The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
By Laurence M. Vance
Campaign for Liberty, 05/26/11
Phi Beta Iota: Mr. Vance does something we have not seen before. He enumerates all the parts of government that are unconstitutional, and makes a case for shutting down each in turn. His final paragraph is especially noteworthy.
Why are we not surprised?
Gates Puts Pay Cuts on the Table
Military.com, May 26, 2011
Terry Howell
Under pressure to reduce the DoD budget, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has – until recently – avoided asking for a reduction in military pay and benefits. However, the Wall Street Journal has reported that increasing pressure on lawmakers to make bigger cuts in the federal deficit has convinced defense budget planners that Congress is willing to look at cutting military compensation.
Since the beginning of his term as Sec Def, Gates has avoided asking for military pay freezes or reductions. He has instead sought to reduce the cost of TRICARE by increasing annual premiums and fees for military retirees and taxing their employers if retirees opt-out of employer provided health care. So far his repeated attempts to make major changes to TRICARE have been thwarted by Congress – mainly due to pressure from groups like the Military Officers Association of America.
However, pressure from the White House to make $400B in cuts may have forced Gates’ hand. In fact, Sec. Gates reently floated the idea that reducing military compensation may not be a bad idea. Gates told a group that reducing military pay wouldn’t negatively impact recruiting; pointing out that even during the worst of the Iraq war the Army was the only service that didn’t exceed their recruiting and retention goals.
Congress Returns to Town With Demand Obama Get OK on Libya
President Obama could be impeached for violating U.S. Constitution and law by going into Libya without congressional consent, but Rep. Dennis Kucinich says he doesn't want to cause that kind of havoc on the Republic, he just wants the United States to get out of Libya's civil war. While many lawmakers in general support the U.S. role in Libya, even if they want the final say on approving military action, Kucinich, D-Ohio, will introduce a joint resolution when Congress returns this week that he says “hopefully will lead us out of this mess that we've waded into in Libya.”
. . . . . . .
Kucinich said the U.S. has no business intervening in Libya because it's a civil war. He added that the rebel forces the U.S. and NATO appear to be backing are demonstrating some disturbing behaviors, including “committing some of the same practices that they accused Colonel Qaddafi of.” Beyond that, he added, the whole operation stinks of a bid for the oil fields of Benghazi, where the rebels have set up their stronghold.
White House skips legal deadline on Libya
Salon, 21 May 2011
Military action passes 60-day threshold, but Obama won't seek congressional approval
The White House is skipping a legal deadline to seek congressional authorization of the military action in Libya — but few on the Hill are objecting.
Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973 a president can only send troops into combat for 60 days without congressional mandate. That deadline fell Friday, but in absence of pressure from Congress, White House officials say they think they're on solid ground continuing U.S. involvement in the mission, now led by NATO, without formal congressional sign-off — as long as consultations with Congress continue.
In that spirit President Barack Obama sent a letter to congressional leaders Friday saying U.S. involvement remains critical and welcoming congressional input.
Phi Beta Iota: Unconstitutional, illegal, immoral — business as usual.
At I.M.F., a Strict Ethics Code Doesn’t Apply to Top Officials
New York Times, May 29, 2011
At the International Monetary Fund, there is one set of ethics guidelines for the rank-and-file staff and another for the 24 elite executive directors who oversee the powerful organization.
. . . . . . .
“There are a lot of controls in place when it comes to the staff, but not for the leadership,” said Katrina Campbell, a compliance and ethics expert at Global Compliance.
May 29, 2011
David Warsh, Proprietor
The Economist was founded in 1843 by James Wilson, a hat manufacturer temporarily brought low by one of global capitalism’s first identifiable business cycles. By a series of courageous re-inventions over 168 years, it has managed to become, and then remain, one of the most influential editorial voices in the world.
It is time for another of those periodic reinventions.
Wilson’s original prospectus announced his determination to take part in “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.”
. . . . . . .
The shift required – one that already has begun under editor John Micklethwait, but one which still has far to go – involves the recognition that the social sciences have begun to integrate concepts of governance, organization and cooperation into the center of their conception of the world, rather than confining them (as they were in The Wealth of Nations) as something of an afterthought to the last section of Smith’s great book.
Phi Beta Iota: Brother Penguin has brought forth a very articulate statement on the role of humanity in changing–the the point of catastrophic implosion–the Earth. While lamenting the lack of responsibility of governments and corporations, the article stops short of recognizing that the challenge is not about governance, which is a process, but rather about information, which is a foundation. Multinational information-sharing and sense-making among the eight tribes of intelligence is the non-negotiable first step toward illuminating and then eradicating the corruption and waste that is now characteristic of all organizations and individuals that lack integrity. Everyone has intelligence. Virtually no one has integrity. That is where we start. Integrity in information-sharing and sense-making.
