West Virginia."

[Peelz]

My online persona says "This is Bull$hit!"

In real life, I see where he is coming from.

[Flynbyu]

My online persona says "This is Bull$hit!"

In real life, I see where he is coming from.

No doubt.

I think they already have a law in WV that you must finish high school, have a GED, or are taking the GED to recieve benefits. The owner of the store and I were talking about that yesterday. He was telling me he watched something on TV about it.

~Brian