It would appear more land will be lost to nuclear catastrophe. The radiation like some infection is spreading across Fukushima claiming more and more geography. And while this is happening, the government and the utility companies do their public relations and hope that somehow, someway, that events will mirror their rosy prognostications.
James Pilant
Corruption in India is fairly endemic. It is present in everything from traffic tickets to giant government contracts. Hazare is struggling with a mountain of inertia, a community acceptance of corruption and an appreciation of its benefits. He is trying to work with and develop a contrarian philosophy. I suspect this may be based on the Indian development of greater economic and political power in international relations.
The Indians are a proud people to put it very mildly. But a reasonable person can easily conclude that corruption on the current scale will make it very difficult for India to become as signiificant as its large population and geography would make it. Corruption on the current scale threatens national growth and impairs the nation’s standing in the world just as investment banking speculation and greed endanger growth in the United States.
I have a lot to learn about this situation but I’m going to try.
Indians may speak English but the implications and history behind the words are different than in American English. This is not to imply superiority to ether form of the language merely to acknowledge the need for caution.
James Pilant
via Slate
Who is Anna Hazare and what is his importance to the United States?
About 2 years ago, the United States cut a deal with the Indian government to share nuclear technology. The legislature ratified the treaty. It was a very controversial deal. The Indian government had been a rogue power in regard to nuclear energy having used what was supposed to be peaceful nuclear technology to build a series of atom bombs.
The deal allowed India to access fuel and nuclear technology from the rest of the world making India the only nuclear power a non-signatory to the non-proliferation treaty.
Wikileaks revealed that the American State Department had directly observed enormous sums of cash to be used to bribe enough of the representatives to get the deal through.
Anger in India over this corruption is intense.
Hazare has been fasting to force the government to put in place anti-corruption legislation.
The struggles continues but Hazare appears to have won this round.
James Pilant
Another clip from the ongoing disaster. It just keeps going like an Energizer Bunny on steroids. Hollywood and the networks cannot be missing the possibilities here. They’ll probably make a once a week drama like CSI except with radiation. They could do a Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry style movie where the incompetent nuclear plant operator keeps telling the rogue, burnt out nuclear safety worker, “You can’t do that, it will cause a panic!” In ten years after the tragedy has faded in the public mind, they could do a sit-com about families uprooted living in a gymnasium without any privacy explaing in humorous ways how they never really liked the dog they left behind. It will be a kind of Threes Company – Poseidon Adventure clone.
This thing definitely has Hollywood potential, after all, Married with Children ran for thirteen years and this thing is supposed to run twenty.
James Pilant
I have mixed emotions about natural law. I try to be careful to explain the positives and negatives when I teach. I do think there is a lot to say in its favor and this article does so.
This is good writing. I really enjoyed the quote from the Dred Scott decision.
I believe that philosophy has a place in the mind of every educated human being. I am constantly surprised by the intensity and fervor on the online philisophical discussions. Sites dealing with religious philosophy are particularly combative with the atheistic sites not far behind. However, for the more academic, there a dozens of sites where the philosophies of Aristotle and Plato are discussed moving right up to modern (and often little known) philosophers.
I’ve give this one a read.
James Pilant
via Ex Libris
This is some great writing. Many people are upset by the enormous salaries that CEO’s are pulling down and have conveyed their rage online. But few have explained the mechanics of the corporate system that make these salaries possible.
I visited “Off the Top o’ My Head.” I was impressed by the writing. This is a thoughtful author and he brings legal elements into his reasoning but not too much. The writing is very approachable. You should give this site a visit.
This is his business page.
James Pilant
The idea of the rational man has always been a bit of an exaggeration. However, it has been a useful idea. The American court system often rest on the idea of the “reasonable man.” And that idea has functioned well incorporating contemporary social beliefs informally into the legal system.
The idea of the rational buyer has permeated American economics. It has bizarre elements. For instance, it assumes that buyers make rational decisions even in the face of advertising. It assumes that buyers recalculate safety risks to maintain the same level of safety, etc. It also is useful, but mainly for protecting business from criticism.
It would be extremely difficult to develop a criminal justice system that takes a perpetrator’s reasoning into consideration. But that it is difficult does not mean it should be done. It would add depth and power to punishment and social control.
It needs development, but I think it can be done.
James Pilant
via hbd* chick
I’m not surprised. The radiation released was too high to have been caused otherwise. I’m curious but I don’t want to find out what would happen in a full melt down. We can extrapolate from the current events that it would be a cataclysm. We didn’t miss it by much.
James Pilant
It is increasingly clear that pet safety has to be part of any disaster planning. These pet owners thought they would only be gone for a day. But now they live in gymnasiums and schools – and they are not ever going home. They thought their pets would be alright for a day but that day has become eternity.
James Pilant
I never saw this before. Quite an elegant set of ideas. Read and enjoy!
James Pilant
via theshywitch
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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