Category: Editorial

The Cop is Your Friend?

On By southwerkIn Editorial

The Cop is Your Friend?

Does this sound more military than police? Overwhelming force and an over adherence to rules when an intelligent person would use judgement. I teach criminal justice and I emphasize over and over again that judgment is the key to a good criminal justice professional. Did you notice there was a certain element of “Do you have your papers? ” Sounds like Casablanca.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZStaaVuxsgg

Watch above. It’s an Austin Police Department training film.

James Pilant

An Austin, Texas woman was arrested for jaywalking while jogging, not having I.D.

An Austin, Texas man was sitting in a downtown Starbucks when he noticed police handing out citations for jaywalking. The police shouted at a young woman who was jogging with her headphones and apparently didn’t hear them. They grabbed her and immediately handcuffed her. When she couldn’t produce identification, she was arrested. Who jogs with state-issued identification? Live Leak user “Oneirishman” picked up his camera and began filming. His eyewitness account, posted at Live Leak:

Sitting at Starbucks, on the corner of 24th and San Antonio, I noticed a particularly odd situation.Two Austin Police Officers standing outside the Castilian just lingering. Every time I looked back there was a different student holding a carbon copy of what looked to be a jay walking citation. Suddenly one of the cops shouts at an innocent girl jogging with her headphones on through West Campus. He wobbled after her and grabbed her by the arm. Startled and not knowing it was a cop, she jerked her arm away. The cop viewed this as resisting arrest and proceeded to grab both arms tightly, placing her in handcuffs. She repeatedly pleaded with them saying that she was just exercising and to let her go. She repeatedly cried out, “I did not do anything wrong…just give me the ticket.” The%2

via An Austin, Texas woman was arrested for jaywalking while jogging, not having I.D..

From around the web.

From the web site, Occupy Cyberspace.

http://occupycyberspace.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/austin-police-admit-occupy-austin-was-infiltrated-by-undercover-police-who-acted-as-instigators-wvideo/

Finally an admission. An Austin Police Officer admits in court yesterday during a pre-trial hearing, that almost from the Beginning, Occupy Austin was infiltrated by Police, who acted as instigators. Officers also had role in making possible illegal device used in Occupy Houston protest.

An Austin police officer has testified in a pre-trial hearing in Houston about allegations he encouraged criminal behavior as an undercover agent in the Occupy movement.

We did some digging and found court documents from Houston that reveal activists’ allegations that Austin Police Department Detective Shannon Dowell pushed them to break the law.

Military Families Often Depend on Food Stamps

On By southwerkIn Editorial

img5aMilitary Families Often Depend on Food Stamps

Our military is all-volunteer. We pay people to defend the nation. Apparently, we don’t pay very much.

When did a McDonald’s style wage become the norm across the United States? From adjunct professors, to government contract workers , to our soldiers, no one in those groups makes much more than a fast food worker. There are airline pilots making 18,000 a year. Is that the goal?  – that everyone in America who works in a salaried job make around twenty thou a year?

James Pilant

Military Families’ Reliance On Food Stamps Hit A Record High Last Year

Military families were more reliant on food stamps in 2013 than in any previous year, according to a Department of Defense (DOD) review that found over $100 million in food stamps spending at military grocery stores last year.

The DOD-run stores, known as commissaries, sell food to active-duty and retired military personnel and their families at prices that are lower than what private grocers charge. Nearly $104 million of the $6.2 billion in total revenue the commissaries brought in during fiscal year 2013 came from food stamps.

Food stamp usage at the stores has more than quadrupled since 2007 as the recession compounded the already difficult financial situation faced by military families. New soldiers with a child and a spouse earn $20,000 per year in pay, according to CNN Money, and the frequent relocations and disruptions inherent to the lifestyle of a military family make it harder for military spouses to find jobs and bring in supplementary income. The unemployment rate for young military spouses was 30 percent in 2012. Retired military servicemen and women who joined up after 9/11 have a 10 percent unemployment rate, which also contributes to the elevated food stamp figures at DOD commissaries, and nearly a million working-age veterans lived in poverty in 2010.

via Military Families’ Reliance On Food Stamps Hit A Record High Last Year.

From around the web.

From the web site, Military.com.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/07/13/dod-5000-military-families-losing-food-stamps.html

The House action that stripped food stamp funding from a massive farm bill would threaten vital assistance for about 5,000 military families, mostly from the junior enlisted ranks, Pentagon officials said Friday.

A Department of Agriculture report last year showed that more than 5,000 of the 48 million Americans receiving Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program (food stamps) listed their employment status as “active duty military,” the Pentagon officials said.

“Military members who receive SNAP tend to be made up of members in junior pay grades with larger than average household sizes,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, a Defense Department spokesman.

Fire Richie Incognito, Now.

On By southwerkIn Editorial

fire_01Fire Richie Incognito, Now.

What kind of harassment gets you fired? You can be fired for harassing on the basis of race. He did that. You can be fired for offensive touching. He did that. You can be fired for sexual harassment, even male on male. He did that. You can be fired for encouraging and organizing others to create a hostile work environment. He did that. Your can be fired for extorting money. He did that.

So, how much is enough? He’s should have been fired when all this began. He should have been fired a dozen times by now. What does it take?

I don’t know. Maybe, the “macho” culture of the NFL sanctifies moronic and cruel behavior?

When people have said in that past that sports built character and provided role models for young people, I have argued that this was an overblown argument.

No longer.

I deny that sports and, in particular, the NFL, provide any role models that we should expose children to.

A gentleman would never behave like Richie Incognito. Any sport that tolerates this kind of behavior deserves to be hidden from public view, shorn of its public benefits and television air time.

If they can’t clean up their act, it will have to be cleaned up for them. Enough is enough.

James Pilant

(If you have a very, very strong stomach – here are some partial transcripts of what Incognito said:) http://deadspin.com/the-worst-stuff-from-the-dolphins-investigation-updati-1522846626?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Wells report, Richie Incognito: The NFL’s investigation of the Miami Dolphins locker room is the best report on bullying I’ve ever read.

Ted Wells’ independent investigation of the Miami Dolphins and the culture of their offensive line is the opposite of a whitewash. The investigators’ 140-plus page report on the events leading up to Jonathan Martin’s departure from the team is judicious, persuasive, and a public service. Carefully sifting through the evidence, it concludes that Richie Incognito and two teammates who acted as his henchmen humiliated and harassed Martin, another unnamed teammate, and an assistant trainer for months in ways that no employee should have to endure. This report should be required reading in management courses and for anyone who wonders how ugly, demeaning, and corrosive treatment can lie beneath a façade of “all in good fun” workplace “teasing.”

The report should also be a watershed moment for the Dolphins and the NFL. Its conclusions will only have real power if it leads to real consequences. Given his record of past infractions, Incognito should not play in the NFL. Not next year, and probably not ever. And the Dolphins should fire offensive line coach Jim Turner, who participated in the bullying.

I’ve often half-joked that to really understand an accusation of bullying, you need a police investigation, with all the tools for rigorously evaluating the credibility of everyone’s account. With more than 100 interviews of Dolphins players, coaches, and managers, as well as thousands of text messages, that’s what this report is. For this we should credit not just the professionalism of the investigative team, but the openness of Jonathan Martin. He gave his permission to air sensitive, private information about his struggles with depression and suicidal thinking. It’s a personal sacrifice that will no doubt expose him to hurt and criticism—and that allows for the kind of honest reckoning that can help other victims of bullying, both adults and kids.

via Wells report, Richie Incognito: The NFL’s investigation of the Miami Dolphins locker room is the best report on bullying I’ve ever read..

From around the web.

From the web site, Tiny Cat Pants.

http://tinycatpants.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/richie-incognito/

Richie Incognito

Two things about this just utterly depress me. One is this idea that you can be that kind of evil hothead and people think that you can just “keep it in the locker room” or “leave it on the field.” I’m not opposed to sports. I don’t think that a person who hits a ball is likely to hit a person. Or that a person who does something while in uniform is destined to do that thing out of uniform.

But I don’t think you can get positive reinforcement for scaring the shit out of people outside of the context of the game and calling names and acting like a jerk and not have it leak out into your regular life. It’s just not a psychological change most people can make. If you get praise for it, it’s very difficult to set it aside when outside of contexts where you get praise for it.

But second, and most importantly, I find the men rushing to Incognito’s defense, trying to explain it away as “locker room” or “its own culture” to be so damn sad. Because you shouldn’t have to work at a job where your co-workers use racial epithets against you. And yet, to see all these guys arguing that it’s okay, it’s obviously okay because that’s the norm. They literally expect no better. They get to be millionaires and cultural heroes and the epitome of manliness. It’s still so ordinary for them to be called or to hear a teammate the n-word or by white guys that they get on TV and argue that it’s okay.

They expect nothing better than Incognito’s actions.

It’s just utterly depressing.

From the web site, (This is a teaching web site, most impressive. The author is Andy Driska, and I’ve got to say, a very clever and skilled teacher. This is a fascinating assignment.) kin445, Michigan State.

http://kin445.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/jonathan-martin-richie-incognito-and-the-culture-of-a-football-team/

Odds are, if you follow sports, you heard some of the coverage of the Jonathan Martin – Richie Incognito affair.  If you aren’t familiar with it, see the first source in the list below (USA Today timeline).  In sum, Martin left the team suddenly, accusing teammates of bullying and harassment.  Sport media focus on this issue first presented a narrative that the accusations of bullying in the locker room were signs that Martin was a “soft” player.  Media focused on the commonly held belief that players are simply not as tough as they used to be (noting rules that protect quarterbacks, prevent certain types of tackles, or prevent playing after a suspected concussion).  However, as the issue unfolded, and more evidence entered the court of public opinion, including audio of Incognito’s phone messages to Martin (NOTE: I will not provide a link to the audio given its graphic nature, but you can Google it if you must hear these phone messages for yourself), the narrative shifted to place blame on “a failure of leadership.”

 

A Fracking Earthquake?

On By southwerkIn Editorial

006thA Fracking Earthquake?

This is just another one of those things the industry doesn’t like the rest of us to talk about. The cloak of secrecy the industry continues would rival any military operation in the world. We do know that they contaminate wells, bring up radioactive water from deep in the earth,  damage the health of both humans and animals, and evidence is stacking up that they cause earthquakes.

It’s kind of interesting to have a business ethics story of this kind. While it is a national tragedy, academically it’s a beauty of a disaster which will change the field of business ethics forever. After all. we now know when the Vice-President is a former CEO of Haliburton and has years of closed door meetings with energy companies, something bad is about to happen. We now know that when the Congress votes to protect a single industry from government from the laws protecting air and water, that industry is going to do something to the air and water. We now know that when the government is prevented from doing studies and overseeing an industry that our information about the effects of that industry will fragmented, often anectdotal and take years before enough evidence is accumulated before action can be taken.

And as usual, we know that it would have been so much better if we knew then what we know now.

James Pilant

Is Fracking Causing Earthquakes? | Crooks and Liars

In Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio and other states, people who have rarely experienced earthquakes in the past are getting used to them as a fairly common phenomenon. This dramatic uptick in tremors is related to drilling for oil and natural gas, several reports find. And the growing popularity of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is in part to blame.

Between 1970 and 2000, there was an average of 20 earthquakes per year within the central and eastern United States. Between 2010 and 2013, there was an average of more than 100 earthquakes annually. A United States Geological Survey released last month summarized research on man-made earthquakes conducted by one of the agency’s geophysicists:

USGS scientists have found that at some locations the increase in seismicity coincides with the injection of wastewater in deep disposal wells. Much of this wastewater is a byproduct of oil and gas production and is routinely disposed of by injection into wells specifically designed for this purpose.

So, the actual hydraulic fracturing process itself is not to blame in these cases; instead, it’s the injection of wastewater into deep wells that accompanies it.

Hydraulic fracturing produces a higher volume of wastewater than traditional drilling — as the name implies, drillers use millions of gallons of high-pressure water, sand and chemicals to break apart rock and release gas trapped in pockets in the earth. The wastewater generated is often contaminated with salt or poisonous chemicals, and environmental regulations bar drilling companies from allowing it to mix with drinking water; oftentimes, the most economical way for these companies to  dispose of it is to sequester it deep in the ground, below aquifers. Once there, it changes pressure underground and lubricates fault lines, with the potential effect of causing earthquakes.

In both Texas and Oklahoma, the number of earthquakes per year has increased ten-fold. And wells storing wastewater from fracking have also been linked to hundreds of earthquakes near Youngstown, Ohio.

Is Fracking Causing Earthquakes? | Crooks and Liars.

From around the web.

From the web site, Akron Dave.

http://akrondave.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/fracking-suspected-as-cause-of-texas-earthquakes/

A group of residents of a small Texas community traveled to the state capital to protest hydraulic fracturing, “fracking,” in their community that is being blamed for about 30 earthquakes since November.

This follows reports of earthquakes near Youngstown, Ohio, last year that were linked to fracking wells, which led the usually business-friendly Gov. John Kasich to order the operation to shut down.

If Texas quakes are like the Ohio seismic activity, the problem could be the injection of fracking wastewater into the ground near a fault line. Geologists say the liquid can create “slippage” in faults, which triggers the quakes.

The fact that fracking has helped dramatically reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil and natural gas makes shutting down fracking operations highly unpopular in some circles. But when the earth is shaking under your feet, you gotta take it seriously.

I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about this.

The Curse of the Princeton Mom Returns!

On By southwerkIn Editorial

Creativity1001227745The Curse of the Princeton Mom Returns!

The Princeton Mom who last year explained to college women to skip all that pointless academic crap and focus on getting a husband is back! The Wall Street Journal in its continued quest to reduce one-half of humankind to barefoot and pregnant, happily provides a platform. While you can almost sense in the background of the article a “Why haven’t you given me grand-children?” style of thinking, the focus of the article is that women can only be fulfilled through a good man. It’s as if the worst stereotype of the television Jewish mother had mated with the ideological purity of the WSJ.

She doesn’t just say that catching a man is the most important thing to do while in college. She tells women that this requires careful planning. She sketches out a long term strategy where you not only target the men currently in school but collect their names so you can look them up later and see how economically successful they have become. You almost get a sense of a female black widow building an internet web while sensing prey.

This sounds suspiciously to me like putting giant $$ bulls eyes on male classmates. Of course, this puts a whole new spin on Women Who Run With the Wolves. According the Princeton Mom they’re not being strong or independent, they’re hunting men.

I don’t want to be hunted. I believe that I share the opinion of the vast majority of men, that this would flattering for a brief time but after that it would just be creepy.

Besides, I like smart women. I like independent women who don’t let me get away with sloppy thinking or overconfidence. I’m not perfect. I need a questioning partner to keep me on track. And I can’t help but think that if I was being pursued in Princeton Mom style, what I am as a person would take a very, very back seat to “How much money does he make?”

I freely admit that the Princeton Mom would consider me a wretched catch, too short, too old, too poor and too ugly.

So you see, I have a personal stake in all this. As a person who is in the process of becoming single again after a quarter century of marriage being considered on an economic basis and apparently in some way a fulfillment of a woman’s life strikes me as scary. I’m not going to become wealthy or even financially secure. I live pay-check to pay-check in a very similar fashion to my students.

But this is not the main problem. I don’t want to be the fulfillment of a woman’s life. That’s a responsibility that I can’t fulfill. I’m flawed and even I were not, I would not want to do it. I can’t make someone happy. I can’t make another person’s life worthwhile. I can love a woman and try to be there for her but I am as subject to death or injury as anyone else. Relying on me for fulfillment is bound to be a disappointment if only because I might die first.

And that is my main point here, men cannot fulfill women’s lives. If women are essentially useful containers for baby making then their only fulfillment is in men (and baby making). But women are not that. They are fellow human beings, and just like men, they find fulfillment by searching and suffering for it. Neither I nor the other men in this world can make a woman’s life worthwhile, they have to do that.

The reason colleges are not infested with desperate husband hunting women is simple. Women know better. They know that independence, intelligence and accomplishment are worthwhile goals. I like that. When I go to teach my classes in the morning, the intelligence and perceptiveness of my students is always a delight. I don’t perceive the women in my classes as being one whit less dedicated to becoming significant and powerful than the males.

The time where the Princeton Mom’s advice made sense is over. We live in a new era. There is a lot I don’t like about this time in American history but I do like the way women are challenging and complex. It makes talking to them fun. It must have been a very intellectually deficient world when they were just conveniences. Or when they were trained to smile and feign amusement when males talked.

It took us a long time to get to where women weren’t toys or fantasies. I like living here in this time where women can become more than what they could before. It’s better than how it used to be.

James Pilant

Princeton Mom is back: Susan Patton writes for the Wall Street Journal, annoys everybody.

Susan Patton, the mother who seared herself into our nightmares last March when she wrote a letter in the Daily Princetonian urging women to collect that MRS degree, stat, is back. This time she has taken her retrograde loonery to the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Her Valentine-themed opinion piece, about how college women need to “smarten up and start husband-hunting,” is full of the absurd generalizing, medieval gender roles, Ivy League snobbery, and general wrongheadedness you might expect. (There is also a delightfully cuckoo line about Noam Chomsky and the Bayeux tapestry.) But the question arises: Is Patton’s latest effort more insulting to men or to women? Below, a brief accounting:

Another Valentine’s Day. Another night spent ordering in sushi for one and mooning over “Downton Abbey” reruns. Smarten up, ladies.

Apparently sushi and Downton Abbey are not a winning combo, and women need to “smarten up” to the fact that we are huge miserable failures unless we spend Feb. 14 feeding our Yale-educated husbands lobster on an enormous bed of pearls. (He murmurs something romantic in Latin. You reply in ancient Greek. His personal assistants, also Yalies, dim the lights. Scene.) More insulting to: women.

Despite all of the focus on professional advancement, for most of you the cornerstone of your future happiness will be the man you marry. But chances are that you haven’t been investing nearly as much energy in planning for your personal happiness as you are planning for your next promotion at work. What are you waiting for? You’re not getting any younger, but the competition for the men you’d be interested in marrying most definitely is.

via Princeton Mom is back: Susan Patton writes for the Wall Street Journal, annoys everybody..

From around the web.

From the web site, The Daily Jewish Forward.

http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/180661/princeton-mom-is-no-jewish-mom/

Earlier this year, Patton sparked outrage and, we can only assume, mortifyingly embarrassed her two sons when she wrote in the newspaper of her beloved (I cannot stress that word enough) alma mater the Daily Princetonian. Her essay, “Advice for the young women of Princeton: the daughters I never had,” had at its core one simple message: Ladies, grab a Princeton man (any fellow stumbling out of an eating club in a garish orange-and-black polo will do) and marry him! Quick! Marry him before you’re lost in a world of non-Princeton grads that will never fulfill you, neither intellectually nor romantically, and you die alone, yearning for Ivy League loving.

I exaggerate … but only slightly. Here are some keys pearls of wisdom from Ms. Patton:

You will never again be surrounded by this concentration of men who are worthy of you.

Another:

Find a husband on campus before you graduate.

And, my personal favorite:

As freshman women, you have four classes of men to choose from. Every year, you lose the men in the senior class, and you become older than the class of incoming freshman men. So, by the time you are a senior, you basically have only the men in your own class to choose from, and frankly, they now have four classes of women to choose from. Maybe you should have been a little nicer to these guys when you were freshmen?

I must concur with Ms. Patton that as I’ve reached the spinster age of 23, there’s nothing I regret more than not marrying the senior with Keystone-flavored breath the instant he dove at my freshman face at a house dance at my own fair, ivy-covered institution.

Endless Love, Lamest Ad

On By southwerkIn Editorial

PsycheEndless Love, Lamest Ad

As a user of You Tube, I have been afflicted with seeing the ad for this movie dozens of times. I can’t help but notice that this movie (itself a remake) looks like hundreds of other films. Not to mention the fact that the ad made me want to run away from the vicinity of any movie house desperate enough to show it. What kind of love-sick puppy would find this kind of movie compelling? The wrong side of the tracks love story has been a staple of America, since Horatio Alger decided that saving the bosses’ daughter from impending doom was a likely possible way to get ahead in the world. I don’t see anything here, that is clever or new. It’s always possible to take an old seemingly used up plot and re-create it in a new and exciting way. They didn’t bother in this case.

Endless Love might better be entitled “Continued Pain.”

If you want romance this Valentine’s day, watch “Ghost” or “While You Were Sleeping.” Have a good time this Valentine’s day. Rediscover the magic of romance. Run away from remakes and old plots.

James Pilant

From around the web.

From USA Today.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/02/13/endless-love-review/4987625/

To enjoy Endless Love one must swoon over sappy greeting-card notions of affection, pretty teens with empty heads and endless romantic clichés.

Everyone else will be rolling their eyes at the predictability of every pseudo-twist and the timing of every longing glance.

Endless Love (* ½ out of four; rated PG-13; opens Friday nationwide) might as well be one long montage of yearning gazes, tender kisses and lovers splashing in sundry bodies of water like playful otters. The dialogue relies mostly on overheated narration and by-the-book romantic declarations such as: “I know I’m not good enough for you, but I’m going to spend my entire life proving that I am!”

 

Pat Robertson Unpredictable!

On By southwerkIn Editorial2 Comments

Reading a newspaper i464Pat Robertson Unpredictable!

Sometimes, I can be surprised. Today is one of those days. I would never have thought to hear Pat Robertson say what he said about creationism and Ken Ham.

Read below and maybe you will share my surprise.

What’s the business ethics question here? A television network even one associated with a religion is still a business. What’s the issue? How about Pat Robertson saying what he considers to be true even though it will offend many of his viewers? I have to give him points on that one.

This is an extremely ethical act. He could have avoided the issue or said something moderately approving about defenders of the faith, and yet he did choose that path.

Now I have certainly disagreed with Robertson in the past and probably will in the future. But I grew up in the Fundamentalist Church, right wing Baptists (You might think that’s not possible but it is. Trust me.) they and many other evangelicals consider any questioning of Biblical literal truth as a form of heresy.

So, on this day I give credit and compliments to Pat Robertson for being willing to raise a difficult issue with his base of supporters.

James Pilant

Pat Robertson begs Ken Ham to shut up – Salon.com

Creationist Ken Ham is having his 15 minutes, following a live debate on evolution held between himself and Bill Nye “The Science Guy” on Tuesday.

And while you’d expect most folks to deem Nye the winner (which they have), Ham is receiving criticism from a source you might not expect: televangelist Pat Robertson.

On the Wednesday edition of his TV show, “The 700 Club,” Robertson indirectly implored Ham to put a sock in it, criticizing Ham’s view that the Earth is only 6,000 years old.

“Let’s face it, there was a bishop [James Ussher] … who added up the dates listed in Genesis and he came up with the world had been around for 6,000 years,” Robertson began. “There ain’t no way that’s possible … To say that it all came about in 6,000 years is just nonsense and I think it’s time we come off of that stuff and say this isn’t possible.”

“We’ve got to be realistic that the dating of Bishop Ussher just doesn’t comport with anything that’s found in science,” Robertson continued, “and you can’t just totally deny the geological formations that are out there.”

“Let’s be real,” Robertson begged, “let’s not make a joke of ourselves.”

via Pat Robertson begs Ken Ham to shut up – Salon.com.

From around the web.

Here’s an interesting link: http://youcallthatart.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/pat-robertson-disses-creationism-shocker/

It’s from the web site, You call that Art.

From the web site, WTVR.com.

http://wtvr.com/2012/11/30/pat-robertson-challenges-creationism-cites-dinosaurs/

Televangelist Pat Robertson challenged the idea that Earth is 6,000 years old this week, saying the man who many credit with conceiving the idea, former Archbishop of Ireland James Ussher, “wasn’t inspired by the Lord when he said that it all took 6,000 years.”

The statement was in response to a question Robertson fielded Tuesday from a viewer on his Christian Broadcasting Network show “The 700 Club.” In a submitted question, the viewer wrote that one of her biggest fears was that her children and husband would not go to heaven “because they question why the Bible could not explain the existence of dinosaurs.”

“You go back in time, you’ve got radiocarbon dating. You got all these things, and you’ve got the carcasses of dinosaurs frozen in time out in the Dakotas,” Robertson said. “They’re out there. So, there was a time when these giant reptiles were on the Earth, and it was before the time of the Bible. So, don’t try and cover it up and make like everything was 6,000 years. That’s not the Bible.”

Japan Arms Up

On By southwerkIn Editorial

Japan map CIA fact bookJapan Arms Up

It is obvious to the most casual observer that China’s actions in the South China Sea are fueling tensions in the region. Japan has been adding to its fleet, and I don’t doubt that we will see bigger warships and larger aircraft in the next few years.

Why is this in a business ethics web site?

That’s easy. American institutions like corporations and investment banks willingness to provide money and investment to a crass totalitarian government carries risks. China’s bellicose foreign policy demonstrates just how big that risk is. In the event of a showdown with the United States and its allies, what’s going to happen to hundreds of billions of dollars of investment?

We were told and continue to be told what a great place for investment, China is.

Yeah, just keep repeating that. But watch the news, and count how many carriers the Chinese now have (three).

James Pilant

Japan should reverse course on defense policy, panel says | Al Jazeera America

A government panel will urge Japan to allow its military to help allies that come under attack, a major reversal of the country’s ban on collective defense under its pacifist constitution. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants Japan to play a greater role in international peacekeeping and step up its defense posture, citing potential military threats from China and North Korea.

The panel on Tuesday discussed ways that Japan can improve its defense capability and said it will present its near-final draft recommendation in coming weeks, before its final report is expected sometime after April.

The 14-member panel, headed by former Ambassador to the U.S. Shunji Yanai, said the revision is possible if the government alters its current interpretation of the war-renouncing constitution. Formal constitutional change involves high hurdles, though Abe eventually hopes to achieve that as well.

The constitution, written under U.S. direction after World War II, says the Japanese people “forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation” and that “land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained.” 

The government has interpreted those clauses as meaning that Japan cannot possess offensive military weapons such as ICBMs or long-range strategic bombers.

Abe and other supporters of the change believe that restrictions should be removed from the military, and that Japan’s current self-defense-only policy is inadequate as the region’s security environment becomes more challenging. 

via Japan should reverse course on defense policy, panel says | Al Jazeera America.

From around the web.

From the web site, Consortium of Defense Analysts.

http://cofda.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/aircraft-carrier-race-china-vs-japan-india/

Discreetly, the Japanese aren’t boasting much about the 19,500-ton Izumo, which should be ready for action in two years, but Japan’s success in producing such a vessel may diminish the Chinese challenge to Japanese control over the disputed Senkaku islands, Diaoyu to the Chinese. No one doubts that Japanese shipyards, after decades producing some of the biggest, most sophisticated commercial vessels, could turn out still more in the Izumo class – and go up in class to full-fledged aircraft carriers.

What in the Hell??? Is Self Pleasure the Same as War?

On By southwerkIn Editorial

006thWhat in the Hell??? Is Self Pleasure the Same as War? (It is in Idaho.)

(Please go down to the article I am talking about and read it first – it’s okay if you read and think it’s a parody from the Onion. Here is a link to the film that is being discussed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhxv-lcChGM. I don’t know if you should watch the film. I don’t think anybody anywhere should see this film but you have to make that choice for yourself. But in case you are wondering, the film literally compares masturbation to war.)

I have students in my class who are veterans. Some have been blown up by IED’s. I don’t doubt that all have been changed by their experiences.

This leads me to my next and what I consider an obvious point – Masturbation is not equivalent to war.

Furthermore, it seems to me that Brigham Young University’s Housing and Student Living Office has way too much money and way too much time on their hands, and a woeful lack of intelligent leadership.

Or I can I just simplify my criticism – they’re just weird. That’s with a capital W. And an exclamation point! – Weird!

I foolishly thought anti-masturbation was so nineteenth century. Apparently that century has a lot of fans in Idaho. It’s fortunate they don’t like the fifteenth, they could have an Inquisition. Of course, they could always combine the two and have an anti-masturbation Inquisition complete with chanting monks and a rack. But this is the 21st century, so they made an “educational” film.

And think about this, if masturbation is equivalent to war, what is sex equivalent to – Armageddon, perhaps the Apocalypse? If they make a film about actual sex, will the climax of the film be the practitioners literally exploding?

I guess we’ll have to wait for their next production. You want to know my guess for the next film: Reefer Madness II, the Reckoning.

James Pilant

BYU-Idaho Anti-Masturbation Video Compares Self-Pleasure To War

A PSA by Brigham Young University–Idaho’s Housing and Student Living Office compares masturbation to the battlefield and those who pleasure themselves to wounded soldiers. The takeaway seems to be something along the lines of “friends don’t let friends masturbate.”

The video begins with a young male who appears to be watching porn with his door open (as is the de facto way), but the spot then takes a decidedly strange turn.

“The young man is spiritually wounded on the battlefield of the Great War,” university President Kim B. Clark says in a voiceover before the scene transitions into a grim battlefield. “In our modern society, the enemy has spread fear of getting involved when someone’s in trouble and has fostered a social stigma against people who speak up in the face of evil.”

Clark finally puts out a call to action: “Don’t be silent. Don’t leave the wounded on the battlefield.”

via BYU-Idaho Anti-Masturbation Video Compares Self-Pleasure To War.

From around the web.

From the web site, Why Evolution is True.

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/bizarre-mormon-anti-masturbation-video-narrated-by-byu-president/comment-page-1/

We all know the Catholic strictures about masturbation, and how you can suffer eternally for unconfessed onanism. What I didn’t realize is that the Mormons also regard “self abuse,” depicted in the video below as an implied consequence of watching online pornography, as something with dire consequences.

This video, narrated by Kim B. Clark, president of Brigham Young University (the world’s most famous Mormon college), depicts a college student watching internet porn as the equivalent of a soldier wounded in battle. And those who know and ignore his “addiction” are compared to soldiers who ignore that wounded comrade. The film urges those in the know to report the onanistic miscreant to their bishop or another authority figure.

As the film ends, the self-abuser, who has clearly been subject to that intervention, is now depicted as having a healthy attitude toward the opposite sex, while the tattle-tale looks on.

Why Am I Reading Salon?

On By southwerkIn Editorial1 Comment

Why Am I Reading Salon?

Maybe I like being mistreated? Maybe I have an innate sense that things are going too well and I need to put my life back in perspective?

What’s my problem, you ask. Well, Salon’s web site is still crashing my browser but I’m used to that now. However, they have developed new methods of making me unhappy.

As an author, I will pull up Salon and have individual tabs for four or more articles that I am reviewing for use in my blog. In what can be described as sadistic cruelty, advertisements now play at random times. That’s right! You can be sitting peacefully at your computer, working your way through the web, grooving down on a little Van Morrison, when you suddenly begin hearing theme music from a commercial narrated by really annoying people.

But it gets better. Not only do you not know which tab hides the commercial, if you find the right tab, the annoying ad could be anywhere in it: top, bottom, in the middle, left or right, or it can be camouflaged.

So, I’m playing a game of whack-a-mole with Salon, and they don’t even keep score.

I’m still reading Salon because I like the articles but I can’t recommend to just anybody. If you like me play music while working on the computer (I’ve maintained this blog for four years – it’s work – trust me.), it might be better to give it a miss. Van Morrison’s “Bright Side of the Road,” doesn’t sound as good with a commercial fighting it for attention.

James Pilant