Tip of the Hat to Contributing Editor John Steiner for ending the day on this note.
Graphic: America the Beautiful
Balance, Citizen-Centered, Reform, Strategy-Holistic CoherenceGraphic: May the Crowd Be With You…
Analysis, Balance, Citizen-Centered, Earth Orientation, Innovation, Leadership-Integrity, Multinational Plus, Policies-Harmonization, Processing, Reform, Strategy-Holistic Coherence, Tribes
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Secrecy News: The Costs of War & More (CRS)
03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Corruption, Military, Peace IntelligenceTHE COSTS OF WAR, AND MORE FROM CRS
As of March 2011, Congress had approved a total of more than $1.2 trillion dollars for costs associated with the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and other post-9/11 “war on terror” operations, the Congressional Research Service said in its most recent update on the subject. See “The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11,” March 29, 2011.
Other new or newly updated CRS reports include the following (all pdf).
“Afghanistan Casualties: Military Forces and Civilians,” April 6, 2011.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Terrorism Investigations,” April 27, 2011.
“U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF): Background and Issues for Congress,” March 28, 2011.
“Sensitive Covert Action Notifications: Oversight Options for Congress,” April 6, 2011.
“Covert Action: Legislative Background and Possible Policy Questions,” April 6, 2011
See Also:
Graphic: Medard Gabel’s Cost of Peace versus War
Journal: Over $1 trillion Wasted on Wars, Veterans and Families of Veterans Vocal Against Both Elective Wars
Secrecy News: Costs of Major US Wars, Contractors in Iraq & AF, Drones & Homeland Sec
Call for Open Wireless Movement
Autonomous Internet
Why We Need An Open Wireless Movement
Call To Action by Peter Eckersley
If you sometimes find yourself needing an open wireless network in order to check your email from a car, a street corner, or a park, you may have noticed that they're getting harder to find.
Stories like the one over the weekend about a bunch of police breaking down an innocent man's door because he happened to leave his network open, as well as general fears about slow networks and online privacy, are convincing many people to password-lock their WiFi routers.
The gradual disappearance of open wireless networks is a tragedy of the commons, with a confusing twist of privacy and security debate. This essay explains why the progressive locking of wireless networks is harmful — for convenience, for privacy and for efficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum.
We will need a political and technological “Open Wireless Movement” to reverse the degradation of this indispensable component of the Internet's infrastructure. Part of the task will simply be reminding people that opening their WiFi is the socially responsible thing to do, and explaining that individuals who choose to do so can enjoy the same legal protections against liability as any other Internet access provider.1 Individuals, including Bruce Schneier and Cory Doctorow, have laid some of the groundwork. It's time to spead the message far and wide.
But an Open Wireless Movement will also need to do technical work: we need to build new technologies to ensure that people have an easy way to share a portion of their bandwidth without affecting the performance of their own network connections while at the same time ensuring that there is absolutely no privacy downside to running an open wireless network.
The wireless world we ought to live in
Graphic: Obama Hawaii Birth in TWO Newspapers PLUS Repudiation of Forged Kenyan Document
Citizen-Centered
See Also:
Top 10 Jokes About Obama's Birth Certificate
Kenyan Birth Certificate: Obama Birthers Latch On To Forgery
Definitive Repudiation of the Kenyan Forgery
Phi Beta Iota: Hard to dispute this–which brings up the question, why wasn't a decent briefing package put together from day one, and why is the Kenyan document still getting so much traction?
Group of Links:
Overcoming the political divide, but not through facts!
03 Economy, 04 Education, 06 Family, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Articles & Chapters, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, InfoOps (IO), Methods & Process, Misinformation & Propaganda
This is a great analysis of how the liberal/conservative political divide persists, and a suggested path to solving it. By Ethan Zuckerman at the Berkman Center.
Great quote up front:
“You don’t lead with the facts in order to convince. You lead with the values — so as to give the facts a fighting chance.”
04/25/2011 (11:41 am)
Overcoming political polarization… but not through facts
A recent New York Times poll suggests that Americans are in a dark mood. 70% of people think the country is moving in the wrong direction, a number not seen since the peak of the Great Recession two years ago. Their frustration may stem from higher gas prices or continued unemployment, but at least some commentators believe that a key factor is popular frustration with a dysfunctional government that doesn’t seem able to address the issues the US is facing.
Read entire piece with many links….
Phi Beta Iota: This has been upgraded to a reference. Brother Steiner has brought forward one of the most elegant reviews of the conflicts between beliefs, values, facts, and needs that we have seen. This is a deep and broad article whose substance–and the links therein–merit appreciation by all who wish to advance the public's common interest.
