Category: Right Conduct

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Senator Bernie Sanders Explains How the Cow Ate the Cabbage

Weep for Our Country…

Do not try to just watch this as it is not that stimulating visually…BUT if you will just listen like you would a radio broadcast and really listen hard to what Senator Bernie Sanders is saying you might just have your eyes opened a bit.

I’ve been ranting about this stuff for years with most folks looking at me like I was crazy.  The concerns are finally going mainstream.  I can only hope if enough folks get outraged about these issues change might happen.

But then I look at the view count on this YouTube video at 100,000 or so versus the most viewed video on YouTube Justin Bieber – Baby ft. Ludacris; 402,051,105 views, and you know where peoples priorites are.  Sad, sad, sad… It strikes me that we have become a nation that has buried its collective head in the sand.

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Worthy Small Charities

Yes I did a cut and paste operation bringing in these links from an article in the New York Times by Nicholas Kristof:  The Gifts of Hope. Mr. Kristof is an advocate journalist. His whole professional career is devoted to reporting on issues like these, especially issues involving females.  If there is a man that can smoke out small worthy charities, I am betting on him.

Here is another of his editorials.  It details some charities that has gone astray:  When Donations Go Astray

If you are looking for alternative giving this year, consider these.

Panzi Hospital (panzifoundation.org) treats victims of sexual violence in eastern Congo, rape capital of the world.

Camfed (camfed.org), short for the Campaign for Female Education, sends girls to school in Africa and provides a broad support system for them. Continue reading “Worthy Small Charities”

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The Secret to Happiness

What is the secret to happiness?  In the adult education Spanish class I am taking, we are reading the book, El Alquimista (The Alchemist) by Paulo Coelho.  The book touts itself as a fable about following your dreams.

Within this fable is a parable about a merchant sending his son off to consult the wisest of wise men on the secret to happiness.  After a long and arduous journey the young man arrives at the abode of the Wiseman.  He is sent off for two hours to tour the magnificent structure, but with a teaspoon of oil in his hand and an admonition to not spill the oil.  The young man returns to the Wiseman who asks him what he had seen. Continue reading “The Secret to Happiness”

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Size Does Matter

How Germany got it right on the economy by Harold Meyerson in The Washington Post

The above link is an article on a different form capitalism, one that values social democratic ideals.  This is not the capitalism found in the good ole USA, but it is found in Germany.  Despite the bad economic times, and the raising economic power of Asia, their economy is still doing very well.

I have had some of the same thoughts as the author of this article, only mine were about farming.  I have occasionally had the same thoughts about small retail shops as Wal-Mart and other big box stores kill downtowns and mom and pop operations. I have just never made the logical progression to our manufacturing base. Continue reading “Size Does Matter”

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Just Imagine — No Taxes

There is personal wealth and then there is community wealth.  I read this a while back in a discussion of the growing wealth gap in this country.  One measure of wealth that has a lot to with the general happiness of a population is community wealth. This includes such things as parks, good roads, support of the arts, community buildings, education, etc.

I started thinking about this again as I have just come back from the Shelby County Clerks Office where I was registering my vehicle.   It is not an awful government building, I’ve been in a lot worse, but neither is it grand.  I still remember where they housed the County Sanitarians in Pulaski County, Arkansas.  It was an old hospital that had long been past its prime when the medicos abandoned it.  Now the County was trying to use it for office space.   It does seem to me that many government buildings get short shrift. Continue reading “Just Imagine — No Taxes”

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Huge concentrations of wealth corrodes the soul of any nation

A couple quotes from the Nicholas Kristof editoral linked to below:

A Hedge Fund Republic? Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times

“But there is also a larger question: What kind of a country do we aspire to be? Would we really want to be the kind of plutocracy where the richest 1 percent possesses more net worth than the bottom 90 percent?’

“I’m appalled by our growing wealth gaps because in my travels I see what happens in dysfunctional countries where the rich just don’t care about those below the decks. The result is nations without a social fabric or sense of national unity. Huge concentrations of wealth corrode the soul of any nation.”

I’ve been watching and crying over this growing problem for years.  Part of me just cannot understand how in a democratic society where the vast majority of folks are in the middle and lower economic classes this happened.  After all 9 to 1 should win ever time, right?

In large part it has happened because both political parties are unabashedly junkies when it comes to financing political campaigns.  Continue reading “Huge concentrations of wealth corrodes the soul of any nation”

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Step Away from the Counter

When I was in college I clerked in a liquor store for a while.  It was a great job for a student. On weekends we worked hard, but during the week the store was not busy and I was able to study hard.

I had a legal responsibility to not sell alcohol to people that were intoxicated.  Not only did I face criminal action, but as it was explained to me I could also face civil liabilities.  It is not always easy to tell if someone was over the limit.  It is almost always an argument when you refuse to sell to them, but I did do so a few times.  Continue reading “Step Away from the Counter”