Ethics – Page 152 – Public Intelligence Blog

Have you ever wondered whether the money you spend ends up funding causes you oppose?

Buycott helps you to organize your everyday consumer spending so you can fund causes you support and avoid funding those you disagree with.

Example: During the SOPA/PIPA debate in 2012, a number of companies pushed to pass legislation that reduced online freedom of expression, while other companies fought hard to oppose the legislation. With Buycott, a campaign can be quickly created around a cause, with the goal of targeting companies with a boycott unless they change their position, or buycotting a company to show your support.

When you use Buycott to scan a product, it will look up the product, determine what brand it belongs to, and figure out what company owns that brand (and who owns that company, ad infinitum). It will then cross-check the product owners against the companies and brands included in the campaigns you've joined, in order to tell you if the scanned product conflicts with one of your campaign commitments.

Learn more.

2014/09/222014/09/22

Yoda: Uruguay in the Lead – Jose Mujica, the World’s Most Radically Well-Intentioned President?

Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government

José Mujica: is this the world’s most radical president?

Uruguay’s José Mujica lives in a tiny house rather than the presidential palace, and gives away 90% of his salary. He’s legalised marijuana and gay marriage. But his greatest legacy is governing without giving up his revolutionary ideals

EXTRACT

A bust of Che Guevara peers down from a bookshelf in Mujica’s farmhouse. “He was unforgettable, a mould-breaker,” the president said. “He marked our entire youth.” Yet the man who, inspired by Guevara, once blew up factories owned by foreigners now offers them tax breaks. “I need capitalism to work, because I have to levy taxes to attend to the serious problems we have. Trying to overcome it all too abruptly condemns the people you are fighting for to suffering, so that instead of more bread, you have less bread,” he said. Not all Tupamaros have accompanied Mujica on his journey to soft, pragmatic socialism. “They left their ideals in their prison cells,” the former hostage Jorge Zabalza proclaimed recently. “Some old compañeros won’t understand,” Mujica said. “They don’t see our battle against people’s everyday problems, that life is not a utopia.”

Read full article.

2014/09/222014/09/22

Yoda: Open Access Journals — Answer? Scam?

Academia, Ethics, Ineptitude, IO Impotency

Deciding who should pay to publish peer-reviewed scientific research

How open-access journals are changing the field of peer-reviewed science

John Abraham

The Guardian, 18 September 2014

There is an important discussion to be had about the future of scientific publications.

– – – – – – –

A publisher cannot simply give papers away for free – they would rapidly go out of business. On the other hand, an author can opt to make their papers available without a pay wall, but the author has to pay for this option. My colleagues and I recently wrote a major ocean heating paper and paid multiple thousands of dollars to make it freely available. This money came from our research budgets – budgets that are already tight.

So into this mix enter open-access publishers. Instead of selling papers, they make the articles freely available to the public. On the one hand, this system dramatically alters who can gain access to articles. The papers can be freely downloaded anywhere in the world (hugely important if you are a researcher in the developing world). In addition, open-access journals typically do not print papers in hard copy form, thus saving money on printing and shipping. But how can these journals survive? They do that by charging the author. Fees range anywhere from $100–$1000 or so.

Continue reading “Yoda: Open Access Journals — Answer? Scam?”

2014/09/212014/09/21

SchwartzReport: Localism Accelerating — Virtual Secession

Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government

Here is some excellent news about the Localism Trend. I am beginning to see in many trends a meta-trend emerging. The shift of power to the local level. It is, I think, a response to the perceived corruption of all branches of the Federal government to the service of the uber-rich. Power then began moving to the states but, even there this same corruption is at work, and so it ! steps down to the local level.

Beyond the CSA: Four Ways Communities Support Everything From Books to Beer
DANA DRUGMAND – Yes!

Since the first community supported agriculture program was established in western Massachusetts in the 1980s, the concept of buying food directly from local farms has taken off. There are now thousands of CSAs across the country. It’s a simple enough model-consumers purchase a share of the season’s harvest upfront, and they get a box or bag of fresh, locally grown produce each week from the farm.

And this model is not restricted to farming. In recent years, people have applied the CSA idea to other types of goods and services such as dining out, microbrews, and even fish. It’s a system that works for both producers and consumers. Here are some of our favorite examples.

Read full article.

See Also:

Secession @ Phi Beta Iota

2014/09/182014/09/18

1997 Reference: CIA’s Intelligence Sharing With Congress + RECAP

Ethics, Government

EXTRACT:

From my point of view, the academic community in some ways is even more remiss [than the media]. During my brief fledgling career as a novice academic, I have come to the conclusion that most university-level courses on the American foreign policy process are absolutely mute on this subject [intelligence sharing with Congress, and the repercussions thereof, as a major change in the US foreign policy process]. It is as if time was frozen in the 1960's. I believe the current scholarly literature on foreign policy processes has little discussion of this — almost none. I am not aware of any Ph.D. theses being done in this area, although I can think of some wonderful case studies that could be the basis for doctoral dissertations. The media and the academic community do not quite get it.

(U) 1997 CIA's Intelligence Sharing with Congress

Continue reading “1997 Reference: CIA's Intelligence Sharing With Congress + RECAP”

2014/09/182014/09/18

Mongoose: Attaboy Australia — Beheading IO Stopped — But What Should US Do?

Ethics, Government, Law Enforcement, Media, Military, Peace Intelligence

Very well done, Australia!

Australia raids foil reported ISIS beheading plots

Australian counterterrorism forces detained 15 people Thursday in a series of suburban raids after receiving intelligence that the Islamic State movement was planning public beheadings in two Australian cities to demonstrate its reach.

About 800 federal and state police officers raided more than a dozen properties across 12 Sydney suburbs as part of the operation — the largest in Australian history, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Colvin told the Associated Press. Separate raids in the eastern cities of Brisbane and Logan were also conducted.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the plan involved kidnapping randomly selected members of the public off the streets in Sydney and Brisbane, beheading them on camera, and releasing the recordings through Islamic State's propaganda arm in the Middle East.

Continue reading “Mongoose: Attaboy Australia — Beheading IO Stopped — But What Should US Do?”

2014/09/18

Jean Lievens: Overhaul Global Economy — Deals with Climate Change, Generates More and Better Profits

03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, Ethics, Future-Oriented

Climate change report: prevent damage by overhauling global economy

Reducing emissions can generate better growth than old high-carbon model, says co-author of report, Lord Stern.

The world can still act in time to stave off the worst effects of climate change, and enjoy the fruits of continued economic growth as long as the global economy can be transformed within the next 15 years, a group of the world's leading economists and political leaders will argue on Tuesday.

Tackling climate change can be a boon to prosperity, rather than a brake, according to the study involving a roll-call of the globe's biggest institutions, including the UN, the OECD group of rich countries, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and co-authored by Lord Stern, one of the world's most influential voices on climate economics.

The report comes ahead of a UN-convened summit of world leaders on global warming next week at which David Cameron has pledged to lead calls for strong action.

“Reducing emissions is not only compatible with economic growth and development – if done well it can actually generate better growth than the old high-carbon model,” said Stern.

Read full article.

Category: Ethics

Worth a Look: Buycott – Stop Funding Evil

Yoda: Uruguay in the Lead – Jose Mujica, the World’s Most Radically Well-Intentioned President?

Yoda: Open Access Journals — Answer? Scam?

SchwartzReport: Localism Accelerating — Virtual Secession

1997 Reference: CIA’s Intelligence Sharing With Congress + RECAP

Mongoose: Attaboy Australia — Beheading IO Stopped — But What Should US Do?

Jean Lievens: Overhaul Global Economy — Deals with Climate Change, Generates More and Better Profits