Civil Society – Page 232 – Public Intelligence Blog

NukeFree.org

From Bonnie, Jackson & Graham: “We May Be on the Brink….”

Dear NukeFree.org supporter…We may be on the brink of stopping the US nuclear industry from building new reactors.

We ask you to help make this happen.

The atomic industry desperately needs $36 billion in federal loan guarantees.

If we stop them, new reactor construction in this country will be severely restricted, if not ended altogether.

As the editor's blog currently posted at NukeFree.org explains:
( http://nukefree.org/editorsblog/americas-new-nuke-showdown-starts-now )
Japan and Germany have turned away from atomic power.

The first Congressional vote on these guarantees, as embedded in the 2012 federal budget, could happen in an Appropriations subcommittee as early as June 2.

We ask that you contact the White House and your Senators and US Representatives as often and forcefully as you can. You can do that on your own, or through the NIRS Action Alert linked through NukeFree.org:
( http://nukefree.org/loan-guarantee-battle-heating-take-action ).

Tell them it's time we scrap the failed atomic power experiment, and embrace the green-powered future we need to survive.

This is a battle that we can win. Defeating these handouts will have a HUGE impact.

Please join us. This definitive turn away from atomic power CAN happen.

No Nukes!

Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Graham Nash

2011/05/17

A Social Network for Making Future Plans

Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence

A Social Network for Making Future Plans

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER, May 17, 2011

New York Times

Most social networking services are for sharing what you’ve done in the past or what you’re doing right now. A new one, WhereBerry, is for sharing what you want to do in the future.

On WhereBerry, which opens to the public Tuesday, people post activities they want to do someday, like restaurants they want to try, movies they hope to see or events they plan to attend. Their friends can comment and make plans.

“We’re giving people a single place for all these ideas that float around for people to do,” said Nick Baum, who founded WhereBerry with Bill Ferrell. They are former Google engineers. “If you put them here, you won’t forget about them and the combination of things will make you do a lot more stuff.”

Read rest of article….

Phi Beta Iota: WhatBerry should be along right behind this. As a collective aggregator this appears to have vastly more potential than its current narrow focus.

2011/05/162011/05/16

Plastic Bottles & Plastic Bags: Massive Scam & Threat

03 Environmental Degradation, Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, Government, Policies

Please spread link to this short [4 minute] video if you feel inspired!

From Kyle Thiermann, Surfing for Change:

Hi Everybody,

I'm excited to announce the release of my new movie “Where is Away: Solving
Plastic Pollution in 4 Minutes”. It tracks a plastic bag that I use in my hometown of Santa Cruz California, all the way to the north shore of Oahu, demonstrating both the destruction and solutions along the way. Famous musician Jack Johnson, and Story of
Stuff Annie Leonard join me in this fast-paced journey to highlight the power we all have to end plastic pollution.

Where is Away: Solving Plastic Pollution in 4 minutes

2011/05/152011/05/15

Reference: Cynthia McKinney Speaks in Tehran

05 Iran, Advanced Cyber/IO, Analysis, Civil Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Methods & Process, Policies, Threats, Waste (materials, food, etc)

The Tehran Peace Conference started on 14 May and ended today, 15 May, (63rd Anniversary of Palestine's Nakbah ) with me chairing the 7:30 am panel entitled, “Terrorism: Concepts and Contexts.” Members of the Clergy from Brazil, Greece, and the U.S. made presentations as well as international lawyers, academicians, and peace activists from Australia, Canada, Ecuador, Venezuela, Spain, Ghana, and Bolivia. My assignment is to write up my report of each of the presentations and submit the recommendations from the panel to the Conference Secretariat.

On Day One of the Opening Plenary with journalist Jim Lobe seated on my right and Rabbis Weiss and Rosenberg sitting in front of me, I was surprised when my name was called to make a presentation at the opening plenary of the Tehran Peace Tribune. I immediately set about writing my remarks and here is what I said:

Cynthia McKinney
International Conference on Global Alliance Against Terrorism for a Just Peace
Tehran, Iran
15 May 2011

How wonderful to be at a Conference where the word “love” is used; we are here because we love humankind. We are here from all corners of the earth; we are against terrorism; we want peace.

However, we must clarify peace. What kind of peace do we want?

President John F. Kennedy answered his question by saying: “. . . not a Pax Americana” imposed on the world by weapons of war. He went on to say that the kind of peace we want is the kind of peace that makes life worth living–peace for all men and women for all time.

No Justice, No Peace. No Truth, No Justice!

But, today, U.S. policy is rooted in lies, injustice, and war. And at home, the people of the U.S. suffer. Racism is acute, despite and maybe because of President Obama; hatred is rampant with hatred of Muslims, incarceration of Palestinians, targeting of immigrants, the lynchings of Blacks, disappearances of Latinos, and the pauperization of the people. People inside the U.S. are under attack in the realm of policy:

Continue reading “Reference: Cynthia McKinney Speaks in Tehran”

2011/05/15

Worth a Look: Community Land Trusts — Coming Home with E. F. Schumacher & the Reinvention of the Local Economy (A Video Gift, 37 Minutes, from Christopher B. Bedford)

01 Poverty, 07 Other Atrocities, Civil Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Methods & Process, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Policies, Strategy, True Cost, Videos/Movies/Documentaries

Phi Beta Iota: Kudos to Christopher B. Bedford for his many contributions, this one in particular is most timely now as a global movement for redirecting the manner in which land (and water) are “owned.” As with our native forebearers, land can no longer be owned by individuals–community land trusts are the essential way forward. This is the practice in many countries. This 37 minute DVD is revolutionary.

See Also:

E. F. Schumacher Society

Small Is Beautiful, 25th Anniversary Edition: Economics As If People Mattered: 25 Years Later . . . With Commentaries

2011/05/142011/05/14

Is ‘Arab Spring’ Coming To Kabul?

08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, InfoOps (IO), IO Sense-Making, Methods & Process, Mobile

Is ‘Arab Spring' Coming To Kabul?

Radio Free Europe, 13 May 2011

The recent emergence of the first, large-scale Facebook movement among Afghan university students calling for reform can't help but raise the question — will the wave of antigovernment dissent in the Middle East reach Afghanistan?

Since March, some 1,500 university students in Kabul, and another 3,000 elsewhere around the country, have “friended” the Facebook page “Reformists.” There, they meet daily for discussions about how to exert grassroots pressure on the government — pressure that barely exists in Afghanistan today.

In some ways, the movement is very much like similar Facebook groups in the Arab world.

Taliban on Twitter, The End Is Near!

05 Civil War, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Military, Non-Governmental

An Afghan man receives phone call on his mobile phone on a street in Kabul — Click on Image to Enlarge

The Taliban Are On Twitter

By Chris Gayomali on May 12, 2011

TechLand (Time)

Due to a strict adherence to Sharia law, the Taliban have long shunned modern technology, particularly personal televisions and computers. But in the wake of a recent offensive campaign in the Afghan city of Kandahar, the group has emerged on a new, if unlikely, modern platform: Twitter.

At the the time of writing this, the account in question (@alemarahweb) has 363 followers. Most of the messages are broadcasted in the militant sect's native Pashto. But, as the Guardian points out, on early Thursday morning a message that read in English was sent across the Twitter-sphere. Like most of the tweets posted, the message concerned exaggerated reports of “strikes against the ‘infidel forces'” that typically feature links back to The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan website, a frequently relocated Web headquarters for the splintered Taliban's makeshift government.

PHOTOS: Inside bin Laden's lair

The account also follows 12 other users (at least at the time of writing this), notably @Afghantim, a “USAF Logistics Readiness Officer currently deployed as a combat advisor to the Afghan Army,” and numerous Afghani news and development groups. The Guardian surmises this to be a practice of the old axiom “keep your friends close but your enemies closer.” (More on Time.com: See the 140 best Twitter feeds)

The emergence of Twitter has consistently been one of the key stories concerning the revolutions in Egypt and other uprisings. And it has proven, time and time again, pivotal to community leaders for organizing unified protests on a massive scale. The adoption of social media by a decentralized group like the Taliban is perhaps an acknowledgement of the platform's communicative potential, whether that be for strategic or merely propaganda purposes.

Category: Civil Society

STOP US Government Loan Guarantees for Nuclear