The Watcher

From the New York Times Business section (free registration):

The suit, brought in United States District Court in Trenton, said that the pension fund lost about $171 million on Sept. 30, when the company, citing increased heart risks in tests of people who had used Vioxx for more than 18 months, withdrew it from the market. On that day, the price of a share of Merck stock plummeted 27 percent, and it has since drifted lower. Merck shares are down almost 40 percent so far this year, though they closed up 35 cents yesterday, at $28.02.

The suit appears to be the first by a pension fund against Merck, which is based in Whitehouse Station, N.J. A company spokeswoman, Joan Wainwright, said that about 15 lawsuits had been filed, contending that Merck misled shareholders. Several hundred personal injury lawsuits have also been filed against Merck by people claiming to have been injured by Vioxx.

The company has denied any wrongdoing.

I think this is a good example why putting any social security money into the stock market in a move to privatize it is a bad idea.

I find it interesting that the use of language in America is both appalling and telling. It is appalling because those who truly know how to use language use it to bludgeon their enemies and sucker-punch everyone else using the right buzz word or catch phrase to get elected and then make bad policy for the whole country. Frank Luntz and Karl Rove are cases in point. Extremists of any kind are another.

Unfortunately, the imprecision with which the average American uses words is telling in that the average American mind is highly undisciplined in the use of language to both express itself and to communicate with others. This imprecision and lack of discipline lends itself to easy manipulation thus making most Americans good targets for the likes of Rove and Luntz to shape the entire consciousness, direction, and political agenda of America.

To help correct this by following on the previous post, it is important to understand what is meant by the terms "morals" and "ethics." Both terms involve knowing right and wrong in relation to actions, behavior, volition, and internal motivation (intent). All these things are what determine one's character and integrity.

The expression "moral values" is a corruption of the meaning of "moral." To put this in context, since "morals" involves the distinction between right and wrong in relation to actions, behavior, etc., "moral values" becomes "the distinction between right and wrong behavior values." It looks kinda stupid that way to me. Not to mention that while one's "values" can inform one's behavior, it is one's behavior that is either right or wrong, good or bad. However, behaviors are not themselves "values."

On the other hand, one's behavior will speak volumes about one's values and whether those values rest on the common ones of honesty, fairness, sincerity, good faith, kindess, and treating others with dignity and respect. If these are not seen in a person's behavior you can be sure they are not part of that person's values. In other words, does the person walk their talk. If not, they are a hypocrite (not a hippocrit). And if they impose one standard for themselves and another for everyone else, then they are imposing a double standard and that makes them worse than a simple hypocrite.

Since morals are about right and wrong, we have a serious problem today understanding what is in fact right and wrong. Knowing what is right and wrong is the beginning of wisdom. Right is that which prevents harm, preserves life, and makes the heart glad. Wrong is that which harms, destroys life, and makes the heart despair. Unfortunately, a segment of the population led by a few very smart but immoral people have managed to put everyone on a false footing about what is right and wrong. The leaders of this movement know the difference but they don't care. The followers of such leaders do care but no longer know which is which. This becomes a case of the blind (eye) leading the blind (sighted).

Another situation are the extremists at both ends of the political and social spectrum becoming their own group and the vast majority in the middle are left scratching their heads trying to make sense of what has and is happening to our country, its people, its founding principles, and the everyday values of honesty and fairness that we grew up with. I blame the "liberal" extremists who pushed moral and cultural relativism down our throats for this one. I can see where the conservatives have a bona fide gripe. (See Hewlett & West's "The War Against Parents" for an explanation.)

On the other hand, the rigidity of the status quo invites smashing for want of some flexibility. The oak is indeed mighty and strong, but when the winds of change come blowing in, the bending willow is the one that remains standing in the end.

Somewhere in here is the path of human beings. The path that acknowledges our individual needs and finds a way to harmonize them all by continually emphasizing the common ground of our humanity and yet, respects each other's limits. Without this kind of acceptance and respecting of limits, there can be no basic sense of human decency and safety whether in our homes, out in public, or on the internet. Nor can there be any genuine appreciation for the variety in life that is the spice of life.

To illustrate the point from an Eastern perspective, the Confucian distinction between an inclusive harmony and an exclusive sameness has an obvious social and political application. There is a passage in the Discourses of the States (Kuo-yü), a collection of historical narratives probably compiled around the fourth century B.C., which underscores the kind of harmony that maximizes difference:

When harmony is fecund, sameness is barren. Things accommodating each other on equal terms is called blending in harmony, and in so doing they are able to flourish and grow, and other things are drawn to them. But when same is added to same, once it is used up, there is no more. Hence, the Former Kings blended earth with metal, wood, fire, and water to make their products. They harmonized the five flavors to satisfy their palate, strengthened the four limbs to protect the body, attuned the six notes to please the ear, integrated their various senses to nourish their hearts and minds, ... and selected ministers and counselors who would express a variety of opinions on issues, and made every effort to bring things into harmony ... There is no music in a single note, no decoration in a single item, no relish in a single taste (Ames, Sun-tzu, 60-61).

To be continued...

Found this nice little ditty laying out the meaning of ethics and morals from Christian Ethics Today.

Ethics and Morals: A Small Lesson

Good and sincere souls have sought in recent years to make a distinction between ethics and morals. A short visit to the Oxford English Dictionary, the most definitive and authoritative dictionary in the English language, should be profitable.

Ethics, we are told, is from the Greek word ethikos which itself is derived from the Greek word ethos, meaning character. Ethics is defined as “manners.... Relating to morals.... Treating of moral questions.... The science of morals.... Concerned with the principles of human duty.... The moral principles by which a person is guided.... The rules of conduct recognized in certain associations or departments of human life.... The whole field of moral science (p. 900).

Morals, we are told, is from the Latin word moralis meaning customs with the Latin word mores being defined as “manners, morals, character.” The Latin word was formed by Cicero

(DeFato IIi) as a rendering of the Greek ethikos (mores being the accepted Latin equivalent of ethe [pronounced ethay]).... Of or pertaining to the distinction between right and wrong, or good and evil, in relation to the actions, volition, or character of responsible beings; ethical.... Relating to the nature and application of the distinction between right and wrong; moral sense, the power of apprehending the difference between right and wrong.... Treating or concerned with virtue and vice, or the rules of right conduct.... Having the property of being right or wrong.... Capable of moral action.... Habits, conduct.... Pertaining to manners and customs” (p. 1848).

Lesson: Things equal to the same thing are equal to each other.

Explication of lesson: Ethics equals morals and morals equals ethics.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Learned doctors will no doubt be undeterred in continuing to draw unwarranted distinctions between the two. We salute them for their steadfastness of conviction.

But we tried.

US has failed to explain its actions to the Muslim world: Pentagon report

"America's negative image in world opinion and diminished ability to persuade are consequences of factors other than the failure to implement communications strategies," the report by the Defense Science Board said.

Bushco has failed to explain itself to America let alone anyone else. Unfortunately, it's the rest of the world that's having a harder time swallowing Buchco's codswallop.

-----------------

U.S. Troops Mark End of Bosnia Mission

I wonder if they will be reassigned to Iraq.

-----------------

Duty change

WASHINGTON — The two-star Army general who ran the U.S. military prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and later took over the U.S. military prison system in Iraq has been reassigned to a senior job in the Pentagon.

Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller will be the Army's assistant chief of staff for installation management, with responsibility for the housing, environmental and other support operations at Army bases. Miller ran Guantanamo Bay from October 2002 to March 2004 and has been credited by senior Pentagon officials with improving the amount of useful intelligence gleaned from terror suspects held there.

Things to be thankful for

Thanksgiving's roots are pre-founding, which means it's not a political holiday in any conventional sense. We are giving thanks for the soil, the land, for the gifts of providence which were bequeathed to us long before we figured out our political system.

Moreover, because there are no gifts, the holiday isn't nearly so vulnerable to materialism and commercialism. It's about things -- primarily family and private accomplishments and blessings -- that don't overlap very much with politics of any kind. We are thankful for the truly important things: our children and their health, for our friends, for the things which make life rich and joyful.

For some bit of fun in all the seriousness see Ben Cohen's animated video at True Majority talking about our federal budget. It gets the point across using oreo cookies and answers a few of the naysayers too.

Military Project

Also check out:
Traveling Soldier

and
Iraq Veterans Against the War

From Wired News: 'Music is not a loaf of bread'

A band that streamed their music and made it to the big time as a result. I think the average American is a far better critter than the slime who run the mega-corpses.

As a follow on to the copyright story at Wired is also this:

"The number of targets this round, we believe, is beside the point," said Matt Grossman, a spokesman for the MPAA. "This is part of an ongoing campaign that is part of a larger effort to protect the business."

The MPAA is following the strategy of the Recording Industry Association of America, which has filed more than 6,000 lawsuits against individuals for allegedly offering copyright material for distribution online. While the RIAA believes the legal action is necessary for label-approved online music services to thrive, critics say the lawsuits have had little effect on file-sharing behavior.

Gee, I wonder why? As Princess Leia said to Grand Moff Tarkin: "The more to tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip your fingers."

Along with the discussion at Musing's musings and by Scooter regarding the force feeding of ads on consumers, to wit:

The bill would also permit people to use technology to skip objectionable content -- like a gory or sexually explicit scene -- in films, a right that consumers already have. However, under the proposed language, viewers would not be allowed to use software or devices to skip commericals or promotional announcements "that would otherwise be performed or displayed before, during or after the performance of the motion picture," like the previews on a DVD. ...

comes this little ditty:

The Recording Industry Association of America vigorously defended the bill, saying it would provide a "common sense set of tools that will help law enforcement better deter and prosecute theft."

It's the Recording Industry Association, not recording artists that are pushing for the legislation. In other words, god forbid that music should be played and heard freely because some shitass middleman publisher has to get rich as the go-between. And now they want to make it a crime to skip commercials on DVDs. Yeah right, and they can sue me for singing Happy Birthday to my daughter too.

If this is the "freedom" America is hoping to spread around the world, no wonder they don't want it.

Diplomatically that is. The visage of the Ugly American rears its ugly head in Lebanon. Read here: Lebanon furious over US envoy's 'interference'.

To put this shoe on the other foot, look at how we treated the French when the Prime Minister in Paris disagreed with our policy to invade Iraq. Now, suppose it was their ambassador in America that held a press conference in D.C. that made such a statement. How gauche is that! Ambassadors are guests, the same is a dinner guest at your house. They have no right to tell you how to run your household. Doesn't mean they can't meet in private and discuss matters as diplomats. But to hold a press conference? That would be like shouting out to the neighbors something the host is doing that the guest doesn't like. That is just plain wrong. Americans have no manners. No wonder we aren't liked.

by kurt nimmo • Wednesday November 17, 2004 at 08:25 PM

It is curious the video of Hassan’s execution surfaced at the same time allegations of civilian mass murder, the execution of wounded prisoners, and other war crimes in Fallujah made the rounds.

I believe—admittedly without any evidence—that the abduction and now apparent murder of Margaret Hassan is a counterinsurgency intelligence operation run by the Americans, the Israelis, or both, as a way to sow chaos and discredit the Iraqi resistance (a resistance the United States cannot possibly hope to crush militarily). Discrediting the resistance is particularly important, as a psychological warfare tactic.

Although I have no direct evidence of this, there are several factors currently in play that make the US/Israeli counterinsurgency operation plausible:

More than 200 college professors since April 30, 2003, according to the Iraqi Union of University Lecturers, have been the targets of assassination. In addition, many intellectuals have disappeared. (See Andrew Rubin’s Bloodbath.)

In December, 2003, Julian Borger of the Guardian reported, “Israeli advisers are helping train US special forces in aggressive counter-insurgency operations in Iraq, including the use of assassination squads against guerrilla leaders. … US forces in Iraq’s Sunni triangle have already begun to use tactics that echo Israeli operations in the occupied territories.”

“A new Special Forces group, designated Task Force 121, has been assembled from Army Delta Force members, Navy seals, and C.I.A. paramilitary operatives, with many additional personnel,” according to Seymour Hersh.
Israel funded Hamas, as the UPI’s Richard Sale reported in 2002.

See full Kurt's full post here.

A Think Tank is an organization that claims to serve as a center for research and/or analysis of important public issues. In reality, many think tanks are little more than public relations fronts, usually headquartered in state or national seats of government and generating self-serving scholarship that serves the advocacy goals of their industry sponsors; in the words of Yellow Times.org columnist John Chuckman, "phony institutes where ideologue~propagandists pose as academics ... [into which] money gushes like blood from opened arteries to support meaningless advertising's suffocation of genuine debate". [1]...

"In 1970, Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell wrote a fateful memo to the National Chamber of Commerce saying that all of our best students are becoming anti-business because of the Vietnam War, and that we needed to do something about it. Powell's agenda included getting wealthy conservatives to set up professorships, setting up institutes on and off campus where intellectuals would write books from a conservative business perspective, and setting up think tanks. He outlined the whole thing in 1970. They set up the Heritage Foundation in 1973, and the Manhattan Institute after that. There are many others, including the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institute at Stanford, which date from the 1940s." --George Lakoff [2]

Think tanks are funded primarily by large businesses and major foundations. They devise and promote policies that shape the lives of everyday Americans: Social Security privatization, tax and investment laws, regulation of everything from oil to the Internet. They supply experts to testify on Capitol Hill, write articles for the op-ed pages of newspapers, and appear as TV commentators. They advise presidential aspirants and lead orientation seminars to train incoming members of Congress.

Think tanks have a decided political leaning. There are twice as many conservative think tanks as liberal ones, and the conservative ones generally have more money. This is no accident, as one of the important functions of think tanks is to provide a backdoor way for wealthy business interests to promote their ideas or to support economic and sociological research not taking place elsewhere that they feel may turn out in their favor. Conservative think tanks also offer donors an opportunity to support conservative policies outside academia, which during the 1960s and 1970s was accused of having a strong "collectivist" bias.

"Modern think tanks are nonprofit, tax-exempt, political idea factories where donations can be as big as the donor's checkbook and are seldom publicized," notes Tom Brazaitis, writing for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Technology companies give to think tanks that promote open access to the internet. Wall Street firms donate to think tanks that espouse private investment of retirement funds." So much money now flows in, that the top 20 conservative think tanks now spend more money than all of the "soft money" contributions to the Republican party.

----------

See the list of think tanks by clicking on the title of this post. It's a long list.

(AP) - House Republicans approved a party rules change Wednesday that could allow Majority leader Tom DeLay to retain his leadership post if he is indicted by a Texas grand jury on state political corruption charges. By a voice vote, and with a handful of lawmakers voicing opposition, the House Republican Conference decided that a party committee of several dozen members would review any felony indictment of a party leader and recommend at that time whether the leader should step aside. More ...

Read Mother Jones' take on Justice DeLayed

Austin Chronicle

By the Chronicle's count (and the prosecutors'), it adds up to 32 – felony indictments, although other publications have arrived at totals as low as 27 and as high as 44 (the number climbs with apparently multiple transactions among the parties).

Planning for the next midterm election by Eric Sidell:
"This is hardly the time to give up. This is an historic moment to refocus the progressive agenda away from the White House and hone it on the state houses and the Congress..."

This is no time to sulk or leave the country. Now is the time to start planning for 2006—that’s the reality. Important governor races, especially in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey, are in play. Progressive candidates need help in the House and Senate. State Legislatures are another important target, because this is where future US Senate candidates are created. This is hardly the time to give up. This is an historic moment to refocus the progressive agenda away from the White House and hone it on the state houses and the Congress.

A Political Veteran Ascendant
Mr. Codey takes over for Mr. McGreevey, the New Jersey Governor, after outing himself as a gay. Apparently Mr. Codey is a Democrat but not too popular with the party.

The acting governor will also remain Senate president, and he has not ruled out seeking the nomination to run for governor next November.


Bush's Big Cabinet Shuffle
Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President George W. Bush, given an opportunity to shake up his presidency after the resignations of six Cabinet members, is likely to use it to re-emphasize rather than change his administration's priorities.

[Amidst all this shuffling is this:]

Walter Russell Mead, an expert on U.S. foreign policy and domestic politics at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said he expects Bush to interpret his Nov. 2 re-election win as an endorsement of his policies around the globe.

[Now that is a scary thought.]

Bayh gets early look for '08 president race
WASHINGTON -- A few days before Sen. John Kerry picked John Edwards as his vice presidential candidate this summer, Republican pollster Frank Luntz was asked by a TV network to test the appeal of seven running mates.

"I think he would make an incredible candidate," Luntz said. "I think he has exactly the attributes that will appeal to swing voters that John Kerry lost this time. A centrist approach. A positive outlook. And a gentle demeanor."
That's right, trust a Republican pollster to pick the Democratic candidate to target the swing voters. In other words, don't let Bayh on any Dimwit tickets in '08. BTW, he's chairman of the DLC, chief Dimwit in congress.

Reid elected Democratic Senate Leader