WALKING AWAY...

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WALKING AWAY...

Dear Friends:

I have said it before: "Stop watering a dead tree."

Sometimes a limb is so badly infected that it cannot be repaired...it must be amputated. Sometimes something is so tragically broken that it no amount of effort, love or money can fix it...it must be scrapped and replaced.

When you cannot work within a system, sometimes you must work outside of the system --i.e., working on it instead of in it. And when you cannot win playing by somebody else's rules, sometimes you must make your own.

It takes time, but some special people arrive at a point in their comprehension of the way things are where they fully understand that the game is rigged, and that no matter what they do, they are slated to lose. It hurts to have been hustled or conned, but it downright kills you when you know that you are being hustled and that you are powerless to walk away. It erodes your self-esteem. It can embitter you.

When a socio-economic system is so inherently corrupt that it is cancerous, you can no longer work within its confines to reform it. You must pack your bags and leave, or perhaps, if you've the requisite courage (and artillery), you can get everyone else to clear out and play in somebody else's yard.

I frequently speak of the need for new beginnings, for fresh thoughts, for a clean slate. I frequently speak of the need to get people's attention - to shake them out of their hypnotic torpor. I frequently speak of collaboration and cooperation instead of confrontation and partisanship.

In my socio-economic model of the Global Interworked Cooperative Business Community as a new form of entity, I  do not see the need for stealing from others to enrich myself. I believe that if we work together, the inherent synergy produced will allow both of us to win, and to share in the prosperity. It saddens me to think that so many people have become brainwashed into believing that there are only winners and losers, and that winners can only become winners by stealing from the losers, leaving them to starve. We live in a time when people define morality to suit convenience.

I have come to understand how riots are incited and revolutions are born; how some people walk away from the trappings of "civilization" and disappear to live "off the grid."

I find it incredibly frightening, yet somehow encouraging, when a career politician walks away from the game because he becomes disgusted with its lies, rationalizations, destructiveness...its inertia and its hopelessness.

I salute US Senator Evan Bayh today for his taking decisive action instead of resorting to empty rhetoric. [cue drumroll]. He decided to say "no more."

Read this, brought to you by the Yahoo! News Blog:

Disillusioned Bayh advocates electoral “shock” to broken system

Tue Feb 16, 7:35 pm ET

In an interview on MSNBC this morning, newly retiring Sen. Evan Bayh declared the American political system "dysfunctional," riddled with "brain-dead partisanship" and permanent campaigning. Flatly denying any possibility that he'd seek the presidency or any other higher office, Bayh argued that the American people needed to deliver a "shock" to Congress by voting incumbents out en masse and replacing them with people interested in reforming the process and governing for the good of the people, rather than deep-pocketed special-interest groups.

Bayh's announcement stunned the American political world, as up until just last week he looked to be well on his way to an easy reelection for a third term in the Senate, and his senior staff was aggressively pursuing that goal.

But Bayh had apparently become increasingly frustrated in the Senate. In this morning's interview he noted that just two weeks ago, Republicans who had co-sponsored a bill with him to rein in the deficit turned around and voted against it for purely political reasons. He also stated repeatedly that members of his own party should be more willing to settle for a compromise rather than holding out for perfection.

"Sometimes half a loaf is better than none," Bayh insisted.
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Bayh has taken a necessary first step -- acknowledging that something is just plain wrong, and walking away from it. But who will take the second step -- finding a better way for all of us? That remains to be seen... Pointing out a problem is helpful, but solving problems is what growth and progress are ultimately all about.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

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Labels, Tags and Terms: Evan Bayh, Problem-Solving, partisan politics, negotiation, compromise, collaboration, integrity, new social paradigms, TNNW, Articles by Douglas Castle,

THE SHOES OF THE PHISHERMAN - And A Word About Integrity

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Dear Friends:


We all need to be reasonably careful in all of our written and sound communications -- especially when we are working "over the wires" or "over the airwaves." (If you only work Under The Boardwalk, or Somewhere, Beyond The Sea [with apologies to the Drifters and to the Estate of Bobby Darren] thos shouldn't really concern you. But it concerns most of us who are subjected to all manner of computer fraud every single time that we log on.


Three suggestions are in order:


1. Beware any solicitation or notification which you receive, especially if it asks for perwsonal information, and even if it looks quite official. If it is from Nigeria and tells you a sob story about a corrupt bank manager who needs your help to dislodge a sum from a client who died in a terrible plane crash, just toss it. If it says "CONGRATULATIONS - LOTTERY WINNER" toss that one too. There are more legitimate ways for people to authenticate their correspondence and allow you to verify their legitimacy before giving any personal information at all.


Here's an example of a baloney-laden "PayPal" notification which I received earlier (click to download, and to enjoy a laugh at my expense): http://www.mediafire.com/?kz2vqoyvzgn


2. We live in a society where virtually every communication is recorded and analized (for our own protection, of course). whatever you say is on the record, so avoid tasteless terrorist jokes and threatening language, lest you be put in the position of serving coffee to two or more surprise early-morning visitors from some intimidating agency of the federal government. You are always on the record.


3. Something else -- When you write and when you speak to anyone, anywhere and at anytime, speak as if you were making a politically-sensitive statement to Congress or to the press. Avoid subterfuge, backbiting and being insincere. As I have found, anything that you say can be overheard or repeated to the wrong person. As a general policy, speak as if the subject person of your conversation where standing in front of you. Integrity is a rare, but powerful tool. It' worth cultivating.


Faithfully,


Douglas Castle




















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AN ETHICAL OBLIGATION CANNOT BE DENIED IN THE INTEREST OF POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY

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Dear Friends:

In constitutional theory, no person is above the law. We are all servants of the laws that we are sworn to uphold and protect. And, of course, any law which is capriciously or "selectively" applied is far worse than no law at all.

Regardless of how anyone feels about the outbound Bush administration, or about former president George W. Bush, his office was egregious in its disregard for court orders, constitutional rights, civil liberties, the doctrine of equal protection under the laws -- and the truth. While I am certain that Mr. Bush invoked "executive privilege, "national security" and "we are going to appeal that court decision," just as his staffers destroyed documents and computer hard drives for a number of reasons, a wanton regard for the law and a persistent relectance to provide information (i.e., evidence) does not instill faith amongst those who are observing you, or those who are counting on you to set an international example.

Incoming president Barack Obama has a decision to make -- will he uphold the constitution and honor his obligation to defend it, which involves investigating and possibly punishing those of his predecessors who might have violated it in all of its sanctity? Or he simply "forgive and forget" because it might be politically expedient to do so. If he yields to political expediency, he is repeating one of the worst traits of the outbound administration. The United States will be judged very harshly by the international community if we are perceived as inherently lawless where lawlessness is convenient. Violating laws, violating treaties, dishonoring obligations...these are things that have made the United states so unpopular in international circles. Part of the blowback associated with the previous administration's policies is our wrecked domestic economy.

I believe that bad laws should be changed, and that bad treaties should be amended or terminated. But I also believe that these things have to be done with due process, and with suitable explanations and the comfort of transparency.

Yes, I am an Internationalist. But this does not mean I am either disrespectful of the law, or that I can afford to have other people believe that I am too "morally flexible" as this suits my purposes.

The article which follows was originally printed in THE NEW YORK TIMES yesterday. It does apply to Mr. Obama, or Mr. Bush, or to the United States. It applies to each and every one of us in terms of how we conduct ourselves, and how we will be perceived.

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January 16, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Forgive and Forget?
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Last Sunday President-elect Barack Obama was asked whether he would seek an investigation of possible crimes by the Bush administration. “I don’t believe that anybody is above the law,” he responded, but “we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.”

I’m sorry, but if we don’t have an inquest into what happened during the Bush years — and nearly everyone has taken Mr. Obama’s remarks to mean that we won’t — this means that those who hold power are indeed above the law because they don’t face any consequences if they abuse their power.

Let’s be clear what we’re talking about here. It’s not just torture and illegal wiretapping, whose perpetrators claim, however implausibly, that they were patriots acting to defend the nation’s security. The fact is that the Bush administration’s abuses extended from environmental policy to voting rights. And most of the abuses involved using the power of government to reward political friends and punish political enemies.

At the Justice Department, for example, political appointees illegally reserved nonpolitical positions for “right-thinking Americans” — their term, not mine — and there’s strong evidence that officials used their positions both to undermine the protection of minority voting rights and to persecute Democratic politicians.

The hiring process at Justice echoed the hiring process during the occupation of Iraq — an occupation whose success was supposedly essential to national security — in which applicants were judged by their politics, their personal loyalty to President Bush and, according to some reports, by their views on Roe v. Wade, rather than by their ability to do the job.

Speaking of Iraq, let’s also not forget that country’s failed reconstruction: the Bush administration handed billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to politically connected companies, companies that then failed to deliver. And why should they have bothered to do their jobs? Any government official who tried to enforce accountability on, say, Halliburton quickly found his or her career derailed.

There’s much, much more. By my count, at least six important government agencies experienced major scandals over the past eight years — in most cases, scandals that were never properly investigated. And then there was the biggest scandal of all: Does anyone seriously doubt that the Bush administration deliberately misled the nation into invading Iraq?
Why, then, shouldn’t we have an official inquiry into abuses during the Bush years?

One answer you hear is that pursuing the truth would be divisive, that it would exacerbate partisanship. But if partisanship is so terrible, shouldn’t there be some penalty for the Bush administration’s politicization of every aspect of government?

Alternatively, we’re told that we don’t have to dwell on past abuses, because we won’t repeat them. But no important figure in the Bush administration, or among that administration’s political allies, has expressed remorse for breaking the law. What makes anyone think that they or their political heirs won’t do it all over again, given the chance?

In fact, we’ve already seen this movie. During the Reagan years, the Iran-contra conspirators violated the Constitution in the name of national security. But the first President Bush pardoned the major malefactors, and when the White House finally changed hands the political and media establishment gave Bill Clinton the same advice it’s giving Mr. Obama: let sleeping scandals lie.

Sure enough, the second Bush administration picked up right where the Iran-contra conspirators left off — which isn’t too surprising when you bear in mind that Mr. Bush actually hired some of those conspirators.

Now, it’s true that a serious investigation of Bush-era abuses would make Washington an uncomfortable place, both for those who abused power and those who acted as their enablers or apologists. And these people have a lot of friends. But the price of protecting their comfort would be high: If we whitewash the abuses of the past eight years, we’ll guarantee that they will happen again.

Meanwhile, about Mr. Obama: while it’s probably in his short-term political interests to forgive and forget, next week he’s going to swear to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s not a conditional oath to be honored only when it’s convenient.
And to protect and defend the Constitution, a president must do more than obey the Constitution himself; he must hold those who violate the Constitution accountable. So Mr. Obama should reconsider his apparent decision to let the previous administration get away with crime. Consequences aside, that’s not a decision he has the right to make.
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Faithfully,

Douglas Castle







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KEYWORDS, TERMS AND ORGANIZATIONS:

globalism, CFR, NGO, UN, WTO, IMF, central bank, outsourcing, offshoring, capital markets, import, export, international trade, strategic alliances, e-commerce, entrepreneurship, social networking, banking, finance, trade, ventures, business, securities, stock exchanges, indexes, futurism, trends, citizen ambassadorship, enterprise, capitalism, international politics, commodities, prime rate, LIBOR, foreign currencies, foreign exchange, blogs, blogging, bloggers, aol, google, yahoo, msn, AP, news, media alerts, world government, world governments, international affairs, treaties, tariffs, trade restrictions, marketing, advertising, business development, arbitrage, obtaining capital, promotion, publicity, EU, NATO, military affairs, government regulation, trade restrictions, liquidity crisis, business opportunities, web-based businesses, communication, communications, technology, intelligence, embassies, consulates, business resources, Douglas Castle,The Internationalist Page, The Global Futurist, international politics, elections, time management, cyberspace, AI, energy, industry, productivity, Mixx, Digg, Technorati, Sphere, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, LinkedIn, advertising, economics, strategy, management, cooperation, widgets, blidgets, links, incoterms, CCH, UCC, freight forwarding, custom house brokers, diversity, employment, culture, micro-loans, technological convergence, trends, financial planning, FOREX, futures, stock index, inflation, recession, sub-contracting, Department of Commerce, the next generation, amnesty, humanitarianism, foreign aid, philanthropy, charity, cooperation, peaceful cooexistence, a world without walls...