Category: Journal ISSN 1078-1935

Posted on

Retrospective: Jackie Salit Nails Two Parties in 2010

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, IO Impotency

THE PARTIES ARE OVER

by Jacqueline Salit

Goodbye two-Party system?  Discontent is building to open up the political process

NEW YORK NEWSDAY THE SUNDAY SPECIAL

October 31, 2010

Name a problem — poverty, war, out-of-control spending. The political parties offer themselves as the solution to all of the above, and more. We respond by voting for first one party, then the other, then back again. We want to let the world know we are unhappy, but we haven’t yet developed the creative capacity to rearrange the world around us.

This seemingly eternal passivity is the mother’s milk of political partyism. No wonder the Republicans and Democrats and their auxiliaries — the tea parties, the unions, the media — must whip us into a frenzy. Whether we are Foxites, MSNBCists, bloggers or bored stiff, we’re now implored daily to get out to vote. Why? Not because voting develops our capacity to move the country forward. But because we must put one, or the other, or both, political parties in power — even though separately and together, they brought us to this anxious and crummy place.

Read entire article….

Phi Beta Iota: Jacqueline Salit is a force in America, and she has access to Michael Bloomberg.  They both made a mistake in spending money on apparatchiks who created the NO LABELS “movement” that would be a monstrocity but for the fact that it is so pathetically “wag the puppy” one can only laugh.  She herself is authentic, and there is no denying the fact that 43% or more voters now consider themselves Independent, and over 83% told an informal Wall Street Journal poll they are ready to vote for a third party President.  All that is missing now is a Presidential candidate from a third party that can make Seven Promises to America.

See Also:

Continue reading “Retrospective: Jackie Salit Nails Two Parties in 2010”

Posted on

DoD 2012 Appropriations: Earmarks & More….

Corruption, Government
Winslow Wheeler

The House Appropriations Committee has reported the bill and text for HR 2219, the 2012 DOD appropriations bill, that handles most, but not all, of the appropriations for DOD and for DOD expenses in Afghanistan and elsewhere (Title IX). Find the bill and report, as actually reported — not the pre-mark up versions distributed by the HAC — at the Thomas site for HR 2219 at ) for the report, and for the bill.

There are some elements to the bill that the HAC forgot to emphasize in its press releases and that the press has paid little to no attention to.

For example, I found the following to be interesting:

There are a pile of earmarks in the bill.  Some are sprinkled through the R&D section of the bill.  They start in the tables for Army R&D on p. 211.  See the very first one: +$20 million for “University and Industry Research Centers,” which is explained in the detailed table on p. 218 as for “Historically Black Colleges and Universities.”  It is explained more fully on p. 205.  The explanation, however, does not obviate the fact that the add on is an earmark to anyone who understands what earmarks are and why they are done.

Continue reading “DoD 2012 Appropriations: Earmarks & More….”

Posted on

Search: 2012 us safe zones map

Searches

There was nothing on this site other than the flooding maps, and the long-running commentary on nuclear plants vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunami.  Thank you for the search.  The bottom lines for us are two:

1)  Truth at any cost lowers all other costs

2)  Vested interests cannot be trusted to tell the truth

Below is a map of US nuclear facilities highly vulnerable to “unpredicted” earthquakes and tsunamis.

Click on Image to Enlarge

Combine that with the previously posted maps of flooding outcomes and US counties dependent on levees to hold water back, and you have a magnified threat of both flooding and nuclear radiation.

Catastrophe occurs when planning is irresponsible.  It is quite safe to say that the US Government has been terribly irresponsible for decades,  lacking in both intelligence and integrity as well as faith in the common sense and good judgment of We the People.

We have no special knowledge on polar shifting, the change in magnetic fields, or related events.  Our general speculative assumption is that 2012 will be a year of awakening, and that dramatic global disasters, if they occur, will be met by equally dramatic emergent collective intelligence.  Government will decline substantially in size, revenue, and influence.  Non-governmental organizations and civil societies, armed with open mind-sets and a predisposition to share information for the common good, will gradually become central to human decision-making across all issues.  As Seth Godin and others point out, the human paradigm is shifting from competition to cooperation, from greed to civilization-building.  The good in humanity is emergent, in our view.

Posted on

Avaaz People Power: Slams Bahrain & War on Drugs

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, IO Deeds of Peace

Formula 1 cancels Bahrain race for 2011

UN established new task force toward ending criminalization of drugs

Within 72 hours, more than 1 million of us joined two unlikely campaigns: one to break the taboo on the global war on drugs, and another calling on F1 refuse to hold the Grand Prix in brutal Bahrain — and we won!! People power works. We see it everywhere, every day.

Read more….

Posted on

Seven Promises to America–Who Will Do This?

11 Society, About the Idea, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Officers Call, Strategy
Robert David STEELE Vivas

UPDATED 26 Oct 2011 to add YouTube overview

Seven Promises to America – Raising the Bar for 2012

UPDATED 20 June 2011 after talking to Cynthia McKinney.  Changes 7th promise to subsume End of Empire to Start of Green Non-Zero World that works for all.

Over the course of the past decade, as I have turned to non-fiction reading and reflections on integrity and intelligence, I have come to realize just how corrupt the US Government is at the political level, and how compliant the good people are that are trapped within a very bad system.

Below are the 7 promises I would demand of anyone who aspires to be President of the United States of America.  I know of no one else who can credibly commit to these 7 promises.

1.  Electoral Reform (9 points, 1 page)

Continue reading “Seven Promises to America–Who Will Do This?”

Posted on

Worth a Look: Keeping Watch (UN Surveillance)

Worth A Look
Click on Image to Enlarge

Amazon Pre-Order Page (Moves in August not December, Amazon Page Has Not Been Properly Set Up By Publisher).

Knowledge is power. In the hands of the UN peacekeepers it can be a power for peace.  Lacking knowledge, peacekeepers often find themselves powerless in the field, unable to protect themselves and others.  The United Nations owes it to both its peacekeepers and the “peacekept” to utilize modern tools to make its monitoring effective for conflict prevention and resolution.

Keeping Watch explains how modern technologies can increase the range, efficiency and accuracy of UN observation.  Satellites, aircraft and ground sensors enable surveillance of large areas over long periods.  They can provide imagery of hot spots for use as evidence in human rights investigations. Sensors can be the extended “eyes” of UN patrols, humanitarian convoys and robust UN operations.  Fortunately, commercial technologies have been increasing exponentially in capability while decreasing rapidly in cost.  The United Nations, however, continues to use technologies and techniques from decades past.

This book identifies the benefits and pitfalls of specific technologies.  The few cases of technologies effectively harnessed in the field are showcased, and creative recommendations are offered to overcome the institutional inertia and widespread misunderstandings about how technology can complement human initiative in the quest for peace in war-torn lands.

A. Walter Dorn teaches military officers and civilians at the Canadian Forces College (CFC) and at the Royal Military College of Canada. He is a professor of defence studies and Chair of the Department of Security and International Affairs at CFC. He has both studied and served on UN peace operations, and worked as a consultant to the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

Posted on

Human Trafficking Funded by US Taxpayer

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society
Click on Image to Enlarge

The Najlaa Episode Revisited

By DAVID ISENBERG and NICK SCHWELLENBACH

Project on Government Oversight (POGO)

June 14, 2011

Documents Reveal Details of Alleged Labor Trafficking by KBR Subcontractor

EXTRACT:

An Estimated Quarter of a Million Victims

There are no definitive numbers on the scale of labor trafficking. However, writing in Fraud magazine, supply chain compliance consultant Sindhu P. Kavinamannil and former federal prosecutor Sam McCahon estimate that “DOD contractors and their subcontractors in Iraq have victimized more than 250,000 men. That number does not include other agencies, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, which uses TCN-contracted labor in support of its operations.” TCN stands for third country nationals.

EXTRACT:

Najlaa International Catering Services (Najlaa), based in Kuwait, is part of the Eastern Solutions Group whose CEO is Bill Baisey.   …   Najlaa also has a contract with the Army for housekeeping services in Kuwait and according to sources, has other contracts directly with the Army. Since 2006, Eastern Solutions has been awarded at least 25 direct contracts with the Army for various work in Iraq and Kuwait worth around $4 million, according to USAspending.gov.

Read full article….

Phi Beta Iota: KBR has been implicated in drug smuggling, money laundering, and now human trafficking, over many decades.  As with Wall Street crimes, crimes committed under government contracts also fail to send people to jail.  In our view, it is a crime against humanity to import laborers to a country instead of paying fair wages to indigenous employees, and this should not be permitted by the US taxpayer, who has been lied to for decades.

noble gold