Civil Society – Page 303 – Public Intelligence Blog

2006/04/292011/10/22

The Citizens Party “Had Enough? Vote Democratic!” Is NOT ENOUGH, We Need a New Dual Membership Party

Articles & Chapters, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Reform

April 29, 2006

The Citizens Party

“Had Enough? Vote Democratic!” Is NOT ENOUGH,
We Need a New Dual Membership Party

Robert David Steele Vivas A few days ago I was discussing strategy with Jock Gill. Both of us tried to help Dean, Edwards, and then Kerry, in that order, with a concept for winning over non-Democrats like me (a moderate Republican). None of the staffs had sufficient gravitas to realize that we were absolutely right when we said, over and over, that the Democrats cannot beat the Republicans on base, issues, or leadership alone. Last week, I conceptualized the concept of a “dual membership” party, the Citizens Party. This new party would not ask its members to leave their original party, but would, instead, serve as a second home, a unifying party, committed to one issue and one issue only: achieving electoral reform by electing a coalition government committed to the American Independence Act of 2007. Thereafter, the Party could serve as a second home for individuals, like myself, who are proud of what the Republican Party once stood for, but do not wish to consort with impeachable leaders or the extremists who have hijacked the party. Today, I read with admiration a really superb Op-Ed by Tim Roemer in the New York Times (Saturday, 29 April 2006) entitled ‘Enough Already,’ that suggested that all the Democrats need to win in 2006 and 2008 is the simple slogan, “Had Enough? Vote Democratic!.” This worthy gentleman is half-right. The Democrats, in my view, cannot beat the Republicans base-on-base or on the issues. Even a character debate will be a toss-up. There is, however, a major opportunity for a lasting revitalization of democracy if the Democrats will match up their most promising unity candidate with a new party, the American Independence Party, and a commitment to a Coalition Cabinet and Coalition Legislature committed to electoral reform. This new party would be unique in history in that it would specifically foster the concept of “dual citizenship” and respect the original political allegiances of the moderate Republicans, the conservative Democrats, the Independents, Libertarians, Greens, Reforms, and the newly mobilized from both the Latin and Asian immigration pool as well as the survivors of the Dean revolution. This new party would have ‘wings’ and leaders from all American political parties, and they would commit to support Democratic *and* Republican legislative incumbents or challengers who agree to dual citizenship in the American Independence Party, and its single reform focus: restoring the vote to *all* Americans. Electoral reforms, including instant run-offs, the end of gerrymandering and even physical districts, restoration of multi-party debates, and voting on week-ends so the working poor have a shot at voting without losing work, all need to be part of an American Independence Act of 2007 that will have it greatest effect in 2008. In addition, we need to end “party line” voting that forbids our elected representatives from voting for their district instead of their party, and of course end campaign financing while introducing publicly funded campaigns and higher salaries for representatives, teachers, cops, firemen, and preventive health care professionals and other public servants. Only one issue can unite all sensible Americans: ‘does your vote count?‘ The answer for most is a resounding ‘NO.’ If we were to establish a new party and an interim Coalition Cabinet now, even before a final candidate for President is chosen, and commit publicly to this single lasting “fix” on the system, everything else will fall into place — including wiser foreign and domestic policy, an end to the double deficit, and a restoration of the moral legitimacy of the Republic. We must restore informed, engaged, democracy (collective intelligence), honest public policy, moral capitalism, and America the Good — instead of America the Idiot Bully. In 2006 we must demand that incumbents and challengers commit to this unification reform idea. In 2007 we pass the American Independence Act that implements sustainable electoral reform. In 2008 we elect a President and a Coalition Cabinet and Coalition Legislature that restores America the Good, an American Republic that is Of, By, and For We the People. I have secured the domain name Citizens-Party.org. Shortly, we will open the web page, once we are as secure as possible. So I have a question for all of you: anyone interested in helping set this party up, register it in every state, and be ready to announce it on the 4th of July? Warm regards to all,
Robert

2004/12/262009/09/19

2004 Pelton (US) Value-added Citizen Blogs, Forums, and Wars

Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Historic Contributions

Robert Young Pelton at IOP ’06 17-19 January 2006,

Sheraton Premiere, Tysons Corner, Virginia

notes..? :))) I like to keep it simple. My presentation was simply on using value-added nodes to attract and nurture intel providers. Examples were the world of Blogs and forums to generate ground intel

Examples:

www.comebackalive.com a chat site for a wide spectrum of adventurers, mercenaries, jihadis, travelers, students and others. Example was instructions on how to get into Grozny took three days and only about 5 entries to nail it.

www.kathryncramer.com a housewife from New York who did extraordinary reporting on the coup in Equatorial Guinea from her kitchen, while changing diapers

Yahoo forums pmc Group PMC <PMCs@yahoogroups.com> where 600 people register, about two dozen post and around 300 or journos hover to snatch up tidbits from private military contractors.

The information/disinformation battle going on between Keith Idema at www.superpatriots.us/ versus stuporpatriots.blogspot.com/ and Idema's use of proxy bloggers like Caosblog.com to create a sense of false support

Then I talked about America's Most Wanted, reality shows and how the US government could harness this form of value added node (and of course the web) to hunt down criminals like Bin Laden.

Finally I challenged government, intel and big corporations to harness these new forms of intel networks to make the world a smarter, safer place!

RYP

PS thanks for having me, it’s always a pleasure to hang out with the odd and educated!

2004/12/242009/08/01

2004 Gill (US) Open Wireless Spectrum and Democracy

Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Historic Contributions, Technologies

Jock Gill served President Bill Clinton as a communications specialist, and has gone on to reflect deeply on public communications as the inherent foundation of democracy. As part of that process he has recognized–and taught us and others–that open spectrum as championed by David Weinberger is an inherent “need” for full and open public communications.

Below are two documents, the first is his presentation notes from OSS '04, and the second is the first page linking to David Weingerger's seminal White Paper that was also published as a chapter in COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace. The Frog leads to the original online; the page on the right to the printable version of the chapter.

2004/12/212009/08/01

2004 Knapp (US) Al-Qaeda Use of the Mass Media in InfoWar/Netwar; The Distortion of Islamic Concepts and Practices by Muslim Extremists; Diversity in Islam

Analysis, Civil Society, Government, Historic Contributions, History, Methods & Process

Very frew “all-source” intelligence analysts in the US secret world impress us, in part because they will never actually be “all-source” until we get a grip on Open Source Intelligence (OSINT); in part because the secret world refuses to engage with 95% of the real-world and therefore will always lack of the historical and cultural perspectives that only multinatational information-sharing and sense-making networks can provide; and in part because half of them are very young and right out of school, with rotten tools, 1950's management chains and editing practices, and “no way out.”

On this page are three briefings from an individual that is the exception to the rule. This individual represents all that a perfect analyst should be, to include a non-negotiable demand for access to all relevant information in any languaage and any medium. This analyst gives force to the adage that one analyst with a brain is worth a thousand “analyst” bodies who only know how to cut and paste what they are spoon-fed by badly managed classified collection systems with no strategic perspective.

2004/12/162009/08/01

2004 Ray (US) Values in America and the New Political Compass

11 Society, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Historic Contributions

Paul Ray came to our attention as a result of his writing, with his life-long partner Sherri Ruth Anderson, CULTURAL CREATIVES: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World.

In 2004 he was well into his new work, and had introduced the avant guarde to the “New Political Compass,” which can be seen in full page color size at www.oss.net/PIG where it is the third side in from the cover. Clicking on his photo above leads to the 2004 article that captured a great deal of respect everywhere except within the two-party tyranny that has been “Running on Empty” and in “Breach of Trust” since at least the 1970's. Below are his two presentations to OSS '04.

2004/12/132009/08/02

2004 (US) Spinney Water and the Arab-Israeli Conflict

06 Genocide, 12 Water, Civil Society, Earth Intelligence, Government, Historic Contributions, Military, Peace Intelligence

Chuck Spinney, who contributes highlighted items to the Journal of Public Intelligence, wrote the original modern book on defense waste and the plans/reality mismatch, shown below with a link to its Amazon Page.

Although not a professional intelligence analyst, Spinney is a deeply-experienced real-world analyst and understands the lunacy of building a strategy, a force structure, a foreign policy, or a campaign plan on ideological fantasies and misrepresentations. Israel and Palestine is a WATER issue, nothing more, nothing less. Below is his briefing to OSS '04 to that effect–prepare to be shocked at how Israel is stealing water from the Arab aquifers, and how Israeli agruculture is using 50% of the regions water to produce less than 5% of the Israeli GDP, all the while denying Palestinians their own water. The Arab govenrments, and the US Government, “go along” because they do not yet place proper emphasis on human rights and especially on the rights of indigenous peoples.

2004/12/112009/08/02

2004 Vlahos (US) The Muslim Renovatio and US Strategy

02 Diplomacy, 04 Indonesia, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Historic Contributions

GOLDEN CANDLE AWARD: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

OSS '04: To the JHU-APL, and especially to Capt Joseph Mazzafro, USN (Ret) and Dr. Michael Vlahos, for sustained excellence in the integration of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) into their complex all-source analytic efforts in support of the Department of Defense. Aided by the Gibson Library, they have set a new standard.

Michael Vlahos is an iconoclast and a free-thinker.

The transmittal memorandum below, and the paper, each shown for separate access, represent an update on his views as expressed in his seminal monographs,“Culture’s Mask: War and Change After Iraq” (62-page pdf), Johns Hopkins (2004) and“Terror’s Mask: Insurgency Within Islam” (34-page pdf), Johns Hopkins University (2002), and new thinking that has NOT been understood by either the outgong Bush-Cheney Administration or the incoming Obama-Biden Administration.

The U.S. Intelligence Community and its policy and operational consumers do not “do” culture and are seriously challenged at geo-anything. Michael Vlahos, in our view, has ably articulated the central lens by which we should be crafting our collection, policy, trade, and operational strategies with respect to the rising tide of Islam (India, Indonesia, Iran, and pockets everywhere else).