~~~~~~~~~HOW TO THINK"Thinking is neither coerced .... ~~~~~~~~~


HOW TO THINK

"Thinking is neither coerced nor coercive,"... "It is exploratory, suggestive; it does not prove anything, or finally arrive anywhere. Thus, to say people are 'thoughtful' or 'thought-provoking' suggests that they are open-minded, reflective, challenging - more likely to question than to assert, inclined to listen to many sides, capable of making distinctions that hold differences in play rather than dividing in order to exclude, and desirous of persuading others rather than reducing them to silence by refuting them."

Excerpted from Rethinking Thinking, an excellent overview of actual thinking, as opposed to, say, getting your thoughts en bloc from the media. Which includes a few loud blogs I can think of.

[Pure Land Mountain]

9:51:20 AM    

~~~~~~~~~END OF BUSH ADMINISTRATIONI was in intell .... ~~~~~~~~~


END OF BUSH ADMINISTRATION

I was in intelligence in the US Air Force back in the days leading up to the Vietnam war, so I know a fair bit about the "Code," the tight-knit spirit of the US intelligence community. In this regard I've been reading up on and thinking about the Valerie Plame affair and what it means, and I've come to the conclusion that it spells big trouble all around for the internal workings of the US, both domestically and internationally, and will bring down the Bush administration, starting right about now.

Think about it. Historically, clandestine operatives have only been ousted by enemy governments and their agents. When a clandestine operative is outed, his/her family, assets, worldwide contacts, contacts of contacts to several levels (both innocent and otherwise), cover companies, entire intelligence trail are at incalculable risk. Permanently.

Valerie Plame is the first US clandestine intelligence agent to have been betrayed by her own government. That is, by the administration currently heading the executive branch of the United States government, which violated the Code for political gain. This to the intelligence community is starkly and utterly unforgivable.

And no entity is collectively less forgiving, or more permanently in power, than the intelligence community, whose members KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYONE in an administration that has coldly and selfishly betrayed one of their own. Looks like Rumsfeld will be the first to go. Expect major and unrelenting revelations and crucial obstacles to Bush political and economic pathways at home and abroad in the coming year, as US intelligence secretly does whatever is necessary to get rid of what they see as the entire traitorous crowd.
[Pure Land Mountain]

9:46:23 AM    

Ah, so that's what the noise from the TV room is about...

Fox News (paraphrased): "Seek out stories that cater to angry, middle-aged white men who listen to talk radio and yell at their televisions." [Scripting News]

9:23:50 AM