Category: ethics

Utah reduced homelessness by 72%

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, good news, government, product endorsements, things getting betterLeave a comment

If you’ve traveled around the States, you know that homelessness is conspicuous in the richest nation of the World.

That’s always surprised me.

But Utah’s turned that around in a surprising way.

Republican State Gives Free Houses to Moochers, Cuts Homelessness by 74 Percent

The state is giving homeless people homes. It’s a solution that might sound too simple, but it’s working. The program, called “Housing First”, has origins in New York. Utah started its own pilot of the program in 2005 with 17 people. The state took them off the street and put them into housing for twenty-two months. After the state saw that all 17 people remained housed and stable during that time, the project was expanded. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

VIDEO: Utah Gives Homes To The Homeless As Arctic Temperatures Bring Suffering

Housing First, which is distinct and separate from “rapid re-housing”, is a relatively recent innovation in human service programs and social policy regarding treatment of the homeless and is an alternative to a system of emergency shelter/transitional housing progressions.

Rather than moving homeless individuals through different “levels” of housing, known as the Continuum of Care, whereby each level moves them closer to “independent housing” (for example: from the streets to a public shelter, and from a public shelter to a transitional housing program, and from there to their own apartment in the community) Housing First moves the homeless individual or household immediately from the streets or homeless shelters into their own apartments.

Housing First approaches are based on the concept that a homeless individual or household’s first and primary need is to obtain stable housing, and that other issues that may affect the household can and should be addressed once housing is obtained. …

Thanks Dean.

terrorism rarely works

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, government, Islam, things getting worseLeave a comment

The right wing media in 2015 is demonizing all Muslims. Rupert #RupertsFault Murdoch, FOX News boss, for example.

It reminds me of the days when Americans demonized the Ruskies. All Russians were evil in the 1970s, you may recall. But I was a gymnast. Russian gymnasts and coaches were my heroes.

Today Muslims are the Ruskies. A few fanatics were furious with a French satirical paper. And lashed out.

How did that work out for the terrorist cause?

Huge demand for new Charlie Hebdo edition one week after attack

Here’s the cover of the next edition.

cover

I’d never heard of Charlie Hebdo. Now almost everyone has heard of the stupid publication. 😦

Muslims around the world are worse off, not better.

Honor Diaries – preventing violence against women

On By Rick McIn ethics, Islam, moviesLeave a comment

Honor Diaries is a 2013 documentary film by producer Paula Kweskin. Honor Diaries explores violence against women in honor-based societies, with particular focus on female genital mutilation (FGM), honor violence and honor killings, early and forced marriage, and lack of access to education. The film profiles nine women’s rights activists with origins in the Muslim (and non-Muslim) world, and follows their efforts to effect change, both within their communities and beyond …

Click PLAY or watch an extended trailer on YouTube.

on violence against women

On By Rick McIn ethicsLeave a comment

In a social experiment exploring violence against women, young boys in Italy were asked to slap a girl. Watch how they react in the video below …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

YOUNG BOYS ASKED TO SLAP A GIRL IN SOCIAL EXPERIMENT

Millions rally for unity in France

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, IslamLeave a comment

More than three million people have taken part in unity marches across France after 17 people died during three days of deadly attacks in Paris. …

In Madrid, several hundred Muslims held banners saying “Not in our name” next to the train station where in 2004 Islamist bombings killed nearly 200 people. …

… “Our values are liberty, equality and fraternity and we cannot allow terrorists to dictate to us,” …

BBC

Paris rally

Everyone, especially Muslims, must condemn terrorism. And work to reduce the number and severity of these incidents.
___

The right to freedom of expression is recognized as a human right under article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights …

I believe in freedom of speech. Societies should have as few restrictions as possible.

However, every government restricts speech to some degree. Common limitations on speech relate to: libel, slander, obscenity, pornography, sedition, hate speech, incitement, fighting words, classified information, copyright violation, trade secrets, non-disclosure agreements, right to privacy, right to be forgotten, public security, public order, public nuisance, and campaign finance reform.

The magazine Charlie Hebbo seems to try to push many of those limits.

I’ve never read Charlie Hebbo and never will. But I respect their freedom of speech, within the limits of French law.

One last point. Rule of law is even more important to me than freedom of speech. Security of citizens is paramount.

Jim Jefferies – Gun Safety

On By Rick McIn ethics, firearms, government, humourLeave a comment

This Australian comedian is very profane. Very funny.

But he is exactly right on the terrible number of firearm deaths in the USA. More Americans now die from gunfire than motor vehicle accidents. 😦

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks Bieche.

the world IS getting better

On By Rick McIn climate change, economics, education, ethics, firearms, food, good news, government, happiness, health & fitness, internet, things getting betterLeave a comment

More people are going to school for longer

Access to the internet is increasing

Solar power is getting cheaper

Beer consumption going up ??? 🙂

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

details on vox

(via Bill Gates)

why the USA must QUIT the Middle East

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, GOP USA, government, Islam, things getting worseLeave a comment

President Barack Obama said on Sunday the longest war in American history was coming to a responsible conclusion.

Obama was welcoming the end of US combat operations in Afghanistan, which was marked with a ceremony in Kabul. …

Obama honored the more than 2,200 Americans who have died in Afghanistan since the war started 13 years ago. Obama said those years had tested the US and its military. From a peak 140,000 troops in 2010, the US and Nato plan to leave just 13,500 behind. …

Obama heralds formal end of war in Afghanistan after 13 years

The Taliban immediately declared they’d ‘defeated’ Nato:

A Taliban statement said the US-led force had “rolled up its flag” without having achieved “anything substantial”. …

Like every other Afghan invader, the costs NATO paid far outweighed anything gained. 😦

Afghanis must decide their own fate.
___

On December 12th, 2013 a wedding convoy, outside the town of Radda in the al-Baydah province of Yemen, was struck by a US drone.

Following the attack, Yemeni officials claimed that around ‘14 innocent civilians were killed, 22 injured and 9 were in critical condition.’

According to the US government, the attack had intended to strike a known AQ militant Shawqi Ali Ahmad al Badani. The US government denied the deaths of civilians, claiming that they had killed militants associated with al Badani.

3. The Wedding Convoy – Yemeni

drone strike

The U.S. government lied, as they do often.

Most of those killed were innocent.

This is an example of why so many people distrust and fear the U.S. military overseas. This is an example of an incident which inspires and motivates terrorists. Ultimately making the USA and the world less safe.

If the U.S., which claims the strike was clean and justified, didn’t pony up the $800,000 in cash and guns as reparations, then who did?

Nothing Says “Sorry Our Drones Hit Your Wedding Party” Like $800,000 And Some Guns

Update Dec 2014 – The Unspoken Truth Of The US War Against Terrorism in Yemen

Officially, the money awarded in Yemen came from the Yemeni government. But the human rights group Reprieve says the funds must have come from Washington …

Families of Victims of One Drone Strike in Yemen Paid more than an Entire Year’s Worth of Victims in Afghanistan

Africa – Heart of Darkness

On By Rick McIn bad news, books, economics, education, ethics, governmentLeave a comment

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a short novel (1899) about Charles Marlow’s life as an ivory transporter down the Congo …

The story is a complex exploration of the attitudes people hold on what constitutes a barbarian versus a civilized society and the attitudes on colonialism and racism that were part and parcel of European imperialism …

Joseph Conrad acknowledged that Heart of Darkness was in part based on his own experiences during his travels in Africa. In 1890, at the age of 31, he was appointed by a Belgian trading company to serve as the captain of a steamer on the Congo River. …

He reportedly became disillusioned with Imperialism, after witnessing the cruelty and corruption perpetrated by the European companies in the area. …

heartofdarkness

Leopold II (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909), second King of the Belgians, was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 2 to 15 million Congolese. Yet very few remember him as one of the worst mass killers all time.

A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.
– Joseph Stalin

In 2014 Africans are quick to blame European imperialists for … everything.

Yet in 2014 if you see something of QUALITY in sub-Saharan Africa, you assume some foreigner is involved. Africans have been – in the main – very unsuccessful in moving themselves from tribal cultures to modern societies.

Long term, I’m not optimistic for Africa. Despite tremendous economic opportunities.

For example – Bill Gates – Can the Asian Miracle Happen in Africa?

To move forward, Africa needs clean drinking water, education of girls and good leadership.

Will that happen?

In nations like Congo Brazzaville, the richest Africans move money out of the country faster than foreign aid comes in. They steal as much as they can, moving their families to Paris or London.

With African leadership like this, what future for Congo?

Corruption is killing African potential.

The most corrupt nations in the world 2014:

Somalia
North Korea
Sudan
Afghanistan
South Sudan
Iraq
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Libya
Eritrea

One bright spot, I hear, is Rwanda. A British woman living there told me the nation is moving forward rapidly. Internet is faster than in London.

If another dozen nations make progress like Rwanda, over the next ten years, then there is hope. Those nations will thrive, draw business investment. Forcing the corrupt, less efficient nations to compete.

In the end, it’s competition that improves the world.
___

related – The 10 least corrupt countries in the world:

Denmark
New Zealand
Finland
Sweden
Norway
Switzerland
Singapore
Netherlands
Luxembourg
Canada