All would be well IF we had a King Solomon of this era....we don't. Laws in general are created for those who create them.
On Jan 27, 8:29 am, archytas <[email protected]> wrote: > There has been an announcement in the UK today that we are about to > allow the seizure of passports and driving licences by "bureaucrats" > without recourse to courts. This is in order to pursue non-payers of > child support. NZ and Oz already allow this. I feel queasy - many > working in child support are not even bureaucrats - they work for > management agencies for low pay at "arms length". My own analysis is > that the "little things", properly exposed, show that our legal > bureaucracies are often the problem, not any kind of cure. I was > watching some dreadful Argentinian bureaucrat a couple of nights ago > who was lauding his department's expansion (International Court of > Justice or somesuch) to employ 500 - he couldn't even see that the > fact this has taken 5 years and only now is one person in front of the > court is the failure. Even at the level of child support non-payment, > one wonders why we have no quick systems to deal with antisocial scum > and yet have "prioritised" this area. One might say that what we need > is access to justice not to current legal systems and delay. There > are clear problems with terms like "due process" and its secrecy. It > always seems to me (except very rarely) that rationality and > transparency have already been booted out of our systems before > dialogue - and that dialogue as Molly defined it recently, is already > displaced by many tricks including vagueness in law. > > On 27 Jan, 04:36, ornamentalmind <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Yes Neil, and little things like the following: > > >http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/01/26/Report_Halliburton_to_pay_559_... > > > Report: Halliburton to pay $559 million > > Published: Jan. 26, 2009 at 4:50 PM > > > WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- The Haliburton company has agreed to pay > > $559 million to settle U.S. charges one of its subsidiaries bribed > > Nigerian officials, industry observers say. > > > The alleged bribery involved the awarding of contracts for the > > construction of a gas plant, The Wall Street Journal reported. > > > The Journal said the amount would be the largest paid by a U.S. > > company in a bribery investigation, far more than the record $44 > > million fine against U.S. oil-field services firm Baker Hughes Inc. in > > 2007 for alleged improper payments in Kazakhstan. > > > The reported settlement amount would still be less than that collected > > from Germany's Siemens AG, which agreed in December to pay $800 > > million in U.S. fines. The fines settled bribery investigations > > involving alleged payments worldwide to government officials to win > > contracts. > > > Neither Baker nor Siemens admitted to the allegations as part of the > > settlements. > > > The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment on the Halliburton > > case, and Halliburton, an oil-field services company, declined to say > > whether it would admit the charges in the proposed settlement, the > > Journal said. > > > The report said investigations are continuing in Europe and Nigeria. > > > On Jan 26, 6:57 pm, archytas <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > I travelled a lot doing "transition economics" for the World Bank and > > > others as the Soviet Empire collapsed - this was basically just some > > > bull I learned to get me on this particular bandwagon. Once violent > > > conflict between groups has subsided, or some vile regime has > > > collapsed, what is the best way to make a transition to civil society? > > > Do former enemies need to ‘come to terms with their past’ if they are > > > to live peacefully? If such a reckoning is required, what are the > > > strategies of transition available to the parties? An almost total > > > disbeliever in "economics" of any kind, I used to speak on the field > > > of transitional justice, which involves the philosophical, legal and > > > political investigation of the aftermath of wars, cold and otherwise. > > > The history and difficulties associated with the operation of the two > > > most important transitional policies: war crime tribunals and truth > > > commissions - or the desire amongst the formerly suppressed to avoid > > > continuing the "war" through revenge. There is a tension between a > > > desire for calm after war or regime collapse and the importance of > > > putting human rights violators on trial, the need, as part of a > > > political transition, to create a reliable historical record of past > > > abuses, the promise and limitations of international criminal law and > > > the coherence of forgiveness in politics. > > > > There is much work on the difficulties associated with war crime > > > tribunals, the dilemmas involved in the operation of truth commissions > > > and the possibility of forgetting as a response to mass atrocity - we > > > often say we can forgive but not forget, but frankly our memories and > > > history are generally pathetic. Generally, if we need a 'new way', > > > how do we go about ensuring, as far as we can, that we don't just let > > > old default squabbles ruin any chance we have?- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
