Cultural Intelligence – Page 816 – Public Intelligence Blog

Eliot Spitzer talks capitalism with one of the 99 percent

New York Magazine,21 October 2011

Last week, New York’s Mattathias Schwartz invited Occupy Wall Street protester Manissa Maharawal, a CUNY graduate student in anthropology, to discuss the movement and its impact over coffee with former New York governor and attorney general Eliot Spitzer. An extended transcript of their conversation is below.

FOUR EXTRACTS:

MM: Oh, okay. So we’re in the same system. As I was saying, one of the reasons this movement has been without demands is because without demands we can shift. The moment you have a list of demands, you have politicians take all of those demands and explain to you why they aren’t going to work.

ES: But in order to turn this into something other than a visceral cry of despair, you need to figure out how to confront the actual problems and issues. You need to think about all of this more rigorously. If you’re down in Zuccotti Park six months from now, having made it through a cold winter, I’m not sure whether you would deem that success. Trust me, the media won’t be paying as much attention six months from now if it’s just the same couple hundred people, right?

. . . . .

Continue reading “Eliot Spitzer: Conversation on Democracy & Occupy”

2011/10/26

John Robb: China Bans “Occupy” as Search Term

02 China, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Blog Wisdom, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, IO Impotency

‘Occupy' Now a Banned Search Term in China

A good rule of thumb for life is that if the Chinese government is against it, you're probably doing something right. The latest evidence to support this axiom is the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has spread from lower Manhattan to cities around the globe, including London, Auckland, Toronto, and Rome, among many others. Terrified by OWS' viral growth, the oppressive regime controlling China is taking measures to ensure the protests don't happen there. And it's starting with the internet.

Read full story.

2011/10/25

Venessa Miemis: Contact Conference Hot Wash-Up

11 Society, Autonomous Internet, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, InfoOps (IO)

venessa black & white new — Venessa Miemis

What the Contact Conference Was Really About

I am very grateful to have been able to take part in organizing the Contact Conference, an event that pitched itself as a working festival of innovation, a social technologies exhibitor space, and a celebration of the potential of a network culture.

And it was definitely all those things, so mission accomplished there. The energy in the room was great, the recipients of the three $1oK Innovation Awards worthy, and the four projects conceived and launched at the event exciting. (more details on those things below in Douglas Rushkoff’s letter to participants)

But that’s really only a part of the story.

The bigger picture here is that if we start from the premise that “the system is broken” or “we’re at a critical turning point’ or that “we’re in a global transition,” or any such broad sweeping statements about the functionality of our social/economic/political/environmental/technological/scientific systems, and the majority of the world’s population is either deeply dissatisfied or at the least has an itching feeling that there is something that is just not right… then the only sane choice left is to act.

Read full post.

2011/10/242011/10/24

Mini-Me: Ron Paul Wins Straw Poll in Ohio

Cultural Intelligence, Open Government, Policy

RUSSIA TODAY*

Ron Paul wins straw poll in Ohio

Are you still a fringe candidate when you pull in more than half of all votes? Just ask Ron Paul.

Even with the establishment cringing at his libertarian leanings and his ideas otherwise radical for a Republican candidate, Congressman Paul received nearly 54 percent of the votes in an Ohio straw poll over the weekend.

The Ohio Republican straw poll was held in the Buckeye State on Saturday, and the majority of the votes cast went to the Texas congressman who continues to show both success and support in his race for the GOP nomination, despite little attention from the mainstream media.

While news outlets have largely focused in recent weeks on the surging popularity of Herman Cain, the pizzaman only raked in nearly half of what Paul got in the straw poll. Following Paul’s first place victory, Cain came in second with around 26 percent of the votes. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney received around 9 percent, giving him a third place standing. Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, came in fourth.

Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, both considered top tier candidates earlier in the race, each received less than 5 percent of the vote. In recent weeks their popularity among Republican voters has shown extreme signs of decline.

Paul’s success continues to soar, although he has still not received the same media coverage favored for other Republican hopefuls. In an interview with Alex Jones’ Inforwars last month, former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura offered his support for the candidate. “Ron Paul can win. It’s out there. All you got to do is activate and get the silent voters out to vote,” said Ventura. “You have to give them a reason to see their vote.”

Read full story.

* Vastly better than US “mainstream” or UK BBC corrupted reporting.

See Also:

Ron Paul's running mate: Jesse Ventura?

Ralph Nader Hearts Ron Paul, Hails Potential Left-Libertarian Alliance

Mainstream media's blackout on Ron Paul

Fox freaks after Ron Paul wins debate

2011/10/242011/10/24

Penguin: Vatican Calls for World Government…Oopps

09 Justice, 11 Society, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Vatican

As Assisi takes place, Vatican announcement draws some severe commentary. Photo from the original story.

WHOOPS! Vatican Lets Slip Plans For One World Government

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Business Insider, 24 October 2011

In a widely-expected note on the financial crisis and economic justice, Vatican officials accidently call for the establishment of a One World Global “Authority” to regulate financial markets and national governments.

After gently noting that such a project is “a complex and delicate process,” the document begins to capitalize the word, “Authority” in the most unsettling, conspiracy-launching way possible:

Read commentary.

See English translation of original in unknown language (Latin?)

Review: The Health of Nations–Society and Law beyond the State

Review: The Collapse of Complex Societies

Phi Beta Iota: With the exception of the call for an “Authority” and complete ignorance of the alternatives to a new hierarchy, the Vatican document does not read as badly as the above critique suggests. It ends with a call for “unity in truth.” It does not address secular corruption as it should have.

2011/10/242011/10/24

DefDog: Department of State Screws Over Truth-Teller – Ties in to Robert Steele’s Legal Action Against DIA and DOHA

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, Intelligence (government), Military, Open Government, Resilience, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy

I am curious as to how this will play out in court if some of you come together to do a class action on State and Defense practices like this.

Diplomat Loses Top Secret Clearance for Linking to WikiLeaks

Kim Zetter

WIRED, 19 October 2011

A veteran U.S. State Department foreign service officer lost his security clearance and diplomatic passport this week while the department investigates him over linking to a WikiLeaks document on his blog and publishing a book critical of the government.

Peter Van Buren, who is 51 and has worked for the department for 23 years, had his Top Secret security clearance suspended indefinitely for what the department calls his unwillingness to comply with rules and regulations regarding “writing and speaking on matters of official concern.” This is according to a memo the State Department sent Van Buren.

The move is purely vindictive, according to Van Buren.

Read full story.

Amazon Page for the Truth-Teller's Book

Phi Beta Iota: The class action idea is interesting. Robert Steele is pursuing discovery to acquire all emails to and from Jim Clapper, Ron Burgess, and Tish Long about his varied efforts to secure employment within DoD, as well as discovery of all emails and documents surrounding his application for both the DISL jobs across DoD and the lesser DIA jobs [Steele kept book] that were manipulated to exclude Steele from consideration. There is no question but that DIA and DOHA are in violation while DNI (and before that USDI) were complicit, the only question is how much trouble it will be to document this, and how much can be demanded in damages above and beyond loss of $1 million in lost income–including a “by name” request for Steele to be Chief Instructor for Information Operations and Intelligence at COINSOC in Iraq a few years ago where a legal contract was received from Raytheon for $276K a year, and then withdrawn after DOHA told Raytheon no to a simple SECRET clearance without a Statement of Reasons or due process–the exchanges between Raytheon and DOHA will be the starting point for the lawsuit by Robert Steele against the US Government. It will take time, but the absence of integrity in this specific series will become a matter of legal record. If $10 million can be won–half for the legal team–that will be money earned by Steele for having persistent integrity. Integrity is now back in style–DNI, DOHA, and DIA are the last to know this–and of course the Department of State E Veritate Potens.

2011/10/222011/10/22

Mike Vlahos: Powerful Stories On America’s Decline

02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Articles & Chapters, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Military, Officers Call

The following four publications by Michael Vlahos were overlooked when they first came out. They continue his brilliant track record of deep cultural analysis of both the home front and the real world.

Colonial Britain, Neocolonial America?

Why America Is Like Imperial Spain (Part I)

Why America Is Like Imperial Spain (Part II)

Did We Lose the War?