How Many and How Much More Will Be Wasted?

We see the shrines throughout our travels. Burned down candles, half filled balloons floating just above the sidewalk, stale and wilted flowers in a vase with a religious symbol. Another makeshift memoriam to someone killed either by another or in an auto accident, or who knows how we wonder. When it is one of their own gang-bangers will mark the sight of their dead homie with graffiti and signs of his gang affiliation. When it is one of their victims law abiding citizens will ask "why?" and state "this can't continue." But it will.

In May 2008 I wrote in the Long Beach Post that the City of Long Beach had announced it spends almost $30 million per year on gang prevention programs. Between then and Melody Ross' murder in front of Wilson High School on October 30th the city has spent approximately $45 million on gang "prevention." The City has the Human Dignity Program, the Youth and Gang Prevention Task Force, police department school district and countless non-profit agencies dedicated to gang prevention. In their parlance, "provide our youth with alternatives to gangs and reduce the root causes of gang violence" is their objective. And has been for decades. $30 million per year from the City budget for gang "prevention."

Los Angeles County spends tens, if not hundreds, of millions on gang "prevention" programs; the State of California spends millions and millions on special grants and funding for gang "prevention programs"; our Congressional and Senate representatives tell us funding for gang "prevention" programs are priorities. All told hundreds of millions of dollars are focused on gang "prevention" programs in our community and county. All directed by our progressive elected officials and bureaucrats who through their decades of efforts and direction of "prevention" programs have failed.

The programs fail because the focus has been on preventing kids from entering gangs and not on eradicating the gangs. The programs fail because the culture that fosters gangs and gang membership is left alone and individual children are asked to go against their brothers, cousins, absentee dads and mothers. The programs fail because while politicians like to get elected on solving the gang problems in our community, once elected they become passive and fall into the politically correct "prevention" programs.

The Los Angeles Sheriffs Department began a very successful gang sweep and interdiction program in the City of Hawaiian Gardens. Historically a city controlled by some very violent gangs, they citizens of Hawaiian Gardens have lived under gang rule and seen their kids murdered or pulled into the gangs. Rather than welcome law enforcement coming into their community to rid it of these murders and drug dealers, the citizens protested. They protested the Sheriffs Department actively pursuing known gang members and removing them from their city. Members of the clergy protested accusing the Sheriffs of racism, ignoring the racist element of the city's gangs targeting citizens of a different race. Mothers who have lost children to the gangs protested. In elections last week politicians who ran against the Sheriff Department's anti-gang program lost. The voters protected the gang bangers.

The outcry following Melody Ross' tragic death underscores the issues facing our community, and others, moving forward. There are those who are upset that the juveniles arrested for the murder had their name published. There are those who want all of us to understand how three 16 year old kids crossed paths, one an honor student, athlete and wonder young woman, the other two gang members and now murders. They feel it is important for me to understand how society failed the two murders that led them to gang membership and violence. There are those who blame you, and me, and all of us for this murder because of gun laws, violence on television, rap lyrics, everything but where the blame should lie.

Until our community elects officials at all levels of government who are willing to put the rights and values of our community first and those of gang members and their enablers second, or third, fourth...we will never have any solutions to our gang problems. Here are some places we can start.

Stop protecting Cease with the withholding names and photos of perpetrators of violent crimes, regardless of their ages. Society, school mates, parents, teachers, have a right to know if a criminal is in their class, or neighborhood. Further publish the names, photos and addresses of any known parents. Let's see the faces of those who reared the murderers of Melody Ross. Let their neighbors know "The people responsible for the child who murdered another child live here." They took no accountability to this point for their children, make them do so now.

Restitution If you child graffiti's a building you are going to be financially responsible, can't pay then community service or time in jail. Your child commits physical violence on another? Community service and possible criminal charges if it recures. Your child murders another you are charged with criminal negligence and child endangerment. When police do gang sweeps and arrest minors their parents get picked up too. Both parents, track the Dads and pull them in as well.

Audits We need to have serious audits of the hundreds of millions of dollars that have obviously been wasted on "prevention" programs. I call on City Auditor Laura Doud to audit the City of Long Beach's spending on gang "prevention" programs. At a time when our police department budget is under fire and our schools are losing millions from the state, it is time to see what funds are being wasted by our city. Who gets the $30 million per year? What are the measurable results? Are there specific outcomes that are posted for the funds? Are those using the funds actually adhering to the programs used to solicit the funds? And I come back to results, what are the results of the city spending all this money year after year?

Political Our elected politicians need to have the courage to call out the gang communities. Call out the failing parents and culture that exist in the neighborhoods where gangs thrive. For $30 million per year we can set up permanent patrols and 24/7 police presence in the five neighborhoods where most our our gang activity originates and cultivates for decades. Give the police the authority and the direction to erradicate the gangs. Have the courage to take the heat for a pro-active police department pursuing gang members and going block by block with warrants and crack downs. Resolve to get gangs out of our city.

Enough Enough with the current failed methods of "prevention." We have tried and failed, failed Melody and her family and hundreds of others over the past several years when "prevention" became the progressive method of solving our gang problems.

Sadly in the not too distant future we will read of another tragic shooting, another innocent daughter, son, mother, baby, killed by some bullet meant for another. And the community will say "we need to stop this." And the community will not.

Just Some Questions

Below are questions I have asked myself throughout the past week. Instead of writing what my answers to them would be I am interested in any answers you may have, or additional questions you have asked yourself.

For the week starting Monday November 2, 2009 here are some questions I have had:

What is the goal of health care reform?

Did you root for the Yankees?

Absentee ballot or visit your polling place?

Greatest living American author?

Is it harder to lose weight and diet or cut expenses and save money?

Greatest dead American author?

Did you make a new friend this week?

How does creating 111 new agencies or departments in the Federal government make health care cheaper and more accessible?

Are your pumpkins still on your porch?

Has anyone done the math?

Does the title to my post on Wednesday look pretty familiar to one used by a popular Long Beach website discussing the aftermath of the parcel tax vote?

What are you feelings on the amount of Federal spending in 2009 and spending obligations into the future?

What old friend did you reconnect with this week?

When is the best time for a daily walk, morning, lunchtime, evening?

Should juveniles convicted as adults be subject to all the same punishments?

How often do you use a dictionary?

How many cars have you owned and how many have been manufactured by American companies?

Are you down to that Halloween candy that no one really wants?

What was your guilty pleasure this week?

Sweater or sweatshirt?

What do you think about moving “Just Some Questions” to Fridays to see if we can get more responses?

Cookies or Pie?

So those are the questions, what are your answers? Click on the comments button below and let us know what you think.

Voters: Now What?

Now what?


More incumbents? And you know as well as I do in our gerrymandered state state "incumbent" is appropriately tagged to the replacement candidate for any incumbents termed out.


Now what?


Another round of elections installing the same people to make the same votes and pass the same laws and spending bills and budgets that have doubled spending from Sacramento in ten year? Another round of elections installing the same people to complain that the state budget problems have nothing to do with their economic ignorance and over spending but instead has to do with not enough taxes being collected from the citizens of the state?


Now what?


Local voters go to the polls next year and punch the same hole they have punched in every one of the past elections that memory serves? Re-elect the same people who say you aren't taxed enough and then go to Sacramento to increase their spending yet again, except for where you need it?


Now what?


Listen to the politician you elected tell you it is not their fault they have to take another five, ten, twenty million from the school district where you send your child? Listen as they sit their with their majority as they cajole only one, two, or three members of the other party to join them as they pass a budget raising fees, closing parks, and stealing more money from your child's classroom?


Now what?


What are you, the voter in Long Beach, or Lakewood, or Signal Hill, who voted against Measure T going to do? Sanction our elected representatives in Sacramento behavior that took $100 million away from the district in the past five years? Because if you re-elect them that is exactly what you are doing. Same goes for you in Los Angeles, in San Francisco, in Marin County, in San Diego. Up and down the state every vote that is caste for a sitting member of the Assembly or Senate that voted to pass the current state budget, or the budget before that, or the budget before that, is a vote sanctioning poor economic decisions, a vote supporting taking funds from local districts and a vote against local control of education.


Now what?


What is going to change so our school district is not forced to cut security officers that patrol football games and hallways? How are you going to vote to ensure more funds aren't stripped from our schools so we can have a nurse even two days a week? What responsibility will you take with your vote so another day of an open library can happen on the campus your child attends?


Voters within the Long Beach Unified School District overwhelmingly defeated the Measure T parcel tax. It was pretty evident that the majority of those voting did not want to pay a couple of more dollars per month to provide some direct funding for operations to our district, funding that could not be stolen by the same people this majority has elected to represent them in every election in the past decade. So now what? What is this majority going to do in next year's primary and general elections to change the cycle of greed and glut in Sacramento that has seen our school district's budgets decimated by the majorities in the Assembly and Senate and abetted by a few members of the opposition and the Governor who ultimately did not veto those budgets.


Now what?


Here's what I think. I think every incumbent in our local elections for state office will get re-elected, those off the ballot because of running for another office or term limits will have their political clones elected. The winners will be supported by campaign donations from public employees unions, both locally and statewide. The winners will run unchallenged in their primaries and win with comfortable majorities in this little corner of California that is cozy for them. The winners will not have their voting records looked at by the voters, nor will the voters consider the ideas and positions of any one else on the ballots. The winners will win despite aiding and abetting the financial decline and ruin of this state as the voters blindly vote for the letter inside the parenthesis next to their name, (D), and ignore their actions in the budget process. The winners will get another term in office from an electorate that voted not to pay an additional $8 per month for education but will vote to support a politician who has raised other fees and taxes a lot more than $8 per month.


In this scenario you can substitute my local area for any area of this gerrymandered state that has protected a substantial majority for the Democrats in Sacramento. A comfortable majority that has bullied and pushed and pulled and whined and screamed through every budget process to get a handful of Republicans and a governor to sign off on their budgets. Budgets that have cut $100 million in revenue from our local school district. Budgets that have included the largest tax increase in American history by a state on its people. Budgets that are sanctified by the electorate every time they re-elect their incumbents.


Message heard loud and clear Long Beach: LBUSD we don't want to provide you any additional revenue, go ahead and make your cuts. Message to Long Beach voters: don't bitch when those cuts affect your child. Don't bitch when you lose a nurse. Lose PE. Lose Art. Lose AP French. Lose Chess Club. Lose security officers. You caused this with your votes electing members of the Assembly and Senate, now accept responsibility.

Now what?

Parents Get Out And Vote "YES" On Measure T

If you are a parent with children in the Long Beach Unified School District, if you are a parent with children that will be entering the Long Beach Unified School District, if you are a grandparent, aunt, cousin, or neighbor to children in the Long Beach Unified School District get out of the house tomorrow, Tuesday November 3rd, and vote YES on Measure T. Please.


The average voter is to lazy too check facts or understand and issue or candidate before voting, as evidenced by our election results. Our state's voters have passed billions of dollars in bonds, and that means debt and mandatory interest payments that eat into our general funds, for stem cell research, Delta watershed restructuring with no funds spent, high speed rail binding us to more spending later; locally voters have passed higher sales taxes for 30 years to support failing Metrorail and other projects that have proven to be filled with waste of taxpayer funds. In the meantime our electorate has routinely voted the same people into offices, either the same office or rotating between offices due to term limits, that have pushed our state further and further into financial ruin.

And then they wonder why our state is in such a mess. Why their tax refund is not in the mail. Why they can't renew their license at the DMV on Friday. Why their kid no longer gets to go to science camp. One year from now they will dutifully look for the (D) (locally in Long Beach and Los Angeles County) and punch the ballot to re-elect the same people again and we will fall further into financial ruin. Before doing that I am hopeful two-thirds will vote yes on Measure T on Tuesday.

In the meantime, as legislators in Sacramento have wasting our tax dollars our local award winning school district has lost $100 million in funds from the State of California in the past 5 years. Schools have lost librarians, nurses, phys ed instructors, computer lab instructors, art and music teachers.


Here are some of the arguments I have heard agaisnt Measure T:


Expense: It costs $96 per year, not per month, per year. This is a couple of dinners out for the year for a family of four. It is less than 20% of one month's payment on your huge SUV you drop your kids off in. It is $8 per month, less than you spend per week at Starbuck or It's A Grind for your mocha-latte after dropping the kids off. Cars and coffee's can't teach your kids to read or prepare them for the AP English test.

Length: This is one of times that short is good. Measure T is only in effect for 5 years. Five Years. Not 30 years like the MTA tax passed by LA County voters last years. Not until repealed by the District or legislators. Five Years. Total parcel tax payments by the voters: $480 over 5 years. (I did that math in my head because I had good math teachers, does your child?)

Been There: Measure T is only for operations. In the early 1990's voters passed a bond measure to build, rebuild and remodel schools in Long Beach. We benefited from new campuses like Powell Academy and Dooley Elementary. A few years ago voters passed another bond measure, Measure K, for capital construction, remodeling and fixing the schools' infrastructures. These funds were well thought out and will result in new campuses and upgrades on many existing campuses. Those measures added 0.0008% to tax bills ($80 per year per $100,000 assessed value), further Measure K was a matching funds measure, in passing the bond voters allowed the District to receiving matching funds from the State for previously passed measures. For every $80 paid by property owners another $80 is recieved by the state. Those funds are in use, are improving our schools and have nothing to do with Measure T as no funds from Measure K can be used for operations.

Timing: The local paper's editorial board has said, "now is not the time." When is? When is a good time for local voters to send a message to elected officials that they are tired of their stealing money from their kids school and will pay for it themselves, and oh by the way we will remember this next November (just kidding, our voters really have no memory hence the re-election of the same candidates that created our problems). Now is not the time because of the economy. How about now is the time because many property owners have seen their property taxes go down with property values? How about now is the time because the next time our school system will have imposed cuts to education that diminishes our schools and therefore prpoerty values. Now is not the time to add $8 per month to property owners' tax bills? The editors who wrote this opinion spend that on lunch every day.

Quality: People love to point out anything bad that happens at their kid's school or stories of what has happened to other kids and campuses. LBUSD educates about 90,000 students every day. It employs thousands of teachers, janitors, coaches, principals, accountants, health care specialists, nutrition specialists and administrators. Someone is always willing to say, "not enough spent on students" "too much this" "too much that." I personally know Superintendent Chris Steinhauser, three of the four current members of the school board, many principals and administrators. To a person I know them to be honest, caring and commited, framing their decisions with one question: what is best for our students. There are plenty of naysayers and those who cast stones. I will close on these points that need continued support by our community so they can continue and grow:

* Broad Finalist Year After Year our District has been nationally recognized as one of the top five, and top, urban school district in the country

* Millions of dollars are received by LBUSD high school graduates every year in scholarships to colleges and universities across the country

* Millions of dollars are saved by parents every year in college and university tuition fees because their children have taken and passed Advance Placement classes in many disciplines, thereby earning college credits and not needing those classes in college.

* Continued recognition by the Obama Administration as the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan repeatedly uses LBUSD as an example for other districts in California and across the state.

Long Beach Unified School District is unique in the State of California. It has commited leadership that has attended our schools, who live in our neighborhoods and care about your children. It is being torn apart by decisions made by Sacramento that strip needed funding year after year.

Parents, grandparents, uncles, neighbors need to step up to support our great school district, vote YES on Measure T on Tuesday.

http://www.yesonmeasuret.com/

Just Some Questions

Below are questions I have asked myself throughout the past week. Instead of writing what my answers to them would be I am interested in any answers you may have, or additional questions you have asked yourself.

For the week starting Monday October 26, 2009 here are some questions I have had:

Should the First Time Homebuyer tax credit continue?

Does that little dial on the coffee maker to make your coffee stronger or weaker really work? Why not just add more or less grounds to the basket?

Why is there no outrage over the completely inadequate supply of flu vaccines?

1990 pages?

Do you snore?

Have you ever said, “This has too much brown sugar?”

What is the most money you have spent at the 99 cent store?

Is the room in your home that is coldest in winter also the hottest in the summer?

For non-government employees, have government furlough days affected you at all?

If time flies, what walks?

Long Beachians: Best soup Bake’N’Broil Navy Bean and Ham, 555 Crab Bisque or Lasher’s Clam Chowder?

Does any legally registered voter in California have any less opportunity than any other legally registered voter to cast his or her ballot?

The parents know their kid did the shooting, the friends know, will they protect this coward or be just as cowardly and continue to want to live in our community?

Should the identity of teenage murders, and there for their families, be protected?

God bless Melody Ross, her family, her friends, her teachers and other students at Wilson High School. Rot in hell coward who fired randomly into a crowd.

Cookies or Pie?

So those are the questions, what are your answers? Click on the comments button below and let us know what you think.

Running To Empty?

If I am a loyal Congressional Democrat I am very ticked off at the White House, and especially President Obama right now. Elected with a 7 point majority but behaving as if handed a mandate, the President has left me holding the bucket on health care. Traipsing around the country raising money for other Democrats he has left me holding the credit card on an exploding federal deficit and federal debt approaching $33 trillion. Waffling on any decision concerning Afghanistan he has left me holding the phone, calling constituents whose son has just been killed in the war. Attacking the most watched cable news station he has left me holding the remote control.

On health care Obama has been quick to give speeches about a broken system. Quick to blame insurance companies. Quick to blame Medicare rife with inefficiencies and fraud. Quick to blame Republicans for any opposition to any of the bills in the Senate and House. Missing from the health care reform process has been any formal input or proposals from the White House. Obama's position on health care reform has been "not my job, it is for Congress to present me with a bill." Technically he is correct, it is the job of the Legislative Branch to present to the Executive Branch legislation to be signed into law. Technically this formal process broke down decades ago with President Franklin Roosevelt who pushed his legislative agenda through a willing Congress. Vacant from the health care reform process has been the President stating clearly and succinctly, "This is my proposal."

Through the tumultuous summer of discontent, with the Town Hall meetings, the Tea Parties and the debates in diners and at neighborhood block parties Congressional Democrats were the targets of angry constituents confused over thousands of pages of proposed legislation, upset over trillions of dollars of federal spending, concerned over future deficits and how they would be paid for. Back in Washington, or in Chicago, or in Martha's Vineyard, or in Copenhagen, President Obama was one day saying the "public option" was an option and the next day saying any legislation to be effective must have some form of public option. Depending on who was in the live audience a different version of the health care reform speech was delivered. As long as the speech was delivered well everyone clapped. "We must not wait. We must reform our broken health care system. Those profiting from the ills of others are conspiring to deprive others. Republicans are to blame." Fill in the rest.

The White House has presented no leadership on this issue. As the leader of the Democratic Party, Obama has left Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in charge of health care reform, in charge of legislation to be voted up or down in Congress, in charge of whipping Democrats into supporting legislation. Democrats who have gotten their hats handed to them over the summer and since are shying away from public option votes and the huge deficits currently proposed legislation will incur. Without a legislative proposal from Obama the Democratic leadership has lost the political card of, "you need to support the President on this." Instead it is "you need to support Speaker Pelosi who has an approval rating of 19 on this." With no leadership there is no cohesion. With no cohesion health care reform legislation is not going to pass in this term of Congress.

Right after taking office Obama declared that the federal government needed to spend almost $1 trillion dollars in stimulus funds to prevent unemployment from rising and restart the economy. Despite a majority of economists saying the economic cycle would run its course and correct by the end of 2009, despite over three-quarters of the stimulus funds in the legislation not being spent until well into 2010, the White House and Obama created a do-or-die urgency and pushed legislation through. As a result Obama's most significant legislative success, that he initiated and pushed, is a huge pile of spending and debt that has had an almost insignificant impact on the national economy and provided members of Congress with pork projects they can use as political capital heading into the November 2010 elections. With no evidence of the spending, but daily evidence of a growing deficit and government debt, members of Congress are being pressed more than ever on the spending of the Federal government and how our children and grandchildren will pay for it. Most of them ran for election or re-election in 2008, as did the President, on the massive spending of President Bush. In 280 days of the Obama Administration they have outspent by vast margins any spending in the eight years of the Bush Administration and the debt being charged up is approaching a greater amount than all the debt of the Bush years combined. Coming home to cities on the verge of bankruptcy, states on the verge of bankruptcy and constituents out of work, members of Congress are being asked to explain how they can be spending more and more and endebting future tax revenues to pay back Chinese investment in Treasury bonds.

In March President Obama was on television with a very patriotic setting, standing on a flag filled stage with his Secretary of State and several senior officers in the military and declared he has a policy for Afghanistan. He stated winning the war in Afghanistan and defeating the Taliban was a top priority. This summer the Taliban gained a few toeholds and key routes from bases in Pakistan into Afghanistan and began an offensive against NATO and American troops. Slowly they regained control over parts of the country and its people. Certain factions of the Democratic Party were upset that Obama was keeping troops in Afghanistan instead of pulling them out. As the general leading the fight in Afghanistan called for more troops to achieve the objective of winning the war and destroying the Taliban, Obama went into decision mode. This has entailed several weeks, months, of consideration. During this period of consideration and no decision Obama has taken the time, several times, to blame his predecessor for Afghanistan and he is trying to find the best way to deal with it. Seemingly forgetting his own pronouncement in March that he has enacted his policy and his objective to win the war, with this policy not working it is convenient to skip over March and instead flip back to his go to target: Bush and Republicans.

No leadership on health care reform that is leaving his party fractionalized, a Treasury that is selling hundreds of billions of dollars in debt weekly, his only major piece of legislation that has had none of the intended impact, inability to make a declarative decision--or stick with a previous one--on a war, have left President Obama very open to criticism. How has he dealt with it? Blame a cable news network, blame radio hosts, blame political opponents and go raise money for the party. By putting targets out there for his ardent supporters, targets at Fox News, targets on Rush Limbaugh, targets on Republican members of Congress, targets on Bush, Obama takes focus off of his lack of leadership to achieve goals.

Lack of leadership is not the reason cohesive health care reform has not passed in Congress, lack of leadership is not the reason we have burgeoning deficits and debt, lack of leadership is not why we are stuck in "what now?" in Afghanistan; no these problems exist because Fox News asks hard questions that other media are not, Rush Limbaugh leads the Republican Party, the Republican Party is evil in the pockets of special interests bent on destroying the Administration and Bush is to blame for Afghanistan and everything else.

Evading responsibility, evading major policy pronouncements and supporting them through Congress, evading making difficult decisions that will upset some within his own party have put a leak in Obama's balloon. What is leaking is his political capital as members of his party are seeing how little support they are getting for their policies and objectives. Like foot soldiers in some 17th Century battle, members of Congress are being sent out to face the enemy, being sacrificed so as to protect the King behind the lines of battle. While sitting in the castle making pronouncements and blaming others, the loyal foot soldiers press on into the arrows, spears and swords. Foot soldiers who can be sacrificed as long as the King remains popular. As President Obama's political capital runs to empty, so to does that of his loyal foot soldiers.

If I'm a Congressional Democrat I'm pissed.

Vandals and Vandalism

Think about vandalism and chances are you think about graffiti, initials etched in storefront windows, busted public property. Think about the vadals who wreak the damage and chances are you think young boys and men, pants half way down their asses, gangbangers, delinquents, school drop outs and malcontents.

Most of us are not very often directly affected by vandalism as described in the opening paragraph, unless we own a retail business, live near a sketchy part of town, or have a home with unruly teenagers in the neighborhood. Secondarily we are affected, seeing some idiots' initials painted on the highway overpass, gang signs scrolled on the alleys in an area we traverse through, initials etched in the wall over the urinal or on the mirror in the restaurant's restroom. If our garage door or block wall is tagged we get upset, blame the lowlife's with nothing better to do than cause wonton destruction of other people's property and paint over the markings. We tell the story at lunch in the office and at the next neighborhood cocktail party, "what's happening to our neighborhood?" We spend a few bucks and some time on washing and painting and on we go with our lives.

Vandalism of property, while violating, frustrating, agravating and upsetting is fairly rare for most of those who would read this blog, or who live in most areas of Long Beach, or other areas. Property vandalism and graffiti is generally confined to inner-urban areas, areas with high poverty numbers and gang membership and public facilities and structures. That said almost all of us are greatly affected by vandalism on a regular basis and pay significant amounts of money to protect ourselves from vandalism.

Do you have anti-virus software on the computer you are using to read this? Spamware to eliminate or at least filter out the majority of promotions for erectile dysfunction, free software, cheap designer watches and stocks that are guaranteed to quadruple in value in days? Anti-spyware to prevent programs that imbed on your computer and relay sites you visit and/or usernames and passwords to "bots" that store the data so it can be sold? How much are you spending to protect yourself from Trojan viruses with the binary version of Trojans?

Saturday I was working on my laptop when suddenly I was unable to close any programs, and every thing was frozen. You have probably been in that position. You hit the left-click on the mouse, you hit the right click on the mouse, you hit escape, you hit control-alt-delete, you "End Program Now", and still your computer just mocks every move. With Windows Operating Systems you get used to some amount of freezing and know the drill, close as many programs as you can and re-start (Leslie is a Mac user, it seems these things never happen to her, I take it as proof that most virus, spyware and malware writers are Apple employees). Usually this solves the problem and you continue on in Windows version of computer bliss until it happens again.

Saturday none of the standard procedures worked. So I escalated. I did the hard shut down, using the power button to turn off the computer. With my limited scope of knowledge, limited to computer pros but amazingly broad to many of my peers, I went through different steps that worked in the past--nope. My laptop was seized up. Did it die? Was it a software glitch and needs a wack like when the television goes blank? I got the sweats thinking of the amount of time that might be sucked out of my life, work hours and days lost to rebuilding my laptop with programs, databases, configurations. I just went through this early in the year when my hard drive crashed. Frustrated, defeated, helpless, angry, there were no positive emotions over this incident. One minute perfectly fine, the next a hunk of plastic and gigabytes.

Using the power of on-line networking a friend suggest "Ask Erik". When I dropped off Mr. Acer he said, "you may have an infection." But I have software that has anti-virus, anti-spyware, scans websites, scans emails, how? Feeling somewhat positive in the competence of Erik, and somewhat despondent over what my coming week could look like. Thankfully my trust in Erik was well founded. "You had a bunch of infections that appear to have built up and today they seized up your software." And, and, and??? "It works fine." Phew!

I had infections, infections that wormed around my anti-virus software and embedded in my laptop. How? Speaking with Erik and doing some research it appears that many legitimate websites, by legitimate I mean national retailers, honest retailers, media sites can have infections. One national newspaper had worked with an advertiser with a worm embedded in its pop-up ads, the paper did not find out for over a month. Hackers target whomever they wish and the more popular a site the greater the challenge. It seems just as virtually every home in Southern California has termites, even if were just fumigated last month they have already returned, almost every computer in use has some infections. The good news is many, or most, of the infections are somewhat benign--until they build up over time. Others of course are not.

There are three main types of viruses, to the experts who delve into them there are of course many, many more, but most computer viruses fall into one of these categories. The most tame is a program released by some kid seeing what he can do with his computer and programing knowledge. While it can do some harm, it is usually easily caught and removed.

The next level is somewhat more malicious and is a virus that is released that harms Operating Systems and disables or removes key components to its software. The guys who write and release this type of virus have already been at work on Microsoft Windows 7; they see a new software release as a challenge and race each other to see who can crack it first. These viruses are damaging and can result in loss of data, and significant time in trying to clean the infected computer, possibly wiping out the Operating System and re-loading it. These can cost you time and money to cure.

The third level is a virus that is written for profit by very skilled programmers uleashing trojan programs that enter your computer, release their programs and collect information. The collected information is then sent back to a series of computers where the information is collected, stored and then sold. What is taken? Anything from sites you visit that is sold to companies that generate targetted spam, to user names and passwords for your bank and credit cards. The intention of those who write and use these types of viruses are not in it for any games or just to do it, they are after big money. The purpose is to write software to infiltrate thousands, millions, of personal computers, lift targetted information and return it to a specific place, all undected. Big, big money is paid to programmers with this type of skill.

So who are these guys engaged in cyber-vandalism and crime? Guys is the correct gender, according to CyberSight. Several articles from early in the 21st Century were more specific saying virus writers were overwhelming, "14 to 34 year old males without girlfriends who spend hours on-line and on their computers." Not a shock as it represents our typical vision of a computer nerd hacking away in the dark his room filled with empty Jolt Cola bottles lit by the light off his monitor. But as the stakes go up this profile changes to a more mature, more seasoned and more dangerous character.

The are many parrallels to property vandalism and cyber vandalism. Many of the tags we see are from tagging crews of young kids in it for the thrill and "look what we did." Many are not criminals, beyond defacing and destruction of property they are not violent or ill-intended. They are really not aware of the costs to buidling owners and society for cleaning up after their crimes. Many virus writers also fall into this category, look what I did, leaving messages in their viral software for other virus writers, they have crews that work together and it is all a game done for the thrill. While their viruses are become more sophisticated, many outgrow the practice and move on to more legitimate endeavors.

Some graffiti however is used to mark territory for gangs and their main source of income: drug dealing. The graffiti lets other gangs know to stay away. The purpose of the graffiti is to mark and defend territory. Malicious viruses that are solely meant to damage as many computers as possible are often released by someone with a grudge against a particular software maker or company. The virus is a form of marking and staking territory and letting the targets know who is in control.

Behind the markings is the revenue. The guy with the drugs, the wholesaler who gets his drugs from somewhere else, the supplier who manufactures the drugs. Similarly with the trojan viruses and programs meant to capture personal information for the purpose of targeting advertising or worse, stealing funds or credit access. These are sophisticated operations that are very difficult to detect and increasingly are operating in foreign countries. From what I read if I ever go to Brazil I will not bring my laptop nor sign onto any of my bank or credit card sites. Eastern Europe and Russia are burgeoning regions for virus writers looking to capture financial information. As evidenced by the reports the last few years, their targets are moving from the personal PC to the banks and credit card companies themselves.

Vandalism is vandalism, whether we can see it in big black letters scrawled on the side of the local bank or we cannot see it as it works its way through our computers. In the one case we present the perpetrator as thugs and junior criminals with no sense of right and wrong, in the other we picture some over-caffeinated geek. The mind sets of the graffiti vandal and the viral vandal however are very similar, typically different socio-economic backgrounds but similar in their ability to connect right and wrong, and the severity of their crimes. As we move further from the junior vandal however we see a more devious and deceptive group of highly organized, highly sophisticated and very focussed individuals.

Prosecution of cyber crimes is difficult and rare. More laws do not seem to stem the tide of new viruses, scams and schemes; in fact it seems the stakes are being raised as the early virus writers have learned and refined their skills so they now feel confident attacking major financial corporations and even governments. While much is made about the visual graffiti we see and how the neighborhood is going down hill, very little is said or brought up in mainstream media and conversations of the millions and millions lost and stolen through cyber vandalism.

Here are some resources you may find useful in adding protection to your computer, as I have experienced not all are perfect!

Fight spam: Our company uses Postini.com to screen our e-mails, it catches about 100 a day for me personally--once in a while a legitimate email gets caught but it is easy to view the screened emails and get the ones you want. Lately it has been stopping about 5-10 viral emails every day.

Anti-Virus: use a program that automatically updates at least once a week, ideally it updates daily as it keeps in front of newly discovered viruses.

Computer assistance: I already told you about Ask Erik in meeting with him I discovered I know several of his clients. He is a great guy and very good at what he does.

Wear protection!