Institutions, Organizations And The Lack Of Accountability

 Many organizations, institutions and people believe themselves above accountability. As long as they serve a cause, or greater good, then many believe transgressions should be ignored. This thinking is the road to hell. Without accountability, there is inefficiency at best. More often there is a much worse outcome. Far too many organizations and institutions are not held accountable. If questioned, many perversely condemn it as an attack, and do nothing to reform or change for the better.
 The pursuit of accountability gets lost in ideological conflicts. It is lost by those that put reputation over accountability. Nothing should trump accountability. No organization, no institution, no religion, no leader, no government, no politician; nothing whatsoever.  Unfortunately, the media and press, one of the few ways to get accountability, is too often beholden to powerful interests, and lacks accountability itself.
 Without accountability, exploitation, corruption and harm run rampant.

Sexual Abuse Scandal In Catholic Church Ignores Developing Nations

     Institutions and organizations must be held accountable. People operate institutions and organizations, and because they are fallible, so are their institutions and organizations.
     Too many defend any effort to make institutions and organizations accountable as an attack. They forget that institutions and organizations were formed for a purpose, and that purpose, with certain exceptions, is to achieve something good. Good never results from the lack of accountability.
     The harm that certain priests did to children, and the harm that was done by those in the priest hierarchy that protected and shielded them, violates everything good that the Catholic Church stands for.
      Predatory pedophiles can come from all walks of life. The church must expel from its midst all who harm children, and those that protect harmers instead of children. Instead of shielding predatory pedophiles by internal church investigations, allegations must be investigated by law enforcement and civil authorities.
      Most of the scandal about predatory priests and those that protect them are from the developed world. In developing countries, people, especially children, often are extremely vulnerable and at the mercy of those more powerful. Reports that predatory priests were moved from developed countries, when accusations of abuse emerged, to places like the Philippines, where the Catholic Church is very powerful, must raise concern. The President of the Philippines, Duterte, has said that he himself was molested by a Catholic priest. In the effort to come clean and protect present and future generations of children from predator pedophiles hiding in the priesthood and those that shield them, the developing world must not be ignored.
     People with position and title are often given a free hand to do as they wish in impoverished places. Cleaning house means no stones are unturned anywhere in the world. Victims of abuse in developing nations must not be ignored or forgotten. Thus far, civil and criminal actions against predatory priests and their protectors in the developing world are virtually nonexistent. Furthermore, the press, which too often serves the powerful, has not given voice to victims in developing nations.

Will HSUS Profit From The Legal Trade In Giraffe Skins?

     For many years now giraffe skins and parts have been legally imported, traded and sold in the United States and elsewhere, even though giraffe populations are in significant decline in the wild. Giraffes, like other large animals, suffer from the serious loss of habitat, poaching and more.
     HSUS is in the news today for conducting a supposed undercover investigation in the use of giraffe skins and parts. This has generated significant publicity (and more than likely donations) for them. Investigating what is a legal trade can hardly qualify as an undercover investigation. Furthermore, if this was an investigation of a criminal trade in giraffe skins and parts, then it belongs in the hands of law enforcement, not an animal organization.
     Conservation is not achieved by animal organizations generating publicity for themselves. Conservation is achieved by the bread and butter of saving habitat, and ensuring sufficient resources are in place to protect the habitat and wildlife therein.
      Trading giraffe parts and skins, and certain other declining animal species, have been legal and out in the open for decades. Why this has not been on the radar for so long speaks of failure, as does the massive decline of wildlife and their habitat. While they have declined, the coffers of a number of animal organizations have grown exponentially.
       

Path To Misery: Seeking Israel's Destruction

     Many people have a pathological hatred for Jews and Israel. They do not want any settlement between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs. They only want death, misery and the complete destruction of Israel. They do not care how many people are killed in the process.
      A road to peace starts with marginalizing those that want to keep this conflict inflamed. It starts with marginalizing those that hide their true agenda behind their support for the Palestinian cause; namely, the annihilation of Israel.
      The goal to destroy Israel has brought enormous suffering to both Jew and Arab. The continued goal to destroy Israel will bring nothing but more death, destruction, misery and poverty.
      There are not a lot of great options as to how to resolve this seemingly intractable conflict. It has to start with a period of time in which there is the renunciation of violence. This period of time will be a cooling off period of up to a decade or more. (A new generation has to be nurtured that will not be steeped in hate.) It will be a time in which there is bridge building and the cessation of hostilities. These different people living on the same small piece of land are stuck with each other. The leaders on both sides need to prepare their people for a future of coexistence. Whether this ultimately results in two states or one state can only be decided peacefully in an atmosphere of nonviolence by both sides.
        Both sides have to accept the existence of the other. Ethnic cleansing as an option must be completely rejected.
         The fiction about Israel as a European colonial state is a ploy used to keep the death and destruction going. A peaceful resolution to this conflict must recognize the legitimate rights of Palestinian Arabs and also the legitimate rights of the the hundreds of thousands of Jews (and their millions of descendents) that were ethnically cleansed and driven out from Arab Muslim majority lands.
          War, violence, terror and the continued effort to destroy Israel brings nothing but war, violence, death and misery. The road to peace will only come from nonviolence and mutual acceptance.
               
             

       

Germany; Unsafe For Yazidis And Religious Minorities And Safe For Islamic Jihadis?

      A young Yazidi woman in Iraq was taken as a slave by ISIS. She was sold to an Iraqi man who kept her as a slave and raped her repeatedly. She was able to escape after a number of months. Eventually she went to Germany, where she had been admitted as a refugee. While in Germany, she encountered her former captor, who had also been admitted into Germany as a refugee.

      Terrified from encountering her former captor, she fled back to Northern Iraq where a few members of her family still live. Most of her family, taken by ISIS, have never returned.

       Germany should treat this story with the utmost seriousness. German investigators should make their way to Northern Iraq, a relatively safe area under Kurdish control, and interview this young woman. She should be brought back to Germany, if she agrees. If not, the investigation should still continue. Surely with the high tech country that Germany has become, there are sufficient photographs of Iraqi refugees that were settled in the area where the young Yazidi saw her captor. Every effort should be made to identify the rapist captor. 

        Germany should also reach out to the small number of Yazidis that have been settled in Germany, and to Yazidis living elsewhere that survived ISIS, to develop a database of ISIS offenders. The murderers and rapists that blended in with the refugee population that was settled in Germany and in other European countries should be ferreted out. They should know no rest.

         There are enough survivors (Yazidis and others) of the ISIS genocide and enslavement that a thorough database can be established of ISIS murderers, slave owners and rapists. When Germany lost WW2, many Nazi war criminals blended in with refugee populations. Some made their way to the United States and other countries where they lived out their lives peacefully, never having been brought to justice. 

          No such peace should be granted murderers, slave owners, slave traders and rapists. They never must know security in Germany.

                

       

Hate And Bigotry In The Islamic World Will Keep ISIS Alive

     The intolerance and Islamic supremacy that fueled ISIS is alive and well. Many Muslims that dissociate from or condemn ISIS hold the same or similar hatreds, intolerance and supremacist beliefs. It is easier to view ISIS as a fringe lunatic group then face the wider problem of Islamic hate, intolerance and supremacy. Unless this is faced, ISIS itself will disappear, but ISIS type organizations, which include many Islamic jihadist groups, will continue to grow like cancer.
       Many Muslims that blame non Muslims for strife in the Islamic world ignore how their own intolerance and hate are the source for much of the wars, killings and sufferings. All hate, intolerance, religious, racial and ethnic supremacy must be opposed. Otherwise, ISIS will always be with us.
       
       

Does Animal Rescue By Animal Organizations Harm Animals?

     Imagine an abused animal never having a chance of getting rescued from an abusive situation. This is the reality for almost every single abused animal. This is because law enforcement ignores or minimally responds to animal cruelty related crimes. The animal organizations that investigate animal cruelty enable law enforcement to do this.
      Imagine if drink driving, domestic violence, bicycle theft, auto theft, or other crimes, were responded to by private organizations, and minimally by public law enforcement. There would be an explosion of those crimes. This is exactly what has taken place with animal cruelty. Because animals cannot speak for themselves, there is no outcry.
      No other crime is responded to by private organizations, and minimally by public law enforcement. The organizations and their animal advocate supporters are too interested in the publicity and money generated from having the public believe they are the answer to animal cruelty to ever change this pathological dynamic. (Previous blogs discuss how the actual investigations of animal cruelty by animal organizations and token police teams are often ineffective and harmful.)
       There are over a million law enforcement officers in the United States. If they encounter crime, including animal cruelty, it is their obligation to respond appropriately. This will never happen as long as animal organizations continue to be the poor substitute for the police.
        Crime belongs in the hands of public law enforcement. It is shameful that animal cruelty has been allowed to be the exception.

Affluent, Modern Day Scrooges, And Their Satisfaction In Underpaying

       The fictional character Scrooge was Charles Dickens' effort to make greedy, selfish, affluent people take better care of their employees. He appealed to people's sense of God and something greater than our earthly existence. Dickens hoped that Scrooge like people would see there is no benefit in being Scrooges because of punishment in the afterlife, and that these Scrooge like people would therefore change.
       Unfortunately, Scrooges, male and female, are alive and well. There will be no visiting spirits getting them to change their unempathetic hearts.
       What is it in certain rich, affluent and well off people that they either derive satisfaction, or are indifferent, to the needs and concerns of their employees? Many are the caregivers, for example, working for well off people that do everything they can to underpay and take advantage of the caregiver. Some of these well off employers operate out of a sense of entitlement. They believe that since they are rich and privileged, only their lives matter.
        Liberal, conservative, Democratic, Republican; these selfish Scrooge like people of the modern age come from all walks of life. Who they are is not determined by race, religion, gender or ethnicity. What they share is a coldness, a lack of empathy, a cold heart, no matter how warm and politically or religiously correct they may seem. They should be shamed, not praised, for how they get over on less fortunate people.
       
         

Ways To Reduce Gulf Of Mexico Red Tide

     Here are partial, but important steps to fight against red tide and help the Gulf of Mexico.
             1.  The health of the Gulf and all the industries and businesses a healthy Gulf supports must come before the interests of a wealthy few politically connected people in sugarcane/agribusinesses. This includes restoring the everglades and surrounding ecosystems and the natural flow of water.
             2. Create no fertilizer, no chemical zones for all lawns within 20 miles or more from the coastline. This means lawns go natural or native. Fertilizer and chemical runoff is fueling red tide and damaging the Gulf.
             3.  No feral or outdoor cats allowed within ten miles or more from the coast. Their feces is dangerous to wildlife, marine life, and unhealthy for Gulf waters and for people (domestic cats kill wildlife not only from their high prey drive).
             4. Heavy fines for dog owners that do not pick up their dog's waste.
             5.  Provide incentives for native plant and tree restoration and other vegetation beneficial for the Gulf region.           

Green Lawns, Red Tide And A Dying Gulf Of Mexico

     People are good at talking problems to death. Talk and no action. It happened with dog fighting, animal cruelty, and a host of other concerns. Organizations and activists jumped all over those issues, enriching their pockets and ensuring everything dysfunctional continues (discussed extensively in previous blogs). Saving the Gulf Of Mexico must not be talk and no action. Otherwise, the Gulf will die, tourism and many other businesses will collapse, and people and wildlife will suffer even greater than they are now.
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      Red tide occurs naturally. Some use that as the excuse to do nothing. If it occurs naturally, they argue, then human activity can continue unabated. Scientists give conflicting reports. Some scientists serve parochial interests and not the public good. The interests they serve do not want to lessen the use of chemicals and fertilizers that are killing the Gulf. They might use the argument that it is inconclusive if human activity causes, exacerbates, or impacts red tide. Therefore, in the absence of conclusive evidence, we can all continue to do nothing. (When it is too late and everything is destroyed, they can then say they have the proof they need to finally do something.)
      Some people have protested. But protest without a clear course of action and direction accomplishes nothing.
      What is known is that there has been an enormous expansion of human activity along the southwest coast of Florida. In the process, a great amount of mangroves, seagrasses, forests and wetlands have been lost, and continue to be lost. This has harmed the Gulf of Mexico. So does the flow of agricultural and other waste into the Gulf. Changing the flow of harmful waters away from the Gulf requires an enormous amount of advocacy and political will. It can and must be done if the Gulf of Mexico is to survive.
       There is an important course of action that individuals can take that will help greatly. Green lawns require an enormous amount of valuable water, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals. In exchange, the green lawns produce nothing. They are near dead zones that give little more than a show of green color. They do not feed people. They do not enrich the environment. They are not a magnet for birds, butterflies, bees and other important creatures that are vital for a healthy planet.
        All the fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals required for a green lawn ultimately wash into the Gulf. The nutrient surplus alone is like putting the algae that causes red tide on steroids. The lawns look pretty, in the eyes of those that see sterile green as beauty, while the Gulf of Mexico looks and smells awful and kills wildlife and harms people. What is more important, green lawns or the health of humans, the Gulf and wildlife?
        The single critically important step individuals can take to protect the Gulf of Mexico is to change the nature of landscaping. Lawns can be turned into highly productive places that feed people, wildlife, and that attract birds, bees, butterflies and more. This can be done by growing native plants and trees and certain other plants and trees. At the very least, it is better that lawns turn brown so that the Gulf does not turn red and dead.
       
       
         
         
       
   

   
             
           

Starbucks, Straws, China and Plastics

   
     Plastics are destroying the oceans and will harm human life far worse than can be imagined. Starbucks will phase out plastic straws. (Plastic straws everywhere need to become a thing of the past.) However, the strong Starbucks push into China will more than undo any good that will come from this change. China is the number one source of plastic contaminating the Pacific, followed by Indonesia and then the Philippines. The sad reality is that these countries and many others lack the ability to properly remove and dispose of plastics, styrofoam and other oil based contaminants. Starbucks in China and in these other countries only adds to the plastics and other non biodegradable trash that ends up in the oceans.
       It is too bad the day is long gone in which there were thousands of small coffee shops, now replaced by Starbucks, where people were served coffee and tea in cups that were washed and reused. The convenience of the fast food and beverage industry exacts a cost that none of them bear. Their trash ends up in the oceans.
       It is not enough to stop the use of plastic straws. Starbucks and all the players in the fast food industry must be held accountable for the packaging materials they use, and where it ends up.

Religious Diversity, Not Religious Domination, Makes The World A Better Place

     If the day comes in which the whole world submits to one religion, that will be a terrible time to be alive. The world is a more interesting place when there are diverse religions, faiths, ideas and beliefs. Religion should be the road to better character; kinder, braver, more compassionate people. It should not be the road to mindless conformity. The more religion turns people into mindless slaves, the more the slaves can easily be turned into hate filled violent animals.
   

Puppy Mills, Animal Abusers And The Lucrative World Of Animal Organizations And Shelters

      There is a well funded animal organization that is claiming getting a dog from an animal shelter is the way to stop puppy mills. Many nonprofits make all kinds of unchallenged claims. Although there are small scale and other animal shelters that are not money making, greedy enterprises, this cannot be said for a number of animal organizations and shelters. They have helped make animal cruelty and dog fighting some of the easiest crimes to commit (refer to previous blogs for details). The no kill movement and many animal activists and animal organizations have trivialized animal cruelty and proven themselves to be better friends to animal abusers than to man's best friend. They have made sure that a dog fighter, for example, has a greater chance of getting struck by lightning than ever getting arrested.
        Untold numbers of puppies are pouring into the United States to feed the insatiable demand for shelter animals. It is big business, and it is fueling puppy mills abroad, and surely in the United states. There is little to no tracking, no monitoring, no accounting regarding these animals.
        Shelter adoptions does not decrease puppy mills, no matter what propaganda an organization may spin. In fact, the opposite is occuring.
        There needs to be oversight in the very lucrative business of animal organizations and shelters. Too often the only difference between a pet shop and animal shelter is that the former pays taxes.
     

Nursing Homes And How To Save The Government A Fortune, Create Jobs, Reduce Suffering

      There are many people living in nursing homes where the government is paying a fortune through medicare or another program, and where the care is of a low quality. Often, the only one benefiting is the nursing home. There are many times in which a friend or family member is more than willing and able to take care for the disabled, aged and/or infirmed person living in the nursing home, but cannot do so for financial reasons. The government does not mind paying nursing homes a fortune for the poor quality of care the nursing home often provides, but is unwilling to pay what would be a far lesser amount to willing and able individuals to care for people outside of nursing homes. Many spouses would gladly remove their loved one from a nursing home if only they were paid, and therefore could afford to do so. If the government did pay the willing and able people to care for people that would otherwise be in nursing homes, the government would save a fortune, employment would be provided to many, and the quality of life would dramatically improve for many aged, infirmed and disabled people.`

        There would have to be oversight to ensure patients living outside of nursing homes are receiving proper care. This is necessary regardless of whether or not patients live in or out of nursing homes.
         Unfortunately, many times friends and family members are unwilling to take care of disabled, infirmed and aged friends or relatives. But there are enough times in which capable friends and family members are more than willing to provide such care, but cannot do so for financial reasons, as already mentioned. Providing full time, quality care is a full time job, and many people cannot commit to such an endeavor without receiving monetary compensation. (Caregivers, just like the cared for, must be adequately respected. Their labor has to be recognized and rewarded, regardless of the circumstances, and not exploited.) 

         By changing the dynamic in which aged, infirm and disabled people too easily end up in nursing homes instead of in warm, loving homes, an enormous amount of money will be saved and an enormous amount of suffering will be reduced. To top it off, countless jobs will be added to the economy. 

When Stocks And Politicians Mix. Congressman Indicted

      A Republican congressman from New York has been indicted on insider trading charges. Many other politicians have become enriched from stock deals that are not illegal, but that are not available to the average unconnected person. Politicians prove time and time again that they cannot separate their personal financial interests from their politics.
      The few firewalls in place are not enough. During the time congressmen, congresswomen, senators and other leaders are in office, they should not be allowed to hold individual stock positions, and their assets should go into blind trusts. This will help prevent conflicts of interest, make for better governance, and disincentivize politics as the road to riches.
       

Animal Rescue And The Animal Organizations Helping Dog Trafficking And Puppy Mills

     Previous blogs discuss extensively the way many animal organizations and animal advocates have helped make dog fighting and animal cruelty some of the easiest crimes to commit. This blog will not revisit that. Nor will it address how the animal no kill movement has trivialized real animal cruelty, and helps serve the interests of animal abusers and animal hoarders.
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      Years ago, a prominent, well funded animal organization euthanized three healthy pit bull puppies. A badly burned pitbull female was kept alive. Why, one of the veterinarians was asked, were the puppies euthanized, but the suffering, burnt dog was kept alive? He sheepishly responded that he did not know why, but had to go along with what he was ordered to do.
      Later, the organization received extensive free publicity for saving the burnt dog, after she underwent painful surgeries. The puppies, which had been promptly euthanized, would never have generated that kind of free publicity.
      Shortly thereafter, when a three legged dog was recovered, a number of organizations fought to get her - because playing on heartstrings, a huge source of money- is the name of the game.
      Because of the American love affair for dogs- the mindless manipulation of heartstrings and sentiment- animal rescue has become big business. The more pathetic and moving the story an animal shelter or organization can make up, the more the pull on heartstrings, the greater the contributions.
      The shameless exploitation of animals and animal cruelty has led to fame and fortune for many animal organizations and advocates. Not only has it contributed to the dysfunctional approach to dogfighting and animal cruelty (again, discussed in previous blogs), but it has opened the door to the massive inflow of dogs and puppies from outside of the United States. Animal rescue has become big business for not only a number of so called animal advocates and animal organizations, but also for the hidden industry, inside and outside of the United States, that provides these shelters with the so called rescue dogs and puppies that feed the enormous demand.
       

Islam And Christianity Are Not The Only Religions. Tolerance In A World Of Trash

        The world is drowning in plastics, other trash, poisons and contaminants, and while it becomes increasingly degraded, some of the world's religions, instead of addressing this destruction, instead are devoted to domination and proving other religions wrong.

        The arguments that a number of people make that Christianity or Islam are the only correct religions or path for the whole world conveniently forget that even those these two religions are the world's largest and most dominant, they are not the only religions on the planet. Hinduism, Buddhism, Baha'is, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Judaism, Jainism, just to name a few, conveniently get drowned out.

        There is not a single person walking the face of this earth that knows for sure what happens upon death, or what is God. People can only say what they believe or were brainwashed into believing. The religions that originated from the middle east are not the only valid ones, despite what many of their adherents think. The religions that originated and exist in what is now India, the rest of Asia, the Amazon jungle, Africa and other places are no less valid. Fortunately, not all religions in the world seek worldwide expansion and domination.

         No one can say for sure that Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, Jainism, or another religion is true and correct. Again, people can only say what they were taught to believe or what they were brainwashed into believing. 

          No religion should preach hate, intolerance, and the demeaning of other people. No religion should resort to the use of violence to expand or maintain its membership. If religion is not promoting kindness, compassion, courage, goodwill and tolerance, then it is useless. No one can know with certainty what is the true religion or faith. But it is easy to know with certainty that when religion promotes hate, intolerance, greed, selfishness, violence, domination, mindless conformity, the subjugation of others, then it is following an evil path. 

           Religious tolerance means tolerance of people of other faiths. This does not mean rolling over when people of different faiths try to shove their beliefs down the throats of others. No religion should be above scrutiny and critical examination, especially when it insists only it is correct and true.

           Imagine if religions, which have spread like wildfire while earth turns into a sewer, spent  time and effort having their members pick up the massive amounts of garbage that now poison the oceans and lands.