| November 4, 2005 Editor’s Desk by Aaron Selbig, insurgent49 It’s been an incriminating week here at Insurgent Headquarters. Technology can be a real bitch sometimes. If you’ve ever dealt with a jammed printer, a virus-laden hard drive or a dysfunctional internet connection, then you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, then perhaps you live in a cave deep in the Brooks Range, and I envy and pity you at the same time. One of the things most of us take for granted these days is email. Email is the primary method of communication here at insurgent49 (you can shoot us one at info@insurgent49.com, by the way, if you feel so inclined), and we certainly couldn’t imagine life without it. But emails can get you into trouble. I don’t mean in a technological kinda way (for God’s sakes, don’t open attachments from ‘your friends at the Nigerian Consulate’!), but in a “oh shit, I didn’t mean for anybody to read that” kinda way. Remember Gregg Renkes? He was the Murkowski AG who got popped in an ethics investigation for padding his own pockets via a Taiwanese coal deal. And how did he get popped? Email. Seems investigators found a whole pile of damning emails on Renkes’ hard drive. And that was after he tried to erase ‘em! Dang, you just can’t get rid of those things ... And, speaking of Murkowski lackeys, ask Tom Irwin if he regrets any recent emails. (word of advice #2: if you absolutely MUST compose an email pointing out your boss’ gross incompetence, think before you hit ‘send’, dig?) Or how about Randy Ruedrich? He was the GOP chief who got caught doing party business on company (state) time. And how did he get caught? You guessed it. Email. The latest round in the email wars comes courtesy of Mikey “Heckuvajob” Brownie, the former FEMA head who royally screwed up preparations and relief efforts during Hurricane Katrina. An investigation into that costly mess has uncovered a slew of Brownie’s emails. Some highlights: On the morning the hurricane hit, to his public affairs director: “Can I quit now? Can I come home?” Later that same day, to his press secretary: “I got (a new shirt) at Nordstroms ... are you proud of me? If you look at my FEMA attire, you’ll really vomit. I am a fashion God.” You can’t make this stuff up, folks. Well ... you can, but I’m not. To be fair to Brownie, Irwin, Renkes and Ruedrich, who among us doesn’t have emails entrenched on their computers that were never meant to see the light of day? For instance, you wouldn’t send an email meant for your lover to your Grandma, would you? Maybe you would. Or how about that off-color joke your brother-in-law forwarded to you? Would you want your rabbi to read it? There is an important distinction to make here, however. When you work in government, there really is no such thing as a right to privacy, at least not when your using taxpayer bought equipment, anyway. And all of these fellas (how come women never seem to get caught with incriminating emails, anyway?) should have known that. I must admit that this wave of email investigations has us a little shook up here at Insurgent Headquarters. Seeing as how you never know when an ethics investigation might blow your way, and that there seems to be no way to permanently delete troubling emails, we’ve decided to nip this little problem in the bud. We’ve spent the last two days poring over the i49 computer systems, looking for questionable emails. We only found one. However, in an act of good faith, we’ve decide to disclose it now rather than have it pop up to bite us in the ass later. This may come as a bit of a shock to our loyal readers, but here ya go: >From: aaron selbig <editor@insurgent49.com> >To: jprevo@abt.com >Subject: Re: Staying the Course? >Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 00:30:41 -0800 (PST) Hi, Jerry. Aaron here. Just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know all is proceeding well with Operation Conversion. I’ve collected all the names you requested, and will be turning them over to you soon, along with the photos. Man, these heathens ain’t gonna know what hit ‘em, eh? lol Everything should be allright from here on out, just make sure you have the robes and candles ready for the next ‘insurgent’ party ;-) Oh yeah, I think we might need a can of gasoline, too, and maybe a couple of road flares. OK, talk to you soon. Let me know if you have any questions. Yours in JC, AA |
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October 28, 2005 October 21, 2005 October 14, 2005 October 7, 2005 September 30, 2005 September 23, 2005 September 16, 2005 September 9, 2005 September 2, 2005 August 26, 2005 August 19, 2005 August 12, 2005 August 5, 2005 July 29, 2005 July 22, 2005 July 15, 2005 July 8, 2005 July 1, 2005 June 24, 2005 June 17, 2005 June 10, 2005 June 3, 2005 May 27, 2005 May 20, 2005 May 13, 2005 May 6, 2005 April 28, 2005 April 21, 2005 April 14, 2005 April 7, 2005 April 1, 2005 |
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Insurgent Media.
All rights reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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