Category Archives: Ethics

UPDATE II: War Games: Smash ‘Em & Put Them Together Again

Criminal Injustice, Ethics, Middle East, Military, Morality, Natural Law, Terrorism, The State, War

Look; isn’t Uncle Sam wonderful? This little Pakistani girl below “was burned beyond recognition by a U.S. drone and left for dead in a trashcan. … She was found by a medical mission team two years ago and was described as ‘lucky’ by staff as two other children found with her were killed by the military attack.”

The child was “brought to the U.S. from her home in Pakistan,” where American surgeons patched her up, sort of. That’s the least we Americans can do. One of her new caregivers named the child Shakira, which means thankful. Evidently some dolt thinks little Shakira should be grateful that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men COULD put little Shakira together again.

UPDATE I (Dec. 23): FROM “JUST WAR FOR DUMMIES” (March 12, 2003):

I’m no pacifist. While I don’t condone the lingering American presence in Afghanistan, and while I doubt the abilities of the U.S. military to contain al-Qaida there, I supported going after bin Laden’s group in that country. That was a legitimate act of retaliation and defense, accommodated within St. Augustine’s teachings, whereby a just war is one “that avenges wrongs, when a nation or state has to be punished, for refusing to make amends for the wrongs inflicted by its subjects.”
Al-Qaida was responsible for the murder of 3,000 Americans. The Taliban openly succored the organization and its masterminding leadership. Mr. Bush had asked the hosting Taliban to surrender bin Laden and his gang. The Taliban refused, insisting on defending their murderous guests.

UPDATE II (Dec. 24): In reply to Theodor Lauppert below: And this writer “isn’t generally considered a source for” the strengthening of the positive law, international or other.

UPDATED: Importing Monstrous Morals (The Utouchables)

Business, Ethics, Family, Government, IMMIGRATION, Islam, Labor, Media, Multiculturalism, Political Correctness, Pop-Culture, The West

The excerpt is from “Importing Monstrous Morals,” now on WND.COM:

“In its contempt for women, India, our democratic ally, has advanced little since the time it practiced Sati, ‘the custom of burning a widow alive on the funeral pyre of her husband.’

Then, Western values had valiant defenders like General Sir Charles James Napier. When ‘Hindu priests complained to him about the prohibition of Sati by British authorities,’ Napier replied:

“Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.” (Via Wikipedia. )

Nowadays, our ‘national customs’ are exemplified by ‘enlightened’ observers—ABC’s Elizabeth Vargas, for example—who gather and disseminate spotty, decontextualized data, in this case, about “the systematic, widespread elimination of India’s baby girls.” Vargas traveled to India for the current affairs program ’20/20.’

Back in the 1800s, Napier understood “Sati” as a cultural barbarity.

In 2011, Vargas is somewhat vague. Critical faculties dulled by the belief in the equal worth of all cultures and peoples, Vargas failed to firmly finger the sacred cultural cow to which Indians sacrifice a million girls every year. (The Economist is more optimistic, putting the number of girls who go missing as a result of a gender preference for boys at 600,000.)

… poverty and lack of education play almost no role in this morally monstrous practice. …

In utero and outside of it, the elimination of women in India is not about what we here in the US call “reproductive rights.” This is about the right to life. In India, a woman’s life, fetus or fully formed, is worthless.

… Empirical proof of these impregnable positions was provided by the University of California, San Francisco. UCSF conducted a “qualitative study of son preference and fetal sex selection among Indian immigrants in the United States,” showing that “Indian immigrant women are using reproductive technologies and liberal abortion policies in the United States to abort female fetuses.” The study was published in Social Science & Medicine. Therein, the objects of observation are quoted as saying that, “There is such a thing as too many daughters, but not too many sons.”

The complete column is, “Importing Monstrous Morals.” Read it now on WND.COM.

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UPDATE (Dec. 16): Pam Maltzman: About the US getting India’s best and brightest: It’s probably the opposite, as those who come here are likely untouchables fleeing the cast-system in India and seeking a better station in life. It is well known, if not documented—for who would have the courage?—that Indians working in our massive high-tech conglomerates, as I stated in the column, are often very average in technical skills. They do, however, excel in exercising bureaucratic power; are quarrelsome, arrogant, and can talk up a storm. As soon as they are in positions of power, they are in the habit of hiring their own kind, often irrespective of merit, and to the detriment of The Other Kind. Massive companies, flush with billions, work much like government, within which fiefdoms with power structures develop. In these chieftainships, the relationship between productivity and profit is loose, at best. So long as the Chief has a good connection to the next top dog, he can chug along for years, before his little nexus collapses. Looking diverse is one of the main goals of the multinational with billions to blow. If a project collapses with a female at the helm, for example, a lot of musical chairs and cover-up action will ensue, as females are a prized minority too.

UPDATED/Cain Campaign Suspended: Steamy Windows Or Steamed-Up Liberals? (& Does It Matter?)

Elections, Ethics, Media, Morality, Politics, Uncategorized

Dennis Miller, a very funny neoconservative (that is a liberal who really likes war), threw in the towel over the Cain fracas. Quoting a caller to his radio show, Miller said that when it comes to Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, there is too much steam on the windows and too little in the engine. Bloody funny, for sure.

Still, I tend to think that Ann Coulter makes a good case about the meritless evidence against Cain. Writes Coulter: “Most people say, ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.’ I say, ‘Where there’s smoke around a conservative, there are journalists furiously rubbing two sticks together.'” Read her assessment of that evidence.

Yes, Cain’s alleged consorts are trashy. But it could be that Mr. Cain is drawn to trashy women. The fact that these women are trashy is no proof that he has not consorted with them. Either way, alleged moral or ethical indiscretions don’t disqualify Mr. Cain for the position of “the boss of all bosses at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue”; if anything, they make him eminently suited to be Capo di tutti capi of America.

“Saturday Is ‘Decision Day’ for GOP Presidential Contender Herman Cain.”

UPDATE (Dec. 3): Cain Campaign Suspended:

Herman Cain announced Saturday he was suspending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, citing the “painful price” sexual harassment and extramarital affair allegations have had on his family.

Not Another Sermon on the Mitt

Christian Right, Christianity, Elections, Ethics, Morality, Politics, Religion

Whatever you say about Mitt Romney, one cannot dispute that this presidential candidate is patrician; Romney is a refined, mild-mannered man. He could have made mincemeat out of Rick Perry for his word-salad during the debate in Tampa, Florida. Romney’s retort was, “Nice try.” That’s all. But a lot of people prefer the boorish Bush clone, Rick Perry. In fact, rumor has it that Perry is behind the latest assault on Mitt’s Mormonism. Via the WaPo:

Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress, a Rick Perry supporter who recently described the Mormon religion as a “cult,” and isn’t backing off that claim in subsequent interviews.
But while the “Mormon Question” was a big one in the 2008 presidential race, there’s plenty of reason to believe its impact has somewhat lessened four years later, as Romney becomes more of a known quantity to voters.

Mitt Romney’s response typified his good manners: “We should remember that decency and civility are values too.”

The country and the “cognoscenti” did this dance in 2007, back when Mitt was forced into publicly defending his faith.

I’ll repeat what I said back then, on 12.07.07:

“I have no dog in the fight over Mitt’s Mormonism … Admittedly, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may have some odd ideas. Not so the Mormons I know; they are very fine people. And quite magnificent is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; it’s in fact the finest in the world.”

What gets to me is the absolute Alzheimer’s of the political players involved and their followers.

I would not put it past Bush’s clone (Perry) to have had a hand in this latest anti-Mormon mischief-making.