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TIME? or CIA?

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Christianophobia: The Lesson of Terry Jones

by Tim Padgett, Friday, September 10, 2011

Pastor Terry Jones, right, of the Dove World Outreach Center speaks to the media in Gainesville, Fla., as Imam Muhammad Musri of the Islamic Society of Central Florida looks on. Phil Sandlin / AP

Even ogres can serve a purpose. The “Reverend” Terry Jones has at least shown us the ugly consequences of the Islamophobia that was this summer's political fad — by turning the tables. How does it feel to be caricatured as a nation of Koran-burning radicals? Americans were appalled to find that a solitary religious bigot and his tiny congregation of 50 pseudo Christians had hijacked our global image. We squirmed as a warped little corner of America's Judeo-Christian culture colored the entire country in the eyes of the world — the way Americans let a warped little corner of Islamic culture color all Muslims, even Muslim Americans.

Tip of the Hat to Rob Sentse at LinkedIn.

Phi Beta Iota: There are no coincidences within totalitarian corporate-controlled governments. The combination of the Christian dupe calling for the burning of the Qu'an and the manufactured theater of the Muslim mosque with CIA funding at Ground Zero are all too reminiscent of the FBI-sponsored car bombing of the World Trade Center in the 1990's, and totally consistent with what Buckminster Fuller called “White House Theater” and Noam Chomsky calls “manufacturing consent.” In light of this shallow and manipulative TIME story, the five “filters” that Chomsky and his co-author identified bear reiteration:

From Wikipedia “Propaganda Model:”

First presented in their 1988 book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, the “Propaganda model” views the private media as businesses interested in the sale of a product — readers and audiences — to other businesses (advertisers) rather than that of quality news to the public. Describing the media's “societal purpose”, Chomsky writes, “… the study of institutions and how they function must be scrupulously ignored, apart from fringe elements or a relatively obscure scholarly literature”.^[1] The theory postulates five general classes of “filters” that determine the type of news that is presented in news media. These five classes are:

Ownership of the medium
Medium's funding sources
Sourcing
Flak
Anti-communist ideology

Today anti-communism (which was nurtured in part by the CIA's importation of 100+ senior Nazis each year after the end of WWII) has been replaced by the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) and its occasional theatrics such as the “Underpants Bomber.” The tragedy is that 80% of the US public has been so dumbed down and anesthitized as to take this garbage seriously, while the 20% that “get it” are marginalized, which is of course the point of it all.

Review: Grand Illusion–The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny

2008 ELECTION 2008: Lipstick on the Pig

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Disinformation, Other Information Pathologies, & Repression

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Empire as Cancer Including Betrayal & Deceit

Worth a Look: Impeachable Offenses, Modern & Historic

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Institutionalized Ineptitude

2010/09/11

Journal: Gallup Poll on US Public Concerns

03 Economy, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence

September 10, 2010

Nine Years After 9/11, Few See Terrorism as Top U.S. Problem

One percent see it as the top problem today, down from 46% in 2001

PRINCETON, NJ — Nine years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, 1% of Americans mention terrorism as the most important problem facing the country, down from 46% just after the attacks.

. . . . . . .

Still, Americans rated economic issues such as the economy, jobs, and federal spending, as well as corruption in government and healthcare, even higher. They rated terrorism as more important than immigration, Afghanistan, and the environment.

: US versus Global Cares

See Also:

Continue reading “Journal: Gallup Poll on US Public Concerns”

2010/09/11

Journal: America’s Army–Tough, Isolated, Happy

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, Military, Officers Call, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius Recommends

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I suggest to you that this article is a keeper, that David Woods gets it. While it focuses on the Army, I think it's applicable in significant part to the other

DoD military Services, particularly to the Marine Corps, and to one or two non-DoD Federal agencies have been close partners in the national security effort.

V/R,

REDACTED

In the 10th Year of War, a Harder Army, a More Distant America

The U.S. Army now begins its 10^th continuous year in combat, the first time in its history the United States has excused the vast majority of its citizens from service and engaged in a major, decade-long conflict instead with an Army manned entirely by professional warriors.

This is an Army that, under the pressure of combat, has turned inward, leaving civilian America behind, reduced to the role of a well-wishing but impatient spectator. A decade of fighting has hardened soldiers in ways that civilians can't share. America respects its warriors, but from a distance.

EXTRAORDINARY BRILLIANT STUFF “MUST READ”

“A lot of us are here because society has no further use for us,” he said. “The Army has become home for a lot of restless souls who can never really go back.

2010/09/10

Journal: American Angst Climbing the Charts

Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence

A retired Marine colonel still serving in Afghanistan writes to recommend this YouTube short:

When You're Holding a Hammer (Everything Looks Like a Nail)

This is awesome!

This could be the next number one hit country song. It is written by a High School assistant football coach. Apparently the guy was fired over the song because some parents complained. Shameful if true. If you like it, help it go “viral” by passing it along to everyone you know.

2010/09/102010/09/13

Video: Visions of the Gamepocalypse, Possible Futures, Waking Up, Thinking, and Creating a Better World

04 Education, Augmented Reality, Corporations, Cultural Intelligence, Geospatial, Peace Intelligence, Technologies

See the "Long Short" (short video) on gaming and Jesse Schell's presentation

Jesse Schell: Visions of the Gamepocalypse

Hosted by The Long Now Foundation

This is a provoking and entertaining presentation.
After the short video called “Pixels” prior to the presentation, Jesse Schell starts off with what if life becomes, not Orwellian, but Huxleyan (Brave New World) where pleasure achieved through technology grips the whole lives of citizens. Imagine sensors attached to commercial products from toothbrush to television (and electric tattoos linked to Facebook) collecting data + wi-fi connections uploading behavior data to the Web. People can earn “points” like in a gaming environment depending on their behavior and habits and these points can be used for coupons, deals, and other corporate profit-pursuing conceptions.

Soon the presentation gets into prediction and if the more one practices at predicting the future, the better one can become. Other parts of the presentation:

The upward trend of mobile gaming application sales versus console gaming systems, and how micro-transactions of money (Zynga, Playdom, Playfish, Bigpoint) in connection with social networking will be like peanut butter + chocolate.
Dream states (REM sleep) as un-tapped territory that most likely advertisers will reach first.
Virtual money such as “Farm cash,” and World of Warcraft gold was mentioned to attract product attention.
A stat was shown of commercial ads on television rising from 13% in 1950 to 36% today.
“Battlefield of the 21st century” as how you spend your day and carving up those percentages to target your behaviors

Continue reading “Video: Visions of the Gamepocalypse, Possible Futures, Waking Up, Thinking, and Creating a Better World”

2010/09/092010/09/09

Journal: Cognitive Dissonance in Afghanistan Part II

Cultural Intelligence, IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

Col. Lawrence Sellin — Col Lawrence Sellin: Traitor or Truth-Teller?

Fired colonel calls PowerPoint a crutch

Army Times, By Andrew Tilghman – Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Sep 9, 2010 8:29:12 EDT

Army Reserve Col. Lawrence Sellin has no regrets about publishing a rant about the military’s overreliance on PowerPoint presentations — despite the fact it got him fired from his job at joint command headquarters in Afghanistan.

. . . . . . .

Sellin said his controversial article was the last of several efforts to find something meaningful to do at ISAF headquarters.

. . . . . .

Sellin’s screed highlights a long-simmering controversy inside the military bureaucracy.

Marine Gen. James Mattis, currently chief of U.S. Central Command, told a military conference earlier this year that “PowerPoint makes us stupid.”

And Army Brig. Gen. H.R. McMaster banned PowerPoint presentations as a brigade commander during his successful efforts to secure the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar in 2005.

Sellin said his complaint is not solely about PowerPoint, the presentation software created in 1987.

“I don’t hate PowerPoint. It’s a useful tool,” he said. “But it can be a crutch as a substitute for thinking. It’s too easy to produce a lot of slides and create volume, not quality. You really think that with a lot of detailed slides that you’re making progress, when you are actually not.”

Continue reading “Journal: Cognitive Dissonance in Afghanistan Part II”

2010/09/072010/09/07

Journal: CIA Veteran Rings Bell on Iraq–Way Too Late…

10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Intelligence (government), Officers Call, Peace Intelligence, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Reform

Iraq: Time to Ring the Bell

by Howard P. Hart

27 August 2010

Many years ago I attended a series of Headquarters briefings for out-going CIA Chiefs of Station. Our main speaker was Richard Helms, then the Agency’s Director and one of the lions of American foreign policy in the 1960’s and 70’s. A man who was subsequently crucified in the Nixon catastrophe. Dick was essentially giving us our instructions, and in my mind his most telling directive was the quiet statement: “Ring the Bell.” Telling us to sing out when we apprehended a major disaster in the offing.

It’s time to ring the bell on Iraq.

Briefly put, in a matter of months Iran will emerge the unchallenged military and economic power dominating the area from Lebanon to Pakistan. It will control Iraq, and be in a position to shut off all oil supplies from the Persian Gulf. It will be free to provide extensive assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan, thus ensuring a NATO defeat in that country. It will be in a position to provide crucial support to radical Islamic elements in Pakistan – which may well result in the collapse of that already shaky nuclear-armed government. It will be free to radically increase its support to a variety of terrorist organizations targeting the US. And, in conjunction with well-armed radical Palestinian forces that already exist on Israel's borders, it will pose the greatest threat ever faced by Israel. A threat that I do not believe Israel could survive without direct US military intervention.

READ THE BALANCE OF THE PIECE BY THIS CIA VETERAN

Continue reading “Journal: CIA Veteran Rings Bell on Iraq–Way Too Late…”

Category: Cultural Intelligence

Journal: Who, Exactly, is Behind Burning Koran?