Restoring the Rule of Law by Common Cause

Restoring the Rule of Law

Common Cause was formed during the constitutional crisis of the 1970s as Richard Nixon sought to rise above the rule of law. We as a nation have been facing a similar and arguably greater crisis for much of the last decade. The Executive Branch of government has systematically violated U.S. law, personal liberties, and illegally used signing statements to ignore the will of Congress. Congress was also complicit in its failure to stand up to the Executive Branch.

As a result illegal warrantless wiretaps were used to spy on Americans. Habeas Corpus was suspended. U.S. law regarding the treatment of foreign detainees was simply ignored and foreign detainees were tortured in prisons in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and “black sites” around the globe.

Now, with a different Administration in place, we are pressing to restore the rule of law and to hold accountable those in the past Administration who were architects of these systemic violations of US law and the Constitution.

In the fall of 2009, Common Cause honored five military and civilian personnel who stood up for the rule of law and worked to stop the misguided policies and practices.

Common Cause has previously taken a number of actions to hold members of the past administration accountable for abuses of executive power.



•We have urged President Obama to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate abuses of power in the last Administration. Common Cause believes such a special prosecutor must have authority to look into questions around a) torture and enhanced interrogation tactics b) warrantless wiretapping and additional surveillance systems and c) abuse of executive privilege and signing statements.


•We have called for the impeachment of Judge Jay Bybee. Bybee was the head of the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department and the chief author of the memo which authorized various forms of torture including waterboarding, slamming detainees into a wall, putting them in “stress” positions, and depriving them of sleep for up to 11 days.”


•We have called on Congress to create a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate the past Administration's abuses of executive power. These include authorizing the use of torture in treatment of detainees, warrantless wiretapping, extraordinary rendition, and executive override of laws.


•We have organized a letter of commendation signed by senior military officials, members of Congress and former President Carter for individuals within the U.S. government who worked to stop the practice and policies of torture. These brave men and women worked to stop torture on the ground and up their respective chains of command to stop the policies which condoned torture. They did so at times at great personal risk.

There are all kinds of instabilities that bring chaos. Choosing the right kind, matters.

"Stability is to be prized," said Oxfam's David Green. And that is the last thing Glencore wants, as it's instability which is most profitable - for those who have the inside knowledge to exploit it.

instabilities .. what brings chaos .. instabilities lurking in the vicinity .. are being taking advantage by Glencore .. but any can take advantageous points .. from lurking instabilities .. people them selves too .. and not to the same effect as .. Glencore .. Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg ..

in a world that money .. permeates the backbones of societies .. the instabilities would be about money .. where .. Glencore and Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg .. would always have the upper hand

yet .. there are instabilities .. that they are not about money .. they are about people .. and their lives .. and for these instabilities .. Glencore and Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg .. they are powerless .. helpless ..

it is up to people .. to make up their minds .. with what cards .. to play .. and not up to Glencore .. or Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg

competitiveness .. fuck it ..

competitiveness .. fuck it .. grow to the utmost one's prime can achieve .. only to be destroyed ..once the competitive process concludes ..


as the spoils go .. only for the winner .. the winner a close ..first with the second .. lagging inches behind .. declared unfit to survive ..


..wasting high, is high in the agenda .. and what more .. any gains .. out of all this activity .. instantiates .. in the barren world ..of money

Bin Laden events a diversion of the US administration propaganda machine.

In 'Bin Laden photos 'security risk'

"Mr Obama said: "It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence, as a propaganda tool. That's not who we are."

Mr Obama said: ".. graphic photos of .. Bin Laden shot .. incitement of violence ..


.. by merely talking about that .. has the very same effect .. as if they were published ..

Mr Obama said: ".. a propaganda tool .. That's not who we are."

afraid to admit .. that's exactly.. who you are .. a propaganda tool ..

.. to be fair .. you are the spokesman, the anchorman if you like ..

.. of the US admin team .. which is the real propaganda tool .. pre-dating you

the body that represents you .. that currently has your stamp on it ..

having dragged you .. as a President .. to comment on the graphic-ity .. of the

photos .. reveals .. what's in their minds ..

.. how high the stakes .. they think they are .. in the current turn of world events ..

it's been some time .. the world was going on .. around .. without you .. without US ..

not even as .. the most favourite villain .. the one everyone .. loves to hate ..


you were pushed aside .. loosing your grip ..in the world .. and that .. you could not stomach ..


jitters in your stomachs .. all the US experts, advisers, PR peoples .. their stomachs .. erupting .. ( the explosions were felt .. in many different ways .. especially for the ones in the vicinity of the afore-mentioned individuals )


paramount .. to draw the world people's attention away .. from Syria, for instance ..

Bashar al-Assad .. must sigh with relief .. Gaddafi .. as well


you provided a diversion .. but alas .. for you .. a very shallow one ..


.. the world perilously was edging towards .. a stage .. that your existence mattered not or little ..

the world was slipping .. out of your control .. affairs that you could not control

any publicity is good

US propaganda .. served by the world's media giants .. BBC and the like .. treading on thin ground ...

.. the Bin Laden controversy .. his life/death status .. since 2001 .. should bear in mind ..

.. @wikileaks .. is around the corner .. or .. their current dealings .. are @wikileaks -proof .. so sure? ..

It is thoroughly justified the allegation put forth in the Libyans are spilling their blood for us all! wikileaks post ..

and that hurts .. the so-called interests dumped as American interests to the utter annoyance of the people in America, in reality being the interests of the American corporative world.




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BBC News - Bin Laden: Publishing images poses 'US security risk' - http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: Mr Obama said: ".. graphic photos of .. Bin Laden shot .. incitement of violence .. - http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: by merely talking about that .. has the very same effect .. as if they were published .. - http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: Mr Obama said: ".. a propaganda tool .. That's not who we are." - http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: afraid to admit .. that's exactly.. who you are .. a propaganda tool ..- http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: .. to be fair .. I believe not you .. but the body you represent .. - http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: having dragged you .. as a President .. to comment on the graphic-ity .. of the photos .. reveals .. what's in their minds ..
- http://bbc.in/k0bGSf

BBC News - Bin Laden: .. reveals .. what's in their minds .. how high the stakes .. they think .. are - http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: it's been some time .. the world was going on .. around .. without you ..without US .. - http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: not even .. as .. the most favourite villain .. the one every one .. loves to hate .. - http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: you were pushed aside .. loosing your grip ..in the world .. and that .. you could not stomach .. - http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: jitters in your stomachs .. all the US experts, advisers, PR peoples .. their stomachs .. erupting ..
- http://bbc.in/k0bGSf

BBC News - Bin Laden: US propaganda .. served by the world's media giants .. BBC and the like .. treading on thin ground ...- http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: .. the Bin Laden controversy .. his life/death status .. since 2001 .. should bear in mind .. - http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: .. wikileaks .. is around the corner .. or .. their current dealings .. are wikileaks-proof .. so sure? .. - http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: you provided a diversion .. but alas .. for you .. a very shallow one .. - http://bbc.in/k0bGSf
BBC News - Bin Laden: jitters in your stomachs .. all the US experts, advisers, PR peoples .. their stomachs .. erupting ..
- http://bbc.in/k0bGSf

Autodidacts. Life-long learning.

Turning Kids From India's Slums Into Autodidacts


Turning Kids From India’s Slums Into Autodidacts

Self Organizing Learning Environments & Self Organized Mediation Environments

Self-Organizing Systems in Primary Education




One of my philosophical passions is bottom-up order.

WSJ.com - Turning Kids From India's Slums Into Autodidacts http://on.wsj.com/end8ZP
WSJ.com - One of my philosophical passions is bottom-up order. | http://on.wsj.com/end8ZP
WSJ.com - ...that some of the finest complexity in the world comes about through spontaneous emergence,.. http://on.wsj.com/end8ZP
WSJ.com - ... not top-down diktat. | http://on.wsj.com/end8ZP
WSJ.com - This is true of ecosystems and economies, of genomes and cultures, of embryos and encyclopedias.| http://on.wsj.com/end8ZP
WSJ.com - Education, though, feels like one of those things that has to be top-down:..| http://on.wsj.com/end8ZP

feels like .. I feel .. you feel .. he feels .. but despite .. how someone feels like .. about it

.. now knowledge .. becomes accessible online .. it is possible for everybody .. to be an autodidact .. people to educate themselves ..

educate .. learning .. can learn by themselves .. guided by .. have well-posed questions to answer ..



Dr. Mitra's next brainchild, SOLE, takes this dynamic into the classroom.



education .. learning .. being taken out .. of the hands .. of oligarchs ..

whoever .. makes ..a killing out of it ..

what comes along .. and .. certainly .. benefits .. societies ..



He is convinced that, with the Internet, kids can learn by themselves, so long as they are in small groups and have well-posed questions to answer.




Human beings have a hard time understanding

... that some of the finest complexity in the world comes about through spontaneous emergence,

... not top-down diktat.

This is true of ecosystems and economies, of genomes and cultures, of embryos and encyclopedias.

Education, though, feels like one of those things that has to be top-down: There has to be a teacher and a taught. But plenty of people educate themselves. Is it possible for everybody to be an autodidact, now that knowledge is so accessible online?

SOLE & SOME .. Self Organizing Learning Environments & Self Organized Mediation Environments | http://solesandsomes.wikispaces.com/

A financial transaction, loathing and atrocious, that is what the most precious possessions of human individuals are reduced to.

.. a financial transaction .. loathing and atrocious .. that is what .. the most precious possessions of human individuals .. have been reduced to .. what survives out of the many considerations .. people abide to and use to guide their lives

the love of the father and mother for their kids .. the love of the husband of the wife for their spouses .. all of the relationships .. that make human individuals what they are .. what it's worth pursuing for .. in need to be paid

.. pay your way into .. the relationships with .. kids parents .. spouses .. the whole gamut of relationships individuals are involved in .. are constantly poisoned .. trashed and trivialised

if ever the love of a child to a parent .. to depend on how much money .. has been given .. the mechanics .. of financial transactions .. deep into their psyche .. what the fucking radio TV .. advertisers .. blare into the ears and eyes .. of their listeners .. viewers ..

emotions and feelings .. bought and sold .. wholesale or retail .. such a stench of human values .. wives husbands .. exchange services rendered .. worth their pennies .. mere financial transactions ..

human transactions .. devoid of the content it was meant to be .. what remains twisted, warped, disfigured .. all sorts of ugly facets .. emerge .. hideous, vile and revolting

everything that people are involved in .. looked upon from the currency exchanged .. dragged deeply into the gutters .. making it the base from which people should start their lives off .. demanding vehemently for people to abandon .. the most precious exhilarating values .. that have ever had in their possession

governments and corporations ..are pushing to the hilt .. for individuals .. to succumb to .. accept its doctrines .. and comply with it

and one considers .. how not .. individuals would not resort .. to any inhuman destroying behaviours .. that plague humanity .. out of this perverse system .. that financial considerations created

.. financial considerations take precedence .. disorganise one .. the mean and main goal .. of governments, states, corporations ..

.. the message to be put on .. pursued .. the financial considerations are the last cog in the wheel .. that drives human lives forward ..

... at the bottom of all that has to be considered .. to plan lives

The connectedness attribute of our minds.

why did I .. or? .. this is the wrong ..approach .. question .. and by being ..wrong .. you do not get what you seek ..

so .. is it .. before even .. form ..or formulate .. the question .. to think at what .. field .. context .. it falls into ..

..and what is that context .. I am asking you ..

.. in the back .. of my mind .. the first word ... I came to is chaotic .. but it is too shallow ..

.. the other thing that came into .. my mind .. threads


... contemplating .. worth .. the seconds ..used .. in gold .. (in a manner of speaking )

.. threads .. I would call them .. paths .. trajectories .. could be too .. within the framework of time .. future-present-past .. tied up .. all the acts .. you are involved .. future .. past .. present .. all connected .. and within them .. the bifurcations .. a network .. branching

may be .. need .. to refresh .. to bring within my grasp .. the ideas spawn in previous contemplations .. if not mentally .. to form a streak .. a stream .. uh! .. a stream .. of consciousness .. look at that .. as if a light .. flashed .. a sign of a new bifurcation been made .. a new property has been added into my mind .. for the consciousness stream .. which .. could be described .. as a state .. a state of mind ..

approach .. what I referred to ..as chaotic .. and even chaotic ..now .. is added .. with an extra property .. unstoppable force .. a stream .. nevertheless .. barren .. empty .. flooded with water .. rushing down .. with force .. bringing down the water .. of a recent heavy rainfall ..

σαν ενας χειμαρος .. φουσκομενος .. που παρασυρει στο διαβα του .. οτι βρει μπροστα του .. ενας χειμαρος συνειδησης

as I see what brought .. this stream of consciousness .. the links .. mentioned there .. the threads .. connected .. the hypertext ..

the problem arises .. it is included .. within the context .. of choice .. why did I choose .. to read .. slashdot's communication .. and from all included there .. this reference to Project Xanadu .. all acts .. performed in an apparent random manner .. choices enacting bifurcations .. bifurcations that lay the path .. the thread .. the trajectory .. which would lead to ..thoughts .. information ..

and .. there it is .. algorithmic information .. or .. information .. about algorithmic information .. entered .. into the discussion .. my discussion .. yes .. just happened to lay near .. a random event ..

need to describe .. the occurrence of this random event .. analyse it .. the photocopied pages of .. Ben Goertzel's Chaotic Logic .. folded to that particular page ..page 19 ..

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and while on that .. totally given out .. to a chaotic frame of mind .. that suits the moment .. or follow suit .. the whole ..of me .. not just one part of me .. the whole of me .. that has decided .. enough of this .. I am getting bored .. let's get on with .. some fresh staff .. you might even say .. betrays a stalemate .. an obstruction .. this .. what I took as .. a stream of consciousness .. hit a barrier .. stopped in its tracks ..

and out of this .. this spontaneous random choice .. it come to this ..

"His concept is effectively a free-form multi-document interface where hyperlinks open into a new window. That description doesn't do it justice though. Think of it like each block of content, each paragraph, each page, each image, is not limited to the context which it is in. You can do, as the quote suggest, strike out some content that is between the two pieces you want, or branch out diagnally.

Think if it more like a 6 degrees of Kevin Baccon interface, only for every piece of content. Wikipedia is the most obvious example of where it would be useful. Being able to see the content of mid-sentence links with out having to leave the page you are on.

It's a pretty cool concept, but not big enough (IMO) to displace the current browsing experience."

.. each block of content .. is not limited .. to the context which it is in .. branch out diagonally .. being able to see the content of mid-sentence links without having to leave the page you are on ..

links .. where .. the threads .. the paths .. the trajectories .. meet .. where the associations are performed .. network-bound thought evolution .. how deep into the network .. can the mind probe .. a drawback .. of the human thought .. thinking process .. that .. universal Turing machine .. while it is computing ..

I do not know .. whether it gained .. pace .. momentum .. into pursuing .. further into arriving into a conclusion .. which it would mean .. lazy me .. finding the relevant .. link .. plant it here .. and let have .. associations ..ahoy!

"2.2. PATTERN AND INFORMATION (*)
Now it is time to make the concept of pattern more precise -- to give a specific, "objective" measure of complexity. The best way to do this is with the obscure but powerful branch of mathematics known as algorithmic information theory.
The concept of algorithmic information was conceived in the 1960's, by Kolmogorov (1965), Chaitin (1974) and Solomonoff (1964). Where U is a universal Turing machine understood to input and output potentially infinite binary sequences, and x is a finite binary sequence, it may be defined as follows:
Definition: The algorithmic information I(x) contained in x is the length of the shortest selfdelimiting program for computing x on U given the (infinite) input string ...000...
A self-delimiting program is, roughly speaking, a program which explicitly specifies its own length; this restriction to self-delimiting programs is desirable for technical reasons which we need not go into here (Chaitin, 1974). It is not hard to show, using simulation arguments, that as the length of x approaches infinity, the quantity I(x) becomes machine independent.
Bennett (1982) has criticized this definition, on the grounds that what it really measures is "degree of randomness" and not "degree of structure." It assigns a random sequence maximum complexity, and a completely repetitive sequence like ...000... minimum complexity. He defines the logical depth of a binary sequence x, relative to a universal Turing machine U, to be the running time on U of the shortest self-delimiting program which computes x on U from the (infinite) input ...000... .


.. the universal Turing machine .. depicting our very own mind .. being in our mind .. the kind of executive action .. that computes .. executes instructions .. and that potentially infinite string .. depicts .. precisely .. the things the human mind can delve into .. available for .. the entirety of concepts .. the world is about .. infinite content ..

and the self-delimiting programs .. our very own thoughts .. each thought .. carries within .. specifies its length .. limits it .. self-delimiting attribute of thought ..

information .. referred to as algorithmic .. as all thoughts .. derive from one another .. an algorithm .. that brings .. one thought from another ..

"In one of Asimov's books he describes doing research/reading in the Imperial Library of Trantor; I think that's what this guy is trying to describe. Links become basically infinite depth background trees on any word or phrase or sentence or paragraph or whatever level you want.

Which would be amazing, in an academic context. But I'm not sure it would be more useful in a wider context than what we have now."

.. and alongside this previous thoughts .. there comes the confirmation .. links .. the associations .. as an .. infinite depth background trees on any word or phrase or sentence or paragraph or whatever level you want .. the infinite string .. that the universal Turing machine .. in our mind .. deals with ..

.. and that infinite depth background trees .. inextricably connected .. within the framework of space and time .. in a manner similar .. to what is defined .. in the double-slit experiment .. where the photons/electrons .. know where to land .. to produce the familiar .. interference pattern .. the pattern that represents .. the entire knowledge .. existing

.. the thoughts contemplated .. have a force of their own .. drive the universal Turing machine of our minds .. to their destination .. by themselves .. once a channel is tapped .. should let go .. let the thoughts .. the concepts involved .. take precedent in our inquiry .. let them drives us .. to their destination .. like the paths annealed .. by the photons that are going through the slits .. they know where to land .. trust them .. trust our intuitions .. double-slit experiment .. photons, electrons .. the entities involved .. entities as the thoughts, the concepts existing .. the human individuals .. entities for every system possible .. exists ..

entities engaged .. in endless processes .. according to their attributes .. inherent, intrinsic .. bring out the system's structure

The connectedness attribute of our minds.