Saturday, April 20, 2013

Working My Way Around The Weeds

I know it has been a while since I posted anything to this blog.  After my post entitled " 'We the People' vs. the NRA" a dear friend of mine sent me an email. After expressing appreciation for the post he warned that I "may lose some friends" over the article I had written in opposition to the NRA.

I am not sure I lost any friends, but I certainly did make some enemies!  In rapid succession I began receiving two to three comments per day.  Nearly all of them came from the same "person" - - one infamously named "Anonymous".  Well, like many names, apparently several persons shared this identity because several of the comments were written in affirmation of a previous comment, also by "Anonymous".  

It was about this time that I realized I could no longer log into my own blog account.  Then I noticed weird things were happening on my computer:  mysterious and suspicious ads began popping up on my screen;  my browser was taking unusually long to open; as I attempted to go to some of my bookmarked web pages I found myself redirected to something I had no desire to look at.  I smelled a rat!

That's when I went to the library and used a different computer to log into my blog account.  After doing so successfully I observed numerous hyper-links inserted within some of my posts.  Sure enough, I had been attacked.  While I cannot prove it I suspect by attacker was one - or more - of my new friends named "Anonymous".

I have since run several scans of my computer with two different protection software and deleted the compromised posts from my blog site.  For the most part my computer seems to be OK.  However, I still cannot log into my Peace-Ability account.  So how am I posting this message?  Let's just say there is more than one way around a weed patch!

For the record I am not discouraged by these events.  Several additional factors have prevented my from authoring more posts recently.  I spent some time in the hospital, with a very lengthy recovery time.  Once I finally returned to work I had a lot of catching up to do, and now I am entering my busiest season of the year at work.  Then too, I have been distracted by certain needs of my family.  Together these have caused me to be less than energetic about contributing fresh material to Peace-Ability.

There is no lack of material to write about, however.  The cowardly actions of the United States Senate this past week, that led to the defeat of the Manchin-Toomey Bill, proves how dysfunctional Congress has become.  How else could one explain 46 Senators denying what 90% of Americans want?  The Boston Marathon Bombings deserve attention as well.  I would love to lift up the fact that April is Autism Awareness Month.  A good friend of mine, Dave Ihde, is diagnosed with ALS.  He has become a great advocate for ALS research and I am pleased to support him and encourage others to join his efforts.  You can read more by going to his facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/dave.ihde.  There you can put your money where your heart is by pledging your financial support  for the 2013 Hershey Walk to Defeat ALS on June 1.  He has already surpassed his goal of raising $1,500.  Would you help me to double that goal by making your pledge today?

The mission of Peace-Ability has always been to promote the efforts of peace and justice in today's world together with advocating for the rights and awareness of persons with disabilities.  I remain committed to these principles, whether I am posting articles and commentaries on the web or not.  

One final note.  Due to the abuse of the comments section by "Anonymous" I am no longer accepting comment posts by anyone unwilling to identify themselves and behave in a civil, respectful manner.

God's Peace be with you, dear friends, and remember to always look for a person's abilities rather than their disabilities!


gdgehr
April 19, 2013