Some readers have come to the erroneous conclusion that the Matrix consists of Republican Party disinformation as if there is no disinformation from the left. Others think that propaganda is the business of Obama and the Democrats. In fact, propaganda from the right, the left and the middle are all part of the disinformation fed to americans.
If I may give some examples: The other day Chuck Colson, one of the Nixon officials imprisoned for Watergate crimes, died. This gave NPR the opportunity to relive the Nixon horror.
What precisely was the Nixon horror? Essentially, there was no such thing. Watergate was about President Nixon lying about when he learned about the Watergate burglary.
When Nixon learned about the burglary, he did not act on it prior to his reelection, because he reasoned, rightly, that the Washington Post would blame him for the burglary, although he had nothing to do with it, in the hopes of preventing his reelection.
By going along with a cover-up, Nixon enabled the Washington Post to make an issue of the precise date on which Nixon learned of the burglary. White House tapes indicated that Nixon had learned of the burglary before he said he learned of it. So Nixon had permitted a cover-up and had to go, but what was the real reason?
What was the Watergate burglary? We don’t really know. A group of men including former CIA operatives were hired by the Committee to Re-elect the President to break into a Democratic campaign office in the Watergate complex. We don’t know the purpose of the burglary. Some claim it was to wire-tap the telephones in the belief that the Democratic Party was getting re-election money from communists in Cuba or elsewhere. Others claim that the burglars were looking for a list of call girls, that compromised a White House official, as his fiancee was allegedly one of the call girls.
Looking back from our time during which Bush and Obama have deep-sixed the US Constitution, violated numerous US and international laws, and behaved as if they were caesars unconstrained by any law or any morality, Nixon’s “crimes” appear so trivial as to be unremarkable. Yet, Nixon was driven from office and is regarded as a criminal.
I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
~ Thomas Jefferson
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
~ United States Constitution, First Amendment
The above-quoted words reflect sentiments so essential to a condition of liberty that they are at the forefront of the history of American political thought. Jefferson’s quotation as well as the first of the listings in the so-called Bill of Rights, represent a theme carried over from the Revolutionary War period: minds should be free to explore and express whatever is of concern to them. If one reads the First Amendment closely, it becomes evident that this provision was intended to prohibit government intrusions upon the then-known means and settings for free thought.
Hitlerland:Andrew Nagorski discusses Hitler’s rise to power and Nazi Germany as seen through the eyes of Americans—diplomats, military, expats, visiting authors, Olympic athletes—who lived and worked there and watched it happen. Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power offers surprising twists and a fresh perspective on this era.
Phi Beta Iota: The US and Canadian West Coast should be reading up on radiation. The governments are lying to the public, the risk is not being properly presented, this is going to get much, much worse — kind of like the fetuses in Falluja, Iraq after depleted uranium hosed down their town. As for Israel, there is no question but that they can launch a nuclear missile from a sub, the only real question is whether 1-4 German nuclear devices came with the deal as discussed by Gordon Duff: Nuclear Theft / Threat from Germany or Donation to Israel for Use Against Iran, Others?.
My intern Patrick Maxwell and CII president John Abbe have initiated a project I'm quite excited about. In high quality dialogue they plan to engage local people together about their personal concerns in today's rough economy – and then to expand the conversation to include how we could change our economic system and create innovations that would be more sustainable and satisfying. They'll include experts in the mix, but the main energy will come from the community itself.
They are starting with a 3-month pilot project to test the concept here in Eugene. They plan to share their learnings and potentially extend the project further in space and time. You can find out more about it in their note below.
I've been studying and writing about the emerging living economy for about 14 months – you'll be hearing more about that soon – and I am very excited with what I'm learning and where this initiative could go.
I invite you to support this ambitious experiment. Since it is being launched with a crowdfunding approach, even very small donations add tremendously to the momentum.
Thanks for any attention and support you give this. In the larger picture, I expect the return on your investment will be very good indeed.
Coheartedly,
Tom
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Dear friends of the Co-Intelligence Institute,
We are writing to alert you to an engaging new project from the CII.
For the next few months – and, if all goes well, for many months to come – board president John Abbe and intern Patrick Maxwell will be convening a series of dialogues here in CII's hometown of Eugene, Oregon, focused on our economy and its impact on local people's lives. Community members will explore questions like “How can I meet my needs with less money?” And “How do we create systems that work for us?”
Two Worlds in Collision: Extraterrestrials, the Secret Government, and You
Host: Richard Dolan
In the wake of an ever-growing police state, it seems the secret of human contact with other intelligences present on the Earth has been hidden. Who is keeping the secret hidden? What and who are these intelligences operating behind the scenes, and what do the implications mean for humanity and our planet?
4 Sessions, Starting May 12th 9am Honolulu • 12pm San Francisco • 3pm New York • 8pm London
In a time of intensifying military power and invasive surveillance, many believe that a great secret remains concealed from us: The secret of human contact with other intelligences present on the Earth, now and in the distant past. If this is the case, then who is keeping this secret hidden? What kinds of intelligences operate behind the scenes, and what does this imply for the future of humanity and our planet?
I’ve been tracking emerging trends for a while now, exploring the co-evolution of humanity and our technologies, and building visions of the kinds of futures I’d like to see. Lately, I’ve found myself a bit restless, wondering “what’s next?”
The conferences and gatherings I’m attending are beginning to feel stale, the conversations needing new framings and lenses through which to look at our world and ourselves.
I’ve been on the hunt for a word or phrase that can encompass the essence of what feels important and resonates with me right now.
The search has been prompted by my decision to start a new project — writing my first book. (yay!)
I’ve spent the past few weeks reviewing everything I’ve written so far on the blog, reflecting upon what I’ve observed, what I’ve learned, and identifying the deep values I’ve chosen to serve as a compass and foundation for what is meaningful and significant.
At the same time, I’ve been surveying the landscape to get a sense of what’s being constructed out in the global mind, and see where the two intersect.
The general narrative is that we‘re facing increasing complexity and uncertainty in the world, information overload, distraction, shallowness of critical thought, and a lack of foresight. On the silver lining side, we have an overstock of creativity and imagination, sufficient to level up humanity and change the world and our crumbling systems, if we could only figure out how to unlock and unleash it from our billions of minds.
While some will posit that the ‘solution’ is technological (better algorithms! quantifying trust and reputation! big data! innovation!), I lean to the side that our breakthroughs will occur when we acknowledge and confront our most raw and human issues.
I’m finding that the barriers to our ingenuity are not stemming from a lack of desire, but from a range of cognitive and emotional barriers that have been set in place by most of the systems that surround us and condition us – the media, family and societal expectations, cultural standards, fear in trusting our own intuition, and the ingrained beliefs that any other way of thinking or being could be possible. (to name a few)
I confess: I have an interest in an unseemly topic. Last year I coauthored a report on the subject and testified before Congress about it. The subject is labor trafficking.
This is not, of course, a problem exclusive to the PMSCO sector but neither is it something that has happened only now and then either. Suffice it to say that it enough of a problem that this is the second conference ISOA organized on the issue, the first being seven years ago. The conference program guide minced no words in stating why a conference is necessary:
Labor trafficking is a disgraceful practice that plagues many country as well as international peacekeeping and stability operations. Poverty creates pools of desperate labor at high risk of human trafficking of all kinds, including forced labor. The problem is morally reprehensible but of such enormous complexity it cannot be solved by a single sector and must be addressed by stakeholders working in partnership from all sides — private, governmental, nongovernmental and humanitarians sectors; clients and employers
As a sign that of its recognition of the seriousness of the problem ISOA's Code of Conduct has long had a provision stating that “Signatories shall not engage or allow their personnel to engage in the act of trafficking in persons.”
Trafficking in persons takes different forms. It might be forced labor, sex trafficking or bonded labor, to name a few examples. The first two types have happened in the PMSC industry.
As an article in JIPO notes:
Human trafficking on U.S. government contracts in the Central Command (“CENTCOM”) sector is chronic, overt and unabated. The appalling fact that hundreds of thousands of men have been used as slave laborers to support “freedom” operations is not lost upon the victims.
Investigative journalists reporting of widespread human trafficking of laborers on U.S. government contracts in CENTCOM date back to 2004. The New York Times reported the too common fraudulent recruiting scheme that began in 2003 when contractors first started trafficking men to perform services on government contracts. The Chicago Tribune also covered human trafficking in 2005, calling out the use of US tax dollars to provide slave labor during wartime. Articles in USA Today have reported labor trafficking abuses of Asian workers in Saudi Arabia as well as forced labor of Thai workers in the United States, considered “the nations biggest human trafficking operations.”
Personal investigations both on the ground in Iraq, and in conducted interviews of victims who have returned to the Indian subcontinent, have produced conclusions consistent with other investigative journalists. Other investigative journalists such as David Phinney and reporters who have been on the ground, observed the practice and interviewed thousands of victims have also highlighted this blight on our national image. In fact, the only thing parties agree upon is that the practice is prolific, unabated and contrary to the very foundation and core of American values.
A more blunt way of putting is, as one conference speaker noted, is that we now have people enslaved than at any time in human history, with estimates ranging from 12 to 27 million people.
Interestingly, this is not an issue where people think this is something best left to industry to self-regulate. As the morning keynote speaker Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, senior adviser to the secretary of state, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, said:
Government is the answer, government is the solution, but it is not the only player. We have to dismiss the notion that this is someone else's problem. This is our problem and we have to be part of the solution. Our starting point has to be that we're not making the problem worse.
Those wanting more detail should see the current (May/June) issue of ISOA's JIPO magazine, which is devoted to the subject. According to ISOA it will be online later this week.
