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Monthly Archives: May 2010
The Most Absurd Human Rights Violations (48): Making a Boy Touch Your Breasts is Worse Than Killing Him
A Twin Falls woman convicted of forcing a 13-year-old boy to touch her breasts was sentenced Monday to life in prison. Michelle Lyn Taylor, 34, was convicted of lewdness with a minor under 14 in November after a week-long trial … Continue reading
Posted in law, most absurd human rights violations
Tagged absurd, breasts, crime, human rights, human rights violations, pedophilia, sex, sex and human rights, sex crime, sex offenders
1 Comment
Political Jokes & Funny Quotes (87): Smoking in the Subway
This is supposed to be a real story, which makes it even better than a good joke: Morgenbesser was leaving a subway station in New York City and put his pipe in his mouth as he was ascending the steps. … Continue reading
Moral Dilemma (14): Lenman’s Dog
In an article in Philosophy and Public Affairs in 2000, James Lenman asks us to picture to following scenario: imagine it’s D-Day all over again and we must choose which beach in France we will use as the starting point … Continue reading
Posted in moral dilemmas, philosophy, war
Tagged animal rights, animal welfare, consequentialism, ethics, morality, utilitarianism
2 Comments
The Most Absurd Human Rights Violations (47): Great Firewall of China Untestable Because of Great Firewall of China
(source) I’ve talked before about the so-called catch 22 of human rights measurement. In order to measure whether countries respect human rights, there has to be already some level of respect for human rights. Organizations, whether international organizations or private organizations (NGOs, newspapers … Continue reading
The Causes of Poverty (37): Lack of Trade Liberalization
I’ve argued before that doing away with trade restrictions (especially in the agricultural sector) – such as subsidies (like the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy), import duties and other protectionist measures – would be a boost to the global struggle against … Continue reading
Terrorism and Human Rights (28): Torture and the Ticking Bomb
In 1987, a judicial commission of inquiry headed by former [Israeli] Supreme Court Justice Moshe Landau had reported that “moderate physical pressure” [by the Israeli General Security Services G.S.S.] was defensible in cases in which an interrogator “committed an act … Continue reading
Posted in international relations, terror, torture, war
Tagged israel, quote, slippery slope, ticking bomb
1 Comment
Capital Punishment (28): Extreme “Tinkering With the Machinery of Death” in the U.S.
The title of this blog post refers to a famous quote by former US Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun. It’s my belief that the U.S. Supreme Court, in its desire to both uphold capital punishment and simultaneously limit its … Continue reading
Posted in capital punishment, law
Tagged abolitionism, arbitrariness, Blackmun, crime, cruelty, culpability, death penalty, death row, deterrence, homicide, machinery of death, morality, murder, proportionality, racism, rape, scalia, supreme court
5 Comments
The Most Absurd Human Rights Violations (46): Bombs in Breast Implants
I really hope this isn’t true: Female homicide bombers are being fitted with exploding breast implants which are almost impossible to detect, British spies have reportedly discovered. The shocking new Al Qaeda tactic involves radical doctors inserting the explosives in … Continue reading
