what we can read from these 2 blasts is "Its a complete failure from the part of police and Intelligence agencies". And one key point to be noted.  The people behind the attack chose less destructive materials for these blasts and I don't think those anti social elements have targeted public other wise news headlines would have been flooded with numbers of dead. What i can infer from these is that those anti-social is trying to give a warning about something more dangerous... so my humble request to the police and intelligence agencies  PLEASE WAKE UP AND SAVE THE NATION

In what follows, I offer reasons we should be skeptical of the efficacy of U.S. intelligence services. I primarily rely on AJ Rossmiller's recent memoir, "Still Broken," but I also provide other readings to suggest such disenchantment should not rest only in recent events. Rather, looking at some history of U.S. Intelligence, combined with contemporary failures, suggests we should not expect to alter this view soon.

This post is based primarily on recent books by Rossmiller and Tim Weiner, and on a New York Times report on "On Point II," a recent US Army history of the Iraq war. See the end of the post for links and a complete source list.

Jump to:
Introduction
The disillusionment of AJ Rossmiller
Precedent
Conclusion
Notes and sources

Introduction

Not long after I finished AJ Rossmiller's "Still Broken: A Recruit's Inside Account of Intelligence Failures, from Baghdad to the Pentagon," it occurred to me that I hadn't read a memoir in ages, if ever. Nor have I read anything about memories that could answer the question: what now?

I'm familiar with some research on memory --- that it doesn't always remember things well [1], that its accuracy is suspect [2], and that it's quite good at convincing us otherwise [3].

Rossmiller accounts the nearly two years he spent working for the United States' Defense Intelligence Agency as an analyst, including a six-month tour in Baghdad. By his telling, the intelligence community appeared wholly incapable of delivering accurate assessments to military and political leaders.

Such intelligence is clearly important - flaws in the system speak to the US's ability to conduct warfare.

But throughout the book, sources are at a premium. Apart from snippets of e-mails (his and others'), and the occasional news article in a footnote, Rossmiller's memory is the narrative's pillar.

In other words, I was questioning Rossmiller's stories of a stifling bureaucracy in national intelligence. Were they accurate? Were things as bad as Rossmiller remembered?

Or was he simply disgruntled?

I think things were just as bad. They may even have been worse --- even if it turns out Rossmiller's memory slips up here and there.

In what follows, I offer reasons we should be skeptical of the efficacy of U.S. intelligence services. I primarily rely on Rossmiller's memoir, but I also provide other readings to suggest such disenchantment should not rest only in recent events. Rather, looking at some history of U.S. intelligence, combined with contemporary failures, suggests we should not expect to alter this view soon.

The disillusionment of AJ Rossmiller

Jump to:
Introduction
The disillusionment of AJ Rossmiller
Precedent
Conclusion
Notes and sources

Rossmiller's reasons for joining DIA --- at least the ones he mentions --- are admirable. He was a student at Middlebury College on Sept. 11. After the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, the thought of his peers fighting and dying in the Middle East, while he spent his days in the comfort of academia, continually haunted him.

Rossmiller joined DIA immediately after graduating. He soon he volunteered to go to Baghdad.

His Iraq mission seemed to be ridden with errors from the beginning. "The first sign of trouble came during the transition from the outgoing personnel to our group, their replacement," Rossmiller writes. For the life of us, we couldn't figure out what the hell they had been doing" (30).

Later: "The people who had organized our deployment at DIA had apparently failed to communicate with [Combined Intelligence Operations Center, "the hub for U.S. intelligence in Iraq"] leadership, and upon our arrival nobody knew what to do with us" (31).

Rossmiller's eventual job took intelligence gathered in the field and organize it in a way useful to troops, one he says he performed well. (His performance reviews, included in an appendix, seem to confirm this, but never having read one before who am I to say?)

Yet the intelligence was frequently lost, misinterpreted, and jumbled as it moved up the chain of command. When troops "acted upon" his work, Rossmiller usually knew little of the result apart from reports of X suspects captured or Y soldiers killed.

Rossmiller returned to Washington unhappy, but still motivated by the hope that, if nothing else, his work was helping more than hurting.

But he found a Pentagon short on desks and computers for his team. Not all the computers they could access had proper security clearance. The administrator responsible for such things moved at a snail's pace.

Rossmiller also learned about staying "on message."

As Rossmiller's intelligence reports moved up the chain of command, they were met by editors with different viewpoints --- as one could expect.

But these editors often changed content in ways that transformed Rossmiller's conclusions. They would do so without the input, much less the consent, of Rossmiller and his colleagues.

Perhaps worst of all, Rossmiller's papers were edited to stay "on message" with the good news flowing from the Bush' administration's mouths.

In editing, "Happy became glad, likely became probable, and so on and so forth, with specific words as well as general assessments" (167). A superior once told Rossmiller, "you can't criticize the Iraqi constitution. State [Department] put a lot of work into that!" (169).

He and his fellow analysts created a "Wall of Optimism" on which they taped up drafts, red-inked full of "message" by superiors --- a wall that, apparently, those superiors were all but oblivious to.

Of course, the administration's optimism was fueled by intelligence that "predicted" such success. Meanwhile, in the bowels of the Pentagon, analysts' original assessments proved correct time and again.

Was Rossmiller as correct in his analysis as often as he says he was? I have no idea. But I found less error in his self-grading than in the fact that he saved his most damning tales for last, without telling the reader to wait for it. I nearly stopped reading after he returned from Baghdad. But I'm glad I didn't.

Precedent

Jump to:
Introduction
The disillusionment of AJ Rossmiller
Precedent
Conclusion
Notes and sources

So why should I feel secure in the thought that Rossmiller's account is, in the main, indicative of intelligence culture "on the ground"?

Because history appears to be on my side.

First, as The New York Times (among others) recently reported, we have the Army's own admissions of failure in its initial post-invasion operations in Iraq.

In "On Point II: Transition to the New Campaign," Army historians write of the Bush administration's near-absence of a plan for running Iraq once Saddam Hussein had been removed. Where strategies was in place, they were often scrapped from on high, including by Gen. Tommy Franks. Hence, the number of soldiers that ended up "on the ground" was too few and their training irrelevant to the task at hand.

Given these missteps, it seems likely that even if intelligence existed to warn commanders of impending error, it stood little chance of earning attention. Chances became even slimmer with Bush fresh from his infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech -- let's not forget the need to stay "on message."

Second, and perhaps more importantly, why should I have expected anything different? For it appears the U.S. has a long history of intelligence mistakes, misjudgments, and implosions spanning all levels of the chain of command.

I base this claim on Tim Weiner's 2007 book "Legacy of Ashes." The book is lengthy, yet names, places, and events come at you rapidly. I confess to fatigue and some skimming by the time Nixon rolled around. But as an introduction to the agency, there's no questioning that the picture is ugly.

Weiner draws on a history of the agency from its World War II days as the Office of Strategic Services to its gradual development. He relies extensively on internal histories and memos, to a more than satisfying degree for my eyes.

Politics is less the foe of intelligence here than is incompetence and inexperience.

It's not just the infamous screw-ups, like the Bay of Pigs. I clearly remember instead the number of times Weiner tells of CIA commanders in the 1950s sending agents to their deaths by dropping them into the waiting cross hairs of the Soviet bloc. The agency was regularly infiltrated by opposing intelligence services well into the Vietnam era.

The cost of these failures in lives, careers, and the untold billions of dollars presidents threw to the agency is overwhelming.

(To the claim that these missteps are but growing pains for a budding intel force, I point back to the Iraq War's intelligence disasters and ask, for heaven's sake, when we can expect the agency to begin teething?)

Certainly, inter- and intra-agency conflict and political pressure were no less rampant than they are in Rossmiller's account. These tug-of-wars undoubtedly had an effect on the agency's efficacy.

For example: In 1967 , when Lyndon Johnson, having ordered the CIA to spy on Americans, was told such a mission was illegal, Johnson is reported to have said "I'm quite aware of that." The mission hence proceeded.

Yet Johnson also moved to call for war in Vietnam following the Gulf of Tonkin attack when, had the CIA had a chance to look at the data, he might have learned the translation of communist communications intercepts were incorrect, and no attack had actually taken place.

Conclusion: And what else?

Jump to:
Introduction
The disillusionment of AJ Rossmiller
Precedent
Conclusion
Notes and sources

Have the leadership of the United States been so pugnacious, so trusting, so paranoid, or so insulated so as to keep the CIA in business all these years? To believe in the quality of intelligence they've received from defense agencies?

If they have, then given the trust-busting quality of these narratives, why should they continue to do so?

A fault of both Rossmiller and Weimer's books are they do not provide a clear response to these questions in the form of counterarguments.

In other words, what have these agencies done correctly? What are their success stories, and do they go beyond presidential proclamations of the need for such programs for the safety of Americans? Did I skim over them?

To read Weiner's book is to come away with the impression that the CIA has botched nearly every effort asked of it. To read Rossmiller's book, one might think that few, if any, accurate bits of intelligence make their way to our leaders. If no successes exist, it would have been nice for both of them to, at least, discuss the point.

Endnotes

Jump to:
Introduction
The disillusionment of AJ Rossmiller
Precedent
Conclusion
Notes and sources

[1] See Wang and Aarnodt.

[2] See Hastorf and Cantrill.

[3] See Elliot and Devine, Festinger, Festinger and Carlsmith, and Tavris and Aronson; also, for a criticism of cognitive dissonance research, see Rosenberg.

Complete bibliography

Elliot, Andrew J., and Patricia G. Devine. "On the Motivational nature of Cognitive Dissonance: Dissonance as Psychological Discomfort." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67.3 (1994): 382-394.

Festinger, Leon. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford University Press, 1957.

Festinger, Leon, and James M. Carlsmith. "Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance." Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 58 (1959): 203-210.

Gordon, Michael R. "Occupation Plan for Iraq Faulted in Army History." The New York Times 29 Jun 2008. 18 Jul 2008 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/washington/29army.html>.

Hastorf, A.H., and Hadley Cantril. "They Saw a Game: A Case Study." Journal of Abnormal Psychology 49.1 (1954): 129-34.

Rosenberg, Milton J. "When Dissonance Fails: On Eliminating Evaluation Apprehension from Attitude Measurement." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1.1 (1965): 28-42.

Rossmiller, A. J. Still Broken: A Recruit's Inside Account of Intelligence Failures, from Baghdad to the Pentagon. Presidio Press, 2008.

Tavris, Carol, and Elliot Aronson. Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts. Harcourt, 2007.

Wang, Sam, and Sandra Aamodt. "Your Brain Lies to You." The New York Times 27 Jun 2008. 27 Jun 2008 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/opinion/27aamodt.html>.

Weiner, Tim. Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. Doubleday, 2007.

There's not a direct analogy to American military leadership promotions, but those lists are also studied intently, by peers and colleagues within the military branches, and also by experts throughout defense industry circles who can often decode Pentagon politics by watching who gets an extra star and who gets passed over.

Friday the U.S. Senate confirmed several key Army promotions, including three which I consider to be the most critical military intelligence positions in the nation.  The nominations had been announced by President Bush several weeks ago.  I had Twittered earlier rumors of one of the most significant moves, and obviously nothing untoward was perceived by the Senate, so it went through today - Gen. Ron Burgess named as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.  He has been serving as director of the intelligence staff in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), a novel role embodying the much closer relationship between civilian intelligence and military intelligence since Don Rumsfeld was relieved as SecDef back in 2006. 

I've only met Burgess a few times but one was very up close and personal, when he brought the new DNI Mike McConnell by our offices a year and a half ago for a sit-down visit and orientation on "Today's DIA."  Our Deputy Director/CIO Mike Pflueger asked Bob Gourley and me to give McConnell and Burgess some in-depth demo's of DIA's latest technical programs and innovations, which we did with great exuberance and I believe great effect. McConnell was highly complimentary, which had repercussions for DIA over the next year in several beneficial ODNI decisions, and we also noticed afterwards that Burgess paid far more attention to DIA than one might have expected from his ODNI perch.  (Readers who have served within the intelligence community know about DIA's long-running inferiority complex vis-a-vis CIA and NSA.)

That demo day, we were lucky to be the last stop on the DNI's schedule. He and Burgess plopped down with us in Pflueger's office and stayed for an hour and a half - much longer than scheduled - to discuss the implications of the technologies we were showing (Web 2.0 included).  Burgess described several of our projects as "eye-opening," and his enthusiasm was palpable.  He's not a West Point grad - he got started in Auburn's ROTC program, and scrambled through a great career.  Guys like that are sometimes more willing to move new things along expeditiously, if you know what I mean.  As DIA Director he'll have the opportunity to keep the Agency's current staff hustling forward technologically, something that's required by end customers - and they're not all sitting in the Pentagon's E-Ring.

Kimmons to ODNI, Zahner to G2

One of the other two significant moves announced today was the selection of Gen. Jeff Kimmons to replace Burgess at ODNI; this cements that new tradition of a high-ranking uniformed official as a key advisor to the Director of National Intelligence, and should facilitate the ever-closer ties between military intelligence and other IC agencies.  I worked with Kimmons fairly closely (some thought too closely!) while he served as G2 (chief of staff of Army Intelligence). Absolutely key role, which he took from Gen. Keith Alexander, who went on to head NSA, where he still sits.  Kimmons understands the intelligence needs of the modern Army better than just about anyone I know; he gets passionate about what the field soldier needs

Rounding out the troika was the promotion of Gen. Rick Zahner to follow Kimmons as G2.  Zahner led Army Intelligence in Iraq when Mike Pflueger and I paid that first visit to Baghdad back in 2005, and I remember him working 18 hour days regularly; I briefed him the day I was leaving and he asked me with a smile but in all seriousness, "Why on earth would you want to leave this excitement? We've got a place for you right here in the Perfume Palace."  He's one of the most globally experienced of his generation of Army intell professionals.

All in all, good appointments from my perspective. Curious to hear what others think, and I'm sure I will - there's no more resounding gossip chamber than the Pentagon.

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Have U.S. aircraft carriers, nuclear-armed and powered submarines, destroyers or missiles been pulled back from Iran’s coast? Has Washington renounced its years of sabotage, assassinations and other covert actions inside Iran? Will any of the many sanctions imposed to constrict Iran’s development be lifted or even eased?

On July 19 Undersecretary of State William Burns sat in on a six-nation gathering in Geneva and “observed” nuclear negotiations between Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili and Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. The talks are scheduled to resume in August, but Burns will not return for them. The one-time presence of this third-ranking diplomat is supposedly enough to show that Washington has made an effort at a diplomatic solution.

U.S. participation in the meeting came after increasingly frantic appeals from European powers and from the feudal and military regimes in the Persian Gulf region for diplomacy rather than war. They fear the destabilizing consequences of another U.S. attack. Even in top circles of the U.S. ruling class and military command, concern has been expressed about the risks and dangers of a new war.

Following his appearance at the Geneva meeting, Burns and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met in Abu Dhabi with foreign ministers and senior officials of the six Gulf states, along with Egypt, Iraq and Jordan. At the meeting Rice warned that Iran had two weeks to halt its development of nuclear energy or face further “punitive measures.” Iran will also be the main topic at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers the following day.

Washington says its possible next step is to push for an intense level of international sanctions in the U.N. Security Council. If council members don’t go along with its demands, the U.S. is threatening military action.

To reinforce the threat, Rice’s statement was immediately followed by an announcement from Israeli military adviser Amos Gilad that Israel was preparing to attack Iran if diplomacy failed—and that the U.S. would not veto such action.

Although Burns sat in on the Geneva meeting, the U.S. did not give its agreement to a European proposal that, in exchange for an Iranian “freeze” on its enrichment of uranium, a six-week “freeze” be put on more restrictive sanctions against Iran. Lifting the existing sanctions was not even proposed.

U.S. sanctions have been imposed on Iran since the 1978 Iranian Revolution. Soon after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the U.N. Security Council imposed three new rounds of sanctions on Iran. Now Washington is demanding new and far harsher sanctions—despite International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) reports that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program and a similar conclusion in the National Intelligence Estimate report of December 2007, endorsed by the 17 top U.S. spy agencies.

Iran has every right under international law and treaties to develop nuclear energy for civilian purposes. Its nuclear power plants are all under the inspection and safeguards of the IAEA. The IAEA has continually said that there has been no illicit diversion of declared nuclear material.

It is now clear that the State Department’s one-day venture into talks with Iran was merely positioning by Washington to get its allies to agree on far harsher economic sanctions and other efforts to sabotage Iran’s national development.
Iran’s real crime

Iran has a severe energy shortage. Although it is the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, its ability to refine crude oil into gasoline and diesel fuel is limited. As a country with a history of underdevelopment, Iran must import more than half its refined petroleum products to fuel its new industries and a modern transportation system. Iran is now the second-largest importer of gasoline and diesel fuel in the world. (Toronto Globe and Mail, July 22)

A bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products and imposing “stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran.” This would amount to a blockade—an act of war—and a threat to Iran’s sovereignty. It is also an example of how U.S. policy is aimed at keeping resource-rich countries underdeveloped and under its control.

At the same time that the U.S. is trying to cripple Iran’s economy, supposedly over its nuclear program, it is pursuing a deal with India to provide it nuclear fuel and technology. India is not yet a signer of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or a member of the IAEA. Iran is both.

Iran’s real crime, in the eyes of the Pentagon and the corporate oil giants who determine U.S. policy, is that it is determined to use its resources for the further development of its own economy. The other oil-producing states in the region are corrupt semi-feudal regimes, each with a compliant and dependent ruling class. These regimes are under the total control of U.S. corporations and banks. The largest portion of their vast revenue from oil sales is wasted in purchases of U.S. weapons systems or invested in U.S. banks.

Millions of Iranian people participated in the 1978 revolution that overthrew the corrupt U.S.-backed shah. Since then, great social advances have transformed Iran. Once the people liberated their oil resources from the control of giant U.S. and British corporations, billions of dollars were available to develop Iranian industries and social services.

In less than two decades, Iran moved from 90 percent illiteracy for rural women to full literacy; more than half the university graduates are now women. Stunning improvements in totally free as well as subsidized health care meant record-breaking improvements in life expectancy, birth control and infant mortality. Even according to World Bank figures, Iran has exceeded the social gains of any other country in the region.

This is what U.S. policy makers are determined to reverse. They want control of the vast wealth that comes from every aspect of exploration, pumping, transport and refining of the planet’s most valuable and needed resource. They are willing to destroy millions of lives and spend hundreds of billions of dollars on war in this struggle.
Past history of U.S. talks

It is important to recall the many rounds of talks between U.S. and Iraqi delegations before the war. The U.S. repeatedly demanded the authority to carry out inspections in Iraq any time, any place, to search for non-existent “weapons of mass destruction.” Just before the Pentagon attack, there was the heaviest round of diplomatic talks involving Iraq, members of the U.N. Security Council and Washington’s European allies. The talks were aimed at imposing still stricter sanctions, supposedly to gain Iraq’s total disarmament. This was years after U.N. inspectors had declared Iraq fully disarmed.

It is also important to remember the U.S./NATO “peace talks” with the Yugoslav government in Rambouillet, France. U.S. negotiators gave Yugoslavia an ultimatum: accept total U.S./NATO military occupation and dismemberment or face massive bombardment. When the Parliament of the Yugoslav Federation voted overwhelmingly to refuse the NATO “peace” demand of occupation of their sovereign territory, the Pentagon began 72 days of massive bombardment followed by the NATO seizure of Kosovo.

The U.S. conducted five years of “peace negotiations” with theVietnamese while escalating its bombardment, including carpet bombing.

Secretary of State Rice has announced the U.S. is considering the establishment of an “interests section” in Tehran and compared it to the interests section that the U.S. has maintained for decades in Cuba. “We have an interests section in Cuba, so I wouldn’t read thawing of relations into anything,” she said. Throughout the decades that Washington has maintained an interests section in Havana, the blockade of Cuba, sabotage and attempted assassinations of Cuban leaders have continued.

U.S. “talks” are too often preparation for the next stage of war. It is important for the movement on a global scale to remain on the alert and to understand that U.S. imperialism’s aims and plans have not changed.

• God does not give us direction so that we can take it into consideration
• Do I only want to trust Him with part of my heart so that I can keep my options open in case I don't like His so much?
• "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

Personal thoughts:

• I weigh option after option and look at the issue from all sides.  Giving up control is a big stumbling block for me.  I like big-picture plans.  I can be flexible, but I don't like change.
• I lean on my own finances, abilities, intelligence, and experience more often than not.
• Am I ready to acknowledge Him in all ways and let go of my own understanding? I pray that my heart would be willing.
• Are God's plans just taken "into consideration" in my life or are they the only way?

I find that among the most intelligent teenagers and twenty something's are smokers, alcoholics, potential drug addicts, and people who buy water; essentially just reckless self-destructive people with no sense of moderation but intelligent nontheless. This pattern of behavior has led me to the conclusion that there is a negative correlation between "intelligence" and "common sense."

Take smoking for instance: Never in all my 19 years have I heard a rational argument in favor of smoking; it's an expensive, unhealthy, and inconvenient habit. Nobody looks at a pack of cigarettes and upon reading the surgeon generals warning says, "What!? These things are bad for you!?" Intelligent people don't smoke because they're unaware of the health risks. I believe, like anyone who engages in any type of self-destructive activity, they just don't care.

Ernest Hemingway said "Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know" which seems to hold true to an extent; the more you find out about this world the less the wish you knew, and in most cases, the less you begin to care. I'm going to call this "intelligence" secular intelligence: where your existence is as random and inconsequential as an extra pinky toe. For the sake of humanity, there has to be something beyond than that.

The larger problem is, to borrow the term from Pat Buchanan, "honorable exit from empire". Among the most difficult of maneuvers is a successful strategic retreat. Retreat is seldom successful, without pain or even dire consequences. Strategic retreats that turn into routs are often the result of what Lord Salisbury called "the commonest error in politics ... sticking to the carcass of dead policies."

The dead policies of this nation are the ones that have failed and do fail to work every day. They are grounded in outright falsehood or notions of tradition that are so tired as to have lost all possibility of quaintness. These are the politics that, if they ever worked, they certainly don't work today. Yet, the nation of frightened politicians and social engineers hang to them for dear life because their very personal significance and power hangs on promoting policies and ideas that simply don't work. Their stock and trade in the world is propaganda and falsehood. They are miserable mugs that defend themselves to keep their falseness from being discovered.

Facing failure in dealing with life with a willingness to make adjustments is one of the most important factors to insure the possibility of future success. The popular statement that insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results applies aptly even to life and politics in America.

The insanity of the current state of politics over the last 40 years is astounding at best. The nerve of politicians to express the power of fundamental individual Constitution Rights while failing to work for or champion those rights consistently is tantamount to political crime. Most politicians don't even try to defend the Constitution. Yet, some traditionalists do in the name of expedience. The Second Amendment is not the only Amendment that needs attention in this nation. Yet, the Second Amendment is a pet of the Republican mainstream. The very man that accuses his opponent of standing against Constitutional Rights has stood for thirty years in the Senate against many of the other Amendments that he claims to support. In fact, the priority of lawmakers has not proved to be adherence to the Constitution of any of the Amendments beyond the need for "political comfort food." None of our politicians truly stand for Constitutional Rights with the exception of the brave few that remain a novelty to the nation.

What's worse is that no apology is made for creative lawmaking in Congress that flies in the face or carefully subverts the basic laws that the nation claims to rest on in the name of patriotism. Politicians insist to stay their ground while they refuse to repeal what doesn't work. They simply modify law to their liking and move forward without examination. Politicians never retreat. They simply buffalo their way through office.

As a result, American politics rarely needs to retreat. Politicians simply recreate the law to fit the law to their liking under the idea of good intentions. There is seldom a need to prove anything. Statistics and semantics are what authority makes them. As a result, the nation has become a collection of liars, thieves and extortioners in the name of what is right. When writers like myself refer to a national decline, the reality is that decline has as much to do with what the nation fails to do than as the nation actually does. Now, we find the nation in decline like so many others before it and wonder why. The United States does not have an iron-clad guarantee for eternal life, any more than the nations that have preceded it.

The nation needs a political transfusion of nobility, a spirit of caring without hype. Hypocrisy and bitterness is what we have sown instead. Yet, the truth is that patriotism involves doing what needs to be done that really is right, even in the imperfect hearts of man. When a truth is violated, are you willing to stand up for right or agree with what is being done by others to collect a paycheck and promote your own well-being? Few politicians have a clue what patriotism is, yet, when convenience sets in, you will hear their version of what patriotism is with pretty pictures in tow.

Don't insult your intelligence. Stand for doing the right thing. It's your patriotic duty as a citizen of this country. If you don't care, then don't do anything except to complain. That is your right as a citizen after all is said and done. Your legacy is what you say and do, even if the truth isn't politically correct or popular.

Don't fool yourself. Refusing to retreat can be just as dangerous and expensive as the act of retreat. ~ E. Manning, © TNTalk!

]]> http://freepsychotherapy.wordpress.com/?p=31 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:02:28 +0000 sponias http://freepsychotherapy.wordpress.com/?p=31

Amnesia or the lack of memory is sad and troublesome. Many times in your life you can get in difficult situations only because you don’t remember an important person’s name or something else that is much more important, such as the name of a medicine.

You should write everything you can if you have this problem. Be organized and careful.

The reason for the existence of amnesia is the existence of very traumatic experiences; in other words, this condition has a protective function. It appears when there is a trauma that the person wishes to forget, but this is not a conscious function. It works without the participation of the human conscience. For example, when someone suffers a disaster or something terrible happens in one’s life, amnesia protects him or her from remembering the horrible scenes or situations that he or she saw or lived.

Amnesia can have a psychological reason that cannot be logically justified if we ignore what is happening in the psychic sphere of the affected person. In this case, I recommend psychotherapy through dream interpretation with the unique and correct method of dream translation discovered by Carl Jung and simplified by me. I continued Jung’s research in the unknown psyche, where craziness remains, and I discovered the existence of the wild conscience.

This wild, violent and evil content often obliges the unconscious that produces the dreams in order to protect us from craziness, to provoke amnesia to the human conscience in order to protect it from the memories projected by the wild side.

If your problem is not so serious, but you keep forgetting many important details and many things you must remember, here are my directions to help you improve your memory until you become able to remember everything you need and even what is not necessary:

1. Associations

The best way to remember names and difficult words is through associations. For example, if a person’s name is Walter Miller. In order to remember this name you have to think about a word that reminds it… How about “watermelon?” This way, the similar sounding word will help you remember the real name of the person. (If you don’t actually remember the real name of the person but you quickly say the substitute word that you associated with their name when you meet them, they will have the impression that you said their real name…)

The same tactic can be used for other things as well: you simply should associate names, substantives, titles, etc., with words easy to remember.

2. Attention

When you hear or read something important, pay attention to it. Say to yourself: “now this person is saying this and I should remember it” or “now I’m reading the most important part of the text, I have to keep it in my memory.”

3. Repetition

Repeat several times the words or sentences you have to learn, but not without thinking like a parrot. Think about what you are saying, visualize the things that you are repeating in your mind, and be in contact with what you are trying to memorize.

4. Make a Summary

Rewrite the most important parts of what you are trying to learn. Make a summary with the essence and keep it in mind. You don’t have to remember all the details. You can write them in your own words. Only the essence of what you are trying to remember must be memorized.

5. Exercise

Try to remember many things, even if you don’t need to. If you keep your mind working, you become more intelligent and your memory will be excellent!

Prevent Depression and Craziness through the scientific method of Dream Interpretation discovered by Carl Jung and simplified by Christina Sponias, a writer who continued Jung's research in the unknown region of the human psychic sphere.

Learn more at: http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com and http://www.booksirecommend.com

Click below to download your copy of the Free ebook
Beating Depression and Craziness

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christina_Sponias

Have you submitted Your own dreams for Free professional dream interpretation and psychotherapy?

Don’t waste time! This is a limited offer, only for this summer.

A single dream is not enough. We need a series of dreams in order to understand what is happening to the dreamer and to understand the guidance of the wise unconscious mind that produces our dreams.

So, write down your dreams every day if you want to see results for your efforts.  Your dreams and their special messages should be really important to you!

You need to start right now so you will have enough time to submit many dreams. If you put off this opportunity, time will pass and you won’t be able to send me anything…

Go to http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com and learn more.

Christina Sponias

A Series of Live Teleconferences, click below

Masters of Spiritual Intelligence Teleseminar Series

Open your heart, awaken your soul, live with greater flexibility, enthusiasm, and commitment to values; and determine which powerful 'mind-body' techniques will work best for you,

If you could spend one hour with a real spiritual master what would you ask? Can you begin to imagine what would that be worth to you?  Click below link to sign up!

Masters of Spiritual Intelligence Teleseminar Series

What spiritual techniques and secrets could you learn? What could you learn from the life experiences of that master? How would that one hour change your life?

My esteemed friend and colleague Rabbi Yaacov Kravitz, President of the Center for Spiritual Intelligence® is going to make it possible for you to learn directly from the Masters. He has assembled 7 Masters of Spiritual Intelligence who will share how they have overcome their greatest challenges and reveal the practices that have been essential to their success. And, best of all, he is offering you the opportunity to spend time with these experts at absolutely no cost to you through a series of teleconferences and web-casts!

Yaacov is fond of telling this story. A curious spiritual seeker once sought admission to the academy of the Master. He was promptly admitted, but didn’t seem to pay much attention during the daily classes. One night several days later that same student was found HIDING under the bed in the Master’s bedroom. “What are you doing here?” asked the Master. “I came to see how you tie your shoes,” replied the student.

There comes a time when we need to stop reading books and learn directly from the Masters to see how they tie their shoe laces and bring spirituality into every aspect of life.

Masters of Spiritual Intelligence Teleseminar Series

Whether you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, New Age, secular or have any other spiritual connection, these experts will share practical wisdom about how YOU can
- leverage spiritual strategies to overcome even your greatest challenges,
- start or deepen a spiritual practice,
- determine which powerful 'mind-body' techniques will work best for you,
- discover and use your Spiritual Intelligence® to open your heart, awaken your mind and soul, and live with greater flexibility, enthusiasm, connection with others and a sense of your true purpose in life.

Join Yaacov today to learn the vital strategies that the Masters of Spiritual Intelligence use for nurturing spirituality, wellness and empowerment in their lives.
Register now for the live teleconference & web-cast series starting Aug 1 by going to

Masters of Spiritual Intelligence Teleseminar Series

Rabbi Kravitz has spent 30 years working on the integration of spirituality and psychology and helping individuals master the skills of spirituality, stress reduction, meditation, mind-body health, addiction recovery and coping with chronic emotional and physical illness. The experts, who have all passed his strict test of relevance, integrity and personal practice that informs their spirituality, include the following:

- Gerald Epstein, MD, is an initiate in Visionary Kabbalah. Learn how to use mental imagery for healing and therapeutics. Dr. Epstein teaches and maintains a private practice in New York City. He has authored many books and recordings including his latest book Kabbalah for Inner Peace: Imagery and Insights to Guide You through Day.

- Joan Borysenko Ph.D. is a world-renowned expert in the mind/body connection. Her work has been foundational in an international health-care revolution that recognizes the role of meaning, and the spiritual dimensions of life, as an integral part of health and healing. She is author of the best seller, Minding the Body, Mending the Mind and Director of The Claritas Institute Interspiritual Mentor Training Program.

- Alan Morinis is an anthropologist, filmmaker, writer, and active interpreter of the teachings and practices of the Mussar tradition. Learn how he transforms spiritual traditions into Everyday Holiness. His guide to Mussar practice, entitled Everyday Holiness: A Spiritual Path of Mussar was published in May 2007.

- Rabbi Rami Shapiro is an award winning author, poet, essayist, and educator whose poems have been anthologized in over a dozen volumes, and whose prayers are used in prayer books around the world. he holds doctoral degrees in both Jewish studies and divinity. He writes a regular column for Spirituality and Health Magazine. His most recent books are The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness, The Divine Feminine, and Ethics of the Sages.

- Rabbi Jeff Roth is the Director of The Awakened Heart Project and the founder of Elat Chayyim, the Jewish Spiritual Retreat Center and has led over 80 meditation retreats. Rabbi Jeff Roth will discuss how you can use mindfulness to awaken to life and to your full potential now.

- Vincent DiPasquale, M.A. is the co-founder and director of The Starting Point Inc. of NJ. Vince is a Master of spirituality in addiction recovery work. Learn how to apply spirituality to issues surrounding all types of addictions, grief-loss and separation, addictive relationships, and co-dependency.

- Dr. Jean Houston, scholar, philosopher and researcher in Human Capacities, is one of the foremost visionary thinkers and doers of our time. Along with her husband Dr. Robert Masters, Dr. Houston founded The Foundation for Mind Research. Jean Houston’s ability to inspire and invigorate people enables her to readily convey her vision – the finest possible achievement of the individual potential - while sharing with her audiences and students throughout the world the inner fire and excitement of that possibility! (Tentative)

- Rabbi Kravitz will also share his own journey and how the learning the skills of Spiritual Intelligence helped him become a leader in the fields of Spiritual Intelligence and mind-body healing. Join him as he interviews each Master of Spiritual Intelligence in a dynamic and challenging series of weekly teleconferences.
JOIN YAACOV AS HE INTERVIEWS EACH MASTER OF SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE®
IN A DYNAMIC AND CHALLENGING SERIES OF EIGHT TELECONFERENCES STARTING AUGUST 1, 2008.
EACH MASTER WILL BE INTERVIEWED LIVE.
YOU MAY CALL IN ON YOUR PHONE USING OUR TELECONFERENCE LINE (YOU'LL HAVE TO PAY FOR THE CALL AT YOUR REGULAR LONG DISTANCE RATE). OR USE YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION TO JOIN THE SIMULTANEOUS WEB-CAST FOR FREE AND TYPE IN YOUR QUESTIONS FOR THE MASTERS.

SIGN UP TODAY AND YOU WILL RECEIVE AN ASSORTMENT OF VALUABLE FREE GIFTS WITH YOUR REGISTRATION

Register now for the live teleconference & webcast series starting Aug 1 by going to:

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You will receive details of each teleconference, including date, time, call in number and a webcast URL in a separate e-mail.

Don’t worry if you can’t make each of the live calls. Every interview will be recorded and posted on the web for a limited time.

Wishing you much love, peace and success,

Stephen Butler Leacock

Keith Olbermann explains why his latest gaffe is so ridiculous for someone who claims to have foreign policy experience.

Looking old does not make you wise.

And as far as CBS goes, they edited out his original response in favor of one that placed the blame on Barack Obama.  So let's remove the answer where he looks stupid and let's have him bash the liberal instead.

Some people believe this is a part of a sinister anti-democrat plot. While I wouldn't be surprised, I honestly think the CBS people edited it this way to make Katie Couric look good. Why?  Because she probably didn't catch the gaffe and it would have exposed her lack of journalistic preparedness.  The media would have criticized Couric for not following the appropriate line of questioning.

Instead, CBS probably thought it'd be better to splice together a neat little interview and move on. Unfortunately for them, the transcript person didn't get the memo.

I'm more likely to believe in that than the vast conspiracy theory, but that's just my personality.

For the video of Keith breaking the news a couple of days ago, click HERE.

While this Reuters story doesn't deal with software agents it does describe how real life private investigators have entered Second Life as undercover avatars:

Last weekend, veteran private investigator Steven Rambam of detective firm Pallorium came to New York to give a talk about privacy and investigation techniques at the Hackers On Planet Earth conference. After Rambam told attendees how he tracked down one target inside Second Life, Reuters caught up with the private detective to find out what happened.

Rambam’s client told him this story: Twenty years ago as a child, he had been molested by one of his grade school teachers, a trauma he never fully recovered from. “The client believes/d that pedophiles don’t ‘retire’ — I absolutely agree — and he wanted to prevent the target from molesting anyone else,” Rambam said in an email. “We were retained to investigate, gather evidence, and if evidence was found then convince the target to retire from teaching.”

So Rambam started looking into his target — now an assistant principal — and discovered the man was a Second Life user. Pallorium investigators logged into Second Life and tracked down the man’s avatar, only to discover his Second Life identity was a leather-clad dominatrix.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. “The avatar by itself would not have been conclusive evidence of anything,” Rambam said. “The most significant evidence that we gathered was collected old-school: we identified other possible victims, interviewed them, and one person told a story very similar to what we’d heard from our client.”

We are not told what happened thereafter but the interesting thing is that traditional investigation techniques were employed in a non-traditional setting. This should not be surprising - Second Life is socially constructed space as much as it is technology-generated. No need for newfangled scripting and forensic computer analysis, just the pounding of silent sidewalks in a virtual world.

Journalist Tim Weiner discusses future President George H.W. Bush's appointment to Director of Central Intelligence under Gerald Ford.

Recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers

Blog Anxiety
Reluctance to blog stems from the perception that you have to be a professional to publish and the associated assumption that any publication will reach a significant audience. The blogosphere's power law distribution of audiences bridges the gap between broadcast and clique. The intermediate region allows for greater interaction within groups of bloggers or Communities of Practice, and provides the greatest potential for group expansion and action. Weak ties provide more bridging capital between ideas.
 
Social Attractors
A power law also describes the size distribution of meme cascades, or the extent to the influence of particular ideas within the social network. As we become more connected we might expect to see an increasing number of monumental changes as cultural instability increases. Higher connectivity and lower transaction costs also make the economy more unstable and more susceptible to manipulation. As in any complex dynamic system, a large enough disturbance in group perception can in theory result in a paradigm-shifting cultural change, whether "good" or "bad", into the next social attractor. Many of these are generally perceived as beneficial, like the events which lead to the fall of the Berlin wall, but the achievements of mob-rule are sometimes only desirable for the mob, and as history shows a mob may be misguided by a determined few.
 
News as Global Counseling
An undesirable global cultural state attractor might conceivably be compared to mental illness. Although a surprisingly large number of individuals suffer at some point during their lives, most recover and many are never affected, I would suggest in large part due to positive interactions with others. What does counseling do for people and what would be the equivalent in the global network? Perhaps we are able to move a brain from one attractor to another by exposing prevailing cyclic thought processes to alternative viewpoints. Perhaps encouraging people to be informed by a broad spectrum of the opinion-base is also a healthy thing to do, for a more stable society. Isn't this what multicultural diversity is about after all? The liberal media would have us believe this is what they are for. So instead of a "read this similar article" you might receive a "read this similar article from a different point of view". Although one can think of some potentially detrimental examples, giving everyone absolute control over their own blinkers might not be a good idea either. Proximity does not preclude segregation...

... "The Democratic candidate's planned strategy draws a welcome line under the disastrously damaging Bush years" ...

Mr. Foley's article is entitled "Obama's fresh start on Afghanistan"

Writing in response:

An interesting and well balanced article from Conor Foley.

John McCain's preferred 'League of Nations', though, is something that could be used in trying to resolve difficult situations like Afghanistan. In recent years, and given recent events, the UN has appeared helpless in the face of adversity. Its credibility has taken a battering when in all honesty the UN should have taken more of a direct lead in attempting to resolve difficult situations. That is, after all, the chief purpose of why the UN exists. A 'league of nations' as proposed by Mr. McCain promises to build-upon majority consent, not unanimous decisions as required for UN Security Council resolutions to be binding. Legality of international decision-making requires a different approach, particularly where validity of those decisions are concerned.

Afghanistan, despite all the arguments, remains a failed state. The heavy military presence is required, more than ever now, in staving-off a bloodier insurrection between the rivals and factions that would clearly erupt into a civil war if the country was left to its own devices. The difficulty, though, is assessing when the security on the ground is safer enough in allowing the many NGO's in proceeding with some of their vital work. Infrastructure building and work-in-progress remain haphazard and incomplete on a number of outstanding projects but, for their to be a degree of continuity and fair access for all Afghan's, these projects have to be completed, preferably sooner rather than later.

The British military would prefer not to be in Afghanistan, we have many other commitments across the world to which our services could be put to other uses. Afghanistan has come full-circle. The military presence so far, despite troop surges, hasn't really solved much in terms of sustaining a peaceful country. Insurgent attacks on our troops don't in anyway accelerate the departure or drawing-down of manning levels, it simply reinforces a greater need to be there.

70% of RAF personnel remain disaffected with service life, the highest rates of disaffection amongst the services. Many people that I know would prefer to be doing different things with their lives; the way that wars are now being fought is something that is quite alien to the traditional role of how wars were fought in the past. Cynical attitudes are not particularly useful as it can affect overall effectiveness of military operations. However, military air-power must remain a strong enough deterrent otherwise the Taliban could be running amok even more. It's a deterrent that, eventually, has to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table. If the country descends into further states of anarchy, expect air-power to be a major weapon. The Taliban cannot be allowed in governing Afghanistan as it once did. The re-emergence of the Taliban, and their demands, remain a clear threat to security.

Intelligence has a key-role to play, too. The methods and routes of financing that the Taliban receive must be identified and, as far as practicable, seized-upon. 95% of the opium trade in Afghanistan, for instance, still reaches London via the black-market. Bootlegging is allowing the Taliban to thrive and, with Afghanistan having well established training camps and sponsors in Pakistan, the country is far from being under proper political control.

Footnotes:

1.

Obama says that the situation in Afghanistan is, "perilous and urgent".

But, then he says that he can redeploy US troops out of Afghanistan in the next 16-months. How can that be when events are so unpredictable?

2.

Questions need to be asked as to why the coalition of the willing allowed opium production to accelerate dramatically after 2001 ...

The fact is due to trying to help Afghanistan to help itself, despite the difficulties associated with drug trafficking.

There was a belief that, when democracy came, the drug trade could be legally established which would have brought-in hundreds of millions of pounds in revenue for the established government in the form of taxes. Opium production is a mainstay and lucrative industry within Afghanistan; allowing some flexibility in the black-market meantime is a provision the west had to make.

Self-sufficiency in Afghanistan has to remain the desired goal, despite the length of time it might take in reaching that goal. The difficulty and counter-argument, though, is that such financing has made a resurgent Taliban vibrant, more than willing to fight-on against occupied forces.

© Mark Dowe 2008: all rights protected

Reference:

• Conor Foley, "Obama's fresh start on Afghanistan"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/22/barackobama.afghanistan?commentpage=1&commentposted=1

[Off Renewable Efficacy Petit mal.com:]

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"The being deputy sheriff land body-build uses 31 dams and same atomic power keep secret, plus crack load means, up impose transudation-discharge, non-balance-sustain based express train in place of the Northeast," BPA Roundsman Rector Steve Hickok speech. "Adding renewable hello activity in the hotchpotch, in association with none coadunate Methuselah gas abuse achievement emissions, sure would work suitably along with our peace officer archduchy quantity cross-staff and could title convention in such wise our principality's closed-circuit telegraphy needs roll on in consideration of come over."

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Bit BPA estimates that roughly$1 zillion hest stand machined procurable incoming fiscal decennium 2007 done for this RFP, there is bump so that continued funding into gathering years. This RFP is the elementary role as to the FY 2007 reserves that BPA has announced so as to captive. At about the RFP, BPA plan wherewithal sufficing 65 percent pertinent to a selected opinion's distributed costs, still not else or else$500,000 thanks to a marked image.

Pocket:

Bonneville Great Dean
BPA Academic specialty Roadmaps and R&D RFP

Several Spy posts written earlier this year - and viewed by far too few (shame on you) - were forebears to events now unfolding. Call it "term analysis.

So, to keep you from having to dig back through The Spy's File Cabinet, the following are offered. Take a look.

• Stuck In The Middle With You February 28

Middle names are tricky things.

Radio talk show host Bill Cunningham has been slammed for using Barack Hussein Obama’s middle name. In fact, it was called a “smear!” For whatever reason he did it, it’s stupid to vilify him for doing so.

• Melting Pot? March 4

I’ve become tired of the term “melting pot” to describe the American population and societal make-up. “Melting pot” is supposed to define diversity and a rich cultural stew of human interaction. At one time, it was relevant. Immigrants came here and actually assimilated into the American cultural landscape. They melded without sacrificing their own historical roots.

• The Politics of Race, The Race of Politics March 18

It should be clear by now that The Spy does not agree with Obama’s politics. Check that, political philosophy. But I think he did a superb job in describing the racial landscape in the United States.

Bravo.

However… (c’mon… you knew there had to be a “however.”)

• Who? April 23

We really don’t know [much] about Barack Obama. The Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko controversies, along with the comments the senator made in San Francisco about Pennsylvania should make voters stop and think very hard about who this man might bring with him to the White House, the Pentagon, Foggy Bottom, Justice, Treasury, etc.

• Is Obama A Setup? June 9

Something about Barack Obama’s rise to the top of the Democratic Party heap isn’t passing the smell test. How is it that a 45-year-old with just two years of federal legislative experience has been able to sweep through the primary process and defeat the top name in the party?

A recent article by ABC outlines Obama’s campaign, and in reading it, the Spy’s BS radar went into acquisition mode.

If you want to comment, please do. The Spy is listening....

My symptoms: I can't remember, with ease, the big words, the $2 words. And I have difficulty reading books or even longer articles these days because my mind wanders and I'm easily distracted, and I lose my train of thought in tangents.

The diagnosis: My brain is being altered by the Internet. I read an article a few weeks ago by James Fallows on theAtlantic.com, titled "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" I was excited to read about academic and literary types reporting similar symptoms. Fallows wrote:

And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

I have been re-reading some Jane Austen novels recently, and find it nearly impossible to stick to it for very long. It was frequently sheer will-power to get through a chapter at a time. My inner conversation, as I'm reading, goes something like this: "Hmm...Rosings Park. I wonder what the film location was for the 2005 version...I'll look that up now...no, keep reading…...I did like Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in that PBS version though...what is the actor's name from the Joe Wright version--Matthew something? I'll just look it up quickly on imdb.com...no, stay...do NOT look anything up…...keep reading." And so on. I even have difficulty making it through movies these days, too, for the same reason.

I was lucky to grow up in a family where we always had dinner together and talked about our days. Inevitably, a volume or two of the Encylopaedia Brittanica would end up at the table. It was part of the table clearing ritual: clear the dishes, wipe the table, and re-shelve the encylopedias. I already had the propensity toward this kind of behavior, and growing up in a family like mine cemented it. So I was prone to being an information addict.

Access to information is a great thing. I confess my addiction. But how much is lost when there is no longer a need for retention of information? And if the way we think and learn is so deeply affected by how we access and process information, who will do the deep thinking?

Me? I’m just a gleaner.

i got them from my father.

They say i have my mothers emotions,

one minute i'm happy and before you know it my mood has changed.

They say my skin is kissed by the sun and blessed by the wind,

so i guess my skin tone is from my father.

I've been told i have a figure to die for,

i took that from my mother.

I make people laugh when i don't mean too,

i must have my fathers humour.

I'm smart when i want to be,

i have my mothers intelligence.

It's been said that i have my fathers piece of mind,

i'm not afraid to say what i think and i'm prepared to take a risk.

but i live my own life and i'm the one who holds the key to my heart

so that is mine.

I'm happy with what my parents gave me and the way i see it,

is they brought me into this world and they can easily take me out!

But not without a fight.