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Power, Corruption and Lies

The latest Corruption Index published by Tranparency International ranks 159 countries by the level of perceived corruption and reveals a world still struggling with the twin axes of evil that are corruption and poverty.

Not surprisingly, the majority of the world’s most corrupt countries featured in the report are the world’s poorest nations such as Chad and Bangladesh, who came in joint last place of the 159 countries covered; Nigeria came in 154th; Kenya, Pakistan and Paraguay (!) were amongst a group of countries in 144th spot with Iraq, Indonesia, Ethiopia and Azerbaijan tieing for 137th.

Venezuela is the next South American country to feature in the list, grouped with the likes of Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan and Papua New Guinea followed by Russia, Albania, Niger and Sierra Leone at 126.

At the other end of the table, the “good” end if you will, Iceland takes the title of world’s least corrupt nation, closely followed by Finland, New Zealand, Denmark and Singapore.

Other notable rankings which may surprise many include the United Kingdom at joint 11th with The Netherlands; Canada 14th and Germany 16th, one spot ahead of the United States, who just push France into 18th. The “Top 20” is completed by Belgium and Ireland with Chile taking the least corrupt in Latin America title in a tie with Japan for 21. My country of residence, Spain, comes in at 23 with a rating of exactly 7 out of 10, most of which is real estate related.

A score of 5 or less is seen as indicating serious corruption problems and almost 120 countries failed to reach this minimum standard, with more than a hundred scoring less than 3, pointing to rampant corruption in both the private and public sectors.

To mark the publication this month of the report, â??Corruption is a major cause of poverty as well as a barrier to overcoming it,â?? said Transparency International Chairman Peter Eigen. â??The two scourges feed off each other, locking their populations in a cycle of misery. Corruption must be vigorously addressed if aid is to make a real difference in freeing people from poverty.â??

TI Chief Executive David Nussbaum added: “Corruption isn’t a natural disaster, it is the cold, calculated theft of opportunity from the men, women and children who are least able to protect themselves”.

Tranparency International is “the only international non-governmental organisation devoted to combating corruption [and] brings civil society, business, and governments together in a powerful global coalition”.

The Corruption Index “ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. It is a composite index, drawing on corruption-related data in expert surveys carried out by a variety of reputable institutions. It reflects the views of business people and analysts from around the world, including experts who are locals in the countries evaluated”.

A version of this article is cross-posted here at BlogCritics.

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Serious Questions About God

There are many religions on this planet and many of their believers strongly trust that their particular creed is the one and only true faith. As far as I understand it, they all (or at least the vast majority) seem to believe that there is only one God. Setting aside the issue of how many different ways there are of worshipping this singularity, there are a lot of God related questions which always seem to go unanswered. This article is a serious and sincere attempt to outline some outstanding unanswered questions about God.

1. God appears to be unique, one of a kind, a genuine singularity, but is there really only one?

2. If, as all the current religious writings seem to say, there is only one entity of this omnipotent genre, it lives alone. Sure, it has all of us, and possibly all the known universe, its creations, to care for, but is s/he lonely?

3. One of the problems doubters have is the absence of any physical manifestation. Let’s face it, if God turned up in all their terrifying glory, it would instantly squash all questions of existence. If God is alone and possibly lonely, why doesn’t s/he hang out more?

4. On the other hand, perhaps God is not alone, but one of a whole species or race of beings simply way more advanced and evolved than we are. If there are more, where are they? And what are they doing?

5. If God is actually a physical being, s/he must actually be somewhere, even if they are omnipresent and all-knowing. Where is God physically located?

6. As far as we can tell, with our limited understanding, all living things need regular inputs of fuel, what we call food. Does this universal rule also apply to God? And if so, what does s/he eat?

7. As a follow on question, all living things also produce byproducts of the refueling process. If God eats, do they also have waste products and what does s/he do with them?

8. Similarly, all energetic systems produce heat as another byproduct of existence. If s/he consumes, why can’t we detect a heat signature?

9. And whilst pondering these issues, there seems to be certain universal laws of nature. Does God also obey the laws of nature?

10. I, for one, would prefer a universe with active gods that one could call upon for guidance and support – and not only because it would completely change the mostly predictable world in which we live. Does God’s infinite patience and indulgence of us, its creations according to dogma, go to such lengths that if it came to it, s/he would actually allow us to blow ourselves out of existence through the development of ever more terrible weapons?

PLEASE NOTE: This is intended as a serious attempt to have a focussed and intelligent dialogue about the nature of God. It is meant respectfully and not as an attempt to be provocative and/or offensive to anybody’s beliefs. Please respond in a similar spirit and resist the impulse to attack a simple enquiring mind.

This article is also cross-posted here on BlogCritics.

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Can all the haters please leave the planet?

Watching the vigil for Anthony Walker, the Liverpool teenager horribly murdered by sick evil racists – who killed poor Anthony with an axe and left it sticking out of the back of his head – I’m sitting here with tears rolling down my face listening to the simple dignity of his mother, Gee Walker. I don’t care who you are or what belief system you claim to support, killing is ALWAYS wrong and life SO precious and fragile.

We desperately need a better world to believe in, one where people don’t kill each, where hundreds of millions of people, people damnit, aren’t starving to death or living in abject poverty, where the rich people of the planet passionately feel that poverty, starvation and disease are simply unacceptable in the so-called modern world, where the colour of your skin just doesn’t matter, where politicians don’t control or exploit us but try to help us have better lives, where we can spend 30 billion Euros to end poverty and not 80 billion to wage war. This is the world that should be our right to live in.

A world that doesn’t take these issues as simple, fundamental basics of civilised living, not vague dreams of hopeless romanticism, is not a world that is fit to consider itself ethical, moral or decent.

Hoping that the more that read this the better, it has been cross-posted here on the wonderful BlogCritics site.