August 9, 2006
Book Review: Conservatives Betrayed by Richard Viguerie
The marriage between the Republicans and conservatives has been a loveless and unsatisfying marriage. The Republicans keep "stumbling home after midnight, smelling of booze and cheap perfume." And it is time for the marriage to come to an end.
Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause by Richard Viguerie thoroughly lists, more than any other resource I can think of, the balance of indiscretions the Republicans have visited upon conservatism under the Presidency of George W. Bush (and even before that election). The days of the Contract With America are long gone and replaced with what can only appear to be a very similar spending philosophy of Democrats.
Viguerie systematically dissects the policies of the George W. Bush administration in the key areas of foreign policy, immigration, the right to life, the culture of life, the courts, and taxation. He shows beyond a reasonable doubt that the canard that this is one of the most extreme right-wing administrations in history is absolutely absurd. Sure, Bush has thrown conservatives some carrots, but he has shown that he's more than willing to grow the federal government and not buck the system. He, after all, has only recently cast his first veto and has used no rescissions to block pork barrel spending.
Chart after chart, figure after figure, the book painstakingly reveals what is apparent to most conservatives, George Bush isn't one of them.
This disaffection has been brewing for some time and came to a head with the immigration debate. While the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court and the UAE ports deal resulted in acquiescing to the grassroots conservatives, immigration showed the GOP literally telling conservatives to go to hell. The argument was that by leaving the Republican plantation, we got eight years of Clinton, so now we had to suck it down. If that statement seems like it is defecating on conservatives, that is because it is exactly what it is doing. Conservatives should shut up and keep sending money to the GOP. We should leave the governing to the elites.
This book is a challenge to that accepted logic and presents a game plan to attempt to bring principles back into politics. The central premise is that conservatives should stop being wedded to the GOP and start being a movement that hopefully brings both parties into line or at least gives us an occasional chance to vote against the GOP candidate without implicitly supporting a repugnant alternative.
The status quo will lead to the situation we have here in Illinois -- party insider Rod Blagojevich running against party insider Judy Baar-Topinka with both having approval ratings on a good day rivaling President Bush. Not even party loyalists like their candidate. The state is on the verge of bankruptcy, in the worst financial shape of any other state, and there is no discernable difference (quite literally) between the policies of either party. Lastly, both are corrupt to the core having fair numbers of high-level staffers in both parties under federal indictment or conviction. That is the future of national politics if we do nothing… a bankrupt government, corrupt politicians, and sham elections between candidates no one likes.
One of the more scandalous, but most insightful, suggestions is dropping support for the death penalty. This stand, more than others, directly contradicts the general conservative support for a culture of life and undermines the moral authority that would otherwise be present if that stand was not there. Controversial, yes, but spot on.
The missing piece of the puzzle, however, is a social justice component (and I don't mean that term in the typical regressive way). Only one sentence of the book makes mention of communities supporting their members but the fact is, there are times where people will need a helping hand from others. Disasters strike, illnesses drain life savings, people die, and so on. A political ideology that does not explicitly have a plan on how to handle those situations is one that leaves a large portion of the population as a captive audience to the left and big government. Big government may not effectively meet people's needs, however many view it as "better than nothing". Arguing against minimum wage laws makes good economic sense, but is politically meaningless when there is no response to the fact some people simply don't earn enough for their families. The argument must seek to address this, and that comes by creating a living wage by reducing the cost of living (most of which comes in the form of taxation or increased cost of regulations passed down to the consumer).
Further, if an effective conservative movement is to be founded and empowered, it will take more than focusing on politics. Liberty is impossible unless it includes both political and economic liberty. Likewise, reform is impossible unless it includes both political and economic aspects. The book mentions Google and Yahoo as regressive-supporting companies. There needs to be conservative equivalents so people can vote with their pocketbooks. Arguing for conservative principles while supporting regressive causes (by using companies that are in the tank with regressive causes) is self-defeating, or at least self-impeding.
The book is exactly what it purports itself to be, a starting point and a moment to reflect. It is a quick read and should have nothing foreign for anyone moderately informed about politics. The disaffection of conservatives is a growing one and now, more than ever, is the opportunity to fight for the principles we believe in. Viguerie includes several steps to take to the field of battle which involves common people to run for office, or at least take effort to support conservatives over Republicans. It won't be until common people run for office that we'll have any real reform, or at least a return to some attempt at representing common people instead of the enfranchised elites.
In 2006, when only Congressional seats are up for grabs, conservatives have the chance to make it clear to Republicans that conservatism will win or lose elections for them, just as MoveOn has just proved that moderate and sensible Democrats like Joe Lieberman are not welcome in the Democratic Party. If conservatives engage the political system now, we can win. If we fall silent, we will become like Illinois, where all the potential leaders and talent flee the state and surrender it to the left. For now, Republicans have won only because of the incompetence of the Democrats; that will not be the case forever.
The question is: can we put principle above partisanship?
Posted by John Bambenek at 1:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 29, 2006
Enterprise Security – IT Security Solutions: Concepts, Practical Experiences, Technologies edited by Fumy and Sauerbrey
This book has the look and feel of a business school textbook, moving from topic to topic in a fairly academic matter. It is a combination of 14 essays from prominent authors in the topics they are writing on. This allows for a book that can treat a wide range of concepts and still maintain credibility and a tone of expertise with the downside being the structure of each essay is slightly different between authors. As such, it is meant more as a higher-level introduction to concepts and ideas that swirl around the information security industry but it is couched in the language of business in the hopes that enterprises will adopt a measure of culture change in the area of security. The book seems to have a more European focus, but it is not without value to an American audience.
The book begins with an introduction by the editors laying out what they view as three areas driving enterprise security and what they hope to accomplish with the book. They finger security threats, creating new business opportunities, and regulatory compliance as the main drivers of security investment for the enterprise. In their experience, the editors see businesses still creating processes and applications designed around speed and convenience with security being an afterthought. The editors then establish 4 items they wish to see changed in industry: review of information security requirements, assuming legal liability for poor security practices (it'll never happen), creating a security-aware culture, and security against insider threats. The rest of the book doesn't seem to truly address how to bring these four changes to fruition.
The rest of the book is divided into three sections: (1) Concepts & Trends (better described as emerging security technologies), (2) Practical Experiences, and (3) Technologies & Standards. As far as organization, it would seem better to have Practical Experiences come last in the book and address the technologies discussed previously; however this is not a serious deficiency in the book.
Parts 1 and 3 are presented to the reader from a high-level perspective. It assumes little prior technical knowledge and thus is accessible to a wide audience, particularly the business community. It helps the reader understand why these technologies are beneficial from an economic standpoint. Readers who are technically savvy may get easily bored from this section unless they are trying to develop a "business case" for the adoption of security mechanisms for their organization. In that regard, these essays help bridge the gap between "tech heads" and the "pointy-haired management".
The Practical Experience section is a collection of four case studies of four different organizations facing four different problems. It helps the reader to understand the challenges and obstacles in actual implementation of technologies. It helps bridge the gap between book-learning and real-world experience. 3 of the 4 essays revolve around PKI and digital identities. It is clear based on the focus of the editors that authentication is important to them, however and expansion of case studies based on their other goals would make the text that much more effective.
All in all, the book is a valuable primer for consultants and non-savvy managers who are seeking to get their minds around security and how best to sell the investment of security.
Posted by John Bambenek at 4:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 13, 2006
Book Review: The Meaning of Marriage by Robert George and Jean Elshtain
The debate on gay marriage is full of conjecture and assumption on all sides. In preparing for a recent panel discussion on gay marriage, I looked for resources that could help me cut through the various facets of marriage and its history. I found those resources in The Meaning of Marriage.
This book is a collection of essays (see below) that take different approaches to marriage and its recent development in the United States. As a complex social institution, all too often discussion on marriage is over-simplified depending on the area of expertise (or for that matter, the agenda) of the author. This book overcomes those problems by presenting a wide range of thinkers from a variety of fields to present their views on marriage. It takes approaches from the law, philosophy, sociology, history, economics, and religion and puts them into a concise volume.
The essays themselves are easy to access and digestible, even for readers not fluent in the fields the author is coming at marriage from. The authors are well-known and respected in their fields of study. They provide fresh intellectual ammunition that seems lacking in the gay marriage debate by answering and providing a framework to discuss what marriage has meant, what it means, and what is should mean.
Many of the essays shed light on the philosophical underpinnings of marriage that make it possible to overcome the various rhetorical traps gay marriage advocates use to deconstruct the traditional view of marriage. The legal analyses bring to the fore some of the disturbing and absurd trends in marriage law that has virtually made marriage into nothing more than any relationship between two people who share property. For instance, recent court decisions have stated that sex is not required nor an essential component of marriage. Lastly, the sociological discussions take apart the recent studies that gay marriage advocates like to use to defend their viewpoints even though those studies are fatally flawed.
The collection is a timely work that presents the history and theory of marriage in a cogent manner that makes discussing marriage policy not only possible, but can provide a framework for actually coming to a serious policy other than the typical libertarian “do-whatever-you-want” nonsense that ends up going nowhere.
1 - "Sacrilege and Sacrament," by Roger Scruton 2 - "What About the Children? Liberal Cautions on Same- Sex Marriage," by Don Browning
3 - "Changing Dynamics of the Family in Recent European History," by Harold James
4 - "Why Unilateral Divorce Has No Place in a Free Society," by Jennifer Roback Morse
5 - "The Framers' Idea of Marriage and Family," by David F. Forte
6 - "The Family and the Laws," by Hadley Arkes
7 - "What's Sex Got to do with It? Marriage, Morality, and Rationality," by Robert P. George
8 - "Soft Despotism and Same-Sex Marriage," by Seana Sugrue
9 - "(How) Does Marriage Protect Child Well-Being?" by Maggie Gallagher
10 - "The Current Crisis in Marriage Law, Its Origins, and Its Impact," by Katherine Shaw Spaht
11 - "Suffer the Little Children: Marriage the Poor, and the Commonweal" by W. Bradford Wilcox
Posted by John Bambenek at 11:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 5, 2006
Book Review: Linux Desktop Pocket Guide by David Brickner
The Linux Desktop Pocket Guide is a valuable resource for new users to the Linux world. Almost everyone has heard of Linux and recognizes it as the “next big thing”. However, many people are taken aback at the shear number of Linux distributions. The advantage of Windows is that there is only one company to go to and that provides some simplicity. With Linux, there is no one-stop shopping, and each distribution has different strengths and weaknesses. This book helps the novice user to navigate the most popular distributions to decide which will work best for them.
The book compares Fedora, Gentoo, Mandriva, SUSE, and Ubuntu with a focus on their desktop environments. This book has some value for system administrators, particularly new ones, but will make the biggest impact to the casual home-user to the beginner power-user.
It covers a wide range of desktop issues including Gnome/KDE support, application support, updating the OS, configuration for hardware support, and probably most usefully laptop support. Laptops have traditionally been less than friendly with laptops and this book helps navigate the big issues making Linux a viable option for laptops.
It is a little thick as pocket guides go but that’s more of a factor of the breadth of material covered. Like many of the O’Reilly books, it is concise and easy-to-read. It is accessible to the unsophisticated user and presents information in manageable chunks. For those looking to get a handle on Linux and making it work for them, this book is a great resource.
Posted by John Bambenek at 12:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Book Review: Google: The Missing Manual by Milstein, Biersdorfer, and MacDonald
The problem with Google is that it does not seem to advertise all of its tools, or for that matter, all the functions within their tools. For instance, did you know that you could search for Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) with Google as see the auto history?
Google: The Missing Manual provides an essential source that brings together all the tools and hidden functions in the tools and puts it into an easy-to-read volume. The book is separated into four main components: searches with Google, general Google tools, Google tools specific to webmasters, and Gmail.
Google searching is the best-known tool that Google offers. It is the most popular web search on the Internet also. However, many of its functions are not as widely known, as they ought to be. This book goes through all the different items besides web pages that can be searched for (phone numbers, UPC codes, tracking numbers, and so on) and then goes into the search syntax. It presents search tools individually in easy-to-digest chunks to make it accessible to even the novice user.
The general Google tools include some of the newest Google tools such as Google Maps, Google Desktop and Google Print. The book goes through these point-by-point to give the reader a solid grasp on the latest tools available. It even includes a chapter on how to shop with Google and integrated Google with your web browser.
There are two tools, in specific, that have been to some measure controversial, Google Desktop and Google Search History. Google Desktop allows you to Google search the files on your computer for words and phrases. Google Desktop has to be explicitly installed and set up, but Google makes it clear (and the book re-emphasizes) that no data from your PC is sent to Google. Google Search History allows you to view previously executed searches (if you have a Google account and are logged in). Some are less than comfortable with the prospect of having all web searches archived, however, there are instructions in the book to delete the data and the service.
Third, the book goes through how to use Google to get the most out of your website. It talks about the rudimentary tasks of getting listed in Google searches and how to use AdSense and AdWords, which is invaluable information for the uninitiated. However, the most interesting chapter is on a tool not yet publicly available (you have to request an account and they grant them on a slow but ongoing basis), Google Analytics. Google Analytics harnesses the power of Google to get the most data and statistics out of your website visitors. It helps you know what keywords work, what your visitors are interested in, and what pages are or are not popular. After reading this section you’ll unfortunately have to curb your enthusiasm because you’ll have to wait in line like everyone else after you sign up.
Lastly, the book goes through all the power and functions of Google Mail. As a relatively new service, Gmail keeps adding functions for the user. This book has the most up-to-date information on how the manage mailboxes; work with the contact list, and setting up keyboard shortcuts. Unfortunately with the speed of Gmail development some functions like Google Talk integration are missed by the time the book hit the shelves.
All in all, the book is a solid resource for anyone trying to get the most out of Google and harness that many powerful tools Google brings to bear.
Posted by John Bambenek at 9:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 18, 2006
Book Review: Google Advertising Tools by Harold Davis
Google Advertising Tools is a sorely needed reference for anyone trying to make money with Google online. The documentation Google provides is minimal and the online resources are difficult to determine which are the real deal and which are the scams.
The book is separated into four parts, with the first part being a basic primer on the world of affiliate programs, pay-per-click systems, and online advertising. At first glance, a new user can quickly become overwhelmed at all the programs to advertise online. This book simplifies them and puts it all in terms that are easily digestible.
The second part gets right into the meat of Google's programs starting with AdSense. Many websites (including this one) use Google AdSense to sell advertising space on their web pages. The book is clear and concise in not only how to best set this up on your own website, but how to organize your website and content to maximize AdSense revenue.
The third part moves on the AdWords for those looking to launch advertising campaigns leveraging Google's services. The books takes you step-by-step in creating and managing campaigns and provides the tools and insight to help the novice succeed in their very first campaign.
Last, the book goes into Google APIs and how these can be used to write applications to interact directly with Google's servers. The author takes what could be very heady material and breaks it down to make it accessible to even the less sophisticated web programmer.
All in all, the book takes what can be a dizzying world of online advertising with Google and makes it simple. The author is concise and to-the-point providing examples and snippets of code to drive the point home. The book is a must for anyone looking to make money online and maximize their returns.
Posted by John Bambenek at 5:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 12, 2006
Book Review: Dreamweaver 8 – The Missing Manual
Coming in at over 900 pages, this is not a book to read cover-to-cover. In the process of going through the functionality of Dreamweaver, the book imparts a good deal of knowledge in the basics of web development and web technology all together, making it a useful reference for experienced Dreamweaver developers and complete beginners alike.
Dreamweaver 8 is the latest version of the popular web design and development application used by millions to create some of the world's best websites. As far as web development software goes, it is the gold standard. The only shortcoming is the lack of documentation and discernible instructions in how to use it. This book fills that gap.
The book begins with the basics of how to navigate the software as well as the basics of web design and progresses to advanced features like database integration, CSS, XML, and XSLT. For the novice user, it gradually steps them up to the ability to make full-featured high quality websites. For experienced users, the book is compartmentally designed to provide quick access to the information you are looking for. Because the book covers not only Dreamweaver functions, but web design basics and other background skills, it can easily be used as one-stop-shopping for anyone wanted to be proficient in web design.
The tips and notes provide useful information that isn't available elsewhere and hands-on tutorials help readers to develop and learn the skills as they read along. The author is particularly helpful in pointing out not only the lesser-known shortcuts and tips, but valuable extensions available to make the developer's life easier. The writing is short and to-the-point which is welcome in a world of rambling non-coherent technical books.
The book is well-written and easy to access, making it an indispensable desk reference for novice and experienced Dreamweaver developers alike.
Posted by John Bambenek at 7:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Book Review: Within the Market Strife
During the 2004 election cycle there was much discussion on the Catholic vote and which way it would go. Are Catholics more liberal or more conservative? Where do Catholics stand on economic and social issues? These questions had no real answers to them.
Schmiesing's book provides some insight into these questions by looking to a period when Catholic thought in America started to come into its own. The book proceeds systematically from the period beginning with Rerum Novarum and ending with Vatican II showing the diverse schools of thought between many of the prominent Catholic thinkers of the time. What is immediately noticeable is that there was rarely complete consensus about what policies to adopt despite coming from the same theological viewpoints in a time where "theological dissent" was properly defined as heresy.
The book is very approachable to those who do not have a great understanding of economics or theology and expounds on the views held at the time in a manner that is easy to digest and understand for the non-practioner. He goes generation by generation describing the views of the principal players about the big discussions of the time. One can understand what could motivate those with the same general moral viewpoints to diverge on issues like right-to-work laws and the living wage.
At a time when it seems that all parties are reevalutating their beliefs, it is helpful for Catholics to go back and see where we have come from and the development of social and economic thought that has occurred. This book provides an excellent point of reference from which to begin to move towards applying Catholic principles to present-day problems.
Posted by John Bambenek at 6:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 10, 2005
Book Review: GDB Pocket Reference
The GDB Pocket Reference is a useful book to anyone who does any serious work with the GNU Debugger (GDB). It lays out the basic usage of GDB and contains three lists of commands that can be used by their type (set and show commands, info commands, and general GDB commands). The layout is simple and straight-forward which makes information easily available to the novice and expert alike.
For anyone that is doing coding with gcc, this is an indispensable aide to debugging and troubleshooting. It's a must for coders and system admins alike.
Posted by John Bambenek at 2:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 7, 2005
Book Review: Knoppix: Pocket Reference
Knoppix is one of the best known (if not best outright) bootable CD Linux distributions. You put the CD in the drive and you have a running Linux workstation complete with many useful administrative and security tools. O’Reilly’s Knoppix: Pocket Reference brings the many options and tools that comes with Knoppix and puts it a small book. It’s well-written, concise, and complete. It's roughly 70 pages of highly compact information on the various cheat codes (boot settings), security uses (such as cleaning virus infected machines offline), and Knoppix specific tools like Live Installing and persistent settings across boots.
This reference is essential for any beginners to Knoppix or for advanced users who are looking for the right set of options to get what they want out of the system. It’s an invaluable desk-side companion.
Posted by John Bambenek at 9:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Book Review: InfoSec Career Hacking
InfoSec Career Hacking is written to help young aspiring “hackers” to land that job in information security. The book is jam-packed with useful hints, information, and tricks of the trade. It covers basics for those more interested and less knowledgeable about security to the soft skills (people skills) such as running meetings and workplace etiquette.
The scope of the book is broad and goes back and forth between hard (technical) and soft skills in the chapters. The organization leaves a little to be desired as the back-and-forth tends to cause some chapters (like the first) to read more like scattershot. Separating soft and hard skills between chapters would be well advised. Lots of good information becomes a little difficult to find in its current form.
I was pleased to see a bunch of organizations represented as resources to get knowledge (such as the Internet Storm Center where I’m a volunteer handler) as well as a variety of software tools. This book is a valuable resource for anyone looking to get into information security and contains invaluable information to help one achieve and land such a job as well as to succeed in it.
Posted by John Bambenek at 8:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 25, 2005
Review: Snort Cookbook
Anyone in information security knows the de facto standard for network intrusion detection is Snort. The problem is that while the documentation for Snort is ok, many of tha add-on functions, plugins, and associated applications is lacking or non-existent. This book tries to bring into one place all the things one could want to do with Snort and put it in one place. In a large part it succeeds.
It does miss a few things along the way, such as management tools like BASE (the replacement for ACID which is not being developed anymore), and sguil. It also tends to more explain how to do things than why to do things and I believe the section on sensor placement could be expanded. Lastly, I think the portion on legal aspects of intrusion detection and evidence can be expanded, but that might need to be taken with a grain of salt because I am a legal wonk. To be fair, a book of this type can't cover everything in great detail.
As someone who does run snort and has been working on ways to expand some of the data I get to it, it has proven to be a valuable resource which far outweighs the few things I found lacking. It is the only resource of its kind I know to exist. It brings to light some tools which I haven't thought of using the way it suggests, like perfmonitor and clamav. I came away from reading this book with solid ideas and tools which I plan to add into snort. If you are looking for solid documentation on Snort and the tools and tricks you can use with it, this is your book.
Posted by John Bambenek at 12:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Review: Mr & Mrs. Smith Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
To be honest, I haven't actually seen the movie yet but I do have the CD. My first comment would be that if my wife were to overhear my listen to it, she'd say "It's better than the crap you usually listen to", and she'd probably be right. (Either techno/dance or celtic/bagpipe music pretty much).
The CD consists of love and anti-love songs, per the theme of the movie (happy married couple of two contract killers who then have to fight each other because one was contracted to off the other. Moral of the story, before you except your next contract killing job, take a look at a photo first). The songs are all older that most everyone is likely to recognize (who can forget "You've Lost that Loving Feeling" of Top Gun fame) and puts them into a one-stop listening collection.
The songs flow together nicely and compliment what it seems they were trying to accomplish. The songs chosen have all had staying power and while you might not here them on the radio anymore, I enoyed them at least.
All in all it's a nice light CD if you are looking for some good love songs... or for some good anti-love songs. You can use it no matter which side you fall on Valentine's day.
Posted by John Bambenek at 11:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 18, 2005
Book Review: SSH, The Secure Shell: The Definitive Guide
If you've managed Linux/Unix machines recently you are probably familiar with SSH, or secure shell. It replaces popular commands such as telnet, rsh, rlogin, and ftp with secure and encrypted applications that do the same thing. If you login to remote machines or transfer confidential data over the Internet you cannot afford not to know about SSH.
This book, as it is titled, is the definitive guide to SSH. It not only covers the various clients and servers available for SSH (and operating systems), it covers many different applications and uses of SSH. From connection tunneling to SOCKS proxies to automated batch jobs, any administrator will find novel and new uses for SSH in this book.
Having received this book to review from O'Reilly, I read it cover to cover. I do not suggest you do this (if you value your sanity). It is by no means designed to be that kind of book. However, this book is invaluable as a reference to SSH where few other books exist. The organization is straight-forward and lends itself to reviewing specific functions without having to mine the entire volume to get the knowledge you seek.
If you administer systems you can't afford not to know about SSH and this book is the best one around to learn it.
Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from O'Reilly to review it as a promotional item.
Posted by John Bambenek at 11:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
