All posts by CCV Bruce

Commentary, Economics, Biblical Worldview, Education

A College Degree: Is It Worth It?

My answer would be: it depends.  The last couple generations have been told that a college education is the only way to “succeed” in this world.  However, this generation is finding that this mindset is not necessarily true.  The following article, http://news.yahoo.com/1-2-graduates-jobless-underemployed-140300522.html, paints a much more realistic view for recent graduates.

Now, I am not against higher education.  There are many fields of study which require advanced degrees and training.  For those fields, I am a strong advocate for college.  However, for many, their aptitude and skills (as well as the job market) may lead them to pursue alternative career options that do not require that enticing “sheepskin”.

I have always encouraged my children to pursue college ONLY if their career goal requires an advanced education.  Now, with information coming out such as that found in the attached article, along with student debt of over 1 trillion dollars, graduates are finding that their degree and promise of a better life are not all they were promised.

Also, with government projections showing that only 3 in 30 future jobs will require a bachelor’s degree, there is even less motivation for students to obtain a bachelor’s degree, only to be burdened with significant debt and finding themselves working in a job well below their expectations or training.

So, is a college degree required for success?  Not necessarily.  Weigh your options, evaluate your personal skills and abilities, assess the current and future job market, determine the cost/benefit of the possible student debt, and then make an informed decision.

Bruce Purdy

Secretary/Treasurer Institute For Principled Policy

Commentary, The Church, Biblical Worldview

I-Pod Christianity?

Cross iPOD

The Christianity of today has certainly fallen from the orthodoxy that defined it in times past.  It has simply become just another “religion” in the mix, along with all other spiritual belief systems.

This article from the Columbus Dispatch of December 13, 2009 has some interesting insights but a comment in the closing part of the article caught my attention when the author writes, “ the way we personalize our iPhones, we also personalize our religious lives”.

When will those who profess Christ realize the truth of his words when He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life and NO MAN come to the Father but by Me”.  The orthodox Christian faith is one which believes and adheres to what is taught in the Scripture, not just whatever you want to make it.  Any thoughts?

Public Policy Radar, Commentary, Public Policy Principles News, The Vote

Voter Fraud? Here in Ohio? Naw…

1 Comment

There have been numerous concerns about possible voter fraud here in Ohio.  The following news interview shows what I believe is just the tip of the iceberg and, believe me, the Titanic is going down on this one.  There is a reason we have laws that REQUIRE county Board of Elections offices to verify a voter address BEFORE they are allowed to vote.  This “5 day window of opportunity” that occurred here in Ohio is going to blow up in all our faces.

Secretary of State Brunner, in a second article says,

“Like so many recent controversies, this issue has been raised less than one month before the election — and it was only raised by one political party.”

Well, of course it happened in the past month. That is when this whole fiasco with early registration/voting began. Now, the SOS office is stating that there are possibly 200,000 voter registration forms that may have discrepancies. That is 1/3 of all new voter registration forms received this year.

So, why is Secretary Brunner so “concerned” that she is persistently fighting this issue all the way up to the Ohio Supreme Court?  If she is so concerned about problems this close to the election, would she not just let the process work and verify that ALL the registration forms are valid?  God only knows…

I would not be surprised at all if this presidential election is decided by the United States Supreme Court. Hang on…we are in for the ride of our lives.

General

Book Review- Ten Books That Screwed Up The World

Book StackBy Bruce Purdy

With all of the books that I consume on an annual basis, I sometimes find it a delight to come across one that is truly enlightening. That’s not to say I don’t learn something from each of them. Just that they don’t always provide me the same level of insight. I originally bought this book because the title caught my attention. However, the more I immersed myself in the books’ content, the more I began to connect the dots of why our world is so screwed up.

Here is an author that takes on the daunting challenge of taking deep philosophical writers of the last 500 years and actually making them understandable. I don’t know about you but I find it a real intellectual battle to read (and actually understand) such authors as Descartes, Rousseau, or Nietzsche. Dr. Wiker, in this simple book, not only takes on that challenge but truly accomplishes it.

Before he gets into expounding on the philosophical errors central to his thesis, he sets a firm foundation by introducing his readers to four books which, by their titles, are most likely familiar to most of us. Let me briefly describe the principle errors that I gleaned from these literary discourses. I tried to condense one simple core concept from each chapter.

The Prince (Machiavelli)

Pragmatism – the ends justifies the means. Utilize “whatever works” as the philosophy that will allow you to govern those you rule over.

Discourse on Method (Descartes)

Reality is whatever you imagine it.

Leviathan (Hobbs)

Man, in his natural state, has no conscience. Good is defined as getting what you want; evil defined as whatever hinders that goal. Anarchy is the result. The only reason we have laws is so that we can live together without killing each other.

Discourse on the Inequity among Men (Descartes)

Civilization and morality are evil. The “noble savage” is not evil because they do not know what it means to be good. Private property enslaves us because then we have to fight off others to keep it.

There is one book from the core ten (from which the title comes from) that I just have to comment on. That is Beyond Good and Evil by Frederick Nietzsche. Most readers have heard the “infamous” phrase from this author who declared, “God is dead”. However, you need to know the context from which this statement is gleaned. Permit me to offer a short excerpt from the book.

The author, Benjamin Wiker, writes, “While many know that Nietzsche said, “God is dead,” very, very, few know what he meant. It was not a cry of triumph, but of despair uttered against an ever more trivial and dwindling civilization that Nietzsche thought was sapping humanity of all greatness, producing something just barely above the animal: the last man.”

Wiker quotes from Beyond Good and Evil, “Indeed, in its first sustained exposition of Nietzsche’s works, it is uttered by a “madman” who cries out, “Whither is God?…I will tell you. We have killed him – you and I. All of us are murderers…Is there any up or down? Are we not straying through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us?…God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.”

I won’t ruin your chance to glean your own insights from this great resource by telling you about the rest of this list. However, suffice it to say, you will not be disappointed if you take the time to read this book. Who knows, once you have taken the time to sit and read this book, you might actually be inclined to dive into the deep end and read the source books being referenced. I know that I will.

Life Issues, Commentary

The Machine Wars…Just Around The Corner!

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Article in question.

For those of you who have ever watched The Terminator movie series, this article may send chills through your spine. When I watched the first of that series, my first thought was that it could never happen (boy, how many times do we fall for that convoluted line of thought). Automated killer robots…now that is a unique idea. My father taught me years ago that movies and novels will sometimes be the tool to “break the ice” on new technology or ideologies. How right he was.

Another movie that came to mind when I read this article was a more recent one called Stealth where the military developed a highly advanced jet that could think and fight on its own. The commander justifies the new technology as a way of “not sending home body bags to mothers when they could have used this new weapon with no loss of life to their sons”. The leader of the flight crew raises one major concern when he responds, “these machines have no moral reasoning”. These machines don’t know how to make a judgment call.

How will these killer robots discern between the good guys and the enemy? What happens when our enemies obtain this technology and reverse engineer them against us? If both sides in a major battle are led by autonomous killer robots, who will be the collateral damage? Us?

Be afraid…Be very afraid.

Marriage and Family, Public Policy Radar, Commentary

What will you do when they come for you?

RadarThis article posted on Worldnetdaily has so many things wrong that I don’t know where to start. This all transpires because some paramedic has been indoctrinated into thinking HE is responsible for the welfare of the child…doesn’t matter whose rights are trampled on. Remember, it takes a village to raise a child…right?

Think about the following points:

The father is a paramedic…the ER physician found nothing wrong with the boy…the paramedic checked out the child, found nothing wrong, but STILL wanted to take the child to the hospital, just in case…even the sheriff said that he would want to have the right to make these types of decisions for his children…

I think the comment here that most concerns me is the following one…The sheriff said the decision to use SWAT team force was justified because the father was a “self-proclaimed constitutionalist” and had made threats and “comments” over the years.

So, if a citizen understands the rights and protections guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, he is a potential threat that requires a SWAT team?

Let us know what you think with your comments?

Marriage and Family, Public Policy Radar, Sexually Oriented Business

Rand Corporation Report On Human Trafficking

RadarRecent Research on Human Trafficking in Ohio

A previous post on this blog introduced you to the topic of human trafficking and its prevalence, both internationally and domestically. Most policy-makers like to know its impact on their own state or local community.

As a result, the Rand Corporation was contracted to conduct a study on human trafficking, specifically addressing its impact in Ohio. They recently concluded their study and have published their findings in a report, aptly titled “Human Trafficking in Ohio; markets, responses, and considerations”.

Their research came from primary source documents (newspaper articles specifically related to human trafficking) and interviews with law enforcement and social service providers.

The goals of this research were three-fold:

  1. To describe the minimum extent to which human trafficking occurs in Ohio using concrete cases for which there is evidence supporting a trafficking offense


  2. To describe the awareness and response of the criminal justice community, focusing on such issues as how agencies become aware of human trafficking cases and what factors, facilitate or impede detection, investigation, and prosecution of human trafficking, and


  3. Explore how the social service community has responded to the human trafficking community, seeking to describe the needs that are critical to the trafficking victim.


Some highlights:

Research focused on two urban regions, Toledo and Columbus. Toledo research focused primarily on several underage prostitution cases. Columbus research addressed several brothels in the NE part of the city and also labor trafficking cases.

Juvenile victims of human sex trafficking in the case studies were exclusively female, ranging in age from 10 -17.

Recruitment of victims suggests that these victims are often runaways or are on the street due to family or substance abuse problems.

These trafficking victims made $300 – $1,000 per night (focusing on a Harrisburg, PA prostitution ring that originated in Toledo).

In Toledo, the criminal justice community has made significant changes to promote awareness, identification, and investigation of human trafficking cases. In Columbus, however, there is very little awareness of this issue.

Key Policy Considerations:

  • Need for greater awareness among the general public, potential first responders, parents, prosecutors, and other justice system personnel. This would be provided in two parts: general awareness information to all parties, and stakeholder-specific training (such as law enforcement, hospital workers, etc.).


  • Improved services for human trafficking victims. These could include safe havens, secure placement, short and long-term housing assistance, treatment and outreach, legal aid services, etc.


  • The need to address the “demand” side of trafficking. This may include john schools, increased penalties for johns and others who benefit from the trafficking of the victim, etc. Also, better mechanisms to prosecute the owners of various establishments if they are found to house illegal businesses.


  • Need for more personnel and resources (including financial) to address this issue. Human trafficking investigations consume significant amounts of time and are low-yield in terms of prosecution.


  • Refinement of departmental policies. There are at least three changes that should be made:
    1. a screening process and standard protocol for law enforcement personnel to follow when interacting with human trafficking victims (what questions to ask, what behaviors to watch for, etc.).


    2. addressing overlapping jurisdictional issues to assist victims – such as a shelter only serving a certain county, etc.


    3. helping child welfare and juvenile welfare agencies to see an underage prostitute as a victim, not a criminal. Make this person have a higher priority in the system.

For more information, or to obtain a copy of this report, please visit: www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG689/

Marriage and Family, Public Policy Radar, Sexually Oriented Business

Human Trafficking – Closer than you think!

Policy RadarCCV partners with Statewide Coalition to battle Human Trafficking

What is it?

The fight against human trafficking is not just something that happens over there, wherever “there” is. It is found everywhere we look.

In the home…

Domestic servitude

On the streets…

Prostitution, truck stop solicitation, panhandling

Behind the door…

Massage parlors, Adult (strip) clubs, brothels, pornography

Among respectable businesses…

Sweatshops, construction, tourist industry, agriculture

The U.S. State Department has estimated that between 14,500 – 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. annually . Half of this number are children. In the Midwest prostitution, saunas, health clubs, strip clubs, escort services, and brothels to migrant workers are the predominant activities.

Ohio has become a significant hub of activity for human trafficking. Why? Geography and demographics. Lake Erie allows trafficking to move from Canada while the various interstate corridors allow movement of victims to cities throughout the country. The large number of colleges and military bases also contribute to this increase. Cleveland and Columbus have been identified as major cities popular among johns seeking Asian massage parlors acting as fronts for brothels. Toledo has been identified by the FBI as one of the top recruiting centers in the country for underage prostitution.

Linda Smith, founder of Shared Hope International, writes “Young girls are being sold at truck stops, strip joints, massage parlors, and often out of homes”. Kathleen Davis, who serves as the Ohio Director for the Polaris Project authored a report titled Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery in Ohio. In describing what people are trafficked for, she lists “commercial sexual exploitation, exotic dancing, stripping, and pornography”.

Human trafficking is many times confused with human smuggling. Under U.S. Code 1227, smuggling is defined as “knowingly [having] encouraged, induced, assisted, abetted or aided any other alien to enter or try to enter the United States.”

The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 defines human trafficking. The Polaris Project has put together a simple matrix to understand the broad scope of this definition. These elements (AMP) include:

The Action to…

recruit, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, subject

By Means of …

force, fraud, coercion, physical restraint, debt bondage, withholding documents, serious harm

For the Purpose of…

commercial sex act / labor or services – resulting in slavery, peonage, or involuntary servitude

Several myths are destroyed in this defining language:

  • Many trafficked persons in the U.S. are legal citizens
  • Trafficking does NOT require transportation across any state or national borders.
  • Prior consent or payment is not relevant (just because you agreed to come and/or were paid does not mean it is NOT trafficking).
  • Human trafficking does NOT require physical restraint (may only be psychological)

 

What is being done?

As CCV has battled the problems of sexually-oriented businesses for decades, they have recognized that human trafficking is one of the primary “feeders” that drive women and young girls into the sex industry. Many other national groups are also addressing this connection.

A press conference was held on July 31st in Columbus to announce a new coalition effort in Central Ohio. Rescue and Restore, a national outreach led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has helped establish 20 other coalitions around the country. They seek to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, including law enforcement, health and social services, non-profits, faith-based organizations, legal aid groups, and others interested in eradicating this form of slavery. The primary tools to accomplish this goal are outreach, education, and victim assistance.

Members of this coalition are receiving training by various advocacy groups (Rescue and Restore, Polaris Project, Catholic Conference, and the Department of Justice). This training includes:

  • Increased public awareness
  • Provide training to various advocacy and social service groups
  • Develop outreach materials to educate the general public
  • Provide access to 24/7 hotlines for victim assistance
  • Identify and assist victims
  • Learn to ask the right questions to possible victim, get beyond the “coached” answers
  • Provide needed services (legal, health, and social care)
  • Identify temporary housing to provide a safe haven for victims

 

Further coalition meetings and advanced training will be occurring in the coming months. Also, many coalition members are beginning to meet and share about networking, resource development, and victim assistance services expertise.

How can I learn more?

Rescue and Restore
www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking
1-888-3737-888

Kathleen Davis, Ohio Director
Polaris Project
www.polarisproject.org
[email protected]

Shared Hope
www.sharedhope.org