Category: Collaboration Zones

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Journal: Reich Whines Because Gore & Obama Took the Bribe, Now Democrats Realize They Were Theater

11 Society, Civil Society, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, IO Secrets, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth
Full Story Online

Published on Friday, October 8, 2010 by Robert Reich's Blog

The Secret Big-Money Takeover of America

by Robert Reich

Not only is income and wealth in America more concentrated in fewer hands than it’s been in 80 years, but those hands are buying our democracy as never before – and they’re doing it behind closed doors.

Hundreds of millions of secret dollars are pouring into congressional and state races in this election cycle. The Koch brothers (whose personal fortunes grew by $5 billion last year) appear to be behind some of it, Karl Rove has rounded up other multi-millionaires to fund right-wing candidates, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is funneling corporate dollars from around the world into congressional races, and Rupert Murdoch is evidently spending heavily.

No one knows for sure where this flood of money is coming from because it’s all secret.

Read the entire article….

Phi Beta Iota: The FACTS are that Al Gore took the bribe offer delivered by Warren Christopher to roll over and play dead on the Florida high crimes and misdemeanors, and then Barack Obama took the bribe to receive $300 million still unaccounted for dollars in order to “play” President.  What is happening right now is–we hope–the last act in the theater of democracy.  It is time to flush both criminally irresponsible parties down the toilet, carry out Electoral Reform, and get back to being a Republic Of, By, and For We the People–respecting the Constitution and if necessary demanding the wholesale resignation of the Supreme Court Justices that confirmed corporate personality.

See Also:

Review: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

Review: Selling Out

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

Review: Running on Empty–How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It (Paperback)

2008 ELECTION 2008: Lipstick on the Pig

Review: Threshold–The Crisis of Western Culture

Review: Shooting the Truth–The Rise of American Political Documentaries

Review DVD: The AMERICAN Ruling Class

Review: Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth

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Journal: Exoskeletons for Disabled People

07 Health, Academia, Gift Intelligence, YouTube

Short Video

Berkeley Bionics: Introducing eLEGS

About eLEGS

Phi Beta Iota: This is an inspiring story in the context of unlimited wealth and no attention to the needs of the five billion poor–another example of multi-million dollar innovation for the one billion rich when the five billion poor need a two dollar fridge or a single shirt that can shed rain.  This is also a hugely impressive example of how good Berkeley is getting at propaganda–this is one of the slickest academic shorts we have ever seen.  The beneficiaries are rightfully estactic but the question must be asked: what could this investment of talent and money have done for millions who would then create infinite wealth to allow for a hundred of these advanced projects to flourish?

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Journal: That Should Be Classified….

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, Cultural Intelligence, Government
DefDog

I continue to hear military and civilian IC folks belittle Open Source.  I passed this around to show them what can be done and all I get is the response, “this should be classified”.  They cannot believe it is from purely open source data…..link provided due to size of document…

The Haqqani Network: From Pakistan to Afghanistan

Key Findings

The Haqqani network, which has the backing of elements within the Pakistani security establishment, is one of Afghanistan’s most experienced and sophisticated insurgent organizations.

Although the Haqqani network is officially subsumed under the larger Taliban umbrella organization led by Mullah Omar and his Quetta Shura Taliban, the Haqqanis maintain distinct command and control, and lines of operations.

Siraj Haqqani, the son of the famous anti-Soviet fighter Jalaluddin Haqqani, is the current leader of the Haqqani network. Siraj is more extreme than his father and maintains closer ties to al-Qaeda and other foreign extremists in Pakistan.

The Haqqani network maintains a safe haven in North Waziristan, Pakistan, across Afghanistan’s southeastern border. The Pakistani Army has consistently refused to launch a military operation in North Waziristan despite the presence of al-Qaeda senior leadership.

Elements within the Pakistani security establishment continue to view the Haqqani network as a useful ally and proxy force to represent their interests in Afghanistan. To this end, Haqqani forces have repeatedly targeted Indian infrastructure and construction projects in Afghanistan.

The Haqqani Network Afghanistan Report #6 October 12, 2010 Jeffrey Dressler .  . Haqqani_Network.pdf

Phi Beta Iota: It is now known that Pakistan successfully fooled the most experienced CIA officers in the world, leading them to believe for decades that the Pakistani ISI elements dealing with the Taliban were “renegades” whose misbehavior was not sanctioned by the government.  We now know that every move, every word was sanctioned, and we now can calculate that at least half of the money from CIA intended for Afghanistan was siphoned off to fund Pakistani priorities and private bank accounts.  If CIA cannot figure this out while it is happening, why should we trust them to figure anything else out?  A major reason CIA did NOT know what it needed to know was because then and now it refuses to actually deal in depth with anyone lacking clearances or US citizenship.  The one decent initiative CIA had, apart from Project GEORGE, was the Global Futures Partnership.  Both died in infancy.  Nothing has changed.

See Also:
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Journal: Terminator to Feds–“Can You Spell Nullify?”

10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Government
State Rights Emergent

Marijuana in California: Prop. 19 won't stop federal drug enforcement

Even if voters pass Proposition 19 on Nov. 2, which would legalize use of marijuana in California, the Justice Department will continue to enforce federal drug laws there, Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday.

Read full story….

Phi Beta Iota:  States have the right to secede from the Union–they also have the right to nullify federal regulations within the state.  Over in Virginia, suit has been filed against the mandatory purchase of health insurance.  What we are seeing is the coming end to both the Federal Reserve and the Federal Empire.  The federal government is supposed to be a service of common concern to the United STATES of America, but over time, the “top two” parties have conspired to exclude the other 63 parties and their members from both politics and governance, and to exclude the Governors and state from governance.   The world is changing.  The spectacle of an Attorney General who is obviously loosely-educated and has no clue that he is a servant of the people, not their master, more or less sums up the state of the federal government…..dead in the water and sinking fast.  IOHO.

ALERT READER observes:

Thanks, also a note to your posting on States rights….look what is happening in the foreclosure world, 49 States are now looking into the legal issues while the feds say there is nothing wrong….

See Also:

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Leadership for Epoch B

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Self-Determination & Secession

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Diversity of Voices & Values (USA)

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

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Journal: WikiLeaks Losing Funding Channel, Plot Thickens

07 Other Atrocities, Civil Society, Military, Peace Intelligence

Full Story Online

WikiLeaks says funding has been blocked after government blacklisting

Founder Julian Assange hits out at decision by Moneybookers, which collects the whistleblowing website's donations

The whistleblowing group WikiLeaks claims that it has had its funding blocked and that it is the victim of financial warfare by the US government.

Moneybookers, a British-registered internet payment company that collects WikiLeaks donations, emailed the organisation to say it had closed down its account because it had been put on an official US watchlist and on an Australian government blacklist.

Read Full Story….

Phi Beta Iota: This is interesting at multiple levels and requires further investigation.  As best we can tell, WikiLeaks is not subject to US secrecy REGULATIONS and US laws do not apply–if anyone knows differently, please let us know.  We believe Moneybookers when they say the US Government did not call on them.  This reeks of lawyers with too much power over simple business decisions.  We do not trust WikiLeaks management to be completely honest.  Finally, it is not possible to censor information once it is out.  As John Perry Barlow said so famously at OSS '92, “The Internet interprets censorship as an outage, and routes around it.”

Continue reading “Journal: WikiLeaks Losing Funding Channel, Plot Thickens”

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Journal: Tracking Animal Abusers Begins

09 Justice, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, Law Enforcement
I know where you live....

Animal Abuse Registry: Suffolk County, NY Creating Nation's First Public Database Tracking Animal Cruelty Offenders

FARMINGVILLE, N.Y. — You've heard of Megan's Laws, designed to keep sex offenders from striking again. Now there's a law created in the hope of preventing animal abusers from inflicting more cruelty – or moving on to human victims.

Suffolk County, on the eastern half of Long Island, moved to create the nation's first animal abuse registry this week, requiring people convicted of cruelty to animals to register or face jail time and fines.

“We know there is a very strong correlation between animal abuse and domestic violence,” said Suffolk County legislator Jon Cooper, the bill's sponsor. “Almost every serial killer starts out by torturing animals, so in a strange sense we could end up protecting the lives of people.”

Phi Beta Iota: Would you hire a known animal abuser to walk your dogs?  What is interesting about this is not the context, but the fact of.  What can be tracked will be tracked.  There will be PerpFax service just like CarFax.  No place to hide–and virtual justice will also be done, as people who buy their way out of high crimes are “outed” everywhere they go.  Non-violent shaming and shunning…now there's an ancient concept coming back to life.

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Reference: Daring to Dream

Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Key Players, Policies

33 Pages Online

Seven Challenges

1.  Restoring Belief in the Future  to Overcome Fear, Pessimism, and Passivity

2.  Cultivating Leaders Who are Thoughtful, Inspiring, and Think Long-Term

3.  Empowering Six Billion People Economically and Politically

4.  Harmonizing Cultural, Racial, and Gender Differences in a  Globalizing World

5.  Reinventing an Outdated Educational System for the 21st Century

6.  Guiding Technological Progress Wisely

7.  Addressing Climate Change and Creating Social and Environmental Responsibility

Tip of the Hat to Paul Harper.

Phi Beta Iota: There are two sucking chest wounds in this otherwise superb report:  first, the complete absence of any sort of strategic analytic model with which to actually inform decisions; and second, the no doubt deliberate avoidance of the raw fact that corruption is the single largest obstacle to achieving any of these dreams, the reason the public strategic analytic model and public intelligence in the public interest are needed.