Month: June 2011

Posted on

ACDU O-6: Mendacity [on AF] is Egregious–Sickening UPDATED with Comment from In-Country O-5

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, InfoOps (IO), IO Impotency, IO Sense-Making, Journalism/Free-Press/Censorship, Media, Military, Misinformation & Propaganda, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence, Policy
Chuck Spinney Recommends...

UPDATED with Comment from O-5 (at end).

This email is from an active duty colonel who travels all over Afghanistan. He actually goes on foot patrols with troops to see things for himself. Here is his latest report.  His message is bad Ju Ju, I am afraid.

Chuck Spinney
La Ciotat, France

To All,

The mendacity is getting so egregious that I am fast losing the ability to remain quiet; these yarns of “significant progress” are being covered up by the blood and limbs of hundreds – HUNDREDS – of American uniformed service members each and every month, and you know that the rest of this summer is going to see the peak of that bloodshed.

The article by Michael O'Hanlon last week (i.e. Success worth paying for in Afghanistan) and the one in today's WSJ by Kagan and Kagan (i.e., We Have the Momentum in Afghanistan) made me sick to my stomach – especially the latter.  Have you seen it yet?  It is the most breathless piece of yellow journalism I’ve seen in the entire OIF-OEF generation.

Continue reading “ACDU O-6: Mendacity [on AF] is Egregious–Sickening UPDATED with Comment from In-Country O-5”

Posted on

Tokyo Hackerspace assists in radiation detection

07 Health, Hacking, Technologies

Source: David Daw of PC World

(pieces of the article)
The initial Geiger counters used in the project were from the Reuseum, an Idaho business that recycles old technology to new homes.

Tokyo Hackerspace worked to expand the sensor network with Safecast (formerly RDTN) and Geiger Maps JP, two sites that aggregate and visualize radiation data.

The project began as a way to collect and distribute more-recent radiation information than the government was releasing, in an effort to keep Tokyo residents calm. On March 13, just a day after the explosions at Fukushima, Tokyo Hackerspace was working on getting its own radiation data. The government took almost a week to begin releasing public radiation data, and even then the data was sporadic.

See: Safecast.org

Thanks to those posting to the InSTEDD Twitter feed.

Posted on

Cynthia McKinney from Libya: NATO Attacking Civilians

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency, Military
Cynthia McKinney

It is now 1:10 in the afternoon and as the daily life in Tripoli unfolds that includes teachers, staff, and children at school, shopkeepers working in their businesses, streetsweepers sweeping the streets, people moving to and fro in the cars, on bicycles, and on foot, Tripoli has thus far since around 11:00 up to now, received at least 29 bombs.

Interestingly, the efforts of the Washington Post, New York Times, Associated Press, and others to portray Libya claims on the bombings as “absurd” are patently false and are merely efforts to defend in the court of public opinion, the indefensible bombing of civilians going about their lives in a heavily populated area. The Washington Post headlined “Libya government fails to prove claims of NATO casualties” and the Los Angeles Times headline blared, “Libya officials put a spin on a conflict.” These bombs and missiles are not falling in empty spaces:  people are all over Tripoli going about their lives just as in any other major metropolitan city of about two million people.

Meanwhile, NATO has a spin machine of its own:  NATO says it is making “significant progress” in protecting Libyan civilians.  “What we did target was the military intelligence headquarters in downtown Tripoli,” the alliance said.  I am currently with a delegation of former MP's and professors from France who are here in Tripoli on a fact-finding mission.  The program for today was to visit the camps of internally displaced persons in this part of the country.  However, we are not able to complete our program while Tripoli is under attack.  I will do my best to visit some of the areas bombed today when/if this attack lets up.

What were you doing today between 1:00 and now?  The people of Tripoli endure the trauma of repeated bombings in their immediate environment.

Posted on

Search: Gates sniffed

Searches

We are very amused.  Normally we only post unsuccessful searches, but this one was so elegantly contrived we think it should be the meme that best describes the man.

Bob Gates, Chief Maintenance Clerk, Talks Crap — and the Wall Street Journal Goes Along…

Between the speech outline and the full-text presentation by Robert Steele made just prior to Gates' “sniffing,” we strongly recommend the latter to appreciate just how far in advance and how detailed the understanding was at the time, that Robert Gates and all other “mandarins” absolutely refused to consider.

Posted on

How Charities Cheat Everyone: The Bono Example

Corruption, Gift Intelligence, Non-Governmental

Bono's ONE foundation under fire for giving little over 1% of funds to charity By Daily Mail Reporter Daily Mail UK, 23rd September 2010 Bono's anti-poverty foundation ONE is under pressure to explain its finances after it was revealed that only a small percentage of money it raises reaches the needy. The non-profit organisation set up by the U2 frontman received almost £9.6million in donations in 2008 but handed out only £118,000 to good causes (1.2 per cent). The figures published by the New York Post also show that £5.1million went towards paying salaries.

Read rest of story….

Tip of the Hat to Justice Seeker at Facebook.

Phi Beta Iota: This fraudulent attribute afflicts almost all “charities” and most especially the Clinton and Bush “foundations” as well as the Red Cross.  Katrina and Haiti are classic examples of the fraud that is common.

Posted on

BitCoin: The Bubble versus The Trust

03 Economy, 11 Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, InfoOps (IO), Methods & Process
John Robb

THE BITCOIN BUBBLE

If you haven't already heard about bitcoin, the first popular cypto-currency, you soon will.  The idea for the currency is simple.  It's a software system that makes it possible to manufacture and trade (P2P), in a public and decentralized way, a limited digital resource.  That's it.

So why the interest in bitcoin?

Simple.  It appears to be gaining critical mass as a transactional currency that operates outside of the traditional monetary conduits (banks, SWIFT, etc.).  That fact alone has attracted lots of people to the system, despite the fact that it's not built to allow completely anonymous transactions (it can't be, given that it requires network broadcasts of every transaction to maintain the integrity of the system and prevent counterfeiting).

As a transactional currency that operates outside of traditional systems, it's actually a pretty good medium of exchange (particularly if those transactions are small and quick).  The problems arise when people confuse bitcoin's role as a transactional medium and its role as a store of value (as in: holding it as an asset).

Continue reading “BitCoin: The Bubble versus The Trust”