A Job To Die For

The political focus, for the time being,  has shifted to Paul Ryan, his thoughts on monetary policy, the President's stash of beer on his bus and Biden's claim the Republicans are going to put us back in chains.  Ah, how uplifting.

Meanwhile back to the wars.  Syria's death toll in its civil war is now over 20, 000.  I find it interesting how a single word can have such different meanings.  On one hand a civil war means it involves everyday citizens of the same country.  On the other hand, if you take it as meaning courteous and polite, there is nothing 'civil' about it!  About any war.

However, the middle east remains drenched in blood.  Fourteen suicide bombers killed 46 people in Afghanistan today alone.  If there is an upside, Karzai can't blame us for the deaths.  Unless he decides we're not training his people well enough.  But then they're so busy killing us it's a difficult task at best.

It's hard to keep track of who's doing the most damage - the Taliban or al Qaeda.  All we know for sure the various religious factions don't like each other any better than they like us.

If you think it's something we don't have to take seriously as long as we're pulling out in two years, think again.  First, two more years and how many more fatalities? Even one more American is too many.  It is said Paul Ryan wants to stay and finish the job.  Well, basically it is finished.  We aren't going to win it.  They are determined to get us out of the way so they can have at one another unobstructed.  Obviously they're tired of waiting.

Consider this.   The Times of Israel reports al Qaeda has run an ad for suicide bombers.  Honest.  If that isn't taking their mission seriously I don't know what is.  Basically takers will be self-employed after having been given proper training.  They will be given the freedom to plan the attack against  a pre-selected target.  They won't have to give their real name, just a few details on languages they speak and passports they hold.  Little stuff.

Openings seem to be just about everywhere.  The ad states the area of activity is the planet earth.  Could that include us?  Don't discount it!

It doesn't mention salary but than most want ads don't.  They do usually claim to be competitive.  I'll bet!  One last assurance for the would be recruit is the promise of 'a very slight chance of being caught'. Or ever getting a raise.

I know jobs are in short supply these days and it's a big issue in this country.  I, however, wouldn't be caught dead even considering this line of work.  There's no career path.  No future.

In all seriousness though.  We can't afford to overlook foreign policy.  This is world wide recruitment, make no mistake.  Planet earth.  Where will the next 46 deaths be?

Tag Team Mudslinging!

The Republicans now have their team.  As has been said by some,  this presidential election is really about one thing.  Not jobs, not the economy though each has an important role.  It's about the type of country we want going forward.

Do we want one where government intrudes in everything?  Obama has made it clear this is his thinking.  The problem with it is we, who will be paying for his 'investments', don't get to give a thumbs up or a thumbs down on them.  So far government's track record has been dismal.

The Republicans say they are for less government and fiscal responsibility.  We'll see.  Paul Ryan is a plus if it's true but he, as well as his potential boss, has to do a better job of explaining how his ideas will work so as not to scare us to death like the Democrats are doing.

This election poses contrast like never before.  Don't forget the peripherals either.  Little things like foreign policy.  Our soldiers are still being killed in Afghanistan.  Syria is a disaster as the Secretary of State boogies in Africa. Iran and Israel get closer to war.

It's a disgrace and an embarrassment to me that this country allows it's politicians and their surrogates (super PACs) to stoop to such demeaning levels in their campaigns for the highest office in the land.  Some would say in the world.

Both sides are guilty.  Look what Romney did to his opponents in the primaries.  He didn't think it foul then, he has no right to now.  But when Lanny Davis, one of the most dyed in the wool Democrats around, says it's time to discuss policy issues rather than trying to destroy the opposition's reputations as human beings, you know it has gotten more than dirty. Try unscrupulous and unprincipled.

Can the bar be raised?  I doubt it.  So one more time we'll be stuck with the team left standing after all the mud is slung.  Lucky us.  Lucky world.

The Picket Project - Online Collaboration: Creating a Stream of Solutions for Politicial Issues

I understand where the Picket Project is trying to go with this.  I have some doubts as to whether it is achievable because of the necessity of finding enough people who will actually collaborate to be of any value.  Of course I'm looking for timely successes; what I consider to be timely is age driven.  Ambitions such as this takes time.

Never-the-less, I continue to think the effort a worthy one and since people far more savvy than myself are the movers behind it, I will continue to offer to you their insights.  One of these days there will be a breakthrough in this area and it will be internet driven.  Politicians who scoff at the thought will be the losers.  Beware though, they're getting there.  I haven't heard one laugh about not being computer literate since the last presidential election. For that matter they are using the web far more effetively than the electorate - thus projects such as this.  Happy reading.

We need to turn our government into something that works for everyone. The political leaders in this country, however, are too focused on their own agendas to recognize the solutions needed to solve real challenges. Despite their expertise, they are not the only stream of information for us to draw upon. Fortunately, there are many more intelligent Americans than intelligent insider politicians; and it is our insights which will direct the future.

But how can we properly reflect on these insights? How can we fully analyze the solutions we propose for complex problems? We need a tool which can provide a platform for recording, analyzing, and combining our collective insights in a meaningful way.

In a 2005 TED Talk, information technologist Clay Shirky explores a path to accomplish this. He points out that coordinating individuals through designed, online systems provides benefits far beyond what standard institutional models can. When you use a system which bypasses the control that institutions demand, you are given greater freedom and flexibility. By doing this, the system fosters more – and often better – contributions due to the lack of prerequisites to participate.



Shirky’s explanation on the benefits of coordination demonstrates that we can work together to find relationships in data that are not easily found in other ways. With the right tool, we each can make small contributions that compound to form a greater collaborative system. This has proven itself through the tagging system in Flickr, the friendship mappings in Facebook, and many other social media features. Using this principle for policy decisions seems quite natural.

A collaboration tool which leverages the benefits of decentralized cooperation can provide us with a place to record the vast number of ideas we should be exploring for our country. However, emotionally charged topics, like politics, need to be approached quite differently compared to other cooperation schemes.

One possible technique which could be used, argument mapping, is the process of breaking down and mapping arguments into a fixed structure that may include ideas, questions, pros and cons. Many have studied this structure, which has shown its effectiveness in a number of different scenarios: business, law and politics to name a few.

There are considerable benefits to using argument mapping. The one that seems most interesting is its ability to civilize polarizing discussions, such as political rhetoric. This increase in civility is a consequence of the structured approach to the idea’s analysis. When mapped, the important ideas which justify an opinion may diverge at any point in the argument when others disagree. This allows everyone, particularly those with conflicting opinions, to make their cases effectively without being drowned out.

This approach brings about other benefits as well. The promotion of an in-depth analysis of the issues and an increased comprehension of these issues will be discussed later. Furthermore, the downsides of argument mapping will be addressed by using a new but related technique that will provide even further benefits on top of those previously mentioned. However, for now, it is important to note that the studies done on argument mapping have shown that it is possible to allow a large group of people to cooperate on important, controversial issues. This is key.

If we want to be able to come up with the most beneficial solutions to America’s challenges, we have to explore a much larger set of possibilities than any group as small as our government can come up with and properly work through. Even out of sheer trial and error, Americans could explore more possible answers to their natural conclusions and consequences than just the politicians themselves could.

To accomplish this, however, we will need a proper group collaboration tool which allows us to fully explore an issue as well as the potential solutions to it and the inevitable consequences of them. The Picket Project is about creating a collaboration tool that could allow us to break free from our dependence on Washington and come up with meaningful solutions like never before possible.

As always, we look forward to hearing your opinions; we will be regularly updating our content based on the conversations started here through the comment system on the blog, our Facebook page, and Twitter using the #PicketProject hashtag.

Links:

• James Stavridis: A Navy Admiral's thoughts on global security

Come Out, Come Out Where Ever You Are!

Have you noticed nothing is working this silly season?  The vitriolic ads coming from the Democratic side are so fast, furious, mean spirited and inaccurate people are beginning to get disgusted with them.  Even with untold numbers of fund raisers, their results are lagging behind Romney's.  Time for a new strategy.  Get out the vote in key states.

That's a pretty good idea and probably less expensive than what they're doing now.  They're spending millions of dollars to defeat an invisible candidate!

Yesterday I had reason to spend hours in the car.  I listened to talk radio.  Ingraham and  Limbaugh who of course are conservative stalwarts to Jerry Doyle and Michael Savage who have yet to find a politician of either party they'd give the time of day to.  My kind of talk shows - equal opportunity bashers!

To a man, and a woman, they were all asking the same question.  Where the heck is Romney and the Republicans?  It's bad enough the candidate himself is missing in action but so is his entire party!  When Garry Trudeau does a rendition of Romney I expect it will be an enigmatic smile and nothing else.

If he were British I might understand his stiff upper lip doggedness,  gentlemanly don't you know, against everything being thrown at him.  But he's not British.  He's American and running for President.  I'd expect at least some vocal indignity from being accused of not paying his taxes, being a felon and causing the death of a woman to cancer!  But no.  Just that smile.

To take it a step further, where are the leaders of his party?  Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.  I haven't heard a word from either! And darn little from anyone else except the conservative pundits.  Flash to Romney,  they can't carry it for you.

My friends over at the Picket Project are advocating group collaboration as a tool to make a difference in our political climate.  Maybe it's time to collaborate on an Om Mantra to penetrate Romney's brain and inner circle and convince him he's got to answer back! Say something!  Last I heard they're considering a new strategy.  Get out the vote in key states.

That's the flavor of the day.  Who knows what it will be next week.  I have a feeling, however, that by November Ommmm will change to Zzzzzz and the only thing we'll be getting out is snow shovels.

The Sky's The Limit Unless We, Like Chicken Little, Let It Fall

If I had my druthers, youngsters of the future would have large heads like the one in the illustration filled with brains capable of creating wonders even greater than Curiosity. I fear, however, they will have permanently embedded cell phones and hands with no more than thumbs with which to text!

Why so pessimistic?  Just look around. The government is dysfunctional, taking our space program backward as well as the country as a whole.  Our kids are overweight and under exercised as are their parents and the world is at war.  What's encouraging?

Ah, but my memory serves me well.  That's one advantage of aging - until the mind goes.  Memories. I remember the glory days of space exploration.  I listened to launches and landings.  I remember the race between the Russians and the U.S.  The first animals then men in space, the first earth orbits, the tragedies and the triumphs and of course the pinnacle of the time, the moon landing.  All of this in my lifetime.  How incredibly exciting.  Yet the coverage on Curiosity lasted only a few news cycles.  It has already dimmed.

I cannot help but marvel at what the human brain can do.  Imagine being able to conceptualize a vehicle capable of traveling in a near vacuum, being able to land on unknown surfaces, even taking men and supplies to build a station where man can live and work. Imagine creating the cameras that send back data that morphs into spectacular photographs showing us what is beyond imagination. Even the technology it takes to launch these creations.  Did the scientists and engineers involved do it themselves?  Of course they did.  Government has no intellect.  Only money.  And it's ours at that.

The successful landing of Curiosity on a neighboring planet is testimony to the power of the human mind and spirit.  America has pioneered so much of it.  It shows what giving well educated, disciplined and focused minds free reign can accomplish.  New and even more bold technologies will come from it.  Success breeds success.  I know this is a litany of cliches but they are true.  It's a huge part of what America contributes to the world and because of our successes the world expects it of us.

 By what standard should the playing field be leveled?  Remember when the cream in your milk used to rise to the top?  That's a generational thing too, kids.  So it should be with the best and the brightest of this country.  Don't diminish that capability by wanting to be more like everyone else!  Don't diminish the reputation of the country further by continuing to lead from behind. Isn't that an oxymoron? Don't diminish how people see us further by continuing the vicious attack ads that destroy good people for the sake of a power trip.

A goal is improving on the already spectacular success of a Curiosity. Goals.  Are they still allowed?  The character assassination we're watching in this election cycle is pure, unadulterated destruction.  Which America are we?  Triumphant or self indulgent defeatists who blame everyone but ourselves for our problems?