[iltos]

a continuation of this thread

Originally Posted by eggplant43

A place to post articles that interest you, but don't really fit into any of the existing threads. Pick any topic you like. As long as you enjoyed the article, and feel it is worth sharing with others.

be mindful of the rules re: copyright...and that this thread is not intended to just be a news feed....

the highlights of an article, with a comment or two that reflect your opinion on the subject matter, serve discussion here.
there is nothing "noteworthy" in a simple cut and paste....it is your comments that give it meaning in this forum.
articles posted without comment can be reported and removed.
remember to include a link to your source.

carry on

[ekim68]

No comment...

[xico]

Shouldn't we have a thread called Newsfeed?

[xico]

CRITICAL LOOK AT NAVY V. EGAN

A 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision known as Department of the Navy v. Egan has often been interpreted to support broad presidential authority over national security generally and over access to classified information in particular. Along with United States v. Reynolds, Curtiss-Wright, and a few other cases, Egan is regularly cited in support of strong, even unchecked executive authority and judicial deference to executive claims. It has become a cornerstone of national security law as practiced today.

But the case has often been misunderstood and misrepresented, according to a new study (pdf) by Louis Fisher of the Law Library of Congress, who reviewed the development and interpretation of Egan in more than 180 judicial decisions.

The Egan decision was prompted by a narrow statutory dispute: Did the Merit Systems Protection Board (an executive branch body) have the authority to review the revocation of a security clearance by the Navy (another executive branch body)? The court concluded that Congress had not intended to permit such review.

More at Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web: www.fas.org/sgp/index.html

Fascinating manipulation to enhance executive powers. Apparently some ultra patriotic Americans aren't happy with the balance of powers.

[xico]

NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED (for people who read)

A new law review article argues that government secrets can be usefully distinguished in terms of "depth"-- i.e. "how many people know of their existence, what sorts of people know, how much they know, and how soon they know.... Attending to the depth of state secrets can make a variety of conceptual and practical contributions to the debate on their usage. The deep/shallow distinction provides a vocabulary and an analytic framework with which to describe, assess, and compare secrets, without having to judge what they conceal." See "Deep Secrecy" by David Pozen, Stanford Law Review, forthcoming.

A new book revisits the case of Frank Olson, the Army biochemist who fell to his death in 1953 after having been unwittingly dosed with LSD in a CIA experiment. "A Terrible Mistake" by H.P. Albarelli Jr. was published this month by TrineDay, which says it "specializes in releasing books that are shunned by mainstream publishers due to their controversial nature."

Closed child welfare hearings in the District of Columbia Family Court should be opened up, argued law professor Matthew I. Fraidin in recent testimony before the D.C. Council. Open hearings would promote improved protection for the children, increased professionalism by the other participants, and greater accountability all around, he said. See "Opening Child Welfare Proceedings in the Family Court of the District of Columbia," November 4, 2009.

Here.

I'm especially interested in "A Terrible Mistake." The CIA's programs sound like a continuation of the Nazi programs of anything goes if it's for the "fatherland." See also
Pepper's Act of State.

[iltos]

Originally Posted by xico

Shouldn't we have a thread called Newsfeed?

LOL, xico
it's called google or yahoo or msn

[xico]

consortiumnews.com

Facts Behind 'Men Who Stare at Goats'

By Lisa Pease
November 16, 2009

Can people really influence the physical world with thought alone? And if so, dare we use that power for evil, instead of good? Or will the effort come back to haunt us?

That is the quandary posed by the film “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” and, even more so, by the book of the same name that inspired the film.

First, run — do not walk, do not pass Go — to the theater to see “The Men Who Stare at Goats.” Films that are both hilarious and intelligent, provocative yet madcap, are hard to come by.

And because this film teaches us, in a wildly entertaining manner, about recent military and intelligence history, I have a feeling certain people will work hard to rush this movie right back out of the theaters. So see it before showings of it, like some of the characters in the film, disappear.

More here.

A word to the wise should be sufficient. What an incredible book and flick--and I've only read this article. Instead of using psychic powers for self illumination, the military was using it for figuring out how to kill, apparently, the "enemy." Just who the "enemy" is, was or will be we don't know, but if they ever figured out how to kill someone with just thought--and it may be possible--what would they do with the person who could accomplish that? Who would be safe from his whims? One of the reasons, according to one of my teachers, for the protracted learning period for shamans is so that they have ultimate control over themselves without self importance, like looking in a mirror without seeing anyone. Star-Trek had an episode about the guy who achieved super human power, along with one of the women, and they wind up wasting their power over nonsense, and finally killing themselves. Like my teacher said, "power is an enemy, just like fear. Both paralyze us."

[xico]

. CIA Covertly Funds Third Of Pakistani Counterpart's Budget

Daily Times (Pakistan)
November 16, 2009

ISI used CIA money to build new Islamabad headquarters : One-third of CIA budget goes to ISI

-The payments to Pakistan are authorised under a covert programme initially approved by former president George Bush and continued under President Barack Obama.
-"The CIA also directs millions of dollars to other foreign spy services. But the magnitude of the payments to the ISI reflect Pakistan´s central role. The CIA depends on Pakistan´s cooperation to carry out missile strikes by drones that have killed dozens of suspected extremists in Pakistani border areas."
More here.

Yeah, we got so much money we can afford to fund the ISI which is the patron of the Taliban, or perhaps, the mother. while our schools, our healthcare, or roads and bridges and libraries go begging.

[xico]

Progressive Views About Education That Aren't: Alfie Kohn Clarifies
by: jeffbinnc
Sun Nov 15, 2009 at 12:30

(By invitation, following Jeff's great diary about Gerald Bracey. - promoted by Paul Rosenberg)

The Center for American Progress is "progressive." Right? After all, CAP's website touts it as a source for "Progressive Ideas." The homepage lists its "progressive priorities." And the "About Us" blurb declares CAP's mission to draw from the great progressive "social movements of the 20th century."
So you would expect that any thoughts about education policy emanating from The Center for American Progress would be, well, progressive, wouldn't you?

CAP's most recent opportunity to push for a more progressive agenda for reforming America's public schools was released to the world earlier this month with the publication of "Leaders and Laggards: A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Innovation," a follow-up report to another one bearing the same name two years ago. Even though the report was created in partnership with two well-known conservative organizations, you would expect that CAP would have inserted some fairly substantial representation of progressive education values in the report.


More here.

A very good article, long but interesting, especially the comments on the 4 traditional mindsets that guide education . . . and why traditional education is failing.

[iltos]

Originally Posted by xico

Progressive Views About Education That Aren't: Alfie Kohn Clarifies
by: jeffbinnc
Sun Nov 15, 2009 at 12:30

(By invitation, following Jeff's great diary about Gerald Bracey. - promoted by Paul Rosenberg)

The Center for American Progress is "progressive." Right? After all, CAP's website touts it as a source for "Progressive Ideas." The homepage lists its "progressive priorities." And the "About Us" blurb declares CAP's mission to draw from the great progressive "social movements of the 20th century."
So you would expect that any thoughts about education policy emanating from The Center for American Progress would be, well, progressive, wouldn't you?

CAP's most recent opportunity to push for a more progressive agenda for reforming America's public schools was released to the world earlier this month with the publication of "Leaders and Laggards: A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Innovation," a follow-up report to another one bearing the same name two years ago. Even though the report was created in partnership with two well-known conservative organizations, you would expect that CAP would have inserted some fairly substantial representation of progressive education values in the report.


More here.

A very good article, long but interesting, especially the comments on the 4 traditional mindsets that guide education . . . and why traditional education is failing.

excellente!!!!
i've been railing against those mindsets since my daughter entered kindergarten, and they're scattered all over CD

this is the first time i've ever heard a liberal source lay them out so concisely....acutally, it's the first time i've ever heard a liberal source lay them out at all...

and with a minimum of political bs....'course, how could there be, since both the dems and the reps succumb so easily to "test scores" and "kids should be seen and not heard"?

what can I say?...."Odyssey of the Mind".....it's big in Florida, xico...check out a regional tournament this year.....

it's one place where conservative, capitalist inspired parents and liberal, socially inspired parents can forget for a day what political party they think should rule the world.....

they let their kids rule it, instead.....
gotta be a lesson in there somewhere

[ekim68]

The best government money can buy...

Pro-Cuba embargo money flows to US lawmakers

Supporters of tough U.S. sanctions against the Cuban government have given more than $10 million to congressional campaigns over the last seven years, according to a study released late Sunday night by a group supporting campaign finance reform.

The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Public Campaign said the study shows how large sums of money from a small group can influence lawmakers. Public Campaign cites a number of times in which lawmakers changed their position on Cuba-related issues within months of receiving funds from a political action committee that supports the U.S. embargo of the communist island.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...a205932S56.DTL

[xico]

Trumka: Free Elections Not Possible Now in Honduras
The continued repression of trade unionists by the regime set up in Honduras after a June 28 coup makes it impossible to hold free and fair elections, wrote AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a Nov. 13 letter to Secretary of State Clinton. Trumka called on the U.S. government to oppose national elections in Honduras unless President Zelaya is reinstated.
http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/11/16/tr...w-in-honduras/

I'm getting to like Trunka!

[xico]

Originally Posted by iltos

excellente!!!!
i've been railing against those mindsets since my daughter entered kindergarten, and they're scattered all over CD

this is the first time i've ever heard a liberal source lay them out so concisely....acutally, it's the first time i've ever heard a liberal source lay them out at all...

and with a minimum of political bs....'course, how could there be, since both the dems and the reps succumb so easily to "test scores" and "kids should be seen and not heard"?

what can I say?...."Odyssey of the Mind".....it's big in Florida, xico...check out a regional tournament this year.....

it's one place where conservative, capitalist inspired parents and liberal, socially inspired parents can forget for a day what political party they think should rule the world.....

they let their kids rule it, instead.....
gotta be a lesson in there somewhere

I thought you'd like it, Iltos! Yeah, I thought Binnic did a very good job of laying it out.
I'll check out the Odyssey of the Mind too.

What I found disconcerting about my own education--until I grew up, after my stint in the army--was that the why of things was never explained. I found math boring until I was selling a piece of land and discovered the surveyors were using trig for their calculations. I hated trig with a passion . . . then. but reading Rudy Rucker's Infinity and the Mind or Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension or Mind Tools is a real pleasure. The same is true with Latin and Caesar's friggin Gallic Wars.
It was only much later that I discovered Ovid and his Metamorphosis. I knew a young woman who had 4 years of college Spanish and couldn't speak it, but went to Greece and was speaking fluent Greek in 6 months.

But it almost seems to me as if the conservative mind set doesn't really want to deal with thinking people, especially thinking people who ask questions that upset the apple cart. That reminds me of a Yoga book I have in which the yogi cites a physics professor who began his class by telling the students that 50% of the facts he was going to teach them were incorrect, flat out wrong, but that since he didn't know which half was wrong, they'd have to learn the entire kit and caboodle.

[xico]

A Smoking Gun
New Evidence Jack Straw Guilty On Torture

By Craig Murray

Finally I have indisputable documentary evidence that the British government had a positive policy of using intelligence from torture in the War on Terror, and that the policy was personally directed by Jack Straw.
http://www.informationclearinghouse....ticle23981.htm



I just got Craig Murry's Murder in Samarkand: A British Ambassador's Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror They boil people alive in Tashkent, and the Brits were overlooking it until Murry came along.

[xico]

Muslims in U.S. Military? :

47% Of adults in the United States unsure if Muslims should be allowed to serve in their country's military, according to a poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion.
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/34490

Yeah, certainly not in Afghanistan or the other Muslim countries. That's just asking for trouble.