Tag: politics

stand strong (via lazywednesdays)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Some poetry for you day and mine.

James Pilant

close the door stand strong don't give in to their chants and songs noisy excessive din be bold take control you have a job to do You won't be moved to their weakness no surrender stand up tall give your all their cries and pleas contagious disease look at them down there pathetic we are united you and I together we will make history we will change history Listen to me their fears and concerns will soon pass with them they'll forget what you did … Read More

via lazywednesdays

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (via Gooseberry Bush)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

These are my favorite lines from the post.

Wow! That’s interesting. So, apparently, Walmart has no responsibility for looking at these skewed numbers and wondering just why, exactly, that far more men than women are “qualified” to be managers. No one in their human resources department ever once questioned these statistics? Are we really saying as a country that we believe that men are innately more “qualified” to management 67% of the time? That’s not sexist. Of course not.

Those are also my thoughts. This decision is a travesty, a disaster.

Please read the article.

James Pilant

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back Two stories have made the news lately that involve women’s rights. The one step forward is Saudi Arabian women driving despite that country’s ban on women drivers. Despite the fact that there is not one civil, written law prohibiting women from driving, Saudi women who drive are jailed because of the ruling of conservative Muslim clerics. Some 40 women with int … Read More

via Gooseberry Bush

The Seduction of Power (via Only Ed)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Battle. That’s a very strange word to use in the context of media in conflict but I don’t doubt its importance or relevance.

I believe the battle for the print, broadcast and cable media has been lost. The kind of news that was in the paper and on the television 35 years ago is gone. We now live in an age of “distraction” news, content free news and outright deception. It is a great pity.

A free people cannot defend itself without information, facts and leadership, we have none of that. We have celebrity scandals, fake facts that our sniveling media decline to describe as a lies and a jello spined leadership so beholden to financial interests they contest among themselves for who is the most slavish in their devotion. They throw their offering on the altars of these demigods like the food offerings thrown before the wooden carvings of Odin in Pre Medieval Scandinavia.

Read on and discover nations and cultures where the media is still up for grabs.

James Pilant

  The Seduction of Power   Posted 24 June 2011, by Raúl Pierri, Inter Press  Service (IPS), ips.org MONTEVIDEO, Jun 24, 2011 (IPS) – The governments and big private media groups in Latin America are waging a war to win over public opinion, the ultimate arbiter of legitimacy, and the only solution would appear to be to strike up an alliance. "Battle" was the most oft-repeated term in the seminar on "Communication, pluralism and the role … Read More

via Only Ed

More hidden and ugly truth about the Marcoses revealed (via Quierosaber’s Blog)

On By southwerkIn business ethics2 Comments

I share the author’s concerns. After their wanton looting of the Philippines, they should not be welcome in any civilized society.

James Pilant

More hidden and ugly truth about the Marcoses revealed The family of the notorious Filipino strongman, Ferdinand Marcos, has been back in the country for sometime now, accepted and forgiven. As if they were the ones wronged and not the entire nation and its people physically subjugated, oppressed and robbed by them during the despot’s 20-year rule, the short-lived m … Read More

via Quierosaber's Blog

Access Ministries: Dissent Is Prohibited (via grey lining)

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

This is from Australia. In that country, religious groups are given time to teach their views in school. Get a good read. This is what schools in the United States could look like if religion is allowed entry.

James Pilant

Access Ministries: Dissent Is Prohibited The antics of Access Ministries alternate between comedic and genuinely disturbing – and the degree to which they appear to have permeated all levels of government and public service, both state and federal, is something that requires some serious scrutiny. The relentlessness of the disinformation and misguided, railroaded policy not representative of community requirements does not happen by itself. There are serious resources at work amongst pr … Read More

via grey lining

“War on drugs” is a failure in many ways (via Eideard)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Generally speaking, I do not consider drugs, in this case an illegal activity, a business ethics problem. However the private prison system is a business ethics problem. I have come across on more than one occasion, situations in which the counties and congressional districts in which private prisons exist, have opposed liberalizing the drug laws away from imprisonment and toward other options for fear of losing jobs.

I would like to see a debate over what drug laws are proper that does not in some way spin around local employment at private prisons. That’s not how to make good decisions.

James Pilant

"War on drugs" is a failure in many ways In a step few politicians would take, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle…declared the nation’s decades-old war on drugs a failure… “Rather than invest in detaining people in the Cook County Jail at almost $150 a day . . . we need to invest in treatment, education and job-skills training. That’s the only way . . . we are going to reduce crime and stabilize our communities,” she said… “We all know that the war on drugs has failed to … Read More

via Eideard

“War on drugs” is a failure in many ways (via Eideard)

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

Generally speaking, I do not consider drugs, in this case an illegal activity, a business ethics problem. However the private prison system is a business ethics problem. I have come across on more than one occasion, situations in which the counties and congressional districts in which private prisons exist, have opposed liberalizing the drug laws away from imprisonment and toward other options for fear of losing jobs.

I would like to see a debate over what drug laws are proper that does not in some way spin around local employment at private prisons. That’s not how to make good decisions.

James Pilant

"War on drugs" is a failure in many ways In a step few politicians would take, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle…declared the nation’s decades-old war on drugs a failure… “Rather than invest in detaining people in the Cook County Jail at almost $150 a day . . . we need to invest in treatment, education and job-skills training. That’s the only way . . . we are going to reduce crime and stabilize our communities,” she said… “We all know that the war on drugs has failed to … Read More

via Eideard

ENInews – Archbishop of Canterbury’s comments provoke response from British government (via Persona)

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

I support the inclusion of religious systems of morality in the national discourse (in this case, international). We have a responsibility to act in a moral way through our government as well as through our own actions.

James Pilant

ENInews¦ Featured Articles. In a strongly-worded opinion piece in the June 9 issue of The New Statesman, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, took a stand against recent economic, criminal justice, and healthcare reforms proposed by British Prime Minister David Cameron. Now, that is what I call a responsible church leader. It makes me feel proud that I am Anglican. You may read HERE Rowan Williams's  article in The New Statesman. … Read More

via Persona

5 reasons why banks hate [and fear] Elizabeth Warren (via Eideard)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

5 reasons why banks hate [and fear] Elizabeth Warren I’m sorry, Congressman, you’re small-minded, too! Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission Elizabeth Warren, it’s not you they hate. It’s what you represent. You want to be an honest cop when so many before you in Washington have looked the other way and pretended that the banking industry could police itself. I can’t think of a better reason why this presidential adviser shouldn’t be the new chief of an unfettered Consumer Financial Protectio … Read More

via Eideard

I couldn’t agree more. An honest broker is the last thing the large banks can stand. They want the status quo of unaccountability to continue forever. We’re just sheep to be sheared under current law. Even knowing what shenanigans the industry is up to is very difficult.

Let’s get Elizabeth Warren confirmed.

James Pilant

Zombie Ants and the Body Politic (via The Conflicted Doomer)

On By southwerkIn business ethics2 Comments

This is a sort of quiet well informed and literate outrage. I don’t see a lot of this kind. It’s a great pleasure. The lead in, discussing zombie ants, is one of the most original I’ve seen. I would read it just for that story if nothing else. But there is more, I was unaware of the situation with the California librarians. (I have a soft spot for librarians having grown up hanging around the stacks of books. I have maintained an interest in  librarians ever since.)

Good writing. I am happy to have an opportunity to share. I’m going to return and have a look from time to time.

James Pilant

My thanks to The Conflicted Doomer!

Zombie Ants and the Body Politic May 14, 2011 What an interesting news week it’s been.  Early in the week, I read a couple of articles about a fungus that infects and takes over the nervous systems of certain ants in the jungles of Brazil and Thailand. The fungus then causes the ant to behave erratically, wandering the jungle for over a week until it finds the “perfect place” on the un … Read More

via The Conflicted Doomer