Staff Sergeant Robert Bales and the price of life.

In America, money buys everything – even forgiveness, it seems. At least, that is the implicit view of the American armed forces.

Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is being charged with the murders of 17 Afghan civilians, he shot to death in their homes, at night. There were four men, four women and nine children in the tally. He also attempted to kill six others. He faces a potential death sentence and a minimum life sentence with the possibility of parole, under military law. These facts are well known. What struck me as somewhat bizarre was what America has done in response to these killings. It has attempted to bribe the affections of the deceased’s families. The US has paid 50,000 USD to the families of those killed, per victim and 11,000 USD to the families of those wounded, per victim. Think about that for a moment. America imagines that it can buy the goodwill of the families of those it has murdered. In doing so, it is implicitly stating that it believes there is some exchangeable equivalence between money and life. There is no such equivalence, in their hearts. It is certain that not a one of the survivors would rather have the money than their loved ones back, alive, with them.

Then there is another curious fact about this. The international mass media are expressing amazement at the size of the sums the Americans have offered in compensation. They seem to be saying that these are large sums of money. Now, by comparison to past payments to those killed or injured by Americans in Afghanistan, they are. Typical prior payments have been 2,000 USD for a death; 400 USD for a serious injury and 200 USD for a non-serious injury. So, by that scale these are significant payments. Yet, there is another comparison to be made. America has placed a value on human life, called the “statistical value of human life”. Different agencies place different values on life. The Environmental Protection Agency values a life at 6.9 million USD. The Food and Drug Administration values life at 7.9 million USD. This leads to a sobering conclusion: an Afghan life is worth up to 158 times less than an American life, according to the actions of the American government, in compensating the Afghan families, whose members were murdered by Staff Sergeant Robert Bales.

Should the Afghan people ever come to understand this discrepancy between the value of an American life and the value of Afghan life, they might be mightily insulted at the compensation offered. It should be noted that the Afghans have a blood money culture in which compensation for the loss of life is expected – yet, Afghan commentators have remarked, in tune with my words, that no compensation is enough to make amends for these crimes – for it won’t bring back their loved ones.

If America really wants to play this game, of buying off the hatred of the people who have every reason to hate them, then really they should pay the same value for an Afghan life that they notionally ascribe to an American life. Each Afghan victim should have been compensated to the tune of 7.9 million USD. This would have another effect. It might make the Americans more cautious about whom they kill in Afghanistan. It could soon become very expensive to send young, anger prone, gun happy, American soldiers into a combat environment – for reasons altogether unrelated to their pay and support. Were every civilian death to require almost 8 million USD in compensation, there would, I am sure, be suddenly a whole lot fewer of them – and this could only be described as a good thing.

I shall patiently wait for the American government to pay out the balance of the 7.9 million USD payments for each victim. Until then, the US government hasn’t shown that it values Afghan life as much as it values American life – and that is a very grave insult, to this long suffering people. A life is a life – and it should be valued as much from a distant land, as from our own. That is a lesson the Americans have yet to imbibe.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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A death that says so much about a country.

Recently, a man died in Malaysia.

Now, I wrote that sentence deliberately in that way, so that you would have the thought: "What is so unusual about that?". Well, in this case it was a most unusual death.

Koay Chin Cai was a 64 year old taxi driver, in George Town, Penang. At about 5.30 pm on Saturday, he was waiting outside a block of low cost flats, for a passenger. However, it was not a passenger who found him, but a stone, of about 14 cm by 10 cm, flung from the nearby block of flats. It struck him on the head, causing fatal head injuries.

Now, that is shocking enough. It is shocking that someone should care so little about human life that they would throw a stone from a flat, perhaps to dispose of some rubbish, instead of carefully placing it in a bin. Such carelessness, or lack of effort, had cost the life of a father and husband. However, what was even more shocking to me, is what happened next. I would like you to guess what happened as this man lay dying in the street on a Saturday afternoon, besides his taxi.

Have you genuinely imagined what happened? Please do so.

I shuddered to learn, what happened to this man as he lay dying. Somebody, some passerby, on seeing him dying in the street, did not, as you might expect, hurry to his aid. No. That unknown someone actually went through his pockets and stole his wallet and his handphone. They actually robbed a fatally injured man, rather than trying to do something to help him.

So, who was worse: the one who threw the stone - or the one who robbed the man? I think, ethically speaking, the one who robbed the dying man, is by far the worse of the two. You see, that person did what they did, knowing that he was defenceless and in need of assistance to save his life. The other person, who threw the stone, probably just did not consider the consequences of throwing the stone. If so, they are less ethically unsound than the robber...just stupid and careless.

However, we don't know what actually happened here. Perhaps the stone thrower and the robber are the same person. Perhaps it was a deliberate mugging. Perhaps the stone thrower intended to hit the taxi driver and derives some kind of kick out of hurting/killing/maiming strangers. We know this, however: Penang harbours at least one reckless individual and at least one heartless individual. In fact, that two such misfortunes should befall this man in quick succession, does suggest that there are many criminally inclined individuals in Penang, which is, reputedly, one of the safer areas of Malaysia.

Malaysia really needs to do something serious, about its crime problem. It is a lovely country, but that loveliness is marred by the ugliness of its criminal minority. The acts they are capable of are quite shocking and bring a worrisome edge, to life in this engaging nation.

I have noted that, on the two occasions, we have had to call police to our house, for break in attempts in the ten months we have been here (yes, you read right: two break in attempts, in ten months...a disturbingly high frequency of event), the police made no effort to gather any forensic evidence that would allow them to catch the criminals concerned. On one occasion, for instance, a policeman noted a footprint on the roof. No photograph of it was taken. On the other occasion, fence panels had been removed - but they were not finger printed. To my mind, this means that the police really do not have much intention of catching criminals - or, at least, are not sufficiently motivated to do what is necessary to do so.

On the second occasion, the police even refused to allow us to make a police report. Why? Because they said: "No damage was done". The real reason may have something to do with the importance of the neighbour over whose property the intruder had to have come. That, and the need, perhaps, to keep the crime statistics down.

We are grateful, however, that the police came out in force, on both occasions. Had the culprits still been around, they would have been caught. However, it would be good to see forensics being used to gather data that could identify criminals and take them off the streets.

As for the case in Penang. I hope that both the stone thrower and the robber are caught - and that both receive the maximum penalty. I understand that there is the death penalty for murder - and murder may be argued for the stone thrower. However, emotionally, I feel that the robber is more heinous in their actions...so perhaps, they should share in whatever penalty the thrower receives. No nation needs to keep on the streets - and alive - anyone who can rob a dying man. They should suffer the same penalty as the killer.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

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This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

A punishment to fit the crime.

It seems to me, that there is, sometimes, only one punishment to fit a crime - only one punishment which seems punishment enough for an evil deed. One such evil deed, has come to light, in China. Eight people have been arrested for something truly terrible. I would like you to guess what. Please use liberal doses of imagination. Just try to guess what crime eight Chinese people could have thought up, in the name of making some money.

Please have a good think. I want you to imagine the most imaginative, but cruel, crime you can.

Well, what have you come up with? How does it compare to manufacturing and selling FAKE RABIES VACCINES in a country rife with rabies. Please pause to reflect on what that means. Rabies is one of the most horrible ways to die imaginable. It is also essentially 100% fatal once symptoms begin, which are, at first, loss of appetite, fever, pain at the site of infection, malaise, fatigue and headache. They then progress, two to ten days later, to disorientation, hallucinations, seizure, paralysis, and the fabled "fear of water" combined with an inability to swallow liquids without great pain. Death often ensues from cardiac or respiratory failure, though sometimes patients can linger for months on life support, in a coma.

Now, these eight Chinese people manufactured and sold over a thousand doses (1,260 doses have been recovered) of fake vaccine without any capacity to immunize a patient. Six doses of this vaccine were given to a four year old boy who had been bitten by a dog. He subsequently died of a completely preventable case of rabies. That is monstrous.

These criminals sold their "vaccines" for 330,000 Yuan, which is 49,250 US Dollars. That, to them, was justification enough for putting in peril the lives of all who received their vaccine.

Under Chinese law, it is certain that these people will be sentenced to death, should they be convicted. Yet, death by shooting, as might be expected, does not seem an appropriate punishment: it is too quick, too sudden, too fleeting. No. The only suitable punishment - and one in which they would assuredly learn to understand what they had done, is if they are given an injection of LIVE rabies virus. They should then be held in isolation, so that they won't infect others, until they die, rather slowly of the disease they sought to inflict on random strangers, for a few bucks.

My proposal might be objected to, by some, as inhumane, or as "cruel and unusual punishment". No. It is not. It is merely ensuring that the perpetrators suffer in precisely the way they made others suffer, including a little four year old boy, who died needlessly, and terribly, at the beginning of his life.

It seems to me that, were it known, criminals of the breed in question would assuredly suffer the death that they hazarded for others, there would be far fewer of them.

I shall return to more customary topics for tomorrow's posting, but I felt that I had to comment given my shock at what these people are alleged to have done, for mere money.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)