Of course they aren't calling it that.

Here is a deeply pessimistic take.

For myself, one of the  more interesting social observations, is the slow creep of authoritarianism. 

Some of this bill will be rejected by the Supreme Court, when applied - at least I believe so - nevertheless, a bad result.

As bad as a result as this bill is of the U.S. authoritarian movement - and it is a REALLY bad one - the effects of that movement are not restricted to the Republican party. 

The same type of effect shows up in the various "good for you" rules that make one cough up a drivers license when going into a building, or set an extensive tangle of rules for every manner of activity.

There are a lot of economic strands here as well, tying in the corporate plutocracy, to the emerging authoritarian wave.  Technology - nominally - acts as a restrainer on that wave - but in time acts as an enabler as well.

I see from C4  that:

Zaadz Bookmarks is active.

It's very nice functionality.  Tagging is easy, drag and drop.  The cloud is implemented. So I've been finding great content. 

Plus, we should be able to recreate Kosmic Bloggers, with little effort!

While we have to see the end result, the rush to tyranny seems well on its way.

The Senate, siding with President Bush shortly after he personally lobbied lawmakers at the Capitol, rejected a move Thursday by a leading Republican to allow terrorism suspects to challenge their imprisonment in court.

Of course, being able to challenge one's detention is the hallmark of habeas corpus.  I already have given the story of Meher Arar - a Canadian siezed wrongly, and then taken to Syria and tortured.

There is also the story of a United States citizen, Cyrus Kar, who was also held illegally.  Funny enough, Cyrus Kar is a former Navy Seal. 

If you look at the Wikipedia page for Cyrus Kar, you will note that:

On July 6, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition for habeas corpus on his behalf. On July 10, he was released from military custody.

So - having the ability to file Habeas Corpus is - guess what? useful and effective when wrongly imprisoned.   And yet, Bush wants to gut the possibility of a Cyrus Kar, or a Meher Arar - innocent men - to be able to challenge their detentions. 


Some other, much more knowledgeable legal opinions:

Tyranny:  Our Generation's Version of the Alien and Sedition Acts.  This quotes the NY Times editorial, which accounts the flaws of the piece:

These are some of the bill’s biggest flaws:

Enemy Combatants: A dangerously broad definition of “illegal enemy combatant” in the bill could subject legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted.

The Geneva Conventions: The bill would repudiate a half-century of international precedent by allowing Mr. Bush to decide on his own what abusive interrogation methods he considered permissible. And his decision could stay secret — there’s no requirement that this list be published.

Habeas Corpus: Detainees in U.S. military prisons would lose the basic right to challenge their imprisonment. These cases do not clog the courts, nor coddle terrorists. They simply give wrongly imprisoned people a chance to prove their innocence.

Judicial Review: The courts would have no power to review any aspect of this new system, except verdicts by military tribunals. The bill would limit appeals and bar legal actions based on the Geneva Conventions, directly or indirectly. All Mr. Bush would have to do to lock anyone up forever is to declare him an illegal combatant and not have a trial.

Coerced Evidence: Coerced evidence would be permissible if a judge considered it reliable — already a contradiction in terms — and relevant. Coercion is defined in a way that exempts anything done before the passage of the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act, and anything else Mr. Bush chooses.

Secret Evidence: American standards of justice prohibit evidence and testimony that is kept secret from the defendant, whether the accused is a corporate executive or a mass murderer. But the bill as redrafted by Mr. Cheney seems to weaken protections against such evidence.

Offenses: The definition of torture is unacceptably narrow, a virtual reprise of the deeply cynical memos the administration produced after 9/11. Rape and sexual assault are defined in a retrograde way that covers only forced or coerced activity, and not other forms of nonconsensual sex. The bill would effectively eliminate the idea of rape as torture.

Andrew Sullivan - no liberal he - also has a post titled, appropriately enough - Legalizing Tyranny.  Make sure to read the links from that story.


So there you have it. 

Of course, ANY version of integral would be against this.  Any version, and any ethical system - whether religious, or pragmatic, or stemming from any classical philosophies - would be against this.

And so should you be against this.

To shift the focus a bit - does anyone know how Wilber's philosophy locates the pursuit of power for power's sake?  I am assuming this is the old blue, now amber?  

One claim for Spiral Dyamics values, is that there is no "regression" in values.  That may be true individually - I'm still not positive - but at a society level, I'm not sure that holds. 

May your union grown beyond and through the two of you, and bring joy to the greater world around you.

You ever have one of those days, when you just are grouchy?

I've been a bit sick over the weekend, didn't get enough sleep last night - and I'm just...grouchy.

Normally, I would do a passive-agressive thing, and sublimate it, finding "good reasons" to be grouchy, at other people, etc.

But no - let's not do that! 

I take full conscious responsibility for my grouchiness - and with the help of the Insult Generator (thanks Bill), I can inflict my grouchiness on you!

So - ~C4?  What is it with your fake name being a type of explosive - what is wrong with you, you heavyweight bowl of freakish parrot droppings?!

And Vince?  Yeah you!   

You think I care about your little list of movies, You rotten bowelful of goofy expectorant?!

And you, Kate, with your absolutely incredible intimate writing ability - I don't care, you crooked drip of rustic cat hairs (say, with the cat hairs, that fits a bit - I promise, totally random...)

And you, Joe, I'm steamed up enough, you bizarre assortment of neurotic horse sweat!

And Per - you zoned too far, You vomitous barrel of sickening nose hair (editor: eww, gross...)

And Ryan - you can intensively engage the smell of my socks, You rat-faced gathering of abrupt pig droppings!

And Jean?  I'll GET you your chocolate, You moth-eaten earful of sun-ripened mule froth!

At any rate - thought I would get all that in the open.

Here endeth the experiment in letting my grouchiness, "all hang out"...

Check out this release by those "hippies greens" at Deutche Bank Research. (Warning - PDF file).

The note introduces these various measures of well-being:

GDP - Gross Domestic Product
Economic Well-Being
Living Conditions
Happiness

With a cool graphic to go with it all:



When I see stuff like this coming from one of the premier banks in the world, I know we are making progress with an integral world view.

Cross-posted at Zaadz.

Per has a good initial analysis here.

Here is the Amazon link.


cross-posted at Zaadz

Artic ice melts shocks scientists.

No idea if this is accurate or not. 

Take it for what it is worth.

Blogs a note about the Thailand political crisis.

Pongasthorn is one of our best integral theory bloggers.  I wish him and his all the best, and send out my prayers. 

Any integral, or any spiritual, person, can look at some of the world scenarios,  must shake their head.

After yesterday's discussion about habeas corpus, we now find that Maher Arar, one of the people that could have possibly disappeared into a criminal justice system - forever.

Luckily, he didn't.  Here is the Washington Post story.

Arar, now 36, was detained by U.S. authorities as he changed planes in New York on Sept. 26, 2002. He was held for questioning for 12 days, then flown by jet to Jordan and driven to Syria. He was beaten, forced to confess to having trained in Afghanistan -- where he never has been -- and then kept in a coffin-size dungeon for 10 months before he was released, the Canadian inquiry commission found.

Remember, this is a mild, soft-spoken COMPUTER PROGRAMMER.  He could be me - about the right age - or you.   And this has already HAPPENED.

The legislation that I was referring to yesterday, would be used to prevent a person like Maher Arar, from even having the ability to question his detention. 

The thing is, governments WANT to cooperate with the United States.  Bad information from intelligence agents happen, and will get things wrong.  And people need to be held while the truth is figured out.  But then there needs to BE that period where humanitarian and rights of the accused take precedence, in a full legal system.  From the article:

After Arar was detained in New York, Canadian authorities apparently were unaware the Americans were preparing to send him to Syria, according to the commission finding.

The RCMP contact, Inspector Michel Cabana, "was under the impression that Mr. Arar would only be detained for a short time," O'Connor's report said. "In his view, Mr. Arar was being held in a country with many of the same values as Canada."

Arar filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court, but the case was dismissed by a judge citing "national security" issues. Arar is also seeking compensation from the Canadian government.

"National Security".  And national security is important, temporary seizures MUST happen - and should happen.  But they need to be temporary, and subject to review.

Again, for all we know, there may be people LIKE Arar, that have disappeared.  After all, many people seized have not had a court overhear WHY they were seized.

I don't hear Ken Wilber, or others, adding their voice to condemning these type of betrayals of integral values.

Why is that?  Is it so much more important to release another book about Integralism, than actually address fundamental betrayals of integral values, happening in one's own society?

A few links, to point out the manueverings of the current political action, regarding long-standing assumptions via the United States practice of due process of law.

First, the constitution:

Section 9, Article1, 2nd line -


The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

So - what IS habeas corpus?

The wikipedia article offers a good explanation:

.A writ of habeas corpus is a court order addressed to a prison official (or other custodian) ordering that a detainee be brought to the court so it can be determined whether or not that person is imprisoned lawfully and whether or not he or she should be released from custody. The writ of habeas corpus in common law countries is an important instrument for the safeguarding of individual freedom against arbitrary state action

Next a link to a good Obsidian Wings article.

"It would eliminate the right of any alien who is in US custody outside the US, or who "has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant", to file for habeas corpus".

The above quote is in reference to the "better" legislation for dealing with the seized prisoner issues and the past conduct in the military and Bush administration authorizing torture.  (The other legislation wishes to change alter the implementation of the Geneva Conventions.)

Lastly, a frustrated post from Glen Greenwald - who quotes Alexander Hamilton a lot IN this post:

"Just look at the things we're debating -- whether the U.S. Government can abduct and indefinitely imprison U.S. citizens without charges; whether we can use torture to interrogate people; whether our Government can eavesdrop on our private conversations without warrants; whether we can create secret prisons and keep people there out of sight and beyond the reach of any law or oversight; and whether the President can simply disregard long-standing constitutional limitations and duly enacted Congressional laws because he has deemed that doing so is necessary to "protect" us.

These haven't been open questions for decades if not centuries. They've been settled as intrinsic values that define our country. Yet nothing is settled or resolved any longer. Everything -- even the most extremist and authoritarian policies and things which were long considered taboo -- are now openly entertained, justifiable and routinely justified".


Finally, an American Footprints post, that brings all the strands together (I'm basically cribbing most of this post - the habeas corpus wikipedia pointers are all that is added.)

So - a right that began appearing 800 years ago in England, and is a setttled part of the United States constitution, will now be summarily dismissed, at the Pentagon's say-so.  And this will be written into law, by this Congress, with not much of a peep against, by either Republicans - or, Democrats.

That a government can detain you for as long as it wishes, without cause, and without ability to challenge the detention - that is very very far from any integral value that one can name.

I haven't mentioned Zaadz for awhile - but I am really liking the feature zPages and zBooks.

There are two reasons why:

a.  The tag implementation.  C4 I'm sure has explained this better than I can, but think of it as a graphical representation of what is most popular.  But implemented as a tag cloud, you don't only see the "top results", you see a whole "sky" of results, with the popularity being instantly visually recognizable.  (And since the tag cloud is a visual medium, immediately you perceive EACH tag in it's popularity.)

This in itself is a Wisdom of the Crowds implementation. as users tag what they like.  In addition however, you also get favorites -what people like, and reviews. What is favorite, what is top in currently reading, and the reviews, are all USER-CREATED content.  This means there are three levels of wisdom of the crowds here.

Same thing with zPages.  You start with a tag cloud, indicating the greater number of events, based on a particular tag.  This will indicate a tag you like, or that is frequently used.

In addition, once you click on the tag - say "life coaching" - you then are brought to a listing of people, businesses, that exist in YOUR area.

AND, these businesses are reviewed by users - with a scale, and with personal review.

Of course, the biggest to-do is for people to TAG and RATE people and businesses that you either LOVE or HATE. (And there must be a place for hate, right?)

Funny enough, there is a "Hollis Polk"  - psychic, spiritual counselor, life coaching, etc - that has three reviews on Zaadz right now, all positive.  Now three isn't a lot - friends could be bum-rushing the system with three - but, the reviews are glowing, and at this point, it is one of the more numerous reviews in San Francisco.

I hope more people begin utilizing this.  If you have a great group of 10000 people consistently utilizing, tagging, rating, and reviewing practices, books, people and places, that have improved their own life - well, the cream of the crop rises to the top, without effort.

I wanted something LIKE this - as you can see in this post - that post is from a year and a half ago - but the visual tag cloud implementation, and the different ways that one rates, is better than my initial contemplation!

At any rate, you will see me tagging up a storm over on Zaadz.  I'll keep you informed of how it is going.

Cross-posted at Zaadz

I'm continuing this series on integral values - even though this is a rumination of one.

One of the most urgent issues in the United States, is the issue of health care.  At one last count, there exists 46.6 million, or 15.9 percent, of citizens who do not have access to health care.

The article I point to above, shows that even of those who attempt to access private health, 9 out of 10 do not choose to - because of course, expense, not getting full coverage, all the exceptions for previous conditions, etc.


How would lack of health care, in such a rich nation, be viewed through the lens of integral values?

When a nation becomes wealthy enough, every nationa - EXCEPT the United States - has chosen universal health care. 

And you can see why -

a.  Practicality - health care is either crisis, or is fairly unnecessry.  At any one time, 90% of  people don't need health care.  They just need to be taken care of when accidents happen, when they fall sick, and as old age approaches.

Given this, a shared pool of risk, is always the smartest way to go. And of course, a nation is a very large pool. 

There are also a lot of savings in billing, dual coverage, fights with care provider, etc, that make private insurance simply impractical and expensive.  This is borne out also, in the fact that the United States pays more per person than any other country, but in terms of overall health, is less healthy than the average person in other countries.

Ths particular analysis, looks at INTEGRAL cities - in some sense incorporating "green" values, into looking at how to build "resilient" cities, and then creates an "Urban Bill of Rights", that attempts to stand in for integral values.

Here is the Urban Bill of Rights:

The Urban Bill of Rights

1. The right to see significant greenery, the sky, and the sun from within one’s home.

2. The right to natural cross ventilation in one’s home.

3. The right to enjoy peace and quiet within one’s home with windows open.

4. The right to sleep at night without excessive artificial ambient light.

5. The right to be free in one’s neighborhood from pollution of air, water, soil, and plant life.

6. The right to be free from undesirable local environmental change caused by poor urban design, such as wind, shadow and noise canyons, excess heat caused by overpaving, etc.

7. The right to adequate space for storage, hobbies, and other personal activities in and around each dwelling unit, including play space for children in family housing.

8. The right to mobility, regardless of income. If automobile use is discouraged by prohibitive pricing, public transit must be adequate and low cost.

9. The right to parking space for each household.

10. The right of convenient access, on foot if possible, to basic daily needs, such as good quality food at reasonable prices, daily household and medical supplies, laundry facilities, etc.

11. The right of convenient access, by foot, private vehicle, or transit, to places of employment.

12. The right of equal access to the commons and to taxpayer-funded and other public facilities, such as government buildings, libraries, museums, bridges, and roadways.

13. The right of access within walking distance to nature, recreation, outdoor exercise, and discovery, including parks, open space, and areas inhabited by wildlife.

14. The right to equal and adequate police, fire, and emergency services, which shall not be infringed on the basis of income or neighborhood character.

15. The right to participate in and guide, through equitable, representative, democratic processes, land use decisions that affect oneself, one’s neighborhood, and one’s community."

So this is one communities attempt to be integral, which takes in a whole host of individual, environmental, social concerns, while keeping the eye on longterm practical survivability of a community. 

Too pie in the sky?

Also posted at zaadz

If 2nd tier makes any sense, then the question is raised - what are integral values, as opposed, or differentiated, from regular values?

It's a very important idea to adhere - to varying degrees - to a sense of internal values, and live one's life by those values. 

I would argue we are doing that all the time anyway - the Atman Project right? - whether it is following desires, attempting to get a good job, looking for love, or explicitly looking for the Divine.  (Or explicitly "dropping" looking for the Divine.)

I didn't get any feedback the other day on this question, so I thought I would post it again - separate from the analysis of a Ken Wilber post.  Tuff Ghost makes the valid point that the values of 2nd Tier might not be noticeably differernt from the ordinary run of values. 

However, I want to run this thought experiment.  What ARE some integral values?  So, But I will look at it, by coming up with mine!

Integral Value One:  Recognizing that there are a multiplicity of values, of which MANY - but NOT all - have some implicit and explicit truth. and value.

The quest for God has value, the quest for scientific truth has value, the quest for integration has value, the quest for creative expression has value, and the quest for a better social order has value, and the quest for harmonious, deep, interpersonal relationships has value.

Integral Value Two:  Say Yes To Meaning

or find and create meaning in how you live.   

Whether you find meaning in your creative work, in your family, or in your God, or in simply resting in PEACE - find a YES, for your pursuit, internally, and for life.  "He not busy being born is busy dying", for a wonderful quote by a famous singer.

Of course, this can be pretty difficult for those with traumatic experiences, either in childhood or some time in life.  (It doesn't help to tell a suicidal person "have a nice day", as an example.)  In this case of course, get help. 

Integral Value Three:  Contribute Back to the Larger Community, to Life. 

There has been enough of boomerism, narcissism, etc.  An integral person recognized the value of others, the value of a larger community, and gives back TO this community.  I would say the basis of this for myself, is recognition and space for the Divine - but integral can proceed for agnostics as well, in the commitment to LIFE.  On a profound level, THERE IS NO SEPARATION.

Integral Value Four:  Practical Balancing. 

Or "The Golden Mean"
Or "The Middle Way". 

This isn't an absolute, of course - at any moment you may be called on to sacrifice for one of the above three values (children, community, country, a 3 year religious retreat), and that of course overrides balancing one's life.  But finding the right balance, as a general rule, is a value of integral.

This particular value becomes very important for those of us who have analytical tendencies.  What are the social structures that most promotes the above values?  What type of goverments promote both stability, freedom, a sound and dynamic economic base, individual experimentations and creativity, and appropriate sharing of resources among all? How to create an environment for individuals to be challenged, but not overwhelmed?

Just because I can, I place all science, social science, economics, etc, in this particular realm...

Integral Value Five:  The Now, Forward Movement, and Acceptance

Someone needs to make this particular value more pithy (any takers for a better expression?), but here is what I mean.

Acceptance for the moment.  And for yourself, and others.  THIS moment, now, pregnant with all possibilities, is as it is.
Moving forward - in this moment, this perfect moment, there is still movement.  Move forward actively with what NEEDS to be done, and what you are called to do: building, fixing, loving, caring, participating, creating, opposing when necessary, defending when you must.  But hold it lightly, (when possible) at peace in this moment.


Now that I read this over, some of this sounds a bit hokey.  But that's okay.  I am a regular guy of limited means, and this is what I got! 

Those of you who are smarter, more productive, more  inspiring...

Why don't YOU take your stab?

What are integral values to YOU?


Also posted at Zaadz

What do you think?

Umguy at Ideological Putty echoes a lot of my concerns, regarding the retreat on integral values in the U.S.

And to see a commentary about the opaque retreat on liberties in the United States, this post is a good one.

One of the things, of course, that I'm assuming is that "integral values" include things like right to counsel, freedom from torture, etc.  Let me know your thoughts if you think that these are not covered by "integral values".

I see yesterday that on the KW blog, there was reposted a commentary about the war in Iraq - the piece originally dates from 2003. I thought it would be useful - for myself at least - to critique this piece. Note - this is going to get long, as I've spent some time in the analysis below: So here goes - First off, it is interesting to note that the post contains two separate issues - and conflates them, to a degree - the attack on 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq. The connecting tissue for this conflation is this post is ABOUT Iraq, yet posted on 9/11.    more »

Had a very good Ken Wilber MeetUp yesterday.  (Funny enough,  the topic ended up being "self-development" in various areas, with only a loose association to Ken Wilber).

What was fascinating was the  type of open-source  bull session that we had.  We took 6 different areas of life, and discussed people's experiences of skill, competency, experience, in those areas.

Simply by doing this, every person (we had about 11) was "litup" by at least one area of life, shared a great book/story, and was able to engage meaningfully with the rest of the group.  This encouragement of pooled knowledge, was a lot of fun. (As were some of the wry, and wise, stories.)

By the end, everyone was fairly loose, engaged, and contributing - which is all one can really ask, I think.

Today of course, is 5 years since 9/11.  I'm not sure how other people marked this occasion.  I spent some time this morning in meditation and prayer, wishing, visualizing peace for all people.

At the same time, practically, I have to acknowledge, that the world doesn't seem a safer place than it was five years ago.  The various tensions that mark the world stage, have only increased in that time.

So what has integral theory given to this, this improvement in society's fortunes, it's contributions to reducing violence, creating more peace?

It's hard for me to look for any specific or original contribution of "integral theory".  Ken Wilber has been working on "The Many Faces of Terrorism" for awhile now - I'm assuming shortly after 9/11 - but on his official site, no word of any progress on this since he wrote on the official site:

I’ve almost finished a new book entitled The Deconstruction of the World Trade Center—The Many Faces of Terrorism.  I will also keep you posted on its progress here on this site.

And that was written as of September 13, 2004.

Still, outside of any official integral theory, the integral attitude - with an open heart, a clear mind, a deep care, and practical passion, while being open to the many perspectives of the world, and coming to solutions based on a correct VALUING of all perspectives (not treating all as equal) - I see that approach still giving some of the best contributions. 

CJ Smith has been one of the better blogsites tracking the integral approach on the leading edge, but not tied to any particular theory.  Followed by Tuff Ghost.

And I'm sure that there is more, that I am missing. 

In the end, the "integral project" ends up BEING this integral attitude.  Formulating actions based on the perceptions and revelations in all fields - the practical (scientific, business, power relations), the humanities (societal goods of stability, freedom, pursuit of happiness, etc), and the religious (practice, prayer, interconnectedness of all beings).

To this, I dedicate this day.  May all beings advance in their lives, with passion, practicality, joy, and love - and may this all express in wise action, leading to great peace.

I've received the first issue of Polysemy - I will be posting some reviews, when I get the chance, but for now, a couple of first impressions.

a.  Now that I've been blogging awhile, I'm becoming more interested in "best of" groupings - those posts that endure, or the best writings that take a form that can be used away from the computer.

Polysemy seems to me an example of this, and it's always very nice to actually have a physical representation in your hand, I think. 

I've read the first article so far - by Dan Allison.  As well as being a decent read - one of the best sentences being "The cumulative limits (narrow and broad) in our lives make the frame." - it's also interesting to see the use of images, contrasted with the text.  It definitely makes for a richer experience.

The article meanders a bit, but for me, the best point made is the importance of limits - in art, life, and technology.

I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

Here is the link.

I also leave a comment. 

Given the multi-disciplinary approach of Wilber, it would be interesting to see what academic framework Wilber's work would fit in.  Theological?  Sociological? 

If anything, my preference would be in the framework of Habermas -with a spiritual element.  There are enough grounding elements in the Habermas framework to allow Wilber entry. 

As the amount of things I have in my various RSS readers have increase, I have slowly begun to appreciate the Yahoo RSS Reader, over the Google Reader. 

This is because, all the actual entries in the Yahoo Reader are displayed on one page - the home page - and I can quickly scan ONLY the title, then by hovering over the article with a mouse, I can further scan the initial sentence.  Only then, if I am still interested, do I click on the actual article.

Also, I can set each particular feed, for how many articles/post from that feed I will display, and from how far out. 

To quickly scan a large amount of feeds, this is proving to be ideal.

What are the ways others are handling there feeds? 

Good to know, good to read.

Here is the link.   more »