Riley Evan Ross’ Baylor Blog

We are doneski.  Tim , Swanny, myself and 7 other MBA’s got back from Denver on Friday night following a fantastic visit and presentation at Dish Network.  Tim, Matcek, and I had the perfect opportunity to reminisce about our trip and talk about things like internships and the fact that we won’t have to meet for a Focus Firm meeting this weekend or any time.  It may not be important but Tim had a British car magazine that had an Audi RS6 Avant in it.  This is rather uncharacteristic of me to read about, talk about, or even desire cars but this car is bad.  It is an Audi wagon that has a twin turbo v10 that pushes about 580 hp.  Pretty impressive for a soccer mobile. 

Any way… now that FF is over that could lead some people to think, “what to do now?”  Not me.  Next Tuesday I have a 15 page paper due in my international economics class.  I’m writing about the most recent Argentine macroeconomic policies and how they all relate to Argentina’s history since the 1950’s.  Also, there is a strategy paper I have due by the 30th.  It’ll all be alright, but the idea that it’ll be smooth sailing from this point forward has been misguided, at best. 

The poetry and book stuff is coming along okay.  I’ve been writing a few more poems and picking up more and more songs on the guitar and bass.  Stringed instruments are just not the same as drums. 

What?

That’s right.  I’m going to begin my book, again.  I am going to be doing most of my writing in Word and the transferring it to my other wordpress blog, without content blockers.

I started writing this book when I turned 22.  I actually wrote on it for about two weeks and put it away.  I have to find my zip drive with the original content on it, but when I do I will be sure to post it asap.  Just click on the link that says something about being my other blog.  It says “Moderates of the World Unite” under “Blogroll”. Peace

He doesn’t understand Binary

He runs off of human energy

He uses most normal words

Except paradigm and synergy

Some may call him a robot

To me he’s just a guy

But when the robot revolution comes,

I’ll probably be first one to die

May-Wine Note-Taker,

could be characterized as glad

She sits there scribbling notes so quiet

and makes us feel so bad

She always sits so quiet

No, she doesn’t like to talk

She eats a simple breakfast

And for lunch, a celery stalk

Her last name, she says, is Nyi-Nyi,

I don’t know that too be true

I’m pretty sure it’s pronounced “Note-Taker”

Which makes the rest of us feel blue.

You’re a tall glass of water to drink

You think that your poop don’t stink

Dr. Grinols might be smitten

With the rhymes that you’re spittin’

But, in my rhythmic quicksand, you’ll sink

There was a boy named Swanny,

A skinny lad was he

He thought himself a poet;

A better one than me

His vocab is horrendous

His lexicon truly sucks

He can’t complete a sentence

Without a “bulls***” or f***

I recommend a thesaurus

You might like a dictionary

Instead of flapping you jaws around

Like a mouth with dysentery

I recently gave a eulogy at my grandmother’s funeral.  I know it’s kind of a downer but if you would like to know how I saw her, please click on this link:

http://rileye.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/reflections-on-a-good-woman/

Tim HutchINson; WRONG!

There’s no “N” in my last name.

Get it right, moron.

My wrist has a cyst, I do not lie.
My wrist has a cyst, I just might die.

At four in the morning I still type on my keys;
while my focus firm group catches their Zzzzz’s.

My Mary Poppins bag weighs millions of grams;
I stuff it so full, it could break my hand.

The world of business may not be for me;
I think I’d rather sing opera and possibly sleep.

When blogging I usually ignore my sunny disposition and try to write something more introspective.  I have decided that, since I don’t have a ton to write about, I would like this Baylor homepage to my other wordpress blog.  NO, wait, I’ll just copy and paste, thataway, I’ll have words on both pages.  I’ll still provide a link to the other one just on the off chance that you, the visitor, may want to read more.  Thanks for checking in.  Peace and Grace to you.

The Ends Never? justify the means

Many people make the claim that the “ends” or goals never justify the means, ever.  This is an understandable idea.  I can actually agree with a lot of the cases that many people use to show that any kind of corrupt or dangerous method to accomplish an end goal of supposedly “higher ideals” makes the method and ideal null and void. 

One easy thing to point out is the presidency of Chilean president Augusto Pinochet.  Pinochet was a dictator that let a military coup in 1973.  The Chilean economy and society were in shambles because of the radical-leftist policies of democratically elected president, socialist Salvador Allende.  Now South American countries are not known for being patient and waiting for reform (Bolivia has 190 military coups) but the Chilean case was interesting because up to this point, they had a relatively peaceful democratic process.

            Immediately following the coup, approximately 1,500 supporters of Allende, along with leftists, and students were taken into the soccer stadium and never heard from again.  It is commonly accepted that over 3,000 people were killed under his rule while over 25,000 were incarcerated and tortured.  Pinochet was in power until 1990.  Partway through the 80’s and into the 90’s Chile has had arguable the most stable South American economy with consistent market growth with the rest of the western nations.

Now the question is this:  With a stable government and stable economy with relatively low levels of poverty, were Augusto Pinochet’s actions justifiable?  Many would argue yes.  It’s an understandable argument to examine this idea from a middle-class or upper class Chilean perspective.  I have had the good fortune to talk to some Bolivians and Peruvians who I’ve asked, “Do you think your respective country could benefit from a Pinochet?”  Many times I have heard a resounding yes.  These people take the stance that their countries are so thick headed that the only approach to economic growth or political stability is to crack a few skulls.  Although I understand this mindset, I have a really hard time agreeing.  When the metric used to justify the means is the loss of human life, I have a really hard time justifying it.  Therefore, it is easy to make the argument that the ends never justify the means. 

Let’s look at the other side of the equation, when human life can benefit from corruption.  I was lucky enough to talk to a missionary to the Banjara gypsies of India.  His name is Rob, (I changed his name slightly).  His goal as a missionary was to assist these gypsies in starting businesses that would lead them to sustainability.  In India, like many places across the globe, it is illegal to give bribes or “gifts” to government officials to conduct business or speed the paper process up.  So here’s the dilemma.  Ignoring the fact that this guy is a missionary, he is doing economic development projects.  If he or any of the gypsies were to give a gift worth $15 to a government official so that the gypsies could start a rickshaw business to feed themselves, feed their wives, feed their children is that not justifiable?  I think so.  You might disagree with me and that’s okay.  I can appreciate your commitment to your ideals.  In my humble opinion, which is biased toward me, I see no problem with illicit “gifts” to feed a group of people. 

This is a lot to look at so I’ll leave where I am.  I hope to come back to this later.  If anyone feels like adding more to this please feel free, or argue with me, that’s cool too.