Has America become apathetic towards human rights?

Doctors Without Borders has reported that 75% of all the rape cases it dealt with worldwide were in the eastern Congo, 30 percent of whom were children.

Rape has become ingrained in Congolese civilian society and is widely used to determine power relations. Men and teenagers rape not only women and girls of all ages, but also other males. Is it safe to declare that those who participate in this atrocity have devolved into something less than human? Resorting to pure physical power in order to have their will become the ‘rule of the land’ IS the result of something less than human.

How much longer can the rest of the world sit back on its pampered laurels and allow this atrocity to continue? How much longer can we stomach the animalistic enslavement of women by saying it is their country therefore it is none of our business? The U.S. has ignored this tenet many times when it is to their benefit.

There is the fine distinction between respecting sovereignty of a nation and respecting the safety of its human inhabitants. Which is more valuable?

We Americans protest any attempt to step on our rights yet we don’t care about what happens elsewhere. And we prove this every day by simply moving onto the next news story.

The U.S. partook of its animalistic behavior by unleashing its formidable military muscle against Iraq based on human rights violations, among other things, but we wouldn’t dream of taking on China over their human rights abuses. Nor will we take on Congo over its human rights abuses, nor Burma over its human rights abuses, nor any other country unless there are oil reserves we want to control and the country is smaller than us.

It deeply saddens me to realize that the U.S. weighs the safety of helpless victims against how resource-rich their nation is. For surely if the Congo had oil reserves coveted by the U.S. we would be occupying them, and saving at least a majority of these women from their hell, instead of occupying Iraq.

Rape represents a grave lack of respect for human life and dignity. To use it as a tool of war is both a war crime and a crime against humanity. To allow it to continue lessens the value of our humanity.

For a man to turn against his wife after she becomes a victim of rape demeans the man and further victimizes the woman.

A society that views a raped woman as ‘damaged goods’ simply validates the power these animals have over them.

Again I ask, how long are we going to allow this to continue?

Benefits Claims Are Being Increasingly Challenged

It's hard enough to lose a job. But for a growing proportion of U.S. workers, the troubles really set in when they apply for unemployment benefits.

More than a quarter of people applying for such claims have their rights to the benefit challenged as employers increasingly act to block payouts to former workers.

The proportion of claims disputed by former employers and state agencies has reached record levels in recent years, according to the Labor Department numbers tallied by the Urban Institute.

Under state and federal laws, employees who are fired for misbehavior or quit voluntarily are ineligible for unemployment compensation. When jobless claims are blocked, employers save money because their unemployment insurance rates are based on the amount of the benefits their workers collect.

As unemployment rolls swell in the recession, many workers seem surprised to find their benefits challenged, their former bosses providing testimony against them. On one recent morning in what amounts to one of Maryland's unemployment courts, employees and employers squared off at conference tables to rehash reports of bad customer service, anger management and absenteeism.

Unemployment compensation programs are administered by the states and funded by payroll taxes that employers pay. In 2007, employers put up about $31.5 billion in such taxes, and those taxes typically rise during and after recessions, as states seek to replenish the funds.

When these current economic times get rough, laws forcing employers to do the right thing are increasingly being challenged. In a recent Washington Post article, the case of an electrician who was collecting unemployment benefits after losing his job at a Maryland hotel was being challenged by his ex-employer, the owners of the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. A Washington Post reporter showed up in the courtroom resulting in the ex-employer withdrawing their appeal to challenge the unemployment benefits.

Why is it that someone who is fired for a reason out of their control has to hold the threat of public attention to force a company to uphold their end of the legal bargain?

This illustrates yet another of America’s problems, people trying to bypass laws to keep money for themselves without regard to how it affects an innocent victim.

We are all in this together, none of us turned this economy sour and treating people like tools to be thrown away instead of keeping in mind they are trying to survive too is only going to prolong the recovery.

Another result of this behavior is trust and faith in your fellow man is being further eroded away. This life does not have to be dog eat dog.

Several things an employee needs to do is keep your nose clean, do what is asked of you as long as it falls within the purview of your job description and keep a record of requests by your employer that fall outside of those guidelines. This record can become invaluable if you are ever fired and your claim to unemployment benefits is subsequently challenged. Trust me, employers will keep a written record of your work history and will not hesitate to use it against you in an attempt to save them from having to pay out legal benefits.

Court rulings have slowly enlarged the definition of employee misconduct, making it easier for employers to say they rightfully fired a worker which equates to a higher standard of behavior for employees. This of course automatically puts the employee at a distinct disadvantage, so just don’t give the employer reasons to fire you.