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No Labels: No Specifics, No Coherence, No Point.

07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence
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The Campaign SpotElection-driven news and views . . . by Jim Geraghty.

National Review Online

No Labels: No Specifics, No Coherence, No Point.

Tags: Charlie Crist, Mike Bloomberg, Mike Castle

If I didn’t know better, I would think the whole “No Labels” movement was a giant, self-parodying prank.

I tuned in to the webcast of the group’s kickoff to hear a woman saying, “You just have to look to Arizona to see extremists who are trying to divide us.” I guess I know how the group feels about the Arizona immigration enforcement law. Of course, I thought the point of the group was to stop labeling people; but I guess it’s okay to label the overwhelming majority of Arizonans “extremists.”

Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, introduced himself  “a proud Democrat… who is also proud that he grew up in a no-labels house in a proud no-labels town.” He continued to sing the joys of the label-free lifestyle in a manner that probably should make his constituents look to their shoes in shame: “The most important place I go every day is the House gym. Because there are no labels in the House gym.”

I can’t help but notice that the Republicans involved all lost primaries or fled the party: Bob Inglis, Mike Castle, Charlie Crist, Michael Bloomberg.

Early Comments by Others:

Dan Davis: Funny how the people behind “No Labels” seem to be people that were sporting labels that Americans rejected in a resounding manner.  Labels are not the problem. It is the worldviews and ideals that they themselves imbued said labels with! Ditching the labels is a short term solution.

EMC Geek: So if something doesn't have a label, isn't that an indication it's reached it's expiration date?

Blackhawks: I don't totally disagree with their stated goals, but their “no labels” reminds me a little too much of the “No Logo” Naomi Klein book, which I definitely disagreed with.

Davidinvirginia: Well, after all, some of the best and funniest self-parody is completely unintentional. 🙂

This bunch is almost too sad and pathetic to be funny, though.

Phi Beta Iota: In this one instance, we have copied the entire post, but herewith are two links: the first is to the original article online, and the second to the author's many other posts.

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No Labels No Confidence — Same Old Apparatchiks

07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Cultural Intelligence, Methods & Process
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Can ‘No Labels' change the tone in Washington?

By Matt DeLong

Washington Post, 13 December 2010

A new movement called “No Labels” is hoping to help tone down the heated rhetoric in Washington. Headed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a veritable ‘who's who' of moderate politicians are participating in the No Labels launch in New York City. Among the participants are: retiring Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.), former Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Republican-turned-independent Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

Read rest of article….

Phi Beta Iota:  These folks mean well, but they are totally without a clue when it comes to actually embracing, empowering, and exploiting (in the positive sense of the word) the collective intelligence of the Republic.  This is an apparatchik move through and through, and the manner in which it has been organized, the money behind it, and the total absence of any intelligent structure (e.g. electoral reform, virtual cabinet, online participatory policy-budget exercise) make it clear that it is a dead end.  Preliminary voting suggested that most are not fooled and see it for the negative it is–another theatrical display lacking in authenticity.

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Reference: Mortgage Fraud in Detail

07 Other Atrocities, Articles & Chapters, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth
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L. Randall Wray: Anatomy of Mortgage Fraud, Part I: MERS's Smoking Gun

L. Randall Wray: Anatomy of Mortgage Fraud, Part II: The Mother of All Frauds

To recap, MERS's own documents demonstrate beyond question:

  1. The notes were never transferred, as required by Federal and NY state law, to the trustees of the REMICs;
  2. At best, the notes were retained by the mortgage servicers as directed by MERS (many never left the mortgage brokers, many of whom are now bankrupt);
  3. MERS claims to own the notes and therefore the mortgages to speed foreclosure;
  4. Actually, MERS does not hold the notes, which are held by servicers, but MERS instead “deputizes” employees of the servicers so that it can claim notes are transferred “in house” to avoid paying recording fees as well as avoiding maintenance of clear chains of title;
  5. On foreclosure, the documents are “disappeared” because they demonstrate the notes were never endorsed and transferred as required by law, with MERS and the servicers filing “lost note affidavits” to dupe the judges into allowing illegal foreclosures to proceed and to dupe securities holders so that they do not demand restitution;
  6. Servicers ensure homeowners default, as they “lose” mortgage payments, credit them to the wrong accounts, or helpfully recommend to homeowners that they stop making payments–all of this is to speed foreclosure to ensure securities holders do not realize they have been duped as they are paid pennies on the dollar for toxic securities;
  7. This also ensures that the investment banks that originated the toxic securities win their credit default swap bets they placed against the homeowners, with favored hedge fund managers like Paulson also winning CDO bets on failures;
  8. The faster the foreclosures can be processed through manufacture of fraudulent documents by Robo-signers, the lower the chance that MERS and all of its clients will be brought to justice.

Phi Beta Iota: The US Government is perpetuating fraud by refusing to confront the now-documented fraud across all mortgage services.  This should be the central issue in public discourse today.

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Health: Fish Watch (US) & the Bluefin Tuna Black Market Global Investigation (Global)

01 Agriculture, 04 Education, 07 Health, 08 Wild Cards, 12 Water, True Cost
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link

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/

“..providing the most accurate and up-to-date information on seafood available in the U.S. FishWatch is brought to you by NOAA Fisheries Service, the U.S. authority on marine fisheries science, conservation, and management.”
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report

Looting the Seas: How Overfishing, Fraud, and Negligence Plundered the Majestic Bluefin Tuna
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Also see:
+ Seafood harvest calendar
+ FishPhone: Text 30644 with the message FISH and the name of the fish in question. We'll text you back with our assessment and better alternatives to fish with significant environmental concerns. Also: text the word BLUE to 30644 to opt-in to receive ocean-alerts, info on new seafood rankings and cooking tips.

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Reference: Wikileaks Bag of Words, Personal Democracy, More Authentic

Blog Wisdom
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Jon Lebkowsky Bio

Personal Democracy Forum’s flash summit on Wikileaks

Video archive of Saturday’s Wikileaks discussion, which was quite compelling… quite a bit about the new world of journalism and Wikileaks’ place in it. These are truly chaotic and “interesting” times.

Mark Pesce on Wikileaks: “Everything feels more authentic.”

Wikileaks is a big deal; Mark Pesce’s written the most insightful comment I’ve seen yet explaining just why. Read it here.

Everything is different now. Everything feels more authentic. We can choose to embrace this authenticity, and use it to construct a new system of relations, one which does not rely on secrets and lies. A week ago that would have sounded utopian, now it’s just facing facts. I’m hopeful. For the first time in my life I see the possibility for change on a scale beyond the personal. Assange has brought out the radical hiding inside me, the one always afraid to show his face. I think I’m not alone.

Iraq 2006: a bag of words

How to make sense of Wikileaks data? One way is visual analysis, as we see here, via Jonathan Stray of Associated Press:
Click on Image to Enlarge.
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Reference: Harry Truman on CIA and Intelligence for the President

Director of National Intelligence et al (IC)
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DefDog Recommends...

In his own words.

Harry Truman, Great Architect of the Universe

Posted Dec 12, 2010

EXTRACT:  Although it's perfectly fair to call Barack Obama an empty suit and a manufactured product, that's what Presidents have always been. The Truman Doctrine was entirely the work of George Kennan, and Truman introduced it with a famous speech he didn't write. Once the Doctrine was actually implemented, George Kennan immediately disowned it and became a vocal critic. (Fast forward two terms and you've got Eisenhower warning about a Military Industrial Complex. Kennedy later delivered a strange speech about Secret Societies that's also essential reading.)

The Great Architect of the Universe always had his doubts, too. On December 21st, 1963, Harry Truman publicly voiced his reservations about the CIA. What follows is a complete transcript of his statement…

Read short transcript….

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Journal: The Nobel War Prize

Blog Wisdom
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Chuck Spinney Recommends....

The Nobel War Prize

Tariq Ali London Review of Books, 11 December 2010

Last year’s recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize escalated the war in Afghanistan a few weeks after receiving the prize. The award surprised even Obama. This year the Chinese government were foolish to make a martyr of the president of Chinese PEN and neo-con Liu Xiaobo. He should never have been arrested, but the Norwegian politicians who comprise the committee, led by Thorbjørn Jagland, a former Labour prime minister, wanted to teach China a lesson. And so they ignored their hero’s views. Or perhaps they didn’t, given that their own views are not dissimilar. The committee thought about giving Bush and Blair a joint peace prize for invading Iraq but a public outcry forced a retreat.

For the record, Liu Xiaobo has stated publicly that in his view:

(a) China’s tragedy is that it wasn’t colonised for at least 300 years by a Western power or Japan. This would apparently have civilised it for ever;

(b) The Korean and Vietnam wars fought by the US were wars against totalitarianism and enhanced Washington’s ‘moral credibility’;

(c) Bush was right to go to war in Iraq and Senator Kerry’s criticisms were ‘slander-mongering’;

(d) Afghanistan? No surprises here: Full support for Nato’s war.

He has a right to these opinions, but should they get a peace prize?

The Norwegian jurist Fredrik Heffermehl argues that the committee is in breach of the will and testament left behind by the inventor of dynamite whose bequests fund the prizes: ‘The Nobel committee has not received prize money for free use, but was entrusted with money to give to the pivotal element in creating peace, breaking the vicious circle of arms races and military power games. From this point of view the 2010 Nobel is again an illegitimate prize awarded by an illegitimate committee.’