Kevin Fox

Palin should go on SNL and play Tina Fey - Deepak

That would be funny if they had Tina Fay take Sarah Palin's place, but I highly doubt Tina would do it. - Molly, the Muse

Serious kudos to Palin if she *does* go on SNL after the election, playing Tina Fay as Tina plays Sarah. - Kevin Fox

Wait 'til he gets his international roaming/data bill from AT&T... ;) - Ken Gidley

+1 Ken - Charlie Anzman

Ahh, but SMS doesn't fall under the same pricing as data roaming (though I don't yet know how much I spent for that single SMS). Also, no wifi network found, just cell. - Kevin Fox

Unless you've enabled a special SMS roaming option for international, it'll be AT LEAST $0.99 per. - Ken Gidley

Timely article on traveling with an iPhone: http://www.iphoneatlas.com/200... - Ken Gidley

anything found would be outweighed by the crime committed to acquire them. Unless it was via the Patriot Act, of course. - Kevin Fox

You assume a) it wasn't an inside job b) It wasn't planned by the campaign to garner sympathy - John Worthington

very much bothered by it. if the shoe was on the other foot, tech blogger outrage would be off the charts. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins

I think it sucks. No matter how much I dislike her politics, privacy is a basic human right. That being said, she shouldn't use services like Yahoo for govermental business. - ha3rvey

@john: an inside job? you've got to be kidding. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins

+5 Kevin - Lindsey Smith

Where are some socnet Legal types that can give us some more clairification and more insight on the entire issue. - Paul W. Swansen

re: inside job - why not? makes great sense. inside job or not, it sucks, completely unethical. her password skillz are lacking, trig08 ... come on. - Beebo Wallace

Really? Someone at yahoo could have accessed that information. A rouge employee... I'm just saying that stuff like this shouldn't always just be put down to hackers - John Worthington

Insight on the legality of the content of the emails or the legality of hacking a person's email? From the screenshots I read, what she's segregated out into private email is appropriate. Campaigning and politicking is different from official state business, and it's appropriate to segregate the two. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins

It looked you were implying that it was an inside job by the campaign to some how gain sympathy or something. That's a ridiculous assertion, as this doesn't gain them anything. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins

yeah and the right don't love going on about the blogasphere as evil. You have to remember who this is being pitched to... People fearful of the Internet. - John Worthington

I manage our SOX program at work. This violation is serious! and there appears to be many layers of violation to add insult to the injury. A deep investigation is needed to determine how the breach occurred, account integrity/breach details, parties involved, missing security protections, privacy violations, data/download activities; exactly what information was exposed and to whom was it given/shared? Was the account secured and who secured it when door was closed, so to speak. MESSY!! - Susan Beebe

Who on the right is calling the blogosphere evil? As I recall, there are a couple of conservative blogs out there. I think there's even some conservative tech bloggers. It's as if you think no one in between California and NYC uses the Internet. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins

It's not even about privacy or ethics. I haven't seen the screenshots yet (server not responding) but pretty much any way this information was obtained was illegal. If someone at Yahoo did it, there will be records and that person will probably be fired. If the "hackers" weren't smart they could see themselves charged with a federal crime. However, Yahoo mail is not secure and one could get identical screenshots by sniffing a wifi hotspot or during some kind of man in the middle attack. Many companies have monitoring systems that save all webmail traffic - and whoever is monitoring that system can see Yahoo mail exactly as the user sees it. While the latter is not illegal certainly releasing it would be a violation of an employment agreement or something. - Kenya

I have issues with the first and second but not the third. Prying into personal email is egregious. What's next? Getting a hold of someone's movie rental history? Invasion of personal privacy should be a non-partisan issue. - AJ Kohn

It seems like there's alot of skeletons in her closet that needs to be uncovered since she's an unknown. If her team is to be elected into Office, I will be very wary about her and her future actions. - imabonehead

Given that the latest housing bill secretly slipped in the provision to have all credit card purchases reported to the federal government (and for many, many other Patriot ACT/FISA provisions) 'invasion of personal privacy' is an everyday occurrence exacerbated by the federal government. I have a problem with those of us who take our privacy seriously (whether realistic or not) laughing about a breach of anyone's email account. Hypocrisy at its finest. - Shout out 2Jody

I have the following issues: reading other people's mail... publishing other people's mail... all wrong. Hacker spying is almost as wrong as government spying. (government spying is worse because they can lock you up, intensively interrogate you, and throw away the key.) Vulnarability of Yahoo mail. As for odd emails from Palin, not reading them. No comment. Oh, BTW I have huge issues with Palin and with McCain for appointing the least qualified candidate for VP in my memory. - Michael Markman via twhirl

Mark I think you have me wrong. I was just throwing out the possibilty of a second layer to this and following the argument along the Path. And I don't think no ones uses the net in those places but alot of people are still wary of the Internet. Also, have you never watched Fox News? All about hating left wing blogs there... And those people who watch it will decide this election - John Worthington

In addition - not all (or even most) folks who believe the universe was ultimately created by god believe this creation was in the recent past - most place the event much earlier and accept evolution - they simply replace the big bang with a god creation. - Soulhuntre via twhirl

I've heard her say on video that creationism should be taught in schools alongside evolution. - Ray Grieselhuber

Soulhuntre: Sources? I'll show you mine if you show me yours: http://dwb.adn.com/news/politi... This article confirms her belief in teaching creationism alongside evolution. I'm not saying she's a hardcore creationist or isn't, but liked the nature of Matt Damon's quote. - Kevin Fox

Shockingly, the adn.com article refers to "creation science", a misnomer at best, essentially an oxymoron. - £ogical €xtremes

The one thing I wonder about the hard line creationists (e.g - planet started 6,000 years ago) is ... what exactly do they think oil is made of? How about diamonds? And why are both in large supply in places where they don't believe? - AJ Kohn

Soulhuntre, like many other Palin supporters, is lying about Palin's record. She explicitly advocated teaching creationism in public schools -- I've read the original articles in which her comments appeared. And don't bother trying to figure out why creationists believe what they believe -- you are dealing with irrational infants here, not rational adults. The president of the United States needs to offer leadership in science and technology -- they are the backbone of our economy. - Sean McBride

Matt Damon is much more qualified to be president of the United States than Sarah Palin. - Sean McBride

What scares me even more is that she believes in the Apocalypse. That's good reason to NEVER let her near those codes. - Morgaine Swann

Morgaine - one of Sarah Palin's leading foreign policy advisers, Joseph Lieberman, is a close political ally of the foremost Christian Armageddonist in the United States -- John Hagee. Hagee and his followers want to trigger Armageddon in the Middle East as soon as possible. It doesn't get crazier and more dangerous than this. Palin's chief backer inside the Republican Party was the CNP (Council on National Policy), founded by Tim LaHaye, author of the Armageddonist Left Behind series. - Sean McBride

I knew some of that stuff about Palin, but not all of it. Scary, scary people. This is why I advocate impeachment - Bush is pro=Apocalypse, too, and every day he's in that office, we are in danger. He needs to go ASAP. - Morgaine Swann

Morgaine - you're right about all of it, including Bush. The Republican Party has been heavily infiltrated and subverted by dangerous religious fundamentalists and crackpots. CUFI is the worst of the bunch (Christians United for Israel), led by John Hagee. Try reading his book Jerusalem Countdown for all the gory details. - Sean McBride

man, what you oliver stones in the making forget is that Christian theology says that God starts the Apocalypse... when Bush and the ilk start claiming to be Jesus incarnate, THEN run for the hills - Rob Reed

*ahem* Don't you mean nucular codes? - Jeff Eddings

Jeff -- no, that's "new-clear" codes. :) That's how her handlers spell it for her in text copies of her speeches -- seriously. - Sean McBride

but of course! [Jeff hugs Sean] - Jeff Eddings

yes, to me, Matt Damon is the E.F. Hutton on politics... i really must listen to all he has to say... i mean he is Jason friggin Bourne! - Rob Reed

Does believing in the actual, historical existence of Adam and Eve, as Jesus did, discount a person from running for or being elected to public office? We "irrational infants" would like to know. - Charles LePage

Charles LePage - In a nation which is desperately dependent on cultivating cutting-edge science and technology, in competition with Europe, China and India, creationists should be treated with the utmost derision and driven out of public life. They are a disgrace and a drag on American progress and competitiveness. - Sean McBride

@Sean McBride - Ouch! What a way to stereotype and pigeonhole a large portion of people. I am a Christian and I believe in Adam and Eve but I'll be damned if its going to stop me from learning all I can about technology. Nor does it change my "live and let live" viewpoint of the world and the people in it. I wish others could have the same mentality. - Erica Baker

Erica - we need to encourage a culture that promotes the highest standards of scientific research and technological innovation, if we are not going to be buried by Europe, China and India. Religious fundamentalists are pretty much out of the picture regarding the issues that matter most -- they are debating fairy tales and producing nothing but heated verbiage about nothing. I wonder how many creationists one finds at MIT, Stanford or Cal Tech. - Sean McBride

Sean - Fundies are extremists and we all know extremists are not representative of a group. What you call a "creationist" pretty much encompasses every Christian in this world. That group is not solely comprised of fundamentalists. - Erica Baker

Wow, another bashfest on Christians. Being a Christian does not make one any less critical a thinker. Nor does any other faith necessarily so. There are great scholars and scientists of just about every religious faith. To say only an atheist can run a country seems a bit extreme. - Todd Jordan

Erica -- most Christians are not creationists. Creationism is a fundamentalist construct and ideology, based on a much too literal reading of the Bible. Creationism is anti-scientific. Nothing could be more in conflict with the highest standards of science than creationism. - Sean McBride

MIT doesn't care about your religious beliefs. All it cares about is the quality of your creative intelligence at the cutting edge of science and technology. - Sean McBride

Sean - http://www.google.com/search?q... Anybody who believes in the Bible (Christians) falls into this category. - Erica Baker

@Erica: the definitions you posted are hardly the "creationism" that is being referenced here... - Rob Reed

Erica - there are hundreds of Christian sects, and thousands of different ways to interpret the Bible, from the most literal to the least literal. In any case, creationism and $2 will buy you a doppio on ice at Starbucks. - Sean McBride

@Rob That's the point I'm trying to make. "Creationist" is too vague a word for the nutjobs I think you guys are talking about. Now if you want to say Fundies or extremists, then we're talking about a different matter. FWIW, I don't want Sarah Palin anywhere near the White House or whatever codes are housed there. - Erica Baker

42% of the US population believes that humans and other living things have existed in present form only (no evolution of any kind, including divinely guided) - [ http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocI... ] - That's a frighteningly high level of scientific ignorance. - £ogical €xtremes