Saturday, September 28, 2013
How could Snowden and Navy Yard killer get top security clearances?
Le's get this straight.
The headline question is "How could Snowden and Navy Yard killer get top security clearances?"
http://www.telegram.com/article/20130928/NEWS/309289906/1116
The story reveals that we have had an explosion in the number of Federal positions and positions with Federal contractors that require a top security clearance. ( I've read elsewhere that it's around a million positions now that require one.) And millions more requiring lower level security clearances.
The result is a government where no one can talk to anyone else about what they're really doing or why. Telling us, the American people, what these million people our tax dollars are paying for are doing has been raised to a capital crime, a crime so serious that our President created a major international incident to try to make one of them shut up!
Now we learn that the job of deciding who should be trusted with admission to this vast web of secrecy has been privatized, turned over to a private corporation whose central organizing principle is the bottom line - organized greed - with bonuses for doing the job quickly! Mass produced top security clearances for profit!
All of this supposedly to protect us from the threat of Al Qaida-led terrorists - the ones the US is now openly arming and supporting in Syria!
This is not only breathtakingly insane, it's also extremely dangerous.
But the question the article seemingly poses is "how do we do this better?"
Actually, there's a deeper problem here. Snowden had access to all those top secret files because so much is top secret, so many have top secret clearance, and they need to talk to each other to get anything done at all. The more gets classified, the worse it gets.
The deeper danger, now plain to see, is that this web of secrecy is indefensible in a free society, impossible to maintain. It is thus incompatible with freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
One or the other will have to go - this massive secrecy or democracy - and the issue is on the table now.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
MCAS Scores are up!
Yes, rickrickrick, if you make the stakes high enough, the penalties for teachers, students and principals high enough and throw enough of your limited resources at it you can get students to learn how to jump through the hoops and pass a test.
But have you ever tried to teach a math class in this environment? What a joyless occupation! The kids do what they have to do, but they couldn't care less.
Thinking? That's not on the test. Curiosity? It's been beaten out of them. Those are for after school, where real life happens, as in electronic game playing and hanging out.
Goals? Whatever it takes to prep for a job. Later.
Sports? For the jocks, but not for most of them. And the jocks dream of wealth and fame, like Megabucks junkies. They'll spend their lives resenting and envying the Pros and their salaries, nursing regrets over not making it. ("If only ...")
One school I taught at had a winning football team, but the real number-one sport that all the students followed was hallway fights. I hear their MCAS scores are up though.
Music? You call what those kids are into music?? But the stars are rich and famous so it must be good. "It's all good."
The hard-working teachers, none of whom went into it for the money, all of whom are branded as "the problem", struggle to make a difference in this bleak environment. In the spaces between test-prep sessions, they nurture little bright spots where a few students for a small part of their day can find some joy, some satisfaction, some real learning. But so many burnt-out teachers now dream only of the day they can retire from the profession they once dreamed of joining!
But their students' MCAS scores are up! And more teachers have Masters Degrees. (Want a real snoozer, try taking some of those after-school Masters-program classes!)
And those cynical kids with their depleted educations, stifled imaginations, stunted thinking skills and stunted dreams are our future.
Congratulations!
But have you ever tried to teach a math class in this environment? What a joyless occupation! The kids do what they have to do, but they couldn't care less.
Thinking? That's not on the test. Curiosity? It's been beaten out of them. Those are for after school, where real life happens, as in electronic game playing and hanging out.
Goals? Whatever it takes to prep for a job. Later.
Sports? For the jocks, but not for most of them. And the jocks dream of wealth and fame, like Megabucks junkies. They'll spend their lives resenting and envying the Pros and their salaries, nursing regrets over not making it. ("If only ...")
One school I taught at had a winning football team, but the real number-one sport that all the students followed was hallway fights. I hear their MCAS scores are up though.
Music? You call what those kids are into music?? But the stars are rich and famous so it must be good. "It's all good."
The hard-working teachers, none of whom went into it for the money, all of whom are branded as "the problem", struggle to make a difference in this bleak environment. In the spaces between test-prep sessions, they nurture little bright spots where a few students for a small part of their day can find some joy, some satisfaction, some real learning. But so many burnt-out teachers now dream only of the day they can retire from the profession they once dreamed of joining!
But their students' MCAS scores are up! And more teachers have Masters Degrees. (Want a real snoozer, try taking some of those after-school Masters-program classes!)
And those cynical kids with their depleted educations, stifled imaginations, stunted thinking skills and stunted dreams are our future.
Congratulations!
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
City Manager quitting? Time for a Strong Mayor system!
Worcester city manager explores job with developer
http://www.telegram.com/article/20130917/NEWS/309179885/1116
Manager O'Brien has demonstrated for all to see and reflect on why we need to get rid of the Weak Mayor/Strong Manager form of government. This unelected official was accustomed to negotiating deals in secret and then getting the Council to rubber-stamp them. Rarely would they stand up to him, no doubt because to get anything done they had to stay on his good side.
Each time his position came up for review the Councilors would swallow what they were saying in private, heap praise on him and give him top marks to continue.
The last time Councilor Joe O'Brien, who had announced he wasn't running again, spoke some of the truth. The other ten punted. Joe had tried being Mayor for a term, but what's the point when the Mayor has so little power?
Now a series of deals Manager Mike made have been rejected, due to public demand and the exposure of the details to debate. He has several times stepped out of his role to advocate for them, clearly in distress, to no avail. The Hotel TIF deal, the Slots Parlor deal, the Mandatory Foreclosure Mediation ordinance and more, Mike couldn't deliver as promised.
Maybe the Council, which has finally found a backbone, will manage to manage the next Manager next time, and manage to not let the law that says the Manager works for the Council become a fiction again. That will depend on the active involvement of the public as much as anything.
But maybe this is the time to look at a Charter Revision, so we won't again have a Manager acquire the power to intimidate the Council, rule from behind the scenes and deliver for the developers in secret!
It takes a lot of work and trouble to elect a Mayor to represent the people. A lot of organizing and canvassing by a lot of people went into electing Joe O'Brien Mayor, into convincing the voters it was worth bothering to come out to the polls and vote. When Joe quit as Mayor and now as Councilor, he was telling us we had wasted our time!
This is not what democracy looks like!
http://www.telegram.com/article/20130917/NEWS/309179885/1116
Manager O'Brien has demonstrated for all to see and reflect on why we need to get rid of the Weak Mayor/Strong Manager form of government. This unelected official was accustomed to negotiating deals in secret and then getting the Council to rubber-stamp them. Rarely would they stand up to him, no doubt because to get anything done they had to stay on his good side.
Each time his position came up for review the Councilors would swallow what they were saying in private, heap praise on him and give him top marks to continue.
The last time Councilor Joe O'Brien, who had announced he wasn't running again, spoke some of the truth. The other ten punted. Joe had tried being Mayor for a term, but what's the point when the Mayor has so little power?
Now a series of deals Manager Mike made have been rejected, due to public demand and the exposure of the details to debate. He has several times stepped out of his role to advocate for them, clearly in distress, to no avail. The Hotel TIF deal, the Slots Parlor deal, the Mandatory Foreclosure Mediation ordinance and more, Mike couldn't deliver as promised.
Maybe the Council, which has finally found a backbone, will manage to manage the next Manager next time, and manage to not let the law that says the Manager works for the Council become a fiction again. That will depend on the active involvement of the public as much as anything.
But maybe this is the time to look at a Charter Revision, so we won't again have a Manager acquire the power to intimidate the Council, rule from behind the scenes and deliver for the developers in secret!
It takes a lot of work and trouble to elect a Mayor to represent the people. A lot of organizing and canvassing by a lot of people went into electing Joe O'Brien Mayor, into convincing the voters it was worth bothering to come out to the polls and vote. When Joe quit as Mayor and now as Councilor, he was telling us we had wasted our time!
This is not what democracy looks like!
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Jobless claims drop as 2 states upgrade computers
BLOOMBERG NEWS
http://www.telegram.com/article/20130912/NEWS/309129874
My comment:
As reported in the T&G on Saturday, Massachusetts spent $46 million on a new Unemployment Claims computer system, which is just horrible. People are being denied money they are owed, or delayed for months. There's no one to talk to but some ignorant person in a phone bank, even if it should be clear to anyone who knows the unemployment laws that the computer has it wrong.
Yesterday I talked with a man who hasn't seen a check in six weeks, can't get a straight answer, and is getting evicted today!
Plus now the computer is spitting our blizzards of bills for overpayment in the past and garnishing people's benefit checks, often absurdly, and again there is no one to talk to!
Now we're starting to see people who've given up in frustration and walked away from money they are apparently rightly owed and urgently need!
I hate to jump to conclusions. I still talk about this as a problem of an incompetent, badly conceived and badly implemented new system. But if this is happening nationwide - and this article suggests it is - then maybe that's the design of the system: to drive people crazy and get them to give up and walk away!
That would not only save the US and state governments (and employers) money, it would be one more way the Feds can make themselves look good by hiding the true extent of the unemployment problem!
The Worcester Unemployment Action Group will be having a followup meeting tomorrow with representatives of Workforce Central, the city's Workforce Investment Board and a representative from Boston of the Division of Unemployment Assistance. We will be impressing on them the urgent need for putting DUA specialists back on the job at the Career Centers, and giving them the power to override the computer and fix a problem if the computer can't be made to fix it in a reasonable amount of time.
This has gone on too long! We don't want to hear any more excuses! We want to know what they're going to do!
Plus now the computer is spitting our blizzards of bills for overpayment in the past and garnishing people's benefit checks, often absurdly, and again there is no one to talk to!
Now we're starting to see people who've given up in frustration and walked away from money they are apparently rightly owed and urgently need!
I hate to jump to conclusions. I still talk about this as a problem of an incompetent, badly conceived and badly implemented new system. But if this is happening nationwide - and this article suggests it is - then maybe that's the design of the system: to drive people crazy and get them to give up and walk away!
That would not only save the US and state governments (and employers) money, it would be one more way the Feds can make themselves look good by hiding the true extent of the unemployment problem!
The Worcester Unemployment Action Group will be having a followup meeting tomorrow with representatives of Workforce Central, the city's Workforce Investment Board and a representative from Boston of the Division of Unemployment Assistance. We will be impressing on them the urgent need for putting DUA specialists back on the job at the Career Centers, and giving them the power to override the computer and fix a problem if the computer can't be made to fix it in a reasonable amount of time.
This has gone on too long! We don't want to hear any more excuses! We want to know what they're going to do!
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
McGovern's power
Posted the morning after Assad's acceptance of the Russian proposal to take control of and remove Syria's chemical weapons, and Obama's speech demanding that this be coupled with what amounts to the right to attack Syria anyway:
...................
What an astonishing few weeks! The march to war and disaster seemed unstoppable, inexorable, the war propaganda seemed irresistible. This rejection of a war, first by Parliament and now by Congress, is unprecedented, amazing! Someone said it's the first time Parliament has voted against starting a war since 1795. I can't remember Congress doing anything like this, ever!
Obama & Co. still want their war, and are maneuvering to get it anyway. They're still armed and dangerous, and still have the bully pulpit. And Congress is still vulnerable - not one Democrat in Congress, and only a few Republicans, have publicly challenged their lies. But so far they're holding fast, the anti-war consensus even growing stronger.
It's the American people, the British people, the people of Germany and France, the people of the world who forced this retreat on Obama & Co., and are holding them to it.
We can be proud of our own Congressman, Jim McGovern. He will be the first to say he still needs the pressure kept on him, the voice of the people in his ear. He really needs that. But that being said, he deserves - and needs - our cheers! He's been doing a masterful job of organizing Congress, to shape our demand for no new wars into a winning combination that Obama & Co. can't ignore.
Like any great legislator, he's channeling our power, speaking with our voice. And drawing his courage from us. Way to go Jim!
Thank you Ed Markey for listening and coming around. Lizzie? Yoo hoo! We need you too!
...................
What an astonishing few weeks! The march to war and disaster seemed unstoppable, inexorable, the war propaganda seemed irresistible. This rejection of a war, first by Parliament and now by Congress, is unprecedented, amazing! Someone said it's the first time Parliament has voted against starting a war since 1795. I can't remember Congress doing anything like this, ever!
Obama & Co. still want their war, and are maneuvering to get it anyway. They're still armed and dangerous, and still have the bully pulpit. And Congress is still vulnerable - not one Democrat in Congress, and only a few Republicans, have publicly challenged their lies. But so far they're holding fast, the anti-war consensus even growing stronger.
It's the American people, the British people, the people of Germany and France, the people of the world who forced this retreat on Obama & Co., and are holding them to it.
We can be proud of our own Congressman, Jim McGovern. He will be the first to say he still needs the pressure kept on him, the voice of the people in his ear. He really needs that. But that being said, he deserves - and needs - our cheers! He's been doing a masterful job of organizing Congress, to shape our demand for no new wars into a winning combination that Obama & Co. can't ignore.
Like any great legislator, he's channeling our power, speaking with our voice. And drawing his courage from us. Way to go Jim!
Thank you Ed Markey for listening and coming around. Lizzie? Yoo hoo! We need you too!
Monday, September 9, 2013
Great Russian Proposal on Syria - and the struggle to win it
OK let's play "just suppose".
Just suppose it is true, as Assad, the Russians and many independent observers claim, that the "rebels" in Syria have chemical weapons, and that, as the chief UN inspector said in May, they have probably already used them against a civilian population.
And just suppose that it was the rebels, or someone working with or for them, that in fact used chemical weapons in August to frame the Assad government.
Then we can expect that the Assad government will strongly insist on international guarantees of protection from any further chemical weapons use by their enemies.
Given the recent history of open US support for the anti-Assad side of the civil war, that guarantor would have to be some power or combination that was not allied with the US, yet with the military heft and the will to act against the rebels if they should use chemical weapons again.
That could be a problem. The countries that first come to mind which could do this, Russia and China, have been defined as enemies or proto-enemies by the US government. With good will, the problem could be solved. Brazilian peacekeepers for example.
But I would look for those parties to the negotiations who never wanted a peaceful solution in the first place to ridicule Syria's demands for guarantees and characterize them as proof that Syria is not serious.
This proposal has to be tried. It's the best one yet, and with enough determination and patience by all parties that don't want a wider war it could defuse the situation. But the issue of who really was guilty of those chemical attacks needs to be addressed, because it shapes how we think about what can be expected of whom, and it will shape what we will see as the different parties' legitimate interests and concerns.
Just suppose it is true, as Assad, the Russians and many independent observers claim, that the "rebels" in Syria have chemical weapons, and that, as the chief UN inspector said in May, they have probably already used them against a civilian population.
And just suppose that it was the rebels, or someone working with or for them, that in fact used chemical weapons in August to frame the Assad government.
Then we can expect that the Assad government will strongly insist on international guarantees of protection from any further chemical weapons use by their enemies.
Given the recent history of open US support for the anti-Assad side of the civil war, that guarantor would have to be some power or combination that was not allied with the US, yet with the military heft and the will to act against the rebels if they should use chemical weapons again.
That could be a problem. The countries that first come to mind which could do this, Russia and China, have been defined as enemies or proto-enemies by the US government. With good will, the problem could be solved. Brazilian peacekeepers for example.
But I would look for those parties to the negotiations who never wanted a peaceful solution in the first place to ridicule Syria's demands for guarantees and characterize them as proof that Syria is not serious.
This proposal has to be tried. It's the best one yet, and with enough determination and patience by all parties that don't want a wider war it could defuse the situation. But the issue of who really was guilty of those chemical attacks needs to be addressed, because it shapes how we think about what can be expected of whom, and it will shape what we will see as the different parties' legitimate interests and concerns.
Lynch Mob: Someone has to pay!
There's been a terrible crime and it feels like someone has to pay. The leader of the mob points a finger at an unpopular figure with a bad rep, yells "he did it, get him! Now!" No waiting for the investigation, no trial - because he might get off! The mob gets worked up, drunk on likker and wild talk. They march out by torch light, seize the accused and hang him.
Maybe the lynch mob gets the one who did the crime, and maybe not. Maybe death was appropriate, maybe not. Maybe the justice system would have failed, maybe not. But the rule of law dies on that day.
And maybe the guilty party is the one leading the mob. Or maybe not.
How would our following the call to demand War on Syria be different from joining that lynch mob - apart from little details like it would cost tens of thousands of (mostly Syrian) lives and tens of billions of dollars, would probably escalate, could end up costing trillions and killing hundreds of thousands or millions like Iraq and Afghanistan, and could spin out of control and set off World War III?
The case against Assad is paper thin, the public evidence points to the "rebels", yet Obama has rejected a UN investigation. The case for this being an appropriate response makes no sense. The risks are huge, and the stakes for the American people are unclear.
And intervening in a civil war on the side of Al Qaida-linked terrorists is staggeringly, breathtakingly wrong.
But we are being told to surrender our reason, to forget all the bitter experience of the past fifty years. Something terrible has happened and *someone* has to pay for it! Obama, Kerry and Co. say Assad did it, they have secret evidence they can't show us, just trust them! And we're supposed to follow them blindly into this new quagmire of blood?
Been there. Done that. Too many times. The American people have learned our lesson and are sending a loud clear NO!
Now we need a clear simple "NO" from Senators Warren and Markey. They need to hear from us, even if we've already contacted them. Call them again! And Spread the word!
And Congressman McGovern, who we can be sure is taking a lot of heat for his brave and early stand against this war, needs to hear from us a loud "thank you! Hold steady, we're with you!"
Maybe the lynch mob gets the one who did the crime, and maybe not. Maybe death was appropriate, maybe not. Maybe the justice system would have failed, maybe not. But the rule of law dies on that day.
And maybe the guilty party is the one leading the mob. Or maybe not.
How would our following the call to demand War on Syria be different from joining that lynch mob - apart from little details like it would cost tens of thousands of (mostly Syrian) lives and tens of billions of dollars, would probably escalate, could end up costing trillions and killing hundreds of thousands or millions like Iraq and Afghanistan, and could spin out of control and set off World War III?
The case against Assad is paper thin, the public evidence points to the "rebels", yet Obama has rejected a UN investigation. The case for this being an appropriate response makes no sense. The risks are huge, and the stakes for the American people are unclear.
And intervening in a civil war on the side of Al Qaida-linked terrorists is staggeringly, breathtakingly wrong.
But we are being told to surrender our reason, to forget all the bitter experience of the past fifty years. Something terrible has happened and *someone* has to pay for it! Obama, Kerry and Co. say Assad did it, they have secret evidence they can't show us, just trust them! And we're supposed to follow them blindly into this new quagmire of blood?
Been there. Done that. Too many times. The American people have learned our lesson and are sending a loud clear NO!
Now we need a clear simple "NO" from Senators Warren and Markey. They need to hear from us, even if we've already contacted them. Call them again! And Spread the word!
And Congressman McGovern, who we can be sure is taking a lot of heat for his brave and early stand against this war, needs to hear from us a loud "thank you! Hold steady, we're with you!"
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