State of Play on riverbendblogS

Just a couple of words on the current situations on Troy's most recent blog at riverbendblogS. (To be perfectly clear I don't really believe he's responsible for Just Around the River Bend. It's much too well-written and mature sounding).

riverbendblogS now features on the right-hand margin a picture of a gaunt, dark-skinned man holding a somewhat come-hither expression I think it's fair to say. Whether this is supposed to be represent the face of the "blogger", whether Troy has just decided to decorate his page with some eye candy from his private collection, or whether this is the face of Troy's new love Justin of whom he written giddily in recent days is very difficult to say. (Could... not... resist...)

OK seriously it looks like Troy has just stolen another image, and Troy - you seriously seem to be suggesting this person has an affiliation with your site. Again I can't find the source because Troy has put the picture in his angelfire location. But is there really any reason to have that photo there other than to falsely suggest this is the blog's author? Not that I can think of...

Troy also has come out of the closet here as a Bush supporter - he is now hosting not one but two links to a site called BushBlog 2004. As one would expect this seems to be a collection of jointly themed blogs on the subject of hedgerows in the new millenium.

He also has a link to something called the Original Rriverbend riverbend.blogspot.com (note the two 'r's) which is the original Riverbend in the same sense Jesus' mother is the original Madonna - sure those guys may have had the title first, but neither of them really managed to garner the widespread popular appeal of their more famous successors.

Troy also links to his other riverSbendblog but he does not, link to the original Iraqi Riverbend blogger. Plainly that "Original Riverbend" link is another intentional sideswipe at Riverbend.

Elsewhere the riverbendblogS site contains a lot of plagiarised and unattributed sources mostly military but some other news sources which, where they lean at all, tend to lean to the right. I'm going to detail those at the end.

(Written after google search) You know that was really, really boring. I doubt I could be bothered to repeat the experience. I'm not intending to provide exact links to all Troy's stories again because really what's the point? - we all know what they're about, and the kinds of places he gets them from. What I would quite look to discover is if he gets these directly from another portal where they are all collated. If that's the case then it further undermines the very slender claims his blog has to legitimacy.

At the moment the blog isn't really all that sinister. He shouldn't have the photo of that man there, unless of course he's got the man's permission, which I think it's fair to say is doubtful. He shouldn't really make that little "original" dig at Riverbend - it does help to demonstrate his hostile intent. And maybe he should be more open about where he's getting his material from and his personal background.

But the bottom line is, as it has always been, he set up this site here to attempt to confuse people about Riverbend, who he hates. He's cybersquatting on a domain chosen for that purpose. If he did most of this stuff at a different location with a clear name distinction where it's made plain he is not an Iraqi that would be fair enough. But as is the site is still meriting close attention and ridicule. And it still is not a "blog" under the common usage of the term.

Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Iraqi Court Convicts Former Governor
This is from the Associated Press

Thursday, November 06, 2003
Iraqis pledge safety in '04
This is from Paul Martin of the Washington Times

Sunday, November 09, 2003
Processing center brings in new Iraqi soldiers
This is from CJTF7 Media (A US Army Publication)

101st, new Iraqi security forces find caches, detain criminals
CJTF7 again (stands for Combined Joint Task Force 7)

TASK FORCE OPERATIONS PROVE SUCCESSFUL
This is from US Central Command

Thursday, November 13, 2003
1st Armored Division strikes back in Operation Iron Hammer
This is from US Central Command again

20 detained in a series of 101st raids
US Central Command again

Iraqis lead 101st soldiers to IEDs, weapons turned in
And again

82nd Airborne Division ("All-American") soldiers kill 6, wound 4; defend hospital
CTJF7 again

Friday, November 14, 2003
The Rat Will Surface Sooner or Later
This is one of Troy's most creative entries in a while. It cuts lines from Scott McClellan in with some from Reuters Incredibly it seems as if the entire 7 word headline was all Troy's own work. Except I suppose for the 5 word phrase "will surface sooner or later" which was spoken by Scott McClellan. Still that leaves a whole 2 words - and coming from Troy that's practically Middlemarch.

Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Agreement on Political Process

Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Coalition Puts $10 Million Bounty on Former Regime Official
This is from Newsday