VIA MAD INFO: AIG has been at the center of two of three huge fiascos involving the federal government during the Bush II years: 9/11 and the recent financial scam that resulted in hundreds of billions being channeled into the big banks of this country.� Most are set to simply walk away with it, making the last two presidential terms an extravaganza in offshore accounts, money laundering, and legal embezzlement.
Who can forget the money sent to Hank Greenberg, the AIG “Godfather”, from Warren Buffet for his charity?� Indeed, the Bush family is famous for banking scams as the savings and loans scandals of the eighties proved.� Neil Bush turned out to be the real brains in the family at that point.
In the final days of the election many Republicans seem to have given up the fight for power. But don’t be fooled: that doesn’t mean they are relaxing. If you want to see real Republican elbow grease, check out the energy going into chucking great chunks of the $700bn bail-out out the door. At a recent Senate banking committee hearing, the Republican Bob Corker was fixated on this task, and with a clear deadline in mind: inauguration. “How much of it do you think may be actually spent by January 20 or so?” Corker asked Neel Kashkari, the 35-year-old former banker in charge of the bail-out.
When European colonialists realised that they had no choice but to hand over power to the indigenous citizens, they would often turn their attention to stripping the local treasury of its gold and grabbing valuable livestock. If they were really nasty, like the Portuguese in Mozambique in the mid-1970s, they poured concrete down the elevator shafts.
Nothing so barbaric for the Bush gang. Rather than open plunder, it prefers bureaucratic instruments, such as “distressed asset” auctions and the “equity purchase program”. But make no mistake: the goal is the same as it was for the defeated Portuguese - a final, frantic looting of the public wealth before they hand over the keys to the safe.
How else to make sense of the bizarre decisions that have governed the allocation of the bail-out money? When the Bush administration announced it would be injecting $250bn into US banks in exchange for equity, the plan was widely referred to as “partial nationalisation” - a radical measure required to get banks lending again. Henry Paulson, the treasury secretary, had seen the light, we were told, and was following the lead of Gordon Brown.
Within the United States there are over one and a half million service members that have served in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over thirty thousand have been physically wounded, but many more have experienced less visible, psychological wounds. Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder have emerged as signature injuries of these conflicts, with recent reports suggesting an increase in rates of suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, homelessness, and domestic violence among returning service members and veterans.
These traumatic affects of conflict, left unaddressed, could have far-reaching negative consequences for the individuals affected, their families, and our country. Survivor Corps’ work in some of the most conflict affected countries in the world has shown community reintegration to be the key factor in those that overcome their traumatic experiences, and those that are consumed by them.
I am sitting here in Berlin, Germany, listening to NPR on 104.1 FM (yes, we have National Public Radio on-tap in Berlin, it is true), and I am rooting for Barack Obama. I have to admit that I voted Republican in the last two elections, in 2000 and 2004, because I was appalled by both Gore and Kerry. I was passionate about Bill Clinton during his eight years in office and preferred anything to Gore or Kerry, to be honest. That said, I want Barack Obama to win because the world wants Barack Obama to win.
After church yesterday, I got to talking to my fellow parishioners and they want Barack Obama. These are not your traditional European communists you hear about, they're devout Christians -- born again -- who are probably considered pretty conservative in the context of Europe. However, in the context of America, even a right wing wingnut European is still relatively liberal by American standards.
When Berliners look at Barack Obama, they don't see someone who will set race riots afire, they don't see someone who will turn America into a Marxist-Leninist stronghold, they see a man who is sophisticated, education, trained, has a brain in his head, went to the best schools, has explored the world, cares about civil rights, and who will most likely be willing to span the broken bridges across the Atlantic to Europe and Russia and try his best to rebuild them and begin to regain the trust, admiration, and even envy that much of the world had fifty-years ago.
To them and to me, Barack Obama will be able to return the United States to the hands of the rational. A United States with a better separation between Church and State. Maybe even a country in which Jesus Christ is the co-pilot and not the pilot any more. Where saner, more peaceful, minds prevail. A nation willing to put away its herald and sword, stop with the Christian Crusades, the preemptive strikes, the unilateral military conquests, and the obsession with being Exceptional. Exceptionalism is the most dangerous aspect of the George W Bush and Neocon White House.
"When the United States looks abroad, it does so from an assumed position of moral and spiritual strength. For as long as the United States has existed, a perceived sense of its exceptionalism has permeated the way that Americans view the rest of the world . . . this view has been reinforced by the material reality of US economic and military strength. The essence of American exceptionalism is a celebration of the uniqueness and special virtue of the United States. It rests on the belief that the United States has a special role to play in the world, and unique qualities to bring to this role . . . The roots of the concept stem from the Puritan vision of America as a ‘shining city upon a hill’, a society designed to serve as a moral example to mankind."
The idea that America is any better-suited than any other nation to lead based on some sort of Divine Inheritance or Plan is ludicrous and very insane, especially when no one else in the entire world agrees. I am a big fan of Mike Signer's concept of exemplarism:
"Exemplarism is the principle that the United States could best serve the spread of liberal democracy by being an enviable example to the world—the shining light on the hill, the beacon. Being a good example requires strengthening the institutions that assure individual liberties, the rule of law, and the prosperity born of industry and commerce. Adherents to exemplarism would find themselves in agreement with Kant’s principle of noninterventionism into the affairs of other nations."
Telling yourself and everybody around you how amazing, brilliant, noble, moral, and generous you are when you're the biggest and meanest and best-armed and best-outfitted man in the room is hubristic and kind of pathetic. Delusional, actually, and certainly not the best way for a man -- or a country -- to be. America is kind of being an International douchebag.
If you have not been keeping on top of all of the great comments streaming in to the AH Poll entitled "If John McCain died or became incapacitated, would Sarah Palin be competent to be President?" you are really missing out! Some of them are the most insightful, thoughtful, and brilliant collection of thoughts representing the best and the worst of the right and the left! Roll up your sleeves and batten your hatches because you're going to have one hell of a ride. Oh, also, these comments are in reverse-chronological order so the most recent are at the top. If you want to keep track of them live, please go visit them where they love and breathe. Read below for the most amazing Sarah Palin comment thread of the Internets!
Submitted by ab (not verified) on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 08:52.
KB, Sorry, I don't usually reply to these remarks, but I couldn't resist........ What message of "hate" are you talking about? If someone doesn't agree with your worldview, that doesn't mean they hate. Where is your tolerance? AB
Submitted by KB in IA (not verified) on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 21:54.
Things might get interesting soon, since the Alaska Supreme Court said today that the investigation known as Troopergate could proceed, dashing the hopes of the McCain/Palin campaign to stonewall it until after the election (article at www.adn.com). Amazing that someone CURRENTLY under investigation for misuse of public office, could be stirring up crowds with a message of hate. Mind-boggling that someone who had to attend 5 or 6 different colleges before getting a degree in journalism, can try to make a bogeyman out of someone who graduated with honors from Harvard Law. I hope Alaska gets their Governor back soon...if they even want her back.
My team and I have been working with the IMC team for the last three weeks. After the first two weeks, we all were were able to collectively get IMC into the top-5, which was an amazing feat since there were quite a few organizations who were really hot on our heels!
The project? Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children. Now that the Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children project has made the top-5, we're all pushing for the last 5 days and we need your vote! We're currently in 4th place, which guarantees $100,000; however, if we are able to secure number 3, International Medical Corps would receive $300,000; then, if we could make it to second, IMC would receive $1,000,000. Making first would mean $1,5 million dollars to help feed hungry and malnourished children worldwide, saving the lives of malnourished children.
If you want to learn more about the project, Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children, feel free to check out the Social Media News Release we created for this campaign. If you wan to learn more about the International Medical Corps, please check out the IMC web site and their about page:
About International Medical Corps
International Medical Corps (IMC) is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.
Established in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses, IMC is a private, voluntary, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization. Its mission is to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in underserved communities worldwide.
By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility to respond rapidly to emergency situations, IMC rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance.
Composed of two powerful speeches given the masterful Philosopher and Theologist Dr. David Ray Griffin at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco (4/3/06) and at The Grand Lake Theater in Oakland (3/30/06), 9/11: The Myth and The Reality exposes the official story of 9/11 for what it truly is: a sacred myth. Throughout this incredible video, enhanced with forceful images and video segments, Griffin details nine of the most commonly held myths and misconceptions about the events surrounding 9/11 and with logical precision proves the fallacies of each one. Each speech is followed by an in-depth question & answer section featuring hard-hitting questions about 9/11 posed to one of the subject's foremost scholars.
[SOURCE] "A proven leader, and a man of integrity," the New York Post called John McCain in its editorial endorsement. "A naval aviator shot down over North Vietnam and held as a POW, McCain knew that freedom was his for the taking. All he had to do was denounce his country. He refused--and, as a consequence, suffered years of unrelenting torture."
This standard summary of McCain's five and a half years in the Hanoi Hilton, repeated in thousands of media accounts during his 2000 campaign and again this election year, is the founding myth of his political career. The tale of John McCain, War Hero prompts a lot of people turned off by his politics--liberals and traditional conservatives alike--to support him. Who cares that he "doesn't really understand economics"? He's got a great story to tell.
Scratch the surface of McCain's captivity narrative, however, and a funny thing happens: his heroism blows away like the rust from a vintage POW bracelet.
In the fall of 1967 McCain was flying bombing runs over North Vietnam from the U.S.S. Oriskany, an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea. On October 26, the 31-year-old pilot was part of a 20-plane squadron assigned to destroy infrastructure in the North Vietnamese capital. He flew his A-4 Skyhawk over downtown Hanoi toward his target, a power plant. As he pulled up after releasing his bombs, his fighter jet was hit by a surface-to-air missile. A wing came off. McCain's plane plunged into Truc Bach Lake.
Mai Van On, a 50-year-old resident of Hanoi, watched the crash and left the safety of his air-raid shelter to rescue him. Other Vietnamese tried to stop him. "Why do you want to go out and rescue our enemy?" they yelled. Ignoring his countrymen, On grabbed a pole and swam to the spot where McCain's plane had gone down in 16 feet of water. McCain had managed to free himself from the wrecked plane but was stuck underwater, ensnared by his parachute. On used his pole to untangle the ropes and pull the semi-conscious pilot to the surface. McCain was in bad shape, having broken his arm and a leg in several places.
McCain is lucky the locals didn't finish him off. U.S. bombs had killed hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese civilians, many in Hanoi. Ultimately between one and two million innocents would be shredded, impaled, blown to bits and dissolved by American bombs. Now that one of their tormentors had fallen into their hands, they had a rare chance to get even. "About 40 people were standing there," On later recalled. "They were about to rush him with their fists and stones. I asked them not to kill him. He was beaten for a while before I could stop them." He was turned over to local policemen, who transferred him to the military.
What if one of the hijackers who destroyed the World Trade Center had somehow crash-landed in the Hudson River? How long would he have lasted? Would anyone have risked his life to rescue him?
An impolite question: If a war is immoral, can those who fight in it--even those who demonstrate courage--be heroes? If the answer is yes, was Reagan wrong to honor the SS buried at Bitburg? No less than Iraq, Vietnam was an undeclared, illegal war of aggression that did nothing to keep America safe. Tens of millions of Americans felt that way. Millions marched against the war; tens of thousands of young men fled the country to avoid the draft. McCain, on the other hand, volunteered.
McCain knew that what he was doing was wrong. Three months before he fell into that Hanoi lake, he barely survived when his fellow sailors accidentally fired a missile at his plane while it was getting ready to take off from his ship. The blast set off bombs and ordnance across the deck of the aircraft carrier. The conflagration, which took 24 hours to bring under control, killed 132 sailors. A few days later, a shaken McCain told a New York Times reporter in Saigon: "Now that I'[...]
I would have never guessed that Camille Paglia would be in awe of Sara Palin or perceive her as follows, “Conservative though she may be, I felt that Palin represented an explosion of a brand new style of muscular American feminism. At her startling debut on that day, she was combining male and female qualities in ways that I have never seen before. And she was somehow able to seem simultaneously reassuringly traditional and gung-ho futurist. In terms of redefining the persona for female authority and leadership, Palin has made the biggest step forward in feminism since Madonna channeled the dominatrix persona of high-glam Marlene Dietrich and rammed pro-sex, pro-beauty feminism down the throats of the prissy, victim-mongering, philistine feminist establishment.” Whoa. (Via Salon.com via Chris Abraham)
Rip tide! Is the Obama campaign shooting out to sea like a paper boat?
It’s heavy weather for Obama fans, as momentum has suddenly shifted to John McCain — that hoary, barnacle-encrusted tub that many Democrats like me had thought was full of holes and swirling to its doom in the inky depths of Republican incoherence and fratricide. Gee whilikers, the McCain vampire just won’t die! Hit him with a hammer, and he explodes like a jellyfish into a hundred hungry pieces.
Oh, the sadomasochistic tedium of McCain’s imprisonment in Hanoi being told over and over and over again at the Republican convention. Do McCain’s credentials for the White House really consist only of that horrific ordeal? Americans owe every heroic, wounded veteran an incalculable debt of gratitude, but how do McCain’s sufferings in a tiny, squalid cell 40 years ago logically translate into presidential aptitude in the 21st century? Cast him a statue or slap his name on a ship, and let’s turn the damned page.We need a new generation of leadership with fresh ideas and an expansive, cosmopolitan vision — which is why I support Barack Obama and have contributed to his campaign. My baby-boom generation — typified by the narcissistic Clintons — peaked in the 1960s and is seriously past it. But McCain, born before Pearl Harbor, is even older than we are! Why would anyone believe that he holds the key to the future? And why would anyone swallow that preening passel of high-flown rhetoric about “country above all” coming from a seething, short-fused character whose rampant egotism, zigzagging principles, and currying of the gullible press were the distinguishing marks of his senatorial career?
Having said that, I must admit that McCain is currently eating Obama’s lunch. McCain’s weirdly disconnected persona (beady glowers flashing to frozen grins and back again) has started to look more testosterone-rich than Obama’s easy, lanky, reflective candor. What in the world possessed the Obama campaign to let their guy wander like a dazed lamb into a snake pit of religious inquisition like Rick Warren’s public forum last month at his Saddleback Church in California? That shambles of a performance — where a surprisingly unprepared Obama met the inevitable question about abortion with shockingly curt glibness — began his alarming slide.
As I said in my last column, I have become increasingly uneasy about Obama[...]
September 1, 2008—On August 15, 2008, Russia dropped cluster bombs on civilian areas in the neighboring country of Georgia, killing at least 14 civilians and wounding dozens more. This weekend, the Georgian government admitted to having dropped cluster bombs in certain locations between the Roki tunnel and Dzara road. This area links Georgia's South Ossetia with North Ossetia, which is Russian territory. Georgia claims not to have dropped any cluster bombs in civilian areas. (Via This Fucking War)
On August 7, 2008, Russia began an armed offensive against Georgia over South Ossetia, a region long recognized as part of Georgia but home to an ethnic minority with close ties to Russia.
Keti Javakhishvili, a twenty-five year-old woman in Gori, Georgia, barely survived a cluster bomb attack. She was walking with neighbors to get bread when the cluster bombs fell. “I heard an explosion and dropped to the ground,” she told Human Rights Watch researchers from her hospital bed. Javakhishvili suffered massive trauma to her liver, stomach, and intestines, as well as shock due to severe blood loss. Also among the civilians killed an injured in the attacks were Dutch journalist Stan Storimans and Israeli journalist Zadok Yehezheli.
In May of 2008, more than 107 nations negotiated a treaty banning cluster bombs. It is estimated that 80 percent of cluster bomb victims worldwide are civilians. Each cluster munition releases tens or hundreds of smaller "bomlets" over a wide area, killing indiscriminately. Many of the bomblets do not explode on impact, but instead become defacto landmines that continue to kill and maim civilians and cause economic devastation for years to come. Survivors often suffer long-terms disabilities as a result of their injuries, which lead to economic hardship and social isolation. Survivor Corps led the charge to include revolutionary provisions in the treaty requiring governments to assist survivors of cluster bombs. “Survivors around the world are united in calling for an end to this blatant disregard for human life. We hope that the tragedy in Georgia and Russia prompts countries to adopt the UN Convention banning cluster munitions," says Ken Rutherford of Survivor Corps.
Use of cluster munitions in the current Russia Georgia conflict represents the first known use of the weapon since 2006, when they were used during the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Reactions to that conflict initiated an international movement to ban cluster munitions. The resulting UN treaty, negotiated in May of 2008, will open for signatures in December of this year.
YOU CAN HELP
Join others from around the world by signing the People’s Treaty to say that YOU [...]
The election is about to turn really ugly... and Minh Le is afraid that they've painted Barack Obama into a corner... this is how he'd like to see him respond, who knows if it would help:
I am the Democratic candidate for president... I am not perfect. I do not claim to be. Anyone is bound to have some mis-steps under the intense scrutiny of the campaign trail. Regarding the "lipstick on a pig" comment, if you look at it in the full context of the point that I was making, I think you'll see that I was referring to the McCain-Palin policies, not any individual. However, if my use of a common phrase accidentally offended anyone, then I sincerely apologize. Even the perception of sexism is a very serious matter and it should be treated as such. But please believe me when I say that, despite the spin from the McCain camp, my comment was not referring to Sarah Palin who has proven herself to be a formidable opponent.
While I will apologize for any inadvertent offenses, I will not stand idly by while the election spirals out of control and makes a mockery out of our cherished democratic process. In the midst of the circus that is the election season, I am honestly trying my best to keep us talking about the issues that matter and focused on the facts that affect your everyday lives. Meanwhile, the McCain campaign has turned to spouting outright lies and making unfounded or distorted accusations, anything to grab a headline. This may be politics as usual, and I will not deny that some of my supporters have done some unfortunate things as well, but things took a particularly ugly turn this past week. The despicable Sex-Ed ad, approved by John McCain, turned a bill that was designed to protect young children from sexual predators into a distorted and misleading personal attack on me that had no basis in reality. The ad is inexcusable in its subversion of the truth, its tasteless undertones, and its disregard for legislation meant to for the welfare of children. In their desperate attempt climb up the polls, the McCain campaign has devolved into a glorified version of the National Enquirer, minus the integrity. They are attempting to distract us as a nation from the important issues of the day and the even more important decision facing us in November.
They've even been so bold as to come right out and say that this election "isn't about the issues", that "facts" don't matter... and I guess it's true, they don't matter to those in desperation mode, to those who've resigned themselves to blindly punching below the belt, to those who boldly contradict themselves on a daily basis, and to those who shamelessly go from city to city brazenly repeating the same lies. I guess when you're desperate and will do whatever it takes to win, little things like "issues" and "facts" don''t matter. But the more the McCain campaign gets wrapped up in their perverse fantasy world of lies and distortion, the less they are going to matter. Because in the real world, where there is accountability, where there are jobs to do and bills to pay, the issues do matter, the facts do matter.
Now, I know there are questions about my experience and readiness to be president. Contrary to what you might think, I don't mind these questions. I don't mind because they are based on legitimate concerns and they are the kinds of questions that the American public should be asking. However, I would maintain that it is impossible to truly know if anyone, regardless of age or experience, is actually fit to be president. If you'll indulge me with a sports analogy: You can practice jumpshots every day and play basketball your whole life... but you'll never know if you have what it takes to sink that game winning shot until you actually take it. Now don'[...]
No surprise. To bad the Main Stream Media won't cover this. The start of another American War through another Lie. Well a Depression like has never been seen before and the collapse of the U.S. Dollar is right around the corner. I guess if your going to go down for a Lie may as well take everyone else with you. I am so upset by the BS and that people just can't snap out of this comma there in. If you are well read all of this is said before it happens just like a bad play. God Bless and cover this (Get the Word Out Like Never before) Please We can make a difference (French Revolution) if we speak up.
Russia has threatened the US for building up on there border, well now I am concerned if Russia kicks this up (Nuclear) we are right next door, where do you think the fall out is going to land? We will be back in the stone age if we do not get the courage to act and have there Judiciary put in place the steps to take out this administration and all of the Top Military Brass along with all of the Global Arms Manufactures all of who are tapping the country of its last drop of Financial Blood. Then they live on there Spoils in High Fashion in Dubai (eg: Haliburton Moved from US to Dubai and many other Major US Companies why? ) Well my mind is officially blown, and don't know what we can do now, other than ask Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich and the Good US Military Leaders to lead the US back from this potential devastation. And trial all concerned For War Crimes leading the US into a False war costing US citizens Thousand's upon thousand's of live's and Trillions of dollars that there great grand children will still be paying for. Please wake up folks this is going to make me melt down here. Heaven Help us and the US.
Submitted by Brainmaggot (not verified) on Sun, 08/03/2008 - 06:15.
Well kids all good things must come to an end, I will check in from time to time as long as library's have internet access. Washington as decided to pretend that its business as usual Nancy and the Nancy boys see no problem because the current economic situation does not effect them. remember ladies and gentlemen that congress chose to break with your futures in the balance. You, all of you, need to express your displeasure to them, actions don't let a day go by where there is not a news story of your displeasure or they will take what little you have left. fight for your way of life America Washington is the enemy from within they will not act for you because they don't care about you, you are an ssn number a tax statistic these people have all been in Washington far to long. Families that have bread career politicians or bored rich house wives that couldn’t balance there own budgets, so they want to mess up yours just little bit.
those of you who agree with me we need these people alive (our current batch of lifetime politicians) to answer for there crimes against the united states and its people. find ten to fifteen like minded friends that you can trust plan for things to get a lot worse and they will. buy guns buy ammo cash them in different locations pick targets carefully and prepare your children this may not be over in our lifetime they will not be happy about giving up there power. life is short what matters is how you chose to live under tyrants as there cash cow (slaves) or as my fellow free man and women in control of your own life. Tear yourselves away from the television or that will be your vote for do what you want to me. don't let yourselves be pacified into submission stand up and fight, fight like American men and women. we are an unstoppable force if you unleash it I hope you do before its to late before you let yourselves become 3rd world. work together stick together and they cannot beat us.
Do you miss the freedom you once had, have you notice the rape of the constitution and its amendments. We have been betrayed by our politicians they have sold us out for there own gain. First print yourself copies of the constitution and bill of rights keep them close to your heart. Now take a good look around as the price of gas rises the masses become more and more isolated, expect Home Land Security to gain more and broader powers those who used to get by on a 40 hour pay check will soon be the new homeless and destitute. The American dream is about to become a nightmare, For the present time all politicians should be held accountable and face the penalty for there betrayal. The democrats and republicans are both guilty our judicial system is a joke. Our judges and lawyers have created a lottery system where the man who has a fly in his bottled water can get rich overnight but of course the real winner is the lawyer. A system where O.J. and Kennedy-Smith go free, street gangs rule the streets. Still not enough for you to take arms and take back our country well consider this a communist / socialist America if both major parties get there way, ripe with corruption that only they will benefit from and cement there positions in there eyes for all time. Think your being taxed enough well I’m afraid they will have to raise taxes to pay for our natural disasters for 2008 and well also for the aid we had to give China because they hold so much of our debt.
No, Lizzie Grubman's still alive. This is an actual monster, some sort of rodent-like creature with a dinosaur beak. A tipster says that there is "a government animal testing facility very close by in Long Island," but unless the government is trying to design horrible Montauk monsters that will eat IEDs and fart fire at bad Iraqis, we're not sure why they would create such an unthinkable beast. Our guess is that it's viral marketing for something. Ali Lohan's new album perhaps. Click thru for larger dino-damage.
Gosh, I don’t know what to say here… there are so many different types of communities, many of which can surely be manufactured. What every successful community requires is community leadership. Community leadership can be organic and emergent or they can be hired in the form of online community managers or facilitators. A strong leadership — people who have skin in the game — is more important than a good web application; also, these community leaders are often the main draw to the community and can be the difference between keeping or losing your members when a competitor comes to town.
Here are some types of communities, as pulled from Wikipedia:
Many of these can be created, in much the same way that one may create a garden. I think the biggest problem with these sort of things — community-creation — is that people do it wrong, and they have been doing it wrong for at least a decade.
Back in the day, when I worked at Caucus Systems, we manufactured communities for businesses — virtual teams, virtual conferences, and whatnot. And it worked quite well, to be sure, and they were powerful and transforming.
What most companies don’t understand is that communities require facilitators and managers. They always have. AOL hired community managers back in 1995 when they created communities, the Well and Caucus and Howard Rheingold’s Brainstorms have paid and unpaid community managers and facilitators.
The mistake that most companies make is that they assume that if they build it, they will come. It is not true. You can create a Wiki, a Message Board, Forums, or a Blog and it doesn’t mean anything at all.
In fact, people will spend all of this time putting together a message board, fill it with conversation-starters, and then open the doors, promote the hell out of it, and still nothing will happen.
What is required to manufacture a community is passionate members — and they can be paid. However, if they’re paid, you need to hire them from a pool of OD experts or a pool of topical experts — or, you can poach them from another community, always the best way.
So, Wordpress and phpBB are not killer apps, the killer apps are the people who start and maintain conversation, the people who re-seed conversation, the people who catalyze conversation, the people who show interest and ask questions, and the people who protect the other members through active moderation.
In fact, I am an expert in this. You can restart an old thread, you can catalyze a conversation, you can break out an off-topic thread to a new topic hope. It is an art, but it is an art that anyone who knows conversation, who knows facilitation, and who knows people, can do [...]
The morning papers and nightly news are filled with reminders the world can be an unpredictably dangerous place. Earthquakes in China, cyclones in Myanmar, tornados in the heartland, war in the Middle East and gang violence in our cities. There are fundamentally three types of threats to human survival and security: disasters, disease or violence. The third is the most disturbing—deliberate victimization and cruelty.
We are at war, and the number of people engaged in violence is growing daily. At the moment, there are 39 armed conflicts raging, and more than 80 percent of those injured and killed are civilians, not soldiers. To stop this man-made epidemic, we must work together. No one survives alone.
I’ve wrestled with the issues of how to overcome crisis and suffering throughout my life. When I was 20, I stepped on a landmine while hiking in northern Israel. I lost my leg, and spent months recovering in an Israeli hospital, learning firsthand what it takes to overcome. I wrote about what I have learned about survivorship and resilience in I Will Not Be Broken: 5 Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis.
There are five basic steps a person must undergo in order to complete the cycle of recovery from trauma. First, we must face facts: this awful thing has happened and we can’t turn back the clock. Second, we must choose life. It is still worth living, but we must actively choose and hope for a better future. Third, we must reach out – isolation will kill us; we need each other. Fourth, we must get moving – no one else can do our physical or emotional rehab for us. Finally, we must give back. Turning around to help those who are struggling alongside us will boost our serotonin levels and complete the cycle of our own healing. Givers, not takers, end up thriving.
It’s hard to read the papers and watch the news at times… tempting to turn the channel. But empathy is key to our personal and global survival. Only by recognizing the pain in ourselves do we begin to see others in pain as our brothers and sisters. As we work through our own pain, we find it satisfying, and even healing, to reach out and help others, replacing the cycle of violence and suffering with one of growth and peace.
–Jerry White, cofounder of Survivor Corps – a worldwide network of people helping each other overcome the effects of war and violence—and author of I Will Not Be Broken: Five Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis. All net proceeds from sales of I Will Not Be Broken benefit Survivor Corps programs to help survivors recover worldwide.
My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.” These are not the words of a pacifist or peacenik. General George Washington, the canny military strategist and first leader of the American army, recognized that war is a horror. While we bask in our independence today, let us also recognize the price paid by those—then and now—who fight for it. After the Revolution, 25,000 Americans lay dead. About 25,000 more were seriously wounded or disabled. That is a high price, indeed, for our freedom. Since 1776, the world has fought more than 300 wars, and nearly 40 conflicts still rage. The cost remains steep.
Today, 1.6 million Americans have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Over 4,000 are dead. Those who return are missing limbs, are disfigured, are coping with traumatic brain injuries. Still others have less visible wounds. Over 300,000 now exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress and alienation here at home. They have broken marriages, unchecked anger, thoughts of suicide. Their military service may be over, but they and their families (including over two million children) remain profoundly affected. The costs related to stress and depressive disorders may reach $6 billion over the next two years, according to a recent study by Rand.
And that’s where we, as civilians, must activate. We must commit ourselves as everyday people to reach out to these wounded warriors to help them overcome. Because I am here to tell you, nobody survives trauma alone.
I have spent the past twelve years building a global network of people helping each other overcome the terrible cost of war—helping “victims” become “survivors.” In over 116,000 peer visits across the war-torn regions of the world, we have learned a few things about what separates those who lie down and embrace their suffering, and those who rise above, rebuild their lives, and rejoin their communities.
Survivors who successfully overcome traumatic injuries follow five basic steps. First, they Face Facts. These people don’t run from the truth of what’s happened to them. They don’t deny injuries, or disfigurement, or anger. They look at them, and incorporate them into their lives.
Second, they consciously Choose Life. It is crucial to remind ourselves and each other why life is worth living. Rising suicide rates must be addressed head on, because most of these individuals don’t want to die as much as they want their pain and despair to end.
Third, true survivors Reach Out. They reject isolation and divisiveness. They know that, to move out of a war victim mentality and onto the path of positive survivorship, they must drop their shell of anger and resentment.
Fourth, survivors have to Get Moving. Those traumatized by war, whatever the condition of their bodies, must get active. We all must take responsibility to do what it takes to “get in shape” for whatever the future may hold.
The fifth—and perhaps most crucial key to resilience and recovery—is to Give Back. Survivors recognize that it’s better to be a benefactor, not just a beneficiary. Everyone can have a role to play and contribute in big and small ways to our families and neighborhoods. To the veterans who served in war,[...]
“A liberal blogger has launched a ‘Google bomb’ project aimed at boosting Google search results for nine news articles showing Sen. John McCain in a negative light. The Computerworld article notes: ‘Chris Bowers, managing editor of the progressive blog OpenLeft, is launching the Google bombs by encouraging bloggers to embed Web links to the nine news stories about McCain in their blogs, which helps raise their ranking in Google search results. Bowers is reprising a similar Google bombing effort he undertook in 2006 against 52 different congressional candidates. “Obviously, it is manipulating, but search engines are not public forums and unless you act to use them for your own benefit, your opponent’s information is going to get out there,” Bowers said.’”
So, guys, now that I have listened to the masses and removed that ads, what sort of polling question should I ask? Maybe it should be simple: McCain or Obama? Please let me know via the comments.
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This is an op-ed written by Jerry White, founder of 