The roundup from Barnett.
"Just be thankful Richard Reid didn't shove that bomb up his ass, because if he had, we'd all be taking off a lot more than just our shoes!"
Updating old blogs, old positions
¦"White House to Push for Revised Immigration Plan: Supporters Count on Help From Big Business to Sway Resistant Conservatives," by John D. McKinnon, Wall Street Journal, 15 August 2005, p. A1.
¦"China May Offer Foreign Control Of a State Bank: Officials Weigh Auctioning of 50% In Guangdong Development," by Peter Wonacott, Andrew Browne and Robin Sidel, Wall Strett Journal, 15 August 2005, p. A14.
¦"Koziumi Apologizes for War; Embraces China and South Korea," by Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times, 15 August 2005, p. A4.
¦"El Salvador's Hunger Shows at Tuna Plant: Elusive Prosperity Seen in CAFTA," by Krissah Williams, Washington Post, 15 August 2005, p. D1.
¦"Indonesia and Rebels In Aceh Sign Accord: Tsunami Spurs Deal Ending 30-Year War," by Alan Sipress, Washington Post, 15 August 2005, p. A8.
¦"Talk to Tehran: Efforts to stop or at least delay the Iranian nuclear program are worth undertaking," op-ed by Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post, 15 August 2005, p. A13.
A day for catching up on old predictions/positions:
Reader recently sent me email on PNM, saying he had just finished it and that many light bulbs went off in his head, including a new understanding of why Bush and the White House are doing their level best to be as liberal as possible on immigration from the South (thinking of Jeb's run in '08, perhaps?). Whatever the reason, it's the right thing to do. Like other presidents before him, Bush will make the show of tougher enforcement against illegals while bending over backward to keep that pool's definition as small as possible. Tough lot for border states? You bet, and they should get extra federal help on that score. But it's good news economically for the U.S. as a whole over the long run.
Second bit on China dipping its toes in the water even deeper on foreign ownership of banks there: not just letting minority ownership but getting very close to allowing a major state bank to come under majority ownership by foreign firm. Bank is question is Guangdong Development Bank, and the question then becomes, "How can we call it a 'state-owned bank' if foreigners own 50%?"
Third bit on Koziumi (Esquire's best-dressed politician of 2005) in Japan apologizing to neighboring victim nations to an unprecedented degree on the occasion of his country's marking of the 60th anniversary of its defeat in World War II. When Japan and China were getting all jacked up on this issue a few months back, I was tempted to insert all sorts of additional language on it in the draft manuscript for BFA, but I'm glad I didn't. Yes, the politicians and the military types on both sides aren't nearly aware enough of the profound economic and network ties that already bind the two nations together, but the right, smart leader can do his best to correct that rule-set gap with the right words at the right moment. Koziumi did so yesterday, marking him as Asia's closest thing to a Tony Blair-like leader of real vision.
Fourth bit on big hopes being displayed in Central America regarding the Central American Free Trade Agreement just passed. No real gains yet and in many instances it will take several years to see the impact, but thank God we gave so many people in that region a reason for thinking a future worth creating is within their grasp.
Fifth bit follows up on the Asian tsunamis: that System Perturbation really did lead to a positive security outcome in Indonesia. All that foreign aid streaming in broke down many seemingly unbreakable barriers between the central government and the rebels in Aceh, and now there's real progress in ending that 30-year civil strife. Vertical shock yielding one positive horizontal scenario, and the U.S. military had a real part in making that happen with its humanitarian support and its subsequent efforts to repair military-to-military ties with Indonesia. That's SysAdmin work at its best. How many stories will you read in the mainstream press giving the Pentagon credit on that one? Zero, my friends, zero. But you and I know better.
Sixth bit is nice to see: Fareed Zakaria noting how we better find a way to somehow make nice with Iran over the nuke issue if we want peace in Baghdad. Add in Beirut and Gaza and the West Bank and you have my basic argument from the Feb story I wrote for Esquire. Of course, careful Fareed, who long ago announced his candidacy for the post of National Security Advisor to some future president, would never be so bold to argue my point of simply accepting that Tehran's getting the bomb, but that's fine. Fareed may never be bold as an op-ed columnist but he's always reasonable and balanced, and that alone sets him apart from the pact. I went to grad school with him at Harvard years ago, and he was exactly that way then, groomed as he was from birth for this career trajectory now well within his grasp.
Looking backward, looking forward on the SysAdmin function
¦"Fighting The Last Hijackers: Who's Afraid of Pocketknives?" op-ed by John Tierney, New York Times, 15 August 2005, p. A17.
¦"Sorry Baby, this plane's leaving without you: Screeners stop infants for names on 'no-fly list,'" by Associated Press, USA Today, 15 August 2005, p. 2A.
¦"Gauging Iraqi Readiness Centers of 'Feel': Beyond Metrics, U.S. Taps Battlefield Views to Assess Local Troops' Strength, Progress of War," by Greg Jaffe, Wall Street Journal, 15 August 2005, p. A4.
Blistering op-ed by consistently strong Tierney, who's become my favorite NYT columnist after Kristof. He points out the essential mistake-within-the-mistake that was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security: the creation of the Transportation Security Administration and its entire closing-the-barndoor-after-the-cows-have-gone mentality.
There's a line I like to use in my talk know whenever TSA comes up: "Just be thankful Richard Reid didn't shove that bomb up his ass, because if he had, we'd all be taking off a lot more than just our shoes!"
It's a great punch line but a very sad commentary, one reflecting a backward-looking mentality that continues to afflict our response to 9/11: we think it's all about us when it's really all about them. It's not about raising our security practices but raising them abroad. America remains the most robust, distributed, resilient system in the world. To the extent that we need to tighten up, the private sector will take the lead far more than the public sector, which needs to set the rules only and let the private sector work the compliance issues voluntarily. That underlying philosophy is why The New Rule Sets Project LLC is moving toward a deep partnership with Enterra Solutions: I want my rubber to meet that particular road of rule-set automation. This is the big private sector response we've all been waiting for since 9/11, and its successful emergence will hopefully speed up America's movement from the "us" fixation to a new and far more consistent approach to "them" in the Gap.
And when DHS becomes the Department of Agriculture for the 21st century (progressively starved of capital by the federal government because it's utility is OBE), then we'll liberate all that rule-set talent for what it's really much better applied: extending the Core's rule sets into the Gap. DHS will be, in my preferred future, the future home of the SysAdmin function-one that serves the Core as a whole and not just the United States.
[Side note: scary stories about TSA pulling over babies and toddlers cause their names seem close to known terrorists on the watch list. My advice: spend some money and make the effort to get your child (each one of them) his or her own passport, and then never travel far from home without it. Seriously. All our kids have them (worth it when you have an Asian child whose skin tone doesn't exactly match yours and do-you-have-any-proof-she's-your-child-Mister?"). You're on vacation and your kid gets lost. What do you show the cops? ]
Much better example of forward thinking is how the Army and Marines on the ground in Iraq is thinking systematically about how to judge the progress of their training of Iraqi security forces. In many ways, both services are repeating "measures of effectiveness," or MOEs research that was done back in Somalia more than a decade ago, but it's great to see it happening. We need to think through this SysAdmin stuff like crazy. We need think tanks and workshops and exercises and experiments and lessons learned and simulations and training modules and anything else you can think of.
Islam's reformation will occur in the Core, Christianity's in the Gap
¦"Unfree Under Islam: Spare a thought for Muslim women in Iraq-and Ontario," op-ed by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Wall Street Journal, 15 August 2005, p. A16.
Good op-ed about how women are consistently disadvantaged in family affairs in any Gap state where shariah, or Islamic law, is used to trump secular law. The piece references the current constitutional fight going on in Iraq, but then emphasizes that this struggle goes on in mosques throughout the Core. Frankly, it's within the Core's greater political and social freedom where Islam's reformation will logically be enabled.
Conversely, and this is a big theme in Blueprint for Action, the revitalization of Christianity will be Gap-based, not Core-based. Forget secularized Europe and even bipolar America. The future of Christianity is in the Gap, along with the majority of the Christians.
Important medical reminders
¦"In the Hospital, a Degrading Shift From Person to Patient," by Benedict Carey, New York Times, 15 August 2005, p. A1.
¦"Essential but Uncommon Knowledge: Patients Have Many Rights. Just Ask," by Benedict Carey, New York Times, 15 August 2005, p. A12.
Two really good reporting stories from Benedict Carey in the NYT. The first one, on how hospitals routinely treat people like bags of meat is a frightening indictment of how bad most doctors have become in interpersonal communications. Here is the killer opening:
Mary Duffy was lying in bed half-asleep on the morning after her breast cancer surgery in February when a group of white-coated strangers filed into her hospital room.
Without a word, one of them-a man-leaned over Ms. Duffy, pulled back her blanket, and stripped her nightgown from her shoulders.
Weak from the surgery, Ms. Duffy, 55, still managed to exclaim, "Well, good morning," a quiver of sarcasm in her voice.
But the doctor ignored her. He talked about carcinomas and circled her bed like a presenter at a lawnmower trade show, while his audience, a half-dozen medical students in their 20's, stared at Ms. Duffy's naked body with detached curiosity, she said.
After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor abruptly turned to face her.
"Have you passed gas yet?" he asked.
"Those are his first words to me, in front of everyone," said Ms. Duffy, who runs a food service business near San Jose, Calif.
"I tell him, 'No, I don't do that until the third date,'" she said. "And he looks at me like he's offended, like I'm not holding up my end of the bargain."
Some asshole doc tries that on my mother, wife, or daughter and I punch him on the spot, something I made clear I would do when we went through a similar experience with our first born's cancer roughly a decade ago.
I can remember the night vividly: just that afternoon we got the shocking diagnosis of her advanced, metastasized cancer, and her first surgery was scheduled first thing the next morning. After several very difficult diagnostics where I was forced to hold down my screaming in fear and pain 30-month old daughter, we endured a parade of med students who entered our room unannounced to feel up what they all described as the biggest bloated cancer kidney anyone had ever seen.
We were so stunned by the diagnosis that it was about 5 students in before we came to our senses and told them to f-k off, shutting the door, putting a sign on it, turning down the lights and closing the curtain window. Nurses protested, and the resident presiding got really mad. I, in return, put every effort to emphasize my 6 foot, 2 inch, 200-plus pound frame and my willingness to use it on anyone who gave us a hard time from that moment onward.
Our reputation as badass parents was sealed, much to the delight of our pediactric oncology social worker, who saw it as evidence that we were determined to survive, in tact, as a family.
I maintained that intense level of anger for a good 15 months straight, until the entire process was consummated. It took me a good year-plus to come down off it, including a week of "difficult personality" training in the Maine woods that my company sent me to.
But it was worth every second.
Big point: everyone in the hospital acts like you're in a prison or something, with few rights. Nothing could be further from the truth, and if your doc can't handle you pulling out all the stops for your loved one-get another doc.
Second point comes from a USA Today story that I neglected to clip before my flight: grass-roots movement among emergency medical response personnel in Britain is spreading to the United States. Finding that many unconscious patients carry no info on them regarding whom to contact in an emergency (remember those cards in wallets?), they're asking people to do so on their cellphones.
Here is how it works:
Type in cell phone numbers for next-of-kin emergency contacts and then label the entry "ICE" in all caps. The acronym stands for "In case of emergency." The EMR techs just might find that phone on your and check the numbers (makes perfect sense to me that they'd check) and when they see that entry, they'll be able to hit the button and call.
Think about it and do it. I already have on my phone and I'll program my wife's when I get home tonight.
thomaspmbarnett.com |
