Something to Know - 21 January

1.  If you have seen the move Zero Dark Thirty, you have a taste of intelligence and operational units within the CIA on tracking terrorist groups.  Before that move, and during the run up to the event of 9/11, there is this piece which details the incidence of stupidity, turf wars, and incompetence between the CIA and other Defense Intelligence Agencies that could have prevented the catastrophe had everyone involved had their heads screwed on right:

http://truth-out.org/news/item/14008-ex-army-officer-accuses-cia-of-obstructing-pre-9-11-intelligence-gathering#.UPx-3WUwrew.mailto

2.  As President Obama begins his second term. EJ Dionne lays out all that he has brought to the office, his hardships, his final term expectations, and where the country was, is, and will be:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-jr-the-liberation-of-barack-obama/2013/01/20/d4ef7cb4-6336-11e2-9e1b-07db1d2ccd5b_print.html

3.  Rather than read the entire "Price of Inequality" by Joseph Stiglitz (which, like a textbook at times, is difficult to navigate, you may find this illuminating and easy to read - and just as poignant:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/19/inequality-is-holding-back-the-recovery/?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print 

4.   Bill Keller wages in on his opinion on the selection by the president of Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary.   It is negative, but it is not positive.  Something to think about, with all the other talk, and reading in the spirit of an open mind:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/21/opinion/keller-chuck-hagels-war.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

--
Juan

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary."
       -- James Madison

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       -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

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