Another Example

SMiller via email:

At "the call" last week we were talking about how the US is losing relevance because it refuses to lead the world on various initiatives (environment, health, human rights, etc...).

Here is another example: I was taking one of the required HP SBC web courses and found out that the standard for personal data privacy is being driven by the EU standards:

"We place strong emphasis on the EU Data Protection Directives because all countries must provide an equivalent level of privacy protection, either through laws or contractual obligations, if they want to do business with the EU. Many countries have enacted data privacy laws (or are developing them) based on EU Data Protection Directives requirements."

The current administration thinks that if it can drag it's feet then it "protects" US companies from having to do anything, but it's really just handing the baton to other governments.

- S

Of course, this led some to wonder (and bust some balls) why it was posted via email instead of as a post. Whatever. If I have to post the stuff other people write but which I want to save off somewhere like here, I will, as long as it's convenient for me.

Naturally, this means we HAVE to have a call again today. 3:45pm. Normal McMenamins.

A Creationist's View of Evolution

South Park at its funniest

Are the ethics of the Ten Commandments the ethics of genocide?

Below is an excerpt from a "Weekly Message" I enjoyed from a Unitarian serivce here in Vancouver a few weeks back, by the Rev. Mark Gallagher. His talk was entitled "Ten Better Commandments".

A very enjoyable and thought provoking viewpoint, I thought. Perhaps it's just the sort of thign that will one day come up and haunt my presedential campaign, though ...

Full test available at the link below.

http://msuuf.org/phpwcms2/download.php?86da49d8c56f64ef3fac0e5e35ba8bb9

The Ten Commandments. Everybody knows the Ten Commandments,
right? They are the foundation of law and ethics, at least in Western civilization. Everybody knows that.

Well, not everybody actually knows the Ten Commandments anymore, but that’s part of what’s wrong with our society isn’t it?

Far too many people today have lost their ethical and moral compass, and if the Ten Commandments were more a part of our public and private lives, that would surely be a step in the right direction.

According to Robert Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council: “The problems we face in America are moral problems, which cannot be solved legislatively or judicially. We need a moral code to address them. There is no better educational and moral code than the Ten Commandments.” You hear this sort of thing a fair amount these days.

In reply, liberal folk are likely to say something like, “Well, the Ten Commandments are a good moral guide, and pretty much everyone agrees with them. But they are religious so it’s not right to put them up in government buildings.”

Sometimes I feel like I have wandered into a maze of fun-house mirrors.

In the first place, when people talk about the Ten Commandments, they are seldom talking about them as found in the Bible. Many of us may think we know the Ten Commandments – we were raised Christian or Jewish, after all. We know we can’t rattle them off quickly and in order, but I’ll bet many of us think we could get all ten, given a little time. Or at least nine or eight of them.

We’d say: Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, No other gods before me, No adultery, and so forth. That is not the Ten Commandments. That is a list of key words from the Ten Commandments.

But I’ll bet there is not a single person here (and very few in most Christian churches) who really knows the whole Ten Commandments. And I am not just making a quibble about not having it memorized it word for word, as we shall see.

In the second place, the Ten Commandments are not a good moral or ethical guide. They hardly provide any moral or ethical guidance at all. Nearly everyone who would supposedly be uplifted by exposure to the Ten Commandments is actually far beyond them, morally and ethically.

And in the third place, they are in some ways morally reprehensible.

Just this week I discovered this is far more true than I had realized.

Rule of Thumb: Ignore Stock Tips from the Drunk Table

Makes sense in retrospect, right? And yet, it's happened in the past. Somehow, the topic came up again this week, and by and large the "safest" bet appeared to be GE. It was like a bank account, but with better dividends.

And then a story like this shows up:

The second-largest U.S. company by market capitalization said profit fell about 20 percent at its financial services arms, which accounted for more than a third of GE's total revenue in the quarter. But weakness in health care and industrial divisions also weighed on results.

The news sent GE shares down more than 11 percent in early trade on the New York Stock Exchange, the sharpest drop in two decades, dragging down global markets.

The other company we talked about was AMD, which everyone assured us would never fail... but you might want to take that with a grain of salt now.

(original article caught by SMiller)

Fact Check. A Beer's On the Line

More than once, people have mentioned articles or referenced things they saw online that I wish I could follow-up on. Or the discussion just gets cut short and isn't continued the following week. Occasionally people remember to send an email with details the next day. More often than not I just forget about it by the next time the call rolls around.

This time, there's at least a wager on the line (as well as a certain amount of credibility), and it involved a claim nobody seemed to believe: that manufacturing is still one-third of the US' GDP, and that that percentage is roughly the same as it was after WWII. (Okay, I guess that's two claims.) Everyone else seemed to believe we just consume stuff now, export brands and services, or simply place online bets in the stock market with our money.

In a week, we shall see...