Category Archives: ethics and morals

The Predator **edited

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Thomas at Yes Means Yes! has a blog up on the criminal activity of Anthony Weiner that is not being prosecuted.  As someone says in the comments (on Melissa McEwen’s blog)–if Weiner had exposed himself to someone on the subway, he would be charged with a crime.  And this happened after his first mea culpa–after begging forgiveness and of course, people wanting to give him a second chance…

…but this is Anthony Weiner, I’m-special-because-I’m-a-politician who has a likable personality….so he will skate by the city jail.

Granted, it is hard for women to confront someone whom has crossed boundaries….we aren’t raised that way.  And, the point was raised that someone in a position of power, be it political or business, can make serious trouble for a woman who stands up for herself.

**edited to correct ADD moment of attributing quote to Lisa Weiss that was the teacher Nobles.  Sorry.  Chelating…so ADD is worse…

Don’t like the NSA? How About Gates snooping into children’s school records?

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Diane Ravitch has this and this up on the continued invasion of privacy…only this time, it’s your kid they are gathering information on.  This critical information gathered by a Foundation that now owns 500,000 shares of Monsanto, .

…and what about Rupert Murdoch getting hold of your family’s records? Especially since the newspaper he owned invaded people’s privacy already…even after a warning about his dealings went unheeded.  

From the first Guardian article:

When the high court last summer ordered the News of the World to pay damages to Max Mosley for secretly filming him with prostitutes, the paper was furious. In an angry leader column, it insisted that public figures must maintain standards. “It is not for the powerful and the influential to run to the courts to gag newspapers from publishing stories that are TRUE,” it said. “This is all about the public’s right to know.”

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Does anyone else see the irony of a paper that is invading innocent people’s privacy complaining about maintaining standards….apparently lying and invasion of privacy are not standards someone should uphold…?

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The Uniparty

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One of the commenters here called the absence of real oppositional parties the “Uniparty”. …yep.

See…the Dems really believe in the Fourth Amendment and the rights of the American public to be let alone…

bwhahahahaha *snort*  bwahahahaha…

Don’t blame me.  I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000.  The first time in all the years that I had been voting that I wrote a candidate’s name on the ballet.  Of course, now Indiana has changed to the computerized system so a voter wouldn’t be able to just write in a candidate.   Supposedly, they have paper ballots at each voting station, but this voter was not told there were paper ballots available, not even when I voted early, nor were there any paper ballots visible so that one could ask for it.

They changed the law so that one had to have 2% of the general votes cast for the Secretary of State in the previous election.  Note the deadlines were repeatedly pushed back in order to diminish the ability to gather signatures during summer events where crowds gather…

I found this page absolutely fascinating.  I had no idea that we had other candidates to choose from, as the write in candidates were not on the electronic ballot.  And being without access to media (no TV antenna in the community room at the time), nor did I have more than an hour per time from the library’s internet computers…so information was limited, as are most poor.  And I would venture a guess that even with cable TV, many middle class were also ignorant of this–funny how the nooz just doesn’t seem to get around to covering important issues like this….they’d rather scare you into getting a vaccine that will likely cause as much harm to your body as any good or tell you not to take Vitamin E because some bogus *study* says it’s bad for you…pfft.

The invisible walls that came after the visible…

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A commenter on Diane Ravitch’s blog put up this video:

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More here on the Detroit fight for worker’s rights, i.e., the pensions they were promised, versus the bond holders.  Like I said before, everybody has to lose a little bit–the city workers should not bear the brunt of it.

Juror speaks out on Zimmerman trial

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(I was going to take a break from blogging, but this is so compelling…)

One of the jurors in George Zimmerman’s trial, the only minority, spoke out on the verdict.  Democracy Now!  explores how the case was mishandled by the prosecution AND commentary on the juror’s misgivings about the verdict.

From Maddy’s own statement, she says she thought that they had to let Zimmerman go because they didn’t have clear evidence that he intended on killing Trayvon that night.  But that is a murder charge, not manslaughter.  Manslaughter is different from murder by intention, as the attorney states in the DN! interview.

I also think Maddy was intimidated into giving in–because she states she was holding out to the end.

And please, can we stop complaining about jury duty?  You can’t complain about verdicts if you’re not willing to do your civic duty and serve on jury duty.

 

 

 

 

Bombing the Great Barrier Reef

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The Guardian has this up on the U.S. bombing of the Great Barrier Reef.  <sigh>  What in the world were we doing there in the first place?  It would seem to me that common sense should have been used to avoid the area. Running low on fuel? Seriously?  Whose fault was that?  Don’t they monitor their fuel gauges during these exercises?

I mean, really, who thought this would be a great place to even carry bombs, let alone do war exercises with them?  The aussie asks “have we gone mad?”  Yes, yes we have.

The decline in the environment was already happening, according to  this.

So….this latest catastrophe will already add to a burdened environment that is struggling to maintain itself.

Give ourselves a pat on the back.  Good goin’ /snark

 

 

 

Blackfish

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Dave Neiwert has this up on the documentary “Blackfish” that exposes the truth behind captive whales.

Back in the 70s, the TV Show “The Partridge Family” had an episode called “Whale Song”  with a recording of a whale.  I was flipping through the channels recently, and saw it again.  I don’t know why, but the whale’s song makes me cry.   It’s on youtube, (partridge family whale song) but I don’t think it’s official, so can’t post it here.  Unfortunately, it’s at a Sea World type park, and it’s not advocating letting the whales go free. Or better yet–not capturing them to begin with.

My blog here on the orangutan Fu Manchu whom left no doubt he wanted to be free…and not only himself, but his cage mates, as well.  How can anyone argue against something so blatantly obvious?

President Obama’s speech

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Diane Ravitch has this up on the President’s “I could have been Trayvon” speech yesterday.  Lots of passion on both sides about his thoughts.  Of course, educators are up in arms that he does not address education in raising up poor black boys (and girls), and that the destruction of public schools going on will do more damage than good.

I, myself, am a jumble of feelings about it.

I understand the educator’s feelings.  I also know that just because someone is better educated, doesn’t necessarily mean they will not resort to violence to get their way.  Look at all the world leaders who are educated and still promote and advocate violence….

I also understand, as best I can as a white woman, President Obama’s passionate response.  He has been the target of racial profiling.  He knows what Trayvon Martin was experiencing in those moments of being followed by George Zimmerman.  He was innocently walking home, doing nothing wrong….and yet, here was this guy, who for all Trayvon knew, was going to rob him.

But I would argue with President Obama’s  assumption that white folks don’t know what it’s like to be profiled….as my recent experience in FW has proven.  It’s not criminal profiling, but the effect is still the same.

Racism, by either side, is wrong.  Like I said, I felt hopeless.  Despair.  I had treated folks as I wish to be treated.  I was respectful to the elders, addressing them as “Miss” or “Mr.”, as I would my white elders.  If I didn’t particularly care for someone, I wasn’t disrespectful…but I also didn’t have anything to do with them.  It had nothing to do with the color of their skin, but everything to do with their personality.

You know, someone gave me some advice once that resonates here–I had been the subject of bullying after my divorce.  The viciousness is really something someone has to experience in order to understand it.  After being a victim, you tend to take on the victim persona and see yourself in that light.  You begin to believe what others say about you.

The advice I was given was this:  There is no doubt that you were victimized.  But you need to break away from the victim mindset.

In other words:  don’t let others define who you are.  Only you get to do that.  Don’t let others’ actions define your actions–rise above it and be the person you wish to be, not the person they are trying to make you out to be.

Again,speaking as a white woman, it seems to me that black folks have adopted the victim mindset and sometimes think people are being racist when a) they’re just ignorant ; or b) they don’t like someone not because they’re black, but because they’re being a jerk.

I hope this makes some sense–like I said, I’m a jumble of emotions this morning.  Why is it so hard for us to cut each other some slack and try to see each other’s point of view and try to find some common ground?

 

The Bullying Society

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Diane Ravitch has this up.

As I said in my comment there, bullying from children is just a reflection of the adults and culture around them.  We have shows like “Survivor” that encourage groups to pick apart others and zero in on a target.  My Boomer generation didn’t have violent video games which desensitizes one to violence.

I think these all feed into the bullying mentality. Pick on those that are different or weaker. Keep at it until they disappear–either through suicide or crushing their soul until their light goes out…the effect is still the same.

It has even broader implications than “just” bullying–creativity comes from thinking differently.  Bullying will crush the ones that think differently, limiting the greater impact they might have had on the world.

I don’t think the solutions are campaigns telling kids to stop bullying.  It’s too complicated a problem.  And it’s not the kids fault as much as it is society’s.