September 2011 - P2P-Foundation - lists.ourproject.org

A Claim about the Fed....
by robert searle 27 Sep '11

27 Sep '11

The following link comes from "something" called Zero Hedge. Whether one can take this source seriously is quite another matter!!! You be the judge...! http://www.zerohedge.com/news/here-comes-fiattackwatch-bernanke-goes-waterg… I also include a link to the official website of the Fed.....and have not yet found any references connected with the above link in any shape, or form. I may try again if I am bothered...! http://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/index.html RS.

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Musica Fanstastica....
by robert searle 27 Sep '11

27 Sep '11

I thought I might as well present my Searle8 site which is the largest collection in the main of audio-visual material on medieval, and renaissance music (ie.Early Music) in the world. I hope to attract more people to it especially "amateurs", musicians, and composers. The aim of this is to demonstrate the extraordinary richness, and diversity of Early Music, and help it to become more, and more popular...... There is also some vids of David Munrow who was my school boy "hero". I also act the chief writer on a forum at a site dedicated to his life, and work. He, more than anyone else popularised Early Music in the 20th Century. http://www.youtube.com/Searle8

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Financial Lab....
by robert searle 27 Sep '11

27 Sep '11

The following maybe of interest, and is attracting some very interesting people..... http://thefinancelab.ning.com/ RS>

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open hardware contract
by Michel Bauwens 27 Sep '11

27 Sep '11

-- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Project Mind....
by robert searle 27 Sep '11

27 Sep '11

Project Mind is a rather unusual Jewish "sect". It claims that genius can be brought about via Accelerated Learning. The aim of this is to help speed up the creation of new ideas, and "paradigm" which could change the world... I had email correspondence with David Devor who was the head of PM shortly before he died.... http://www.projectmind.org/ RS.

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Fw: Fw: Can "Printing" Money Save Economies? The Answer, Yes, and No....
by robert searle 27 Sep '11

27 Sep '11

----- Forwarded Message ----- From: robert searle <dharao4(a)yahoo.co.uk> To: "ideasinc(a)ee.net" <ideasinc(a)ee.net> Sent: Monday, 26 September 2011, 16:26 Subject: Re: [P2P-F] Fw: Can "Printing" Money Save Economies? The Answer, Yes, and No.... Tadit, You are right... what is presented here is a brief "article" which I quickly wrote ...and yes, it is superfiicial. It was never intended to be a full authorative account but merely a stimulus for debate, and possible alternative interpretations, and possilbe "corrections" of one sort, or another. Hopefully, others might join in to challenge myself, or you, or indeed, the both of us..... Cheers... Robert S. From: "ideasinc(a)ee.net" <ideasinc(a)ee.net> To: robert searle <dharao4(a)yahoo.co.uk>; P2P Foundation mailing list <p2p-foundation(a)lists.ourproject.org> Sent: Monday, 26 September 2011, 13:55 Subject: Re: [P2P-F] Fw: Can "Printing" Money Save Economies? The Answer, Yes, and No.... Please, excuse, and some of the text is partial and misleading. This objection should not be taken in an ad hominen intent. The British had at least one printing press operating on a ship in the New York harbor busily counterfeiting the Continentals and then putting them into circulation. So no, the Continental Congress's use of the Continentals did not produce inflation, but the British counterfeiting operation did. Dys-information regarding monetary practices and history is a well established tactic and it usually arrives in the form of Pop-economics funded by the banking cartel to preserve their monopolistic franchise. Brown is a popular and clear example of this process. The differences between the monetary policies of the US Union as compared to the monetary policies of the Southern Confederacy is a much better example. Generally Zarlenga's book can serve as an antidote. I believe that Abba Lerner did extensive research into the details of the economics of the US Confederacy which as a confederacy was not even a sovereignty based process, and actually close to the present EMU process. So much for looking into history to find more than a simple reflection of present presumptions. Regarding the "legality" of sovereign governments printing their own currency it is actually the standard, except that we have been led to believe that it is the franchise of privately owned banking cartel is the only "real" and accepted process, which is straight away false. No, it is not a legitimate subject of research, unless the details of MMT are declared by conflation and misrepresentation to be falsified, or if the intent is to sustain the privatized franchise or to re-invent MMT under a different branding. Zimbabwe is frequently pulled out as a bad example of the use of the sovereign use of currency, while simultaneously ignoring the massive incompetence and self dealing of that government. If there is an interest in a different slant on the hyper-inflation hyper-ventilation try this article. http://www.economics.arawakcity.org/node/233 While I appreciate in principle the P2P model deeply, it has to involve some level of rigorous discourse and examination. Despite the popularity of Ellen Brown, her material continues to play to a strategy of persuasion rather than analysis based upon informing facts, practices, and history. I did a close review of her "Money As Debt" for the AMI at one point and it is primarily a product of persuasion, not scientific in any serious sense. Her personal history was that previously she, as an attorney, specialized in writing briefs. That process boils down to picking a conclusion and a few key premises and then finding precedents which appear to validate the targeted conclusions. It is a rhetorical process to win an argument, and has little to do with on the ground history of facts. At one point Randall Wray offered to tutor Brown when she passed through Kansas City. Mo. promoting her book and self. She declined by not responding at all. This is how default paradigms get reproduced in an seemingly endless process. Tadit On Mon, 26 Sep 2011 08:07:04 -0400, robert searle <dharao4(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > > > > ----- Forwarded Message ----- > From: robert searle <dharao4(a)yahoo.co.uk> > To: "dharao4(a)yahoo.co.uk" <dharao4(a)yahoo.co.uk> > Sent: Monday, 26 September 2011, 12:54 > Subject: Can "Printing" Monye Save Economies? > > > > > If for whatever reasons governments cannot pay off their debts one way of achieving economic stability is to "print" it en masse!! This is not ofcourse a good debt concellation/reduction plan (!) as it could lead to serious inflation, or even hyperinflation.....but it can work..if not too much money is created by governments. Something like this could ultimately save the Euro if it occurs on a large enough scale. > > In pre-revolutionary America colonists found it very difficult to raise funds in the various States they created. So, they resorted to the printing press. Quite often this worked but not always (ref. Ellen Brown/Web of Debt). Infact, the American War of Independence was funded by printing money. This money was known as the Continentals but it ultimately lead to serious inflation. However, it is claimed that the Brits had been "flooding" the money supply with fake copies. The same claim was also made about the Assignats created during the French Revolution (ref. Zarlenga, and his key book on money). The American Civil War was funded by Lincoln with his Greenbacks notes created by the then existing government. This did not lead serious inflation as far as we know...The Russian Revolution was largely funded in a like manner though there is some talk about some capital being borrowed by private foreign commercial banks. > > It appears too that Hitlers miracle economic "revolution" leading to WII was due to simply printing money but with strong price controls in place on many products. Apparently, the same goes for the funding of the Vietnam War when President Johnson admitted that it could not be financed by taxation because the war was so unpopular .......This is a big subject, and no doubt other examples have not been included here (notably Zimbabwe!!). > > > There are a number of articles about Hitler "printing" money on the internet along with the Vietnam War (plus the Assignats, Greenbacks, et cetera, et cetera). As far as I understand it governments cannot legally create money electronically en direct into the economy. However, it is not fully clear whether they can still print it "legally". To very limitedextent this occurs but if huge amounts were to be involved this might require somekind of legal arrangement. This is still subject to research. > > http://www.google.co.uk/#pq=hitler+and+monetary+reform&hl=en&sugexp=tsh&cp=… > > > http://www.google.co.uk/#pq=hitler+prints+money&hl=en&sugexp=tsh&cp=40&gs_i…

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Tadit's critiques on local currency reformers
by Michel Bauwens 26 Sep '11

26 Sep '11

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Senator Kucinich, and the Monetary Reform Bill.........
by robert searle 26 Sep '11

26 Sep '11

The following maybe of interest from the American Monetary Institute headed by Stephen Zarlenga. The present page of the link reveals that Senator Kucinich has been at it again to try, and have Congress take the ideas of AMI seriously. A copy of the Bill can be found onsite... http://www.monetary.org/ RS>

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THE INVITATION TO CHALLENGE OBAMA IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES
by Michel Bauwens 26 Sep '11

26 Sep '11

*THE INVITATION TO CHALLENGE OBAMA IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES* September 17, 2011 Dear Colleague, We write to you in light of recent deteriorating events in Washington, D.C. Misguided negotiations by the Obama Administration over increasing the debt ceiling willingly put our nation’s vital social services on the chopping block while Bush-era tax cuts remain untouched. Clearly the situation has reached crisis proportions. In response, an innovative plan has been announced to reintroduce a progressive agenda back into the political discussion during the 2012 election season. Consider for a moment two very different scenarios for the 2012 Democratic presidential primaries. The First scenario, President Obama advances without contest to a unanimous nomination. There is no recognizable Democratic challenger, no meaningful debate on key progressive issues or past broken promises, just a seamless, self-contained operation on its way to raising one billion dollars in campaign funds. This scenario is what most observers expect. Mr. Obama will face neither opposition nor debate. He will have no need to clarify or defend his own polices or address the promises, kept and unkept, of his 2008 campaign. The president will not have to explain to his supporters why he directly escalated the war in Afghanistan and broadened America’s covert war in Pakistan, why he chose to engage in a military intervention in Libya, or why he has maintained the Bush Administration’s national security apparatus that allows for the suspension and abuse of constitutionally protected civil liberties--dismissing Congress all the way. In an uncontested Democratic primary, President Obama will never have to justify his decision to bail out Wall Street’s most profitable firms while failing to push for effective prosecution of the criminal behavior that triggered the recession, or his failure to push for real financial reform. He will not have to defend his decision to extend the Bush era tax cuts nor justify his acquiescence to Republican extortion during the debt ceiling negotiations. He will not have to answer questions on how his Administration completely failed to protect homeowner’s losing their homes to predatory banks, or even mention the word “poverty,” as he failed to do in his most recent State of the Union Address, even as more and more Americas sink into financial despair. He will never be challenged to fulfill his pledge to actively pursue a Labor-supported card check, or his promise to increase the federal minimum wage or why he took single payer off the table after he said he believes in it. The American labor movement, facing an unprecedented onslaught by the Right will not have the opportunity to voice its concerns and rally around a supportive candidate. The president will not be pressed to answer how he spent four years in office without addressing the ongoing destabilization of our climate or advocating a coherent and ecologically sound energy policy including defending his position on nuclear power and so called clean coal. Nor will he discuss regulatory agency deficiencies in enforcing corporate law and order in an era marked by a corporate crime wave having devastating economic consequences on workers and taxpayers and their savings and pensions. There will be no opportunity for the Hispanic and other relevant communities to speak out on immigration reform even as the Republicans continue to use it as a weapon of political demagoguery. 1 Add your own concerns, disappointments, and frustrated hopes to this list of what will surely be left off the table during an express-lane primary. The valid disagreements within the Democratic Party, let alone the goals of progressives, will be completely overlooked. The media will gleefully cover the media circus that is sure to be the Republican primaries, magnifying every minor gaffe and carefully cataloguing every iteration and argument of the radical right. The cameras will cover the Democratic side only for orchestrated events, the whiff of scandal, and to offer commentary on how the campaign is positioning itself for the general election. The summation of this process will be a tediously scripted National Convention, deprived of robust exchange and well-wrought policy. And here the danger is clear: not only will progressive principles past and present be betrayed but large sections of voters will feel bored with and alienated from the democratic candidate. This would not serve the president’s campaign, our goals, or the nation’s needs. Thankfully, there is another option. This second scenario would allow for robust and exciting discussion and debate during the primary season while posing little risk to the president other than to encourage him take more progressive stands. It would also accomplish the critical task of energizing the Progressive base to turn out on Election Day. Imagine: A slate of six candidates announces its decision to run in the Democratic primaries. Each of the candidates is recognizable, articulate, and a person of acknowledged achievement. These contenders would each represent a field in which Obama has never clearly staked a progressive claim or where he has drifted toward the corporatist right. These fields would include: labor, poverty, military and foreign policy, health insurance and care, the environment, financial regulation, civil and political rights/empowerment, and consumer protection. Without primary challengers, President Obama will never have to seriously articulate and defend his beliefs to his own party. Given the dangers our nation faces, that option is unacceptable. The slate is the best method for challenging the president for a number of reasons:  The slate can indicate that its intention is not to defeat the president (a credible assertion given their number of voting columns) but to rigorously debate his policy stands.  The slate will collectively give voice to the fundamental principles and agendas that represent the soul of the Democratic Party, which has increasingly been deeply tarnished by corporate influence.  The slate will force Mr. Obama to pay attention to many more issues affecting many more Americans. He will be compelled to develop powerful, organic, and fresh language as opposed to stale poll-driven “themes.”  The slate will exercise a pull on Obama toward his liberal/progressive base (in the face of the countervailing pressure from “centrists” and corporatists) and leave that base with a feeling of positive empowerment.  The slate will excite the Democratic Party faithful and essential small-scale donors, who (despite the assertions of cable punditry) are essentially liberal and progressive. 2  A slate that is serious, experienced, and well-versed in policy will display a sobering contrast with the alarmingly weak, hysterical, and untested field taking shape on the right.  The slate will command more media attention for the Democratic primaries and the positive progressive discussions within the party as opposed to what will certainly be an increasingly extremist display on the right.  The slate makes it more difficult for party professionals to induce challengers to drop out of the race and more difficult for Mr. Obama to refuse or sidestep debates in early primaries. The slate, if announced, will receive free legal advice and adequate contributions for all prudent expenses in moving about the country. The paperwork is far simpler than what confronts ballot-access- blocked third party and independent candidates. For the slate will be composed of registered Democrats campaigning inside the Party Primaries. This opportunity to revive and restore the progressive infrastructure of the Democratic Party must not be missed. A slate of Democratic candidates challenging the president’s substance and record is an historic opportunity. Certainly, President Obama will not be pleased to face a list of primary challengers, but the comfort of the incumbent is far less important than the vitality and strength of his party’s Progressive ideas and ideals. President Obama should emerge from the primary a stronger candidate as a result. This letter is sent to several dozen accomplished persons known to identify with the Democratic Party voting line for a variety of reasons. We ask that you consider several requests. First, would you consider being a slate candidate after due reflection beyond what may be an immediate no? History has illustrated greater discomforts, material sacrifices and other profiles of courage in our country's past for a perceived major common good. Second, if you are not interested in joining as a candidate, would you add your name as an official endorsee of the slate proposal. All endorsements are made as individuals and organizational or institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only. Your endorsement will be a vital signal of support and will help in compiling the strongest slate of candidates possible when we send out the letter to the candidate list, yet to be finalized. Third, can you suggest accomplished people to contact who may be interested in joining the slate as a candidate in one of the following fields: labor, poverty, military and foreign policy, health insurance and care, the environment, financial regulation, civil and political rights/empowerment, and consumer protection. This can be yourself if you feel it would be appropriate. Candidates and endorsements will be accepted on a rolling basis. All submissions or additional questions and comments can be directed to Colin O’Neil at colinoneil(a)gmail.com or 703-599-3474. We appreciate your response. Thank you. 3 Partial List of Endorsees All endorsements are in alphabetical order are made as individuals, organizational/institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only. Norman Birnbaum Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University Law Center Dr. Brent Blackwelder President Emeritus of Friends of the Earth Charles Cray Peter Coyote Actor, Author and Director Charles Derber Professor, Boston College Ronnie Dugger Founder, Alliance for Democracy James Abourezk Former U.S. Senator, South Dakota Gar Alperovitz Professor University of Maryland Co-Founder Democracy Collaborative Ellen H. Brown Lawyer and Author of Web of Debt Edgar Stuart Cahn Professor of Law, University of the District of Columbia Co-founder Legal Services for the Poor Pat Choate 1996 Reform Party Vice President Candidate Director of the Center for Corporate Policy Ronnie Cummins Executive Director, Organic Consumers Association John Fullerton President, Capital Institute 4 Rebecca and James Goodman Northwood Farm Randy Hayes Director, Foundation Earth Rainforest Action Network Founder Chris Hedges Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist of the New York Times and Author Hazel Henderson, Author of Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy President, Ethical Markets Media, LLC. Alan F. Kay Author of Spot the Spin and Locating Consensus for Democracy Harry Kelber The Labor Educator Andrew Kimbrell Executive Director, Center for Food Safety & International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) Jonathan Kozol Educator, Author of Savage Inequalities Lewis Lapham Former Editor, Harper’s Magazine Rabbi Michael Lerner Editor, Tikkun Magazine Chair, Network of Spiritual Progressives Jean Houston Psychologist, Anthropologist and Author of The Possible Human and The Possible Society Nicholas Johnson Former Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission Former Administrator, U.S. Maritime Administration Leland Lehrman Partner, Fund Balance Dr. Richard Lippin, MD Physician Forecaster, Board Certified in Preventive Medicine and Advocate for both Individual and Institutional Prevention 5 Robert D. Manning Founder and CEO, Responsible Debt Relief Institute Author of Credit Card Nation Dr. Samuel Metz, MD Mad As Hell Doctors, founding member Physicians for a National Health Program, member of Portland chapter Carol Miller Community Activist, New Mexico E. Ethelbert Miller Board Chair Institute for Policy Studies Ralph Nader Citizen Advocate Michael Parenti Author John Passacantando Former Executive Director, Greenpeace USA Vijay Prashad Author and Professor, Trinity College Marcus Raskin Author of The Common Good and former White House Advisor Andy Shallal “Democracy’s Restauranteur” and Owner of Bus Boys & Poets Michelle Shocked Musician Gore Vidal Erich Pica President of Friends of the Earth Nomi Prins Author and former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs David Swanson Author, War is a Lie Chris Townsend Political Action Director, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) 6 Author and Political Activist Rabbi Arthur Waskow Chair, The Shalom Center Cornel West Professor and Author of Race Matters National Coordinator, Physicians for a National Health Program Harvey Wasserman Author of Solartopia! Our Green-Powered Earth Quentin D. Young MD ******************************** * *Feel free to post this on your website or send out to your list-serve. Share it with your friends.And if you like this kind of unconventional **thinking, please subscribe to Tikkun at www.tikkun.org NOW!* -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Re: [P2P-F] Fwd: JCOM 10(3) - new issue - September 2011
by Michel Bauwens 26 Sep '11

26 Sep '11

great to have news from you Roberto did you have time to write anything recently? On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 6:37 AM, Roberto Verzola <rverzola(a)gn.apc.org>wrote: > Thanks, Michel. Sorry I've been out of the loop. We just concluded a > one-year nationwide training program on the system of rice intensification > (SRI), which I coordinated, and we are going into a second round, with > double the targets. I've been making heavy use of sms technology among > farmers and will write up my experiences soon. > > The GMO issue is close to my heart, as I led a 30-day hunger strike against > Bt corn in 2003. However, I have since modified my approach, and now believe > that the best way to fight GMOs is to push hard for organic farming and > food. We use SRI as a bridge for farmers to shift from chem. to organic > farming. > Warm regards, > > Roberto. > > > Michel Bauwens wrote: > >> on your country, fyi >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> From: <jcom-eo(a)jcom.sissa.it <mailto:[email protected]>**> >> Date: Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 5:05 PM >> Subject: JCOM 10(3) - new issue - September 2011 >> To: michelsub2004(a)gmail.com <mailto:michelsub2004@gmail.**com<michelsub2004(a)gmail.com> >> > >> >> >> >> Dear all, we announce that the September 2011 issue of JCOM - Journal of >> Science Communication - (issue 3, volume 10) >> >> http://jcom.sissa.it/ >> >> is online. >> >> Comments, remarks and papers by you are kindly requested. >> >> Next issue will be online on the 21st December 2011. >> >> CONTENTS: >> ------------------------------**------------------------------** >> ------------------------------**------------------------ >> >> ARTICLE >> >> Print media reportage of agricultural biotechnology in the Philippines: a >> decade’s (2000-2009) analysis of news coverage and framing >> >> Mariechel J. Navarro, Jenny A. Panopio, Donna Bae Malayang, Noel Amano Jr. >> >> This article presents key results of a ten-year study of media coverage of >> agricultural biotechnology in the Philippines, the only country in Asia to >> date to approve a biotech food/feed crop (Bt corn) for commercialization. >> The top three national English newspapers – Manila Bulletin, Philippine >> Daily Inquirer, and Philippine Star were analyzed to determine patterns of >> media attention measured by coverage peaks, tone, source of news, keywords, >> and media frames used. Biotechnology news was generally positive but not >> high in the media agenda. News coverage was marked by occasional peaks >> brought about by drama and controversial events which triggered attention >> but not long enough to sustain interest. The study provides a glimpse into >> the role of mass media in a developing country context. It shows how a >> complex and contentious topic is integrated into the mainstream of news >> reporting, and eventually evolves from an emotional discourse to one that >> allows informed decision making. >> >> http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/**10/03/Jcom1003%282011%29A01/<http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/10/03/Jcom1003%282011%29A01/> >> >> > -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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