F L A S H C L U B » congress http://flashclub.ch/flog  The World Is What You Know Fri, 14 May 2010 12:50:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Corporate entity becomes ‘candidate’, kicks off bid for Congress http://flashclub.ch/flog/web/corporate-entity-becomes-%e2%80%98candidate%e2%80%99-kicks-off-bid-for-congress/ http://flashclub.ch/flog/web/corporate-entity-becomes-%e2%80%98candidate%e2%80%99-kicks-off-bid-for-congress/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:00:00 +0000 http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/corporate-entity-becomes-%e2%80%98candidate%e2%80%99-kicks-off-bid-for-congress/ Meet

]]> Meet Murray Hill, Inc. , the first corporation to run for Congress in the United States.

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Corporate entity becomes ‘candidate’, kicks off bid for Congress

]]> http://flashclub.ch/flog/web/corporate-entity-becomes-%e2%80%98candidate%e2%80%99-kicks-off-bid-for-congress/feed/ 0 Colombia vote: Former FARC hostages run for Congress http://flashclub.ch/flog/headlines/colombia-vote-former-farc-hostages-run-for-congress/ http://flashclub.ch/flog/headlines/colombia-vote-former-farc-hostages-run-for-congress/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:48:00 +0000 http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/colombia-vote-former-farc-hostages-run-for-congress/

]]> Six former FARC hostages – each held for years by the leftist rebel group – are running for Congress in Sunday’s Colombia vote. Voters are choosing 102 senators and 166 representatives in the legislative elections.

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Colombia vote: Former FARC hostages run for Congress

]]> http://flashclub.ch/flog/headlines/colombia-vote-former-farc-hostages-run-for-congress/feed/ 5 Cancel Cyber Command http://flashclub.ch/flog/security/cancel-cyber-command/ http://flashclub.ch/flog/security/cancel-cyber-command/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:17:07 +0000 http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/cancel-cyber-command/

]]> By Kevin Coleman Defense Tech Chief Cyber War Correspondent If you read recent comments by White House Cyber Security Coordinator Howard Schmidt, that’s the conclusion you might draw. The web posting titled “Howard Schmidt Dismisses Cyber War Fears” has left many asking — does the left hand know what the right hand is saying? Troubling Comments in the post: Schmidt, in a face-to-face interview with GovInfoSecurity.com, said the federal government and the private businesses that control 85 percent of the nation’s critical IT infrastructure are better positioned than ever to fend off massive digital assaults. Well, I guess that could be true; however, that could leave many to believe we have an appropriate level of defense, are safe and we need not invest in cyber defense. These are two points with which I strongly disagree. Schmidt questioned whether such an event as a cyber war can exist. “A cyber war is just something that we can’t define,” he said. “I don’t even know (how a) cyber war would benefit anybody.” How about the benefits a terrorist organization would gain by misadjusting the computerized supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) controls on a water treatment facility and making people ill

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Cancel Cyber Command

]]> http://flashclub.ch/flog/security/cancel-cyber-command/feed/ 0 Hurry Up and Wait for the Gajillion-Dollar Stealth Plane http://flashclub.ch/flog/army/hurry-up-and-wait-for-the-gajillion-dollar-stealth-plane/ http://flashclub.ch/flog/army/hurry-up-and-wait-for-the-gajillion-dollar-stealth-plane/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:44:34 +0000 http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/hurry-up-and-wait-for-the-gajillion-dollar-stealth-plane/

]]> The news isn’t getting any better for the Pentagon’s star-crossed effort to design and procure an all-purpose stealth jet. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is supposed to be a sort of Swiss army knife of the skies: It will replace everything from the tank-busting A-10 to the carrier-launched F/A-18. Andrea Shalal-Esa of Reuters reports that the Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman is now planning to hold hearings on the troubled acquisition program. Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the committee, said: “ There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered.” For starters: How long, exactly, will it take to deliver the planes? In a hearing this week on the Air Force budget, Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley told reporters “we are going to have a slip” in the program. According to the Associated Press, the new planes probably won’t be ready for the Air Force until 2015, two years after they were supposed to become available . Last month, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates sacked the Marine general who headed the military’s gajillion-dollar program.

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Hurry Up and Wait for the Gajillion-Dollar Stealth Plane

]]> http://flashclub.ch/flog/army/hurry-up-and-wait-for-the-gajillion-dollar-stealth-plane/feed/ 6 Time to Get Real on NATO http://flashclub.ch/flog/obama/time-to-get-real-on-nato/ http://flashclub.ch/flog/obama/time-to-get-real-on-nato/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:32:24 +0000 http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/time-to-get-real-on-nato/

]]> Guest post by Sean Kay Recently in Washington, D.C., a group of experts met as part of an ongoing review to develop a new “strategic concept” for the NATO allies to approve at a heads-of-state summit to be held in late 2010.  Key speeches were presented by the NATO Secretary General Fogh Rassmussen, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.  The result, however, has been an exercise in NATO “group think” with little relevance to real strategic thinking about America and its core national security interes. This NATO review process is failing to account for three fundamental contradictions. First, NATO Secretary General Rassmussen stated that:  “We must face new challenges. Terrorism, proliferation, cyber security or even climate change will oblige us to seek new ways of operating. And in a time of financial and budget constraints, we need to maximize our efficiency within limited resources.”  However, all of these issues are challenges far better suited for the European Union (EU) and a special US-EU relationship to manage rather than NATO. Second, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted that:  “This Alliance has endured because of the skill of our diplomats, the strength of our soldiers, and – most importantly – the power of its founding principles.”  Yet, one of NATO’s core founding principles was to create a circumstance in which Europe could stand on its own two feet.  This is, effectively, NATO’s last unfulfilled mission after the Cold War and it is now hindered by an institutional framework allowing Europeans to free-ride on American security provision. Third, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated:  “The demilitarization of Europe – where large swaths of the general public and political class are averse to military force and the risks that go with it – has gone from a blessing in the 20th century to an impediment to achieving real security and lasting peace in the 21 st .”  The demilitarization of Europe, however, means that NATO has succeeded in its fundamental mission – that Europe no longer fights wars is a good thing.  Moreover, Europe has no incentive to contribute to global security missions so long as America takes the lead.  Europe has every incentive to free-ride on American power and NATO perpetuates that. Secretary Gates did provide his audience with a dose of realism, noting that:  “Right now, the alliance faces very serious, long-term, systemic problems.” What he fails to appreciate, however, is that these problems are not going to be solved by berating European allies for pursuing obvious benefit to their national interests.  Rather, the solution is to change the strategic dynamic by beginning to reduce American military commitments overseas and realigning – including cutting – defense spending to reflect new security realities. Recently, Secretary of State Clinton testified to Congress that:  We have to address this deficit and the debt of the U.S.

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Time to Get Real on NATO

]]> http://flashclub.ch/flog/obama/time-to-get-real-on-nato/feed/ 6 Obama Breaks Yet Another Key Campaign Promise By Using Executive Power To Rule By Decree http://flashclub.ch/flog/obama/obama-breaks-yet-another-key-campaign-promise-by-using-executive-power-to-rule-by-decree/ http://flashclub.ch/flog/obama/obama-breaks-yet-another-key-campaign-promise-by-using-executive-power-to-rule-by-decree/#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:00:00 +0000 http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/obama-breaks-yet-another-key-campaign-promise-by-using-executive-power-to-rule-by-decree/ With

]]> With much of his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities.

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Obama Breaks Yet Another Key Campaign Promise By Using Executive Power To Rule By Decree

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