Communities of Practice – Page 881 – Public Intelligence Blog

3 things are here to stay: Women, the Internet and human rights

By Claudia Calvin

Yahoo Business & Human Rights Program, Friday, September 28th, 2012

Change Your World (Cambia Tu Mundo), Yahoo!’s Business & Human Rights Summit that took place on September 12th and 13th in Mexico City is an excellent example of what I mean. For a day and a half, women from different countries, backgrounds and experiences in Latin America shared their dreams, lives, challenges and proved that new technologies and the Internet are incomparable tools of empowerment.

I won´t go over the event’s program nor the participants. (Links to them are available her e and here). What I want to do is highlight the wonderful lessons I learned after participating in Change Your World.

1. Women are a driving force towards equality in the world. Yes, women represent not only 50% of the world population, they represent half of the idea and proposal creators. Many don´t know it, but new technologies can help them be heard and allow their proposals and ideas to be included in the development and prosperity of their communities, countries…. and therefore… of the planet.

2. Digital literacy of women in Latin America must be considered a priority for policy makers. Even though Spanish is the third most important language on the Internet with 182,379,220 users, there is lack of content created and written in it. If you add the lack of women´s voices as content creators in the region, the figures are worrisome. We cannot allow nor permit the addition of this marginalization to the many other kinds of marginalization women face (education, health, financial, justice and so on).

3. Women and the Internet can be a creative explosion. Throughout the sessions one thing was absolutely clear: the participants demonstrated in various and creative ways how the Internet can be used to support not only good causes, but very practical economic, social and political outcomes. The Internet can be a democratization tool to help build and consolidate new realities where women´s interests and needs can be not only expressed but included.

Continue reading “Yoda: Women & The Internet — The Force is Strong”

2013/02/242013/02/24

DefDog: General McCrystal Shows His Mind…

Ethics, Military

FA is normally pap but this one stands out.

Generation Kill: A Conversation with (General) Stanley McChrystal

Foreign Affairs, March/April 2013

Read full article online (requires registration)

FA: What lessons did you learn in your Iraq and Afghanistan tours?

SM: In Iraq, when we first started, the question was, “Where is the enemy?” That was the intelligence question. As we got smarter, we started to ask, “Who is the enemy?” And we thought we were pretty clever. And then we realized that wasn't the right question, and we asked, “What's the enemy doing or trying to do?” And it wans't until we got further along that we said, “Why are they the enemy?”

On drones:

SM: And although to the United States, a drone strike seems to have very little risk and very little pain, at the receiving end, it feels like war. Americans have got to understand that. If we were to use our technological capabilities carelessly–I don't think we do, but there's always the danger that you will–then we should not be upset when someon responds with their equivalent, which is a suicide bomb in Central Park, because that's what they can respond with.

And further on:

SM: The whole point of war is to take care of people, not just to kill them. You have to have a positive reason that protects people or it's wrong.

And also:

SM: But if you go back in history, I can't find a covert fix that solved a problem long term.

Continue reading “DefDog: General McCrystal Shows His Mind…”

2013/02/242013/02/24

Anthony Judge: Scrutinizing the Cardinals by Educational Disciplines

Civil Society

Social Science and Natural Science Disciplines of Catholic Cardinals

Analysis of the educational background of those engaged in the selection of the new Pope

Explanation

The election of a successor to Pope Benedict XVI in March 2013 raises the question as to the range of “disciplines” which might be called upon (or valued) by the members of the College of Cardinals, namely by those cardinals recognized as being allowed to engage in the selection process.

The following table is an extract from that presented in Wikipedia (Sortable list of living cardinals). For this purpose, the list has been sorted by ascending age in order to enable exclusion of those members of the College of Cardinals who cannot engage in the electoral process of the Papal Conclave.

Read full overview and see complete table.

Below the line: Cardinals of interest to Phi Beta Iota.

Continue reading “Anthony Judge: Scrutinizing the Cardinals by Educational Disciplines”

2013/02/242013/02/24

Marcus Aurelius: Sequester Primer

Corruption, Government, Ineptitude

Rough summary of sequester. From numbers, does not appear equally split between defense and non-defense. W/R/T federal employee pay cuts, approx 791,000 DoD civil servants are facing an approximately 8.33 percent pay cut (like a fine for doing absolutely nothing wrong) by way of 22 furlough days off between mid-April and 30 Sep. IMHO, both Congress and White House have failed to do their jobs.

Frequently Asked Questions: A Comprehensive Sequester Primer

By Dylan Matthews

Washington Post, February 24, 2013, Pg. 7

EXTRACT (Remix Alpha Sort Added)

Will any programs actually end?

Nope. The sequester cuts discretionary spending across the board by 9.4 percent for defense and 8.2 percent for everything else. But no programs are actually eliminated. The effect is to reduce the scale and scope of existing programs rather than to zero out any of them.

What notable programs get cut?

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Sequester Primer”

2013/02/242013/02/24

Marcus Aurelius: Utah Sheriff’s to White House – Our Loyalty Belongs to Those Who Elected Us

09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Ethics, Law Enforcement, Officers Call

Download Single Page Slide: 2013-02-24 Utah Sheriff Letter

Phi Beta Iota: BRAVO ZULU Huazzaah to the Utah Sheriff's. Oath Keepers is doing its job. This is law enforcement ethics at its best. We must all transfer our money to local credit unions and community banks, and being by-passing the federal government's corruption (as well as state and local corruption), and work to reassert the sovereignty of the individual citizen and the security and prosperity of the individual neighborhoods. Resilience is the goal, intelligence with integrity is the method.

2013/02/232013/02/23

Marcus Aurelius: White House Corruption + Flag Corruption = Defense Meltdown [Robert Steele: 2 Out of 3]

Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military

Add to this escalation of toxic leadership, particularly in Army, and senior leader incompetence [see Tom Ricks' book, The Generals] and you get an unappealing prospect]. W/R/T Gen. Mattis specifically, his competence, integrity — and candor — are legendary. His summary characterization of U.S. Marine is classic: “no better friend, no worse enemy.” I've heard Mackubin Owens brief in Pentagon; he's got relevant experience and a very sharp mind. I consider him very credible. I think he's nailed this particular topic.

America's Kinder, Gentler Department Of Defense

Cutting the military to fuel the welfare state doesn't instill fear in a nation's enemies

By Mackubin Thomas Owens

Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2013, Pg. 13

The Department of Defense faces some stark choices in the future due to the threat of sequestration. But the continual sounds of shoes dropping at the Pentagon suggest that the sequester may be the least of its problems.

The first shoe was the announcement in December that Marine Gen. James Mattis would leave his post as commander of Central Command in March, well short of what would be expected of a combatant commander who has acquitted himself well since he was appointed in August 2010. Most observers were stunned. There seemed to be no logical reason for his being replaced early. Most unforgivably, he learned of the move when an aide read a Pentagon press release announcing the change.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: White House Corruption + Flag Corruption = Defense Meltdown [Robert Steele: 2 Out of 3]”

2013/02/232013/02/23

SchwartzReport: 1,000 Year Drought in Eight Years — Corrupt Ignorant Governments Will Ignore This and Waste All Eight of Those Years

12 Water, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude

This is what we are headed towards unless we make massive adjustments in our way of life.

Worst Drought in 1,000 Years Could Begin in Eight Years

Beginning in just eight years, we could see permanent climate conditions across the North American Southwest that are comparable to the worst megadrought in 1,000 years. (1)

The latest research from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University published in December 2012 has some truly astounding news. The megadroughts referred to in the paper published in Nature Climate Change happened around about 900 to 1300 AD and are so extreme that they have no modern counterpart for comparison (these megadroughts will be referred to in the following as the “12th century megadrought”). The research was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

We have been warned for decades that we would be facing a megadrought if we did not do something about climate pollution. We did not, and now according to the projections of a new study, that is just what the future may hold. And remember, projected conditions similar to the worst megadrought in 1,000 years would be the baseline conditions. Dry periods, which we normally refer to as drought times today, would be superimposed on top of the megadrought extremeness.

Read rest of article.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: 1,000 Year Drought in Eight Years — Corrupt Ignorant Governments Will Ignore This and Waste All Eight of Those Years”