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Troubling Realities
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Monday, 20 October 2008 12:31 |
Let us examine the distance between the reporting of facts, and the twisting of them. Any fact has information that can be used for other purposes. This is why, in scientific journalism, the facts, and studies, and data sources are presented at the end of the paper, in the synopsis. It allows peer review of the data, the facts of the data, the methods of collection, and the methods of analysis. The questions behind the data can be investigated, collated, and reanalyzed. The presentation of misleading data can be reduced, or revealed, the works of misleading processes are capable of being analyzed.
However, irresponsible persons often only quote part of the data, sections pertinent to their causes. For instance, if I were to say “The number of offenders in this city tripled last night” it would be an interesting 'fact'... but if it tripled simply by adding two more, this is far less emotional impact, and irresponsible journalism.
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Constitutional Issues
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Saturday, 04 October 2008 22:20 |
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Power, by its nature, is a curious thing, a thing which reacts within itself to grow ever more powerful. It can be likened to a nuclear reactor, with its prerequisite control systems. Like a reactor, that power is dangerous, and can even be deadly when improperly applied.
Power, under the US constitution, has numerous control systems. From the separation of powers (control rods) to the oversight (failsafes) and backup systems (safeties). There are cooling systems for the reactor, as well, the public opinion, which can heat up or cool down the reaction, and drives the power.
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Legislative Efforts
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Friday, 03 October 2008 13:55 |
The nation rises, and falls, by the rights of the people who make up that nation. But how do we see those rights? How do we measure their encroachment? In what way, what means, do we understand what has been lost?
The only way by which we may recognize this is looking to the past, old laws, old precedent, that made up the Common Law system which our forefathers founded and enshrined as the surest guardians of our liberty. From the right to jury, to the right of that jury to try the law, as well as the facts behind the law, the rights to speak, the rights to keep and bear arms, the right to religion, the right to vote, the right to freedom from government imposition outside of lawful warrant, the right to be free from legislative attainder and ex-post-facto laws, and the rights to assemble, and associate. These were only some of the rights mankind has... the original proposal for the bill of rights was 125 amendments long. The statements of the founding fathers, and of the newspapers of the time, were that these were pre-existing rights, natural rights, that were simply recognized by the government, and that the government had agreed not to infringe upon them.
But, in this day, the government does infringe upon them. In constant assault, the Federal Government works and implements limitations on those rights, priviliges, and immunities guaranteed within the constitution.
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Specialized Reports
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Tuesday, 09 September 2008 20:03 |
As recently as 20 years ago, it was extraordinarily rare for a convicted prisoner to establish his or her innocence conclusively enough to get public attention. That changed with breakthroughs in DNA science.
The 205th DNA exoneration since 1989 was recorded earlier this month by the Innocence Project, a group of crack defense lawyers who have made such cases their mission. The exonerated prisoners—including 15 who had been sentenced to death—have been found innocent by courts, prosecutors, or governors based on post-conviction DNA testing.
But America has been too slow to appreciate that the DNA exonerations, and other evidence, suggest that many thousands of other wrongly convicted people are rotting in prisons and jails around the country. And our federal, state, and local governments and courts have done far too little to adopt proposed criminal justice reforms that could reduce the number of innocent people convicted while nailing more of the real criminals.
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Sunday, 24 August 2008 13:09 |
"Middle School Girls Gone Wild"… Really? I think the boys are wilder!
The New York Times this morning ran an editorial "Sex Offenders In Exile" that is about the most sensible thing they've written on the topic. In it, they rightly point out that driving sex offenders underground by overly restrictive policies about where they can live is a dangerous and misguided tactic.
They also rightly point out that such policies — which have effectively made some entire cities and towns off limits to sex offenders — are often made because we are justifiably afraid. That our fear is justifiable does not mean that it is a good driving force for policy-making. Fear leads to irrational decisions.
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