LIBERTY: verdict wrong in one of six cases

Thursday, June 28, 2007

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?
id=070628135531.31cukrus&show_
article=1&catnum=-1

http://tinyurl.com/2hpup7

US juries get verdict wrong in one of six cases
Jun 28 09:55 AM US/Eastern

***Begin Quote***

So much for US justice: juries get the verdict wrong in one out of six criminal cases and judges don’t do much better, a new study has found.

And when they make those mistakes, both judges and juries are far more likely to send an innocent person to jail than to let a guilty person go free, according to an upcoming study out of Northwestern University.

*** AND ***

Finding a solution will be much harder to do than quantifying the problem, Heinz warned.

“The sources of the errors are quite resilient to correction,” he said.

“They have to do with all sorts of biases and the strong presumption of guilt when someone is arrested and brought to trial.”

***End Quote***

End you trust these people, the gooferment, and your fellow citizens to protect you?

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1 Comment | LIBERTY | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: ECONOMICS lab demos gooferment “rationing”

Thursday, June 28, 2007

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6243644.stm

Iran fuel rations spark violence

***Begin Quote***

Iranians set fire to a petrol station in Tehran

There were angry protests as people rushed to buy petrol
At least 12 petrol stations have been torched in the Iranian capital, Tehran, after the government announced fuel rationing for private vehicles.

*** and ***

Iran’s petrol is heavily subsidised, sold at about a fifth of its real cost.

The price of 1,000 rials ($0.11) per litre makes Iran one of the cheapest countries in the world for motorists.

***End Quote***

Sigh, gooferments can’t repeal the Law of Supply and Demand.

Price floors are a hidden tax. Price subsidies are a hidden tax.

Markets are peaceful “elections” where competing needs for the same good are award to the one whose “need” is the greatest. In a complex calculus, the market determines who gets what. It’s truly amazing. Rarely is everyone happy or satisfied, but the market peacefully allows us all to cooperate and get along.

When the heavy hand of gooferment comes along, it mucks stuff up. Causes friction and violence. It reinforces the zero-sum scarcity mentality.

The market on the other hand ensure that there is “plenty for everybody”. Higher prices have several simultaneous effects.

  • Everyone conserves. Three buck a gallon gas is used much more wisely that one buck a gallon.
  • High prices award products to those who “need” them the most (i.e., willing to pay more). Those whose need is less (i.e., won’t pay the high price) wait until the price comes down.
  • Producers ship more of a product to where the return on investment is higher. Plywood in NOLA after Katrina was earning more than in your local home depot.
  • Supply reduced locally encourages conservation and / or delayed gratification.

In short the market is our benefactor. Actually all of those fellow human beings represented in the market are working to satisfy our needs. Not out of self-sacrifice. But, out of a desire to get our “certificate of appreciation” (i.e., money). They can then use those to satisfy their own needs. In a giant calculus designed to make us all live happily together as one big happy family. (Move your elbow!) OK, maybe not happy, but not killing each other either.

Gooferment bad. (Any gooferment!) Markets peaceful and good.

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Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

LIBERTY: Skoolz learn them student to be victims

Thursday, June 28, 2007

http://www.survivalblog.com/2007/06/
reverse_the_public_school_brai.html

Reverse the Public School Brainwashing and Keep Your Kids Safe
by Captain Dave

***Begin Quote***

This politically correct emphasis on non-violence is really a drive to non-confrontation that teaches kids to be victims at an early age. Violence not only still exists in our schools, it is worse than ever because the system does not allow kids to counter force with force. This means that kids cannot fight back when they are harassed on the school bus, spit on in the lunch room, assaulted in the hallway, or beaten in the locker room. Teachers routinely do not intervene in bullying or one-way assaults. This bullying behavior is allowed until the target decides to fight back, at which point school rules treat both the attacker and defender the same way. I am afraid that these days, the only place bullies and their victims really meet after school to settle their differences is on television or in the movies.

***End Quote***

Gooferment skoolz are my pet peeve. Here’s another reason NOT to like them! The unintended consequences of them are just bad to all the poor children imprisoned in them.

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Leave a Comment » | LIBERTY | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj