Worth A Look – Page 83 – Public Intelligence Blog

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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

Worth a Look: Contractors in Stability Operations

10 Security, 10 Transnational Crime, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Worth A Look

Stability Operations for Dummies: The Role of the Prvate Sector in Iraq (YouTube Briefing)

Doug Brooks, founding President of the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA) has a video circulating that offers the soft sales pitch for outsourcing “contingency support.” It is all positive and completely avoids all of the negatives, such as:

1. Pillaging and disrupting existing intelligence and special operations ranks by incentivizing early retirement.

2. Cost 3x to 10X that of a uniformed or civil service source.

3. Profit motive rather than mission motive.

4. Pretends contractor mistakes are not politically accountable.

5. Pretends contractors actually favor low-cost locals (which radically reduces overhead profits)

Continue reading “Worth a Look: Contractors in Stability Operations”

2009/12/132009/12/13

Worth a Look: Engaging the Muslim World Challenges and Opportunities

Worth A Look

USIP Event Home Page (Permanent)

This event took place in October 2009 at the US Institute of Peace. The archived audio for each speaker is free online.

Keynote Address

The Honorable Keith Ellison (D-MN)
U.S. House of Representatives
David R. Smock, Commentator
Vice President, Center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, Religion and Peacemaking Center of Innovations

Speakers

Abiodun Williams, Moderator
Vice President, Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, U.S. Institute of Peace
Daniel Brumberg
Director, Muslim World Initiative, U.S. Institute of Peace
Co-Director, Democracy Studies, Georgetown University
Dina Shehata
Senior Researcher, Al-Ahram Center, Cairo
Ömer Taşpınar
Non-resident Scholar, Saban Center, Brookings Institution
Palwasha Hassan
Jennings Randolph Afghanistan Fellow, U.S. Institute of Peace

Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Conference Addresses USIP

2009/12/122009/12/12

Worth a Look: Co-Intelligence Institute & Tom Atlee

Worth A Look

Phi Beta Iota: If there were one single person to elect as being representative of all that we are capable of if we commit ourselves to conscious evolution, Tom Atlee would be that person.

We urge all those interested in Public Intelligence to buy his new book, a tipping-point book, and consider buying it in lots of 10 or more as holiday gifts.

Tom and the Co-Intelligence Institute are the role models for all of us, and anything anyone can do to support their continuing contributions to social sanity is strongly encouraged. St.

Dear friends,

Continue reading “Worth a Look: Co-Intelligence Institute & Tom Atlee”

2009/12/12

Worth a Look: Ship Technology Companies

Worth A Look

Not nearly complete, but a fine start and the kind of integrated list that will be common in the future, but at the component level with a full life-cycle analysis.

2009/12/11

Worth a Look: Field To Market–The Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture

Worth A Look

Field To Market is a diverse alliance working to create opportunities across the agricultural supply chain for continuous improvements in productivity, environmental quality, and human well-being. The group provides collaborative leadership that is engaged in industry-wide dialogue, grounded in science, and open to the full range of technology choices.

The Fieldprint Calculator is an educational tool designed to help you assess how some of your operational decisions affect overall sustainability performance. We have identified methodologies for estimating the key performance areas at the national level. The Calculator is an easy way to find out how your current land use, energy use, water use, greenhouse gas emissions, and soil loss compare with state and national averages.

Phi Beta Iota: Many such tools are being developed around the world. What they lack is a single standard Global Game architecture that makes it possible to cross-polinate all data and all functions.

2009/12/11