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"The adoption of a holistic worldview globally may represent humanity's greatest chance for a promising future to be shared by all." yasha husain

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SOCIOPOLITICAL

Supporting the American Military
By Yasha Husain
March 17, 2013

Throughout the years, the American military has become both a hero and savior, helping to stop war, war-mongering, and criminal activity, of all kinds, around the globe.

However, it must be said, recent and isolated incidents have sometimes nearly brandished the military's good name, and this is not fair or right, especially in light of the fact members are so often quite young when they enlist, and begin to build their reputations and lives via active enrollment and enlistment.

The reputations of these young recruits need to be protected as do the lives and livelihoods of the people the American military defends.

Most immediately, recent, isolated incidents in Afghanistan have to be explained as isolated and separate from the mission of the American military, which is to stand and defend in times of need, and, increasingly, to provide diplomatic assistance and assurances, by way of supporting security measures and community-building, in war-torn and bereaved regions, and by bereaved, I mean, regions affected by natural disaster or severe economic hardship and poverty.

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The 'Charting the Course' Education Proposal: Education and whole brain thinking
By Yasha Husain
March 13, 2013

I recently wrote an education proposal, 'Charting the Course,' for k through to the PhD level, that's intended to merge left- and right-brained thinking to create more whole brain thinking. The proposal triumphantly immerses the entire student population in a single classroom, in exception of only those multiply-handicapped students who have outstanding, albeit, hopefully, temporary, "disabilities," who also separately receive an advanced education under the new proposal.

A key ingredient of 'Charting the Course' is the “individualized special project,” that begins in fifth grade, and carries a student through to his or her mastery at the college level. The goal of the individualized special project is for students, when they enter college, to have in-depth knowledge and experience with conducting independent R&D.

The research they do, for the project, should be a result of their unique findings and interests. By way of self-discovery, that is, which is merely guided by the foresight and wisdom of their teachers, students consistently reach conclusions that are also, not ironically, greater than the total sum of the parts, since the projects are done holistically.

Students of all backgrounds, throughout the year, choose multiple, individualized special projects, they do one at a time, and that engage their personal learning needs. Largely by achieving this, the student population becomes immersed through mutual understanding of each student's unique growth potential.

Projects can be off the charts. For example, imagine that a high functioning “autistic,” or more right-brained, child comes to understand history through land masses, or earth science. Projects, then, may stretch back in geologic time as a result of the student's imagination, the student being responsible for picking the project in accordance with his or her unique story and special interests. Having found a foundation for understanding like this, that benefits student and teacher alike, next, in this example anyway, scientific understanding, with guidance, and, importantly, through extrapolated associations, which interest the student, logically and intuitively leads to cultural and historical understanding.

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A Voice on Free Trade
by Yasha Melanie Husain
Posted March 9, 2013

We seek dictum in law and not its metaphor. And, in addition to the law, precedence, not malarkey. These notions apply not only to domestic legal practice or “tender” but to international treatises and agreements.

Free trade agreements, in light of this, are not intended to be fodder for unacceptable market manipulation or corruption. Yet, as a reflection of both the recent Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks, nontransparent and transparent negotiating tools alike reveal seeming abuses of the law's intended purpose.

In the February 13, 2013 Washington Post-Bloomberg article, by Howard Schneider, “With trade already flowing, U.S. and European Union aim for something deeper,” a title that's seemingly steeped in irony, Schneider reports, in response to the US-European trade talks:

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The National Commission on Forensic Science
By Yasha Husain
February 19, 2013

In today's fast-paced world, we shouldn't let science seemingly run ahead of us and we as citizens not understand its laws. What does this say for forensic science and the new National Commission on Forensic Science? It suggests that in the United States we should remain abreast of even this cutting edge commission, ensuring the work of the agency is as forthright and commendable as the work of any other agency that provides services for the citizenry.

In that case, when you look up forensics on Wikipedia, interestingly what you come across first is the famous Eureka! story of the scientist, Archimedes, of Syracuse. That story is noted as an early development of forensics science:

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The "Onus" of Telling the Truth
By Yasha Husain
February 19, 2013

There is none. There is no onus for telling the truth. One receives nothing but rewards for truth telling which is in good form, and good-natured. In which case, why do people sometimes falter?

It's a quandary not much talked about, but perhaps it should be. So often we opt for white lies and even metaphorical agencies instead of demonstrating right down the middle line what it is we really mean to say and how important what we mean to say is to our own identity, and the identity of the other.

Could the problems of the world be solved if every person made a transformative shift and always said what he or she meant, the truth?

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A Smart Economy
By Yasha Husain
February 10, 2013

I've written elsewhere in brief how our national grid might ought to become a minimalist and a flexible structure that can take and leave local energy sources, that contribute to one stable energy pool with capacity for constant and directional power, locally. A smart economy might have a very similar framework.

Smart economics would then involve the distribution of goods beyond local and regional trading if those goods can not be produced at a high enough quality regionally. The goods that would be traded nationally and internationally would be only those required to maintain a constant supply for all of the world's people, that is, a constant supply of goods enabling each person to experience a high quality of life. All goods produced and traded under this revised smart trading plan would be made of fine ingredients and materials and be long-lasting, and of good design, whilst a limited number of goods, for instance, herbs and spices from India, would need to be traded internationally because of lack of those same quality goods elsewhere in the world, the majority of goods would be produced locally.

The result of this smart economy would be that all that is shipped and freighted is that which can not be grown or produced regionally and according to environmental not merely fiscal priorities.

Local economies would in turn be built to manage local resources strategically, allowing some resources to remain untouched, like fields and soils, for intervals, in order to conserve and rejuvenate ecosystems, and other resources to be utilized to capacity.

Locally, then, people with individual plots but working as a collective would become more and more practiced in conservation and rejuvenation of natural resources while, consequently, to protect what they have, realizing the potential for manufacture that doesn't harm their precious environment.

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Laws must be universally shared and guided and directed
By Yasha Husain
February 9, 2013

How Nelson Mandela might shape global diplomacy to prevent unlawful or unfair detentions, conflicts or wars, and in light of him having coped with loss that's “unnecessary,” might first involve envisioning people consistently working together toward a singular goal, peace, in accordance with the universals, whilst people acknowledge what he must know, that there are no barriers to such wisdom, in particular at the roots of law, natural and international law. Universals, laws that by their own right must be universally shared and universally guided and directed, deliver on the promise of law, bringing justice to losses incurred. Justice envisioned in this way forestalls all future injustice of a similar nature that can lead to unlawful or unfair detention, conflict or war.

“Unnecessary” or “premature” loss becomes what it should be, unnecessary, not only unnecessary, but unconscionable, and no longer a part of the collective conscious.

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Redevelopment of City and Rural Areas Authority – Staying True to Our Heritage
By Yasha Husain
February 4, 2013

There comes a time to artfully, in a peaceful manner that promotes only the truth and unity of an overarching situation, press for the change that's been waiting to happen, and make it happen. It's hard to come up with a good reason why that time is not now. In fact, it's seemingly impossible to argue the time isn't now for Americans, along with President Barack Obama, in his second term, to address poverty in the United States, and global warming at the same time, via a new institution I would name: the Redevelopment of City and Rural Areas Authority – Staying True to Our Heritage (RCRA).

Similar to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in terms of its discipline, but radically new in its approach, could be the RCRA, “uplifting neighborhoods from coast to coast, providing equal opportunity rights, and, pursuant to life and happiness, in a proactive nation that protects all of its people's interests and their environments.”

The Redevelopment Authority (RCRA) would be responsible for uplifting neighborhoods by way of physical reconstruction and job creation. In so doing, it would simultaneously work to resolve global warming by ensuring neighborhoods are not only liveable, but sustainable.

Native American communities, would, hopefully, if they so choose, be amongst those participating.

The RCRA would renovate and rehabilitate poor neighborhoods so that the quality of life there becomes adapted to the way of the Tao (the middle way), borrowing from age-old, Chinese wisdom. The physical constitutions of these neighborhoods, the architectures that build them, would provide serenity to those otherwise living under less than tranquil conditions. Neighborhoods not well-suited to redevelopment could be torn down and rebuilt in a new space that's environmentally sustainable, contains open space and is kept Tao-like.

In addition to the physical transformation of neighborhoods in need of redevelopment and upliftment, there would be progressive job creation for the people of these neighborhoods, or impoverished people across the country. Training should be local and provide for livelihoods born out of immersion with agriculture; integrative and preventive medicine; holistic education; architecture, building and design, and the arts, in just a handful of examples. So, people, as a part of the change taking place, could go to local trade associations; specially organized, certification houses, and university, to receive the training they need, even while beginning to experience the transformation of their homes and environments. They can also complete work as a part of the transformation, toward, for example, agriculture and building or construction, and that way afford what would also need to be affordable training and schooling that allows individuals and families to achieve, gradually, more sophisticated positions in the marketplace.

The raised neighborhoods would themselves be immersed with newly designed, or renovated, schools, libraries, playgrounds and parks, that provide positive reinforcement for the citizens. Overall, the space of the community would include many shared spaces, between which one can enjoyably walk or bike. There should somewhere be ready access to nature, as it stands remote from civilization, in its pristine state.

This is the face of the future, filled with promise, under which the United States tackles its ails in the present, particularly poverty, simultaneously training its citizens in sustainable farming and holistic sciences and arts.

What happens in America should be an example of what can be happening elsewhere in the world, too, the eradication of poverty and poverty-stricken neighborhoods.

The RCRA is in effect a good approach for creating homegrown solutions to these dilemmas and can be remodeled to tailor similar efforts in other nations of the world, similar to how the American Reconstruction Department, also proposed by the Holistic Solutions Think Tank, might be re-adapted to the needs of nation-states around the world.

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(RCRA Oped link currently not working)

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Saving money in healthcare
By Yasha Husain
January 16, 2013

Saving money in health care: Starting with the basics in America, the dairy, meats and seafood battles are won, and in process, and the organics battle is near won, and in process.

The upcoming vote on the farm bill should actually build on the 1948 farm laws, thus aiding the sustainable farming movement, hopefully at the same time, putting an end to genetically modified foods.

Health food stores are on the rise, as are health food aisles at grocery store chains, and healthy dining can now include fast food drive-thrus and chain restaurants, like Applebee's.

There's what is a shortcut impression of the state of health care in America, while daily exercise at home becomes more and more prevalent for every person.

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Secrecy to Diplomacy
By Yasha Husain
January 9, 2013

John Perkins, having worked for the National Security Agency between 1971 and 1981, cheating developing nations of economic advantages they were due, a tale that involves espionage on the part of a businessman, on the one hand, and the foment of coups or revolutions, or murder by intelligence officials, on the other, summed up in the 2004 release, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, immediately, because Perkins told his story, goes far in demanding, if there's truth to this story, change in intelligence gathering and in international diplomacy.

Perhaps what lightens the load a little is that we're meant to be a truly competitive, global economy based on fair trade deals on their way to becoming wholly equitable across a transforming set of units, developed and developing nations. The old rules that might have permitted something like the Perkins story to unfold, shouldn't exist anymore, they're no longer applicable.

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Ending the Death Penalty, Universally
By Yasha Husain
January 8, 2013

When I think of such gruesome topics as the death penalty, I'm reminded of a personal memory, my attachment to Bob Dylan's song, “Hurricane,” that I listened to play over and over again on a favorite Dylan mix tape, as I drove through the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County. It wasn't only the thought of an innocent man going to jail like that, but Bob Dylan bringing the police to justice, that transfixed me. I thought implicitly, if Dylan can sing about law and truth like that, in a song so simple as to become justice itself, or the reincarnation of it, what can be made of it? At once, when you hear the song, you realize there's no place on this earth for a death penalty. The lyrics don't go that far, but the poetry contained between the lines certainly does, and did for me. But my mind didn't need changin'.

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An American Reconstruction Department
By Yasha Husain
December 29, 2012

A logical next step for the Obama Administration and its efforts to triumph against the challenges of the 21st century, is, strategically speaking, the creation of an American Reconstruction Department, a Franklin Roosevelt-type initiative.

All wings of the proposed Reconstruction effort, listed below, would be carried out concurrently by diverse teams of experts, the heads of which meet bi-monthly. Expenditures will come chiefly from already distributed, or budgeted, dollars, in exception of R&D and special projects, e.g. pilot projects, including ones that meet the needs of poor, underserved or polluted communities.

For each wing of the department, there will be three "well-schooled" and "well-rounded" experts with a specialty in their field area, be it, for clean energy, wind, solar or geothermal. Each will be a holistic, which also implies, global, thinker, in their own right, but above them will still be a world-class expert, who is firstly a holistic and global thinker, whose job it is to arrive at the most common sense energy solutions for localities, regions and the nation, with the rest of his or her team, or panel, and the nation.

The panel of the Clean Energy wing would, for example, work in coordination with the Department of Energy. It would have a specially appointed person to work with think tanks, and the media, to get the word out of the progress of the Department. The panel member's closest relationships would be to Congress, as selected Congress members would be asked to help write legislation, and all of Congress would act as constant liaison between the nation's people and the Reconstruction Department.

The head of the Reconstruction Department may be a residing Senator or Congressperson.

In light of climate change and the international economy, domestic and world affairs would largely be tackled with the follow-through of an American Reconstruction Department.

The idea for the Department comes not only from Roosevelt's defeat of the Great Depression, but from Japan, which in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and in response to its environmental demands, instituted a nationwide, regional and community-based reconstruction effort, according to Habitat for Humanity, which ran a special ad about Japan in Bloomberg Businessweek (Oct. 22-28, 2012).

It's true that after the 2008 financial crisis has wound down, Obama's in earnest planning stage is finally upon us. No better time, then, to start the ambitious goal setting, based on a long range vision, with a centralized department, with outreach capacity to communities across the nation, and world.

The logical next step in the Obama Administration's efforts to promote change is an American Reconstruction Department, that could be replicated internationally, its various wings:

1. Celebrating the Family and Perfect Love

2. Emergent Education, Adapting to 21st Century Needs, Including Job Creation

3. The Role of Faith in Culture

4. Exchanging Nonviolence

5. Guideposts: Sharing the Wisdom of All Time

6. Harnessing the Creative Potential Utilizing “Perfect Knowledge” (Self-realization)

7. On the Nature of Competition: Holistic Competition

8. On the Role of Science: Holistic Science

9. Holistic Farming

10. Helping Hands for the Poor

11. Developing Cognitive and Behavioral Health Advancements, Thinking Out-of-the-Box

12. Integrative, Holistic Medicine

13. Sound Design Materials

14. Graduated Engineering

15. Architecture and Design

16. Rail and Vehicular Design and Transfer

17. Clean Energy Projects

18. Remediation

19. Environmental Monitoring

20. Technology Transfer

21. Realigning Military and Intelligence to Carry Out More Diplomatic Missions

22. Mixing of Economies

23. Cross Cultural Exchange for the Continuation of Cultural Heritage

24. Global Participation

25. Development

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"Security and Stability," from Assad
By Yasha Husain
January 6, 2013

The number one problem with arming rebels in the Syrian war is that amongst them are individuals and even groups linked to the ideology of terrorism, including al-Qaeda associates. Sending arms to the rebels, in light of this fact, and despite it, in one way or another, only promotes war, when there are diplomatic solutions in Syria, which do not include bargaining with extremist elements.

As evidence of this, President Bashar Assad has just presented a perfect plan for peace, and to his people, for whom, he purports, he's not been willing to hand-off government control to rebels, among whom are war criminals.

As a long-time leader of his nation, Assad has loyal followers, and it's incorrect for the international community to deny them or their intent in supporting a once, and still, loved, leader of a patriarchy.

What Assad is recommending is precisely what is needed, a committee for reconciliation, after “security and stability” have been accomplished, where dialogue takes center stage as it did, in a not-too-distant past, in South Africa and Ireland.

In South Africa, the white minority leadership had to be forced from power before reconciliation talks could take place and in Ireland a cease-fire was needed for talks to unfold.

Is it because Assad is positioned in the Middle East, with its monumental dynamics related to war and peace still unfolding themselves, that the international community is apt to deny there are terrorists amongst rebel factions in Syria, an act that would be exactly the opposite of what we want done in light of realpolitik? If the international community says it doesn't deny the terrorist element, there are still in any case leaders amongst the free world who've said in news reports from only a week ago we should continue to arm the rebels. How do these leaders differentiate between conditions on the ground when circumstances that would lead, first, to reconciliation talks, which are needed to weed out extremist elements, are not there?

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In a Race to Save Lives in Syria
By Yasha Husain
December 29, 2012

As Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria travels to Moscow to discuss possible immediate suspension of civil war in Syria, it is on the heels of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking out this week in favor still of a political solution that could end the violence and forestall a bitter battle till the end between President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and opposition rebels.

It might be said a political solution would save lives and therefore still be seen as optimal.

The UN-Arab League envoy and Russian officials are continuing to talk peace in reference to the Geneva plan, which has not been well-received around the world because it stipulates Assad's government be a part of the transitional government which would also keep in place structural elements of the Assad regime.

Opposition rebels are against a political solution that doesn't rule out future rule dominated by Assad's leadership circle. They are not interested in maintaining the status quo that existed before the civil war broke out and want instead definitive change and equal representation in government.

There may in fact be an opening in that case for Brahimi and Russian officials to help bring stability to the region working with the Geneva plan as a foundation but extrapolating on it.

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Saying “I'm Sorry”
By Yasha Husain
December 28, 2012

A tool for diplomatic relations that's perhaps not utilized nearly enough is the use of the words, “I'm sorry.”

It may sound crazy, at first, but apologizing even for that which we know we're not guilty of can help bring about ready resolve in negotiations, and peace.

However, one has to genuinely feel sorry - that is, that there's been a misunderstanding in the first place.

The person or group apologizing has to also be willing to get to the bottom of whatever it is that's causing conflict or friction.

Looking at conflict negotiations from this point of view, it's possible to, rather than observe two sides at odds with one another, picture there being a light and a dark side. We all belong on the light side, together. No one wants to be in the dark, or should be.

We arrive in the light more quickly, from our respective positions, when one or each party says, frankly, “I'm sorry for what's happened, can we try to resolve it?”

It goes like this: “I'm sorry, what can we do right now to make this particular situation better?” It doesn't matter if you're the president, a father of a slain victim or a mother of a cranky toddler.

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Seeing the Cup Half Full
By Yasha Melanie Husain
December 27,2012

Congress in its negotiations over budget talks and upcoming talks about both the national and international agenda, needs to not only come together the way customers of Starbucks have pushed them to do in the showdown over fiscal cliff talks, but they need to stay positive, seeing the cup half full, working together as one, as a part of the recovery process.

Members of Congress can achieve this by being constructive. As a result, everyone will have their guard down and be focusing on eachother's strengths, not the negatives. Instead of focusing on perceived negatives, what is in common and shared ought to be used to create practical persuasion that should be taken advantage of by parties to direct talks, and all members should contribute in some way to direct talks.

A natural coming together will unfold.

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Honesty in Government
By Yasha Husain
December 26, 2012

There's no better time than right now for Republicans and Democrats to buck up and become more honest with one another about what the total compass of their needs are for the next four years, during President Obama's second term, which ought to be filled not only with promise and potential but a brighter future for us all, for which Congress, acting in concert with the President, has delivered.

Right now, not only are the 'fiscal cliff' talks pressing, as the budget negotiations that will likely follow the current stalemate over tax hikes for the wealthy will be, but job creation, health care reform, education, mental health, gay rights, immigration, gun control, energy, agriculture, environmental monitoring, nuclear, manufacture and infrastructure are among the many topics that need to be meshed out in private and public meetings held by Congress (reminiscent only of the days Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Congressman Dan Rostentowski worked exhaustively, running between the House and Senate chambers, to pass the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993) and in the limelight, over the coming weeks and months, and to support the President's strategies for addressing 21st century issues that still loom large even after the the financial crises that rocked our nation and the world.

If members of the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, could just meet and speak directly to one another on the issues, building alliances between the two houses of government and two main parties, and come up with a shared list of priorities and how-tos for getting the job done in the next four years, the nation as a whole would be off and running.

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Democratic Governance in Egypt
By Yasha Melanie Husain
December 26, 2012

In Egypt today, as democracy begins to take shape and unfold, there exists a definite tipping point. The government of President Mohamed Morsi has an opportunity to commit to the long-standing purpose of independent, democratic governance. But it will rely on a strong commitment to the universal laws that make up the foundations of free, democratic states, also known collectively as international law, which provides, chiefly, for universal equal rights for citizens around the globe.

The adoption in whole of international law statutes in a rigorous democratic constitution averts problems that can stem from disproportionate religious representation of a populace or any extreme measures that might affect a nation or the world and be religious in scope.

It's not to say that religion goes by the wayside. It certainly hasn't in the United States, which has a Declaration of Independence and Constitution strongly rooted in international law and natural law. Government leaders, their character or fabric, is still interwoven into the fabric of the nation, with their religious or psycho-spiritual beliefs, the core wisdom of their way, carried forward as a result of their legislative actions.

Elected officials adhere to democratic and universal law and also carry forward the core wisdom of faith expressed in accordance with “civil” action.

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Helping the Homeless Vets
By Yasha Melanie Husain
December 21, 2012

We need to be thinking out-of-the-box about how to help veterans who are homeless and without jobs.

Nader Khalili's Superadobe architecture may be one of many out-of-the-box approaches we can dream up for helping veterans.

By utilizing Khalili's architectural design, we can empower the homeless to build there own homes, possibly on lands set aside for them by the federal government and or regional and local municipalities. There could alternatively be public private ventures that coordinate the setting aside of lands on which homeless vets can build.

At the Cal-Earth Institute's website, the nuts and bolts of how to receive the simple training in order to build EcoDomes and Earth One houses is listed, along with the many journalistic articles that over the years described Khalili's work as visionary.

It would be a tremendous boon for vets to feel what it's like to build with the earth a shelter, using their own hands. They would be provided with not only shelter but a deep connection to mother nature that is hard to surpass.

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Putting an End to the Violence
by Yasha Melanie Husain
December 2012

It's time to put an end to unnecessary violence and a way to do that is to pass restrictive legislation pertaining to gunholders' rights, and the sale and purchase of guns, that helps set new precedence for a nation that has become too gun happy, along its borders and in the interior.

Law enforcement officials whose sole desire is to fight crime on a daily basis and who logically wish to stop crimes that result from gun use need more restrictive legislation to do their job, as was made evident by the recent scandal involving Attorney General Eric Holder in which an exhaustive effort to track gun carriers was botched. Research into that event showed ATF officials trying to accomplish a lot with a little. They were trying to accomplish a lot of security with few legal tools at their hands to intervene where and when they see guns sold and purchased, they are led to believe, for illegal means.

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Give Initiative a Chance
by Yasha Melanie Husain
First appeared in The Leader Herald (Gloversville, NY)
September 20th, 2012

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Cleaner, Greener Communities initiative, an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability now in its planning stages, is an opportunity to push a sustainability agenda for New York state that relies on energy efficiency, renewable energy and other carbon abatement measures.

Building on what's been developed by the 10 Regional Economic Development Councils, the CGC only stands to improve the state's efforts to go green in a way that's truly sustainable.

A bottom-up approach, the CGC is an opportunity for local experts, administrators and the public to draw up sustainability plans that best suit their region before the plans are finally submitted to the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority - the agency that oversees the CGC - in January 2013.

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Enduring Ideas of the Past, 2oth Century Prophets
by Yasha Husain
Posted November 1, 2010

Following is a link to an essay that will be featured in a separate collection of essays comprised of outtakes and spin-offs from the development stage of The New Village.

You can read the essay by clicking:

Enduring Ideas of the Recent Past,
20th Century Prophets

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'Worldfocus' in Denmark: A People's
Green Energy Model

by Yasha Husain
Posted 04/02/10

Certain kinds of people like to make what they're doing known to the world and go out and actively seek attention for their efforts. Others prefer to sit back, enjoy the rewards of a job well done, and let those who are interested come to visit. Even when the world focuses its attention directly on the latter group, their attitude may simply be to say, 'well, this is what we've done.' There it is, you have it then. They'll let you take with you whatever impression you will.

That seemed the attitude of a number of down-to-earth Danes who've become leaders in the green energy revolution due to the simple fact conditions were right for them on the ground to make a shift in their energy behavior earlier than the rest.

Worldfocus, airing on PBS, chose to run a half-hour special report on Friday night, “Green Energy in Denmark,” highlighting stories about these everyday people: farmers, artists, individual residents of a small Danish island, a businessman part of one of wind energy's greatest success stories, to show that Danes achieved energy independence and financial security, without making remarkable changes to their lifestyle.

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Charlie Wilson's War and the Afghan Diaspora
by Yasha Husain
Posted December 26, 2009

In one of the final and most telling scenes of the 2007 release, Charlie Wilson's War, directed by Michael Nichols, Congressman Charlie Wilson, renown for having first succeeded in 1983 in passing hard-won legislation through Congress which allocated $40 million dollars to the Afghan and mujaheddin effort against the invading Russians, nearly ten years and hundreds of millions in military aid later, in the early 1990s, is seeking additional reparations to pay for rebuilding a stable Afghanistan. And he is flatly turned down by his fellow United States Congressmen.

At the time, Congress wouldn't hear the need for follow-through on their commitment to a remote, war-torn region, not realizing to what degree “responsible follow-through” had become code word for determining success in international affairs the US became embroiled in, not only in the Middle East, but around the globe.

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10 Ways to Bring Down Health Care Costs
by Yasha Melanie Husain
Posted August 23, 2009

When the United States Constitution was drafted, it marked the beginning of great things to come.

A bill that provides for universal coverage for all United States citizens would again mark the beginning of a very promising future...

Below are 10 ways I envision the United States can bring down health care costs over the next 10 years and for the long-term:

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UN Should Do Re-Do
by Yasha Melanie Husain
Posted August 23, 2009

In 2009, we are living in a time when the winds of change are blowing strong in two directions, toward progress and international unity, and fundamentalism and divisiveness. It would be wise to circumvent the anger that is stirring fundamentalist reactions among pockets of the world’s people where there is also a degree of resentment toward modernity and the role of the American hegemony since the days of the Cold War.

Perhaps the best way to do this is to turn again to the United Nations for support, but to this time not give up until international agreement on the best way forward has been attained.

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Profile of Andrew Greenwald
Spreading the Word

Greenwald's Holistic Approach to Special Education
By Yasha Husain
December 2007

When first listening to Andrew Greenwald presenting a talk on 'creating teachable moments' he might leave you wondering, "Was it a comedy routine I signed up for, or is the rather urbane and friendly-looking man before me who keeps making me laugh though that's not what I came here to do going to also share some practical wisdom regarding how best to reach kids with special needs?"

The truth soon emerges. What Greenwald offers his audiences, which are mostly made up of parents and teachers of students with a wide range of special needs, is a fusion of laughs and inventive, made-to-order insight. The laughs he delivers as side dishes in the form of incidental, albeit hysterical, sarcasm aimed gently at what he believes is often too conventional an approach to teaching. The insight he shares into how to allow things to evolve holistically when working with students is presented more methodically, to assure it can be easily interpreted, and presumably used, at home, in school, and in the communities where students live.

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