11.04.2008

Big Brother is Watching . . . ME. Fancy that.

As I sit watching Democracy Now coverage of the election, highlights of which will be enumerated below, I was just rifling through my sitemeter records. You'd be surprised how many people really end up viewing your blog, if only for 1 second on their way to finding what they're looking for, and the referrals page is always most interesting to me. I love to see how people originally stumbled upon my blog, even if they weren't looking for it. So, I check out a referral that says blogs were searched for the following key phrase: "redeployed and Iraq and mental." Hm. So, I open the link just to see. Then, I wonder the next logical question--who in the world is google blog searching such an awkward phrase?

Well, folks, have a look for yourselves:


Domain Name
osd.mil ? (Military)
IP Address
134.152.182.# (The Pentagon)
ISP
The Pentagon
Location
Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : Virginia
City : Arlington
Lat/Long : 38.8782, -77.1054 (Map)
Distance : 156 miles
Language
English (U.S.)
en-us
Operating System
Microsoft WinXP
Browser
Firefox
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.1) Gecko/2008070208 Firefox/3.0.1
Javascript
version 1.5
Monitor
Resolution : 1024 x 768
Color Depth : 32 bits
Time of Visit
Oct 27 2008 11:45:19 am
Last Page View
Oct 27 2008 11:45:19 am
Visit Length
0 seconds
Page Views
1
Referring URL
http://blogsearch.go...al&btnG=Search Blogs
Search Engine
blogsearch.google.com
Search Words
redeployed and iraq and mental
Visit Entry Page
http://onthelearn.bl...weekend-in-city.html
Visit Exit Page
http://onthelearn.bl...weekend-in-city.html
Out Click

Time Zone
UTC-4:00
Visitor's Time
Oct 27 2008 12:45:19 pm
Visit Number
697




THE PENTAGON. FOR REAL? For real. Do they really have nothing better to do? Someone needs to give me a job doing blog searches all damn day long. "Redeployed and Iraq and mental?" Really?

But let's think about this. Why might the Pentagon be concerned with employing some grunt to conduct such a search? Are they becoming concerned, perhaps, that the public is on to the shameful treatment of Iraq soldiers and veterans? Of Iraqi families and children? Are they worried that the whole "P.F.C. Jane Doe, you had a preexisting condition, silly, you already had borderline personality disorder. So f you and the PTSD horse you rode in on" shtick is getting old? Well, it is. It's getting old and soldiers are committing suicide in record numbers. So maybe the Pentagon should be worried.

Ok, on to the highlights of this evening's Democracy Now broadcast, thus far (yes I am this much of a nerd):

-Tim Robbins detailing his story of not being on the voter roll at a location at which he has voted in the LAST 4 presidential elections, if I understood him correctly, as well as numerous local ones, and then waiting 5 HOURS after refusing to leave the polling place and having his right to stay supported by 2 NYC POLICE OFFICERS and his right to vote guaranteed by a judge; 30 OTHER PEOPLE had the same trouble this morning at Robbins' polling location.


-Bob Fitrakis' discussion of possible shadiness a'brewin in Warren County, Ohio--you can get the low-down here, though the O-man has already won that state so it's sort of a non-issue I suppose.


-Jeremy Scahill questioning Tim Robbins on his full support for Obama despite Obama's hawkish rhetoric and Robbins' outspoken support for ending the war; the issue of critical support--meaning support coupled with a critical eye--is key in this and any election


-Discussion of voter disenfranchisement and race, including oppressive tactics such as voter roll purging and misinformation regarding identification requirements at polls


So Big Brother is watching me--he must be watching you, too. I guess if he only clocked "0 seconds," I'm deemed not a threat to national security. I don't know whether to feel affronted or relieved. Or amused. But I'm labeling this post recognition, so I suppose I've answered my own question. Then again, I'm also labeling it g.w. is a d.b.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a sitemeter nerd I admit and it always amazes me who's looking for what. I did a story about that idiotic wall between us and Mexico http://justice4claire.blogspot.com/ and had Somebody from Boeing all over the site for like 3 days. Number 2 defense contractors aren't keen on being discussed for their half baked schemes I guess. Also the high priced law office who works for my daughter's ex school is real slick about showing up any time I mention their stupid failing school. Billable hours baby is my comment whenever they do show their shrunken heads. Obama has wrapped up PA and OH, yee-haaaw.

Amanda Villagómez said...

The really funny part is that a lot of times on site meter it comes up as unknown. You would think that the Pentagon would figure out that little loop hole:). They are pretty sneaky all right.

Anonymous said...

recall george carlin's oxymorons : jumbo shrimp, military intelligence....

teach people not books said...

r/m-that is insane. i remember that story i believe--the gov't was outsourcing the building of the wall, right? thank link only takes me to your page it. what will they call pennsylvania now? pennsylchussettes? pennsylengland? my personal fave: pennsylnetticut.

v.--yeah one would have assumed. but i think sometimes the arrogance of persons in power stops them from seeing the reality of situations.

r/m--can we add "the good war" to that?

teach people not books said...

oh meaning afghanistan not WWII

Elizabeth said...

I'd be flattered if BB cared about my shoe posts!

I think you have to post whatever you're going to post and forget about the results.