Saturday, March 20, 2010

"Authoritarianism is a disease of the mind. It criminalizes the act of asking 'why?" - Cory Doctorow.

Peter Watts may serve two years for failing to promptly obey a customs officer - Boing Boing:
"That's apparently the statute: if you don't comply fast enough with a customs officer, he can beat you, gas you, jail you and then imprison you for two years. This isn't about safety, it isn't about security, it isn't about the rule of law. It's about obedience.

Authoritarianism is a disease of the mind. It criminalizes the act of asking 'why?' It is the obedience-sickness that turns good people into perpetrators and victims of atrocities great and small."
An educated jury would have gone with jury nullification -
"...the first Chief Justice of the United States, John Jay, wrote: "[i]t is presumed, that juries are the best judges of facts; it is, on the other hand, presumed that courts are the best judges of law. But still both objects are within your power of decision… you [juries] have a right to take it upon yourselves to judge of both, and to determine the law as well as the fact in controversy". State Of Georgia v. Brailsford, 3 U.S. 1, 4 (1794)"

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