Money and Politics: Gov. Craig (R-Idaho) Loves $$$, Kills Messenger

Power corrupts. Sometimes it leads to scandal but more often it is done within the legal framework of the system. This time a senator's need for election funding has driven him to destroy a scientific agency because he doesn't like science if its against his biggest donors! And then he made himself a scientist and claimed: "False science leads people to false choices." What a shame!

The Washington Post writes:

(T)he mathematics of protecting salmon swimming in the nation's largest hydroelectric system can hurt your pocketbook -- particularly in the Northwest, where dams supply power to four out of five homes, more than anywhere in the country.

Gov. Warner (D-Va.) Commutes Death Sentence

Governor Mark R. Warner today averted what was likely to become America's 1000th execution since the reinstatement of the death penalty by the Supreme Court in 1976. The governor's remarks should also be heard in other cases with an execution pending. The Washington Post writes: "Warner said in a statement that the destruction by an Arlington County court clerk of DNA evidence that might have cleared Lovitt convinced him." He continued:

"In this case, the actions of an agent of the Commonwealth, in a manner contrary to the express direction of the law, comes at the expense of a defendant facing society's most severe and final sanction," Warner said in the statement. "The Commonwealth must ensure that every time this ultimate sanction is carried out, it is done fairly.

Fairness is the key! In any legal case it is the responsibility of everyone to be fair. This is especially true in the case of the death penalty. The Singaporean government should closely listen to Gov. Warner's words.

"I am going to send you to a better place"

The Australian wrote an article about a rare political protestagainst the death penalty in Singapore. The artist is a Solvenian art student. (The picture here is my own impression)

Titled "I am going to send you to a better place", the now infamous send-off from veteran hangman Darshan Singh, the disturbing artwork is the only act of open defiance in the city-state during the final days of condemned Australian drug-trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van.

I feel sad for Ngyuen Tuong Van and his family. His brother's life was destroyed by drugs, his will end because he was foolish enough to have carried drugs, and his mother will suffer the most. I am hoping like many others probably against all odds that his life may be spared.

If You do eBay, You Need Nerves of Steel

As unimportant as my life is, I love it very much. But eBay, or should I say certain individuals on eBay, can drive you crazy. Some claim they sent an item but you never receive what you have ordered. Then you check and see there are a number of other users who had the same fate. You think: The mail does not lose anything that often! So either the person lives next to an extremely unreliable post office or he just does not send certain items. I think it must be the latter. Maybe I was too hasty to write this in his profile, which I marked as neutral, but he gives me a minus.

But generally I think people on eBay are very slow in replying to e-mails and sending items. Right now I have won four other auctions but I have not heard from the seller after writing an e-mail inquiring the exact postage. (That has been a week ago)

I absolutely disagree with the respondents in the 2004 Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe survey that found eBay to be the most trusted website.

eBay's community-based approach to e-commerce is likely a major factor in instilling trust among its users. The combination of feedback — comments that helps users build credibility and establish positive reputations — and an in-house customer support team create a safe environment whereby users feel protected.

As for me, I think I have lost my trust and prefer from now on to rely on Amazon, where it may cost more to sell items but where there is also more security if you do not receive an item!

An Uncertain Future for a Great Country

Today's Washington Post features a lengthy article on the struggles of Chinese farmers. What could be precedent, outside organizers entered the picture of one of the rising number of farmer uprisings.

Taishi has become a milestone in the peasant uprisings that increasingly are breaking out around China, generating open concern in President Hu Jintao's government and in the Communist Party. In Taishi's rebellion, outraged local farmers for the first time received help from outside political activists and Beijing-based intellectuals whose politics were shaped in part by the 1989 democracy movement.

I hope that the societal changes in China won't lead to a violent revolution. Violence has never helped anyone. The Chinese government and the entrepreneurs, both homegrown and foreign, should realize that individual lives count.

Xinhua Press Reports on Australian Campaign to Save Man's Life

The Xinhua Press (the official press agency of the Chinese government) today published an article on Nguyen, the man doomed to be executed by Singapore's draconian judicial system.

Human rights body Amnesty International wants (Australian prime minister John) Howard to raise the imminent killing of Van Nguyen as a formal agenda item at the meeting at which Howard will be among more than 50 world leaders.

If Amnesty International would just be recognized by all countries. No matter who perpetrates human rights violations, there needs to be an independent organization willing to speak out for every powerless human being in this world.

War in Iraq Was Mistake from the Beginning but there is No Way Out!

The Washington Post today wrote in its editorial Irresponsible on Iraq:

(W)hat is at stake is not an election but a war in which American soldiers are being killed and wounded almost every day and in which one possible outcome is a major victory for the Islamic extremist movement that carried out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

If the outcome can really be the victory of the Islamic extremist movement, then President Bush's attack on Iraq clearly has exacerbated the situation. It was indeed a most irresponsible act to invade Iraq.

But I agree that it is irresponsible to withdraw now. Instead it should be recognized that more troops and more money is needed. I am against the draft but if it is necessary, it should be done. The same goes for tax increases. Bush should admit that the needed funding for his war must be realized, that spending cuts are unlikely and that the money just can't come from lenders indefinetly!

Life Has no Value on the Gallows

The planned execution of the convicted Australian drug trafficker Tuong Van Nguyen in Singapore has reminded me that life, i.e. human life, often has little worth. Ngyuen's motives were not even considered in the decision to go ahead with the cruel, inhumane and inappropriate punishment. Despite helping the Australian police, he received no clemency from Singapore's cold judicial system. Instead his mother received a letter informing her of his son's execution much like a tenent receiving a notice that the phone line will be cut due to failure to pay the bills, only more cruel, of course.