Tuesday, September 22, 2009

To Dec 31, 2007 Opera

28 December - Topical Comments

I'm continuing a trend here of commenting in blogs I visit so that people who have shown a past interest in my news picks and shared resources have a chance to keep the ball rolling. Writers don't mind people picking up on important but underreported stories at all.

Blue Girl Red State
Found in comments
Iraq slashes food rations, putting lives at risk
Newshoggers has been recommended by Matt at Bastard Logic for the backstory on the Bhutto killing and situation in Pakistan.
Plus, there are some Pakistan blogs on the Google Reader list, though it is a long way from the programming I have planned.
Matt has some good insight and links going as well.
BlueBloggin has come through with another good article/analysis on power politics as played in the U.S. and affecting the world : Pakistan in this case.
Economic Objectorvism has been busy.
Africa aid wiped out by the rising cost of oil.
Gender quotas in Norway quite the success. Companies required to have women on their boards.
Move Beijing to...somewhere else. Urban planning commentary on a Chinese idea.
New York City. Curb your damn UPS trucks. ( He's obviously never worked deliveries. Generally, facilities for truckers to do their jobs suck unbelievably. )
HIV testing, public health, opting out and civil liberties.
The 'healthy retiree" bias just became stronger.
I'm going to quit here. I just wanted you to know here is a blog where the author generates his own content and thinks things through. Plus he has a tendency to concentrate on doable domestic policies. Listed in Google Reader.

28 December - Late Links

I'm getting there. Continuing to add to Google Reader.


Did Alan Greenspan illegally manipulate Presidential elections ?

A war crime within a war crime within a war crime
HT The Theroxylander in Flame

Photog describes how he took pictures of Bhutto
HT MTA News
The Video Explosion
Middle East censors seek to limit web access
Boston Public Library seeks to put historical documents online
Clipmarks ClipCast playable on iGoogle or Netvibes demo

Balloon Juice
Derb vs. the World sputtering from sloppy thinkers
Privatize the Profits, Socialize the Costs Healthcare

All Things Pakistan
Heer-Ranjha : The story of the Punjab's first feminist
Benazir Bhutto assassinated
Pakistan after Benazir: Choosing our Future
Benazir Bhutto's Assassination: An International Outpouring of Shock

Agitprop
The Iraqi Navy

altmuslim
Top Ten Good News Stories of 2007
A Pakistani Requiem for A Daughter of Destiny

American Leftist
A Bhutto article which talks no nonsense

Britblog Roundup HT Amused Cynicism

Bannaga
Who killed Benazir Bhutto ? The Main Suspects
Slideshow: Benazir Bhutto: A Timeline

BeggarsCanBeChoosers.com Bush once again refuses to let crisis interrupt vacation
( Can you think of a stronger indicator that he feels 'above the fray' ? )

Campaign for America's Future
Cagey Conservatives by Digby (Hullaballoo)
Denying voting 'privileges' by hook or by crook
Conservatism>High Energy Costs>Foreclosures>Starving Citizens by Bill Scher
Who Killed the FDA? by Rick Perlstein
Conservatives on Infrastructure Maintenance by Rick Perlstein

Is the nighttime the wrong time to be searching houses?
IRS Refunds for over 3 million delayed
Dollar falls for 6th day during turmoil in Pakistan
Bush's torture policy is a cancer
In the holiday news...Did Bush watch the torture tapes?
Surveillance and torture: Bush is making up the rules
Pakistan is 'central front' - not Iraq
( They're playing Dominoes )
Newsweek's prescient Pakistan cover


CIA Torture and other War Crimes

I had a visitor from the locals already. Don't curious people find the best stories ?
Falling Asleep in Church





29 December - First Look at the Web

Featuring (mainly) bloggers' articles.

Pilgrims stranded on Red Sea
Hamas is the Palestinian democratically elected government ; and the Resistance, claimed responsible for rocket attacks.
A Little Piece of Google History : Backrub
Amused Cynicism
Music DRM is dead : Movie DRM will die
Balloon Juice
Running for President a Lot Like Hunting Turkeys ( Huckabee Roast
You have to remember Juan is a traditional conservative. He is quite scathing. In Canada, a chap called Day thought he looked quite dashing in a wetsuit. That image likely helped insure 'Day is Done'. )
Barack's New Iowa Ad
Blue Girl Red State
Maybe I should run for President ? ( You'd have to change parties : else you'd just scare them half to death. The GOP use that as their stock-in-trade )
BlueBloggin
Vermont Town Flexes Its American Muscles: Activists look for the Arrest of Bush, Cheney
"Some true Americans are throwing the blanket of deceit on the floor and responding to the truth in front of them. As Texans , we shout "Remember the Alamo". As Americans we should shout, "Remember Battlebro."
Good link information posted as to the nature of the conspiracy overthrowing American government.
Consequences : Foreign Policy or Foreign Fantasy ( Bhutto debacle )
Economic Objectorvism
Inflation in Iraq
Existentialist Cowboy
Benazir Bhutto: US Policy Causes World Terrorism
"...when the United States aligns itself with dictatorships and totalitarian regimes, it compromises the basic democratic principles of its foundation"
"citizens of other nations resent U.S. support of dictators who oppress them."
"War is a racket fought by the masses for privileged elites..."
Frankenstein the U.S. created
Dyncorp
"Now---let's put to rest the idiotic "cover story" that Bhutto's "main death" was a bump on the head. BS!!! It was a mob style hit job and there is unambiguous video of at least two hit men." 

Netscape - End of an Era

Mozilla is where my online experience started. I used their package browser/mail client for months before switching to Firefox/Thunderbird. Netscape was 'heavy' even compared with Mozilla Suite - then Seamonkey. You could say I've made a habit of not using Internet Explorer and playing with others. Which reminds me. After having a ton of fun with Flock the other day I check security to find more cookies than Panda Security was happy with, at all. They are gonzo.
And I've still got this utility from Brother's MFC-420CN on which I haven't found help for yet. Anyone know how to uninstall drivers in XP?



'A View of the Media from the Sidelines' is the theme for this post. Maybe it even qualifies as an Op-Ed.

R.I.P. Netscape
That's the Browser. The Site has been having identity crisis, having emulated Digg, not happy with that has gone to something similar to what it was before, similar to MSN but somehow not attracting much attention : not that I've checked.
Meanwhile,the spin-off Propellerhas a section devoted to Breaking News which is a bit of a hoot. The last entry was dated a week ago : though a quick rundown of content looked respectable enough.
That rather affirms today's headline from Dandelion Salad "Corporate Media Actually Reports Some News! " - which, sadly, isn't even a stretch.
MSN actually does a fine job of telling the truth and almost making it sound like a lie today.
Bhutto aides accuse government of cover-up
I still find it perfectly credible to believe CIA 'black ops' and some ambitious soul in the Pakistani army did the deed without 'proper authorization' : though if you ask was there deliberate negligence on the part of Musharraf I'll treat it as asking to attest to the obvious : not that I have sources which I haven't shared. Put it this way : if you were in Musharraf's shoes, would you be stupid enough to get in the way?
Meanwhile, you'll notice I use Google and Yahoo News regularly. Actually, I don't use Huffington Post and Daily Kos that much not because I don't think them fine sources : I just don't see much point in running down the same path as everyone else : New York Times excepted ( except for Subscription Articles ). LA Times took up part of the slack while they were being coy.

29 December - Let there be music

I'm taking off for a while and will be back late this evening.

Download Uproar: Music Industry goes after personal use
I think I'm typical. I'm not ready to risk rootkits and malware so some corporation can secure their relatively minisule profit - compared to my investment in tools and software. Mostly, I don't play music on my computer ; not that I don't have it. But their greed is a malware hazard to my systems. Piss off! I don't even use RealPlayer. You know the fractured quip : " I don't want some, I've had any."

30 December - First Webroaming Report

I figured there was no way I was going to remember my list without doing some revisisting of old haunts. One of my frustrations has been lost contacts online : which is why I have built cross-indexes to posts in varied locations. Good thing ! Why ?
Well, I had heard complaints and worries before about blogs 'disappearing'. Scholars and Rogues moved off the WordPress main site on that account. Dissident didn't and is nowhere to be seen.But I thought things needed reorganizing too. I'm not going to be able to keep this up on a regular basis I should expect : but I do want an index where people can start working through the cascade of information online intil they can find (hopefully) links that work for them.
But that's going to take some adventuring I don't recommend on office machines. Google Reader is what I'm working on - besides this - right now. A shared page of my obscure picks for content.
And while I'm feeling a tad parannoyed I figure going to a European host can't hurt.

Right-Wing Cartoons

Johann Hardi
How safe are Pakistan's nuclear weapons ?

Swan's Politics
Ken's Guide to the Bible ( This guy knows what a proper 'critic' is )

Nothing Ever Changes

Letters to Europe
Iran - not Iraq. Really good comments thread - again. Global Citizen is BlueGirlRedState ( Blogs ).
Another TPM thread : The facts are that obvious

Notes on a disregarded leader
( Heh. Castro and Trudeau - if you get that far - were history professors. This fellow was too dangerous to be allowed to continue. Good government might become habit-forming. Who took him out ? A movie star. Guess Arnie won't be doing a recap. )
Edwards pledges not to hire lobbyists HT In The News
Amygdala 6th Anniversary !
Torture,police brutality addressed in landmark legal case
Agent Orange : A Personal Requiem
Six water brands found unsafe in Egypt
Pakistani plot with an American twist: Three dictators, three lost political generations
Militants, PPP punch holes in Pak government's story of Bhutto's death
A Fine ImbalanceGuest Workers in Iraq ( Kurdistan Like Baghdad ) "She's Gone" is hardly sentimental. Worth a look.
All Things Pakistan
Bilawal Zardari becomes new PPP Chairman and Benazir Bhutto's successor
( Reads just like court intrigue. There has to be a betting pool up on how long the pup will last. )
altmuslim
My first glimpse of this said "puff piece." Maybe so: it still reminded me of some home truths.
Attending the World
Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs : From Peace to War
Balloon Jiuce
Fuck Up, Move Up Bill Kristol
Clinton and the Haters
The Cookie Crumbles Sullivan : The Republican Coalition
Obama : I'll be too out of touch
( Played as potential ad weakness, this is the sort of seeming vulnerability that can differentiate Obama and make him a target of people's projected wants. Rather than a downside, it may be his greatest strength : the JFK image, if you will. It certainly resonates with the boost from Oprah. opit )
Weekend stem cell thread
( BGRS might understand this one best ; or Dad 2059. Ender's Game - Oson Scott Card - is perhaps his most famous work : though the subsequent story as told by the character Bean might be as good [ Ender's Shadow ?]. Regardless - it makes the point. For guys like me - we are living in sci-fi actualized. )
Bastard Logic
PPP opts for "Dynasty-Based Succession"
( 3 pieces here. Matt covers Pakistan )
Beggars Can Be Choosers
2007 Music Roundup
Blue Girl Red State
Fox News excludes Ron Paul from Final Debate ( Kucinich had a similar problem )
What the Hell am I Going to do with my Sunday without the New York Times?
( Discovering Kristol has triggered another redhead outrage attack. LA Times ? )
Rudy! Campaign Official proposes a "Final Solution" for Muslims
BlueBloggin
John Edwards pulls ahead in Iowa
US plays Turkey against Kurds - Explain That
Campaign for America's Future
When the Old Tricks Stop Working - David Sirota GOP outed as working for Big Money in NYT
Kristol Clear ( bit of a zinger at the tail of this )
Existentialist Cowboy
BBC censored Benazir Bhutto's reports that Bin Laden had been murdered
Daily Galaxy
Justice at Sea: Can Dolphins and Whales Sue?
The 'Myth' of Fossil Fuels - The Hot Deep Biosphere
"78 Billion" : A Hubble view of the most profound images ever filmed
Mars Ancient Oceans may aid understanding of Earth's Evolution
Earth's Weather: The Clue to Identifying Habitable Planets
Earth's Movement Triggered Human Evolution
The Cosmos in a Test Tube
Oldest Human Powered means of Transport : Bone Skates
Nobel Prize Winner Creates New 'Microscope' that can take 4-D 'movies' of molecules

31 December - Potpourri

This post indicates some serious ambivalence of worldview. What shouldn't be radical science-technology; and conservatives who are painted as "Liberal" ; plus some honest reactionaries who know their historical roots.

Sandia applying thermochemical hydrogen technology to recycling CO2 to liquid fuels
Got to be Green
Water created from thin air
Futuristic Eco-Island City Design
Maglev's Wind Turbine is real
Self-illuminating paint to glow for 12 years
Portable hand crank to clean clothes Neat !
Green Institute Publications
Hip-Hop and the Corporate Function of Colonization
Ballot Access Penalties create chilling effect
The New York Times hires Lord Haw-Haw
The Defects of Top-Down Social Organizations
AS' "Moore" Award
GOP finishes year of obstructionism with veto of military spending bill
Technology Review Update - Do You Know Where You're Going To?
Scroll down to the "Coolest T-Shirt" Contest
Ron Paul in 2008? Just say No to Dr. No
Empire and Revolution : "...powerful forces must be at work if thousands of Mexicans are forced to sneak into the United States and live a dog's live just to eat."
"The Padded Bed" : The Epileptic in Western Medicine
"Free Markets"
Bush strands the troops!
Booman Tribune
Stu Rothenberg: A Corporate Shill Villager
A look at Edward's rhetoric will show that he's angry with corporations for specific reasons : health care coverage, energy emissions, etc.
The Rationale for Bloomberg
the Adminstration is vetoing bipartisan legislation
issues of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, instablility in Pakistan, dismal Israel-Palestine relations : bipartisan solutions require the Republicans changing their tune
Looking at Electability ouch !
Charlie Wilson's War ( again ? Yup. ex-CIA ) Larry Johnson
London is not a Battlefield
Director of Public Prosecutions: "We resist the language of warfare,and I think the government has moved on this."
Lieberman doing no Oversight - Zero Senate investigations
Bill Kristol has a job to do over at NYT's
"large part fo the Democratic party is sympathetic to neoconservatism and don't care about out civil liberties and the balance of powers.
...New York Times editorial board is inclined to amplify the most discredited people in the country rather than there are to push new voices that have proven to be prescient."
About that "Key Ally in the War on Terror Tm Thing" Pakistan snap view

31 December - Channeling Commentary

Still muddling around the web more than targeting a 'read' list. I actually open my 'yawp' on this one.

Articles and Answers - New and Views
Washington's War will have to wait
( MSM are still ignoring the crux of the matter : Field Supervisor Plame was 'outed' and her CIA nuclear threat desk - and MidEast intel networks - effectively destroyed well before it was decided to release more 'manufactured intel' blaming Iran with all manner of specious allegations. The fact that the president of Iran is a rabble-rousing populist ,without the real power over the country,who could safely be painted a 'menace' via 'spun' false translations just goes to show the planning of deception. Der Spiegel was the first to give voice to this. Subsequently, after learning from Blue Girl Red State that this was indeed the case [ to make a long story short, her husband had been stationed in the region and her son learned Persian while there ],I found this Canadian site Quotations from President Ahmadinejad where one man decided to provide alternatives to Washington's "script".
It was another "twofer", raising a ruckus about husband Ambassador Joe Smith's honesty and propriety after his investigation of the ludicrous Nigerian "yellowcake" allegations : something useless to nuke tech and abundant in Iraq! Dr. Bush's Medicine Show. )

Remember when Bush rescinded his Fatwa on Osama bin Laden?
Top Ten Myths about Iraq in 2007 ( Another Juan Cole watcher )

What flavor is your kool-aid?

Timeline of the Bush fantasies : Go back to coverage of Cheney's old explanation of why invading Iraq wasn't a good idea.
Blue Girl Red State
Why is everybody surprised with Huckabee's latest sally?
Huckster very loudly 'not' saying something
Remembering Steve Gilliard
Conservatism preys on fear and thrives on dishonesty.I grew up with honest, decent conservatives and those people have been replaced by the party of greed.It is one thing to want less government interference and smaller, fiscally responsible government. It is another thing entirely to be a corporate whore, selling out to the highest bidder because the CEO fattens your campaign chest.


Opera - New Beginnings

27 December - Online Views and News

Oldephartteintraining is hors de combat at present : WordPress tech support on vacation ( the nerve ! ) Ha.
Since the Blogroll isn't available I've pointed out the backup bookmarks file : which has controls to show a tag cloud instead of most recent entries.

Technorati Profile

Technorati Profile


China to raise export tariffs on steel, other commodities to curb export surplus

Iraq's Forgotten Population

Call center jobs in India take toll on workers' health

A global trek to poor nations, from poorer ones

Make economic justice an issue this Christmas

Benazir Bhutto killed in blast!
Scholars & Rogues
Benazir Bhutto Forbidding Mourning


Wall Street Wizardry amplified credit crisis

Five Untouchable Symptoms
Lack of progress on these basic issues
End the War on Drugs
End corporate media ownership
End American Empire
End the War Economy
End the cradle-to-prison superhighway

Iraq needs a 'jobs surge'

Striking writers in talks to launch web start-ups

The human sexes: The language of the sexes

Bad Taste

Copywrite
Now that's linking! Added to Opit's bookmarks in del.icio.us



Autoblog

Mazda displays that small lightweight cars can be safe too

AutoblogGreen 12.20.07

Autobloggreen 12.21.07

AutoblogGreen 12.24.07

AutoblogGreen 12.25.07

AutoblogGreen 12.26.07

AutoblogGreen 12.27.07

NYPD tries silent running with four Vectrix electric scooters

Ford puts eco-driving tutorial on its Driving Skills for Life Website
Opit's Bookmarks on Del.icio.us

Public transportation around the world: India's Blueline buses dubbed "killer buses"

Chery enters joint venture with Israel Corp.

Mitsubishi's kei cars 'bloom' for Japan's ladies

Japanese car mags run amok: Nissan Silvia revival to get Renault power

Honda readies hybrid attack, calling Civic hybrid a 'mistake'

OnStar goes dark for analog subscribers 1/1/08

From soldier to carpenter: Vet tries to leave Afghanistan behind

Want happiness? Live East

Yahoo!


Queen Elizabeth urges thought for those less well off

Iraqi cabinet passes bill to release prisoners

Iran needs no uranium enrichment: Russia's Lavrov

Company makes clothes for warfare

Saudi arms deal may spark Bush-Congress battle

Jet crash survivors honor airboat hero

Sniffing around for an explanation as to what has happened elsewhere has only revealed a lack of information. 403 Error

27 December - More Browsing

More grist for the mill. I don't have anything like my usual quota of links - having wasted a lot of time playing around trying to get things to work. Opera doesn't seem to be adding to my problems, thank goodness. Obviously I have learning to do, but I wasn't running the original preloaded header even on the first post.

Quote Bhutto: "We will not be deterred"

Main suspects are warlords and security forces

Shortcut Keys ABCs

Wash State U gets funds for ag and health research

The Paranoid style in American Politics

EPA throwing in the towel

Cuban Agriculture getting a second wind

Kiko's House: Quotes from around the blogosphere

'Gospel of Wealth' facing scrutiny

How to use a squat toilet
Believe me, it can't be any worse than forgetting to vent your porta-potti, going on the lid because you're in a hurry, and opening it mid dump. Beaver fever ( a parasite ) is seldom fatal : that isn't to say it can't be, ah, inconvenient.

2007: Year of the stem cell

The Limits of Huckabee's outrage
Steve Benen is subbing. He can be assertive than Kevin. Love the first quip in comments "To the MSM, 'populist' means you like watching NASCAR" ( MSM = Main Stream Media )

Japanese PM to meet with Chinese leaders on thorny issues during 4-day visit

Free One-Time Self Destruct Web Messaging Service - for sale

Sharpmail - Anonymous eMail

Aftermath of Bhutto's Death

This murder could be predicted to cause more upheaval than it's worth for Musharraf. Interesting that police guarding her 'vanished' shortly before the explosion.

Baitullah Mehsud denied killing her after saying he would. It's not as if the boys in South Waziristan wouldn't approve.
Al Qaeda, huh? You do realize that should be regarded as a 'heads up' that CIA 'black ops' may have had a finger in the pie.

Meantime Harper calls for things to proceed just as if a radical change hadn't been made in the situation by violence : and as if everyone won't now believe Musharraf responsible.

MSNBC Bhutto's Death