Policies – Page 276 – Public Intelligence Blog

The Washington Times launches U.S. Constitution app for smartphones, tablets

The Washington Times on Wednesday launched a smartphone and tablet app celebrating the U.S. Constitution and other important founding documents as part of a nationwide project to empower schools, parents and community leaders to teach constitutional literacy to the newest generation of Americans.

The Washington Times’ Pocket Constitution App, developed in partnership with the nonprofit Essentials in Education, is debuting on the 10th anniversary of Constitution Day, a national holiday created through the efforts of Sen. Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia Democrat, and signed into law by President George W. Bush.

Read full article.

See Especially:

Review: Liberty Defined–50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom

Review: The Thirteen American Arguments–Enduring Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country

2014/09/15

Patrick Cockburn: Letter from Arabia — ISIS is the Lesser of All Evils — And Most Certainly Less Evil Than an Invading Occupying USA…

02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Corruption, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

The Impossible War

Isis cannot be beaten as long as there is civil war in Syria

BY PATRICK COCKBURN

CounterPunch • SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

A letter printed at the bottom of this article was emailed by a friend soon after her neighbourhood in Mosul was hit by Iraqi airforce bombers. This was some hours before President Barack Obama explained his plan to weaken and ultimately destroy Isis, which calls itself Islamic State, by a series of measures including air attacks. The letter illustrates graphically one of the most important reasons why American air power may be less effective than many imagine.

Continue reading “Patrick Cockburn: Letter from Arabia — ISIS is the Lesser of All Evils — And Most Certainly Less Evil Than an Invading Occupying USA…”

2014/09/15

SchwartzReport: Why Obama Will Lose to ISIS — Indeed, How He Will Empower and Enlarge ISIS…

02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Corruption, DoD, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

I started out today writing a short essay on my views about this new war, then came across this, with which I agree. It makes my main point: You would think after 11 years of war in the Islamic world, we would learn something about the culture and how to work with it. Apparently not. I think one really has to ask now: Cui bono? Who benefits?

Why Obama Will Lose His Endless War in Syria and Iraq
STEVE WEISSMAN – Reader Supported News

Never bet on another man’s game,” my father loved to say. It’s a lesson Barack Obama never learned, especially in his military strikes against Islamic State.

Islamic State, or ISIL, has only one way to keep the support of Iraq’s Sunni tribesmen and former Baathist supporters of Saddam Hussein. The blood-thirsty ‘fools of God” need to be seen defending their people against a Western invasion, which is precisely what Obama gives them.

He plays the role they purposely provoked with their brutal beheadings, summary executions, and sickening use of mass rape to keep their fighters happy. He becomes the foreign, Christian crusader defiling a Muslim land, and he does it in company with Iranian as well as Iraqi Shiites, whom Islamic State despises as heretics, and with the blessing of Sunni Arab leaders it correctly sees as outrageously corrupt.

In other words, the more jihadis Obama kills, the more Sunnis that Obama recruits to their ranks. Not a winning strategy.

Read full article.

2014/09/14

Sepp Hasslberger: Beautiful Woven Refugee Tents Get Their Power from the Sun Read more: Beautiful Woven Refugee Tents Get Their Power from the Sun

01 Poverty, 06 Family, Design, Materials, Resilience, United Nations & NGOs

Beautiful Woven Refugee Tents Get Their Power from the Sun

Designer Abeer Seikaly has developed a practical yet elegant solution to the need for lightweight, mobile, and structurally sound shelters for disaster zones.

The Canadian-Jordanian's Weaving a Home project not only provides flexible, transportable shelter, but also incorporates water collection, solar power generation and solar water heating into the design.

Each tent has its own water collection system, utilizing the natural channels formed by the skin to direct water to the storage point. By using a fabric with strong thermal properties, the tents can alsoconvert solar radiation into power and heat collected water for showering.

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2014/09/142014/09/14

SchwartzReport: Syngenta Akss EPA to Raise Tolerance Level for Bee Killing Chemical by 400X — Evil, Shameless, Greedy — and the EPA Might be Corrupt Enough to Agree to Kill Remaining Bees

01 Agriculture, 03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, 06 Family, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Earth Intelligence, Government

This is the latest in the bee crisis. It is so shameless and greedy it is breath-taking. Monsanto, Syngenta. These are evil corporations.

Please contact the EPA and let them know you are opposed to this. The decision will directly affect your life.

Syngenta Asks EPA to Raise Tolerance Level for ‘Bee-killing' Chemical
TIFFANY STECKER – E & E Publishing

Seed and crop management company Syngenta Crop Protection LLC has petitioned U.S. EPA to increase the legal tolerance for a neonicotinoid pesticide residue in several crops — in one case increasing the acceptable level by 400 times, according to a notice in today's Federal Register.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Syngenta Akss EPA to Raise Tolerance Level for Bee Killing Chemical by 400X — Evil, Shameless, Greedy — and the EPA Might be Corrupt Enough to Agree to Kill Remaining Bees”

2014/09/132014/09/13

Yoda: California Goes Dry…

01 Agriculture, 03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, 06 Family, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, 12 Water

Irresponsible, government is….

Not One Drop: How Long Will California Survive Life Without Water?

Tony Dokoupil

NBC News,

EXTRACTS

As the California drought approaches its fourth year, Seville’s well is one of hundreds of private water holes coughing up sand and spitting air in the Central Valley, according to Tulare County officials. As many as 100,000 more wells are at risk around the state if the rains don’t come by October.

. . . . . . .

“To shower, I use a cup, just like when I was in ‘Nam,” he said, stepping away from a stream of glistening neighbors, most of them just back from the fields. Some had dust on their ear lobes and deep in their wrinkles. None had a simple way to shower in town that night. “We’re living in a third world country now,” he continued.

. . . . . . .

“Everything was so nice,” admitted Maria. But not anymore. “California is going dry.”

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Phi Beta Iota: All of this was understood by Jimmy Carter and his most professional civil servants. Also understood was that he would be assassinated if he tried to do anyting in relation to controlling energy and water use in the public interest and against special interests. We are entering an era in which portions of the USA are going to die and create internal displaced persons. While it is not too late to avert massive national catastrophe on multiple policy fronts, the government lacks both integrity in its electoral and governance systems, and integrity in intelligence (decision-support). Hence, the next decade for the USA is likely to be very grim.

2014/09/12

SchwartzReport: Solar Trumps Fossil — And Cost Drops 30% Each Time Installed Solar Doubles in Any Given Area…

05 Energy

This is lovely good news about the transition out of our carbon energy addiction. The report presents what I think is an accurate assessment of the Non-carbon Energy Trend.

In spite of constant government coddling, endless subsidies, and the huge sums available to buy influence, along with ads to protect its dominance, carbon energy is quickly becoming uncompetitive. One can only wonder where we would be now if the attempt Jimmy Carter made to shift away from carbon had not been blocked by Ronald Reagan, whom I believe history will identify with the beginning of the decline of America. In any case, in spite of everything non-carbon will prevail because it is cheaper, and easier, and doesn't cause climate change. There will also be a little discussed effect: an increase in wellness as the diseases caused by carbon decline.

The real monster in the closet is nuclear waste. Nothing proposed actually deals with the problem, and solar and wind will help only marginally. We haven't a clue what to do with waste, and the timebomb is ticking. Tanks leak. Pools degrade. An how does one really calculate the costs? How does one project expenses for something that is deadly for 10s of thousands of years? Finding a solution to nuclear waste within the next 15 years is going to become an urgent issue.

Happily, by then we will have dealt with a large percentage of carbon usage, as the report describes.

Solar Continues Trumping Fossil Fuel Pricing, With More Innovations To Come
CHIP REGISTER, Contributor – Forbes

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Solar Trumps Fossil — And Cost Drops 30% Each Time Installed Solar Doubles in Any Given Area…”

Category: Policies

Yoda: US Constitution Now an App

Patrick Cockburn: Letter from Arabia — ISIS is the Lesser of All Evils — And Most Certainly Less Evil Than an Invading Occupying USA…

SchwartzReport: Why Obama Will Lose to ISIS — Indeed, How He Will Empower and Enlarge ISIS…

Sepp Hasslberger: Beautiful Woven Refugee Tents Get Their Power from the Sun Read more: Beautiful Woven Refugee Tents Get Their Power from the Sun

SchwartzReport: Syngenta Akss EPA to Raise Tolerance Level for Bee Killing Chemical by 400X — Evil, Shameless, Greedy — and the EPA Might be Corrupt Enough to Agree to Kill Remaining Bees

Yoda: California Goes Dry…

SchwartzReport: Solar Trumps Fossil — And Cost Drops 30% Each Time Installed Solar Doubles in Any Given Area…