Category: Right Conduct

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Egypt – The Withering of the Arab Spring

egypt As an outsider looking in at the situation in Egypt it is very confusing.  I am going to explore my thoughts via this piece.  It would be appreciated if anyone who  had thoughts on this would comment.  It just seems like awful conflict with both sides wrong.

First allow me to admit that most of my news comes from NPR.  While many folks rant about NPR’s “Liberal” slant I find it one of the few news sources without a large bias.  So many of the news sources of our time are more opinion than news and/or have a definite bias. Since I almost never watch TV news, my other source of news is the Internet, so much of which must be taken with a grain of salt.  I do tend to browse the more liberal news/opinion sites.  To counterbalance this I do browse the BBC site almost daily to get a point of view from outside the United States.  On very rare occasions I will look at Al Jazeera site. Like most folks I am stuck in my bias silo, but I do attempt to make the occasional foray into other arenas of thought.

I have a love/hate relationship with my country.  Continue reading “Egypt – The Withering of the Arab Spring”

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Is the postal crisis real or manufactured?

Is the postal crisis real or manufactured?

Jim Hightower in an article, The Truth About the US Postal Service, on Common Dreams contends that current United States Postal Service crisis is a manufactured crisis.

“The privatizers squawk that USPS has gone some $13 billion in the hole during the past four years… the service actually produced a $700 million operational profit (despite the worst economy since the Great Depression).”

“In 2006, the Bush White House and Congress whacked the post office with the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act — an incredible piece of ugliness requiring the agency to PRE-PAY the health care benefits not only of current employees, but also of all employees who’ll retire during the next 75 years. Yes, that includes employees who’re not yet born! Continue reading “Is the postal crisis real or manufactured?”

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A Scary Polls on Yahoo


I don’t know a lot about James Buchanan, but for my money George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan vie for the worst president of all times.

Reagan was a disaster for the common man, promoting the greed of the already rich and powerful.   By ignoring the energy crisis, he has left us decades behind where we need to be in a world where fossils fuels are ruining the environment and oil dependency hampers the economy.  His zest for deregulation has been disastrous Continue reading “A Scary Polls on Yahoo”

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How Much Do You REALLY Love That New iPhone?

Another sad account of Foxconn and Apple and the high human cost of your iPhone: iEmpire: Apple’s Sordid Business Practices Are Even Worse Than You Think

Someone please tell what is right about unfettered capitalism be practiced globally with US in the lead.

Here is a link to a Forbes article listing the top 400 richest people in America. Number 400 has a net worth of $1 billion. Number 1 on the list, Bill Gates, has a worth of 59 billion. Six of the folks on this list made their wealth from Wal*Mart. Steve Jobs is number 39 with a paltry $7 billion. Michael Dell is number 18 with a worth of $15 billion.

Go to the top of the list and find the “source” heading. Click on Continue reading “How Much Do You REALLY Love That New iPhone?”

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Wal-Mart Could Easily Pay $12 an Hour

I referenced this same article in a previous blog, but I think it is important enough to pull out by itself.

“Raising the pay of Wal-Mart’s U.S. workers to a minimum of $12 an hour would lift many out of poverty, reduce their reliance on public assistance, and cost the average consumer, at most, $12.49 a year.

That’s the conclusion of a new study published by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education.  The study is primarily concerned with the question of how raising Wal-Mart’s wages would affect poor families, including both those who work at its stores and those who shop at them.  The benefits to poor families, the study concludes, would far exceed the costs. “

Read the whole article at Wal-Mart Could Easily Pay $12 an Hour

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Teachers’ newest online worry: cyberbaiting

As if teaching in today’s environment is not hard enough!  It seems that any technology humans come up with, someone finds a way to pervert it.  I do know that the school system where my significant other teaches has a policy prohibiting teachers from interacting with students on social sites.  Apparently, it is for some very good reasons.

Below is a link to an article about cyberbaiting (why does that sound so nasty) at eSchool News

Teachers’ newest online worry: cyberbaiting

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Vote with your $$, Vote with your feet, Move your bank accounts

As I touched on in Banks, Boobs, Bamboozled I moved my checking account.  I had been with Bank of America.  I initially signed up with them when I moved to a new town and I was in hurry to get a bank.  The more I learned about BoA, the unhappier I became with banking there.  I stayed with BoA much too long due to inertia. It is a pain changing banks.  But I finally bit the bullet and made the change.  I chose Regions as they have branches in both St. Louis and Memphis.  I had only been with them a few months when they decided they just had to charge their customers for use of their debit cards. (They have since reversed that decision, but they have lost my trust)  I immediately started the process of changing banks.  I went with the local company credit union.  Much to my surprise there is a network of ATMs that I can use free of charge available to credit unions. Continue reading “Vote with your $$, Vote with your feet, Move your bank accounts”

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Football and Priorities

I will not go into much detail as it is all over the news, but there is a child sexual abuse scandal unfolding at Penn State involving a former assistant coach who worked under Joe Paterno.  Apparently at least one of the alleged incidences happened in the team locker room and Paterno was aware of it.   It also seems the President of the University, Graham Spanier was also aware, and a cover up ensued.

Paterno had announced that he would retire at the end of the season and there is one more game to go.  The university trustees unanimously voted to fire both men for the good of Penn State University.  The news described a “riot” last Continue reading “Football and Priorities”

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War is a Racket

“War is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”

Major General Smedley Butler, USMC, in 1935

Who is Smedley Butler? Wikipedia starts off as follows: “…nicknamed ‘The Fighting Quaker’ and ‘Old Gimlet Eye’, was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps, and at the time of his death the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. During his 34-year career as a Marine, he participated in military actions in the Philippines, China, in Central America and the Caribbean during the Banana Wars, and France in World War I. By the end of his career he had received 16 medals, five of which were for heroism. He is one of 19 people to twice receive the Medal of Honor, one of three to be awarded both the Marine Corps Brevet Medal and the Medal of Honor, and the only person to be awarded the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions.”

If there ever was a man that knew war he has to be among the elite.  The quote is the start of his book, War is a Racket, published in 1935.  Continue reading “War is a Racket”