[strange] the adventure of the high diving scissors

Just had a more than strange experience.

We all misplace things and under pressure of time the brain does weird things. You know it - you could have sworn you'd done this or that when you hadn't, as subsequent events proved.


An example

Years ago, in Melbourne, I went to buy a fishtank in a street called Chapel Street. Parking the Honda hatchback just down from the shop, I had my things on the passenger seat as the tray near the window is useless when the car is moving.

As I often did, I took the bag and packets and all, went round to the hatch and deposited them in the "boot" under the cover, closed the hatch and went into the shop. Found a tank I liked and went back out to the hatch to get my credit card.

It wasn't there - neither in the bag or in any other place in the boot. Dismantled the boot, took everything out, searched near the spare wheel and so on.

Nope.

OK - closed the hatch, went back to the front and looked everywhere on the passenger side, on my side, under the seat, down the sides etc.

Nothing ... and so on ... and so on ...

Tried to think out some of the stupid things I'd done in the past to see if they'd shed a light on it.

No.

Went back to the driver's seat to collapse for a few minutes, glanced over and there it was - sitting on the tray nearest the window, the one I never used.


Today

Well, this starts months ago.

Lost a pair of black handled scissors at that time - simply couldn't see them anywhere in the kitchen where they live and assumed I'd taken them through to the other room. Drew a blank and wasn't particularly concerned - I had another pair.

Time passed, the cleaning girls hadn't seemed to have found them and I'd forgotten about the incident. Twenty minutes ago now I was in the kitchen getting coffee when I heard a slide down the side of the benchtop unit, glanced across and was stopped in my tracks.

Now this gets complicated.

On the bench, at that end, I have an open mug with tablets in foil for headaches, stomach or whatever. Above is the end of the shelving unit on the wall.

Sitting bolt upright in the mug were the missing scissors.

Had the scissors been perched on the shelving unit, fallen off, hit the side, done a reverse pike and softly landed in the thin china mug, moving the tablets aside and creating a space to reside?

And why now? There'd been no disturbance, no vibration. Plus those scissors could not have been up on the shlving unit as they'd last been used for cutting paper.

Also, the sound I'd heard was something going down the side of the bench unit, not from above.

I've just looked now and something had indeed slipped down - a tablet packet which had been sitting 10cm from the mug, which itself hasn't moved from its place.

Hmmm. Now that is more than weird.

[blasphemy] disestablishment and oppression

Gerald Howarth MP

Tiberius Gracchus has replied to this first post of mine which quoted Ginro who quoted Cranmer and he replied thusly:

Two questions James:

* what is blasphemy and when would you prosecute it?

** how can you be in favour of a law that makes it illegal to say various things- and still say you support free speech and freedom?

The short answers are:

* It would be prosecuted only if it was a state level case of another religion attempting to supplant the first - including Marxism. Co-existing, yes but not supplanting the country's traditional faith. In a country like Libya, for example, the same rule would apply to the other religion.

** This can't be given a short answer because it is the crux of the matter.

When it was pointed out, by commenters, what this bill really meant, your reply, Tiberius, was:

Apparently I was wrong - I apologise for not realising that we should all be living in a truly Christian state where blasphemy was punished by boring a hole through someone's tongue (as in seventeenth Century Protestant England) or burning them at the stake (sixteenth century Catholic England).

Is that a measured and reasoned answer, Tiberius, taking into account the historical context of those things?

As was pointed out by all from Ann Widdecombe to Cherie [in "Above and Beyond the Call of Duty"] - two ends of the political spectrum - this is not a religious but a political question and a lot rides on it.

Do you know of or have you heard of anyone prosecuted under the blasphemy act in the last 50 years? So it sits in there dormant. It was dormant legislation and would only ever be invoked under the circumstances in * above.

Ann Widdecombe MP

Brown's government does not do things on spec - it does them as part of a cynical agenda and the agenda, somewhere down the line, is going to involve coming up against the charge of blasphemy and treason - a double whammy. He knows this is an obstacle so the way must be cleared, with no comeback from conservatives.

The first stage of the draconian agenda is already in place - a Big Brother state which few now have any illusions is becoming a reality - and the next stage is to disestablish the Church.

Now in principle and in a perfect world, I agree that Christianity is a matter between the individual and his Maker in the true protestant manner.

However, the full implications of this bill, who is introducing it and for what long term purpose, must be opposed with vigour, even if one doesn't exactly hold with blasphemy laws as a concept, which one doesn't.

The entry point of this bill is Christianity because that's the sole area today where no one is going to raise a fuss, as almost no one has - it's now a safe move for Brown to disestablish a Church which successive archbishops have already termited, to the point where the message is largely irrelevant in most people's eyes.

But as Cherie says, it is the thin edge of the wedge and even with her political bent, it's as plain as day where this is going. Cherie says:

Gracchi, freedom of speech is one of those values with which I whole heartedly agree! But this bill means that I and my UK countrymen can't express our opinion about what we value, it is the thin end of the wedge!

Ignore the religion aspect and see what this really means for our country! If you check out my blog you will see I don't go along with anything in your last paragraph ;-)

The CofE [of which I'm a non-practising member, being over in Russia] and Catholicism before it, has been Britain's bulwark against the encroachment of far more aggressive, far more coercive ideologies and you, Tiberius, as a historian, are either wilfully ignoring this or else you really don't see it, through some idealized notion of how free the new society is going to be.

It is a delusion, a blind. Historical precedent and current history show an entirely different scenario. As Gerald Howarth said:

[A] Jewish headmistress, whom I was sitting next to at a lunch ... said, “It is very important to our school that there continues to be an established Church, because it provides some protection to us in the practising of our religion.”

There are three choices in the move towards the New Feudalism:

1. Leave a largely anachronistic Church [in most people's eyes] in place as the established faith, with the effect that all other faiths are free to practise, as well as protecting the freedoms of speech and association - was this not so up to the Nu-Lab era?

This also leaves the country's "oneness" intact, its traditional base in place and its history therefore a continuum.

What this also does is prevent 2 and 3 below, by the simple expedient of leaving them technically treasonable.

2. Remove the blasphemy law which, as Ann Widdecombe, Gerald Howarth, Ginro, Cherie and many others have noted, now gives the government carte blanche to disestablish the church, thereby removing the last obstacle to the Big Brother state which the EU has already enacted and is waiting patiently in the wings to implement.

Make no mistake - the vacuum left by the removal of a largely shell like church would be filled very quickly by a different ideology - there would be no freedom of worship at all but the criminalization of the ordinary citizen [see Cherie's post] - that's where this thing is headed.

The EU monolith is socialist in conception and its modus operandi is compliance. It foresees collapse and war [read Miliband's comments on the EU army].

3. The only other force with the power to fill the vacuum is Islam and it is making huge inroads in the country. Rowan Williams' comments about Sharia Law are instructive.

Given that you only really have these three choices - the ideal of a happy, tolerant society not being one which the current state is going to allow to occur - which of the three variants would you choose?

Because if you sit back under the mistaken impression that saying good riddance to an established church you despise is going to lead you to an illumined nirvana, it's going to lead you to the exact opposite.

A state very, very un-British in nature.


David Miliband, Minister for the EU


Let the last words be your own, Tiberius - do you really want to groan under the yoke of a state such as in 2 or 3 above?

I appeal from Tiberius the Lion Feeder of Christians to Tiberius the Rational, who states:

Put simply in a totalitarian state like North Korea, you can't live a life based on Wensleydale and tea - you can't just decide to build a rocket to go to the moon (theoretically you could in the West) and you can't be madly, loveably, endeeringly and frustratingly often eccentric.

That's the reason its important to be free - its so Wallaces and Gromits continue to flourish in our society.

[cultures meet] heartstopping moment

Really fascinating little piece on a Californian finding himself in the Emirates and asked two simple questions in the street - where are you from and what is your religion.

Gulp. My heart was in my mouth. Read it here.

[thought for the day] sunday evening

"In order to keep a true perspective of one’s importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him."

[Dereke Bruce]

[country quiz] five more to send you mental

1. More women than men are currently enrolled in the universities, it's slightly more than twice the size of Oregon, accepting a second serving is one of the best ways to show appreciation to the cook, was under Muslim domination from 711 to the mid 11th century, introduced the batata.

2. The country's name means "big village", the head of the government was born in Port-au-Prince and worked with shelters for battered women, there was a controversy in 2005 over a visit to one of its sikh gurdwaras, it's third language is Chinese.

3. It's largest city has dengue fever, it has four time zones, a lawless tri-border area, the world largest hydroelectric power plant by energy generation, high mortality, the German speakers are largely the Hunsrückisch, has only 150 000 Jews but the largest Japanese population outside Japan.

4. Average area of home 97.6 sq. m, 74 times smaller than the USA, its top university once had rules that specifically forbade students from bringing bows and arrows to class. Appearing in the shape of horses, mules, or dogs, the Gytrash haunt solitary ways and lead people astray in the north of the country.

5. Not strictly a country, it once formed a part of Raetia. In 1806 it threw off its feudal lord, it has one of the world's highest standards of living, in 2007 Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews were appointed its first two consuls and it is a double landlocked country.


Answers

Spain, Canada, Brazil, England, Liechtenstein

[eschatology] six perspectives

1. Aurora puts an interesting scenario and it might also be interesting to combine it with a few others. Hers goes a bit like this:

“UNIFIL kept finding Hezbollah arms and did nothing to stop the flow.” That is, until last month, when the U.N. actually caught them with a truckload of weapons and called for their disarmament. Hizbullah will now begin the takeover of Lebanon’s army in order to march on Israel.

Within Israel:

Tzipi Livni will step in and try to keep the collation together. She will fail and new election will be held. The nation will hold its breath, but I believe that Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu will return as Prime Minister. Thus return Israel to a position of strength.

The 2007 Winograd Commission sent the IDF a clear message. Clean up your act! And the IDF went into action. They went back into training. Today’s IDF is a much different than the one Hezbollah fought in 2006.

On January 20, 2009 Barak Hussein Obama is sworn in a President of the United States. His Middle East advisors are all from the Carter era including Zbigniew Brzezinski and Samantha Power. They start a very pro-Arab, anti-Israel foreign policy starting with the cutting of aid to Israel.

In the summer of 2009 (it can be no earlier than this due to the weather), Hezbollah and Hamas step up attacks on Israel. Israel mobilizes. Hezbollah then instigates another war (kidnapping of a soldier for instance). Israel attacks Lebanon.

Hamas tries a breakout of Gaza (like the one the did in Egypt), Israel finally attacks in full. Iran gets into the act and launches Nuclear attacks on one or more of Israel’s cities. As her cities burn the IAF retaliates and launches their own Nuclear weapons against Iran.

Instead of condemning Iran for lying about its nukes, they fully condemn Israel and a multi-national military force is formed to invade Israel. The US takes the lead and orders its Navy to launch its fighters against Israel. The US Army sends 150,000 troops to invade.

I'd take issue here and bring up the fact that the U.S. is by then effectively the SPPNA under the control of the NAAC by March 2009 and this slowly becomes more visible.

2. Svali's take [supposedly the satanist elite end time view]:

One of the olive branches offered by the UN when it takes over is that they will prevent war in the middle east, and this will be greeted with joy by many. At the same time, guns and funds [are supplied] to both sides to keep the conflict fueled.

There will be continued conflict in the Middle East, with a severe threat of nuclear war being the culmination of these hostilities. An economic collapse that will devastate the economy of the US and Europe, much like the great depression.

[There'll be an induced collapse and ] the government will call in its bonds and loans, and credit card debts will be called in. There will be massive bankruptcies nationwide.

Europe will stabilize first and then Germany, France and England will have the strongest economies, and will institute, through the UN, an international currency. Japan will also pull out, although their economy will be weakened.

3. Uh huh. A glance at the Mayans [take your pick of articles] says basically:

The Mayan calendar shows that as we get closer to 2012, time will start to collapse in on itself. Meaning that from our perception, time will seem to be speeding up. But in fact, we are just doing more things, in a shorter amount of time.

Through the use of the internet, more events are happening simultaniously and closer together. Cell phones allow us to connect to each other more frequently, so simultanious events have more possibility of arising.

So, on this 5th Mayan Day, there's a consciousness change in humans and this 26 000 year cycle ends on December 23rd, 2012.

4. Right. Now to the monotheistic religions - Judaism first:

The Temple Institute, a controversial organization dedicated to preparing for rebuilding a Third Temple in Jerusalem, has been attempting to identify Red Heifer candidates consistent with the requirements of Numbers 19:1-22 and Mishnah Tractate Parah.

In recent years, the Institute identified two candidates, one in 1997 and another in 2002. The Temple Institute had initially declared both kosher, but later found each to be unsuitable.

The theory is that before the Third Temple can be built, a red heifer must be found and sacrificed. The cornerstone can then be laid, something symbolically tried on in 2001, causing:

Earlier in the day, 21 Palestinians were wounded when they clashed with Israeli policemen in protest of the symbolic cornerstone-laying ceremony...

There's little doubt that the laying of the cornerstone and attempt to rebuild the temple would result in the Muslims of all nations attacking in force.

5. The Christian eschatology basically has the following scenario, as far as I can understand it:

There is a falling away of morals and society, conflict proliferates and somehow Jerusalem is encompassed with armies. There are many false prophets and people claiming to be Israel's saviour.

One of them is believed by Israel and makes a covenant with her. He defeats the armies arrayed against Israel but that ushers in the real troubles. Famines, earthquakes and celestial disturbances increase.

Somewhere along the line, maybe three and a half years in, the covenant is broken, the renewed sacrifices in the temple are ended and there is an "abomination of desolation" of the temple - presumably this man setting himself up to be worshipped.

Also along the way is a method of ID where everyone has a chip in either the forehead or right wrist, without which he can neither buy nor sell. This chip is directly connected with this false saviour.

6. The Muslims have it this way:

The Jews will be gathered together. Final battle between Muslims and Jews. Quran also contains a version of the "Gog & Magog" war from the Bible with several differences.

Major Signs:

1. Gross materialism

2. Women outnumber men

3. Muslims defeat Jews in battle; Muslims and Christians battle unbelievers together, then Muslims defeat Christians in battle.

Minor Signs:

1. Increase in bloodshed and war

2. Contraction of time

3. Religious knowledge decreases

4. Prevalence of the ungodly

Pretty good, huh? So, put it all together, from Aurora to the Muslims and there's a scenario to contemplate.

[football] halting the deterioration of england

Red Mist opines:

Consider the 2-0 defeat to Croatia, the Euro 2004 defeat against Portugal, France in the world cup a few years back, the list goes on.

Why does this occur?

From an early age there is a difference in approach taught in England compared to the rest of 'footballing' Europe and Latin America. It's all about formation, the 4-4-2, being allocated a position and playing there for the next 20 years. There's little time for small pitches, 5-aside and technical training.

When I was at school, 95% of the time was spent playing 11-aside, with a few minutes here and there set aside for some dribbling. The result - drones who only know how to play in one position, with very limited technical ability or tactical awareness. Keeping hold of the ball is just not tought...it's all about scoring goals ASAP.

Soccer Lens says:

For too long have they been hiding inside the bubble of invincibility which they have constructed for themselves. Too long have they surrounded themselves with the air of self-perceived superiority. The sad fact is that England are not as great as they make themselves out to be - I have been telling England supporters this my whole life and none of them listens.

Years ago they employed a Swede by name of Sven-Goran Eriksson. When that decision was made, many derided the English FA for turning to a foreign coach. It was a disgraceful thing to do considering how the English often saw themselves as a football powerhouse. To be sure, the English FA wasn’t too pleased of the decision themselves and vowed that never again would they turn to a foreign coach. Yet 6 years later, the English have, as Britney Spears put it “did it again”.

What about the Premier League? It is the best? Hardly. Let’s look at the the winners of the Champions League for the past 10 years. In a span a decade, the prestigious competition was won by an English club only twice - Manchester United in 1999 and Liverpool in 2005. That’s not too bad you might say considering that Italian clubs have only won it twice as well during that same time span.

I'd like to make a suggestion

In the Australian competition, there was a situation where Carlton, Essendon, Hawthorn and one or two others were mopping up all the championships, Carlton being the blue-bloods of the competition.

Starting a couple of decades ago, the powers that be decided to do something about it.

First off was the admission of new clubs from interstate and this then grew into an almost wholly national competition which saw Brisbane and Sydney [non-AFL states] win flags, on top of traditional states like WA and SA.

Secondly, there was a new policy of recruiting brought in, a highly prescriptive policy of National Draft, Pre-Season Draft and Rookie Draft. There is also a trading day. clubs are allocated "picks" according to where they placed in the previous season and can trade these picks as they wish, to maximize benefit to their club.

These picks are highly scrutinized and work to a formula, the end result being that the weaker clubs benefit from good picks and if the off-field process is also well organized, then the club can look forward to some success maybe five years down the track.

There's been criticism of course and it mainly comes from middle placed clubs who get middle value picks and therefore tend to stay in the middle of the competition. What the system has certainly done though is to even up the competition and even overcompensated at one stage.

The Brisbane Lions were a hybrid of the new Brisbane Club and the old Fitzroy Lions, the latter a perennially struggling club. In 2001-3, they won three flags in a row, largely due to a great off-field organization, heaps of money some years earlier enabling them to pick well, the drafting of a great coach and an esprit-de-corps which grew up around the club.

They've had their day and new clubs are now up there - it seems to be a most egalitarian arrangement and has brought into the lexicon the term "window of opportunity", whereby a club finally matures to the point it is ready to win a flag and is able to do so for maybe three years, after which it drops back again, having suffered poorer and poorer draft picks in each successive year.

Another factor is the salary cap. Clubs have X amount of dollars to spend on players and if they can't keep it under the "cap", then either players must accept a cut or be jettisoned - this particularly hit Brisbane.

The English system of relegation is a good one in principle and affords well organized clubs a chance but the sorry truth is that while the Big 4 continue from riches to riches, the others will languish on the middle to lower rungs. Everton is such a club.

[population] food and water will control it

If you were to ask yourself what is the most pressing issue of the next ten to twenty years, you might not say the credit crisis as most think it will be solved in the short term. I say nothing.

§ You might see it as the growing militaristic surveillance society and the huge number of laws which have all but criminalized the average person - try smoking in a pub.

§ You might see it as global warming.

§ You might see it as immigration.

§ I see it as population, food and water. As simple as that.

The sinking ship

And to use an analogy, if a ship is sinking, people are going to be reduced to the survival instinct and will try to clamber aboard the lifeboats, even at the risk of upsetting those very boats and the whole thing sinking to the watery depths.

After the financiers on board have phoned for a helicopter to quickly airlift the thirteen of them to safety and they're whisked away, the scene down below is not so good.

One woman seated in the centre of one of these boats, clutching her child to her - she's going to have a certain attitude to the hundred people in the water desperately swimming towards the boat she's in, relatively safe and dry.

If there were five or six swimming and space for four left on her boat, well maybe she would not kick up such a fuss. But there aren't five or six - there are literally hundreds, all crying out in anguish, all with varying capacity to reach their goal and effect their rescue.

Meanwhile, the band strikes up on the sinking boat and a group of people of a certain temperament go down with her.

And what of one of the swimmers who is enterprising and has managed to claw his way into the boat? In the water he was all for the rights of the newcomer but now he has suddenly become a conservative himself.

And what of those seated in the boat who shout to the swimmers that the sittees have the right to be there and the swimmers don't? On what grounds? On the grounds that they were there first, they shout back.

One of the swimmers reaches the gunwhale of the boat and in the swiftest of moves, grabs and ejects an elderly woman and takes her place. He is despised by all others there but they're not strong enough to do anything about it until he finally sleeps.

Into this, the Lieutenant at the bow tries to restore order, to apply the precepts of the ship to the lifeboat - the rule of Laura Norder, of immutable truths, of the rules of the sea. He needs a pistol to do it because people are a little removed from abstract concepts at this particular moment.




The lifeboat

So, twelve hours into the escape, hundreds having drowned at the scene of the sinking, there are 25 in a boat for 18, with a further 12 clinging for life to the side. The Lieutenant checks the dried food supplies and visibly blanches, then checks his instruments and realizes that a storm is brewing on the horizon.

He further realizes that this lifeboat, already weighed down to the gunwhales, is going to sink the moment those waves heap up and all will be lost. So he announces that the total numbers in the boat need to be halved to have any hope for survival.

A deep groan goes up to the sky and yet everyone sees the dilemma - they just don't want to be part of it, that's all.

People start to state their cases - the bedraggled businessman, with his cards and water damaged mobile phone, is the best suited to run the economy of the new society in his opinion, the teacher claims she is vital for the children present, the carpenter says his presence is clearly required, the mothers state their cases and add about their ability to create meals from scraps, the pensioner is too ill to say anything.

One lady pipes up and says 'twould be better all went down rather than a "culling process lottery" take place.

The lieutenant says it is the infirm who must go plus the newcomers already over the side. He holds a gun to the heads of several people who do the deed and the boat is rowed on by the strong, away from the luckless who've been jettisoned. One 68 year old humanitarian aid worker gazes after the disappearing lifeboat as she flounders in the water.

The storm temporarily abates and the passengers and crew reflect on what has taken place. Someone starts up a song.


Moral

To kill spirituality and reason, reduce people to survival mode.


Richard Beck speaks to young Americans here, roughly concerning this theme:

H/T Matt [see right sidebar]

Good Music

ANOTHER GUEST POST FROM MATT, OF BUCKEYE THOUGHTS:

I always love when I hear a good song. It´s just I could listen to them over and over and over again.

The first one is one I hadn´t heard before coming to Spain. I have one of her older discs staeside. Her name is Paulina Rubio and she´s from Mexico. Here´s her song "Ni sola una palabra" (Not Even One Word) from 2006. I can´t embed it, unfortunately. It´s worth watching though.

Next up we have Laura Pausini, from Italy. All of her songs are very good. Here´s "Se fue" (He left):





Next we have another oldie but goodie. La Oreja de Van Gogh is from Spain and I´m proud to say I own all of their discs, they only have three out and that might be all they´ll ever make. Word on the street is their lead singer split last year and is trying to go solo. Yeah, that ain´t gonna work. Here´s "La Playa" (The Beach):







I tried looking for it on YouTube but someone hasn´t put it up yet. The song is used in an Herbal Essences commercial, which I saw for the first time three days ago, meaning it´s realtively new and won´t be on YouTube for a while.

Here´s another one from their latest (last?) album, from 2006. The song is "Dulce locura" (Sweet Craziness):







Leona Lewis´s "Bleeding Love". Let´s see, what else? Hmmm...


Ah, yes of course, from 2007! Dalmata´s "Pasarela" (Fashion Show):







Finally, to close it off, let´s go back to the best genre of all time, classic rock! From the ´70s, George Thorogood and the Destroyers´"I drink alone":





I would´ve wrote a post on May 2nd but that´ll have to wait. The place is closing soon and won´t have access tomorrow, as everything shuts down here except for churches and bars. I will also comment on my preminitions about the elections and the NAU, as well. Till next time!

[dipnote] state department blog revisited

Sean McCormack - State Department spokesman

On October 9th, 2007, I ran a tongue in cheek piece on the State Department's latest venture, the Dipnote blog, with such classic pieces as:

The Europeans walk through the lobby of our home for the week, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, in their grays and blacks. The Americans in their shiny lapel pins, power suits, and blackberries. The Africans in their colorful garbs and stylish headdresses.

and:

The No. 1 improvement readers have suggested is to drop the blog's name: "The name DipNote has to go ... the blogosphere can be quite cruel sometimes ... you'll be referred to as Dip and another 4 letter word," writes SD in Washington.

The State Department responded with this in my comments section:

Granted, we're new at this, but just ask that you give the blog a chance. It's an open forum where you can actually discuss foreign policy issues with State Department officials and fellow bloggers. The question of the week this week is "What will life in Cuba be like after Castro?"

If you're willing to give Dipnote a chance, post a comment and see for yourself.

Well ... er ... fair enough, I mumbled at the time and posted an inconsequential follow-up. Now it's clearly time to revisit and see what's going on at Dipnote today. Sean McCormack states that the idea is:

With Dipnote we are going to take you behind the scenes at the State Department and bring you closer to the personalities of the Department. We are going to try and break through some of the jargon and talk about how we operate around the world.

And the title - Dipnote?

It looks like we broke our own rule and used State jargon in our blog title. "Dipnote" refers to a diplomatic note. It is one of the many ways in which governments formally communicate with each other.

The first thing which worries me is that many articles are written by "Dipnote Bloggers". The IDs are in the "About" section - Heath Kern, Tara Foley and Masharika Prejean - but how can one judge from whom a particular post is coming and how much veracity to ascribe to it?

To be fair though, the latest post on Colombia has a name to it - Charles S. Shapiro.

Their blogroll is also interesting and supports my contention about the influence of the CFR on American policy but that was a known known anyway.

Council on Foreign Relations

U.S. Diplomacy

American Diplomacy

Matel in Iraq

GWU Public Diplomacy Institute

... among others. Clearly the State Department has its own line on things and it would be churlish to question that - they are what they are and go in to bat for the State. Logical.

How much editorial independence the Dipnote Bloggers actually have, I wonder and I don't wonder cynically but openly.

There's a section with a photogallery of the Issue of the Day and that's a nice touch.




My own feeling about the blog is that it would be better with a light background, even white, to avoid connotations of Great Satan, that the authors should be more visible on the home page, as Sean McCormack is on his page, that the content is a little thin in places and they'd be better instigating some genuine discussion with a provocative quote or two.

They're getting nibbles but it would be nice to see some really heavy visiting. My own humble blog can pull in a few hundred readers - tops - but it needs the Malkins in the world and maybe the Dales in Britain to make themselves better known.

I wish them well, actually and will add them to my roll, for what that's worth - it's a venture and this little blog supports new ventures.

Good luck.