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Instructions: Dum & Dummer is an exciting board game for multiple players. You start the game as a curious, moderately intelligent student about six. The object of the game is to be dumbed down. Don't worry, you will win. Congratulations! Winning is good for your self-esteem. To maximize your chances, simply follow these simple strategies: Don't learn any basic knowledge. (Who needs it?) Don't learn to do arithmetic. (Boring!) Don't read. (Why bother?) Don't learn geography. (What's that got to do with you?) Don't learn any history. (That's so lame.) Don't learn any science. (It's way too hard.) Don't learn...

Newt Gingrich hinted he may withdraw from the presidential race if he has a poor showing in the Delaware primary Tuesday – "I think we need to take a deep look at what we are doing...We will be in North Carolina tomorrow night and we will look and see what the results are." "This has been a good opportunity for us, we have been here seeing a lot of people,” Gingrich said. “We have got really positive responses and I would hope we would do well here – either carry it or come very, very close." ..."Romney is clearly the...

Total information war Perhaps one of the most important articles yet published on military infowar, propaganda, media influence and PSYOPs has appeared online.Called ‘Military Social Influence in the Global Information Environment: A Civilian Primer’ – the piece is written by psychologist Sarah King who outlines the theory and practice of US information warfare as it stands today. Although the piece gives a fascinating and sometimes jaw dropping account of US information operations (replete with examples) it serves as an essential general introduction to how military thinking has moved on from assuming wars are fought with troops on the ground to conceptualising...

“Rolling Stone magazine is engaging in a psychological operation trying to brainwash the American public,” says an expert in military information operations. The magazine’s Feb. 23 article, “Another runaway general: Army deploys psy-ops on U.S. senators,” by Michael Hastings, is a confused attempt to create an issue where no issue exists, and a potentially libelous smear on the record of a senior military officer. This is what passes for reporting among the anti-war left.... The breathless introduction of the piece is disingenuous, asserting starkly that illegal acts took place when nothing of the kind has been charged, let alone proven....

Is the Pentagon trying to control Sen. Al Franken's mind? While mind games might not be involved, an article in Rolling Stone magazine has alleged that the military ordered a team of soldiers fluent in psychological operations to manipulate Franken and other senators into supporting more funding and troops for the war in Afghanistan. The story prompted Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, to order an investigation Thursday into whether the "psy-ops" team in Kabul directed by Lt. Gen. William Caldwell improperly targeted U.S. officials. "My job in psy-ops is to play with people's heads, to get the...

<p>Rolling Stone is trying to add another general to its head count: Michael Hastings, the reporter who dispatched Gen. Stanley McChrystal last year, is reporting that Gen. William Caldwell, who is in charge of training Afghan forces, used Army psychological operations troops to try to influence VIP visitors, including U.S. senators.</p>

The U.S. army reportedly deployed a specialized "psychological operations" team to help convince American legislators to boost funding and troop numbers for the war in Afghanistan. Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a three-star general in charge of training Afghan troops, ordered the operation, Rolling Stone Magazine reported in a story published late on Wednesday.

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The Army has dropped the Vietnam-era name "psychological operations" for its branch in charge of trying to change minds behind enemy lines, acknowledging the term can sound ominous. The Defense Department picked a more neutral moniker: "Military Information Support Operations," or MISO. U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw said Thursday the new name, adopted last month, more accurately reflects the unit's job of producing leaflets, radio broadcasts and loudspeaker messages to influence enemy soldiers and civilians. "One of the catalysts for the transition is foreign and domestic sensitivities to the term 'psychological operations' that often lead to a misunderstanding...

...The playlist has been hand-selected to annoy the Taliban, according to one US special forces officer. "Taliban hate that music," said the sergeant involved in covert psychological operations, or "psy ops", in the area in Helmand province. "Some locals complain but it's a way to push them to choose. It's motivating Marines as well," he added after one deafening round of several hours including tracks from The Offspring, Metallica and Thin Lizzy. The officer said they also broadcast messages from the Afghan government, as well as threats to the Taliban -- there are no obscenities, "but we tell them they're...

As the campaign to take over the village of Marjah enters its second day, the fog of battle has somewhat dissipated, bringing to light one of the untold truths over what the real battle is all about. Coalition forces conducting the operation are trying their utmost, to emphasize the role of the Afghan National Army as an equal member of the engaged military force, and lead element representing the interests and authority of the central government in Kabul. But the battle is not fought over the land, but on the hearts and minds of the local Pashtun tribe people, torn...

At the Central Intelligence Agency, it's known as "slow rolling." That's what agency officers sometimes do on politically sensitive assignments. They go through the motions; they pass cables back and forth; they take other jobs out of the danger zone; they cover their backsides...in the words of one veteran officer, "hit the agency like a car bomb in the driveway." President Obama promised CIA officers that they won't be prosecuted for carrying out lawful orders, but the people on the firing line don't believe him. They think the memos have opened a new season of investigation and retribution. The lesson...

...What we discovered is that Santelli’s “rant” was not at all spontaneous as his alleged fans claim, but rather it was a carefully-planned trigger for the anti-Obama campaign. In PR terms, his February 19th call for a “Chicago Tea Party” was the launch event of a carefully organized and sophisticated PR campaign, one in which Santelli served as a frontman, using the CNBC airwaves for publicity, for the some of the craziest and sleaziest rightwing oligarch clans this country has ever produced. Namely, the Koch family, the multibilllionaire owners of the largest private corporation in America, and funders of scores...

As I was snooping around the internet that Gore made, I ran across a web site that was practicing Fear Mongering. As has become common practice, I took a screen shot for future reference. As is the “norm” for the Leftinistra, posts such as this one vanish which then, any criticism of any particular issue can be seen as “hate speech”. Thus the screen shot. This plea for help for a faltering endeavor cannot be denied. Why are they pleading for help? If they have the heartbeat of America, shouldn’t they be rolling in cash? Doesn’t George Soros care about...

If Sen. Barack Obama loses the presidency or wins by far narrower margins than the double-digit lead some mainstream media polls predict, his weak performance will not be the result of the so-called “Bradley Effect,” which holds that black candidates underperform at the polls due to latent racism. Rather, the true culprit will be something public opinion scholars call the “Spiral of Silence Theory.” In the 1970s, German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann introduced a provocative and startling theory of mass communication she called the “Spiral of Silence.” Noelle-Neumann argued that when mass media create an impression that the majority of...

The Anderson team is discussing how McCain should bow out honorably. They all agree that the race is all Obama and the election is just a formality. This hit by CNN is what they did to Hillary. PUMA please be there for McCain!!

They have closely studied suspects, looking for mental quirks. They have suggested lines of questioning. They have helped decide when a confrontation is too intense, or when to push harder. More than those in the other healing professions, psychologists have played a central role in the military and C.I.A. interrogation of people suspected of being enemy combatants. But now the profession, long divided over this role, is considering whether to make any involvement in military interrogations a violation of its code of ethics. At the American Psychological Association’s annual meeting this week in Boston, prominent members are denouncing such work...

Staff Sergeant Brian Doty (left), of Orange, Va. and Cpl. Sam Weaver, of Fayetteville, N.C., both with Company B, 13th Psychological Operations Battalion, are accompanied by local children while on a foot patrol in the city of Suwayrah in northern Wasit province. Photo by Sgt. David Turner. COMBAT OUTPOST SUMMERS — Walking down the busy streets of Suwayrah at sundown, the city’s residents met Soldiers with handshakes and friendly smiles. Children gathered everywhere the Soldiers stopped to talk to residents. As the patrol of Soldiers from 1st Platoon, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment continued on its way, the...

3/14/2008 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- A 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron C-130J Hercules aircrew operating out of Southwest Asia dropped leaflets over Afghanistan encouraging its citizens to reject violence and embrace their government as part of an integrated operation with NATO's International Security Assistance Force March 6. The mission came after news reports of violence against ISAF troops including two bombings last week. It was the crew's first leaflet drops since their arrival in theater Feb. 8 and a first for the active-duty C-130J model. "This airdrop is just one example of the many combat capabilities the 379th Air Expeditionary...

3/11/2008 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- American Airman here and members of the Australian Defence Force recently teamed up to deliver critical information to Iraqi civilians in southern Iraq. Flying in a C-130 Hercules, Airmen from the 737th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, worked in conjunction with Australians from Overwatch Battle Group (West)-4, as they conducted two one-day missions to drop 330,000 leaflets designed to solicit the help of Iraqi civilians to not harbor insurgents or bomb manufacturers. "This is what the war is all about -- finding the bad guys targeting U.S., coalition forces and innocent civilians," said Capt. MacArthur Hoglund,...