Wisconsin is going to have a second chance to choose a governor soon. A lot of dust is being kicked up in the realm of normal political rants, finger pointing, blame and what not ... it's a passionate decision coming up. At the same time, to my mind, some hard questions regarding ethics are not being asked.
Whether you like our current governor or not, you must admit that he has hung out with some folks who either clearly were in violation of the law or have serious ethical challenges. Personally, it wouldnt matter to me if he was a Democrat or a Republican, I simply can't abide this idea that our leaders have huge ethical issues and we agree to not speak about them.
Where the heck are the old fashioned reporters who ask the tough questions, come what may? Are the powers that be simply too large, too frightening, for our free press to go after these issues. Or is this mute button clicked because media is owned by some of the key players who manipulate politics, moguls who consciously and meticulously control what the public may hear and steer us toward a sort of functional oblivion — so that we keep conducting our routine lives without serious thought of protest?
This article should alarm anyone in this state.
Run in October 2011, it discusses actions by the Koch Brothers, arguably Gov. Scott Walker's largest contributors. It is well worth the read, and if you are of the opinion that Boomberg is not a credible source, the statements it makes can be easily researched from a spectrum of sources.
Included in that article is the following paragraph.
"A Bloomberg Markets investigation has found that Koch Industries — in addition to being involved in improper payments to win business in Africa, India and the Middle East — has sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country the U.S. identifies as a sponsor of global terrorism.
Now, I am no research genius — but here is a statement that is either TRUE or FALSE. Koch Industries either sold this stuff to the Iranians, or they didn't. If they did, then we currently have a governor who finds it ethical to take large amounts of money from a couple of guys who think they are beyond the law ... and who chose to deal with IRAN, whom most conservatives, I expect, believe is one of our greatest enemies! And I have to ask myself ...
What does the governor think about this statement? Does he approve of the Koch Brother's sale to Iran? Does he think this is a bald faced lie? What is his opinion about the statements in the Bloomberg article?
I am not going to hold my breath for an answer as I don't think anyone will ask him. I think our media, liberal and conservative, is cowed down due to the ownership ... that we have a sorta-free press now, depending on what you want to talk about. And, as an American who loves this country, I am sick of learning that yet another leader, gets to power on the big bucks of people who clearly act outside the law, who write their own book on conduct, and who do not give a damn about the consequences to little people like you and I.
My double question to you is ... conservative or liberal ... will you read this article and research it if you don't believe what it says; and then, will you still hold that this man is the best to lead this state?
I can assure you that if this was his opponent I would ask the same question ... to me this is simply a question of ethics.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/democratic-group-asks-koch-brothers-donation-attacking-them-155806538.html I would be willing to put a healthy bet on the Democratic party taking the five figure donation they requested had Koch Industries not outed them for hypocrites. Since both parties take political donations from Koch, the only answers to your questions are: 1) They don't care where the money comes from. 2) They don't know the inner working of the businesses that donate. My guess is that it's a good part of both and if a reporter asked the questions you wanted asked, any politician in his right mind would answer ambiguously with #2. The problem is that people on the right are ok with Koch, while at the same time people on the left are ok with Soros. Eliminating these people will not fix the problem as new people and influences will replace them.
Those kids and making more money at $.32 per hour then they would have bent over planting rice be hand. If they weren't working long hard hours in factories they would working long hard hours on farms (for no pay). Should we leave those countries and return those people to a life of complete poverty or is there a chance that making our products could be improving their lives? Do you have proof their lives are worse? http://www.independent.org/pdf/working_papers/53_sweatshop.pdf
Yes, evil American business. The world would be so much better without them. We would all be happy subsistence farmers bartering for what we need with goats and eggs. We can all dream of that day as socialism slowly chokes of wealth generation in our societies.
One must remember that the ultimate rests in the citizen's hands, the vote. We can make a powerful statement by voting in those that still value human beings and the future of a positive life.
Lots of conjecture and innuendo, but, no evidence that the brothers Koch specifically endorsed the plan to sell to an embargoed country. However. there appear to be ethical issues with the way they disclosed the problem when they discovered it. Maybe, for some, guilty in the court of public opinion; in a court of law, clearly not guilty.
Please explain to me the morality of the exploitation of the rich. Why is it morally correct to forcibly take money from those that produce and give to those that don't? Any honest evaluation of the last 200 years has proven that capitalism and wealth has done more for this planet then any altruistic agenda of social equality. The devaluation of the workforce has always been. Please name a time when a business existed for its employees. Business since the beginning of time has existed for the owner and as a result of his desire for wealth the employees benefit.
There have been many opportunities for me to become insanely wealthy, but I walked away because the means to that wealth were immoral or amoral. I simply look at the stated values of those who find nothing wrong with how wealth is attained along with what they do with that accumulated wealth. It is not looking down my nose but a sincere evaluation of moral behavior.
I do find that your comments deflect your thinking from the path that might lead to thinking those deep thoughts n asking those questions that look for the truth, that which is unhidden. All of us-not only in the US, but across the globe are interconnected. Essentially, more Americans discount this Truth than embrace it and live accordingly.We must change our approach to thinking; we must change our thinking about Democracy and Capitalism. It may be true for all of us that our beliefs, opinions, behaviors, and attitudes have changed as we have grown, learned to ask more of the right questions, and come to grapple what it means to be interconnected. I am sure that as a recovering plutocratic Republican my opinions, beliefs, etc. have grown and changed. I would hope that they do for all educated people. If not, get thee to a tubal detoxification facility, now! I haven't had the privilege of sitting with Lyle or others who question what is going on but I think we all have come to realize that in this interconnected world an approach founded on Augustinian and Aristotelian beliefs will be better for the whole. Isn't that with what we all ought to be concerned? Instead we have Ayn Rand's selfish,objectivism fueled by calvin's misunderstood belief about earning. Hyper greed, hyper capitalism is just plain sinful. Embrace instead: Truth, Unity, Beauty, Goodness and Love. try it for a decade, see the results.
The economy is sucking its consumer base dry to generate extra wealth for CEOs and stockholders, who will be well insulated from hardship when it all crashes. I would call the people who promote this and allow it to happen traitors to America and our way of life.
There are a number of companies that employee owned, cooperatives and such. I refer you to Nucor Steel once again. Their employees have a say and are willing to sacrifice for the good of the company when it is necessary and the company rewards them in return. You and I have had a number of discussions over morality and you see greed as the main motivator for achievement. As you know I completely disagree with this view and the causal conditions are numerous and complex. However, without a clear set of moral principles to govern human behavior and especially how we conduct business, our culture and society will not be long for the world. In my book it is better to be moral and poor than immoral and rich.
I think your blog was well intentioned, but certain examples took it off track. In the end it will make me look differently at things like Obama's billion dollar "War Chest". I'm sure the who's and where's could fill a massive blog with ethical challenges.
Which of those administrations were built on free market capitalism and which was a dictator or communist rule. There is a stark difference between the material desires of a regime (Hitler, Stalin, etc.) and the national desire to prosper as seen in the US. While the US system creates few uber wealthy individuals, the vast majority are benefited. The proof is that that even our poorest rank in the top 10% of world income. The regimes that started the wars and killed the vast majority of people in the last 100 years were dedicated to making governmental officials wealthy to the detriment of the populous. At the same, you cannot blame US prosperity for the poor in the world. The world would be a much worse place if the US had not embraced capitalism and used wealth to beat Hitler, communism or spread trillions in aid to nations in trouble.
It was noted above that AT&T and GE once supported(conducted business with) the the evil empire(Hitler et al.). So what does one do, when they want to make a telephone call, as nearly all the major phone companies in the USA are made up of the 1984 AT&T assets divestiture(baby bells & AT+T is the cell phone inventor);no phone calls for you!!! . Need an MRI, or any of the many,many other medical imaging procedures; guess one should suffer, as it is likely a GE machine or running GE technology. Please define the line, with mathematical precision, as I will use it in all my decision making.
G.E. and AT&T have added to technology, but they are not the only innovators in the world. Their corporate leadership should have been brought up on charges of treason. Another couple of well known names that were financially involved with the Third Reich was Penobscot Bush and William Harriman. It just proves to me that there is several levels of justice, one for the 99% and one for the 1% plutocracy.
ourselves if we assert this while wearing the ermine robes of empire. The rest of the planet can see through them.