The Town Scryer

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    [post_date] => 2011-07-12 14:49:23
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    [post_content] => "Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer"

William Blackstone

There is a lot of talk on the internets today about the acquittal of Casey Anthony on charges of  first degree murder, aggravated manslaughter and of aggravated child abuse. People are, based upon what they have read in the papers, or worse, upon what they have heard on cable TV, crying out that once again a guilty criminal has gone free.

Allow me to express my opinion:

I have no idea.

I am not qualified to have an opinion on the guilt or innocence of this woman.

Neither are you unless you were in the courtroom for the entire trial.

Here's what I do know: The prosecution enters into a case with the deck stacked in its favor in any major case. They have almost unlimited manpower compared to the defendant who actually has to hire his lawyer and investigators, or worse yet, rely on an overworked Public Defender. The only thing the defendant has on his side is the tattered remnants of the Bill of Rights, most of which the Bush Supreme Court has put through the shredder...and he has the presumption of innocence.

You can't put someone in prison "just to be safe", although I know of a case where a juror later admitted to doing exactly that. I keep hearing people complain about the OJ acquittal, totally ignoring that it was proven that a detective planted evidence. The scary thing that ought to keep you awake at night is the lengths that the prosecution will go to once they have committed to prosecute.  The McMartin family went through a living hell for SEVEN YEARS before they were acquitted in the absurd Satanic pre-school case. It should have been obvious long before that they were innocent, but it is all too often about winning and not about justice.

That the prosecution could not even get a conviction on the child abuse charge would seem to indicate that either the prosecution totally botched everything or that the jury was convinced of not just a reasonable doubt, but a good chance of innocence.

That should settle things...but it won't. Instead new laws are being proposed in dozens of states that will make it a felony to fail to report a child missing within 24 hours or to fail to report the death of a child within one hour. These laws will pass not because they have merit, anyone who is a parent and has the slightest imagination knows that 24 hours often pass before you are even sure a teenager is actually missing, but because it is political suicide to vote against them.

 

Meanwhile, one of the jurors is in such fear for her life that she has had to quit her job and flee town.

 

Be seeing you.

    [post_title] => Trial and Acquittal
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    [post_modified] => 2023-07-21 11:01:46
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“Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer” William Blackstone There is a lot of talk on the internets today about the acquittal of Casey … Read more

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    [post_date] => 2011-07-12 01:01:33
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    [post_content] => Presented as a public service to empower the reader with defense mechanisms before the election season's deluge of bovine fecal matter.

Argumentum ad Hominem

To attack the person with whom you disagree instead of refuting his argument.

For example: "Senator X is a Communist because he proposes single payer health care".

or

"Mr. Turing believes that machines can think, but he is a homosexual so his proposal is the product of a diseased mind."

Whether or not Senator X is a Communist or Alan Turing is Gay has no bearing at all on the soundness of their ideas. Both Communists and Gays are quite capable of making valuable contributions to society.

In the England the solicitor and the barrister each handle different functions of the task performed by attorneys in America. There was once a case in which the solicitor handed a file folder to the barrister just as the trial was about to begin. Inside the folder was a single piece of paper upon which was written:

No case.
Abuse the defendant's attorney.

This is the most important fallacy of argument to learn to recognize, as it is the one most often broken. Nearly all attack ads aired during an election campaign are some form of ad Hominem attack. Rush Limbaugh spits them out like an AK-47.

Another commonly used one is mocking vegetarians who wear leather shoes. The benefits of a meat-free diet are totally unrelated to ones choice in footwear.

Be seeing you.

    [post_title] => Today's Fallacy of Argument, II
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Presented as a public service to empower the reader with defense mechanisms before the election season’s deluge of bovine fecal matter. Argumentum ad Hominem To attack the person … Read more

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    [post_date] => 2011-07-11 16:35:55
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    [post_content] => Many of the people of the Sacramento Valley in California have been found to engage in a strange seasonal religious practice involving the worship of the goddess Diphenhydramine. As these rites tend to begin in the Spring and proceed throughout the typical growing season the Goddess worship is thought to be a form of Neo-Paganism. Still, there are elements of Christian influence to be seen as well such as the symbolic rite of communion in which a small pink or pink and white host is passed from the Priest or priestess to the supplicant.

At the beginning of the liturgical exchange the supplicant is often heard to exclaim, "Oh Christ! My sinuses runneth over!", or some variant on this. Then the Priest or Priestess shall respond, "I think I have a Benedryl. (Their name for the Host, the body of the Goddess Diphenhydramine incarnate.) Here. Take this." The supplicant then gives thanks. This is usually followed by a period of quiet contemplation while the supplicant waits for the blessing of the Goddess to descend upon him (usually about 45 minutes).


Thus we see that the cult of Diphenhydramine, like many Afro-Caribbean religions such as Voudoun or Santaria, seems to incorporate both Christian and Pagan or animistic elements.


The cult is growing rapidly in this region. An alarming percentage of the most devout practitioners of other faiths convert within a few years after moving into the valley.




Be seeing you.
    [post_title] => The New Golden Bough
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Many of the people of the Sacramento Valley in California have been found to engage in a strange seasonal religious practice involving the worship of the goddess Diphenhydramine. … Read more