Latest TSA foibles...Republicans eating their own...Macrohard "Security"

Good Morning!

Well, I'm as glad as ever to see the TSA on the job. I really get a kick out of the fact that the story pretty much says, "it's OK, there were marshalls on board!" Yeah, way to keep us safe there, boys. I haven't been on a plane in four years....

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Passengers on a commercial flight from Florida to Puerto Rico were in little danger despite more than a dozen guns being on board, because at least two federal air marshals were also on the plane, a Transportation Security Administration spokesman said yesterday.

TSA spokesman Christopher White declined to address the security breach or whether the marshals knew that guns were there.

Two baggage handlers used their employee uniforms and airport identification cards to enter restricted areas, bypass screeners with a bag containing drugs and the guns , and board the Delta Air Lines flight Monday, according to court documents.

An anonymous tip led to the investigation, said Carlos Baixauli of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms , and Explosives.

Thomas Anthony Munoz, 22, was arrested in San Juan, Puerto Rico, when he got off the plane. Inside a duffel bag he was carrying, authorities found 13 handguns, an assault rifle, and eight bags of marijuana, Baixauli said.

Zabdiel J. Santiago Balaguer, 22, who had been questioned by security screeners Monday but was released after no guns or drugs were found, was arrested late Tuesday.

Both were charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and possessing firearms during a drug trafficking offense, court documents said.

The court documents say Balaguer was a middle man who had delivered guns and drugs to Puerto Rico and offered to pay Munoz as much as $5,000 to make that delivery, court documents assert.

Turning to the election, there's news out this morning that a Truth Squad of Republicans is going to launch a national ad campaign....against Mitt Romney. It turns out that a group of Massachusetts Republicans is not very happy with the muddled policies and flip-flopping of the Mittster and wants to tell everyone about it. Ah, I love it when all the guns point in, don't you?

A Web-based “truth” squad is poised to chase Mitt Romney in an effort to trip him up on the presidential campaign trail - and its members are Republicans from his very own Bay State.
Founded by GOP consultants Holly Robichaud and Ron Vining, the Mass Republicans for Truth plans to launch a nationwide attack on the former governor’s record - including radio and TV ads.
“He’s running for the highest office in the nation and voters need to know the entire record,” said Robichaud. “We can’t elect an unknown quantity to president of the United States.”
The group will post “The Romney Report” on its website on Monday, vowing to expose his flip-flops on a host of key issues, from abortion to taxes to gay rights.
Calling its mission “educational,” the group is one of the controversial political action committees labeled “527s” named after the federal tax exemption that allows them to exist primarily as vehicles to influence elections.
So far, about 40 Massachusetts Republicans, including elected state committee members and activists who have been involved in campaigns for years, have joined Massachusetts Republicans for Truth. Robichaud, a contributor to the Herald’s Monday political briefing, said she would not yet identify the other members. The group’s website goes live Monday.
The website, www.MassRepublicansforTruth.com which is still under construction, promises “The Romney Report” will assess Romney’s performance as governor in several key areas. “Perhaps the answers to these important questions are a secret in some parts of the country, but they certainly are NOT to the Republicans in his ‘home’ State of Massachusetts,” the site says.

Lastly this morning...do you have a computer? Is it chock-full of Bill Gates' goodness? Heh. Probably not. I'm sitting here typing away on a Compaq with Windows XP that will of course be impacted by this. I have already decided that when this one dies, it's a spiffy new MacBook for me.

Microsoft said it will not issue its scheduled monthly software security fixes in March after a report said its security suite ranked last of 17 tested.

In a notice published on its website on Thursday, the world's largest software maker said it will issue several updates but none of them will be related to security.

The second Tuesday of every month is the regularly scheduled day on which the company issues repairs or patches for its software. It is commonly referred to as Patch Tuesday within technology circles.

In the same note, the company said it will release its monthly update of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, which seeks out code that matches profiles for harmful or malicious software (malware) and, if any is detected, eliminates it from the infected computer.

The software maker also stated that it will release six other "non-security high-priority updates" for its Windows software but did not specify their nature.

Microsoft's notice comes after an Austrian project found that the Redmond, Wash.-based company's Windows Live OneCare security suite "did not reach the minimum requirements for participation" in its tests.

The fun continues....it's a delightful 5º outside this morning, but it might be over 40º tomorrow. It is almost spring, right?