Government bad, , volunteers good?
By Will Englund and Kathy Lally, Published: February 2
Yoda: Volunteerism in Russia
Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, GovernmentDefDog: Shields and Brooks Condemn Senators — and Hagel — for a New Low in Hearings — PLUS 3 Big Ideas White House & Hagel’s People Don’t “Get”…
Government, Ineptitude, Military
Senators irresponsible, Hagel unprepared and lacking any upfront vision to shape the encounter.
Shields and Brooks on Hagel's Rough Hearing, Movement on Immigration
EXTRACT
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, speaking of secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel, who, David, the president wants to be the secretary of defense, hearing yesterday, confirmation hearing before the Senate, pretty rough going.
What did you take away from that?
DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I thought it was terrible. I thought he did a very poor job.
And we have interviewed him. We have — Mark and I have said nice things about him. I certainly have enjoyed the interviews I have had with him, but he really did a bad job. He projected weakness, which is not something you want in a secretary of defense. He could not even respond to freshman senators with any force or vigor.
He projected a guy who hadn't prepared. Some of these questions were obvious questions, about the surge, about some of the things he had said on Al-Jazeera. You have got to have an answer. It's like somebody who walks into a big moment of their life without having done their homework.
And so I still think he will be confirmed on more or less party-line votes. But if it was up to sort of a looking for a boost of — a sign of competence, this wasn't it.
JUDY WOODRUFF: How did you see it?
SchwartzReport: US DoE Proposes to Recycle Radioactive Metal Into Consumer Products Secretary Chu’s Final Disgraceful Act + Eugenics & GMO RECAP
03 Economy, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Corruption, Earth Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, Officers Call
Several readers sent me different versions of this story and, at first, I thought this is not possible. These stories are some kind of urban legend. But, to my amazement, it turns out this is true. It is hard to believe anyone, even the greediest, could be this stupid. But there you are.
I urge you to contact your Representative and Senators, and to sign the petition. This DOE plan is stupidity at an almost surreal level.
Take action against DOE's radioactive metal “recycling” scheme!
On a vital radioactive waste battlefront, NIRS has put out an alert against a scheme to “recycle” vast quantities of radioactive metal from across the nuclear weapons complex into the consumer product recycling stream. NIRS asks, “Will the next zipper on your pants be radioactive? How about your silverware?”, and explains:
“The Department of Energy wants to mix radioactive metal from nuclear weapons factories with clean recycled metal and let it enter into general commerce–where it could be used for any purpose.
It's a foot in the door for revival of a vast–and discredited–radioactive waste deregulation plan defeated in 1992.en and children.
Yoda: Organization of American States Dead? Chile Playing Both Sides Cuba to Lead the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)?
01 Brazil, 02 China, 02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 07 Venezuela, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Military, Peace IntelligenceSpanish, Force Speaks. English Not.
CELAC Rising: The Monroe Doctrine Turned on Its Head?
Last Monday, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (CELAC) met for its second summit in Santiago, Chile, one year after its founding meeting in Caracas, Venezuela in 2011. The Summit is the culmination of roughly a decade of efforts to create a viable mechanism for greater integration in the Americas, and particularly a year of planning by a “troika” of representatives from, believe it or not, Chile, Venezuela and Cuba. They were able to pull it off successfully, despite their obvious differences, and all 33 presidents or heads of state from the region attended, with the exception of Hugo Chavez from Venezuela, who sent a letter with his Vice-President Nicolás Maduro.
CELAC explicitly excludes the US and Canada, a historic first for a hemispheric organization with huge symbolic importance, because it answers a long-standing dream for unity of the subcontinent that harks back to Simón Bolívar and the struggles for independence from the European colonial powers. Beyond the symbolism, however, it is strategically crucial: It means that there is now a subcontinent bloc of developing nations that can speak with one voice,, and also serve as a counterweight to US political and economic hegemony.
Mini-Me: One View of AIPAC Poodle Show (Hagel Hearing), Word Count Assessment — Israel and Iran Over and Over No Substance
Corruption, Government, Military
Huh?
Hagel confirmation hearing turns into the AIPAC Poodle Show
… by Jim W. Dean, VT Editor … Press TV
It was an embarrassing day to be an American last Friday. The Founding Fathers are turning over in their graves, once again. I knew it was coming, but it was worse than I expected.
AIPAC turned the screws on their assets in the U.S. Senate to make an example of Hagel, and the race was on to see who could be more subservient. As usual, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, the Senators for Israel, led the pack.
To watch the Senate chew up one of their own, solely on instruction of their non-existant Jewish Lobby masters was a humiliating day for America. The Senate, of course, does not look at it that way because they have been doing it for a long time.
DefDog: (Retired) Military Leaders Oppose Hagel
Civil Society, Corruption, Idiocy, MilitaryDishonest slime.
(Retired) Military leaders oppose Hagel nomination
Center for Security Policy | Jan 29, 2013
January 29, 2013 (Washington, D.C.): A distinguished group of fourteen retired generals and admirals, representing all branches of the United States Armed Forces, has signed a letter opposing the nomination of Sen. Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense.
The letter – addressed to Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), respectively, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee – raises several concerns about the nomination of Sen. Hagel, including:
- Sen. Hagel’s support for further cuts to the defense budget. Sen. Hagel stated in late August 2011 that the Pentagon is “bloated” and needs to be “pared down”, contrary to Sec. Panetta’s and Chairman Dempsey’s views that sequestration – the additional hundreds of billions in across-the-board cuts to defense that go well beyond the $787 billion in cuts already sustained by the Department since Sec. Gates’ tenure – would be “disastrous for the defense budget” and “very high risk” to national security;
- Sen. Hagel’s support for the global elimination of nuclear weapons. Sen. Hagel is a public supporter of the “Global Zero” Initiative, the goal of which is the “elimination of all nuclear weapons.” This stance is ill-advised for any Secretary of Defense, as Russia and China continue to modernize their nuclear capabilities while North Korea and Iran move closer to obtaining them.
- Sen. Hagel’s hostility towards Israel. Sen. Hagel has demonstrated an abiding hostility towards Israel, a view that would be detrimental to our national defense and perhaps perilous to our only stable, reliable ally in the Middle East were he to become Secretary.
- Sen. Hagel’s outlook towards Iran. Sen. Hagel repeatedly opposed sanctions against Iran while serving in the Senate, and in 2006 stated that “a military strike against Iran, a military option, is not a viable, feasible, responsible option” – an ill-advised statement that undercuts the effectiveness of both diplomatic and military policies to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capabilities.
The signers of the letter are:
Continue reading “DefDog: (Retired) Military Leaders Oppose Hagel”
Patrick Meier: Social Media as Pulse of the Planet?
Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, IO Impotency
Social Media: Pulse of the Planet?
In 2010, Hillary Clinton described social media as a new nervous system for our planet (1). So can the pulse of the planet be captured with social media? There are many who are skeptical not least because of the digital divide. “You mean the pulse of the Data Have’s? The pulse of the affluent?” These rhetorical questions are perfectly justified, which is why social media alone should not be the sole source of information that feeds into decision-making for policy purposes. But millions are joining the social media ecosystem everyday. So the selection bias is not increasing but decreasing. We may not be able to capture the pulse of the planet comprehensively and at a very high resolution yet, but the pulse of the majority world is certainly growing louder by the day.
Read full article with seven graphics.
Phi Beta Iota: As Dr. Meier's notes, right now only the “haves” can be thinking about this. However, we remain certain that a project such as The Virgin Truth, or a concerted effort by the Secretary General of the United Nations to inspire a global United Nations Open-Source Decision-Support Information Network (UNODIN), or an initiative by Secretary of State John Kerry to create the Open Source Agency (OSA), can change the information dynamics and information ethics of the Earth virtually overnight.
