12. desember 2002

Here goes the neighbourhood "U.S. officials say Iran building two large nuclear facilities in secret that might be used to build nuclear weapons." (CNN) 11:23:15 PM    comment []

Increased pressure on Cardinal Law A Catholic reform group decided to call for Cardinal Law's resignation, adding to the voices of dissent against the leader of the scandal plagued Boston Archdiochese. The cardinal (picture) is accused of mishandling the numerous sexual abuse cases among Catholic priests. Law has spent the last week in a surprise visit to the Vatican in Rome, mounting speculation that he discusses resignation, or get approval for declaring the archdiecese bankrupt in the face of growing litigation. Sexual abuse of children has been prevalent among priests in a number of Christian churches. Considering that the clergy are supposedly the most spiritual and holy men in the churches, what does this say about Christianity's claim to be particularly moral? It is amazing that any Christian can even hint at  holding the moral high ground in face of these facts. 4:16:19 PM    comment []

About high time A four year old girl in Massachusetts gave her teacher a bag of weed as a gift. The mother denies all knowledge of the drugs, but a complaint of abuse or negligence has been filed. 7:34:07 AM    comment []

Thoughts on Gutnick decision The Australian High Court's decision to allow Joseph Gutnick to sue Dow Jones, an American publisher, in a court in Australia over alleged defamation is received with anger worldwide. Obviously, if such decisions are made in courts around the world, there is no end to what a publisher, small or large, can risk by putting his or her words on the Internet. This may especially hurt smaller publishers, who do not have resources to fight lawsuits overseas, and chill free speech also in areas which do not have the strict libel laws of Australia. Furthermore, what is to prevent courts in applying local standards on any legal challenge to a published article. Standards for what is considered 'obscene', 'indencent', 'infalmmatory' or 'blasphemic' vary from place to place. This blog, for example, is routinely all of the above somewhere. It is becoming painfully obvious that the court systems are relics from ancient times, and that the old saying about lawyers 'their minds are being made sharp by being made narrow' is very true. There are checks on the executive and legislative powers, but the checks on the judicial system are proving inefficient as long as the courts are creating their own laws as they go. Courts are becoming more and more intrusive in private affairs, in politics (e.g. how Bush became president) and in business and technology (e.g. Microsoft lawsuits; DMA, Napster, and as a counterpoint: CDA). There is simply no check on the legal power. Once the laws are in the books, no matter the motivations behind them, the courts are essentially free to do as they please. At least this case has given us an explanation of the expression 'kangaroo court.' 2:13:12 AM    comment []

Ariane 5 exploded after takeoff The launch of Europe's new super-rocket Ariane 5-ESCA was a decisive failure, as the super-rocket exploded 3 minutes after takeoff, taking with it 2 satellites and most of the confidence people had in Europe's space programme. 12:31:23 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.01.03; 04:00:06.