TheoSeeker_James_1_4's Xanga

71

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:37:47 GMT

Yesterday was my mother's birthday. Had she lived, she would have been 71. I have not been foreboding the date. I do not honor her life by putting flowers on her grave. I do not spend the day remembering her. I do not flip through photo albums reminiscing about my life with her.

I did, however, have fleeting, passing thoughts about her. Her lean silhouette. The times that she would be in the bathroom getting ready to go out and I would watch her, intently. The curlers in her hair. Putting on her makeup. Ah, the lipstick. Don't forget the lipstick. The way she would introduce me as her 'baby'. Hearing her creep in to check on me in the middle of the night.

I try to forget the bad things. Where she was going, all dressed up. Where we were at when she would introduce me. Where she was headed after she checked on me. The sudden realization that I was not the center of my mother's world - only a part of it. She existed beyond being my mother. She was a girlfriend, a confidante. A waitress, A seamstress. A wife. A frequent customer of 'The Eleventh Frame', 'The Lone Star', and 'Starlite Lounge'. See........I try to forget the bad stuff and it creeps in, anyway.

So I forget about the day. I shove those memories out of my head and fill the day with distractions. Heavy labor in the yard. A meeting with my school team to work on an assignment. Enjoying a night out with Chris.

Yesterday was a good day.

SIX FLAGS IS DROWNING!

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:10:25 GMT

I recon we better think twice when we pray for rain during a drought, hu?

Seriously, the deaths are no laughing matter. God be with those who have lost

someone in these floods. I heard a toddler was ripped out of her parents hands

while they were trying to hold on to debri - Sad.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:01:37 GMT

I received a note today from my Newsvine account and I wanted to share it...

Message:
Hello Anita Feels like an Indian name. And your posts and comments having a universal outlook. Let me appreciate it. and your profile which describes your children, three well-mannered, intelligent, Christian young men, touched me a lot. Kind Regards J

I see little things like this as messages from God. He sends people out of the blue to give you the encouragement you need to do what God expects you to do. There are angels everywhere - you just got to know what to look for.

And isn't it the COOLEST that I can be friends with someone in INDIA through the internet? Bridging two different worlds, becoming familiar with other cultures, recognizing we are all children of God?

Selah~

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 03:15:30 GMT

ROLL TIDE ROLL!

Go home, HOKEY!

Friday, September 04, 2009

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:01:54 GMT

Modern warfare has ushered into existence a judicial and ethical dilemma for those entities in authority. Throughout the world, governing authorities are faced with the task of prosecuting law officials and military personnel on human right violations stemming from physical and psychological abuse of prisoners. The issue of justifying acts of torture has become prominent enough that U.S. governing officials have rewritten key literature, such as the U.S. Army Field Manual and the Counterinsurgency Field Manual, in order to define the very nature of torture. The military of the 21st century has a new way of dealing with war criminals – turn them into allies.

Historically, torture techniques have been used to gain confessions of crimes and critical counter-intelligence. Television programs, such as ‘24’ depict scenes and scenarios of the inhumane techniques used against suspected criminals. Detective Mark Fuhrman, of O.J. Simpson Trial notoriety, boasted and bragged to writer Laura McKinney of the outright abuse he had witnessed and taken part in during his years on the Los Angeles police force (Fuhrman, 1995). America received a black eye in 2004 when video tapes revealed the harsh, degrading treatment of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison under the hands of U.S. Army personnel. The Innocence Project (2009), a non-profit organization, reports that 25% of the 241 exoneration won in American courts since 1989 are directly related to false confessions extracted during torturous interrogations. Ignoring the statistics is pointless. There is a dark side revealed in the human spirit when those in authority assert inhumane force over another human being.

Torture of any human being is considered an intolerable cruelty and a crime. The Geneva Convention consists of four global treaties outlining the rules of international humanitarian law and defines the ethical treatment of civilians, victims, enemy combatants and prisoners of war (Caplan, 2005) during global conflict. Specifically, it describes in detail those interrogation forms that are considered improper. It was ratified by the U.S. during the Convention on Torture (Hegland, 2006) to reflect the changing characteristics of counterintelligence. In 2009, under intense scrutiny regarding interrogation techniques, President Obama declassified CIA documents from 2004, including the Memorandum of John A. Rizzo to the Department of Justice (2005), which gave detailed descriptions of psychological interrogation techniques used by the CIA and whether or not to consider the acts torture.

In 2007, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps revamped the Counterindurgency Field Manual (COIN) to clarify the rules of engagement, Rule of Law, and the overall objective in today’s warfare tactics. Held within the COIN manual are the actual guidelines for those in authority to follow when conducting the security of any nation. The principles contained within the manual are a combined derivative of counterinsurgency employed by Germany, Britain, and France. Today’s military forces are expected to build national infrastructure as well as provide security and defense as warriors. COIN operations require the application of military, political, economic, psychological, and civic actions be synchronized to promote the stability and security needed for effective governance, essential services , and economic development of a nation. The focus of COIN is for the U.S. to establish alliances within an occupied country once aggressors are displaced. The only way to achieve alliance is to assist the ravaged nation in rebuilding the country’s infrastructure so that it may govern and sustain itself.

Rebuilding a country’s infrastructure begins by rebuilding vital relationships between the people who are represented on both sides of a conflict. “The moral purpose of combat is to secure peace. The moral purpose of policing is to maintain peace (COIN, 246).” Human nature is dependent upon relationships, therefore, any action that destroys this vital link undermines the ultimate goal of peace. Mistreatment of captured or detained personnel destroys this vital link and fuels the resolve of enemy combatants by giving them more reason to distrust security forces. Combatants use instances of abuse and cruelty as propaganda for their cause, which runs counter to the desired affect of interrogation. Clearly, nothing positive is gained from these instances of mistreatment and torture.

The Informed Interrogation Approach – a rapport-building technique within the Army Field Manual - has been proven to be effective in the counter-intelligence community and the war on terror. This new breed of interrogation uses propaganda techniques employed by the enemy in more constructive and less harmful ways. For example, plain talk, propaganda that uses general, positive verbiage to communicate a core emotional tone in the conversation. Plain talk builds report and assists interrogators in obtaining neutral ground with an enemy combatant; causing the detainee to relax and feel less threatened. What appears to be a conversation about family obligations is a counterintelligence technique used to determine the underlining motivations of the enemy. Expert interrogators use this knowledge in manipulative ways to bargain critical information from the detainee. The technique employs good, old fashioned detective work, knowledge of the culture and background of the prisoner, along with the awareness of human nature.

In 2008 Matthew Alexander (a pseudo) received clearance through the Department of Defense in to release his book, “How to Break A Terrorist,” detailing his adventures while he was assigned senior interrogator in Baghdad, March–June, 2006. Camaraderie and knowledge of Shia and Sunni culture were Alexander’s psychological tools as he coaxed critical intelligence from key personnel throughout the al Qaeda network. With this type of relationship building came the enlightenment that Iraqi civilians became involved with Sunni al Qaeda out of financial necessity and safety from the Shia Badr Corps, who escalated their terror tactics once Saddam Hussein was stripped of his dictatorship. With humane treatment and a chance to witness the peaceful intentions of security personnel, enemy combatants, previously hell-bent on destroying America and the State of Israel, became instrumental in destroying the psychological propaganda that has held them

prisoner in their own country.

On May 13, 2009, CIA Operative Ali Soufan (2009), along with Alexander, gave oral and written testimony during the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Investigation (2009) regarding their success using the Informed Interrogation Approach. Soufan succeeded in gaining critical intelligence from Abu Zubaydah, (which led to the capture of Jose Pidillia - the “dirty bomber”); and Abu Jandal (once Osama bin Laden’s chief bodyguard), by offering the gentlemen milkshakes and sugar-free cookies. Their testimonies revealed the truth behind the ugliness of war and the political fight they had on their hands to prove the Informed Interrogation Approach yielded more reliable intelligence than the torture counterpart. Soufan testified that the “enhanced interrogation techniques…are ineffective, slow and unreliable,… un-American and harmful to our reputation and cause (Soufan, 2009).” He should know; he was the mastermind who investigated such cases as the East African bombing, the USS Cole bombing, the al Qaeda structure models and communication methods, and the 9/11 plot operatives.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:24:26 GMT

ROLL TIDE in 09!

Alabama VS Virginia Tech

Sept. 5 dude! that is NEXT SAT.

ABC 7pm

The Purpose of Globalization

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:54:28 GMT

When trying to grasp all the beneficial aspects of globalization, our world view becomes broader and more intricately interconnected to our one common thread – humanity. Opening our eyes to the hope that is flourishing in destitute and dying nations gives purpose for life on earth The greater good has shifted world economies, brought about reform in the human condition and education and is giving natives a chance to thrive in their homelands. There are four areas of concern in globalization: (1) economics; (2) humanitarianism; 3) education; and (4)terrorism. Globalization promotes international harmony so that all benefit from the fruits of our labors.

According to the Institute of International Economics, American companies pay foreign workers 8.5 times the amount they would normally earn (Bandow, 2001). By increasing the Gross Nation Product of 3rd world countries, the world at large lends a hand in fulfilling the philosophical aspect of life. Globalization economics is simple - it refers to the reduction and removal of barriers between national borders in order to facilitate the flow of goods, capital, services and labors(2001). Globalization has been established for thousands of years; indeed, there has been massive trading throughout history of natural resources such as rubber, coal, fuel, and precious silks and gold. These goods helped fuel trade and investment between countries.

In classical one helping another neighbor philosophy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF, 2009) was established in 1944 after WWII to facilitate war-torn countries to rebuild. The shareholders (United States, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom) monitor and set the exchange rates of the whole world. It also lends money to developing countries to promote growth and to reduce poverty. In 2008, The IMF extended $50 billion in loans to Belarus, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Pakistan, Serbia, and Ukraine. In April, 2009, Mexico received $47 billion line of credit which forced the IMF into a borrowing agreement with Japan to the tune of $100 billion to add to the fund’s deposits. Stabilizing world economics creates more opportunity for under-privileged, less educated people.

Stabilization of a country improves the lives of the world’s poor. Basic needs such as clean water, housing, and healthcare are some of the outlets for the borrowed funds of the IMF. Communities begin to thrive with schools and hospitals. Clean water is piped into villages which assists in the ratification of disease. Globalization has also decreased the amount of poor people in many undeveloped countries. In fact, according to Doug Bandow (2001), poor nations grew at 3.6 percent annually, twice the amount of richer countries, during the globalization acceleration in the 1990s. China is a magnificent example of the benefits globalization has on less developed nations. The country has the most drastic drop in poverty since embracing globalization (Strongly 2001).

In a study by David Bank at the World Bank’s Washington headquarters, he divided 70 countries into two groups. One group embraced globalization, while the other did not. The countries not in the globalizing group saw growth decline from 3.3 percent per year in the 1970s to 0.8 percent in the 1980s, recovering to only 1.4 percent in the 1990s (Strongly 2001). On the other hand, countries such as, Malaysia, that were globalizing had increased their average economic growth rates, from 2.9 percent per year in the 1970s to 3.5 percent in the 1980s and 5% percent in the 1990s (Strongly 2001).

The fastest growth in U.S. employment has been in government controlled sectors of the economy including education and healthcare. Knowledge knows no boundaries, just as there is no binding the human spirit. Suddenly, China and Korea are investing in American educations while America sustains investments in world health and human services in third world countries. European, Asian and Latin students enrolled in American universities increased in the 1990s (U.S. Census, 2008). Additionally, America, Germany and France witnessed an increase in foreign student enrollment between 2005 and 2008 (Institute of International Education, 2008). Students come from all corners of the globe to be educated in countries they consider to be the leaders in education and technology. In direct consequence, government controlled entities such as schools and hospitals have seen a massive increase in the hiring of teachers, professors, nurses, doctors and medical specialists. While primary care physicians are dwindling in America, the need for them in countries like Africa and Central America is astronomical. Building the economy in other nations may result in a loss of menial jobs in America, but it opens the door for displaced workers to an opportunity to grow into an educated, American workforce (Census, 2009). After many years of helping the American economy grow, manufacturing is no longer the backbone of the American economy. Menial piece-meal employment has been re-educated or shipped to foreign shores. Displaced workers are given the opportunity to become higher wage earners in employment fields such as electronics, technology, science/biological research, and medicine through education grants from the U.S. federal government.

Finally, globalization reduces terrorism. The leading causes of terrorism are poor economics and poverty (Li, 2004). Poor economics and poor living conditions create fertile ground for terrorist ideology to fester. Oftentimes, with no hope of economic improvement or security, civilians simply join the ranks of terrorism and or provide havens for terrorists simply out of survival (Miller, 2007). By investing in poorer countries, globalization injects jobs and money, builds the resolve of the people, and creates positive alternatives to illegal activity. Additionally, in 2007 the U.S. Army and Marine Corps revised the Counterinsurgency Field Manual (COIN) detailing the proper use of funds for the specific purpose of multinational aid and support. These funds are used to rebuild and establish economic and civil systems in countries where the NATO forces have been deployed for security reasons. A helping hand to restore peace and the opportunity to sustain one’s family is all that is required to create friendship where battle lines were once drawn. The 1996 G7 Summit communiqué asserts that “economic growth and progress in today’s interdependent world is bound up with the process of globalization (Li, 2004).” Given the choice, people prefer to be on the productive side of the authorities.

Birding in the Backyard

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:02:01 GMT

I have seen two of these rose-breasted grosbeaks hanging around my bird feeder for the last few days. Beautiful coloring and and melodic song, they have even taken to bathing in the bird bath. I have discovered that they are actually migrating to the north, so I am sure once the heat of the summer draws in, they will be gone. But it is such a treat to see the different birds coming to the feeder. I've also seen what I think is an american goldfinch, but all of the photos I have seen on the internet show them having black on their crown and wings, but the one I have seen at my feeder is solid yellow. I have had the BEST time watching the birds. And it is so funny watching this one squirrel trying to get the top off the feeder! He hangs upside down, uses his back feet to try and pry it open, jumps up from the ground - and Jack just loves to chase them up trees. LOL!

Taking the Plunge

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:20:31 GMT

What did you think I meant?

I have returned to school. Yes, I am 41 years old and started classes once again. Hey, but did you know I am NOT the oldest one in my class of 26 people? Nope! There are several returning adults who are completing their masters in many different areas. I will go as far to say that I have met some professional students. Oh come on, you know who I mean! The 50 year old man who has a masters degree in Humanities, Science, Arts, Computer Science, Philosophy, Psychology, and now is seeking his masters in nursing...

I resist the urge to ask the man, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

In this class of 26 adults, I am one of three caucasians in the class. I bring this up to point out who exactly is using the free educational funds set aside for any and all american citizens.Kinda makes me want to kick some white butt for not taking the initiative to improve themselves and their way of life. I wonder if the government has done a study on that?

So, my classes are once a week, for 4 hours. Seems like a long time, but I assure you, the time flies by. I am one of those people who become actively involved in discussions I know something about. My sons and my husband(s) have all told me I actually embarass them because of my flamboyant personality. I like people. I like getting to know people. I want to know where they are coming from, how they see the world. I want to make some kind of impact on someone's life. It runs through my brain...constantly...How do I want these people to remember me?

My classmates have already given me a nick-name: Martha Stewart. Seems like I always have something to add to the conversation. I am always the one to make the point of a discussion abundantly clear to those less fortunate souls who just 'don't get it'.

The first class was the most informative for me. We had a brief overview of personality traits, learning styles, and goal setting. Not all the way thorough, but enough of the concept for a person to take away a deeper understanding of who they are and how they relate to their environment. My first assignment was to summarize what we learned about ourselves. Mine went like this:

I have found that based upon the "Personality Spectrum" I ranked highest in the thinker spectrum with a slight adventurer personality. This revelation has not surprised me as I have always known that I am a literal, theoretical person who appreciates complex subjects and breaking them down into cohesiveness for other people. The adventurer part of my personality keeps me open-minded and active within a group of people, often times showing no introvert tenancies when faced with a group of strangers. I scored least as a giver and organizer. I feel this actually balances out my thinker/adventurer personality traits, which causes me to break away from the introverted side to my personality. The giver personality trait causes me to be more compassionate and adaptable when my stringent, organizer personality trait prefers structure and procedure.

While completing the "Multiple Pathways to Learning" assessment, I have found, not surprisingly, that my highest level of development is musical. I view the world through music and associate many concepts of life through music. I have an interpersonal personality that makes me good at making people feel comfortable which helps when working on projects with other people. I am a naturalistic person who prefers being outdoors. This reinforces my stance that the most torturous place on earth for me would be a windowless room where I could not see the outside world. I am a verbal-linguistic person who enjoys reading, telling stories and a wonderful negotiator - as long as it isn't with my husband!

I know, kinda cheesy, but at least I got it turned in to the instructor on time! A significant portion of the class still do not understand when the assignments are due and how to post them on the university forum. They call it OLS - Online Student. You save your assignments on your computer then email the documents to the instructor for grading. Ahhh! Welcome to the computer age of schooling!

I have homework to do...More later~

A Woman

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:24:26 GMT

Quote of the day:

"Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater.

If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.

If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.

If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.

If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.

She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.

So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.

Author Unknown