Category: ethics

Republicans lie 3 times more than Democrats

On By Rick McIn ethics, governmentLeave a comment

This study sounds about right to me.

Republicans and supporters of Republicans are more calculating, deliberate and astonishingly blatant in their lying.

A leading media fact-checking organization rates Republicans as less trustworthy than Democrats, according to a new study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) at George Mason University.

The study finds that PolitiFact.com has rated Republican claims as false three times as often as Democratic claims during President Obama’s second term. Republicans continue to get worse marks in recent weeks, despite controversies over Obama administration statements on Benghazi, the IRS and the AP.

Study: Media Fact-Checker Says Republicans Lie More

LiarsThe

related – Eric Ostermeier on February 10, 2011 – PolitiFact Rates Republican Statements as False at 3 Times the Rate of Democrats

Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, John Boehner, Mike Pence, and the National Republican Congressional Committee were the worst offenders in that study.

Republicans lie plenty.

Got it.

Unfortunately the less dishonest Democrats aren’t able to do much for the average American. Obama looks far more like a Republican than a Democrat to me.

Off the Charts: Under Obama, Stocks Do Better

on 401(k) fees …

On By Rick McIn economics, ethicsLeave a comment

For my American friends.

Question: How much money are you paying in 401(k) fees?

Answer: Have you thought about buying a home lately?

That’s right. According to Robert Hiltonsmith at Demos, a New York based think tank, we could purchase a residence with the amount of money the financial services and retirement industries siphon out of our 401(k) savings over the course of our careers. His recently released report, The Retirement Savings Drain, calculates that the average household will pay almost $155,000 over the course of a lifetime for the privilege of saving their own money, just slightly under the median price of a previously occupied home in the United States, according to the National Association of Realtors.

“There is ample evidence that these fees are excessive,” Hiltonsmith writes. His evidence: The costs of running a traditional pension is significantly less than that of administering a 401(k). …

Forbes – More Bad News About 401(k) Fees

WMAssets-Hidden-Fees1

One example …

401(k)Fees

via Frontline – The Retirement Gamble.

The Kill Team: How U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan Murdered Innocent Civilians

On By Rick McIn ethics, governmentLeave a comment

From a 2011 article by Rolling Stone:

… after six hard months soldiering in Afghanistan, a group of American infantrymen reached a momentous decision: It was finally time to kill a haji.

Among the men of Bravo Company, the notion of killing an Afghan civilian had been the subject of countless conversations, during lunchtime chats and late-night bull sessions. For weeks, they had weighed the ethics of bagging “savages” and debated the probability of getting caught. Some of them agonized over the idea; others were gung-ho from the start. But not long after the New Year, as winter descended on the arid plains of Kandahar Province, they agreed to stop talking and actually pull the trigger. …

read more

It’s horrific.

At the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival here’s the trailer for Best Documentary Feature.

I mention this because the USA is just now considering entering into two more wars. Syria and Iran.

So far even John (“maybe 100” years in Iraq) McCain has not called for boots on the ground.

Keep it that way.

The Wire – season 2

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, TVLeave a comment

The second season, along with its ongoing examination of the drug problem and its effect on the urban poor, examines the plight of the blue-collar urban working class as exemplified by stevedores in the city port, as some of them get caught up in smuggling drugs and other contraband inside the containers that their port receives. …

The Wire (season 2)

Click PLAY or watch the opening on YouTube.

I’d never thought much about ports or stevedores before watching this series. Fascinating subculture.

On to season 3.

Though that season was 10yrs ago, the issues are still very contemporary.

What measures should law enforcement be allowed to catch and deter crime?

Boston Globe – Surveillance cameras a tool for deterrence:

GOOD CAMERA work played a key role in the identification of the suspects in Monday’s bombings. But the reliance on store-mounted cameras and cellphone video from the public suggests that Boston Police could benefit from updating their approach to surveillance cameras — particularly by placing cameras more systematically at sporting events and other locations where large numbers of people gather. …

more security, less privacy

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, happiness, health & fitness, things getting worseLeave a comment

Like pretty much everyone, I’m pissed off.

Pissed off that two yahoos had the freedom to maim and kill innocents.

Martin

I, for one, am willing to have less freedom in exchange for more security.

Yes I know that authorities will abuse that power. I’m willing to chance it.

More cameras. More intercept of communication.

Drones I’m less certain about. But probably yes to drone surveillance, as well.

Martin Richard’s Family ‘Applauds’ Boston’s Heroes

Red Location museum, South Africa

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, travelLeave a comment

The Red Location Museum is an Apartheid museum in New Brighton township of Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

… the floor space contains various “memory boxes”, each one exhibiting the life story or perspective of people or groups who fought against the Apartheid regime. …

Red Location

It’s in the middle of one of the Townships, a place where the poor live.

We visited at night, a private tour after closing.

Very impressive.

Very moving.

… Many prominent political and cultural leaders were either born or lived in Red Location and a number of significant “struggle” (umZabalazo) events occurred here. …


official website

Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee

On By Rick McIn books, ethicsLeave a comment

Disgrace is a novel by J. M. Coetzee, published in 1999. It won the Booker Prize. The writer was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature four years after its publication.

David Lurie is a South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his good looks, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect his own daughter. …

His “disgrace” comes when he almost forcibly seduces one of his more vulnerable students which is thereafter revealed to the school and a committee is convened to pass judgement on his actions. David refuses to apologize in any sincere form and so is forced to resign from his post. …

… he takes refuge on his daughter’s farm in the Eastern Cape. For a time, his daughter’s influence and natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonise his discordant life. But the balance of power in the country is shifting. Shortly after becoming comfortable with rural life, he is forced to come to terms with the aftermath of an attack on the farm in which his daughter is raped and impregnated and he is violently assaulted. …

disgrace

Dark.

Thought provoking.

Very well written.

Fast paced, succinct and compelling to read.

I wouldn’t recommend you read it, however. Pick a more uplifting book.

The Power of One, perhaps.

related – The film Disgrace, starring John Malkovich as the professor, premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was awarded the Prize of the International Critics.

District 6 Museum – Cape Town

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, product endorsements, things getting better, travel2 Comments

District Six … is the name of a former inner-city residential area in Cape Town, South Africa. It is best known for the forced removal of over 60,000 of its inhabitants during the 1970s by the apartheid regime. …

joyceMUST see attraction.

After World War II, during the earlier part of the apartheid era, District Six was relatively cosmopolitan. Situated within sight of the docks, it was made up largely of coloured residents which included a substantial number of coloured Muslims, called Cape Malays. There were also a number of black Xhosa residents and a smaller numbers of Afrikaans, whites, and Indians.

identity card

Government officials gave four primary reasons for the removals.

In accordance with apartheid philosophy, it stated that interracial interaction bred conflict, necessitating the separation of the races. They deemed District Six a slum, fit only for clearance, not rehabilitation. They also portrayed the area as crime-ridden and dangerous; they claimed that the district was a vice den, full of immoral activities like gambling, drinking, and prostitution.

Eurpeans only

Though these were the official reasons, most residents believed that the government sought the land because of its proximity to the city center, Table Mountain, and the harbor.

On 11 February 1966, the government declared District Six a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act …

white persons only

… in 1994 the District Six Museum came into being. It serves as a remembrance to the events of the apartheid era as well as the culture and history of the area before the removals.

Floor

The ground floor is covered by a large street map of District Six, with handwritten notes from former residents indicating where their homes had been; other features of the museum include street signs from the old district, displays of the histories and lives of District Six families, and historical explanations of the life of the District and its destruction.

In addition to its function as a museum it also serves as a memorial to a decimated community, and a meeting place and community center for Cape Town residents who identify with its history. …

Face

District 9 is a 2009 science fiction film produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Neill Blomkamp. Although set in an alternate Johannesburg, it is inspired by the events surrounding District Six. …

“Nollywood” – Black November

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, government, moviesLeave a comment

by Nigerian filmmaker, Jeta Amata.

… “Black November” is a drama about Nigeria’s Niger-Delta region. The film is weighing into the 50-year history of western exploitation of the region’s oil resources, local collusion and violent resistance to it.

Nigeria’s Niger Delta region is the world’s third largest wetland but decades of oil drilling have turned it into one of the most oil-polluted places on earth. …

… The film has a cast that include Mickey Rourke, Kim Bassinger, Hakeem Kae-Kazim and Enyinna Nwigwe.
It also features Mbong Amata, Jeta’s wife; his father, Zack and his uncle, Fred. …

read more

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.

official website of the film

… The cinema of Nigeria grew quickly in the 1990s and 2000s to become the second largest film industry in the world in terms of number of annual film productions, placing it ahead of the United States and behind the Indian film industry.

… The average film costs between US$17,000 and US$23,000, is shot on video in just a week—selling up to 150,000–200,000 units nationwide in one day. …

… about “1,200 films are produced in Nigeria annually.” And more and more filmmakers are heading to Nigeria because of “competitive distribution system and a cheap workforce.”

the truth about Jessica Lynch

On By Rick McIn books, ethics, governmentLeave a comment

In war, truth is the first casualty.

Aeschylus

41606996-jessica-lynch

Jessica Lynch (born April 26, 1983) is a former United States Army soldier who served in Iraq during the 2003 invasion by U.S. and allied forces.

On March 23, 2003, Private First Class Lynch was serving as a unit supply specialist with the 507th Maintenance Company when her convoy was ambushed by Iraqi forces during the Battle of Nasiriyah. …

… Actually, she was in a convoy of cooks and mechanics who got lost driving at night, sadly driving right into the heart of Iraqi controlled Nasiriyah. By accident.

Many were killed unnecessarily. Her friend, Lori Piestewa, leading the convoy was one of them.

Lynch was seriously injured and captured. Her subsequent recovery by U.S. Special Operations Forces on April 1, 2003 received considerable media coverage and was the first successful rescue of an American prisoner of war since Vietnam and the first ever of a woman.

Of course the rescue wouldn’t have been necessary if a U.S. convoy could read a map. Follow the GPS.

Bush press aid Jim Wilkinson was blamed for spinning and exaggerating the story. Later he was cleared of most of the blame for headlines like this.

Lynch kept firing until she ran out of ammo

lynch_headline_post

The media, quick to accept unsubstantiated reports, are more to blame.

… On April 24, 2007, she testified in front of Congress that she had never fired her weapon; her M16 rifle jammed, and that she had been knocked unconscious when her vehicle crashed. Lynch has been outspoken in her criticism of the original stories reported regarding her combat experience. When asked about her heroine status, she stated “That wasn’t me. I’m not about to take credit for something I didn’t do… I’m just a survivor.” …

I believe she’s a teacher now. And a Mom.

Don’t trust politicians. Especially in times of war. Especially this guy.

Bush catapulg

Catapult the propoganda. (VIDEO)

In war, casualties are the second casualty.

related – I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story