Don’t help spread SPAM

Help reduce SPAM in your friends mailboxes - Many things you can do to protect yourself from SPAMMERS getting a hold of your e-mail address. Don't publish your e-mail address on the web, in chat rooms, on message boards, etc. Be sure to make sure that websites you visit haven't pre-checked a box including you in receiving special offers, etc. But a fair amount of exposure of your email address can be out of your control.

Don't forward chain e-mail messages - Besides increasing overall e-mail volume, by forwarding a chain e-mail message you might be furthering a hoax — and meanwhile, you lose control over who sees your e-mail address (and all e-mail addresses in the body of the e-mail).If you're sending the latest Friday Funny, or a quick promotional offer to friends and/or colleagues, don't use TO or CC. These types of email have the tendency to be passed on to persons unknown, the result is that everyone you've listed as an original recipient could be easily added to a list by an unscrupulous individual. What makes this worse is that not only are the original recipients easily visible, but also the subsequent chain(s) of people.

* Before sending out theses types of e-mails first of all, be sure the recipients wish to receive them. Even though the recipient knows you, they may view these types of e-mails as a nuisance. (also as a side note, check the validity on http://www.snopes.com/ before sending it on. Many of these types of e-mails are hoaxes and circulate on the internet over and over again).
* Set up a contact in your e-mail contact list called "undisclosed recipients" use your own e-mail address as the address for this new contact.
* When you hit forward to send your new message out, be sure to delete all of the old header information in the email. At this point you are left with just the body of the e-mail.
* In the "To:" field of the new email - enter "undisclosed recipient" (this will be your e-mail address)
* I the "BCC:" field, you enter the names of the people you wish to send your e-mail to. This "Blind Carbon Copies" the recipients to the email, and the only address that shows up is your own, keeping your recipients information private.

SPAM can not only be a nuisance, but could also be phishing for personal information, contain viruses and could be potentially devastating to your computer files or result in identity theft.

more resources:
http://onguardonline.gov/tutorials/spam/spam_wind.html
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST04-007.html
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/tech/tec02.shtm

Also, be careful when opening attachments in emails even if they are from someone you know. It could be possible that a worm virus has infected someone's computer and sent the virus on to everyone in their contact list.
more information on viruses:
http://www.computerhope.com/vlist.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/basics/virus.mspx
http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/

Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism - any of these sound familiar??

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

As I see it, 14 of 14 apply today.
They only call it the home of the free.