Friday, January 13, 2012

January 13



“You can't propagandize on social media. I just don’t think propaganda works on social media at all.”

--The Secretary of State’s Senior Advisor for Innovation Alec Ross at america.gov on Twitter (January 10); via; on social media, see also "Enjoy This Killer App for the Holidays!"; image from; see also: "Humor" from New Media Guru Jared Cohen posted on Facebook

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

2012: The Year of the New gTLD Program and the Year to Support ICANN - Part I - Sophia Bekele, circleid.com: "[A] reason why the United States government tries its level best to ensure a free Internet is because it serves its foreign policy goals with respect to public diplomacy and outreach at very minimal cost. Internet-enabled protest movements are bringing down undemocratic governments faster than any overt regime-change effort or ideology has managed to do in the past.

Judging from the recent experience of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and now Syria, it would have been very difficult for a successful case to have been made for the military invasion of Iraq — but this is 2012 and not 2003 when there was no Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. A contemporary argument would be: 'we need not send a large military force to achieve regime change; let the people have their Internet access, and their Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and let them mobilize, organize themselves on social media and bring about political change themselves.'" Bekele image from article

21st Century Bypasses Embassy Baghdad - Peter Van Buren, We Mean Well: "Crowing about how State is now the cool kids to eat lunch with, spokescoolperson Victoria Nuland held the first Twitter briefing of 2012 as part of 'January is 21st Century Statecraft Month' (February will be 'IBM Selectric Month.') Ms. Nuland noted that 'more than 100 of our embassies have Facebook or Twitter accounts, or sometimes both,' meaning there are still more accounts in my daughter’s high school lunch room than at State worldwide.

Since the tech has been around for a century, maybe the rest of the posts can sign up soon– it’s free to join LOL LMAO! One mission that just can’t seem to get Tweeting is the World’s Largest Embassy (c), Baghdad, still without a first Tweet." Image from

The Intrigues of Persia: Humanitarian gestures and covert actions won't stop Iran's bomb - Review and Outlook, Wall Street Journal: "[T]o judge by last November's report on Iran's nuclear programs by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran is closer than ever to a bomb. That's despite the Stuxnet computer worm, the assassinations, and last year's mysterious explosion at a missile factory. What goes in the

cloak-and-dagger world also goes for public diplomacy. Americans can take pride in last week's dramatic rescue by the destroyer USS Kidd of 13 Iranian sailors who had spent 40 days as hostages of Somali pirates. But if the Administration thought that would break the tension following Iran's threats over the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran had other ideas. Days after the Kidd rescue, Iran imposed a death sentence on 28-year-old Amir Hekmati, an Arizona-born Iranian-American and former U.S. Marine. Mr. Hekmati was charged with spying for the CIA and convicted of being moharebe, or an enemy of God, the worst offense in the Iranian penal code. The U.S. government categorically denies that Mr. Hekmati worked as a spy." Image from

Parsippany resident to exhibit in U.S. Embassy - northjersey.com: "Dannielle Mick, of Parsippany, has been chosen by Ambassador George Krol to exhibit her art for two years in the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan as part of the Federal Art in Embassies Program. The art of Danielle Mick will be on exhibit in the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan for one year. The exhibitions and collections include original works of art by U.S. and host country artists, which compliment the architecture and interior design of the designated representational spaces.

'It is very gratifying to have been selected to participate in this important government arts program,' said Mick, who admitted to being surprised by this unexpected honor. The U.S. Department of State's Office of Art in Embassies (AIE) is a public and private partnership, which plays a vital role in the nation's public diplomacy through an expansive mission of temporary exhibitions and permanent collections, cultural exchange, and publications. Art in Embassies has had small exhibitions of works by U.S. artists for the public rooms of U.S. ambassadorial residences overseas since 1963." Image from article, with caption:
The art of Danielle Mick will be on exhibit in the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan for one year.

United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy – no more -  To Inform is To Influence: "Madam Secretary, may I ask why you are not fighting to keep, maintain and build the tools you need to properly conduct Public Diplomacy? One of the United States’ Department of State and Public Diplomacy’s greatest allies was the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. ... According to the Public Diplomacy Council’s website, during the budget cutting prior to the last Continuing Resolution, one senator decided it would be wise to cut the $135,000 needed to fund the USAC on PD. A number of senior diplomats contributed their thoughts and dismay. Let me put my spin on this, please bear with me. Let me use the situation with China as an example. According to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate report, Another U.S. Deficit – China and America – Public Diplomacy in the Age of the Internet, there is a huge discrepancy in Public Diplomacy between the United States and China, posted on Senator Lugar’s page. One Senator whose identity is officially unknown to me decided that the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy was no longer needed, in my opinion blatantly disregarding the recommendations of their own report. ... While the Chinese have reportedly increased their spending to $8 Billion dollars for their Public Diplomacy programs (they actually call it Foreign Propaganda), we are cutting back on what few resources we actually have. US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy – gone. The Broadcast Board of Governors, responsible for much of the public broadcast into denied areas, cut to the bone. R, the Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs is not only vacant, but has been vacant for longer than it has been filled. The Department of Defense kept their corresponding programs intact, does reaching out to foreign audiences around the world have to default to DoD once again? At DoD, they profit greatly from all kinds of advisory panels, support groups, business alliances, etc. When DoD’s budget is under attack, they can count on those organizations to come to the military’s defense. State has none of these, or at least now one fewer. State also has virtually no one speaking up for its interests.

Madame [sic] Secretary, if you are at all serious about Public Diplomacy, fix this mess!" Image from

A Missed Opportunity? - Sarah Schaffer, The Will and the Wallet: Blog by Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense: "With everyone in Washington spun up in the recent defense strategy rollout and imminent cuts, BFAD Budgeting for Foreign Affairs] and Defense wanted to take a step back to shed some light on an underreported omission in the omnibus 2012 spending bill: the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (ACPD). ... [W]hat is dramatic about the ACPD’s termination is that it comes on the heels of 'countless studies, articles, and opinion pieces [that] have announced that US strategic communication and public diplomacy are in crisis and are inadequate to meet current demand.' According to a 2009 Rand report that collected and reviewed these studies, there was a clear consensus among the various recommendations calling for greater leadership and coordination across departments and agencies."

PD Commission KIA by Congress; Welcome Back, Matt Armstrong - diplopundit.blogspot.com: On April last year, we posted about Matt Armstrong, author and publisher of MountainRunner.us, when he was sworn in as the Executive Director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (ACPD). At that time, he also suspended his popular blog, including the publishing of guest posts, at MountainRunner.us. Last December, after 63 years of existence, the Commission was KIA by Congress. And the USG saved $135,065, the Commission's operating budget for FY2011 (salaries excepted). ... You can read more about ACPD's demise from the Public Diplomacy Council, ComOps Journal and eVentures in Cyberland. We're happy to welcome Matt back

to the blogosphere; just wish it were under different circumstances. ... This might be a good time for the Congress, the State Department, and the White House to have a board of experts look into how the Government organizes and conducts activities intended to understand, inform, and influence foreign publics." Image from

BBG Watch launches Public Diplomacy section, warns against diminished public oversight of U.S. international broadcasting
- BBGWatcher, BBG Watch: "With the unfortunate demise of the United States Diplomacy Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, citizen input into how public funds are spent on public diplomacy and international broadcasting is rapidly diminishing to almost nothing. BBG Watch continues to monitor the activities of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), as does the recently-formed nongovernmental and independent Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB). But there is not much

monitoring of how U.S. public diplomacy interacts with U.S. international broadcasting. If the BBG plan to de-federalize the Voice of America (VOA) is adopted, Americans will have even less to say how their money is spend on spreading America’s message abroad by a proposed new corporate entity. Public scrutiny of U.S. international broadcasting will be drastically diminished. Removing the BBG and VOA from the public sphere into a corporate commercial sphere is likely to make them even less transparent and less accountable than they are now. It will also make them less able to represent America and American citizens and less able to offer a powerful message of support for free press and democratic values." Image from

Radio Free Europe is involved in these "tales of Cold War intrigue" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Public Diplomacy, Smith-Mundt and the American Public - Emily T. Metzgara,
Communication Law and Policy (Volume 17, Issue 1, 2012)" "Abstract: The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, also known as the Smith-Mundt Act, is a mostly unknown and widely misunderstood piece of legislation. Revised multiple times, the law bans domestic dissemination of Voice of America and other U.S. international broadcast content in the United States. Presenting government-supported international broadcasting as an example of public diplomacy, this article discusses the long-term misrepresentation of Smith-Mundt's original intent and highlights the consequences of the continuing ban.

The article considers prospects for ending the ban and emphasizes potential opportunities presented by its elimination, concluding that ending the ban might eliminate incongruity between American foreign policy goals of democracy promotion and the reality of banned domestic content. Repeal of the ban may also result in unexpected remedies for challenges facing the American media industry and the American public's desire for international news. The United States government may be the largest broadcaster that few Americans know about. Although its networks reach 100 countries in 59 languages, they are banned from distribution in the United States by a 1948 law devised to prevent the government from turning its propaganda machine on its own citizens."  Image from, accompanying the comment (July 2010) that: "CQ Weekly, a publication covering Capitol Hill, ran a story by Tim Starks titled “For Their Ears Only” on the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2010."

Former CNN correspondent kicks off 2012 Public Diplomacy Series with film about Nixon’s historic China visit: Dubbed as the week that “changed the course of history,” former President Richard Nixon’s visit to China in February 1972 - The event is part of the Korbel School’s new Public Diplomacy Series. Retired Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey (MA ’80) kicked off the series during fall quarter. 'Public diplomacy is central to our country’s foreign and defense policies,' says Korbel School Dean Christopher Hill. 'The Public Diplomacy Lecture Series will provide students with a learned and global perspective of the issues of the day as we educate the next generation of diplomats.'”

Image from article, with caption: Former CNN senior Asia correspondent Mike Chinoy brings his new documentary "Assignment: China – The Week that Changed the World" to the Cable Center on Jan. 19.

Comprehending the incomprehensible – Part I - Martin Sherman, Jerusalem Post: "One of the gravest strategic threats facing Israel is its accelerating international delegitimization.


This is developing into a strategic constraint that is increasingly curtailing the nation’s ability to protect itself and its citizens. Even more troubling, it is undermining international recognition of Israel’s right to exercise self-defense, even in the most blatant cases of aggression against it. Without wishing to diminish the significance of innate hostility towards Israel and the Jews from many sources in the international system, the present dismal and untenable situation has arisen in large measure because of the abysmal job the Israeli leadership has done in conducting – or more accurately, misconducting – its public diplomacy. Indeed, Prof. Eitan Gilboa, a well-known authority on public diplomacy, warns: The lack of an adequate PD [public diplomacy] program has significantly affected Israel’s strategic outlook and freedom of action. Any further neglect of PD would not only restrict Israel’s strategic options, it would be detrimental to its ability to survive in an increasingly intolerant and hostile world.' ... For anyone seeking the principal reason why Israel is losing the public diplomacy war, the answer is difficult to accept, yet very easy to prove. Israel is losing the battle because it doesn’t want to win. Or to put it differently: The people charged with the nation’s public diplomacy have a worldview that prevents them from adopting a winning strategy. Indeed, this chronic malaise was aptly diagnosed by Daniel Pipes when he observed: 'No one at the upper echelons of Israel’s political life articulates the imperative for victory.' ... Israel’s public diplomacy budget is ludicrously small. Indeed, as one government minister bemoaned: 'It is dreadful to hear that Bamba (a snack produced by the Osem corporation), has a promotional budget two to three times the size of the total state budget for public diplomacy.' ... [T]the senior professionals charged with conducting the county’s public diplomacy are drawn from – and interface with – the elites . ... In effect, this precludes them from adopting any strategy that would undermine their own worldview and dooms Israeli efforts to failure. ... Israeli hasbara is an ineffective joke." Image from

Government Press Office doing PR for the settler movement - Noam Sheizaf, 972mag.com: "It seems that every state agency in Israel is becoming a tool in the effort to further colonize the West Bank and deepen the control over the lives of Palestinians. Soon after the government reached an internal “deal” with the settler movement that would keep the families who settled in a so-called 'illegal' outpost on the ground, the Government Press Office – once in charge of handling press cards and other bureaucratic duties – is now engaging in propaganda efforts on behalf of the settlers. A few days ago, the foreign press corps received the following mail, inviting members to an ideological tour in the heart of the settler land – 'Samaria,' in the north of the West Bank ... : 'Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Government Press Office Jerusalem, 12 January 2012 TO: Foreign Journalists in Israel FROM: Israel Government Press Office GPO TOUR OF THE SHOMRON (SAMARIA) REGIONAL COUNCIL We are pleased to invite you to a tour (in English) of the Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council on Thursday, 19.1.12, from 09:30-16:30. Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein will participate."

MK Eldad Meets Youth: Torah is Source to our Right to Israel‎ - Arutz Sheva "Non-observant youth from the Hatikvah party gathered on Thursday in the party’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, and met with MK Aryeh Eldad. Hatikvah, which Eldad heads, is a secular right-wing party which was formed in 2007. The party joined the National Union’s list in the 2009 elections.

The goals of Thursday’s gathering were to come up with ways to expose the party to the non-observant Israeli public, as well as give an official address to which young people with a common ideology and who identify with the party can turn. At the conclusion of the meeting, the members decided to establish a Zionist public diplomacy campaign through the Internet and also to begin 'spreading the word' about the party in university campuses, so young people who identify with the right can join." Image from article, with caption: Hatikvah party youth meet.

India Blog Series: Citizens in Action - Anna Dawson, CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "While there are many approaches to dealing with Indian-Pakistani relations, one thing remains clear: the potential for citizen-led efforts to make a difference is huge and can help change attitudes between communities. The work that these groups and others like them have done and will continue to do can make up for the lack of people-power in the Indian government that hinders their public diplomacy efforts."

Africa: New Discipline, New Paradigm and New Strategy-Transformation of China's Diplomacy - Horace G. Campbell, allafrica.com: "Shen Guofeng ... is the Chief Editor of World Affairs Press and former Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs. His presentation went directly at the threats to China from the internationalisation and militarisation of the issues of the South China Sea. ... Shen Guofeng called on China to be alert to predict the fast moving changes that confront the international system. He mentioned that there are a number of forces converging and cooperating to face China and that these forces will come back to bite China if China does not act. China needs resources to respond not only at the official level but also at the level of researchers. It is important to deploy these researchers to have

predictive diplomacy. This kind of diplomacy was more needed for social and economic issues. This predictive diplomacy needed more transparency in certain areas. It is here where China needs to strengthen public diplomacy. China needs a transformation of its diplomacy to change traditional roles of diplomats and their roles in foreign affairs." Image from

Taiwan off to the polls - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "My former stomping ground Taiwan is off to the polls on saturday in what is going to be a squeaker. President Ma of the KMT is in a closely-contested race with Tsai Ing-Wen of the DPP. ... The reality in Taiwan is that only the fringes want outright unification or outright independence. The vast majority in the middle want to preserve Taiwan's status quo. The DPP essentially argues that the more Taiwan shows it independence in public diplomacy, culture and policy, the more the international community will appreciate that they have a separate identity from mainland. Meanwhile, the KMT takes a more pragmatic approach of conciliation with China on the premise that the situation is a long-term struggle."

Cultural diplomacy--what's not to love? - Debbie Trent, atransnationalvillager: "Though the Australian government and the Indonesian people have their differences, one diplomat from down

under has figured out how to connect with at least some music lovers in the country with the largest Muslim population. So far, the arrangement sounds like it's working out: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9007155/Australian-diplomat-becomes-Indonesian-singing-sensation.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WhatsNewInPd+%28What%27s+New+in+Public+Diplomacy%29#When:19:55:53Z [.]" Image from

Techniques Of Propaganda And Persuasion - nobelilej.livejournal.com: "Start reading Techniques of Propaganda and Persuasion on your Kindle in under a minute. Don't miss out on today's irresistible deal. Students will answer true/false and multiple choice questions regarding persuasion and propaganda techniques. Online Etymology Dictionary ^ Garth Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell, Propaganda and Persuasion. Trade in Propaganda and Persuasion for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to Ј9.55, which you. When most people think of propaganda, they tend to think of the posters and songs created by or with the aid of a government during wartime, yet the truth of the matter is that. You can read this book with iBooks on your iPhone, iPad, or. It covers popular propaganda techniques in the past century, as well as contemporary uses for propaganda. Lying and deception can be the basis of many propaganda techniques including Ad Homimen. Get a free sample or buy Techniques of Propaganda and Persuasion by Magedah E. Shabo on the iTunes Store. Power of persuasion; Propaganda film; Propaganda glossary; Propaganda Model;

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RELATED ITEMS

Video of Marines urinating on corpses could become anti-U.S. propaganda - James K. Sanborn and Tom Vanden Brook, Detroit Free Press: The U.S. Marines and the Obama administration promised Thursday a full investigation into a video that purports to depict four U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters, images that could be used as propaganda by America's enemies, experts said. "The behavior depicted in the video is wholly inconsistent with the high standards of conduct and warrior ethos that we have demonstrated throughout our history," said Gen. James Amos, the Marine Corps commandant. The images may be used by the Taliban to convince Afghans that Americans disrespect Islamic traditions, said Richard Kohn, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina and a military historian. But the effect will probably be limited, particularly among the American public.

Afghanistan's future: With a stalemate in the war, the surest road to peace and stability is through talks with the Taliban - Editorial, Los Angeles Times. Last week, the Taliban announced plans to open a political office in Qatar, the opening move for a resumption in talks. Making a deal that grants concessions

to the Taliban would be hard for the Obama administration during an election year, and negotiating with murderous zealots who sheltered Al Qaeda is more than a little distasteful, but few foreign policy decisions could be more crucial. Image from article, with caption: A U.S. soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is seen on foot patrol in Kandahar, Afghanistan

Negotiating peace in Afghanistan without repeating Vietnam - James Dobbins, Washington Post: "In 2010 I joined several former officials in testing the waters for an Afghan peace process by talking to all the potential participants, including Taliban intermediaries. We concluded that the time was right and so advised the U.S. administration. Certainly the United States will need to be prepared to enforce any agreements it reaches in such talks. Whether Washington proves willing to do so will depend not on the presence or absence of a peace agreement but, rather, on the resilience of U.S. support for a commitment that will certainly require no more of it in the presence of an accord than in its absence."

Taliban ‘optimistic’ about peace talks with U.S.: Says prisoner exchange will follow once the deal is done - Kristina Wong, The Washington Times

Assessing the Afghan war: Guess what? We aren't winning - Paul Whitefield, Opinion L.A.: Observations and provocations from The Times' Opinion staff, Los Angeles Times: We can't do much about Afghanistan now. President Obama says we'll be out by 2014. Good. Hopefully he sticks to that plan. But we need to make sure there aren't any more Afghanistans.

Image from article, with caption: The remains of Lance Cpl. Donald Hogan are returned to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Hogan is to be awarded the Navy Cross for bravery in Afghanistan

Iranians jeer U.S., Israel as slain nuclear expert buried - Thousands of mourners chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" on Friday during the funeral of a slain nuclear expert whom Iranian officials accuse the two nations of killing in a bomb blast this week as part of a secret operation to stop Iran's nuclear program.

Herding Americans to War With Iran - Robert Parry, opednews.com: For many Americans the progression toward war with Iran has the feel of cattle being herded from the stockyard into the slaughterhouse, pressed steadily forward with no turning back, until some guy shoots a bolt into your head. Any suggestion of give-and-take negotiations with Iran is mocked, while alarmist propaganda, a ratcheting up of sanctions, and provocative actions -- like Wednesday's assassination of yet another Iranian scientist -- push Americans closer to what seems like an inevitable bloodletting. Fitting with that propaganda strategy, the Washington Post's editorial page, which is essentially the neocons' media flagship, published a lead editorial on Wednesday urging harsher and harsher sanctions against Iran and ridiculing anyone who favored reduced tensions. The escalating neocon demands for an ever-harder U.S. line against Iran -- and Israel's apparent campaign of killings and sabotage inside Iran -- come at a time when President Barack Obama and some of his inner circle appear to be looking again for ways to defuse tensions. But the Post's editorial -- and similar neocon propaganda -- have made clear that any move toward reconciliation will come with a high political price tag.

Dangerous Tension With Iran - Editorial, New York Times: We don’t know whether any mix of sanctions and inducements could persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. There is another option besides force: negotiations with the United States and other major powers over curbing Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for ending sanctions and diplomatic isolation. Iran’s fractured leadership so far has not committed to serious talks, but President Obama and his allies have not paid enough attention to that alternative.

Iran and the U.S. need a way to communicate - David Ignatius, Washington Post: The Obama administration’s squeeze on Iran has been powerful, but also carefully calibrated.T he pressure campaign has international support, and there’s no reason to stop it. But this is a moment when a U.S. emissary should make clear that Iran has a choice — it can seek to be a nuclear-weapons power or remain an oil power, but not both — and communicate that to someone who can report directly to Ayatollah Khamenei.

Localizing the Global Message - nmen.org: Al-Qaeda Shifts Propaganda to Local Oriented Media Companies Announcements published on jihadi forums in recent weeks regarding the establishment of several new media companies signal a new propaganda effort on the part of Al-Qaeda and the global jihad movement to promote their worldview through local channels and in a local context.

The campaign coincides with a lowering of the public profile of Al-Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which in the past year has been operating under the name Ansar Al-Shari’a. Image from

Near-riot prompts Apple to halt iPhone 4S release in China: The device has sold out at the company's five China stores. When one store refused to open, a mob responded by throwing eggs. - Jonathan Kaiman and John Lee, Los Angeles Times.

The company says the phones won't be available in China "for the time being." Image from article with caption: A Chinese police officer stands guard outside the Apple store in Beijing's Sanlitun shopping district.

Will N.Korea's Dynastic Succession Work? - Han Sung-joo, english.chosun.com: It has been almost a month since North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's death, and there has been a considerable amount of controversy whether the sorrow expressed by the North Korean public was genuine or not. Those who claim that the dramatic expressions of grief were genuine say that they were the result of brain washing, state propaganda and demagoguery. Those who doubt their sincerity say that most North Koreans must be aware of the true state of the country under Kim’s iron-fisted rule: some North Koreans may be saddened by his death, but the vast majority are probably not.

AMERICANA

Record number of Americans 55 and older are working - Michael Winter, USA Today: Fear of not having enough money to live on in retirement is one of the "primary economic forces" cited by experts.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a 12% increase (3.1 million) in the number of 55-and-older workers. By contrast, there's been a 6.5% drop (6.5 million) in workers 25 to 54 years old. Image from article

-- "Lobsters in the Pot: Is Privacy Still Possible?," - Patricia Lee Sharpe, Whirled View: "Personal privacy is a thing of the past for those who wish to board an airplane. We must be scanned or wanded or patted down, and if we are too sassy, we’ll be interrogated in a frightening little room, like criminals, which means the flight will leave without us. Although we are assured that no other passengers can see our nakedness, the fact is that we are undressed by the machinery operated by TSA personnel, who can view our underwire bras, the titaniam repairs to broken bones, the depth of our fat layers, the subtle details of our posture, thus totally violating our bodily integrity. Worse, official assurances not withstanding, we have no way to prove that our images are not stored, like fingerprints, for future purposes beyond our control. Herded along like cattle, we dare not utter a word of protest. We cannot make jokes. We can’t protest too vehemently when a pat down is too intimate or a person with a colostomy bag is humiliated. We must simply put up and shut up, even though we know that this supposedly sophisticated equipment routinely misses dangerous weapons and that the regs about lotions and so on have no basis in science. Maybe the whole purpose of the exercise is to teach us docility."

--Woman calls police to report that she was sold sugar, not crack, by her crack dealer - Xeni Jardin, Boing Boing: 47-year-old Suzanne Basham of Springfield, Missouri called police to report that she had paid $40 for crack cocaine that turned out to be sugar, and wanted her dealer arrested. She is now in jail.

--Late Night Joke Dump: January 13, 2012 - Mondoreb: "According to a new study, people with liberal arts degrees are experiencing much higher rates of joblessness. So for all of you Greeks classics majors out there, the sweet ride is finally over." –Conan

DRINK WHITE, NOT RED

Red Wine Researcher Accused of Falsifying Data on Health Benefits - foxnews.com: Dr. Dipak Das, a University of Connecticut researcher known for his work on red wine's benefits to cardiovascular health falsified his data in more than 100 instances, university officials said Wednesday. The university's health center recently

declined to accept $890,000 in federal grants awarded to Das as its review was under way, and has frozen all other external funding for his lab. Das also gained attention in 2009 after publishing a study that concluded crushed garlic provided protection for heart health than processed garlic. Image from article, wtih caption: Dipak Das with grapes and wine glasses at his office at the UConn Health Center in Farmington, Conn

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