Civil Society – Page 298 – Public Intelligence Blog

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This is rich….and hilarious.

November 1, 2009

OP-ED COLUMNIST

The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York

By FRANK RICHEXTRACT: The more rightists who win G.O.P. primaries, the greater the Democrats’ prospects next year. But the electoral math is less interesting than the pathology of this movement. Its antecedent can be found in the early 1960s, when radical-right hysteria carried some of the same traits we’re seeing now: seething rage, fear of minorities, maniacal contempt for government, and a Freudian tendency to mimic the excesses of political foes. Writing in 1964 of that era’s equivalent to today’s tea party cells, the historian Richard Hofstadter observed that the John Birch Society’s “ruthless prosecution” of its own ideological war often mimicked the tactics of its Communist enemies.

2009/10/312009/10/31

Journal: True Cost of Afghanistan

03 Economy, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Civil Society, Ethics, Government, Military, Peace Intelligence, Threats, True Cost

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Paul Kawika Martin, Political and Policy Director for Peace Action, said:

I think the question should be: How much U.S. credit should we use on the war in Afghanistan? As it stands, the over $230 Billion we have already spent has mostly been borrowed money adding to the U.S. deficit. Of course, just like buying a car or home, sometimes it's good to do things on credit. But this isn't the true cost. As Noble Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes points out, that figure fails to include interest on debt, veterans benefits and other costs to society. They estimate the costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could top a staggering $5 trillion to $7 trillion.

Phi Beta Iota: Other “pundits” can be read within the full story. The cost is far more than the “tangible debt.” It includes the hollowing out of America–the loss of integrity, the failure of paradigms, the cheating culture, and on and on and on. We have in essence sacrified the Republic in the name of partisan politics and corporate greed, enabled by civitas minimus. America is less safe and less prosperous today than it was on 9/12.

2009/10/31

Journal: Economic Fantasy and Economic Reality

03 Economy, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government

‘Jobs Created or Saved’ Is White House Fantasy: Caroline Baum

Commentary by Caroline Baum Oct. 28 (Bloomberg)

Heresy, thy name is Christina Romer.

Last week, the chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers — a position that carried the title “chief economist” until Larry Summers took up residence in the White House — testified to the Joint Economic Committee on the economic crisis and the efficacy of the policy response.

Here’s the executive summary in case you missed it:

Continue reading “Journal: Economic Fantasy and Economic Reality”

2009/10/242011/10/22

Journal: Citizen Wisdom in California

11 Society, Civil Society, Government, Methods & Process

THE STATES WE’RE IN

by Hendrik Hertzberg

The New Yorker

AUGUST 24, 2009

The states of the Union are supposed to be laboratories of democracy, but this summer they have been looking more like toxic-waste dumps of futility. From coast to coast, from tundra to coral reef, state governments are in an awful fix. Their budget gaps are on track to add up to at least a third of a trillion dollars. In half the states, education funding is being cut, which means bigger classes, shoddier facilities, and fewer frills like music, art, languages, and library
books. States are closing parks, draining rainy-day funds, and shrinking services for children, the elderly, and the disabled. . . . . . . .

California, it turns out, is ungovernable. Its public schools, once the nation’s best, are now among the worst. Its transportation and water systems are deteriorating. Its prisons are so overcrowded that it has to turn tens of thousands of felons loose. And its legislature has spent most of the year in a farcical effort to pass the annual
budget, leaving little or no time for other matters, such as—well, schools, transportation, water, and prisons. This is “normal”: the same thing has happened in eighteen of the past twenty-two years. But the addition of economic disaster to legislative paralysis may have brought California to a tipping point.

Continue reading “Journal: Citizen Wisdom in California”

2009/10/222009/10/22

Journal: Marijuana Will Be Legalized

07 Health, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Law Enforcement

Prohibition Fighter

As a Harvard grad, former Princeton professor, and the son of a respected rabbi, Ethan Nadelmann might seem like an unlikely advocate for legalizing marijuana. But when you meet him, it all makes a lot of sense.

David Lyons, Newsweek, 15 October 2009

The idea is not that drugs are good but that prohibition is bad. Nadelmann argues that marijuana prohibition is as counterproductive as alcohol prohibition was in the 1920s, and that we'd all be better off if the government would just regulate and tax it. Ironically, this would give the government more control over the drug, not less.

Continue reading “Journal: Marijuana Will Be Legalized”

2009/10/21

Journal: Electronic Voting Fraud, Failure, & Foolishness

11 Society, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Methods & Process

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Sequoia Voting Systems hacks self in foot

by Mokurai

Tue Oct 20, 2009

Sequoia Voting Systems has inadvertently released the SQL (Structured Query Language) code for its voting databases. The existence of such code appears to violate Federal voting law. Read the announcement after the jump, just as received on the Open Voting Consortium mailing list earlier today.

The Linux “strings” command was able to peel it apart. Nedit was able to digest 800meg text files. What was revealed was thousands of lines of MS-SQL source code that appears to control or at least influence the logical flow of the election, in violation of a bunch of clauses in the FEC voting system rulebook banning interpreted code, machine modified code and mandating hash checks of voting system code.

I've got it all organized for commentary and download in wiki form at:

Continue reading “Journal: Electronic Voting Fraud, Failure, & Foolishness”

2009/10/202009/10/20

Worth a Look: Bankster

03 Economy, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Reform, Worth A Look

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On the one-year anniversary of the Banksters blowing a hole in the global economy, no employee of a major American bank or financial institution is behind bars. Compare this to what happened after the Savings and Loan heist almost 20 years ago.

No less than 1,852 S&L officials were prosecuted and 1,072 were jailed. Over 500 CEOs and top officers were indicted. What is going on here? Don't we believe in holding people accountable anymore? Tell the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI to get cracking! Our motto? TOO BIG TO FAIL, BUT NOT TOO BIG TO GO TO JAIL!

Category: Civil Society

Journal: Chuck Spinney Sends–GOP Stalinists

Journal: True Cost of Afghanistan

Journal: Economic Fantasy and Economic Reality

Journal: Citizen Wisdom in California

Journal: Marijuana Will Be Legalized

Journal: Electronic Voting Fraud, Failure, & Foolishness

Sequoia Voting Systems hacks self in foot

by Mokurai

Tue Oct 20, 2009

Worth a Look: Bankster

Put an End to Death Bonds

No New Powers for the Fed

Cap Those Interest Rates, 10% is Enough!

Demand Accountability, Fairness, and Security