Tag: United States

Hong Kong’s Monster Parents

On By southwerkIn Capitalism2 Comments
SVG map of Hong Kong's administrative districts.
SVG map of Hong Kong’s administrative districts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

I think something similar has been happening here for some time. It’s because of neoliberalism, the doctrine that education is a good to be purchased like a car or a vacation house. We, Americans, strive for an education to get and keep a job forgetting that education has other vital purposes like the creation of whole and vital human beings. The Chinese in Hong Kong also pursue an education for a job but also for social status, and, of course, their system of high school ends in a test that determines who goes to college and who does not. Less than half will qualify. Our testing regime is hideous beyond words but it does not carry that penalty, at least not yet.

 

I have a lot of sympathy for Monster parents. There is unfairness for some students. One of my son’s high school teachers told him that he would never go to college. Since my wife (now ex-wife) and I have two degrees apiece, we thought he probably would go to college (he’s attending one now). I let the matter blow over but there is a part of me that wanted confrontation, a confrontation that teacher would not have forgotten.

 

Still, however sympathetic I may be, I can’t see putting a child through a childhood absent play and solitude.

 

James Pilant 

 

 

The Existential Angst of Hong Kong’s ‘Monster Parents’ | Yuen Chan

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yuen-chan/hong-kong-monster-parents_b_4058306.html

 

For a story about the pressures of early childhood in Hong Kong, my students recently interviewed the mother of a four-year-old who has soccer class on Mondays, piano and violin on Thursdays, extra English and maths on Thursdays and Fridays and music on Saturdays. She was also considering Mandarin and swimming, and all this on top of kindergarten. This may be an extreme case, but there is constant pressure for parents to put their kids on the treadmill and a lucrative industry to promote it.

 

Unsurprisingly, there was much hand-wringing when a survey published by a local university found Hong Kong\’s school children scored higher than those in the United States, Britain and Australia in a questionnaire that detects antisocial traits. Researchers warned that monster parents were creating a generation of over-confident, spoilt brats with a tendency towards aggression and violence to get their way.

 

But it seems too easy to point the finger at parents, simultaneously accused of fostering cowering, over-dependent children and violent narcissists. Parents are trapped in a pressure cooker — an education system that emphasizes academic achievement, as measured in test results, above all else, a culture that deems those without university degrees as failures.

 

What\’s worse, more and more students are attaining the minimum grades needed to qualify to study …(Please visit the web site and read the whole article. jp)

 

via The Existential Angst of Hong Kong’s ‘Monster Parents’ | Yuen Chan.

 

From around the web.

 

From the web site, Education in Japan Community Blog.

 

http://educationinjapan.wordpress.com/parenting-potpourri/monster-parents-and-monster-kids/

 

These days, in Japan at least, there is a great hoo-hah over the

issue of Monster Parents, on the heels of an earlier debate over the

overindulged, selfish and adrift youngsters.

 

These issues are of course not confined to Japan. A quick google on

the internet and you will see that the Monster Parents in India, in the

USA, and the issue of overindulged kids surfaces often in China where

the one-child government policy has resulted in children so precious,

and thus overindulged by society at large. If you ever manage to catch

Super Nanny the British (virtual TV of sorts) series, it’s good for a

jolting confrontation with screaming brats and yelling dads, etc.

 

Nor is the issue as many experts say it is, a phenomenon of our

times. Catching up on a Jane Austen fest on cable TV, and rereading many

Victorian (Regency) classics in the past two weeks, I realized that

“monster parents” and spoilt brats were very much shown up in nearly

every book and often caricatured in ways totally recognizable to us.

 

The Victorian classics were written by young women like Jane Austen

or Charlotte Bronte, who were, being from slightly reduced financial

circumstances, forced to be sensible and to move in the circles of the

clergyhood or governnesses. As such they were highly attuned to the

idiosyncracies, selfish behavioral displays, highhandedness,

snobbishness, vulgarity even, of privileged parents of Victorian high

society…as opposed to the necessary humility, down-to-earthness of the

working or servant classes.

 

Fracking and 280 Billion Gallons of Toxic Waste Water

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics
English: toxic waste sign Italiano: segnale pe...
English: toxic waste sign Italiano: segnale per rifiuti speciali (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have to wonder if this is not one of the great business ethics issues of our time. Fracking is in many ways protected from federal regulation and the energy companies generous campaign contributions (thanks to Citizens United) have warped state regulations and even the tax laws in favor of the frackers.

I can’t help but think that there could have been protections or developments in process that would have made these methods of exploration safer for the environment. We need the feds on the job. I don’t believe we can look to the industry for our protection. Their press releases have been little but the usual work of corporate PR flacks. That kind of media and public manipulation became obvious a long time ago.

Fracking should be done only with effective regulation both state and federal. What part of American history can lead one to believe in self-regulation? How about the patent medicine companies with their laudanum and opiates? How about investment banks and the great collapse of the first decade of the 21st century? Or simply, the history of the petroleum industry itself, leaks in the Alaska pipeline, a long series of tanker disasters and a little problem called the Gulf Oil Spill? What of this give you confidence that fracking is safe and harmless.

I tell you with confidence that in a few years, fracking will be in every business ethics textbook as a cautionary tale of an industry making its own calls on the safety of the public.

James Pilant

Fracking produces annual toxic waste water enough to flood Washington DC | Environment | theguardian.com

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/04/fracking-us-toxic-waste-water-washington

Fracking in America generated 280bn US gallons of toxic waste water last year – enough to flood all of Washington DC beneath a 22ft deep toxic lagoon, a new report out on Thursday found.The report from campaign group Environment America said America’s transformation into an energy superpower was exacting growing costs on the environment.”Our analysis shows that damage from fracking is widespread and occurs on a scale unimagined just a few years ago,” the report, Fracking by the Numbers, said.The full extent of the damage posed by fracking to air and water quality had yet to emerge, the report said.But it concluded: “Even the limited data that are currently available, however, paint an increasingly clear picture of the damage that fracking has done to our environment and health.”

via Fracking produces annual toxic waste water enough to flood Washington DC | Environment | theguardian.com.

From around the web.

From the web site,

http://lewesagainstfracking.wordpress.com/2013/09/07/united-nations-global-environmental-alert-on-fracking/

In November of last year the United Nations released a ‘Global Environmental Alert’ on the risks that fracking poses to public health and the environment. In it they state:

While offering economic and energy security benefits, UG (unconventional gas) production presents considerable environmental risks. These range from potential water and soil contamination from surface leaks or from improperly designed well-casing, to spills of improperly treated water, increased competition for water usage, and fugitive emissions of gas with implications for the global climate…air pollution from volatile contaminants, noise pollution, negative impacts on ecosystems, biodiversity losses and landscape disruption.’

Read the full report here….UN Report

Internet Freedom Slipping

On By southwerkIn business ethics
Internet Censorship Scenario in Europe
Internet Censorship Scenario in Europe (Photo credit: Analectic.org)

This is very bad news indeed.

Much of the media in the United States is not to be trusted or not doing their job. And because of this the Internet while infested with danger is the new media that carries the weight of intellectual and significant thought and story telling.

The government and corporate power do not like a free internet. It is very sad indeed to see the United States with its claims of being a great free society establishing a truly incredible surveillance operation covering every aspect of the internet.

They have usurped Americans’ privacy with no penalty and little oversight.

But America is a great nation and we can hope the wheel turns round and that there will be change.

But the current crisis is important to business ethics for without an open internet, one avenue of corporate accountability is foreclosed. There are not enough counterweights to corporate wrong doing. Losing this one could be devastating.

James Pilant

Internet freedom in ‘global decline,’ report finds | Al Jazeera America

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/3/report-shows-declineininternetfreedomin35countries.html

Internet freedom in countries around the world has declined sharply in the past year despite a pushback from activists that successfully blocked some governments’ repressive laws, according to a new report.

The study, by advocacy group Freedom House, looked at online trends in 60 countries, evaluating each nation them based on obstacles to access, limits to content and violations of user rights. It found that in 35 of the countries monitored, governments had expanded their legal and technical surveillance powers in regards to citizen’s online activities.

“Broad surveillance, new laws controlling web content and growing arrests of social media users drove a worldwide decline in Internet freedom in the past year,” the authors of the report concluded.

Of the countries included in the research, Iceland came top in terms of giving its citizens the highest level of freedom. China, Cuba and Iran were listed as the most restrictive for a second consecutive year. The report noted that declines in online freedom in three democracies – Brazil, India and the United States – were “especially troubling”.

Revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have ignited a global debate about the U.S. government’s domestic surveillance activities, and the report says the changes in U.S. online …

(Please go to the site and read the whole article.)

via Internet freedom in ‘global decline,’ report finds | Al Jazeera America.

From around the web.

From the web site,

http://paolatubaro.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/internet-freedom-and-censorship/

I participated today in a panel discussion at Voice of Russia London, on freedom of Web speech – the future of the Internet, possible restraints, what is and isn’t currently allowed. My angle was that on the unintended effects of censorship, based on research I have done in the last few years.

You may remember our ICCU (Internet Censorship and Civil Unrest) study, which I started with Antonio A. Casilli
during the summer 2011 English riots. We looked at the potential
effects on civil violence of restrictions to access to the Internet
–considered, though eventually not implemented, by the government.
Leaving aside issues of technical feasibility and legal and ethical
acceptability, would net censorship work? Would it stop the violence?

We show
that it wouldn’t. Its effect would be to interrupt coordination of both
unlawful agitation and community pacification efforts, if not even
policing: so neither “positive” nor “negative” social influences, so to
speak, would display their effects. Censorship doesn’t reduce the level of violence, but changes its pattern.
Specifically, it generates a steadily high level of violence, while its
absence produces only “picks” of violence, with periods of social peace
between them.

We conclude that Internet censorship is
ineffective and inefficient: its social cost (in terms of giving up
freedom of speech) is too high for such meagre results.

Kitten Killer Josh Barro

On By southwerkIn Politics

Kitten Killer Josh Barro

New York Needs a Mayor With the Resolve to Let the Subway Kittens Die

The next mayor of New York, if he or she is to do a good job, will have to say “no” a lot. “No” to public employee unions who want a retroactive raise the city can’t afford. “No” to city councilmembers who will try to spend every tax dollar that comes in instead of rebuilding the city’s reserve funds. “No” to NIMBYs who don’t want anything new built in their neighborhoods. “No” to commuters seeking relief from fare increases, bridge tolls, parking fines, and an alleged “war on cars.”

Now, I will note that as far as I know, Josh Barro has not personally killed any kittens. He merely advocates that others do it, a candidate for major in particular, pointing out the “real New Yorkers” don’t care about this. I have had the pleasure of meeting New Yorkers and those have I met strike me as a compassionate and worthy lot. Perhaps he meets a different group.

Statue of Liberty seen from the Circle Line ferry, Manhattan, New YorkNew York does not need a mayor with the “resolve” to kill kittens. New York is not yet a business theocracy where order is preferred over the democratic rabble. Those kitten lovers, those unions, those neighborhoods are constituents in a democracy. They have a voice. They deserve that voice. They participate in society. They pay taxes and obey the laws. That they don’t meet the standards of Josh Baro is not a legitimate reason to disenfranchise or ignore them.

There is a certain implication here that killing kittens, ignoring unions and overruling local populations is a matter of courage. I often hear that acting in defiance of the wishes of those that elected you, for instance, cutting medicare and social security, is a matter of resolve and courage. No, it’s a matter of acting anti-democratically. It’s a matter of denying necessary benefits long proven successful because it disempowers millions of Americans and making them subject to the whims of our “betters.”

We can safely assume that the title of the article is meant to be provocative. I’ll buy that. But I think he means it. And I have seen a number of kitten hating blogs take up the cry and I find this depressing. There is a place for compassion and kindness and I believe that what “real New Yorkers” believe is far more varied than Josh Barro’s friends in the business community.

How can we have business ethics if we live in a country where order and profits (saving time by running over kittens with subway trains) trump moral and compassionate concerns? We might as well fold up our ethics tents and drift away in the night.

I have seen a good number of ethics professors and textbooks explain that business ethics is actually profitable. Businesses that practice ethics have greater customer trust and loyalty, and over time this and other ethics practices produce profits. I don’t doubt this for a moment but it misses the point of ethics. We do it not because it is profitable but because it is right. We do it because we want to live with some sense of purpose beyond counting our money and giggling like Bond villains.

Ruthlessness and profits above all other values are popular right now with the one percent. That you and I are not wealthy is a sign of our unworthiness. But we in the middle class, who do the work, who sacrifice for our values, and who do the jobs of fireman, teaching and policeman are the heart of the nation, the ones that make this country work. I have nothing but pride for being one of those citizens.

James Pilant

 

 

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Winning the Drug War?

On By southwerkIn Opinion2 Comments

Winning the Drug War?

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/08/20/2500191/poll-four-percent-of-americans-think-us-is-winning-the-war-on-drugs/

Four Percent of Americans think that the U.S. is winning the war on drugs.

The number of Americans who support the War on Drugs is getting lower and lower. In the most recent poll by Rasmussen, only four percent said they think the United States is winning the War on Drugs. That’s down from 7 percent in November. The number who think the United States is losing remains steady at an overwhelming 82 percent, with 13 percent undecided.

The so-called “War on Drugs” declared by President Richard Nixon in 1971, has turned out to be an expensive and violent international prohibition endeavor, that, more than 40 years later,  is partially to blame for the United States’ bloated prison population.

82% Say U.S. Not Winning War on Drugs

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/august_2013/82_say_u_s_not_winning_war_on_drugs

Americans continue to overwhelmingly believe the so-called war on drugs is failing, but they are more divided on how much the United States should be spending on it.

Just four percent (4%) of American Adults believe the United States is winning the war on drugs, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Eighty-two percent (82%) disagree. Another 13% are undecided.

I’m puzzled. Four percent still don’t get it? Did they misread the question?

Of course, it is important to note how many Americans do get it, do realize that this is a doomed endeavor that on any cost benefit analysis has been a loser for a very long time.

We’ve packed prisons that we built with desperately needed tax fund. Tax funds that were diverted from colleges, universities, schools, roads, parks, social services, etc. We’ve taken our police who we have taught our children should be treated as friends and transformed then into semi-mercenaries dressed like commandoes in a B move. Kevlar armored, camouflage uniformed, black helmeted, soldiers carrying automatic weapons do not conjure up pictures of Andy Griffith as sheriff of Mayberry. They look remarkably like soldiers on a mission. That’s not police or policing.

You see, police work with the support of the public. They defend and serve. When talking to regular citizens who are not committing crimes they are respectful and can even be kind.

Soldiers maintain order and their power doesn’t come from respect except the respect accorded the barrel of a gun. They don’t talk to you. They order you.

Want some evidence?

How about this?

Texas Police Hit Organic Farm With Massive SWAT Raid

SWAT Team Kills Dog With Child Present, Arrest Father In Misdemeanor Marijuana Bust

Ohio SWAT Officer Who Killed Young Mother in Drug Raid Gets             Charged With Misdemeanors, Faces Eight Months at Most

 

And the regular police have become more and more militant as a result of our failed drug wars. They are now much more violent in their own “defense,” that is, shooting family pets.

Off-Duty Police Officer Shoots Family’s Dog Dead

Austin Police Chief Apologizes for Shooting of Cisco the Dog

Police shoot dog near popular Bozeman park

Police shoot, kill dog after capture

Capitol Heights Police shoot family’s dog, Cash

Police Shoot Family Dog While Notifying Family of Son’s Murder

Marshfield police conclude dog shooting investigation

Police Raid Maryland Mayor’s Home and Kill Dogs

Police officer shoots family’s dog

Cops Shoot Family Dog Just Because

Police shoot, injure service dog

Thornton police shoot second dog in one year, owner points to SB 226

Police decision to shoot dog questioned

Police Shoot Dog, Family and Neighbors Wonder Why

Police Shoot, Kill Dog During Foot Chase,

      Doberman Shot In Own Back Yard; Police Say Dog Attacked Officer

NYPD Shoots Dog While Her Owner Has a Seizure

Police Kill Dog, Shoot Owner As He Attempts To Intervene

Video: Police shoot dog in Omaha

Family hires attorney after police shoot dog

The really sad thing about the police shooting of dogs is how little time it took me to come up with that many.
Let’s call an end to the war on drugs, license them, regulate them, tax them – let’s do something else. We don’t have to live in a militarized society afraid of the police and under surveillance.
James Pilant

From around the web.

From the web site, Ramani’s Blog.

http://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/war-on-drugs-coming-to-a-close/

The war on Drugs intensified during the Nixon Era.

In 2010, about 200 million people took illegal drugs. The numbers have remained relatively constant for years, as has the estimated annual volume of drugs produced worldwide: 40,000 tons of marijuana, 800 tons of cocaine and 500 tons of heroin. What has increased, however, is the cost of this endless war.

Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th President of the U...
Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th President of the United States (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the early 1970s, the Nixon administration pumped about $100 million into drug control. Today, under President Barack Obama, that figure is $15 billion — more than 30 times as much when adjusted for inflation. There is even a rough estimate of the direct and indirect costs of the 40-plus years of the drug war: $1 trillion in the United States alone.

In Mexico, some 60,000 people have died in the drug war in the last six years. US prisons are full of marijuana smokers, the Taliban in Afghanistan still use drug money to pay for their weapons, and experts say China is the drug country of the future.

From the web site, What’s the Truth? (I used almost half the post and I fell guilty about using that much. I hope the site owner will cut me some slack!)

http://dylanmackinnon.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/the-war-on-drugs/

Let me start this out by saying I don’t do drugs, I have no interest in doing drugs. With that said, it is none of our business if other people want to do drugs. Whether their drug is alcohol,  weed, or even the heavier stuff, the fact remains they made a choice to do them, and the we can not tell them how to live their private life. When the only victim of the crime is the person committing the crime, it isn’t a crime. That’s would be like saying eating too much is a crime.

According to the federal database on crime, in 2011, over 20% of the people in jail were there for either drug possession or drug distribution.

Percentage of State and Federal Prisoners
Offense 1974 1986 1997 2000 2008 2010
Violent 52.5% 64.2% 46.4% 47.2% 47.3% 47.7%
Property 33.3% 22.9% 14% 19.1% 17.0% 16.7%
Drug 10.4% 8.8% 26.9% 25.3% 22.4% 21.7%
Public-order 1.9% 3.3% 8.9% 7.8% 11.9% 13.4%
Other/unspecified 2.0% 0.9% 3.7% 0.4% 1.2% 0.6%

1/5 of the prison population are in there for a victim-less crime. There were over 2 million people in total incarcerated in 2011.  1/5 of 2 million  is 400 thousand. According to this chart it costs on average about $47,000 to jail each prisoner. So if you do the math, that means America spent over $18 BILLION on non violent, victim-less crimes. Seems like a waste to me. Prisons shouldn’t be used for social engineering. You cant use it to change people, and scare them out of using drugs. Despite the threat of jail time over 15 Million still smoke weed. Now some of those people smoke weed for medical reasons, but a lot of them smoke for recreation. Clearly people aren’t threatened by the idea of going to jail.

From the web site, The Fix. ( I, too, fine the militarization of the police and the use of military forces for police work to be troubling phenomenon. When does the defender of the public become a soldier and what does that imply for we, the citizens?)

http://drugwarfix.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/new-york-national-guard-fighting-the-war-on-drugs/

From a post entitled: New York National Guard fighting the war on drugs

According to Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System, a military news site:

When 150 New York state troopers, U.S. Marshalls and local city police officers rounded up 52 suspects in a massive multi-city drug raid in the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 27; five members of the New York National Guard Counterdrug Task Force gave themselves a silent pat on the back for a job well done.

The New York National Guard provides law enforcement agencies with equipment and staff to help with  intelligence and surveillance. According to the NGCTF website (yes, they have a website), they’ve assisted in raids that have confiscated about $68 million of cash and contraband, and led to the arrest of “just under” 950 people. That yields about $72,000 per person arrested. This assistance includes the use of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft equipped with infrared cameras. Infrared cameras use heat emitted by objects to create an image. Heat signatures can give away the location of drug labs, grow operations, and illegal plants hidden amongst legal crops.

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Rape Infographic

On By southwerkIn Opinion

Rape Infographic

from Ultraviolet

http://weareultraviolet.org/

Rape Infographic Ultraviolet

 

 

 

 

 

This infographic was e-mailed to me from Ultraviolet. I am reprinting with the idea of increasing its circulation. (No copyright infringement is intended). I think as a publisher of an ethics blog, I have a responsibility to spread the word about ethical responsibility.

James Pilant

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Policing for Profit

On By southwerkIn Opinion

Policing for Profit

A quote from the article, Federal Judge Orders Justice Department To Return Over Million Dollars Taken At Traffic Stop By Nebraska Officers, from the web site, Jonathan Turley.c36e

http://jonathanturley.org/2013/07/25/federal-judge-orders-justice-department-to-return-over-million-dollars-taken-at-traffic-stop-by-nebraska-officers/

We have previously discussed how police are increasingly doing drug stops on pretextual grounds and seizing any money that a driver cannot explain to their satisfaction. It is called “policing for profit” and departments are able to keep much of seized money in these stops. The federal government is being forced to return over $1 million to Tara Mishra, 33, of California, who was taking her life savings as a stripper to buy her own business. That was before it was seized by Nebraska state troopers who declared that it must be drug proceeds. Even though no drugs were found and there was no basis for concluding the cash was from drug proceeds, the matter became a federal case and the Obama Administration fought her to deny her even a hearing for demanding the money back. Now U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon has ordered them to give back the money. However, this is not considered theft because police officers took the money at a traffic stop. The case is United States of America v. $1,074,900.00 in United States Currency, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11544 (D. Neb. 2013).

Jonathan Turley is absolutely right. This kind of confiscation, “policing for profit,” is ridiculous.

What happened to “innocent until proven guilty?” If you read the following articles, you will quickly note the slender evidence used to seize this money. Is that how things are supposed to work in a democracy? We suspect, therefore we seize?

More to the point, isn’t someone somewhere concerned about the police generating profits from enforcing certain laws? If enforcing drug laws is profitable and enforcing rape laws is not, what does that imply for justice?

Doesn’t that mean that instead of deciding where to deploy law enforcement based on public safety, the decision could be made on the basis of profit? Of what can be profitably seized?

Doesn’t this take police from a public service perspective to a mixed practice of profit and service with the public ignorant of what the proportions are?

What kind of legislators thought this would be a good idea? Are we deliberately trying to create law enforcement agencies based on the profit motive? Is that good policy?

Law enforcement should be profit neutral, so that crimes are handled by their danger to public safety not whether or not a forfeiture is likely.

I don’t have any problems with seizing property used in crime but I have serious doubts about assuming money or property is forfeit when no charges are filed.

James Pilant

 

 

From around the web.

From the web site, Lord of the Net.

http://servaasschrama.com/2013/07/25/nebraska-police-owe-a-stripper-1-million/

George Washington University law professor Jonathon Turley’s most recent blog entry claims that behavior like this falls in line with an increasing trend called “policing for profit.” Authorities will conduct a drug stop on “pretextual grounds,” like speeding, and then confiscate any money the driver can’t explain to their satisfaction.

According to the Institute for Justice, police can legally use the money, or profits from selling any other confiscated property, to fund their agencies. So-called civil forfeiture doesn’t require the police to charge owners before confiscating their property.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has won the return of almost $20,000 to a Latino migrant farmworker whose money was taken by police during a traffic stop in Alabama despite criminal charges never being brought against him.

From the web site, Southern Poverty Law Center.

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/judge-orders-money-seized-in-traffic-stop-returned-to-splc-client

An Alabama circuit judge dismissed the case and ordered the money returned to Victor Marquez. The actions came after the state refused to provide documents and information to SPLC lawyers representing Marquez.

A Loxley, Ala., police officer confiscated the money during a May 2008 traffic stop, claiming it was drug money.

“This traffic stop was nothing short of piracy,” said Mary Bauer, director of the SPLC’s Immigrant Justice Project. “In the end, Loxley authorities apparently thought it was better to return Mr. Marquez’s hard-earned money than to open their practices to public scrutiny.”

From the web site, Ready or not … here I CHUM!!

http://theangryfisherman.wordpress.com/tag/illegal-seizure-of-money/

By Phil Williams

Chief Investigative Reporter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A major News Channel 5 investigation has uncovered serious questions about Tennessee’s war on drugs. Among the questions: are some police agencies more concerned about making money off the drugs, than stopping them?

At the center of this months-long investigation are laws that let officers pull driver over looking for cash.  Those officers do not even have to file criminal charges against a person to take his/her money.

It turns out, those kind of stops are now happening almost every day in Middle Tennessee. Case in point: a 2009 stop where a tractor trailer was stopped for a traffic violation, leading to a search and the discovery of large blocks containing almost $200,000 cash — cash that officers keep on the suspicion that it’s drug money.

From the web site, The Intersection of Madness and Reality.

http://www.rippdemup.com/2012/05/tennessee-cop-robs-out-of-state-driver-of-22000-after-traffic-stop/

Speaking to then District Attorney General Kim Helper about these stops and seizures in her jurisdiction, when  asked if it was a way to make money, she responded, “Well, you know, when you say ‘make money,’ I guess it is a way for us to continue to fund our operations so that we can put an end to drug trafficking and the drug trade within this district.” So how are police officers able to trample one’s 4th Amendment right as it relates to search and seizures? Easy. Under the guise of the “war on drugs,” the state allows police to seize money simply based on the suspicion that it’s linked to drug trafficking. The troubling part about the application of said practice, is that even without an arrest, an individuals money can be seized.

I guess this gives credence to the notion that money has no owners, just spenders.

 

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The Documentary, King Corn

On By southwerkIn Corpoorate Social Responsibility
King Corn (film)
King Corn (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Documentary, King Corn

I have shown many films in class over the last five years. I tend to shy away from documentaries and use commercial movies to make points. For instance, I use the film, Sabrina, to bring up the issue of class differences, and it is a consistently successful film commanding class attention and getting intelligent responses when they analyze the influence of class.

However, I have two documentaries that have been consistently successful in class use. One of them is Gasland, the other King Corn.

King Corn is story of two men who do a simple experiment in the pursuit of truth. Concerned by the diminishing life spans of Americans, they discover that their diet is primarily corn. They journey to Iowa and grow an acre of corn to see how the process works. They talk to many people in their travels and these conversations are the best part of the film.

The issues of corn, overproduction, factory farming and high fructose corn syrup are very controversial and can be very emotional. The documentary’s approach, the humble seeker after truth, sets the emotional level very low and the film is amusing and relaxing. Nevertheless my students do leave the film uneasy about the state of American agriculture and there are usually a good many comments about what we should be eating.

I usually add some lecture material on the Cuban Embargo, and go into more depth on the high fructose corn syrup controversy.

If you are a fellow instructor I recommend you use the film. It used to be available of Netflix but now you have to purchase it or find it on the web.

It can be purchased here – http://www.amazon.com/King-Corn-Bob-Bledsoe/dp/B001EP8EOY for the very reasonable price (today) of $10.49 for a new copy.

James Pilant

From around the web.

From the web site, PBS.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/kingcorn/film.html

As Ian and Curt discover, almost everything Americans eat contains corn.
High-fructose corn syrup, corn-fed meat, and corn-based processed foods
are the staples of the modern diet. America’s record harvests of corn
are supported by a government subsidy system that promotes corn
production beyond all market demand. As Ian and Curt return to Iowa to
watch their 10,000-pound harvest fill the combine’s hopper and make its
way into America’s food, they realize their acre of land shouldn’t be
planted in corn again—if they can help it.

From the web site, Docurama Films.

http://www.docurama.com/docurama/king-corn/

Engrossing and eye-opening, KING CORN is a fun and crusading journey into
the digestive tract of our fast food nation where one ultra-industrial,
pesticide-laden, heavily-subsidized commodity dominates the food
pyramid from top to bottom – corn. Fueled by curiosity and a dash of
naiveté, college buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis return to their
ancestral home of Greene, Iowa to figure out how the modest kernel
conquered America.

From the web site, Food Democracy.

http://fooddemocracy.wordpress.com/2007/10/17/king-corn-you-are-what-you-eat/

There is legislative logic to the flood of cheap corn-based foods. In
2005, federal subsidies spent $9.4 billion in taxpayer money to promote
corn production. For Iowa farmers, these payments often mean the
difference between profit and loss on a given acre. With subsidies
promoting production beyond market demand, the raw materials for an
obesity epidemic are readily at hand.

From the web site, Eco Streaming.

http://ecostreamblog.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/king-corn/

My father calls this part of the U.S. “God’s Country”. And I do believe
that he is correct. It is an amazing place in our country, and in the
world. But now the corn grown there is not for us to feast on as it used
to be.  It is used primarily for manufactured sweeteners and animal
feed. You can learn more about this when you see the film by two young
men determined to discover the genesis and path of our food production.
They set out on a journey to grow one acre of corn, and they learned
more than they ever knew they would. See King Corn. You can rent it at your local video store. It is worth a watch.

From the web site, Groundswell.

http://groundswellblog.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/ripple-effects-of-the-groundswell-simply-orange-marketing-campaign/

Live from the Union Square subway:  A big food message that tips its hat to changing consumer perception.  When I saw this poster, the first thing I thought of was the film King Corn. 
The filmmakers explain that grass-fed cows used to take 2-3 years to
get fat and ready for our beef consumption.  Once we started feeding
them corn, however, they got to the same weight in just 15 months. 
By changing the diet of our cows, we’re forcing them into false
maturation.  With this, and so many of our industrial food ways, we
wrestle nature into the ground.

From the web site, Abagond.

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/king-corn/

Things I liked about the film:

  • They talked to Michael Pollan, author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, a book I have. Cool.
  • Professors talking in measured tones about terrible things.
  • The public relations woman for a high fructose corn syrup plant was suitably reptilian.
  • They put on safety glasses and made their own high fructose corn syrup, sulfuric acid and all.

From the web site,  The Public Amateur. (If you want a cinema based analysis of the film this is where to go.)

http://publicamateur.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/anecdotes-of-research/#more-6

On the odyssey of the pilgrim researcher, many experts are consulted. In the set up they visit a lab where they have their hair analyzed to get the data version of the typical American eater. Yup, the hair speaks counter-intuitive truth to reason: a diet of soda and hamburgers and snack foods delivers what they suspected: the main ingredient in their hair is corn. Look in the bioinformatic mirror and you read what you eat/are.

One of the strengths of the film is their respect for the Iowa farmers they encounter. They don’t assume anything about their informants’ lives, opinions or class affiliation. They refrain from interpreting and judging what they learn, but the knowledge they acquire complicates the decisions they have to make. And despite their restraint, those complications are ethical ones.

From the web site, BE: Nutrifit.

http://benutrifit.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/king-corn/

King Corn is a documentary about two men, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, who
study where their food comes from.  The film begins with the
realization that corn is in most of our foods and that it is one of the
most productive and most subsidized grains in the United States.  Iowa
alone produces 2 trillion corn crops which is the largest in American
history and is enough to feed the entire United States (Wolfe, Cheney,
Ellis, & Miller, 2012).  Ian and Curt move to Iowa to plant their
own crop of corn and then follow it through the food system.  They end
up raising all sorts of questions about the food we eat, how it is
farmed, and what happens to it after the harvest.

From the web site, The New Home Economics.

http://newhomeeconomics.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/king-corn/

It’s just amazing to see how much Earl Butz‘s farm policy in the 1970s, which I’m sure he enacted with really good intentions, has changed family farms, our health, and our environment, and all for the worse.  Does that mean the old farm policy of the 50s and 60s would work now?  I don’t know.  But something has got to give, and the farmers in the documentary were in agreement that the ridiculous amounts of corn they produce are, well, ridiculous.

I wish I knew what the solution was.  Simply educating consumers to make informed choices is a start, but I just don’t think it’s enough, not when our government is pouring giant subsidies on a crop that no one can eat.

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Gem of the Week, The Oldspeak Journal

On By southwerkIn Opinion
Winged Victory for the Gem of the Week
Winged Victory for the Gem of the Week

Gem of the Week

When I write a blog post I either begin or end by seeking out other opinions. Sometimes, the search comes up with little. There are many web sites which simply repeat other content. I need original content to illustrate my points and add depth to my subject. Often, I am delighted to find “gems,” wonderful web sites packed with delightful writing that is both new and easily quotable.

Each week, I select one of these blogs that strikes me as significant in its intelligence and originality. This week the blog is The Oldspeak Journal.

http://theoldspeakjournal.wordpress.com/

Originating in May of 2010, the Oldspeak Journal is not shy about addressing major issues. The last article I quoted was on the Fukushima disaster. Today’s article is “Welcome To The “Era Of Persistent Conflict”: Pentagon Bracing For Public Dissent Over Climate & Energy Shocks.” The range of the material is breathtaking.

James Pilant

Here’s a particularly delicious quote from the July 9th posting, “How Cryptography Is A Key Weapon In The Fight Against Empire States’ Campaign For Global Control.”

http://theoldspeakjournal.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/how-cryptography-is-a-key-weapon-in-the-fight-against-empire-states-campaign-for-global-control/

“This is why Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden, the late
Aaron Schwartz and other of their ilk are have been pursued, persecuted
&  prosecuted with such relentless ferocity. They understand that
information, truthful information, has profound and transformative power to change the world for the betterment of all.  They understand that the new slavery is digital,
and are selflessly trying to liberate our minds and bodies  by widely
disseminating previously secret, truthful information.  They understand
that information is not “aiding our enemies” as our controllers tell us;
it’s liberating them and us as well. It’s leveling the playing field.
It’s exposing lies, corruption, exploitation, murder, illegality,
subjugation, greed, sociopathy,  and countless other manner of aberrant
and destructive behaviors  that are putting our civilization and planet
in peril while being used to control us and take advantage of our
ignorance.  They understand that truthful information is key to
protecting civil liberties, human and planetary rights. People are
currently being controlled quite effectively with yodabites of false
information.  Assange et al understand that it’s in our controllers best
interests to keep our attention focused on triviality and not reality.
The small portions of truthful information that have disseminated are
already having significant effects. Independent journalists and
whistleblowers are the preeminent threat to the Supra-Governmental
Corporate Network. It it why they are being held up as dangerous enemies
of the state.  Elites must suppress their efforts at all costs for the
terminally corrupted system they’ve created to continue to function at
status quo. Total freedom of information is a powerful agent of
democracy and equality. Elites are doing all they can to prevent it from
becoming reality. Computer code is the new nuclear bomb. Our
controllers cannot allow The People’s finger to be on the button.”

Here’s another from the May 29th, 2013 posting, Rise Up or Die: (This is as good as blogging gets. jp)

http://theoldspeakjournal.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/rise-up-or-die/

It is time to build radical mass movements that defy all formal centers of power and make concessions to none. It is time to employ the harsh language of open rebellion and class warfare. It is time to march to the beat of our own drum. The law historically has been a very imperfect tool for justice, as African-Americans know, but now it is exclusively the handmaiden of our corporate oppressors; now it is a mechanism of injustice. It was our corporate overlords who launched this war. Not us. Revolt will see us branded as criminals. Revolt will push us into the shadows. And yet, if we do not revolt we can no longer use the word “hope.”

Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick” grasps the dark soul of global capitalism. We are all aboard the doomed ship Pequod, a name connected to an Indian tribe eradicated by genocide, and Ahab is in charge. “All my means are sane,” Ahab says, “my motive and my object mad.” We are sailing on a maniacal voyage of self-destruction, and no one in a position of authority, even if he or she sees what lies ahead, is willing or able to stop it. Those on the Pequod who had a conscience, including Starbuck, did not have the courage to defy Ahab. The ship and its crew were doomed by habit, cowardice and hubris. Melville’s warning must become ours. Rise up or die.

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Indentured Servitude or Life as a Temp

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics1 Comment

 

 

Involuntary Servitude
Involuntary Servitude

Indentured Servitude or Life as a Temp

The Expendables: How The Temps Who Power Corporate Giants Are Getting Crushed

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/27/workers_n_3511161.html

Across America, temporary work has become a mainstay of the economy, leading to the proliferation of what researchers have begun to call “temp towns.” They are often dense Latino neighborhoods teeming with temp agencies. Or they are cities where it has become nearly impossible even for whites and African-Americans with vocational training to find factory and warehouse work without first being directed to a temp firm.

In June, the Labor Department reported that the nation had more temp workers than ever before: 2.7 million. Overall, almost one-fifth of the total job growth since the recession ended in mid-2009 has been in the temp sector, federal data shows. But according to the American Staffing Association, the temp industry’s trade group, the pool is even larger: Every year, a tenth of all U.S. workers finds a job at a staffing agency.

I strongly believe that we should hold companies responsible for the acts of their subcontractors. These workers are essential to the American economy but are treated little better than lab rats. This kind of indentured servitude while useful for settling agricultural colonies has fewer uses in the modern world except rank exploitation.

It’s hard to be middle class on these kinds of salary. I read a report the other day that this new generation now coming of age is much less likely to buy cars than the previous ones. What a surprise? There are fewer jobs and the jobs pay less. Of course, they won’t be buying as many cars, or anything else. We pay a lot for our low prices at these huge chain stores, perhaps too much.

James Pilant

From around the web.

From the web site, National Staffing Workers Alliance.

http://nationalstaffingworkersalliance.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/permanent-full-time-jobs-an-endangered-species-opseu/

The problems of temp/part-time/precarious work isn’t just a problem in
the U.S. our Canadian sisters and brothers are fighting the same fight. 
The article below highlights how Government run Liquor Control Board of
Ontario (LCBO) used temp and part time workers and while the workers
struggle with low wages, the LCBO rakes in huge profits (sound
familiar?)

From the web site, Migrants Canada.

http://migrantscanada.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/launch-of-the-temporary-agency-worker-association/

Most of these workers are no longer on the margins of the economy, but
are central to the functioning of the economy. In most where house work,
day-labor in the agricultural sector, food processing, and in the
healthcare sector, agency workers are becoming the Norm. In fact, these
agencies are part of one of the fast growing industries in Québec;
according to Statistics Canada, in 2008 there were approximately 1200
placement agencies across the province, and the industry had an
estimated value of $1 billion.

From the web site, Flip Chart Fairy Tales.

http://flipchartfairytales.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/part-time-and-temp-work-lifestyle-choice-or-hobsons-choice/

I suspect that similar forces are at work in the market for part-time professionals. A small number of highly marketable people are able to negotiate part-time contracts on very good rates. Some may have more than one part-time job, others may be working as non-exec directors. A few may be wealthy enough not to need to work full-time. Employers tend to be reluctant to employ part-timers in professional jobs so the very fact that people are in such positions may be an indication of their bargaining power.

As ever, skill levels and social factors, rather than types of employment contract, are the key determinants of pay. If you have highly marketable skills, good social support networks and/or affordable child-care and, crucially, powerful and well-placed contacts, you can make the flexible labour market work for you. If you haven’t, you can’t.

The higher up the social hierarchy you are, the more likely you are to be working on part-time or temporary contracts from choice and the more likely those contracts are to be highly lucrative. At the other extreme, part-time and temporary work is poorly paid, precarious and often all you can get. What is a lifestyle choice for some is Hobson’s choice for the rest.

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