Review: Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect

Erudition Demanding Concentration–Need Lay Chapter or Pamphlet October 12, 2009 Paul A. Rahe This is an extraordinary book offering a very detailed and superbly integrated examination of the consistencies and differences among Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Tocqueville, both to illuminate precisely what was in the Founding Father’s minds when they sought to create a Republic of, …

Review: Green Intelligence: Creating Environments that Protect Human Health

Excellent Overview Book, Great Price, Nice Emphasis on Public Information Gaps October 9, 2009 John Wargo I like this book. It is not as detailed as any of the following but does a super job of blending together in a very easy to read manner coverage of five areas: nuclear testing, military contamination of training …

Journal: Chuck Spinney and Pat Buchanan on Groupthinking Apparat Moves to Finish Off Obama

Chuck Spinney Sends: The attached article, “Generals Open New Front in Washington,” by Pat Buchanan describes how the time honored practice of Versailles Groupthink is now closing in to circumscribe President Obama’s strategic options in Afghanistan and Pakistan, much as it did to Lyndon Johnson during Vietnam. Note how the “strategic” options for Afghanistan are boiling down …

Review: The Resilient Earth–Science, Global Warming and the Future of Humanity

Pushes the Re-Set Button on Both Gore and Lomborg October 3, 2009 Doug L. Hoffman and Allen Simmons The more I read, the less I know and the more frustrated I grow with the insanity of academic, government, corporate, and non-governmental stovepipes of knowledge in isolation. Right up front this book, read crossing the Atlantic …

Journal: The Cloud Bubbas (Two Bubbettes) Met on 3 September and You Were Not Invited

Cloud of Clouds is the new new meme, burying Semantic Web. You can see Vint Cerf in his traditional vest.  We’ve asked for the names of all those attending, perhaps that will come out soon. In the meantime, we see Google and CISCO-Nokia going head to head, whle Amazon and IBM fritter on the sides, …

Review: Conscious Evolution: Awakening Our Social Potential

A Theological Masterpiece–A Practical Manifesto September 20, 2009 Barbara Marx Hubbard Although the author has written a more recent book, Emergence: The Shift from Ego to Essence, the later book is focused on helping the individual, while the book being reviewed focuses on the larger matter of social engineering. I was growing up in Asia …