Web Development Live

Two months after their Web site was hacked, the organizers of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign are looking for a network security expert to help lock down their Web site.

“Obama for America is looking for a network security expert who wants to play a key role in a historic political campaign,” reads the ad, posted to the Barackobama.com Web site.

Successful candidates will join Obama’s Boston team and should expect to find a new job come November.

Obama’s Web site, built by Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes, has been the model of Web 2.0 campaigning, using social-networking techniques to raise funds and build a broad base of active, Internet-savvy supporters.

But security experts have long warned that powerful Web site features also open new avenues for attack.

With the Internet driving the majority of the campaign’s contributions, Web security is probably more important to Obama than it has been to any other presidential candidate. A Web outage could cost his campaign millions of dollars, and a widely publicized privacy breach could put the brakes on his most important source of cash.

In April, a programming error allowed a Hillary Clinton supporter to redirect part of Obama’s Web site to Clinton’s, but today’s Web attack techniques could lead to much more serious consequences.

“Attacks like SQL injection would be far more of a concern,” said Oliver Friedrichs, a director with Symantec Security Response who has written about computer security and the 2008 presidential election. “If I was able to get access to the database that houses their donor information, that would be very concerning.”

So-called SQL injection attacks take advantage of programming errors and allow attackers to get unauthorized access to parts of a Web site. They can be used to install malicious software or gain access to sensitive information.

Obama’s site isn’t the only one to suffer from Web security bugs. A similar flaw popped up in Mitt Romney’s site in January, and Hillary Clinton’s name was used in a spam campaign that delivered messages laced with malicious Trojan Horse software programs, Friedrichs said.

While Web defacements and denial of service attacks may be the most common security problems, a Web privacy breach could quickly become a major campaign issue, Poole said. “For a big office, things like the reputation of the candidate are really important,” he said.

Activists trying to save a corner of historic Tiger Stadium are down to their final at-bats. So they’re opening a last-minute, Internet-based fund-raising effort in a bid to pull off a miracle win.

The Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy is working against a June 1 deadline to come up with $369,000 in cash and proof it can raise $15 million to pay for its preservation project.

The nonprofit conservancy would like to save a dugout-to-dugout corner of the ballpark, about 25% of the stadium structure, and convert it to use as a community center and museum.

But June 1 is only five weeks away, which is the bottom of the ninth in any fund-raising effort. The conservancy has one employee, virtually no money in the bank, and its Web site, www.savetigerstadium.org, won’t be up for another week or so.

Despite the long odds, Gary Gillette, one of about a dozen board members of the conservancy, said recent presidential campaigns have proven the power of the Internet to raise cash in a hurry.

“No one thought five years ago that you could raise enough money to finance a presidential campaign by small donors on the Web,” Gillette said. “Of course, we’re not Barack Obama, but I think there’ll be a similar dynamic. People will say it’s easy to push that PayPal button and just donate $20 or $30 … . There are millions of Tigers fans everywhere.”

If the conservancy doesn’t raise the $369,000 in time and show proof of its ability to raise the $15 million long-term, the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., the city’s development arm, said it will proceed to tear down the entire structure, including the corner the conservancy wishes to save.

Skeptics of the conservancy’s efforts include George Jackson, president of the DEGC, who said Friday he thinks that the conservancy, if well-meaning, has no chance to succeed.

“We don’t need any more pie-in-the-sky financing schemes,” Jackson said. “Every time we come up with a deadline, they come up with a new financial fantasy, and that’s what this is.”

McALLEN, Texas Once a migrant farm worker and now an important fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton, Alonzo Cantu won’t even take the microphone in his own home to introduce the politicians whose fundraisers he hosts.The South Texas businessman cultivates the image of a wallflower who has only his region’s future in mind while raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for Democrats, mostly Clinton.Cantu does it through his web of businesses that include a construction company, bank and hospital, which together make Cantu one of the wealthiest and most powerful political operatives in one of the nation’s poorest areas.Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas, a Clinton supporter who got Cantu involved in national politics, calls him one of the nation’s rising Hispanic stars.Clinton has campaigned heavily in the Rio Grande Valley this month, trying to secure the Latino vote in the March 4 Democratic presidential primary. She has collected nearly $1 million here, and people who know Cantu say he and his business associates are responsible for much of it.”The people who work for him and under him pretty much know what he wants,” said Billy Leo, mayor of nearby La Joya and a friend of Cantu’s. “He knows how much business he gives them. This guy is not going to call just anybody for money.”Campaign finance records show supervisors from Cantu Construction, bankers from his Lone Star National Bank and contractors on Cantu projects such as the commercial plumber on the Doctors Hospital at Renaissance that he built, wrote checks to Clinton’s campaign.Eight of the top 10 political contributors in Cantu’s north McAllen zip code sit on the hospital’s board or are doctors there. They gave a combined $111,500 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last year.Through January, Clinton had raised more than $888,000 in the McAllen metropolitan area, compared to $7,450 for her rival Barack Obama, according to The Center for Responsive Politics.It’s not clear how much was solicited and collected - bundled - by Cantu. The Clinton campaign acknowledges only that Cantu is one of their “HillRaisers,” those who raise more than $100,000.Some attribute Clinton’s fundraising edge here to her long-standing ties - 35 years ago she worked to register Valley voters - but many credit Cantu. Clinton visited Cantu’s home in 1999 while she was exploring whether to run for the Senate in New York.Local attorney Charlie Ochoa, who helped coordinate that 1999 visit, said, “There are maybe 100, 150 individuals (nationally) who have raised the kind of money Alonzo Cantu has raised for her.”Cantu says he does it because “politicians listen to two things: money and votes.”For decades, state and federal government neglected the border communities along the Rio Grande. The Valley lagged in roads, health care and education.Cantu, 52, grew up as a migrant worker, picking fruit with his family. His father eventually settled the family and started building a house or two per year when Cantu was a teen. Once Cantu graduated from the University of Houston with a finance degree, he took over the business.Now overseeing real estate development, banking and health care businesses, he is well aware of that neglect.”In the past, South Texas has been ignored by Republicans because it is the blue part of the state, and Democrats have taken us for granted,” Cantu said in his office, a framed photo of him and Bill Clinton in tuxedos behind him.The first phase in changing that was raising enough money to get Washington’s attention; the second phase is voter registration, he said.”That’s the fastest way to change things in the Valley,” he said.Cantu works out of his construction company’s single-story building a mile from his home. With his fireplug build, open-necked shirts and frizzy gray hair, Cantu looks more like one of his construction workers than a slick political operative.But bundlers like Cantu get credit for collecting hundreds of smaller donations. “They’re going to be in the candidate’s Rolodex if they’re elected,” said Taylor Lincoln of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, a watchdog group.Tom Haughey, executive director of the Hidalgo County Republican Party, said Cantu’s vision of a prosperous Rio Grande Valley includes his businesses prospering.”I don’t think it’s just because everyone is magnanimous,” said Haughey, who filed an unsuccessful Federal Election Commission complaint against Cantu in the 1990s. “I think people expect a return on investment.”Cantu’s not shy about acknowledging that: “We give money to those who tour the hospital.” He wants to persuade members of Congress of the benefits of doctor-owned hospitals, which some want to prohibit.Asked if Cantu has political aspirations of his own, Hinojosa, the congressman, laughed.”None whatsoever. The less he speaks the happier he is.”

MILWAUKEE Gathering strength, Sen. Barack Obama collected a key labor endorsement and coaxed away one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s delegates on Friday, at the same time he criticized his rival for supporting legislation harmful to workers.”Her supporting NAFTA didn’t give jobs to the American people,” Obama said of the free trade agreement implemented while Bill Clinton was in the White House. “Her supporting a bankruptcy bill made it harder for people to get out of debt that didn’t help them with the bills that were stacking up on their desks.”Obama traveled across Wisconsin during the day, hoping to add the state to an impressive string of primary victories. At the same time, he hoped his second labor endorsement in as many days, would help him in Ohio, Texas and other primary states, and block Clinton’s efforts to establish a campaign firewall.The Illinois senator won the endorsement of the 1.9 million-member Service Employees International Union, one day after he collected the support of the United Food and Commercial Workers, a politically active union 69,000 members in Ohio and another 26,000 in Texas. The food workers also have 19,000 members in Wisconsin, which holds a primary Tuesday.Addressing voters in Wisconsin, Obama accused Clinton of lashing out at him as a cheap ploy to get ahead and being so divisive that she couldn’t pass her signature effort of health care reform.”Hollering at Republicans and engaging in petty partisan politics didn’t help health care get done,” he said. “The American people don’t want to play the same games. They don’t want the cheap shots. They don’t want the negative ads. What they are looking for are solutions and bringing people together.”Obama’s advisers say even though some of his supporters assume she is on the verge of collapse, it would be a mistake to underestimate the Clintons. They have proven their ability again and again to make a comeback when they were at their lowest.Clinton has suffered a spate of crippling developments - eight straight losses, campaign finance problems, a shake-up of her staff - but has fresh reason for hope in recent polls. A poll of Wisconsin voters released Friday found Obama with only a slight edge in a state he was expected to win.In Wisconsin, she’s airing ads criticizing Obama for refusing to debate her in the state - which Obama called a “curious argument” since they have two debates scheduled in the next two weeks. But he added more campaign stops before Tuesday’s primary to shore up his support.Recent polls in Ohio and Pennsylvania show Clinton with a more than 15-percentage point advantage. She’s pinning her campaign hopes on winning Texas and Ohio on March 4 and Pennsylvania on April 22.Obama’s support from SEIU and the 1.3-million member United Food and Commercial Workers a day earlier gives him an organizational boost in those critical states with large numbers of working-class voters. Sarah Swisher, a superdelegate and an SEIU member from Iowa City, switched from Clinton to Obama after her union’s endorsement.In the latest delegate count by The Associated Press, Obama had 1,280 and Clinton 1,218/Obama has cultivated an image of being above the fray, and his criticism of Clinton usually comes in the form of a response to her charges. But he’s not above upping the ante, as he did Friday during a stop in Milwaukee.During a news conference, he was asked about Clinton’s accusation that he watered down a bill regulating the nuclear industry. He pointed out that Clinton is criticizing him for a bill she voted for and touted on her Web site.”I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she’s feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal,” he told reporters.At a subsequent rally at the downtown Midwest Airlines Center, Obama brought up her latest criticism of him as someone who gives a good speech but doesn’t have much action to show for it. Clinton told voters in Cincinnati Friday, “This primary election offers a very big choice to the voters of Ohio. You can choose speeches or solutions.”"She’s right,” Obama said in Milwaukee. “Speeches alone don’t do anything. But you know what, neither do negative attacks.”

MILWAUKEE Gathering strength, Sen. Barack Obama collected a key labor endorsement and coaxed away one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s delegates on Friday, at the same time he criticized his rival for supporting legislation harmful to workers.”Her supporting NAFTA didn’t give jobs to the American people,” Obama said of the free trade agreement implemented while Bill Clinton was in the White House. “Her supporting a bankruptcy bill made it harder for people to get out of debt that didn’t help them with the bills that were stacking up on their desks.”Obama traveled across Wisconsin during the day, hoping to add the state to an impressive string of primary victories. At the same time, he hoped his second labor endorsement in as many days, would help him in Ohio, Texas and other primary states, and block Clinton’s efforts to establish a campaign firewall.The Illinois senator won the endorsement of the 1.9 million-member Service Employees International Union, one day after he collected the support of the United Food and Commercial Workers, a politically active union 69,000 members in Ohio and another 26,000 in Texas. The food workers also have 19,000 members in Wisconsin, which holds a primary Tuesday.Addressing voters in Wisconsin, Obama accused Clinton of lashing out at him as a cheap ploy to get ahead and being so divisive that she couldn’t pass her signature effort of health care reform.”Hollering at Republicans and engaging in petty partisan politics didn’t help health care get done,” he said. “The American people don’t want to play the same games. They don’t want the cheap shots. They don’t want the negative ads. What they are looking for are solutions and bringing people together.”Obama’s advisers say even though some of his supporters assume she is on the verge of collapse, it would be a mistake to underestimate the Clintons. They have proven their ability again and again to make a comeback when they were at their lowest.Clinton has suffered a spate of crippling developments - eight straight losses, campaign finance problems, a shake-up of her staff - but has fresh reason for hope in recent polls. A poll of Wisconsin voters released Friday found Obama with only a slight edge in a state he was expected to win.In Wisconsin, she’s airing ads criticizing Obama for refusing to debate her in the state - which Obama called a “curious argument” since they have two debates scheduled in the next two weeks. But he added more campaign stops before Tuesday’s primary to shore up his support.Recent polls in Ohio and Pennsylvania show Clinton with a more than 15-percentage point advantage. She’s pinning her campaign hopes on winning Texas and Ohio on March 4 and Pennsylvania on April 22.Obama’s support from SEIU and the 1.3-million member United Food and Commercial Workers a day earlier gives him an organizational boost in those critical states with large numbers of working-class voters. Sarah Swisher, a superdelegate and an SEIU member from Iowa City, switched from Clinton to Obama after her union’s endorsement.In the latest delegate count by The Associated Press, Obama had 1,280 and Clinton 1,218/Obama has cultivated an image of being above the fray, and his criticism of Clinton usually comes in the form of a response to her charges. But he’s not above upping the ante, as he did Friday during a stop in Milwaukee.During a news conference, he was asked about Clinton’s accusation that he watered down a bill regulating the nuclear industry. He pointed out that Clinton is criticizing him for a bill she voted for and touted on her Web site.”I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she’s feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal,” he told reporters.At a subsequent rally at the downtown Midwest Airlines Center, Obama brought up her latest criticism of him as someone who gives a good speech but doesn’t have much action to show for it. Clinton told voters in Cincinnati Friday, “This primary election offers a very big choice to the voters of Ohio. You can choose speeches or solutions.”"She’s right,” Obama said in Milwaukee. “Speeches alone don’t do anything. But you know what, neither do negative attacks.”

MILWAUKEE Gathering strength, Sen. Barack Obama collected a key labor endorsement and coaxed away one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s delegates on Friday, at the same time he criticized his rival for supporting legislation harmful to workers.”Her supporting NAFTA didn’t give jobs to the American people,” Obama said of the free trade agreement implemented while Bill Clinton was in the White House. “Her supporting a bankruptcy bill made it harder for people to get out of debt that didn’t help them with the bills that were stacking up on their desks.”Obama traveled across Wisconsin during the day, hoping to add the state to an impressive string of primary victories. At the same time, he hoped his second labor endorsement in as many days, would help him in Ohio, Texas and other primary states, and block Clinton’s efforts to establish a campaign firewall.The Illinois senator won the endorsement of the 1.9 million-member Service Employees International Union, one day after he collected the support of the United Food and Commercial Workers, a politically active union 69,000 members in Ohio and another 26,000 in Texas. The food workers also have 19,000 members in Wisconsin, which holds a primary Tuesday.Addressing voters in Wisconsin, Obama accused Clinton of lashing out at him as a cheap ploy to get ahead and being so divisive that she couldn’t pass her signature effort of health care reform.”Hollering at Republicans and engaging in petty partisan politics didn’t help health care get done,” he said. “The American people don’t want to play the same games. They don’t want the cheap shots. They don’t want the negative ads. What they are looking for are solutions and bringing people together.”Obama’s advisers say even though some of his supporters assume she is on the verge of collapse, it would be a mistake to underestimate the Clintons. They have proven their ability again and again to make a comeback when they were at their lowest.Clinton has suffered a spate of crippling developments - eight straight losses, campaign finance problems, a shake-up of her staff - but has fresh reason for hope in recent polls. A poll of Wisconsin voters released Friday found Obama with only a slight edge in a state he was expected to win.In Wisconsin, she’s airing ads criticizing Obama for refusing to debate her in the state - which Obama called a “curious argument” since they have two debates scheduled in the next two weeks. But he added more campaign stops before Tuesday’s primary to shore up his support.Recent polls in Ohio and Pennsylvania show Clinton with a more than 15-percentage point advantage. She’s pinning her campaign hopes on winning Texas and Ohio on March 4 and Pennsylvania on April 22.Obama’s support from SEIU and the 1.3-million member United Food and Commercial Workers a day earlier gives him an organizational boost in those critical states with large numbers of working-class voters. Sarah Swisher, a superdelegate and an SEIU member from Iowa City, switched from Clinton to Obama after her union’s endorsement.In the latest delegate count by The Associated Press, Obama had 1,280 and Clinton 1,218/Obama has cultivated an image of being above the fray, and his criticism of Clinton usually comes in the form of a response to her charges. But he’s not above upping the ante, as he did Friday during a stop in Milwaukee.During a news conference, he was asked about Clinton’s accusation that he watered down a bill regulating the nuclear industry. He pointed out that Clinton is criticizing him for a bill she voted for and touted on her Web site.”I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she’s feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal,” he told reporters.At a subsequent rally at the downtown Midwest Airlines Center, Obama brought up her latest criticism of him as someone who gives a good speech but doesn’t have much action to show for it. Clinton told voters in Cincinnati Friday, “This primary election offers a very big choice to the voters of Ohio. You can choose speeches or solutions.”"She’s right,” Obama said in Milwaukee. “Speeches alone don’t do anything. But you know what, neither do negative attacks.”

NUCLEAR ENERGYAsk for the full clean up
Do you remember the nuclear waste deal in 1995? Colorful ads promised this nuclear deal would “say no to leaving waste over the aquifer.” They promised if we import tons of foreign spent nuclear fuel, this deal would “guarantee that the federal government must come up with the money to clean-up existing INEL waste for disposal outside our state.”The final plan is out for official public comment now, quietly released during the holiday season. The “preferred alternative” #4 does not come even close to removing 10 percent of the buried plutonium.Why is the state not demanding alternative #5, which removes “all” the buried plutonium?The final plan concludes a full clean-up is too expensive! Have you ever seen an Idaho politician refuse $8 billion in nuclear jobs? Why are the politicians refusing to demand a full clean-up?Do you remember the infamous Pit 9? In 1993, that was chosen as the worst plutonium pit. Now, this final plan cherry picks just a very small portion of Pit 9!When God blessed Idaho, there was no man-made plutonium in our water. Please call your silent politicians. Ask for the full clean-up proposed in Alternative 5 at Brandt.Meagher@icp.doe.gov.DR. PETER RICKARDS, D.P.M., Twin FallsWhere did the West go? Keep Idaho green
Coming up nuclear plants?What ever happened to “green” - windmills, solar and vouchers for fuel cell-natural gas homes, buildings and electric cars and trucks? “Keep Idaho green,” don’t put us, our aquifers, the Tetons, Yellowstone, our farms, our tourism under a dark cloud, or worse a disaster.We have to ask, would housing costs go down, sales, would people move away? What ever happened to common sense … smelling the roses, or our Snake River, the gas? Where did the West go?Help save Idaho, all us Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Christians and non-Christians! It’s a no-brainer to my way of thinking. We haven’t yet even used “traditional” energy sources. Slam the door on nuclear power.”Keep Idaho green.”MONTY STIPP, MeridianHEALTH CARESave money, go to Mexico for dental work
Imagine a country where the majority of the people have no health insurance and they cannot afford to go to the doctor or the dentist.Image a country where the majority of people hope they die before they have to go to a nursing home because of the cost.The last four years I have been going to the dentist in Algodones, Mexico. I was happy with my local dentist, but I could not afford the cost. I am almost 70 years old, my teeth are worn down and I had a few teeth missing. This fall I went to Mexico to a dentist that I have 100 percent confidence in, and got 28 new porcelain crowns, including three bridges. The whole process took three days. The total cost was less than what my daughter paid a specialist to get one crown. I now have teeth better than my originals.Millions of Americans go to Mexico for major operations, dental work, and prescription drugs because they cannot afford the price in the US. Millions of Mexicans come to this country and go to our hospital emergency rooms and receive free health care. What kind of country would let this happen?If you need dental work, check out this Web page, www.sanidentalgroup.cjb.net.GARY WILLSON, ReubensEAGLE FOOTHILLSCity Council put best interests of Eagle first
Power (city voters) and knowledge (North Ada County Foothills Association) helped lead City Council to approve a far more responsible M3 Company Foothills development agreement than what Council was ready to approve just two months ago. The Nov. 6 Eagle city election results proved that knowledgeable Foothills’ advocates are not a “relatively small group of critics” with a “significant self-serving negative bias that does not truly represent breadth of the community.” (Councilman Bandy’s October campaign quote.)Congratulations and gratitude go to John Petrovsky’s NACFA for pursuing a course of public leadership, persistence and informed advocacy for a responsibly managed foothills growth plan, during the past five years at the county and city levels. NACFA stepped in where elected city officials feared to tread with developers.Gratitude goes as well to the recent successful and influential Preserve Eagle campaign platform. City Council subsequently switched to damage control mode to regain leadership credibility on the major issue of city growth. Thanks go to Council for deciding on Nov. 20 and Dec. 11 to put the best interests of the city of Eagle first rather than those of a Foothills developer. Well done, City Council.PATRICIA MINKIEWICZ, EagleBARACK OBAMAStop spreading political rumors as facts
Most will agree that politics is too partisan; but what to do about it? First, stop spreading “Patriot Police” rumors as fact. Clarice Wright stated that Barack Obama attended a radical Muslim school as a child, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance with his hands at his side, his back to the American flag.CNN investigated the charge of attending a radical Muslim school, a “madrassa.” Not true. He attended the Basuki school, a general school, from 1969-1971. Students dress in school uniforms and teachers in Western attire.A photograph of Sen. Obama’s alleged pledge infraction was taken on Sept. 16, 2007, at Sen. Tom Harkin’s annual steak fry festivities in Iowa. The photo was taken during the National Anthem not a recitation of the pledge. The area was covered with American flags so while he had his back to the one in the picture he was facing a flag as were the others in the picture.To diminish the partisan nature of our system, Clarice, stop spreading false rumors. When anyone allows themselves to be used by the “Patriot Police,” partisanship is magnified. So what will it be? Furthering the problem or becoming part of the solution?ED LONSDALE, Boise

NUCLEAR ENERGYAsk for the full clean up
Do you remember the nuclear waste deal in 1995? Colorful ads promised this nuclear deal would “say no to leaving waste over the aquifer.” They promised if we import tons of foreign spent nuclear fuel, this deal would “guarantee that the federal government must come up with the money to clean-up existing INEL waste for disposal outside our state.”The final plan is out for official public comment now, quietly released during the holiday season. The “preferred alternative” #4 does not come even close to removing 10 percent of the buried plutonium.Why is the state not demanding alternative #5, which removes “all” the buried plutonium?The final plan concludes a full clean-up is too expensive! Have you ever seen an Idaho politician refuse $8 billion in nuclear jobs? Why are the politicians refusing to demand a full clean-up?Do you remember the infamous Pit 9? In 1993, that was chosen as the worst plutonium pit. Now, this final plan cherry picks just a very small portion of Pit 9!When God blessed Idaho, there was no man-made plutonium in our water. Please call your silent politicians. Ask for the full clean-up proposed in Alternative 5 at Brandt.Meagher@icp.doe.gov.DR. PETER RICKARDS, D.P.M., Twin FallsWhere did the West go? Keep Idaho green
Coming up nuclear plants?What ever happened to “green” - windmills, solar and vouchers for fuel cell-natural gas homes, buildings and electric cars and trucks? “Keep Idaho green,” don’t put us, our aquifers, the Tetons, Yellowstone, our farms, our tourism under a dark cloud, or worse a disaster.We have to ask, would housing costs go down, sales, would people move away? What ever happened to common sense … smelling the roses, or our Snake River, the gas? Where did the West go?Help save Idaho, all us Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Christians and non-Christians! It’s a no-brainer to my way of thinking. We haven’t yet even used “traditional” energy sources. Slam the door on nuclear power.”Keep Idaho green.”MONTY STIPP, MeridianHEALTH CARESave money, go to Mexico for dental work
Imagine a country where the majority of the people have no health insurance and they cannot afford to go to the doctor or the dentist.Image a country where the majority of people hope they die before they have to go to a nursing home because of the cost.The last four years I have been going to the dentist in Algodones, Mexico. I was happy with my local dentist, but I could not afford the cost. I am almost 70 years old, my teeth are worn down and I had a few teeth missing. This fall I went to Mexico to a dentist that I have 100 percent confidence in, and got 28 new porcelain crowns, including three bridges. The whole process took three days. The total cost was less than what my daughter paid a specialist to get one crown. I now have teeth better than my originals.Millions of Americans go to Mexico for major operations, dental work, and prescription drugs because they cannot afford the price in the US. Millions of Mexicans come to this country and go to our hospital emergency rooms and receive free health care. What kind of country would let this happen?If you need dental work, check out this Web page, www.sanidentalgroup.cjb.net.GARY WILLSON, ReubensEAGLE FOOTHILLSCity Council put best interests of Eagle first
Power (city voters) and knowledge (North Ada County Foothills Association) helped lead City Council to approve a far more responsible M3 Company Foothills development agreement than what Council was ready to approve just two months ago. The Nov. 6 Eagle city election results proved that knowledgeable Foothills’ advocates are not a “relatively small group of critics” with a “significant self-serving negative bias that does not truly represent breadth of the community.” (Councilman Bandy’s October campaign quote.)Congratulations and gratitude go to John Petrovsky’s NACFA for pursuing a course of public leadership, persistence and informed advocacy for a responsibly managed foothills growth plan, during the past five years at the county and city levels. NACFA stepped in where elected city officials feared to tread with developers.Gratitude goes as well to the recent successful and influential Preserve Eagle campaign platform. City Council subsequently switched to damage control mode to regain leadership credibility on the major issue of city growth. Thanks go to Council for deciding on Nov. 20 and Dec. 11 to put the best interests of the city of Eagle first rather than those of a Foothills developer. Well done, City Council.PATRICIA MINKIEWICZ, EagleBARACK OBAMAStop spreading political rumors as facts
Most will agree that politics is too partisan; but what to do about it? First, stop spreading “Patriot Police” rumors as fact. Clarice Wright stated that Barack Obama attended a radical Muslim school as a child, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance with his hands at his side, his back to the American flag.CNN investigated the charge of attending a radical Muslim school, a “madrassa.” Not true. He attended the Basuki school, a general school, from 1969-1971. Students dress in school uniforms and teachers in Western attire.A photograph of Sen. Obama’s alleged pledge infraction was taken on Sept. 16, 2007, at Sen. Tom Harkin’s annual steak fry festivities in Iowa. The photo was taken during the National Anthem not a recitation of the pledge. The area was covered with American flags so while he had his back to the one in the picture he was facing a flag as were the others in the picture.To diminish the partisan nature of our system, Clarice, stop spreading false rumors. When anyone allows themselves to be used by the “Patriot Police,” partisanship is magnified. So what will it be? Furthering the problem or becoming part of the solution?ED LONSDALE, Boise

NUCLEAR ENERGYAsk for the full clean up
Do you remember the nuclear waste deal in 1995? Colorful ads promised this nuclear deal would “say no to leaving waste over the aquifer.” They promised if we import tons of foreign spent nuclear fuel, this deal would “guarantee that the federal government must come up with the money to clean-up existing INEL waste for disposal outside our state.”The final plan is out for official public comment now, quietly released during the holiday season. The “preferred alternative” #4 does not come even close to removing 10 percent of the buried plutonium.Why is the state not demanding alternative #5, which removes “all” the buried plutonium?The final plan concludes a full clean-up is too expensive! Have you ever seen an Idaho politician refuse $8 billion in nuclear jobs? Why are the politicians refusing to demand a full clean-up?Do you remember the infamous Pit 9? In 1993, that was chosen as the worst plutonium pit. Now, this final plan cherry picks just a very small portion of Pit 9!When God blessed Idaho, there was no man-made plutonium in our water. Please call your silent politicians. Ask for the full clean-up proposed in Alternative 5 at Brandt.Meagher@icp.doe.gov.DR. PETER RICKARDS, D.P.M., Twin FallsWhere did the West go? Keep Idaho green
Coming up nuclear plants?What ever happened to “green” - windmills, solar and vouchers for fuel cell-natural gas homes, buildings and electric cars and trucks? “Keep Idaho green,” don’t put us, our aquifers, the Tetons, Yellowstone, our farms, our tourism under a dark cloud, or worse a disaster.We have to ask, would housing costs go down, sales, would people move away? What ever happened to common sense … smelling the roses, or our Snake River, the gas? Where did the West go?Help save Idaho, all us Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Christians and non-Christians! It’s a no-brainer to my way of thinking. We haven’t yet even used “traditional” energy sources. Slam the door on nuclear power.”Keep Idaho green.”MONTY STIPP, MeridianHEALTH CARESave money, go to Mexico for dental work
Imagine a country where the majority of the people have no health insurance and they cannot afford to go to the doctor or the dentist.Image a country where the majority of people hope they die before they have to go to a nursing home because of the cost.The last four years I have been going to the dentist in Algodones, Mexico. I was happy with my local dentist, but I could not afford the cost. I am almost 70 years old, my teeth are worn down and I had a few teeth missing. This fall I went to Mexico to a dentist that I have 100 percent confidence in, and got 28 new porcelain crowns, including three bridges. The whole process took three days. The total cost was less than what my daughter paid a specialist to get one crown. I now have teeth better than my originals.Millions of Americans go to Mexico for major operations, dental work, and prescription drugs because they cannot afford the price in the US. Millions of Mexicans come to this country and go to our hospital emergency rooms and receive free health care. What kind of country would let this happen?If you need dental work, check out this Web page, www.sanidentalgroup.cjb.net.GARY WILLSON, ReubensEAGLE FOOTHILLSCity Council put best interests of Eagle first
Power (city voters) and knowledge (North Ada County Foothills Association) helped lead City Council to approve a far more responsible M3 Company Foothills development agreement than what Council was ready to approve just two months ago. The Nov. 6 Eagle city election results proved that knowledgeable Foothills’ advocates are not a “relatively small group of critics” with a “significant self-serving negative bias that does not truly represent breadth of the community.” (Councilman Bandy’s October campaign quote.)Congratulations and gratitude go to John Petrovsky’s NACFA for pursuing a course of public leadership, persistence and informed advocacy for a responsibly managed foothills growth plan, during the past five years at the county and city levels. NACFA stepped in where elected city officials feared to tread with developers.Gratitude goes as well to the recent successful and influential Preserve Eagle campaign platform. City Council subsequently switched to damage control mode to regain leadership credibility on the major issue of city growth. Thanks go to Council for deciding on Nov. 20 and Dec. 11 to put the best interests of the city of Eagle first rather than those of a Foothills developer. Well done, City Council.PATRICIA MINKIEWICZ, EagleBARACK OBAMAStop spreading political rumors as facts
Most will agree that politics is too partisan; but what to do about it? First, stop spreading “Patriot Police” rumors as fact. Clarice Wright stated that Barack Obama attended a radical Muslim school as a child, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance with his hands at his side, his back to the American flag.CNN investigated the charge of attending a radical Muslim school, a “madrassa.” Not true. He attended the Basuki school, a general school, from 1969-1971. Students dress in school uniforms and teachers in Western attire.A photograph of Sen. Obama’s alleged pledge infraction was taken on Sept. 16, 2007, at Sen. Tom Harkin’s annual steak fry festivities in Iowa. The photo was taken during the National Anthem not a recitation of the pledge. The area was covered with American flags so while he had his back to the one in the picture he was facing a flag as were the others in the picture.To diminish the partisan nature of our system, Clarice, stop spreading false rumors. When anyone allows themselves to be used by the “Patriot Police,” partisanship is magnified. So what will it be? Furthering the problem or becoming part of the solution?ED LONSDALE, Boise

Its easy to forget that as little as a decade ago all these innovations that are part of daily life had yet to be dreamed of. The effect can scarcely be overstated and there appears to be no slowing in the number of new ways that are being invented to use this new connectedness.
The internet and the web have changed the way we keep in touch with family and friends, do business, form new relationships, leaving little of our lives untouched in some way or other, says John Allsopp, a software engineer, author and founder of the influential Web Directions conference series.
A decade from now, Ive no doubt well be similarly astounded with the way these technologies will have reached even further into our lives.
But predicting exactly what will be the next thing or which ideas will bomb and which will fly is fraught with difficulty. (Besides, if I knew for certain, do you really think Id still be writing for a living?)
What follows is a smorgasbord of websites, services, concepts and gadgets that at first glance seem to have little to do with each other but which taken together give a picture of where our brave new networked world may be heading.
THE CHUMBY - The creators of this bizarre little device have generated a huge buzz over the past few months - and its not even due to be launched until early in the year. The Chumby is a wireless internet device about the size of a rugby ball. It has no keyboard or mouse but instead uses software called widgets to display pretty much anything you want it to - all the time. For instance, it will act as an alarm clock, play your music, show you constantly updated news or track an eBay auction.
And the really interesting thing is that it is designed to be hacked - everything from the software code to the specifications for the case are freely available. No one, including the manufacturers, knows what owners will make Chumbys do once they are released. http://www.chumby.com
MICROBLOGGING - This involves sharing short messages among a group. Messages are typically posted from mobile phones via SMS or instant messaging. True microblogging obsessives will dispatch messages to the group dozens of times daily, updating their peers on even the most inconsequential details of their lives.
The best-known microblogging service is called Twitter and its best-known user is US presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Twitter has also spawned a host of imitators such as Pownce and Jaiku. Microblogging fans claim that, at their best, the mini-messages are almost haiku-like, while detractors question the usefulness of being bombarded with messages such as Just made cup of tea.http://www.pownce.comhttp://www.jaiku.com
EVERYBLOCK - This is still in development but EveryBlock is definitely worth keeping an eye on, if only because it is the work of young Chicago journalist and programmer Adrian Holovaty. He was the brains behind a celebrated project called chicagocrime.org, which overlays crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department on maps, thus providing a powerful graphic overview of crime in the city.
EveryBlock will use some of the same techniques to create hyperlocal news. The kinds of information Holovaty wants to provide include the results of house sales, scores from youngsters sports events, local crime figures and stories written by local people. http://www.chicagocrime.orghttp://www.everyblock.com
23ANDME - With the tagline genetics just got personal, 23AndMe allows anyone to unlock their own genetic history - and likely future. For $US1000 ($NZ1300) the service (named after the 23 pairs of human chromosomes) will reveal whether you have a predisposition to arthritis or Alzheimers or, more frivolously, why you cant stand tomatoes.
23AndMe customers provide a sample of saliva from which technicians extract the DNA for analysis. When the results are in, customers are given a secure login that allows them to explore their own genome at their leisure, revealing their genetic family around the world as well as their likely future health. http://www.23andme.com.
PEER-TO-PEER LENDING - Whether youre distributing music or books, auctioning off unwanted household items, wanting to bet on a horse race or looking for a soulmate, the internet can put you in touch with someone who is interested in what you have or are.
Kiva takes that idea and applies it to the established concept of microfinance - making small loans to the working poor to help them establish or expand businesses.
So, instead of giving a donation to an organisation such as Oxfam to distribute, peer-to-peer lending lets you invest small amounts directly in a particular entrepreneur - such as Mohamad Marah in Kabala, Sierra Leone. With his $US200 loan, Marah has been able to expand his garment business, buying three extra sewing machines. So far he has repaid half the loan. More than $US15 million has already been lent through Kiva - and the default rate is claimed to be just .23 per cent. http://www.kiva.org
MOB RULES - The concept of a mob of networked citizens forming an irresistible force has been proposed and developed by, among others, futurist Harold Rheingold and Sydney web theorist and author Mark Pesce. Pesce has pointed out that in about the middle of this year every second person on Earth will have a mobile phone.
In just a decade, well have gone from half the world never having made a telephone call to half the world owning a phone, he said recently. In effect, he reckons, the people are the network and when that mob of people get together and decide to go in a particular direction they are virtually unstoppable. Just ask the record companies that have battled in vain for years to stop people sharing music or former Philippines president Joseph Estrada, who was forced from office in 2001 by mass protests co-ordinated by waves of SMS messages.
According to Pesce, the mob is faster, smarter and stronger than you are. Just as importantly, the mob is quite unpredictable - so expect a wild ride in coming years. blog.futurestreetconsulting.com; http://www.rheingold.com.
GUERILLA WI-FI - Having a wireless internet system set up at home is becoming increasingly common. However, tapping into the internet while out and about is still very hit and miss - and where it is available is often nose-bleedingly expensive (Telstra hot spots cost $14 an hour while Optus slugs users about $12 an hour).
Meraki is an internet start-up that aims to change all that by providing cheap - or free - wireless networks. Meraki sells a remarkable device call the Meraki Mini for $US49. Plug it in to your internet connection and it will instantly provide shared access to other users up to 50 metres away.
Put several Merakis together in a neighbourhood (and perhaps include a few of the more powerful versions that cover up to 350 metres) and they will instantly form a mesh network, giving internet access to anyone in the area. These guerilla networks are beginning to spring up in cities around the world, driven by people for whom internet access is a social-equity issue. Do internet service providers like this Robin Hood-style behaviour? Not at all. Can they do much about it? Er, no. http://www.meraki.com.
WORLD COMMUNITY GRID -The World Community Grid project is one of the latest examples of a concept called distributed computing. The idea, though not new, involves harnessing the computing power of many thousands of idle PCs around the world to try to crack complex scientific challenges.
Distributed computing first came to prominence with the Seti@home project, which uses participants computers to analyse radio telescope data in the search for extra-terrestrial life. World Community Grid takes the concept one stage further and aims to establish the worlds largest public computing grid to tackle projects that benefit humanity.
So far 343,000 members have donated a total of 128,000 years of computing time. Projects include one aimed at giving scientists a better understanding of cancer and another that is modelling the effects of climate change in Africa. http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org
LOOPT - One of many social networking services that capitalise on the global positioning software now standard on many mobile phones.
Loopt members register with the site and then, when one of their friends is nearby, their location is shown on a map plus a note about what they are doing at that time.
You might not want your location to be always visible - so, thankfully, users can turn off the service. http://www.loopt.com.
ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD - When marvelling at the potential of the networked world its easy to forget the 2 billion youngsters in the developing world who dont have the tools to connect.
The One Laptop per Child program is a bid to help bridge this digital divide with a machine called the XO Laptop that sells for just $US200. OLPC is a non-profit group established by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nicholas Negroponte and supported by companies including News Corp, Intel and Google.
Under a Give One Get One scheme, donors give $US399 and they receive a child-sized XO machine and another will be sent on their behalf to a youngster in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Mongolia or Rwanda. http://www.laptop.org.