It's an interesting anomaly of Barack Obama's presidency that this liberal Democrat, known before the 2008 election for his antiwar views, has been so comfortable running America's secret wars.
Phi Beta Iota: Full story below the line together with a detailed indictment of David Ignatius for spreading such blatant lies on behalf of the secret world and in direct contradiction to the President's actual fears and concerns.
The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, fundamentally transformed the way the United States military wages war. With the invasion of Afghanistan and, months later, Iraq on the heels of 9/11, the wars have caused the Pentagon to rethink the way it fights, how it spends money in times of crisis, and what it values in both its highest and lowest-ranking commanders. The Monitor asked experts to weigh in on the Top 5 ways in which 9/11 has changed the US military.
Phi Beta Iota: Google is “thin web” not deep web. For deep web other tools are required, such as Deep Web Technologies, and human networks that do pro-active sharing at the C drive level.
The 2012 race for the GOP nomination has been raging lately. With the entrance of Rick Perry, many media outlets are becoming increasingly excited over the novelty of a new candidate. What about the novelty of unique ideas?
Governor Gary Johnson has been running for President since April 21st. He was in the first Republican debate on May 5th, which included notables like Representative Ron Paul, CEO of Godfather's Pizza Herman Cain, Former Senator Rick Santorum, and Governor Tim Pawlenty. Since that debate, however, Gary Johnson has been left behind.
We saw what looked like a complete shutout of Ron Paul from media attention in August after the Ames straw poll, which was fairly blatant, since he was in a virtual dead heat with the victor, Representative Bachmann, who has since fallen behind him in multiple state polls. The block on Gary Johnson is often seen as acceptable by media outlets based on his poll numbers. While it is true he is polling only around 3%, that is the equivalent of Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman, both of whom were invited to the Politico debate on September 7th.
The primary goal (in two uses of the word) for Johnson's campaign is to stick to New Hampshire. If he makes an impact there, his campaign hopes that it will spread to Iowa, South Carolina, and continue to expand his name recognition and support nationally. It worked for Reagan and Clinton (Bill, not Hill), but it failed for Rudy Giuliani in the last primary season.
Gary Johnson has a unique combination of stances. According to his campaign website, he supports gay marriage, he believes the prohibition of marijuana is unnecessary, he promises to propose a balanced budget every year (which would reflect the fact that he had a surplus of over 1 billion dollars his final year as governor in New Mexico), he opposes the unnecessary and costly wars that the United States has involved itself in, and he supports the Fair Tax, which is a flat tax on consumption without loopholes. These views seem to be very unique to the two-term Republican governor.
So the question is, why is Gary Johnson, a four-time competitor in the invitation-only Iron Man Challenge and a man who climbed Mt. Everest with a broken leg, not given any attention by the major media outlets? Regardless of his stances, he sure makes an interesting story.
Phi Beta Iota: What we find interesting is how blatantly the Republican Party is manipulating the debates by excluding “non-establishment” mavericks; at the same time that the Democratic Party appears to be “frozen” in contemplating any candidate other than the incumbent–we'd certainly like to see Hillary Clinton run, now that it is obvious to one and all that “Hope We Can Believe In” was a total fraud.
4.0 out of 5 stars The One Book to Buy of Brown's–By No Means the Whole Picture, September 10, 2011
I've read and reviewed a number of books by Lester Brown and his advocacy agency, and have especially appreciated the State of the World series, and his Plan B Series that keeps getting pushed back, and now has a Plan B 4.0, but between that latter book and this one, I chose this one.
It gets four stars for reasons I outline in passing below. The author has his pet rocks, they are all here, but NOT in this book can one find corruption, disease, mercury, rare earths, a strategic analytic model that is holistic, actual true costs across the spectrum of options, or a strategic analytic model.
Fifteen years ago I founded the Webby Awards. I was fascinated by how the Internet was connecting people all over the world in new and unexpected ways. I have also been struck by the many conversations about the problems of our day that view them as separate challenges—whether the environment, women’s rights, poverty, or social justice. It has become increasingly apparent to me that when you perceive everything as connected, it radically shapes your perspective.
The concept of interdependence isn’t new; it’s been around since the dawn of humanity. For two-hundred-thousand years, we’ve been connecting through networks both natural and technological. Interdependence has long been a tenet of Eastern philosophy and indigenous cosmologies. But the recent addition of the Internet has added a new layer, which connects us in a fresh way, giving the world a new type of central nervous system. Something happens in one place, and we can see it, feel it, and do something about it almost instantaneously.
Safety copy below the line (original URL is inconsistent)
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and Nobel Peace Laureates Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala and Archbishop Desmund Tutu of South Africa, joined six other Nobel Peace Laureates urging President Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, an environmental disaster in the making.
Phi Beta Iota: We find it fascinating that the activists are ignoring the larger crime, the use of fresh water to flush the tar sands in the first place.
Gary Johnson: The Invisible Man Running for President
