Category: ethics

Oklahoma charity sues ex-chief, claiming porn, bribes (via NewsOK)

On By southwerkIn ethics

 Is charity giving a wise decision? We are encouraged constantly to give money for any number of causes. Most people being altruistic and kind do give money. And much of the time, the money performs used well, but not all the time. Nevertheless, giving money for the needs of others and the benefit of your fellow citizens is a wise decision. We are helping build a society. We are reasoning  in terms of our relation to each other instead of just self-interest.

There are many, many worthy causes and charites that try to help and the money given to these organizations often serves a useful purpose. But what proportion of the money given is used for that purpose? I have read of organizations that used 99% of their funding on promotion and salaries. 

Food Bank

Those organizations on television, that use mailings and bombard the internet have to use considerable resources to do so. Have you considered giving your charity donations to local charities? Right now, all over the country, churches are having trouble maintaining food banks. Some churches (disclosure – My father and step-mother participate in a free clinic at a Methodist Church.) have medical clinics where all the staff and the doctors work for free. Giving to these kind of organizations means that close to 100% of the money goes to the purpose of your donation, helping those in need.

We don’t have to look far for the needy right now. Unemployment is about 9% officially and closer to 16.5% in the world of reality. Give your money to develop the ties that bind. We are trying to build a better place for all human kind. Help with that struggle.  

From NewsOK –

Larry Jones took bribes and hid hard-core porn magazines at the charity, Feed The Children is alleging in a countersuit against its fired president. The charity also is accusing Jones in the civil case of other misdeeds, including misspending charity funds, pocketing travel money, keeping gifts from appearances and misusing a charity employee as a nanny. Jones, 69, denied wrongdoing.

“They fired me wrongfully,” Jones said Tuesday evening. “What they’re trying to do is build a case up against me so that will hold up. It won’t hold up … I didn’t do anything. … If I had … done anything wrong, you better believe I would have taken everything out of the office … because I knew I was probably going to be fired. “This is crazy,” he said. “I’m not saying they can’t live without me, but everywhere I go, people say, ‘Feed The Children is Larry Jones and Larry Jones is Feed The Children.’ And what they’re trying to do is bury me … with all these trumped-up charges.” He specifically said the alleged bribes were above-board payments to him and that the magazines were research for a new novel, “The Zipper Disease,” about AIDS in Africa.
I do not know the proportion of money used by Save the Children that goes toward administrative cost. I have no preference in whether you give to the organization or not.

I put this article up to show that charities are not simple organizations and can be quite controversial.

I am calling for your good judgment, not asking you to stop giving to this or any other charity.

I want you to consider giving to local churches during this cold winter with so many in need.

James Pilant

United States May Re-instate The Immigration Status Of Tri-Valley Indian Students

On By southwerkIn ethics

There is motion in the case of the Tri-Valley University students. Most of these students are fromIndia and while they retain their visas, they have lost the right to attend other schools or work at a job in the United States. For more background, you can read my post –  The Saga Of The Students From India And Tri-valley University Continues.

From the Economic Times article, ICE indicates it may reinstate Tri-Valley students’ visas. –

The US Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) has indicated that it is ready to consider reinstating the immigration status of those Indian students, who have lost their student visas due to the closure of a California-based “sham” university.

“We received a message from ICE today, in which they indicated that they would consider the possibility of reinstatement of their (students) visa status through I-539,” Susmita Gongulee Thomas, Consul General, Indian Consulate San Francisco, told PTI.

I-539 is the form used by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for visa extension and change of immigration status.

When one is out of the visa status for one reason or the other under a particular law of the US and the individual is not in criminal violation, USCIS may agree to give the reinstatement of his or her status under this form.

It would appear that things are moving in favor of the Indian students. But let’s not celebrate just yet. This could be a “trial balloon” to see what the reaction is to the idea, for instance whether or not the government of India will consider this an adequate response to their complaints. Let’s give it a few days. I’ll stay on it.

James Pilant

The Saga Of The Students From India And Tri-valley University Continues

On By southwerkIn ethics4 Comments

Some of these students have had to wear ankle bracelets that electronically broadcast their location. I have a report that there were 18 students required to wear these and two of these have now been detained. Their appeal is unlikely to be heard until September. If you count the remainder of February, that is seven months wearing an ankle bracelet. What’s more it is long time to be in legal limbo, unable to attend another university or work.

This is from the Times of India –

The Indian students duped by a fake university in the US face an uncertain future as their appeal is not likely to be heard in a court there before September.

The 1,555 students, mostly from Andhra Pradesh, feel they are being subjected to inhuman treatment by the US authorities for no fault of theirs. They want the Indian government to immediately come to their rescue and help them transfer to other US universities.

The families of the students are worried as the US authorities have tied radio monitors to their ankles and may deport them for violation of visa rules.

The dreams of the students to pursue higher education in the US came crashing last week after the Tri-Valley University in California was raided for helping foreigners to illegally obtain student visas.

This is a program from an Indian law firm in the United States explaining the situation.

The government of India has expressed concern. This is from the DAILYBHASKAR.in.

Voicing concern over the welfare of Indian students affected by the closure of a California-based university, India on Friday asserted that students had valid visas and conveyed to the US that they should be given chance to clarify their position.

The students hold valid visas, a senior official said here on Friday, adding that India is hopeful they will be given adequate opportunity to clarify their position.

“Our immediate concern is the welfare of students. We are in touch with US federal agencies,” a senior official said. India’s consul general in San Fransisco also is in touch with students, the official said.

I am concerned too. I have a link to an online petition. I want you to understand clearly. This is not a petition that says there should be no investigation or that further inquiries should not be made. The petition asks for fairness. How many of you can disagree with that?

America is a very strange place for foreign students, not quite like the television view. Justice should not be denied but some kindness and a full consideration of their rights is not too much to ask for.

If you want to sign an online petition to ask the State Department to treat these students fairly, you can go here.

To my readers outside the United States, you do not need to be an American citizen to sign this petition!

So, come in and help.

James Pilant

P.S. I’m getting some indications that the investigation is focusing on a relatively small number of students. There is no direct announcement of this, but I am an attorney. The “feel” of the case is wrong. If they considered all of the students guilty, they could have moved all of them to a detention camp, since that number of students would have suggested an international conspiracy. In the United States, you file against everybody possible and then you narrow it down. I “think” (remember this is just my feel for what is going on) that the authorities are trying to sort through the cases and the fact that there are so many agencies involved is slowing the process.

Andrew Comments On My Post: “Could science prove that vanilla is better than chocolate? (via No Right to Believe)”

On By southwerkIn ethics

Andrew has some comment concerning my blog post: “Could science prove that vanilla is better than chocolate? (via No Right to Believe)”

Here are Andrew’s thoughts –

I disagree with Mr. Harris. Science was designed to be descriptive, not prescriptive. In other words, science is meant to describe how things are or how they appear to be. Not how things ought to be.

The scientific method could be used to examine how and why different cultures end up with their specific philosophical values systems. It is not equipped, however, to determine which system is “better” and which ought to be followed.

Sam Harris and the other founders of the New Atheist Movement (NAM) have been trying, for the past few years, to make science into more than what it is. They’ve put it up on a pedestal and seem to be almost worshiping the idea of science as this perfect process for the attainment of knowledge and reason. They’ve run into a few roadblocks, however, when trying to reconcile the notion of morality and “what we OUGHT to do” with the scientific method that they worship. The funny part is, by doing this they fall into the very same philosophical traps that they accuse the followers of religious philosophies and doctrines of doing.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m an atheist as well (not as militant as the NAM though), and I am very familiar with a few areas of science (mainly physics and mechanics) so I know how good of a tool science can be at helping us further our understanding of the universe we live in. Having said that, however, let me emphasis that it does have its limits.

A good example of this is in the topic of nuclear weapons. Science helped us understand how to build the atom bomb. The ethics behind building and using such a weapon, however, is a completely different ball game. As such, we can see that there is more to being human than what science can help us see.

Whether or not science has moral answers I will leave to my readers’ discretion. I am still struggling with the history and basic tenets of moral philosophy. Isn’t John Wayne supposed to have said, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” I try to not in over may head although I’m sure I do at times.

James Pilant

Why Moral Philosophers Aren’t More Moral Than the Rest of Us (via Ockham’s Beard)

On By southwerkIn ethics
Courtesy of Wiki Commons

This is a fun article. Of course, as an ethics teacher I should probably worry, but I will continue to have faith that I will do okay.

I am still working my way through moral philosophy so this article had relevance for me. I hope you enjoy it as well. Read the comments, some of them are pretty fire breathing.

James Pilant

Brace yourself. Or sit down. Or both. Eric Schwitzgebel and compatriots have uncovered a startling revelation: professional ethicists don’t behave any more morally or courteously than non-ethicists. Full abstract of their paper: If philosophical moral reflection tends to promote moral behavior, one might think that professional ethicists would behave morally better than do socially comparable non-ethicists.  We examined three types of courteous a … Read More

via Ockham’s Beard

Hundreds of Indian Students Duped by Fake University Face Deportation (via Change.org)

On By southwerkIn ethics

Here is the situation from the Yahoo News article, Feds probe Calif. ‘sham university’ for visa fraud.

The government of India is urging the United States to show leniency toward Indian students who were enrolled at a “sham university” in California that U.S. authorities say was a front for illegal immigration.

The U.S. attorney’s office alleges the owner of Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton used the unaccredited school to charge foreigners millions of dollars in tuition fees and help them obtain student visas to stay in the U.S.

Officials at Tri-Valley did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

There were 1,555 students enrolled at Tri-Valley last fall and about 95 percent of them were from India, according to a complaint filed Jan. 19 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Many of those students, who took Tri-Valley courses online, could be deported if they are found to be in violation of their immigration status.

Okay, these guys were probably duped into enrolling into a money making scheme posing as a college. It’s pretty sad. Now, assume just for a moment that these students were aware in some way that this was a sham. I don’t believe that but let’s assume it for the sake of my next question.

Is this fair? Read on –

Indian officials say the students are being “treated like criminals” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents even though they were issued valid U.S. visas by American consular officials in India.

“I don’t think any of them had any idea this was a sham university,” said Susmita Gongulee Thomas, consul general of India in San Francisco. “I don’t think any of them had the motivation to defraud any rules of the U.S. government … These students came here genuinely to improve their prospects and they should not be criminalized or victimized.”

Students told Indian consulate officials that they were searched, treated rudely and handcuffed before being taken into immigration offices for questioning, Thomas said.

Many have been forced to wear ankle bracelets to track their movements with radio frequency signals, and they must report to immigration officials regularly while they go through deportation proceedings, Gongulee Thomas said.

I’ve had people put in ankle bracelets. Those things are pretty demeaning and easy to spot. I recommended those individuals be put in ankle bracelets because they were flight risks.

These citizens of India came here looking for an education or to work at a job. Doing either one requires having a verifiable identity.

This is from Change.org –

Currently, the students from Tri-Valley have their SEVIS information blocked by DHS without which they cannot seek transfers or admissions to other universities and the students are under electronic surveillance. India has already demanded that the students be treated fairly and expressed concern. The Ministry of External Affairs stated that “we have conveyed to the US authorities that the students, most of who are victims themselves, must be treated fairly and reasonably, and that the use of monitors on a group of students, who were detained and later released with monitors in accordance with US laws, is unwarranted and should be removed.”

Help these students stay in the United States to complete their education. In my experience there are a great number of schools in this country designed to extract the maximum amount of money for the least educational value. Considering the number of these schools, I think it would be wise to give these students the benefit of the doubt.

There is an online petition here. I doubt that the petition will get them released, the fear of foreigners in the United States being at all time high. But maybe they will reconsider things like the ankle bracelets and other objectionable treatment.

If you’ve liked the things I’ve written I would appreciate the assistance. Okay?

James Pilant

Could science prove that vanilla is better than chocolate? (via No Right to Believe)

On By southwerkIn ethics5 Comments

Philosophy does enter into business ethics. Our author here discusses the idea that we can derive moral standards from science. It is an interesting take on the subject. Very practical from the author’s point of view. He does in the end agree with the idea of the significance of science in morality.

I enjoyed it. Please read it. The author has many other posting about the nature of belief.

James Pilant

Science can undoubtedly help us get what we want, but could science ever tell us what we ought to want, or what we ought to value? Sam Harris thinks so: he argues that the only reasonable source of value in this universe is the well-being of conscious creatures, which is constrained by the laws of nature — placing morality under the purview of science. But if that were true — so goes one of the criticisms Harris engages — couldn’t we say the s … Read More

via No Right to Believe

The Internet and Social (Network) Conflict (via Only a Northern Song)

On By southwerkIn ethics

This is a fascinating post about how we treat internet posts differently than traditional writing. I enjoyed it. I hope you do too.

James Pilant

The Egyptians worshiped the open eye because they knew attention was redemptive – if you pay attention to things you can understand them and make things better. This resonates with us – we generally believe that paying conscious attention to things is the best way of achieving an objective grasp, a full understanding of what a thing is from itself, rather than simply from our perspective. We improve on this by establishing perspectives which are, … Read More

via Only a Northern Song

EGYPT [26-29] Revolution goes on (via News For A European Strike)

On By southwerkIn ethics

There is some protest videos here from the Egyptian Revolution. I am given hope by the events in Tunisia and Egypt that no matter how rich, powerful and protected by all the powers of the state that the privileged rulers are, there is in the end the possibility of justice.

These revolutions are not just local affairs. From the unrest in Iran a few years ago to the current revolutionary struggles, these are the beginnings of a worldwide movement to shake the foundation of the ruling oligarchy all over this planet.

These are great days to be alive because we actually men and women act with courage in the face of tremendous odds. May we see that kind of courage here in the United States as well.

James Pilant

Huge protests all arround the country against Mubarak’s government. Citizens challenge the curfew in the streets. Internet and mobile communications have been blocked by the government in order to keep the people uncommuncated. … Read More

via

In the shadows of greatness (via There & [Hopefully] Back Again)

On By southwerkIn ethics4 Comments

Fritz Haber is one of the real scientists whose life inspired the “mad scientist” of movies and books. He single mindly aided in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. His response was disappointment and a renewed vigor to create new and better methods of killing. Haber had been a curiosity to me for some years. This article discusses him more in depth.

If you want to talk ethics violations and ethically tone deaf, this scientist should be near the top of your list. If you are a student contemplating writing a paper on ethics, you would have trouble finding a better topic. This is a good article.

James Pilant

In the shadows of greatness How do we define greatness in science? I started pondering this question after responses started coming in to Nature Chemistry’s “unscientific & arbitrary Twitter poll”, asking “Who is the greatest chemist of all time?” The results are now posted on The Skeptical Chymist, the Nature Chemistry blog. My opening question was sparked by a particular name on the list: Fritz Haber.

Read More.