Thursday, February 18, 2010

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Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release on Thursday after pleading guilty to eight felony charges. Among these were tax fraud and lying to Bush administration officials during his unsuccessful nomination for US Secretary of Homeland Security in 2004.

This sentence is contrary to a plea agreement made in November between Kerik’s legal counsel and the prosecution. Per this accord, federal attorneys recommended a sentence of no longer than 33 months in prison, opposed to the 48 months that US District Judge Stephen Robinson (who was not bound to this agreement) chose to hand down instead.

“I think it’s fair to say that with great power comes great responsibility and great consequences,” Judge Robinson said upon sentencing. “I think the damage caused by Mr. Kerik is in some ways immeasurable.”

“Today’s sentencing of Bernard Kerik is one of the most powerful recent reminders that no one in this country is above the law,” added US Attorney Preet Bharara.

Kerik, who was accompanied by his wife and three children, briefly addressed the court: “I make no excuses. I take full responsibility for the grave mistakes I’ve made. Believe me when I say I have learned from this and I have become and will continue to become a better person.”

“I know I must be punished,” he went on to say. “I only ask that you allow me to return to my wife and two little girls as soon as possible.”

According to the New York City Department of Corrections, Kerik is slated to begin serving his sentence on May 17. Although the prosecution made clear their desire for Kerik to be imprisoned immediately, Judge Robinson allowed him to surrender himself later in the day so that he would have sufficient time to “get his affairs in order.” Kerik has been awaiting sentencing under house arrest at his home in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey since November when said plea agreement was reached.

Kerik, a military veteran and undercover detective, was a trusted advisor to former US Attorney and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, for whom he worked for as a bodyguard and a driver.

Kerik later served as both corrections and police commissioner. His distinguished actions following the 2001 September 11th Attacks transformed him into a respected national figure. This earned him the praise of then-president George W. Bush, who in turn nominated him for the lead Homeland Security post. It was during the vetting process that Kerik’s suspected ties to organized crime came out. This marked the beginning of his long fall from grace.

Outside the courthouse, Kerik gave a statement to the media and general public before being driven home: “I’d like to apologize to the American people for the mistakes I have made and for which I have just accepted responsibility. As history is written, I can only hope that I will be judged for the 30 years of service I have given to this country and the City of New York. It has not and will not diminish my love for this country.”

Kerik’s lawyer, when asked by The New York Times if they planned to appeal this sentence, simply replied, “No comment.”

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon underwent emergency surgery at Hadassah Medical Center in Israel to treat intestinal damage revealed by a recent computed tomography, better known as a CT scan. The Chief Surgeon said, “Sharon is out of danger, for the moment. His condition is stable and the surgery was a success.” Sharon is currently in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital.

Yesterday doctors treating Sharon had noticed a swollen abdomen and ordered a CT scan on his torso and found the damage to his intestine. Later tests had shown that part of the large intestine had developed necrosis and needed to be immediately removed.

Hospital director Shlomo Mor-Yosef stated a press conference that there were “no complications” during surgery. “His (Sharon’s) key problem is lack of consciousness. There is no significant change in his condition. Doctors did not find any occluded artery and there were no blood vessels blocked. He is stable but in critical condition at this time and he is in no immediate danger at this moment.”

Yosef also said that Sharon’s sons and family had met earlier and decided to go forward with the surgery and treatment.

Doctors removed at least 50cm of Sharon’s large intestine.

Yosef also said that possible reasons as to why Sharon’s intestine was damaged were, “maybe infection or decline of blood supply to the intestine.” Yosef also said that the surgery was both a “routine procedure” and “not a dramatic” one. “Hospitals perform these operations sometimes two or three times a day,” he added.

Yael Bossem-Levy, a spokesman for Hadassah Medical Center said earlier that, “the prime minister’s life is in danger. His condition is now very serious, or critical. Sharon’s digestive tract has undergone severe deterioration while he’s been unconscious, and there appears to be a blockage in his blood circulation. The restricted blood flow raised the possibility of necrosis, or death of tissue, in the intestines.”

Levy also stated that Sharon’s condition has “deteriorated to its most critical point since his admission.”

The 77 year-old leader has been hospitalized since January 4th, after suffering a massive stroke which left him comatose. This is his seventh surgery since his hospitalization.

Sharon has been hospitalized for thirty-nine days, and has been on a feeding tube for two weeks.

Tuesday, November 1, 2005

Mark Russinovich, of SysInternals.com, has discovered a so-called “rootkit” which is installed by Sony’s new digital rights management-protected music compact disks (CDs). A rootkit is a common name for malicious software that is used by computer criminals to hide their presence on a compromised computer. Rootkits frequently contain hidden files and are designed to be difficult for the user to detect and remove.

Russinovich classifies Sony’s rootkit as malware because it is alleged to introduce several serious security holes, one of which can be exploited to hide files and prevent the user from removing them. In particular, all executable files which begin with ‘$sys$’ are hidden when the software is installed. He points out that these security holes could be exploited by hackers, or other malware producers besides Sony.

Russinovich explains that naively removing the files will result in a crippling of the operating system on the user’s computer. He provides an explanation of the difficult step required to remove Sony’s malware.

Playing the same CDs on computers not running the Windows operating system, or on a non-computer based CD player remains safe. As removing Sony’s malware would violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act‘s anti-circumvention provisions, ripping the CDs on computers running a non-Windows operating system may be the best legal and technically safe option for those who wish to listen to them under Windows.

The software is automatically installed when a Sony CD is played on a computer, and is not mentioned in their EULA. The rootkit has been commercially developed by First 4 Internet and licensed to Sony.

Other rights management techniques used by music publishers recently include breaking the Red Book compact disc standard format. This technique causes many CD players to not be able to play the new CDs, but also protects against casual ripping. Fiona Apple’s recent album release in the United States uses such technology.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

The city of San Jose, California greeted the opening of the Guadalupe River Park and Gardens today with festivities, music, and dancing. Local organizations and businesses offered booths and activities for the crowd.

Themed “A park for many reasons, a park for all seasons”, the opening marked the culmination of 12 years of building, at a cost of $340 million. With trails running 2.6 miles along the Guadalupe River, the park offers an open space for city residents, preserves habitat for local wildlife, and works in conjunction with local flood control projects.

Planning for the park began in 1985 and construction continues to extend the trails along the lower Guadalupe River to Alviso by 2006.

Monday, November 15, 2004

AUSTRALIA – 128 people have been injured, 5 seriously so, in a high-speed train derailment in central Queensland. Police said the tilt train came off the tracks near Bundaberg (about 400 kilometers north of Brisbane) at 12.06am AEST.

Queensland Transport Minister Paul Lucas visited the site, and reported that the black box recording device on board the train would be sent back to Brisbane for analysis, in order to determine the cause of the accident.

Premier Peter Beattie and Queensland Rail CEO Bob Scheuber said that there were no current plans to halt other tilt train services. “That will depend entirely on the investigators, they’ve not made any recommendations yet — some of them are still arriving. If they recommend that that is the course of action, then of course it would be suspended,” Mr Beattie was quoted as saying.

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