Children in Home Based Day Cares Watch Too Much TV

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091123/ap_on_he_me/us_med_tv___tots

Stuides have shown that toddlers who stay at home based daycare centers tend to watch about two hours of television per day in daycare. Added to the time that the children will watch at their homes, it means that some young children spend up to one-third of their awaken time watching television. Parents hope that their children will get something out of childcare, but they might be dissappointed to know that they are instead watching TV, DVD’s, and movies.

The controversy is whether or not caretakers should be allowed to let children watch TV all day to entertain them when their parents are paying them for their childcare. Parents pay money and hope that their children are getting educated in some social and interactive ways, but instead they are watching TV.

Adam Lambert’s AMA Performance is has 1,500 Complaints

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tv_lambert;_ylt=AsKD7QjLENzoZgRYgWfs.b.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTMwM3BsaDY3BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMTI0L3VzX3R2X2xhbWJlcnQEY3BvcwMxMARwb3MDNwRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3QEc2xrA2FiY2xhbWJlcnRzcA–

At the American Music Awards last night, American Idol alumni Adam Lambert performed a song from his album that came out today, “For Your Entertainment.” It was an S & M-themed number in which the singer made sexual motions towards all of his dancers. However, the most controversial part of the entire performance was when he shared a kissed with the male keyboard player.

The moral issues in this story are a few. The first is whether or not people’s complaints of this action are “discrimination” against gays as Lambert said. The fact is that people would not mind seeing a heteorsexual kiss on television. However, some people do find the idea of homosexuality offensive, but it is questionable whether it really it acutally offensive.

The other moral issue is the entire dance number that was completely sexual and where the line is one what can be shown on television. I believe that the entire number was too suggestive for television in general.

Dirty Secrets of Black Friday ‘Doorbusters’

Dirty Secrets of Black Friday

This article explains how shoppers should beware of the “good” deals they expect to find on Black Friday. It explains how the fine print in the businesses circulars says something like “while supplies last”, “minimum 2 per store”. “all items are available in limited quantities”, or “no rain checks”. The author explains that large businesses like Sears are offering deals this year like 599.99 for a TV. The catch is the quantity per store is only 3! He goes to say “Sure , you probably have more, but how do you put out a circular to millions of households and only have three?,” Not only this but stores also advertise “derivative” items. Customers think they are getting a deal only to find that they have bought the model that has far “fewer features than the standard.”

It seems like the stores are trying to ‘pull one over” on their customers, a very unethical business practice. Businesses advertise their door buster deals in circulars and papers to customers that in reality aren’t what they seems. People get up in the earliest hours of the morning expecting to get a good deal only to wish they had read the very fine print. People expect to rush in the store when it opens and get the best deals for being the first in line, only to find that the “minimum” of “2 per store” is already gone. This rush leads to stampedes like last year when an employee of Wal-Mart was killed from the shoppers rushing in to get “limited quantity” items. businesses should be straight forward about their deals, not hide information in fine print and deceive customers.

What Now for the Gosselin Kids?

What Now for the Gosselin Kids?

This article discusses the issue of what is going to happen now that TLC’s show Jon and Kate Plus 8 is ending. At first this may not seem like an ethical problem but if you read the article you can see where the ethical problems form. It’s hard to tell if the parents are just unconcerned for their children, or if media has gone too far into the lives of the Gosselin’s. As the article states, the media has been covering the horrible divorce battle between John and Kate. Having their whole lives taped and especially these recent months of their parents separation being on tv must be taking a “psychological toll” on the children.

Jon decided to quit the show and TLC had planned to continue the show now being titled “Kate Plus 8” but Jon “protested”. It seems strange to me that all of a sudden Jon has a moral concern for his kids. He claims that he doesn’t think “on-camera time was good for his kids.” Maybe because he isnt part of the show now? I believe that the tv producers or especially the parents of the children should show more ethical reasoning. Do they not think about the impact of being followed by cameras all their life is going to have on the children. Seems they are just concerned with ratings and money.

Tyson’s Beef Sales Go Down

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/tyson-foods-posts-loss-on-charge-in-beef-business/article1374467/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGlobeAndMail-Front+%28The+Globe+and+Mail+-+Latest+News%29

Recently, the amount of beef that was sold by Tyson has declined. The company suffered loss in the forth quarter. However, overall chicken sales have increased for the past two quarters. Tyson lost $1.22 a share compared to a $.13 loss last year. They believe that chicken sales will continue to increase.

The reason for which the company believes that these have been the results is that in the current state of the economy people tend to eat chicken rather than beef because it is cheaper. The problem is that overall profits still will decrease for the company because of this same reason. This is then reflected in the worth of stock. Therefore, the results of the lack of overall money trickles down the line until it once again reflects on the customers.

The major ethical issues in this is the economy. It is an ongoing problem in our economy that needs to be solved.

Enforcing the Clean Air Act

Environmental Protection

The article, “Feds, Pa. county sue company over slag dumping” discusses the violation of the Clean Air Act. The Clean Air Act was created in 1970. The Clean Air Act Amendments came about in 1990. Both were created to improve air quality. Currently, the Allegheny Ludlum Corp. is being sued by the federal governemnt and the Allegheny County Health Department. The company is being sued for alleged air pollution violations at a slag dump near Pittsburgh. For each day of the violation, they are fined.

I agree with the Clean Air Act and am glad that the federal government and the Allegheny County Health Department are standing behind it and choosing to sue. I believe that this is the ethical choice to make. It’s nice to see that the regulations are being enforced regulary. If the act wasn’t enforced then people would feel like they could take advantage of the environment with no repercussions. Not only is the federal government upholding the law. They are also making an ethical choice and protecting our environment and our lives.

Unknown Spillovers

Unknown Spillovers
The linked article, “Three Mile Island radiation caused by pipe cutting” by Marc Levy, highlights radiation that got loose when a pipe was being cut by workers at the plant. The slightly higher levels of radiation were detected by a radiation detector. Plant spokesman Ralph DeSantis commented that the radiation would cause no harm to the public.

The ethical concern of this article is the spillover effects that were caused by cutting the pipe. How do you really know if this type of radiation hurt the 12 people around it and how do you know its effects on the environment permanently? This article shows that the environmental spillovers of projects cannot always be know or predicted. The fact that the plant didn’t know this was going to occur created an unsafe environment for their workers. The plant workers did not know the potential damage that could be caused.