Yesterday morning Patricia Gormley the first and only female General Counsel of the independent Executive Branch agency FEMA passed away.
Pat served as GC of FEMA from August 1990 to January 1993.
Some information on Pat’s life:
http://www.4militarywomen.org/Who%20We%20Are%20Gormley.htm
Sympathy to Pat’s family and friends.
WE often here discuss critical infrastructure, its creation, operation, protection, and impacts. We seldom hear as much about investments in the people of any given nation-state and the long term impact of doing that investment or not doing it. My premise of course is that in any final accounting people are the real resource of any nation-state.
And disclosure–father was a trained Social Worker–who ran the Veterans Administration social services program for over two decades. So perhaps that shaped my world views and personal views.
Some investments in social capital are pretty obvious like training and education. Health care perhaps less obvious but equally important. Some are tied to MAZLOV’s hierarchy of needs. In the rural blue collar area in which I live it is largely a depression economically. No jobs for the 25-45′s outside of the military, teaching, law enforcement.
So what will be the real impact of the long term down turn in the economy and destruction of middle class jobs and lifestyles?
Failure to offshore both labor norms, and environmental standards, together with other related issues makes the off–shoring of manufacturing make it appear that costs of good sold are lower and thereby impacting sales domestically.
Often the political debate revolves around individual skill, education and initiative as opposed to unwarranted social services and funding of help to the aged or other groups through health care or financial services. Few politicians are willing to do the hard work of understanding what makes individuals or even demographic groups more or less likely to succeed personally and in the end contribute more to the countries greatest needs.
Staying productive as long as you can is clearly an individual battle in many ways. But society by its norms and attitudes and investments can help individuals of any age to succeed. But two things have to happen first both politically and economically!
First, self-dealing and corruption by and of politicians and others must be more carefully policed. Second, theft and gambling as lifestyles and professions must be policed also. Few American banks have any real business plan anymore which is why ultimately it will be understood that the nation does not need the banksters and hedge funds. Mitt Romney is in reality just a dressed up asset stripper and probably would reinforce the Republicans efforts to strip the commons of its purposes and wealth for private gain. Gingrich is just another corrupt politician. But President Obama has not taken steps to protect public investments either. The Economist magazine this weeks suggests that the
USA is over regulated and stupidly regulated. In fact so little regulation is underway of any kind good or bad, wise or stupid, that it is almost laughable. The Administrative State created in the Depression by Judge Kennishaw “Mountain” Landis and others using rules rather than adjudication to created better governance is now turned largely into an adversary process as time consuming as adjudication and with results equally uncertain.
Reforms will not become effective with any rapidity but here are ten to start with for the USA:
1.Funding of K-12 education should not be through the property tax but based on state wide taxation. k-12 is underfunded by about 40%. And pay of class room teachers should be scaled higher generally than school administrators.
2. The nonprofit sector must be more thoroughly policed. Largely policed by federal granting and withholding of tax exempt status this is not enough. Salaries of officers and directors of nonprofits must be strictly limited and employment of close relations prohibited. Over 10% of GDP is in the non-profit sector. And over 70% of all corporations in the USA use or misuse nontaxable entities to shield themselves legally from federal and state taxes.
3. The medical profession should be subjected to federal regulations and standards.
4. Lawyers should be prohibited by statute from investing in their clients businesses.
5. Lobbying should be subject to stricter regulation and disclosure with former elected officials subject to a five year ban on being paid to lobby in a broadly defined way.
6. The 8-9000 politically influenced federal positions should be reduced.
7. Veterans Preference should be limited to the enlisted ranks and Company Grade officers serving less that 20 years of creditable service.
8. Judicial selections should be made to higher courts only after a decade of service at the trial level.
9. Colleges and universities that have revenues exceeding 50% from student loans should not be accredited except for specialized training programs.10.
10. All public research should have the results made public unless appropriately classified on National Security grounds.
Well that is it for some starters.
Based on current events I think it is timely to review George Washington’s Farewell Address to Congress and the Nation.
Then read the Farewell address of President and General George Washington in 1796. He was one of our greatest and wisest defenders.
Okay I may be crazy but here goes! It now appears to me that given the languages shortfall and lack of cultural and religious understanding of those leading USA policy makers whether economic, political, or military the USA should retreat into a more isolationist stance with respect to MENA and the Islamic World. There is some evidence that this might well calm the waters in MENA as the area sorts out its problems over the next several decades. With an Islamic population world wide approach 2 billion time to gear up the US higher ed establishment to learn more about the languages and culture and religion of this block.
After 9/11 some asked the question “why do they hate US”? Few in US leadership positions were willing to answer that it was because of our foreign policies and foreign relations, not because they hated our system of government or culture.
That question and the very wrong answer provided IMO by the various leadership elements in the USA even today means that we still act out of ignorance not knowledge. So let’s stop pretending and have a cooling off period.
I am now predicting US intervention in Syria with UN approval blocked by China and Russia. Worrying is none seem to know why China and Russia vetoed UN action.
Putin now hoping oligarchs will contribute a one time make up payment for part of profits from their role in privatizing Soviet Assets.
Colleges now clearly identified as run for their administrators not their students and faculty. Proof in their finances.
Washington largely shut down from policy debate and innovations unless related to the long election campaign. Unknown events in 2012 may yet be in the saddle.
Pannetta at DoD seems willing to address tough issues raised by demobilization.
Obama will not get another shot at SCOTUS appointment this first term.
SCOTUS will be issue dramatic opinions on a number of subjects between now and summer recess.
The election outcome in November may be driven by whether unemployment drifts below 8%. If it does Obama has a shot.
The EU and EUROZONE has pushed that crisis into 2013 by accounting fraud.
The Stock Markets domestically normally go up in an election year. This one also.
Most likely surprise in 2012 election–the staying power of Ron Paul.
Republican VP pick will be Marco Rubio!
NBA title will go to Oklahoma City Thunder!
Redskins will pick up Peyton Manning!
Israel will again invade Lebanon!
Chinese will launch spectacular space shot!
Hillary Clinton will take over World Bank!
More in a month.
Extract from Wikipedia:
“In international law, a condominium (plural either condominia, as in Latin, or condominiums) is a political territory (state or border area) in or over which two or more sovereign powers formally agree to share equally dominium (in the sense of sovereignty) and exercise their rights jointly, without dividing it up into ‘national’ zones.
Although a condominium has always been recognized as a theoretical possibility, condominiums have been rare in practice. A major problem, and the reason why so few have existed in practice, is the difficulty of ensuring co-operation between the sovereign powers; once the understanding fails, the status is likely to become untenable.
The word is recorded in English since c.1714, from Modern Latin, apparently coined in Germany c.1700 from Latin com- “together” + dominium “right of ownership” (compare domain).
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I have frequently referred in past posts on other blogs to the potential for an Asian condominium to be erected in the latter part of this century by the Han Chinese. It would include most of East and South Asia and would become a new pattern for international arrangements in that part of the world. The real question is would the USA as on of several non-Asian Pacific Ocean powers be excluded. Possibly but not probably.
My point in using this term is that the future of international relationships should not be warfare either military or economic but instead a more cooperative type of relationship that will help both the planet Earth survive and its inhabitants. Overpopulation is clearly one of the main obstacles to this concept. Demographic factors seem to be the crucial policy driver in the 21st Century. IMO of course.
The collapse of Japan both economically and culturally is also becoming increasing a factor in allow the Chinese to lead the way in forging this arrangement. Stability in China is not all that certain as the Communist leadership continues to ride the tiger of economic success and increased contact with the outside world. What does appear clear is that of all the current nation-states only China and Germany have long range strategic considerations in mind even in their foreign relations. The USA just cannot cut it now that it lacks leaders willing and able to forge a strategic vision for the country through its foreign policy and foreign relations. One reason is obvious! The CIA should have a new role as the strategic INTEL agency and ignore tactical or military concerns. The militarization of the CIA through its use of drones is a major error. This is being done largely to avoid the accountability of the military chain-of-command led by the President as Commander-In-Chief.
The CIA is badly staffed for a strategic INTEL function but if it were staffed the wisdom of predicting the Chinese Condominium I believe would be soon established. And yes the President was correct. It will be more important that the USA is a Pacific power rather than an Atlantic power for the rest of its history. If President I would move the entire fleet to the Pacific with the exception of anti-submarine capability. Oddly the Indian Ocean may well become the equivalent ocean of interest to the Atlantic’s dominance in the last 500 years.
Almost two years ago out of the blue I had a call from a female novelist writing a book who had been given my name as one who might be speaking on the record and willing to be quoted. Unfortunately, I have forgotten her name. But the issue and my position was the one described in this extract from Secrecy News, a wonderful blog written by Steve Aftergood of the FAS [Federation of American Scientists]!
Her issue is the one described in this extract from Secrecy News:
DETENTION OF U.S. PERSONS: WHAT IS THE EXISTING LAW?
“When Congress passed the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, it included provisions that authorized U.S. armed forces to detain persons who are captured in the conflict with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces. However, Congress also said that those provisions did not provide any new authority to detain U.S. citizens or others who may be captured in the United States.
“Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect existing law or authority relating to the detention of United States citizens…,” section 1021(e) of the Act states. “We are simply codifying existing law,” said Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, at the time.
But this was an evasion, since existing law regarding the detention of U.S. persons is indeterminate in important respects.
A new report from the Congressional Research Service fleshes out the law of detention, identifying what is known to be true as well as what is unsettled and unresolved.
It is perfectly clear, for example, that a U.S. citizen who fought alongside enemy forces against the United States on a foreign battlefield could be lawfully detained. This was affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Hamdi v. Rumsfeld.
On the other hand, the CRS report explains, “the President’s legal authority to militarily detain terrorist suspects apprehended in the United States has not been definitively settled.”
Nor has Congress helped to settle it. “This bill does not endorse either side’s interpretation,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein on December 1 about the defense authorization act, “but leaves it to the courts to decide.”
So if a detention of a U.S. person does occur, the CRS said, “it will be up to a court to determine Congress’s intent when it enacted the AUMF [the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force], or alternatively, to decide whether the law as it was subsequently developed by the courts and executive branch sufficiently established that authority for such detention already exists.”
Up to now, “Lower courts that have addressed questions the Supreme Court left unanswered have not achieved a consensus on the extent to which Congress has authorized the detention without trial of U.S. persons as ‘enemy combatants,’ and Congress has not so far clarified its intent.”
The new CRS report traces the development of U.S. detention policy from the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 through the Civil War, the two World Wars, and the Cold War up to the present day. See Detention of U.S. Persons as Enemy Belligerents by CRS legislative attorney Jennifer K. Elsea, February 1, 2012.”
Not sure of whether the novel was written or published but my answer then closely aligns with the extract from Secrecy News.
