A Couple of Google-Things and a Short Rant

Interesting: “My life without Google.” A lot of people bitch about Google and all the data they collect about us, but James Thomas is actually doing something about it.

How much did I use Google? Apparently a lot more often than even I could speculate. For the last two weeks, I've had google.com blocked at both work and home. The amount of data they're gathering on me is frightening. Not because of Google, but because I'm positive the government will legislate their way into Google's database sooner or later and start labeling people as suspicious. Political paranoia aside, let us look at the fact here; Life on the internet without using Google is hard. (My emphasis)

I’ll say. If I were to emulate Mr. Thomas I’d have to (a) change my e-mail address (b) find a new blog host and (c) quit watching YouTube…just for starters. The latter would be tougher than you might imagine. There are alternatives to YouTube, and a lot of people use ‘em. But a lot more don’t. I’d hate to have to give up all those cool plane pr0n videos that take forever to load, given the state of my ‘net connection.

Speaking of Google: You're a Nobody Unless Your Name Googles Well. Or so sez the WSJ.

In the age of Google, being special increasingly requires standing out from the crowd online. Many people aspire for themselves -- or their offspring -- to command prominent placement in the top few links on search engines or social networking sites' member lookup functions. But, as more people flood the Web, that's becoming an especially tall order for those with common names. Type "John Smith" into Google's search engine and it estimates it has 158 million results. (See search results.)

For people prone to vanity searching -- punching their own names into search engines -- absence from the first pages of search results can bring disappointment. On top of that, some of the "un-Googleables" say being crowded out of search results actually carries a professional and financial price.

I’ve done my share of vanity searches in the past (pre-blogging days) and was always semi-disappointed with the…uh…non-results. “Buck Pennington” does pretty danged well now, after a year and a half of blogging. Not so with “Norman Pennington.” I gave up after going 12 pages deep with no results… Hello, Reality Check. I’m still a prole—always will be.

So. I’m generally “off” politics as far as the blog goes but, as I’ve mentioned frequently, I’m still keeping up with my reading. An article in the NY Sun caught my attention this morning, as did commentary on that same article from Ed Morrissey over at Captain’s Quarters…one of my favorite reads. The Sun sez “Islamist-Left Alliance A Growing Force.” Excerpt:

Over the past year, multiple international conferences have featured leaders of the anti-global left and Islamist groups working together. Go to any anti-war or anti-globalization demonstration in the West and chances are you will see the flags of Hezbollah and Hamas waved by people wearing Che Guevara T-shirts. And at some of these meetings, members of such radical Islamist groups as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and Hezbollah have enjoyed starring roles.

The roster of Islamist-left alliances quietly grows every day: Massachusetts Institute of Technology linguistics professor Noam Chomsky praises Hamas and denounces America on Hezbollah's Al-Manar television. London Mayor Ken Livingstone invites a leading Islamist, Sheikh Yosef Al-Qaradawi, who is known for supporting suicide attacks, to visit his city. Iranian President Ahmadinejad calls for a world without America even as he plays host to a Tehran peace conference attended by American Mennonites, Quakers, Episcopalians, Methodists, and leaders of the National Council of Churches.

This article simply fleshes out and adds detail to what any casual observer of “peace” marches and demonstrations has already noticed. I mean, how could you not see all those bright yellow Hezbollah banners borne by kaffiya-bedecked protesters and their pro-Hamas/Hezbollah, anti-Israel messages? And how could you not ask the question “WTF does this have to do with Iraq?” The simple answer is plain, unadulterated anti-Americanism… a modified “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” logic that just boggles my mind. But I digress, yet again. Here’s Captain Ed taking down Noam Chomsky, one of my favorite “people I love to hate actively dislike:”

In the case of Noam Chomsky, this seems particularly egregious, but not terribly surprising. Chomsky can talk about Enlightenment ideals out of one side of his mouth, as he did in Imperial Ambitions, and then warmly support Hamas, which completely rejects those ideals of freedom, liberty, and individual conscience. In that book, he told David Barsamanian that "No other industrialized country has anything like the degree of extremist religious beliefs and irrational commitments like you see in the United States," and yet he has aligned himself with violent religious extremists like Hamas, and does so on the television network of the equally violent and extreme Hezbollah.

People like Chomsky love Hamas and Hezbollah not for their supposed "Enlightenment ideals," but for their hatred of America. That's the one thread that follows through all of these alliances between the Western Left and the Islamist nutcases who, on a philosophical basis, should be their ultimate nightmare. The people who drop brick walls on homosexuals get praise and support from the Chomskys of the world because the US cannot decide between allowing civil unions or gay marriage. Chomsky frets over the fact that "Large majorities are convinced of miracles, the existence of the devil, and so on," but then praises those who believe that infidels are agents of Satan and must be destroyed in jihad.

What he said. Chomsky and others of his ilk come perilously close to treason and sedition, IM(not so)HO. The Left is quite fond of their “gulag” and “fascist” fantasies, invoking them at every turn…but Damn! What are we to do with people that openly support and collaborate with our enemies? The fact that we tolerate “dissent” such as this is mind-boggling on the one hand and ultimately mysterious on the other. While I don’t think we should shoot them (gratifying as that might be), I’m ALL over alternate solutions…such as deporting the bastards to Palestine, Iraq, or Iran…and allowing them to live and work within the societies (and I use that term oh-so-loosely) they so admire.

They wouldn’t last a week.

Today’s Pic: Another shot of yesterday’s lonely iris; a close-up this time. I originally thought about titling this photo “snug as a bug…” but thought better of it. Too cute by half.