Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

This is a great speech for anyone. It reminds me of the Buddhist saying I live by which is "death is good for your practice."

...more effective than diplomacy

I heard this story on NPR, Working In Shadows: Best U.S. Policy Toward Iran? At the heart of it was the debate of are covert actions better than declaring or entering a state of war? The story goes on to say that yes these covert actions are better, I find this interesting. It cites "involving cyberattacks, assassinations and bombings, and defections — has proved more effective than diplomacy." Now it really has my attention.

What I find really interesting about this article is why does it exist? A story of this nature most likely came from some people wanting to make an impression or change the way the public would view these types of activities - covert action against Iran. Then I came across this article: One Last Battle: Spinning Bin Laden's Legacy. This article was about "the work of telling the story of the operation in such a way as to advance U.S. interests." It was about "strategic communication: putting out news that furthers your cause." It used examples of how they released false information about bin Laden using a woman as a human shield. It later mentioned that "Propaganda and spin are generally seen as efforts to manipulate or even deceive people." In the same article it is talking about strategic communication and propaganda. Why not entitle the article, how to lie to the public. Keep in mind, this article is about how the news is reported.

It goes back to my earlier post regarding Osama bin Laden and not really feeling that I can trust what I read or see in the media. If you think about it, the PR agencies that are creating the positioning for these types of stories are experts. They have a very specific agenda that they are quantifying constantly. They are well funded with our tax dollars. It is no accident that the stories change, that the information is true, then false, then it is a mistake. There are resources looking at each response from the public and making decisions based on that to continue the positioning of the stories moving forward. Remember where I started on this - reading about how we can justify an assassination if it fits our cause/agenda. My observations are without contribution - I have multiple cars, I am buying all sorts of things that use oil in one form or another as part of my buying behaviors. For the most part, I do not pay attention or care about the majority of all of these types of things. Just every once in a while I am shocked to see stories like these. It is like the buzz in my brain is saying "hey zombie, pause ESPN, they are publicly testing to see if you are awake. If you can process anything outside of the NFL. They are mixing terms like diplomacy and assassination in foreign policy - do you care?" Then I say to myself, well there are no tanks in my neighborhood, gas is expensive but it is still a rounding error, and my life for the most part is really good. I am crazy? I checked all my friends on Facebook and they are not talking about any of this - it is mostly where they have been recently, what they have bought, and pictures of their families. Reminds me of the movie The Matrix - the perception of the my world looks pretty good, should I care that it is not real?

Bang, bang, the witch is dead - really?

Before you read this blog on my reaction to the news of the death of Osama bin Laden, know the following: I am relieved that the leader of the largest publicly know terrorist organization is gone, that our countries efforts to reduce and eliminate terrorism continues to improve, and I am a proud, happy and patriotic U.S. citizen. With all of that being said, when I heard the news of the assassination of Osama bin Laden, my reaction was kind of modest. It goes back to 9/11 and all of the news since then. Initially I was surprised how quickly we announced as the responsible party for 9/11. My initial reaction was "wow that was fast." Then as time moved on I was reading other data points that made me really question was Osama bin Laden really the master mind behind 9/11. I remember seeing various movies like Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 that claimed that the first flight out of the U.S. was the family of Osama bin Laden - why would we do that? I also watched Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup, which was a film that used images from the news footage and was demonstrating that the planes that hit the tower were not commercial planes, but military planes. It also questioned the ability of a plane to hit the Pentagon based on its flight path, size of the hole in the building (being too small), and the lack of heat/fire damage based on what a plane that size would have left. All interesting stuff, all it did was confuse me on what really happened, unable to draw a clear conclusion.

Then I was always shocked how a country with our military size, strength and resources were unable to catch Osama bin Laden. I mean really, 10 years? I would read stories of near misses and how he was living on the run in caves in the mountains with large groups of his military protecting him. I think I read at one point the U.S. had a reward of $25M for information leading to his capture - and no one turned him in - really? In the end, he was not found in a cave - rather a million dollar complex next to the Pakistan military academy. Additionally, there was only three people with him when the 24 man seal team moved in - his son, unidentified woman and man - really? Where was his bodyguards? Where was his army? This was the master mind behind 9/11 and the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in Yemen. And with all of his wealth, he was left unguarded - really? The U.S. military immediately removed his body and buried him at sea - really? Why would we not capture him (I mean he was only protected by 3 other people), and question him? It is hard to believe that questioning the leader of the largest organized terrorist group is better off dead than interrogating him first. He was the most wanted man in the world. Last, why not take a picture of his corpse? I mean is he really dead as of two days ago? Just seems odd that there is no public proof that he is dead.

I guess I just don't know or trust what I hear in the news. It would make me feel better if the second biggest story after the announcement of his death was what this will this mean for the U.S. war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I mean if the witch is really dead, and all is good in the world, then why are we continuing to send military into these countries?