Appalling Crimes Leads to Death in the Womb...

This weeks post I am going to talk about an appalling set of events I read about in the news. The lack of moral guidance shown by the people in this article are disturbing and concerning.

To summarize the article, a 14 year old girl was raped by a family member and became impregnated. Other family members tried to make her abort the baby by forcing her to take "plan B" pills and Cinnamon tablets. After these failed to abort the baby, the group of assaulting individuals held down the 14 year old, 8 month pregnant girl, then bounced up and down on her pregnant belly for roughly 6 hours until the girl began to bleed and then had a still birth of the child they had just killed. They did not take the 14 year old girl in for medical treatment, and they tried to cover up their tracks by burning the poor dead baby on their charcoal grill. When they were unsuccessful with burning the babies corpse they put it in a plastic bag and 'disposed of it'.


Wow... Where do I even begin on this story? These crimes were committed on a 14 year old girl and a poor innocent unborn child by their FAMILY. How does anyone justify the moral ramifications of assaulting and killing a human life form that is so innocent and helpless? How does the moral  compass falter so miserably of the family member who raped and impregnated the poor girl? What was going through the minds of these individuals as they smashed a poor child to death in the womb?

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/dallas-police-four-charged-with-beating-14-year-old-family-member-to-abort-unborn-child.html/

Unexpected Kindness

Today's blog post I am going to focus on a positive story I fond in the news. Connie, a single mother of Charlotte NC, contacted a used car dealership to try to arranged a payment plan for a vehicle. A gentleman who happened to be standing in the room at the time, told the sales manager to call him when she arrived. The gentleman returned and bought Connie a car without ever meeting Connie before. This amazing act of charity can be viewed as an ethical issue.

What amount of responsibility did this gentleman have to provide for a lady he did not know? Should the lady have accepted the offer of the vehicle? Should the sales man have discounted the car to the lowest possible value, in order to participate in the charity the man was providing?

These are questions that can only be answered internally to each one of us, apparently this anonymous man felt it was his place in time to help provide for a down-and-out person who could not after transportation to get her to and from work to provide for her family. Many people are willing to provide a small sum or portion of their earning to help needy people. This gentleman was willing to spend a large sum or his earnings on a needy person whom he had never met.



http://video.foxnews.com/v/4279811536001/stranger-buys-struggling-mother-a-car/?intcmp=watchnow#sp=show-clips

Hastert's Hush Money

"Washington (CNN) - Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was paying a former student to keep quiet about allegations of sexual abuse from the time when Hastert was a teacher and wrestling coach in Illinois, two sources with knowledge of the federal government investigation told CNN on Friday afternoon" (Jaffe, 2015).

I want to start this blog post by stating how I find the unethical normality that is practiced within politics to be utterly appalling. Generally speaking I can't find a single politician that I would want to represent me because politics are driven by back door bribes, promises, and money, but to make them legal they change the terminology and call it political backing or contributions, but if you cut through the political hogwash, it is at the base nothing more than another bribe.

This brings me to the story I posted above, another politician that instead of being held responsible for his actions, attempts to work his way out of the situation through the well practiced politician from known as bribery. In this case he offered over $3 million dollars to an individual in order to keep them quiet about his sexual misconduct when he was a wrestling coach.

I find his actions both then and now with his cover up attempts to be unmoral, I do understand a bit of the "Self-Preservation" theory where he is trying to protect his own back by covering up his transgressions. However, I don't think it is right for someone to be a representative of "the people" and be guilty of such crimes or cover up.



Reference
Jaffe, A. (2015, May 29). Sources: Dennis Hastert cover-up for sexual misconduct - CNNPolitics.com. Retrieved May 30, 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/29/politics/dennis-hastert-indictment-questions/

NSA Dragnets

The NSA data dragnet implementation was a widely disputed ethical issue. I feel personally that the privacy freedoms I give up in order to prevent terrorism are acceptable. My phone calls from my wife to remind me to pick up bread or milk from the store aren’t all that interesting anyhow. However, I will admit that if the dragnet information was published as being simply a means for the government to track every ones actions, I would feel it an immoral invasion of privacy. For me, the price benefit of anti-terror netting makes me feel safe, even though the entire system has a “Big Brother” feel to it. “If Congress fails to act, several key provisions of the law would expire, including the bulk collection; a provision allowing so-called roving wiretaps, which the FBI uses for criminals who frequently switch cell phones; and a third that makes it easier to obtain a warrant to target a ‘lone wolf’ terror suspect who has no provable links to a terrorist organization” (Pergram, 2015). Although civil liberties are being sacrificed for this law to proceed, I do feel that the greater good is prevailing and we must place a higher importance on life over privacy.

Reference

Pergram, C. (2015, May 20). DOJ warns NSA data dragnet program could lapse amid Hill impasse. Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/20/doj-warns-nsa-may-have-to-wind-down-bulk-collection-rand-paul-launches-lengthy/

Decreasing Military Pay Raises BELOW Inflation Rate

This blog post I am going to address the ethical implications of the actions of our country's politicians. The specific article and topic I want to focus in on here is the recent news of potential changes to Military retirement pay, reduced pay raises, and decreasing housing allowance rates. I feel that the proposed changes to the retirement system have some potential upsides and downsides, however I don't feel a huge moral or ethical dilemma in the debate between the 2. The ethical dilemmas I see in this article is the small parts they slide in about the Senate voting to decrease military pay, I feel that there are so many area of our budget that could be cut, and our politicians are trying to cut from the pockets of the hardworking service members as opposed to their own paychecks, the welfare system, or any of the other thousands of areas that are over funded. "The legislation would also include a troop pay raise of 1.3 percent rather than 2.3 percent for fiscal 2016, which begins Oct. 1. The Defense Department proposed the lower figure, which compares to a 1-percent bump in basic pay service members received the past two years. But it's less than the 2.3 percent estimated increase in private-sector wage growth, which military pay is supposed to track by law" (McGarry, 2015). I find it to be an ironic ethical situation that by law the pay raise is supposed to track with inflation, however, when that's not convenient, they decide to change it to suit their desires. The article also talks about taking away from members housing allowances, "slowing the growth of basic allowances for housing (BAH) by another 4 percent over the next two to three years, in addition to the 1 percent approved for the current fiscal year. If the plan is approved, service members would eventually pay an average of 5 percent of their housing costs." (McGarry, 2015). Again, I find this to be an immoral idea, they are attempting to skew the facts by reporting it as a cost saving idea, but really they are taking away 5% of a members pay check by locating him somewhere where the housing costs exceed the amount of pay that they are providing. This is in part due to the housing pay scale that the military uses where they provide you with lower compensation for you work, but in turn provide you with adequate housing or additional income to rent/purchase adequate housing on the local economy. I find it to be a very poor way to show appreciation to Military members by decreasing the amount of their pay compared to inflation every year.





Reference

McGarry, B. (2015, May 13). Senate Panel Backs Military Retirement Change, Troop Pay Raise of 1.3%. Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/05/13/senate-panel-backs-military-retirement-change-troop-pay-raise.html?comp=7000023431425&rank=2

Practical Joke Gone WRONG

One of my Uncles shared this photo on his facebook wall. I read it and felt an immediate pang of Anger towards the township of Randolph Ohio, a place I am familiar with as a child and where I stake an argument for having the BEST county fair I have ever been to. I clicked on the link my Uncle had shared and began reading through some of the 100's of comments that had been posted underneath this post by Sarchione Ford.

After reading through the comments, I noticed something strange about the infraction notice, it states that displays of Patriotism must me OVER 15 sq ft, 3x5ft. I thought to myself, that is a strange zoning law, but I could almost get behind is because it is encouraging GREATER patriotism. This was a much different thought then when I initially read it and emotionally thought it was saying that their Flag was too large.

I don't agree with their being any zoning laws of any kind on the size or amount of American Flags that can be flown, I am of the belief that it should be flown proudly and respectfully as many places as possible. Then I came across a post from the Bruce R Wagner that signed the Infraction Notice shown above, it states that there was no infraction after all:

I believe it takes a big man to step up in the face of turmoil and ridicule, and publicly admit to your mistake and seek the forgiveness of anyone offended. I will agree that he made a poor decision in sending this as a joke, but his intentions, I believe, were not unmoral. I think his post actions of standing up quickly and admitting his mistakes and apologizing were upstanding.

What has me really fired up about this whole situation is the reaction by Sarchione Ford dealership, who I originally believed to be the victim in this event. I think if the Sarchione Ford dealership had any sort of moral background, that after realizing this "Infraction Report" was satirical in nature and having a written apology from the offender, the Sarchione Ford dealership should have removed their post and stopped spreading shaded truth's about the Township of Randolph.

Upon further review of some of the results of their posts, I feel that Sarchione Ford is utilizing this incident to bolster publicity of their dealership. In the past 2 days since posting this false report, the page likes of the Sarchione Ford dealership has increased at a rate of 4,000%, an astronomical increase in popularity. 

I feel like this Ford Dealership is playing on the patriotic strings of other people, one follower posted:

Charlie Martin II Ok. Sarchione Ford. I am PCSing to Germany. When I get back (should be a few years) I WILL BUY a f150 from you guys. That I can promise. As long as I remember!

and another posted:
Hobie Harris Guess where we are coming next month to buy a car,

I find it sad and unethical that this Dealership is utilizing the mistake of a man to gain public attention. Unfortunately, this is the same dealership that gained national publicity in the fall of 2014 by utilizing the media coverage obtained from the mistakes of another man, NFL Wide Receiver for the Cleveland Browns, Josh Gordon. For those of you unfamiliar with Josh Gordon, he was roughly a top 5 WR in the NFL, and was suspended due to some personal issues with substance abuse. This dealership gained National attention and I would wager sold some cars to Browns fans that came to their dealership solely due to the employment of Josh Gordon.

More information on this story can be found on fox8 website: http://fox8.com/2015/05/01/car-dealerships-flag-size-garners-national-attention/

Free Range Parenting

http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/05/02/what-bad-about-free-range-parenting/Wpszt5Kf7anqbXTz5oQzqK/story.html

There has been debate in the National Media lately about the issue of so-called "Free Range Parenting". I find this terminology to be a poor label to put on our children, when we were children this type of independence was considered "the norm", now its viewed in a negative light by many. I also do not like the use of this term because it puts children into a grouping of other "Free range" mamals such as cows, chickens, and sheep. Children are much more important than livestock and also have the ability to use the 3 pound logic circuit placed between their ears.

I feel that fear of evil has crept into the forefront of parents minds in today's world that parents are afraid to let their children gain independence. This along with the "Every bodies a winner" mentality (I will tackle that issue in a future blog post), are causing a generation that will fail as adults because they are untrained to be independent, afraid of failure, and simply not setup to tackle the challenges of adulthood.

I see the effects of different rearing in my own personal life, as a child I was outside all hours of the day, riding my bike, playing baseball, and just plain goofing off with all the other kids in the neighborhood. A female friend of mine had a mother who did not let her venture out of eyesight, now my friend as a grown adult has issues with anxiety, chronic worrying, and lack of motivation for fear of failure. I feel that the upbringing from her mother caused her to lack a sense of independence and self confidence.

The ethical dilemma of whether it is safe for a child to be out on their own should be non-existent. Every child has their own developmental rate and the ethical thing would be to bolster their growth and let them learn when they are ready. Sure there are going to be times when they fall down and get hurt and no one is there to pick them up, sure there might be times when they get lost or come home late. But these experiences are necessary to allow the child to learn to pick themselves up when no one else will, brush off the dirt and drive on, there is almost always a solution to the problem, and we must train our children to seek solutions and not expect someone else to do everything for them.