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Dean says kill the Senate health bill: report

Dean tells Good Morning America that he thinks health bill should be scrapped: Video at bottom

WASHINGTON — Following the jettisoning of both the public option and the Medicare buy-in provision, one of the nation's leading progressive voices on health care reportedly said Tuesday that the Senate bill is no longer worth supporting.

Phi Beta Iota: Buried within the comments “Howard Dean with Cynthia mckinney, Dennis Kucinich and Ralph Nader would be a good group to get a real third party going. ” We add as a non-partisan observation that the principal figures representing the 70% of America that did not vote for the current Administration have failed to come together. Between Howard Dean and Joe Lieberman the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party may be finding that Sarah Palin and Ron Paul are looking a lot more reasonable. Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, and Jackie Salit have the power–not yet exercised–to bring America together on the ONE THING we can all agree on: the Electoral Reform Act of 2010.

2009/12/152010/09/02

Event Report: UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy Among Civil Society in Southeast Asia

09 Terrorism, 10 Security, Communities of Practice, Key Players, Methods & Process, Peace Intelligence

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The Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation and Nahdatul Ulama (NU), with support from the governments of Germany and Sweden, co-hosted a workshop in Jakarta on 18-19 November 2009 to raise awareness of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy among civil society in Southeast Asia and explore the possibilities for greater civil society participation in efforts to implement the global framework in a manner that reflects the local contexts, needs, and prioriti es across the region. Participants in the workshop included representatives from civil society from across Southeast Asia working on an array of issues related to the implementation of the UN Strategy. The workshop aimed to build on the rich contributions of civil society to furthering human security in Southeast Asia and lay the foundations for the development of a civil society network related to the issues covered in the UN Strategy.

Click here to read the meeting summary.

Click here to read the background paper.

Press Coverage (Nine Links):

Continue reading “Event Report: UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy Among Civil Society in Southeast Asia”

2009/12/152011/10/22

Worth a Look: Nader 2000 campaign manager publishes article on discriminatory ballot access laws

09 Justice, 11 Society, Collective Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Reform, Worth A Look

Full Story Online

Theresa Amato, who served as campaign manager for Ralph Nader’s 2000 Green and 2004 independent runs for president, has an opinion piece in the Harvard Law Record entitled “The Two Party Ballot Suppresses Third Party Change”. She notes that although Nader wrote a piece on discriminatory ballot access laws for the same publication in 1958, the situation has not improved in the 51 years since then. Amato is the author of the recent book Grand Illusion: the Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny. See also Review: Running on Empty–How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It (Paperback)

Other References:

Continue reading “Worth a Look: Nader 2000 campaign manager publishes article on discriminatory ballot access laws”

2009/12/142009/12/14

Journal: Four-Dimensional Digital Maps

Analysis, Budgets & Funding, Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Ethics, Geospatial, Key Players, Methods & Process, Mobile, Policies, Real Time, Threats

The graphic can be enlarged. Two key points:

1. We are finally getting to where geospatial and functional data can be merged in near-real-time.

2. Intelligence Online remains our only “must read”

The question that is NOT being addressed is this one: What will it take to create an infinitely scalable and drillable digital map of the Earth, using open source software and open to all, to which all manner of data in all languages can be appended, validated, and integrated?

2009/12/142009/12/14

Journal: Pakistan-Afghanistan War

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 05 Energy, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, Government, Military, Peace Intelligence, Strategy

Phi Beta Iota: Zbigniew Brzezinski is doing an enormous amount of damage in his hidden counsel to the White House; if John Hamre replaces Bob Gates in January as has been discussed, this will get worse, not better. Below are a few odds and ends from various contributing editors, consolidated here to avoid beating a dead horse with too many postings. We have not sought to reconcile contradictory points of view, only to honor the importance of listening to diverse points of view. The London Telegraph piece is reproduced in full as it has disappeared from online view.

Chuck Spinney Sends on Religious Fundamentalism and the Rise of the Corporate State on What Is Living and What Is Dead in Social Democracy? on Soldiers’ Complaints of Shoddy Gear Spur Inquiry by House Democrats

Webster Tarpley Sends on Obama's War Against Pakistan on End the War Rally Videos on No Wind of Change After Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

Obama’s West Point speech of December 1 represents far more than the obvious brutal escalation in Afghanistan — it is nothing less than a declaration of all-out war by the United States against Pakistan.

Victor Davis Hansen on Obama’s Wheel of Fortune: The president’s luck has changed — and he doesn’t seem to have noticed

Marcus Aurelius Sends: Special Forces Unite To Destroy Taliban Leaders London Sunday Telegraph December 13, 2009 Pg. 2 By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent

British and US special forces are set to open a new front in southern Afghanistan in a bid to “break the back” of the Taliban insurgency.

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2009/12/132009/12/13

Officers Call: A Conversation About Iraq II

02 China, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 05 Iran, 10 Security, Analysis, Ethics, IO Sense-Making, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

Sir,

There's nothing inherently wrong with the analysis of Al Qaeda (I just glanced at it, if you wish I can read in detail today). The PROBLEM lies not so much in how we analyze support to terrorism (state, crime, other) but rather in the way we analyze (or rather do NOT analyze) EVERYTHING.

Here's what I have thrown together for you, in six pages with links.

Summary of Contents (OC Iraq II)

Why We Missed the Threat
Terrorism is Threat Number Nine Out of Ten
Terrorism is a Tactic, Al Qaeda an Interest Group
Without Legitimacy Forget About Stabilization
Rebalancing the Instruments of National Power
Three Things Secret Intelligence Cannot Do
Advise & Assist Transition to Exit Menu
- Strategic Communications
- Inter-Agency Professionals
- Regional Concordat
- Faith Brigades
- Redirect Funds Toward Waging Peace
- Contain Israel
- Make Nice with China

Officers Call on Iraq I

Semper Fidelis, Robert

2009/12/122009/12/12

Reference: How Little We Know

09 Terrorism, Analysis, Articles & Chapters, Historic Contributions

This contribution by Dr. Laurie Mylroie is so good we are also cataloging it as a Historic Contribution. See her Wikipedia page as well. The article appeared originally in The American Spectator (October 2006). As much as we disagree with many of her beliefs on this matter, we do agree that our national intelligence community was not up to the task of determining the best available truth across the board. Her two books:

Category: Topics (All Other)

Journal: Dean Breaks with Obama, Third Party Rumbles