The Obama New Yorker Cover - Is The Media Really This Stupid?
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Once all the bruehaha over the cartoon on the cover of New Yorker magazine portraying Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife as Muslim radical terrorists was over, I had vainly hoped that someone, somewhere…Â anyone, anywhere would inject some reason by stating the obvious point.
What is offensive is not the satirized portrayal of Senator and Mrs. Obama as Muslims, radical extremists or even terrorists. The twin tools of satire and irony are used here quite artfully to point out that the Obama’s are being purposely portrayed just this way for political purposes.
What is offensive is the number of news cycles that wasted the opportunity to point out that the voting public is being emotionally manipulated to prevent substantive debate over the serious situations facing this country.
What is offensive is that with all of the fingers pointing at The New Yorker, not one story reported on the offensive behavior of those seriously promoting the very accusations that this cartoon lampoons. The opportunity to raise the social conscience of the viewing public and render such tactics obsolete passed without so much as a nod in it’s direction…
Our mean intelligence has proven sufficient to follow discussions on all manner of abstract ideas throughout the primary campaigns of both parties, and yet the media refuses to treat their audiences with respect enough to report on the real issues of the days news. Instead they just serve up the most obvious and insipid aspects of the days events, and await the next reaction… Equally obvious and insipid.
Most people reading this will assume that I am another Obama-ite crying foul. Not so…
I grew up in the midwest in an area where you couldn’t get elected dogcatcher if you weren’t to the right of Rush Limbaugh, and still hold the ideals that my parents and that community imbued into me at a very young age. But for reasons that I will not go into in this post, I don’t have a dog in this race.
So, what exactly is my point?
That there is no forum or medium currently available to any of us that allows for the serious and intelligent discussion of the true issues of the day.
That neither of the major (or minor) candidates, nor their parties, nor the broadcast & cable news outlets has the least interest in providing said forum.
And that, my friends I do find offensive.
Eat a peach!
Floyd Bogart
The Best Ping List I Have Come Across
Several of you have asked me I use for a ping list.
Here is the one I currently use:
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
http://1470.net/api/ping
http://api.feedster.com/ping
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://api.moreover.com/ping
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://bblog.com/ping.php
http://bitacoras.net/ping
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc
http://blogmatcher.com/u.php
http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
http://coreblog.org/ping/
http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt
http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/
http://ping.amagle.com/
http://ping.bitacoras.com
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc
http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/
http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.myblog.jp
http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://ping.weblogs.se/
http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2
http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/
http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://rpc.newsgator.com/
http://rpc.pingomatic.com
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php
http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b
http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://www.blogoole.com/ping/
http://www.blogoon.net/ping/
http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1
http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php
http://www.blogsnow.com/ping
http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi
http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php
http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud
http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php
http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php
http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2
http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/
http://xmlrpc.blogg.de
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/
I got this list HERE.
Credit where it’s due and all that…
Eat a peach!
Floyd Bogart
So Long And Thanks For All The Fish
Leave it to me to Say Hello by saying goodbye…
As part of my online life’s evolution I am finally making the break and publishing my blog using WordPress for CMS. Blogger taught me a lot, and there’s no bad blood left behind, but it just can’t take me where I want to go.
Actually had several blogs over at Blogger, but will be trying to meld the most important ones into this as my primary blog both for business and personal blogging. My primary blog being orphaned is HERE if you want to take a look.
Going forward, you will find information here on topics such as Travel, Social Marketing, Personal Development, maybe even a bit of Foodie stuff. Lately I find myself drawn to a lot of sites that report on the Green movement, so my own feelings and discoveries on that arena may just find their way here too…
It should be a lively mix, and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy the publishing.
Floyd Bogart
Stalking Your Social Marketing Heroes
Stalking Your Social Marketing Heroes
I got a lot of feedback about Jason Moffatt’s
comment to my post last week. Got me wondering
about how it was that he found the post so fast.
Oh I know a lot of the ways to keep up with any
posts or content that relates to yourself, but
wondered if there were ways that I wasn’t aware
of…
And of course there are. Got this in my inbox
last night, and thought I’d share it. Came from
Jason Moffatt himself:
Not sure about you but am already brainstorming
different ways to use Summize.com. This is definitely
at the top of my Twitter app list.
Watch the video a couple of times, and then go and
play with it. Then come back here and post your
ideas.
Eat a peach!
Floyd Bogart
Personal Development Resources I Found Useful
Personal Development Resources I Found Useful
You probably spend a lot of time reading,
like I do and trying to assimilate all that
you take in into your life.
One of the conundrums of this life is the
nature of time. And the way that the more
important anything is to us, the less time
there is to spend on it.
Well, I have made my own journey toward
greater personal and spiritual fulfillment a
major priority in my life, and so am always
looking for ways to get the most from the
time that I spend in pursuit of this.
I just came across two sites that are huge helps
in this regard. If they do not seem so to you,
that is okay too.
But if they seem to click with you like they did
with me, then grab all of the resources you can.
Most of it seemed of good quality and not just
BS commercial stuff.
You may have to look at some of it from the
inside to see what you think. Fortunately it
won’t cost you anything to do so.
1. Self Growth Giveaway.
The Mind Mapping software is intriguing.
Anything by Joe Vitale is always welcome as
well. The package is really quite large, so take
some time to see what all is here.
2. Motivator Software Giveaway.
I actually came across this one first, and you
will no doubt notice that this software is included
in the first bundle of titles. There are some useful
items that you get as unadvertized bonuses when
you sign up here so go ahead and sign up here too.
I know that my own efforts at personal development
and enlightenment have been aided by these items,
and I hope they’ll do the same for you…
Eat a peach!
Floyd Bogart
Blogging For Income IS Copywriting
Blogging For Income IS Copywriting
Like me, you probably originally started a blog
as you were told that it was the best way to drive
traffic. Or maybe just to relate things about your
life. Or one of a myriad of other reasons that people
start blogs.
At any rate, if you are reading this post it means
that one reason is that you want to generate cash
from your online activities.
This makes you a Copywriter.
Yep, like it or not you now have that title. The only
question left is whether you are a successful Copy-
writer or not…
My own road from Copywriter to successful Copy-
writer was a bit rocky. See, as much as I wanted to
be a good writer, something about that Copy part
just didn’t click with me. I thought that if I was a
good Writer that it was enough.
Fact is though, that while good writing skills are
important they will only get you so far. The skills
that it takes to be a good Copywriter also need to
be acquired.
If you have read this blog before, then you have
heard of The Gary Halbert Letters. Gary Halbert
is generally acknowledged as the greatest Copy-
writer of all time, and the collected works found
at his site are a great body of work to consider,
but you have to be able to recognize what makes
them great to learn form them too.
A day or two ago, a Copywriting buddy of mine
directed me to a group of Copywriting resources
put together by Trent Steele that are quite good.
Being free put them in the right price point too.
Grab them HERE.
You will have to Opt-In to his newsletter to get
them, but that shouldn’t be a surprise. This is
a great bunch of resources, and many of them
are geared more toward writing fiction.
As a Copywriter much of what you find here will
not apply to what you are trying to do, but there
are several items here that are invaluable. Take
the time to sort through and you will find skillsets
that will be invaluable to you.
But as a blogger, you are also a creative writer,
and a journalist as well. So you really need all
that this group of writer’s resources has to offer.
Trent has not only put together good tutorials,
but an actual Writer’s Community for you to
interact with. Take advantage of this as fully
as you can. It is probably the most valuable
part of this package.
Whether you look at yourself as a Social Marketer
or a Writer and Copywriter, writing is still the
most important aspect of our work. In the end,
the quality of this work is what will determine
whether we are successful in these endeavors
or not.
Why leave that to chance?
Invest some time into your education as a Writer
and as a Copywriter. It will pay bigger dividends
than almost anything else you can do…
Grab the package now while it’s still available free.
Eat a peach!
Floyd Bogart
Looking Back At My Accomplishments For June 2008
Looking Back At My Accomplishments For June 2008
Here’s hoping that your June was as good as mine was!
I learned a lot, and implemented a fair amount of it, the
end result being a net improvement to my Alexa Rank
of better than 500,000 places. I know, I know: it doesn’t
really mean anything. It does give you a yardstick to
guage how you are doing in comparison to your peers.
The traffic that has gotten me here has come primarily
from Social Marketing activities, a bit of Article
Marketing and by getting into Trackback Links.
These are all a direct result of info gleaned from reading
the 2008 Authority Blackbook. I keep telling you all to
subscribe up at the right, but tell you what! Here it is:
This is the biggest and best Web 2.0 Resource list you
will find anywhere. It just flat out rocks!
Apply what you read and you will benefit…
I also learned a little something from one of my readers
that advised me to put more of my blog’s “Link Juice”
to work for me, instead giving it away.
What’s that mean?
It means no more widgets listing MyBlogCatalog or
FuelMyBlog. It means making sure that when you
mention something from another blog post, linking
to it. It means making sure that your blog doesn’t
have the look and feel of a garage sale.
Hey, I know I’ve been guilty of that one, and am trying
to constantly improve the quality and quantity of the
content and resources that I publish here.
My relationship with Blogger took a bit of a beating
in June as well, but we got through it…
Another blogger (who shall remain nameless) that I
was (successfully) competing with for certain keywords,
decided to get a leg up by reporting me to Blogger as a
spam blog. This got my blog locked up 3 different
times. Smoke actually came out of my ears once…
Fortunately the good folks at Blogger listened to what
I had to say in my defense and unlocked me pretty
quickly. Anyone that has had this happen to them
knows the powerless feeling that ensues, and can
relate.
Well, I did get past that, and am persevering with my
little Blogger blog here and have decided to keep it up
even once I get the WordPress projects planned off
the ground.
My copy writing services have suddenly become a
bigger part of Floyd’s Online Income as well. Any
of you wanting to grab some traffic generating
Squidoo Lenses check out my offer HERE.
And speaking of The Squid! I suddenly got a wild
hair last Friday night and just had to do whatever
was necessary to qualify as a Giant Squid. So…
Unfortunately I found that I no longer like some
of my old lenses so I took them down and replaced
them to make that all important 50 lens mark.
I was already sort of cranked up about Squidoo
anyway from my Genepax lens hitting #3 in the
Autos category, and realized that to start getting
ranked in the Top 100 overall on Squidoo, that I
would need to be one of the Giant Squids.
Who knows, I still may not make Giant Squid, but
I sure had fun cranking them out. It also gave me
motivation to keep writing. Content is so important
to what we do here, and I was on a roll so…
Just kept on cranking.
One of my Digg friends, Janet Ford also got me into
putting up pages on eHow and Triond as a means
of writing for income. Both have good revenue sharing
programs, but you’ve got to produce a fair number of
articles before it starts adding up, but add up it does.
Speaking of Digg, been having some scrapes there too.
The url for this blog got banned there. Not really sure
why. Sent an email about it, but got nowhere. Not a
stinking thing you can do about it, so moved on and
started using Propeller instead…
BTW, it looks to me like FriendFeed is going to become
more and more important as time goes on, so if you
ain’t jumped on yet, do so now! I’ll now doubt be
posting more about using FriendFeed in July so watch
for it.
If you pay any attention to me at all (and why should
you) you have noticed a growing dependence on Google
Gadgets. This is an ongoing thing for me, and several
others in my circle. On the other hand, they have gotten
me one whale of a lot of traffic on several occassions.
My attitude on this is, why fight it?! Google accounts
for the lion’s share of the traffic out there, so why not
go with the flow?
After my dust ups with Blogger and Digg, I’m just too
tired to tackle Google…
Eat a peach!
Floyd Bogart
Creating Your Own eBook In 5 Minutes At Zero Cost
Creating Your Own eBook In 5 Minutes At Zero Cost
Can you cut and paste?
Then you can create your own ebook in less
than 5 minutes and not spend a dime.
Skeptical?
Okay, let’s do this together then:
Step 1. Go to EzineArticles.com and choose
a topic, or better yet an author. Whichever
you choose, pick out an article or two that
apply to a niche that you market to and go
to the page of that article.
Step 2. At the top right of the page your chosen
article is published on, you will see the following
list of options:
Click on Ezine Publisher.
Step 3. Copy and paste the html version of the article
into the editor HERE.
Step 4. Now add a banner or text ad at the top of the
article and another at the bottom. Make sure that what
you are advertizing is pertinent to the articles topic.
Step 5. Clidk the button at the bottom of the page that
says: Generate PDF.
There you go! You’ve done it…
Just a few things you should know. You need to read the
TOS for EzineArticles.com so that you don’t violate any
of their rules, such as that you can only give this infor away.
You cannot sell it. On the other hand you could give it away
as a bonus with some other product.
I will leave this PDF generator up for all of my readers to
use for free as long as you like. Now you have no excuse
for not generating your own reports to give away and start
your own viral marketing campaign.
You could even let your readers know where they can take
your report and easily “Brand” it with their own information.
It’s free to use. The content is plentiful and free too.
What’s your excuse now?
Eat a peach!
Floyd Bogart
Get a New Kind of Website that actually “Forces” Money into Your Pocket!
Squidoo: 24 Lenses in 24 Hours
Squidoo: 24 Lenses in 24 Hours
Found myself getting into a rut, and a lazy rut
at that! So I looked around for some kind of
challenge to peak my interest, and what did I
find?
We were just a couple of days away from the
deadline for Giant Squid application!
And what the blazes is a Giant Squid?
Well even if you aren’t using it, if you are reading
this you’ve at least heard of Squidoo. Seth Godin’s
brainchild, and hugely useful for generating traffic,
sales and cash. If you are unfamiliar check it out
HERE.
Anyway, a Giant Squid is a lensmaster (the pages
you create on Squidoo are called lenses) that has
at least 50 lenses of good quality and gets selected
by Squidoo’s appointed folks for that designation.
Selection only happens once a quarter, and so this
Monday (okay tomorrow!) is the next deadline for
application. This motivated me!
So I set out as a first step to get within shouting
of that benchmark of 50 lenses. Unfortunately
I only had 23 or so good lenses published.
Hmm…
Okay so since I got this urge on Friday AM it looked
like I finally found something to get me of my butt!
So, I challenged myself to produce:
24 Lenses in 24 Hours
(Click Here To See Them)
Now I have to admit that I set out on this without
really doing the math on what it would take to do it.
I started at 1:30 in the afternoon (EST) and set out
to finish by the same time Saturday.
The first 5 seemed to take forever, but were really
done in just over 2 hours, so I was encouraged…
I finally called it quits and went to bed around 2:30AM.
Slept in a bit, but knew I had it licked as I only needed
7 more to accomplish my goal.
Funny thing is, I still need 7 more to get to 50, but I
know I can knock those out tonight, and get my app
in tomorrow AM.
In the past my lenses have done pretty well traffic
and rating wise, but lately they have really taken
off. Mostly because of the info I shared in Lens #8
of my 24, titled Google Gadgets.
Well, better get back at it if I am going to get to 50
tonight. Just thought I’d let you know what had
me pumped again…
Eat a peach!
Floyd Bogart
This is off topic, but these are some great deals on wine:
Summer Clearance Sale at Wine.com! Save 20% off any 6 or more bottles of clearance sale wines.
2008 Presidential Campaign - I Was Promised Flying Cars!
2008 Presidential Campaign - I Was Promised Flying Cars!
This is a bit off topic, but my social conscience is
prodding me a bit here. Particularly in light of
the ongoing 2008 Presidential Campaigns.
Not to worry, you won’t catch me stumping for
either of these candidates. The recent rash of
interesting posts from blogs that I subscribe to
give ample reason to have absolutely no basis
for faith in any candidate that either party could,
or would put forth.
Stay with me here, as this will take a bit to explain
my point. (And yes I have one…)
I grew up wide eyed and innocent in small town
Illinois buying whole hog into the idea that anything
is possible in this country. Do you remember being
young enough to believe that you could fly?
With that kind of start to life, flying cars seemed the
least of what was possible. The sky was indeed the
limit, if not the Sun and the stars!
Of course, life continues and we grow up. The dream
goes out of life here in the US of A, and our ability
to hold onto vestiges of youthful exhuberance ebbs.
But now and then…
Just occasionally…
We dare to hope, and to dream again that it is possible
to overcome the muck we are mired in and to soar.
Something comes along and nurtures that original
spark that had been just about extinguished forever.
Lately that spark has been the ingenuity with which
the great minds of the day are addressing what is so
obviously a global crisis brought about by an economy
so overly based upon fossil fuels.
One of my favorite sites these days is InHabitat.
This amazing blog constantly amazes me as it shows
what can and is being pursued to make the planet a
cleaner, safer… an infinitely better place for all of us
to live. You owe it to your inner child to go and just
absorb it all. Truly amazing stuff!
But I digress.
Today a Digg friend sent me a shout with a news
item that showed not just ingenuity, but determination
and a resolve to not just brainstorm but to apply what
is so clearly possible. Not in fifty years, or even twenty,
but in seven.
Mercedes Benz has committed to cutting petroleum
fuel sources out of their line of vehicles by 2015.
Reading this report can’t help but make your whole
being just radiate with possibilities. And then…
The very next Digg shout I get is THIS.
That’s right. The same government that wants to
approve drilling for oil anywhere and everywhere
regardless of the fact that it will take about 10 years
to have a negligible effect on fuel prices, is too worried
about environmental repercussions to allow Solar
Power Plants to be built.
These same plants could supply 10% of US homes
with clean, cheap and completely renewable
electricity.
So, let’s be clear. There is a loud cry to get quicker
and less stringently regulated Oil and Natural Gas
drilling approvals, but we need to be really careful
about moving ahead with Solar?
At this point, many of you are shaking your heads
and saying one of two things.
1. Hey! John McCain is offering a $300M bounty
for a Car Battery! He is really serious about these
issues!
2. Obama is definitely the way to go so that we can
get away from this administrations ties to Big Oil!
And yes, I am aware that there are many more points
that each camp would like to make on this subject.
Unfortunately, it all amounts to a lot of finger pointing
at the other side, with exclamations of “They’re Worse!”
Any impartial observer cannot help but notice that
the important questions are going not just unanswered,
but not even asked.
Eisenhower famously warned about the dangers of the
Industrial Military Complex. Not even he could have
predicted a time when things had gone so far that even
the much touted “Free Press” would have long since
been bought out by them.
It is also painfully obvious that the revolution of ideas,
innovation and design that is so alive in other parts of
the globe, will have to get along without the “Land of
the Free”.
We are too busy being fleeced by those that are afraid
that their might still be some advantage left in squeezing
the last depreciating dollar from the middle and lower
classes. Or perhaps they are just making sure they have
completely extinguished once and for all, any glimmer
of that belief that we began with…
So while the politicians on all sides battle over
semantics, and peddle fear as a means to power…
While intelligence, rational thought and any real desire
to make a difference for the better are punished brutally
in this country…
While Keith Olbermann, Bill O’Reilly, Al Franken and
Ann Coulter rip one another’s flesh over anything they
can while adding nothing of any value to the debate…
We may one day get our “Flying Cars”.
Like the 150 MPG Automobile however, it will evidently
have to come from Hungary.
Eat a peach!
Floyd Bogart
