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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

20 June - Blogoversary

Valerie Plame at an event at Moravian College ...Image via Wikipedia

This is my 3rd blog. In over 4 1/2 years of blogging this is first time I've remembered the blogoversary on the date. At the end of year 1 there have been 813 posts - this is 814 - and 5657 hits ... since 16 Aug 2009.
For perspective, Oldephartteintraining had about 600 hits its first year and about 16000 when it was archived after 2 years. Oldephartteintraining II at Opera is sitting at 16031 after 31 months.
Technorati ? 207>29>1 No wonder Len Hart said it had become useless.


Starship Dimensions
http://www.merzo.net/index.html  is something I tagged years ago. I was reminded of it by 35% Image blogged at The Conservation Report  As a bonus for reading comments I noticed List of Starships in Stargate


Didn't know I indulged in such ? Heck. I downloaded parts of Star Trek Phase II when it was Star Trek New Voyages. Dad2059 is one who would know how long I've been blogging web content : he was one of the regulars at Oldephartteintraining. Anyone who blogs about  The Hutchinson Effect is into serious strangeness.


And I 'got with the program'. There was a time a web alias and anonymity seemed a good idea. That lasted until the time a 'vanity search' ( you are the search target ) revealed me peeking from behind 'secure' KeyPad. There's quite a list now of who I've joined : not as bad as my links lists but still dozens of blogs,groups,etc.


Father's Day today and first day of summer tomorrow. I did a silly and took my new pooch out for a 30 mile motorcycle ride yesterday.  Just cruisin'.


How did I get into such a mess of foreign policy,civics,geography and whatall ?  I read Heinlein and Mack Reynolds when I was young. Starship Troopers was hardly a favourite : but I could recognize the theme that the state brays loyalty...and gives less than zip. So when 'Support the Troops' is flung around it's a bit like waving a red flag in front of the bull. I think of things like

Document Friday: A Soldier’s Handbook to Iraq– “FOUO [For Official Use Only]“

http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/document-friday-a-soldiers-handbook-to-iraq-fouo-for-official-use-only

Iraqis had “fears of American mistreatment,” held “suspicion of US intent in their land,” and would be “cautious”—not gracious—toward Coalition forces.

No. That was not the way things were being presented as Americans said "God Bless Canada" for again not following all and sundry down the road to foreign adventures.
Maybe somebody remembered a dour quip from previous experience. "The British will fight down to the last Canadian." How times change.

Iraq’s Oil in Kurdistan still under dispute
http://peakoil.com/production/iraqs-oil-in-kurdistan-still-under-dispute
Now when U.S. combat troops are slated for withdrawal there is still no federal oil law. The result is that Kurdistan has gone ahead and passed its own oil law and some oil companies have contracts with the Kurds that are not approved by the central government. Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government(KRG) constantly argue over how foreign oil companies operating in Kurdistan should be paid.

Somebody correct me if I'm Wrong. Does this not reflect a sense of entitlement to control Iraqi oil sales ? But...but...but...it was all about Saddam's WMD !
Let me check back with you after I get a second opinion from Ahmadinejad on that. I can't see him being fool enough to buy into it.
I wonder if the blonde bombshell wife of Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame ex CIA NOC in charge of the middle east nuclear threat desk getting reports for Brewster Jennings and outed by Cheney/Libby/Bush ( take your pick ) is cleared to finally tell us that yellowcake is used to make fertilizer.
And I never did break open 'Leading to War.' I read the lies.

Understanding Social Media's Contribution to Public Diplomacy
http://mountainrunner.us/2010/06/ciolek.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mountainrunner+%28MountainRunner%29&utm_content=Pageflakes
 As social media platforms have grown in popularity around the world, calls for the U.S. State Department to utilize them have also increased. The perception that these new technologies "redefine how foreign ministries communicate and collaborate with publics" by enabling interaction has become widely accepted, even though far fewer understand how platforms like Facebook and Twitter actually create opportunities for engagement. While the State Department has embraced the concept of using social media tools as another way to engage with audiences around the world, there is confusion about using social media as a public diplomacy tool and skepticism about whether or not its use can prove effective.

Public diplomacy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_diplomacy
In international relations, public diplomacy is a term coined in the mid 1960s to describe the conduct of foreign policy by engagement with foreign publics. It has been closely associated with the United States Information Agency, which used the term to define its mission. It was originally a euphemism for purportedly truthful propaganda.
( You can see why I drop in on Matt from time to time. If it was originally a euphemism for propaganda...one can see where that didn't recognize 'progress'. )

50 of the Best Websites for Writers
http://educhoices.org/articles/50_of_the_Best_Websites_for_Writers.html 

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