John Steiner: From Israel, Call for Politics of Heroism versus Hope

Phi Beta Iota:  The full combination of pieces is strongly recommended as  a total read.  The contributing author whose work has been forwarded by Brother John makes a fundamental ethical and intellectual mistake, assuming that there is a significant difference between the Democratic and Republican parties.  Not so.  This is not an either/or choice between …

Chuck Spinney: Progressives Argue Over Defeating Obama – a Conversation on Email

Most of my liberal friends reluctantly support President Obama’s re-election, because the alternative is so much worse.  Invariably, they invoke the effects of a Romney presidency on judicial appointments, especially those to the Supreme Court (ironically, Obama’s two appointees just voted with the majority to decline to hear the Guantanamo case, if effect, putting another …

Marcus Aurelius: NSA Blocks www.publicintelligence.net

US Cyber Command (read:  NSA)  has, “for operational reasons,” blocked access to www.publicintelligence.net from DoD computers.  You get a pretty WEBSITE BLOCKED notice. Block “category” is:  “USCC_WIKILEAKS_BLOCK” Also contains following blurb:  “This is a DoD enterprise-level protection system intended to reduce risk to DoD users and protect DoD systems from intrusion.  It will block access …

Marcus Aurelius: Jennifer Sims Party Line on Military Clandestine Service with Robert Steele Comment + RECAP

Here we go again…. Why the CIA Is Applauding the Pentagon’s Intelligence Grab Jennifer Sims Foreign Affairs, May 18, 2012 Last month, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced the creation of a new U.S. espionage agency: the Defense Clandestine Service, or DCS. DCS is expected to expand the …

Winslow Wheeler: The F-22, Toxic Stealth, Secrets Screw Sick…

Dina Rasor and Pierre Sprey have collaborated on an important and informative piece on the F-22.  It expands the publically available thinking about the nature of the toxicity problem facing F-22 pilots, and–just as importantly–it probes the nature of one of the prime suspects for the problem: the F-22’s “stealth” coating.  Note at the end of …

David Stockman: Emperor Naked, Bond Market Explodes Next

The Emperor is Naked: David Stockman Testosterone Pit, May 9, 2012 Contributed by Karen Roche and JT Long of The Gold Report. A “paralyzed” Federal Reserve Bank, in its “final days,” held hostage by Wall Street “robots” trading in markets that are “artificially medicated” are just a few of the bleak observations shared by David Stockman, former Republican …