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Waging Peace

By Leah Bolger, WarIsACrime.org

Pauling Lecture, Oregon State University, Power Point

Good evening. I want to thank the committee for inviting me to speak with you this evening—it is such a pleasure to be here.

When I received the letter from Professor Clinton congratulating me on being nominated as the 30^th person to receive the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Memorial Lectureship for World Peace, I was stunned! After I went to the website and read the names of the 29 others who had given this lecture in years past, I became increasingly filled with a sense of honor, humility and gratitude that I had been chosen to follow in the footsteps of such notable intellectuals and activists as ***John Kenneth Galbraith, William Sloane Coffin, Noam Chomsky, Robert Kennedy Jr., and Grace Lee Boggs, not to mention the 8 Nobel Laureates: ***Linus Pauling, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Mairead Maguire, Oscar Arias Sanchez, Jose Ramos-Horta, Betty Williams, Rigoberta Menchu, and Jody Williams. And now my name was going to be added to this prestigious list. I started feeling a strong sense of burden and responsibility to live up to the honor that had been given me. What could I possibly tell an audience that would be worthy of this lectureship? Even calling it a “lecture” gave me a sense of responsibility that I have not felt with any other speech or presentation that I have given. Although I enjoy telling people that by serving 20 years on Active Duty in the Navy, I am now able to live off of my military pension and work as a full-time volunteer peace activist, I have only been an “activist” for the past 6 years or so—a relative novice compared to so many others who have dedicated their lives to peace and justice. And so, I went very quickly from feeling elated that I had been chosen to give this lecture, to feeling a bit inadequate and unsure of what to say.

But the more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that perhaps I had been chosen to give this lecture precisely because I was not a big name celebrity, or a Nobel Laureate. Maybe I had been chosen because I am like so many of us—just someone who is outraged by injustice, and plugging along in the trenches, trying to exact change on the issues we believe in. Maybe I could use this opportunity to speak with you, not to “lecture” you, but perhaps to encourage and motivate you to realize the power of our potential as activists. The fact is that you don’t have to be a Nobel Laureate to make a difference. The work of most activists will never be recognized outside of their own communities, but we must remember that the power of activism is about all of us contributing a little. These little contributions, when coupled with the actions of others, multiply in their power exponentially.

Continue reading “David Swanson: Leah Bolger on Waging Peace”

2013/08/19

Del Spurlock: Open Civics — Crafting Responses to Terror II

Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government

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Crafting Responses to Terror II

Current events are an essential tool for learning civics. So today we are going to stay on track with our objectives for a national service with three events of the last few days. The first event was President Obama’s speech to the Convention of the Disabled American Veterans. You can watch it on the White House website, or, you can read the major points at this Stars and Stripes article.

There is nothing objectionable in the President’s remarks. His Administration’s commitment to our soldier/veterans is demonstrably more deeply felt and resourced than that of Mr. W. Bush and Mr. Clinton. In structuring greater transition services for our veterans, his Administration approaches President Reagan’s vision and commitment, abandoned during the first Bush Administration. Nevertheless, the President’s approach amounts to little more than a hardy salute and severance for our veterans. As we have discussed, our military will be shrinking in favor of freeing the Defense budget for buying new hardware, meaning more young people will be entering a shrinking labor market to compete with departing soldiers and laid-off veterans; the long term costs of treating and sustaining our wounded veterans and their families remain unaddressed; and the military structure and the cause for which they had fought are now known by our veterans to be corrupt.

These are continuing psychological and emotional burdens that must be shouldered by our veterans throughout their lives. These are matters unaddressed by the President, as is the potential of our veterans to be valued as the precious national assets we identified last week:

Continue reading “Del Spurlock: Open Civics — Crafting Responses to Terror II”

2013/08/192013/08/19

Stephen E. Arnold: Content Processing SUCKS

IO Impotency

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Next Generation Content Processing: Tail Fins and Big Data

Posted: 18 Aug 2013 03:11 PM PDT

Note: I wrote this for Homeland Security Today. It will appear when the site works out its production problems. As background, check out “The Defense Department Thinks Troves of Personal Data Pose a National Security Threat.” If the Big Data systems worked as marketers said, the next generation systems would these success stories provide ample evidence of the value of these Big Data systems?]

Next-generation content processing seems, like wine, to improve with age. Over the last four years, smart software has been enhanced by design. What is your impression of the eye-popping interfaces from high-profile vendors like Algilex, Cybertap, Digital Reasoning, IBM i2, Palantir, Recorded Future, and similar firms? ((A useful list is available from Carahsoft at http://goo.gl/v853TK.)

For me, I am reminded of the design trends for tail fins and chrome for US automobiles in the 1950s and 1960s. Technology advances in these two decades moved forward, but soaring fins and chrome bright work advanced more quickly. The basics of the automobile remained unchanged. Even today’s most advanced models perform the same functions as the Kings of Chrome of an earlier era. Eye candy has been enhanced with creature comforts. But the basics of today’s automobile would be recognized and easily used by a driver from Chubby Checker’s era. The refrain “Let’s twist again like we did last summer” applies to most of the advanced software used by law enforcement and the intelligence community.

clip_image001 The tailfin of a 1959 Cadillac. Although bold, the tailfins of the 1959 Plymouth Fury and the limited production Superbird and Dodge Daytona dwarfed GM’s excesses. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cadillac1001.jpg

Try this simple test. Here are screenshots from five next-generation content processing systems. Can you match the graphics with the vendor?

Here are the companies whose visual outputs appear below. Easy enough, just like one of those primary school exercises, simply match the interface with the company

The vendors represented are:

Continue reading “Stephen E. Arnold: Content Processing SUCKS”

2013/08/192013/08/19

SchwartzReport: South America Rising + New World Order II Meta-RECAP

01 Brazil, 02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 07 Health, 07 Venezuela, 08 Immigration, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, Peace Intelligence

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The America media, like a long chain of administrations, never really seems to understand the South American psyché, in all of its national complexity, nor what is going on there. So there is very little coverage or attention, and what there is trades in stereotypes and shallow commentary. In contrast I think the nations of our Southern Hemisphere, are undergoing an extraordinary transition, which constitutes one of the most interesting geopolitical developments going on. As you read this keep in mind Uruguay's recent legalization of marijuana.

Ecuador’s President Denounces Chevron As ‘Enemy of Our Country’
Agence France-Presse (France)

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: South America Rising + New World Order II Meta-RECAP”

2013/08/18

Jean Lievens: Leadership in a Networked World — Doing the Right Thing Instead of Doing the Wrong things Right

Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Officers Call

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What type of leadership will be required to succeed in this new business world, created by the Networked Society? This society will see new market spaces, where cross-industry companies will compete. Because of its openness, its technology based on mobility, cloud and performing networks, because of globalization, free trade and capital movement; the Networked Society will transform and reshape businesses and industries.

Will the Networked Society require a new type of leadership?

Sami Dob

EXTRACT:

Thousands of books have been written about leadership and leaders, and many theories have been developed in the fields of management and psychology. To mention one, Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author Peter Drucker stated that “management does things right; leadership does the right things.”

This post is an extrapolation of a previous post by my colleague Peter Linder, who discussed what type of talents will be required in the Networked Society. He mentioned the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) talents. In this post, I will discuss the type of leadership that will be needed in the Networked Society.

Read full post with many links.

2013/08/18

Jean Lievens: YouTube ( 1:57:54) ‘State Of Mind – the Psychology of Control’ – full length movie

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, IO Deeds of War, YouTube

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Are we controlled? To what extent and by whom? What does it mean for humanity's future? The enormous implications of these questions deter most of us who must deal with the daily consequences of the answers. STATE OF MIND digs deeply into the sources to reveal that much of that which we believe to be truth has been deception, deliberately implanted in our consciousness to erect a “tyranny over the minds of men”. From cradle to grave our parents, peers, institutions and society inform our values and behaviors. But this process has been hijacked. STATE OF MIND examines the science that has evolved over generations to keep us firmly in place and maintain the status quo so that dictators, power brokers and corporate puppeteers may profit from our ignorance and slavery. From the anvil of compulsory schooling to media and entertainment, we are kept in perpetual bondage to the ideas that shape our actions. STATE OF MIND delves into the abyss to bring to light the manipulation and shocking and suppressed examples that reveal the true agendas at work. From the ancient roots of the control of human behavior to its maturity in the mind control experiments of intelligence agencies and other organs of manipulation, STATE OF MIND reveals a plan for the future that drives home the dreadful price of our ignorance. We are prepared for a new paradigm. Will we choose our own paths or have one selected for us? STATE OF MIND unveils the answers that may decide whether humankind will fulfill its destiny or be forever shackled to its own creation.

2013/08/18

Berto Jongman: Pentagon Admits Chemical Weapons Use at Fallujah

03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation

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Pentagon Reverses Position and Admits U.S. Troops Used White Phosphorus Against Iraqis in Fallujah

The U.S. government has now admitted its troops used white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon against Iraqis during the assault on Fallujah a year ago. Chemical weapons experts say such attacks are in violation of international law banning the use of chemical weapons. We speak with columnist George Monbiot and the news director of RAI TV, the Italian TV network that produced the film “Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre.” [includes rush transcript]

Read full article.