a knee-jerk crime

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  • Phillip Allen
    new member
    • May 2002
    • 63618

    a knee-jerk crime

    We talked about this sort of stuff recently and most seemed to agree that the accusation, alone, was often the same as conviction.

    MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The football coach fired from Minnesota State, Mankato announced Tuesday that he will return to the job after an arbitrator ruled he was wrongfully terminated, saying the decision wasn't easy but that it would help him and his family heal.
    The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
    Personal failures are too important to be trusted to others.
  • Phillip Allen
    new member
    • May 2002
    • 63618

    #2
    Re: a knee-jerk crime

    no thoughts?
    The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
    Personal failures are too important to be trusted to others.

    Comment

    • CWSmith
      New Hampshire
      • Nov 2008
      • 43995

      #3
      Re: a knee-jerk crime

      I think he's a very lucky man in a strange way - not many are found innocent once charged of this crime.

      There is no doubt in my mind that I NEVER want to be at the mercy of a jury. For too many people to be charged is to be guilty. Then there's the McDonald's phenomenon - woman orders hot coffee and then spills it on herself. The jury says "Poor woman. We must give her something for her pain." and the question of guilt goes out the window. You put a victim in front of a jury and you get the same response with too little regard for guilt.
      "Where you live in the world should not determine whether you live in the world." - Bono

      "Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." - Will Rogers

      "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others." - Groucho Marx

      Comment

      • Phillip Allen
        new member
        • May 2002
        • 63618

        #4
        Re: a knee-jerk crime

        Originally posted by CWSmith
        I think he's a very lucky man in a strange way - not many are found innocent once charged of this crime.

        There is no doubt in my mind that I NEVER want to be at the mercy of a jury. For too many people to be charged is to be guilty. Then there's the McDonald's phenomenon - woman orders hot coffee and then spills it on herself. The jury says "Poor woman. We must give her something for her pain." and the question of guilt goes out the window. You put a victim in front of a jury and you get the same response with too little regard for guilt.
        in the case of the coffee, the courts are being used as a sort of informal lottery
        The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
        Personal failures are too important to be trusted to others.

        Comment

        • Keith Wilson
          Trying to be reasonable
          • Oct 1999
          • 64114

          #5
          Re: a knee-jerk crime

          I'm very glad the guy was exonerated. Most normal people are so horrified by the idea of child abuse that they sometimes overreact.
          "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations,
          for nature cannot be fooled."

          Richard Feynman

          Comment

          • JimD
            Senior Mumbler
            • Feb 2002
            • 29704

            #6
            Re: a knee-jerk crime

            Originally posted by CWSmith
            ...There is no doubt in my mind that I NEVER want to be at the mercy of a jury. ..
            I think the general rule is if you're innocent you choose trial by judge alone and if you're guilty you choose trial by jury since you have a better chance of fooling the idiots on a jury than you do a professional judge. At least that's how it is in Canada.
            There is no rational, logical, or physical description of how free will could exist. It therefore makes no sense to praise or condemn anyone on the grounds they are a free willed self that made one choice but could have chosen something else. There is no evidence that such a situation is possible in our Universe. Demonstrate otherwise and I will be thrilled.

            Comment

            • Phillip Allen
              new member
              • May 2002
              • 63618

              #7
              Re: a knee-jerk crime

              Originally posted by JimD
              I think the general rule is if you're innocent you choose trial by judge alone and if you're guilty you choose trial by jury since you have a better chance of fooling the idiots on a jury than you do a professional judge. At least that's how it is in Canada.
              I see your point but it also sounds dangerous (of course, it's ALL dangerous)
              The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
              Personal failures are too important to be trusted to others.

              Comment

              • Waddie
                Senior Member
                • Aug 2009
                • 9106

                #8
                Re: a knee-jerk crime

                He was pretty stupid to put those pictures on a work computer, or any computer anywhere. My wife has quite a few bare naked pictures of our kids when they were young, but they are all in albums and did come in handy to show to each of the kids intended spouses when they were courting.... embarrassing the kids is just a perk of parenthood...

                BTW; It was a good decision to find McDonald's culpable for that coffee. They knew it was way too hot, but it lasted longer that way. Several people prior to the lawsuit had been scalded by the coffee. So there was a well documented history that they were serving dangerously hot coffee. And the amount of the award only represented something like a mornings worth of revenues from coffee sales. Google this case and you'll see it wasn't a frivolous lawsuit.

                regards,
                Waddie
                Last edited by Waddie; 04-16-2014, 12:48 PM.
                I started with nothing and I still have most of it....

                Comment

                • TomF
                  Recalcitrant Heretic
                  • Jun 2003
                  • 50976

                  #9
                  Re: a knee-jerk crime

                  Originally posted by Keith Wilson
                  I'm very glad the guy was exonerated. Most normal people are so horrified by the idea of child abuse that they sometimes overreact.
                  I agree.

                  Got to say, with the 2 lads and I each doing karate for a few years now, every time I hear the phrase "knee jerk" I'm thinking "front snap kick."
                  If I use the word "God," I sure don't mean an old man in the sky who just loves the occasional goat sacrifice. - Anne Lamott

                  Comment

                  • Shang
                    Senior Member
                    • Sep 2000
                    • 10021

                    #10
                    Re: a knee-jerk crime

                    Originally posted by Waddie
                    ...BTW; It was a good decision to find McDonald's culpable for that coffee. They knew it was way too hot, but it lasted longer that way. Several people prior to the lawsuit had been scalded by the coffee. So there was a well documented history that they were serving dangerously hot coffee. And the amount of the award only represented something like a mornings worth of revenues from coffee sales. Google this case and you'll see it wasn't a frivolous lawsuit.

                    regards,
                    Waddie
                    People have tried to make it sound as if the woman delibrately poured the coffee into her lap in order to shake down McDonalds. That was not the case. Google it and look at the photographs.

                    Myth: The burns were not that severe.
                    Fact: The woman suffered severe 3rd degree burns requiring skin grafting and surgeries.

                    Comment

                    • Tom Wilkinson
                      Senior Member
                      • Jun 2000
                      • 7827

                      #11
                      Re: a knee-jerk crime

                      Originally posted by Shang
                      People have tried to make it sound as if the woman delibrately poured the coffee into her lap in order to shake down McDonalds. That was not the case. Google it and look at the photographs.

                      Myth: The burns were not that severe.
                      Fact: The woman suffered severe 3rd degree burns requiring skin grafting and surgeries.
                      Don't let facts get in the way of a good rant now...
                      Tom

                      Comment

                      • CWSmith
                        New Hampshire
                        • Nov 2008
                        • 43995

                        #12
                        Re: a knee-jerk crime

                        Guys, hot coffee is HOT. You treat it that way. She ordered it, she knew what it was, and she spilled it. I feel sorry for her, but it was her fault.
                        "Where you live in the world should not determine whether you live in the world." - Bono

                        "Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." - Will Rogers

                        "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others." - Groucho Marx

                        Comment

                        • Phillip Allen
                          new member
                          • May 2002
                          • 63618

                          #13
                          Re: a knee-jerk crime

                          Originally posted by CWSmith
                          Guys, hot coffee is HOT. You treat it that way. She ordered it, she knew what it was, and she spilled it. I feel sorry for her, but it was her fault.
                          I find this akin to buying a sharp tool then cutting yourself with it then claiming the tool maker is at fault
                          The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
                          Personal failures are too important to be trusted to others.

                          Comment

                          • Ian McColgin
                            Senior Member
                            • Apr 1999
                            • 51639

                            #14
                            Re: a knee-jerk crime

                            That's how you may find it, but it's really more like buying a table saw with a slightly askew fence and a bad blade that is guarenteed to kick back and put a piece of wood right through you. You may notice that the problem was solved when the company finally dialed the temperature back to what everyone else uses, including rational people in their own homes. Or maybe you didn't.

                            Comment

                            • Phillip Allen
                              new member
                              • May 2002
                              • 63618

                              #15
                              Re: a knee-jerk crime

                              Originally posted by Ian McColgin
                              That's how you may find it, but it's really more like buying a table saw with a slightly askew fence and a bad blade that is guarenteed to kick back and put a piece of wood right through you. You may notice that the problem was solved when the company finally dialed the temperature back to what everyone else uses, including rational people in their own homes. Or maybe you didn't.
                              ah, we're back to "I'm rational and anyone who disagrees with me is not"
                              The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
                              Personal failures are too important to be trusted to others.

                              Comment

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