Please Wait for the Facts to Emerge

Kingston, RI, 11:30 PM: Boston Police Commissioner, Ed Davis, has said there are no suspects in custody at this time, contary to rumors that a Saudi naitonal has been apprehended. And while the White House has labeled this incident an 'act of terror', FBI investigator Richard DesLauriers used more measured language saying, "it [the attack] is a criminal investigations that is a potential terrorist investigation." 

Please wait for the facts to emerge before hysteria informas your anti-Islamic anger. Information shared with the public thus far is not consistent with an 'act of terror', as the U.S. public understands that phrase. A 13-second delay between the two explosions, located hundreds of feed down the road from one another, indicates a time-triggered device, neither a suicide attack nor a remotely controlled explosion. Two unexploded devices were found farther up Boylston stree, and were subsequently disarmed. That's a 50% success rate. 

The explosions erupted three hours after the Marathon's winner had crossed the finished line; the winner's crossing of the finish line being the window of highest televised publicity. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, contrary to the usual practice of foreign terrorist organizations, except for the Iranians. The devices were pipe bombs and used a small number of ball-bearing objects as shrapnel, again, an inconsistentcy with past terrorist attacks. 

Next press conference is tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM 

How the Dallas Cowboys and Greenbay Packers Explain the Middle East Peace Process

     Cairo, Alexandria, Baghdad, Damascus, Aleppo, Mosul, Beirut. Among others, these are the major cities of the Middle East. Before colonialism took root in this region, many citizens of a myriad of different ethnicities and confessions professed allegiance to the cities they lived in and the surrounding neighborhoods. Can we not wipe the map of today's Middle East clean, leaving only the cities as focal points for a new state system?

Would you not agree that Dallas Cowboy fans and "cheese-headed" Packers fans at times are more loyal to their cities than the state or country they live in? You wouldn't be wrong to ask: Why should it even matter? or, Are being a Packer fan and owing allegiance to the U.S. mutually exclusive options? That's because you have little reason to reject the pride that accompanies living as a citizen of the United States. But what does it mean to be Lebanese or Iraqi? For many inhabitants of these countries today, the answers to the questions I have just asked can be puzzling and ambiguous, if not downright inappropriate.

     Before World War I, it really meant little to be Iraqi or Lebanese in the sense that these national definitions were equated with territorial limits that were irrespective of the populations within them. Instead, most of the people that lived around major urban centers derived their pride and loyalty, to a significant degree, from the bazaars and main streets that ran through the major cities. Sunnis, Shi'a, Maronites, Arabs, Kurds, and company, were not constrained by arbitrary lines on a map or fictitious governments that were created by Great Britain and France. These newly formed governments wrangled together urban dwellers and hinterland nomads into defined but awkward units.

After World War II, colonialism retreated and the United Nations celebrated as new kingdoms and republics sprang up throughout the region. And since that time, tensions between confessions and sectarian struggles have continued unabated. It is no wonder why there is so much violence in the Middle East today. What would happen if one day fans of the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers were moved to Chicago and the citizens of all three of those cities were called upon to root for a newly created team? It would be pandemonium! None of these people would agree to the terms and violent infighting would surely ensue. The relationships between and among the different religious sects and confessions of the colonial Middle East were changed in the like manner. Although, in order not to compare religion and ethnicity with professional football teams, I have to say the tensions that arose between colonial subjects were a matter of life and death. The change was dramatic, the damage was irrevocable, and the long path leading to today's civil wars was laid with blind precision.

     A city mayor or governor of the pre-colonial Middle East exercised remarkably different responsibilities as governing entities than state/nationwide legislators do today. The former entity was charged with preserving the peace and the facilitation of trade between merchants and consumers who often valued commerce over confessional loyalty. On the streets of Constantinople during the Byzantine Era, coinage was accepted as faithful currency, not religion. A Shi'a's hand did no evil to silver or gold such that a Sunni would refuse it as payment.

     If we worry today about the best ways to strengthen fragile states in the Middle East, or prop up loyal dictators in that region, we do so only because we lack the mental capacity to remember a time when cities were the lowest common denominator of governing entities. To wit, Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth were only a few city-states amidst thousands throughout classical Greece. City-states were the loci around which a menagerie of different ethnicities gathered to trade goods and blend cultures. These city-states of old commanded unquestionable loyalty and the benefits that one would accrue from being an Athenian or Spartan was far more tangible than the treatment some Lebanese or Iraqi citizens are subject today.

     Can we not wipe the map of today's Middle East clean, leaving only the cities as focal points for building a new state-system? Can we not think of an institution of government that is representative, but founded upon a city's population? It would seem to me that a city is a more tangible entity to owe allegiance to than a country with more or less meaningless boundaries.

     Cities command not only more loyalty than some of today's countries but, in some cases, also have more output. Take a look at this Wall Street Journal article by Conor Dougherty from July, 2012 and the accompanying chart. I'll delve into that insight more fully later, but does it not pique your interest to know that cities, and the commerce that is made possible through their networks, provide the most tangible benefit for citizens of different faiths? Those benefits are jobs, income, and the ability to feed your family. The classical Greek city-states of old crumbled under the weight of Alexander the Great's Macedon and then the Roman Republic. If we were to affect the change I speak of only to witness Middle Eastern city-states falling prey to the same conventional aggression typical of the ancient world then we face a set of problems that need to be discussed in some other forum.

     It's not that the "state system" is broken. In fact, however imperfect the global state system is, it still is better than all alternatives. And keep in mind: "state" is just a word that can easily be extended by, and replaced with, "city-state." The lines were simply drawn in the wrong place because the colonial powers started in the wrong place. Great Britain and France just carved up areas that were more or less equal in size and wealth. 

Why You Should Blame Yourself For the Failings of Government We See Today

A recent article by Sarah Kliff, the WONKBLOG contributor to the Washington Post, identified what at first seemed to be a quirky and amusing result of a recent Public Policy Polling ... poll. Nearly 40% of the poll's respondents had an opinion of the Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction plan and25% of respondents had an opinion of thePanetta-Burns deficit-reduction plan. The former plan is real, the latter ... not so much.

The "Panetta-Burns" debt plan was a ruse; the pollsters were seeking to determine if respondents would express an opinion in favor or disapproval of an imaginary debt-reduction plan. The pollsters and Sarah Kliff did not offer any conclusions for this insight. This article is my attempt to offer a conclusion: The American public,not Congress, deserves more blame for the country's current and projected fiscal and political woes. 

Why would someone express an opinion on an imaginary solution? They didn't know it was fake. So why would someone express an opinion in favor or disapproval of an issue which they had no knowledge of? Most oftentimes, people like to hear themselves speak and seek to impress their friends and family. This is what laymen refer to as "bull-shitting." But the poll didn't allow respondents to impress anyone. Far from it. If we assume that the 25% of respondents who expressed an opinion of the Panetta-Burns debt plan did so honestly, then the conclusion wemust recognize is troubling: political debates trigger automatic, unquestionable, illogical responses from the public ... at least 25% of the public. Does that trigger mechanism sound familiar? 

For all intents an purposes, politics in the United States is characterized by undertones of faith. Public policy in the U.S. is treated more as a religious discipline than a political one and "We The People" are to blame for the mess we find ourselves in. 

Critical thinking has been absent from public discourse for some time now, but until recently this tendency towards a herd-mentality has only affected our responses to events outside of the United States. A quick, simplified narrative will explain.

The presidential elections of 1854 and 1860 laid the foundations for the competition between two, broadly popular political parties: the Republicans and Democrats. While the Democrats had been more or less a cohesive unit since 1824, the Republican Party, or GOP, was a collection of Conscious Whigs, Free Soilers, and abolitionists, cobbled together in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Missouri Compromise. From 1860 onwards, these two parties would compete with one another for congressional seats and presidential elections, albeit both had fluid ideological platforms. 

Skip ahead to the end of World War II. Imperialist Japan and Fascist Germany were both defeated by August of 1945 and an international conflict had ended, the proportions and dynamics of which could be comprehended by Americans. But as Stalin's "Iron Curtain" fell over Eastern Europe, threatening war in central Europe between the U.S. and Soviet Union, a steady eruption of events took place from 1950-91 that would baffle the American public. This is a crucial point: each and every conflict, the Cuban Missile Crises notwithstanding, was far away enough, and abstract enough, to force ordinary Americans to defer their judgement and opinions to politicians. This worked insofar that both the Democrats and Republicans shared the same, over-arching strategy for defeating the Communists, albeit with periodic changes to strategy which both parties accepted.

We can broadly group together these conflicts into military, economic, and diplomatic categories. The Korean and Vietnam wars first called for direct military efforts to roll-back communist threats along the periphery of Eurasia. Both wars enjoyed initial support from the U.S. public if for no other reason than the simplified logic of halting Communists gains. The Korean conflict was lost to history, and the Vietnam War generated substantial opposition at home because the U.S. public miraculously began to question the importance of fighting a war in South East Asia which cost the country tens of thousands of lives. However, both conflicts were supported through public deference to "The Best and the Brightest" of the Washington, D.C., elite. 

The next international development was militaristic, but the U.S. public was effected in a serious, economical way. The 1973 Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War saw initial success for the Egyptians and Syrians against Israel. However, direct assistance to the Israelis from the U.S. government prompted the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to freeze oil shipments, causing a panic in the crude oil market sending prices sky-high. I wasn't alive at the time, but have seen YouTube videos of the long lines at U.S. gas stations. Again, the U.S. public, unable to critically think about international conflict, led to deference to politicians to fix the issue. 

Next to shake the international Richter scale were the explosive events emanating from Iran and its proxies from 1979-86. The '79 Islamic clerical revolution overthrew a U.S. puppet in Iran. This was the culmination of a long history of relations between the U.S., Great Britain, and Iran, too complex and confusing to explain here, but Earth-shattering nonetheless. The revolution, '79-'81 hostage crisis, Beirut U.S. and French military barracks attacks, and the '85-'86 Iran-Contra Affair, took place one after another and converged into a maelstrom so violent and complex that the U.S. public nearly combusted.  The conflicts were so foreign and abstract to the public that it was difficult for ordinary Americans to offer even a simplified opinion of the issues, especially theContra Affair. 

Finally, after the Berlin Wall fell in 1990 the U.S. stood pre-eminent on the world stage. A quick war with Saddam was launched and wrapped up in seven months and the U.S. public stood awestruck, marveling at its position at the top of the international food-chain and yet completely clueless as to how it had gotten there as a result of fifty years of unquestionable, illogical deference to Congress and the President. For fifty 50 years the U.S. public had looked to the U.S. government as the Messiah; a prophet claiming to deliver the political Gospel. What the public failed to recognize — and indeed still fails to recognize — is that the politicians and Presidents have carefully defined and framed issues in order to incite the public into action. Before you blame the politicians, however, carefully consider the sage words of Ice-T: "Don't hate the player, hate the game." For years and counting, the U.S. public has relied on blind faith to inform its opinions; politics is religion in the U.S.  

The recent public policy poll and Sarah Kraff's article are only a recognition of public apathy in the U.S. Most voters are a paradox: Libertarians when it comes to government intervention, butsocialistically addicted to the benefits a large, active government delivers to them. The only dividing line between Democrats and Republicans is a broken, two-party electoral system which offers a dazzling array of platforms to voters who are oftentimes only concerned with one or two major issues. And yet, the American public feeds into this system by, again paradoxically, failing to educate itself in politics. Politics is such a dirty word.

The public refuses to ask itself: How do I define my relationship with my government? What are the facts of this or that issue? Where in the world is Afghanistan on this map? 

Face it America: the politicians misbehave because we let them.

[Originally published by PolicyMic at http://www.policymic.com/articles/21044/why-you-should-blame-yourself-for-the-failings-of-government-we-see-today]

Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles and the Story of the Westerly Ghost Office

29 March 2013

Cory Egan

The office is only open Fridays, and yet the website claims the office operates Monday through Friday. We only learned later to our horror that the site was a lure for young men and women.

The phone line is completely automated with no telephone line access to an operator, but while on hold I swore that a gruff voice was on the other end of the line trying to clear some evil from his throat. Never mind that, as I thought it to be a static crack and soon hung up, angry but unawares of the danger.

No update on website to inform public office is closed on Good Friday, 29 March 2013. And so we came to Westerly, minds at ease and eager to leave as fast as we arrived. 

Both myself and a woman with two young daughters were inconvenienced, and as Steve and I turned the corner of the building's northerly wall we heard the mother shriek. We ran back in haste but found no one; neither the mother nor her two daughters, Jualita and Margarit, could be found. All that remained was a small pink bonnet fluttering down the sidewalk in the cool spring breeze. As it passed by our feet we heard an eerie whimper that seemed to fill the air so soft as the bonnet's cushion. And before we could speak a word a sharp cackle pierced through the wind, and a sickly yet proud voice of a man whispered into our ears, "So long, boys, and I hope you have a Good Friday!"

And this is the end result: Frustration; Anger; Disappointment; and a Complete Lack of Faith 

Get your fucking shit together, Rhode Island!

Former CIA operative and author, Robert Baer, being a Boss.

Former CIA operative, Middle Eastern specialist, and downright BOSS, Robert Baer, talks about the Iranian regime and the inability of the United States to come to terms with Iran's  growing power in the region.

Robert Baer. Video interview. "Dealing with Iran". June 23, 2012. Interviewed by Harry Kreisler. University of California, Berkeley, Institute of International Studies. 

Narragansett Town Manager Vacancy and a Compromise

Letter to the Editor:

Sir,

[PART II] 

I am happy to have the opportunity to speak with you again and shall do my best to honor the occasion.

For the second part to my lengthy letter addressed to you, I'll now address the concern(s) of the Town Council members who hold the belief that a pubic forum for the review of candidates via directed questioning might discourage individuals from applying. Yes, individuals who make public their intention to find a new career do run the risk of offending their current employers. Moreover, those applicants who are not chosen to be Narragansett's Town Manager -- and their will be many -- may experience awkwardness and discomfort at their current jobs following a public evaluation process. Are these considerations significant enough for an aspiring municipal planner to forgo the rare opportunity to fill a vacant Town Manager position? Absolutely not. When did we begin to accept this type of justification for the restraint of an individual's career ambitions? To apply for a new job while holding a different one is good form and a process every adult must manage for the same reason they are considered adults: professionalism. It's not personal; it's strictly business. 

With that in mind, it's important, nonetheless, to answer this question of form set before the members of the Town Council. Councilman McLaughlin succinctly framed the concern when he asked, "Don't you think that [subjecting applicants to a public forum] might discourage some very, very qualified candidates?" He continued, "Think of a person who's gainfully employed in our community. Would they subject themselves to a public hearing like that for a job?" To answer Councilman McLaughlin's last question: If they are adults then yes, absolutely. Narragansett is not considering a public forum for individuals seeking to be hired low-skilled jobs or menial labor. The job in question is arguably the most demanding, least secure, and most stressful position the Town has to offer: Town Manager. While the duties and responsibilities of Town Managers may vary from town to town, nonetheless, I understand the position to be the most critical municipal office. 

And so there are two issues the Narragansett Town Council must attend to: First, guaranteeing a democratic, open-forum for the public to vet the entire list of hopeful Town Managers. It is the public, after all, that gives life, substance, and meaning to a town. Second, easing the doubts and apprehensions for those applicants fearful of the blow-back from a public forum . These issues are not mutually exclusive; both can be satisfied by the Town Council. To do so, however, the Town Council must frame the forum -- and the need for a forum -- differently. 

It has been nearly a year since the Town of Narragansett has employed a full-time Town Manager. I consider that unacceptable, and I suspect many Narragansett residents and municipal officials agree. Therefore, instead of passively accepting applications, the Town Council could actively seek out and issue non-binding summons to qualified candidates, regardless of the intentions those candidates may hold. The qualified candidates can choose not to attend the forum. For those who have already applied for the position, the Town Council could issue a blanket statement to treat all candidates as summoned. The statement would uniformly include the names of those qualifying candidates who were summoned and the names of candidates who have applied or plan to do so. Applicant or not, the numerous candidates as a collective group could be labeled under one heading titled, "Qualifying Town Manager Candidates". The list will be given a ceiling, or sliding ceiling, of the total candidates allowed for consideration. Crucially, no distinction should be made between qualified, summoned candidates and applicant candidates. The summons should include an identification of the candidate's qualifying credentials, a description of the public forum where questions are to be conveyed, and the more intimate, directed inquiry to be made by the Town Council. 

If framed in this fashion, the hiring process would protect the private intentions of candidates who attend the public forum and dramatically reduce the likelihood they would suffer workplace discomfort or discrimination by their current employer. In other words, it would be justifiable for each candidate in this scenario to argue that they have simply chosen to perform their civic duty for the Town of Narragansett by entertaining the non-binding summons and, furthermore, have no intention of resigning from their current job. If all candidates can rely upon this 'escape clause' then they will all, collectively, support one another's privacy by their very omission of career intentions. 

The Town Council of Narragansett, as a municipal body, will, in one fell swoop, communicate its appreciation for: the public desire for transparency; the critical, professional role a full-time town manager fulfills and the long overdue need to fill that position; the reluctance of applicants to make public their wish to move from one career to another; and the Council's responsible choice to implement proactive, decisive solutions to local problems.

Narragansett Town Manager Vacancy and the American 'Accreditation Problem'

Letter to the Editor:

Sir,

[PART I]

As a student and hopeful future practitioner of municipal affairs, I beg you to indulge me as I offer my humble advice to the members of the Narragansett Town Council as they: consider the list of candidates seeking to fill the vacant Town Manager position; the professional standards against which to judge the qualifications of said candidates; and the tension between the conflicting needs for a public Q&A forum on one hand, and to respect the privacy of applicants who are currently employed on the other, purportedly two mutually exclusive options. These issues, raised in Derek Gomes' article, "Search for town manager resumes," from April 8, 2013 are at once delicate yet manageable. 

First, the issue of professional qualifications. Gomes explains, "[Town Council President James] Callaghan recommended adopting the qualifications initially posted after [former Town Manager Grady] Miller's dismissal in May 2012, which 'strongly preferred' a master's degree and municipal management experience." This preference, however, has given way to a sense of pragmatism.  Gomes noted, "After an appointed search committee screened more than 70 applications... the former Town Council re-posted the job, tweaking the language so a master's degree and municipal management experience were 'preferred,' rather than 'strongly preferred.'" The distinction is one of semantics, not substance. The considerations that should matter most to the Town Council in particular, and the Narragansett public in general, are: a candidate's ability to resolve municipal problems; the confidence to act decisively and with vision to seize opportunities to foster and strengthen municipal health; and the candidate's provision of proof which demonstrates his/her experience and training in active municipal affairs.

To unpack the question of which managerial skills a town's executive should possess, I must ask that you indulge me further, while I briefly list the qualifications I consider most valuable:

(1) A firm grasp of both the Town's and State's institutional structures, functions, and legislative processes. In other words, in order to do something at the local level, which legislative requirements must the Town Manager satisfy? and to whom must the Town Manager direct his/her efforts for evaluation?

(2) Understand top-down vs. organic economic growth. Should Naragansett rely primarily on support from the State for growth? or is growth more likely to be borne from local projects that require less funding and fewer bureaucratic hurdles? 

(3) In principle, the ability to develop a plan which insulates the Town from financial instability as it occurs at either the national level, state level, or both. If and when a recession occurs, will Naragansett suffer from a dramatic drop in funding and support from the State of Rhode Island, as happened recently? Which efforts would a Town Manager pursue to protect his/her community from this threat?

(4) A desire to re-invigorate the public's social activism at the local level. How can the residents of a municipality shoulder more responsibilities? and what might those responsibilities be?

(5) An appreciation for the educational system as the foundation for his/her municipality's health.

(6) Effective strategic planning. This entails: communicating an accurate and shared, unified vision for the community; diagnosing the Town's current strengths, weaknesses, and overall health; identifying short, medium, and long-term goals; identifying the means of achieving those goals; offering sober recommendations to the Town Council for realistic and sustainable growth; and spearheading the efforts to implement approved proposals and projects. 

(7) Although not necessary, a supplemental knowledge of technical skills in the following areas would greatly enhance a manager's competence: GIS mapping; AutoCAD design software; data collection, organization, and analysis; presentation software and delivery; and economic-financial forecasting.

Does holding a Master's Degree necessarily endow a candidate with these abilities? More than likely, yes, but not necessarily, no. More importantly, is it wise to reject for consideration those applicants who -- for any number of reasons -- have not received a Master's Degree? Of course not. American history is littered with the lives of individuals -- the American Framer Benjamin Franklin, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, for instance -- who walked the road less travelled to attain an educational curricula using free educational resources, both of which were less formal and less expensive than the formal, institutional path often taken by their more wealthy and socially connected counterparts. Although times have changed, the question under consideration by the members of the Town Council -- to require, prefer, or overlook the absence of a Master's Degree? -- is nothing more than the latest struggle to differentiate between the value of formal schooling, the credential system, and where the twain meet.

Given the professional duties of a town manager -- which are interestingly both demanding on the one hand, and humble on the other -- the Town Council should exercise a more liberal approach to the first assessment step -- educational requirements -- for two reasons.

First, expanding access to applicants without Master's Degrees will at once capture more potential candidates with less formal, but no less effective, training while not inundating the Town Council with a flood of applicants. The article explains that, "[Councilman] Callaghan said the town's recent struggles with hiring and retaining town managers might already dissuade some qualified candidates [from applying]. 'I don't know how attractive the Narragansett [Town Manager] job is with our track record' ", Callaghan said. 

Second, as the article explains, the review process is rigorous. The Town Council and, perhaps, the public will enjoy a lengthy regimen which will use a host of different means to evaluate applicants. Invariably, this process will reveal the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate regardless of -- or rather in spite of -- the candidate's educational credentials. I do not mean to sully the value of higher education. But what is clear to the public and experts alike is that higher education has recently demonstrated two worrying obstacles for potential students: cost and, in some cases, an overabundant and burdensome number of requirements. The latter impediment directly concerns this discussion.

As Seth Godin, former Yahoo! Vice-President explained in his January 22nd interview with Kara Miller from WGBH Boston's Innovation Hub, titled "The Future of College" (2013), "The challenge that we have [in America] is the 'accreditation problem.' It's one thing to teach people; it's another thing to prove that they learned something. And so what you pay for, now, at a 4-year institution [or for a master's degree] is not the courses... What you pay for is proof that you finished. And so, what we have to do is figure out a shorthand that will enable people to prove what they know." Godin continues, "I think most talented people do not, and should not, have a resume. What they should have is a list of projects. What have they built? Who have they impacted? Who is so in love with their work that they will speak up on their behalf?" 

What is encouraging to bear in mind is that, coupled with a less rigorous -- and less expensive -- formal educational curriculum, there exist today a growing number of emerging opportunities for aspiring professionals to prove their expertise more easily, without undermining the quality of standards their field uses to verify that expertise.

The AmeriCorps member group "Teach for America" , College Level Examination Programs, or CLEP exams, and, specific to town management, the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) are but three organizations and institutions that serve as accreditation resources for aspiring professionals who are eager to qualify for careers, but who lack the money, time, etc., to do so. In order to attain the AICP certification, for instance, test applicants must show a mix of educational credentials and experiential training in the field of municipal affairs, or another field with a similar skill-set. Interestingly enough, however, applicants with neither a master's degree in Planning nor a master's degree, period, can nonetheless offset their lack of formal credentials by engaging in more frequent field work and training, or by attaining more project experience within municipal affairs. Case in point, an individual who applies for the AICP certification with a Graduate Degree in Planning is required to have only 2 years of professional and experiential training, whereas an applicant with no Master's Degree can compensate for this by showing 4 years of professional experience! 

The current President of Northeastern University, Joseph Aoun, spoke to the value of these types of accreditation institutions. Their value is derived from their willingness and authority to offer an indirect, and far more affordable, means of acquiring the same skills one would receive from a traditional higher education institution. In the same interview conducted by Kara Miller with Messr. Godin, Aoun put forward the following prediction: "I think we [educational institutions] are in the middle of a transition that is going to have an enormous impact... because at some point... nothing [will] prevent employers from saying, 'We don't care about the formal credential process.'" For all intents and purposes, the Town Council of Narragansett should be willing to acknowledge the validity of a candidate's credentials and abilities regardless of educational attainment over and above a Bachelor's Degree.