Subject: (Carney) Re U.S. cynical about government..... (fwd)
Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 105457 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To: emfguru <rbeavers@llion.org>
--------------------------------------------------
......A lawyer (and future judge) speaks out.......
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
rbeavers@llion.org................
...It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness...
.................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS...............
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 05 May 1999 07:11:35 -0600
From: Deb Carney
To: "Roy L. Beavers"
Cc: "Hislop, Al"
Subject: Re: U.S. cynical about government.....
I think that the Supreme Court bears a responsiblility for this cynicism by
allowing judges to throw out expert testimony based upon criteria such as
"scientific consensus". Here is what that means. During the time of Galeleo,
the scientific consensus was that the world was flat. Galeleo would not have
gotten to even present his ideas to the jury because his view of the world was
a minority opinion. But Galeleo spoke the truth.
The courts must be places where we seek the truth, no matter how unpopular. I
do believe that juries can decide these issues if scientists and lawyers strive
to communicate accurately and effectively.
If all society lived by the tyranny of scientific consensus, we would not move
forward. It is those scientists who work on the creative edge, who make the
discoveries, take the heat and ultimately make the difference.
Deb
"Roy L. Beavers" wrote:
> Hi everybody:
>
> ....In the article below, one of our Supreme Court Justices
> complains ("worries") about the cynicism of the American public.....
>
> ....I suggest that the Supreme Court shares in the blame contributing
> to America's cynicism. The court's rulings on "campaign finances"
> (equating $$$$$$ to 'free speech') have helped to turn our government over
> to the BIG $$$$$$ spenders......
>
> Cheerio.....
>
> Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
> rbeavers@llion.org................
> ...It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness...
> .................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS...............
>
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> 12:31 PM ET 05/04/99
>
> Breyer: America Cynical About Gov't
>
> By RICHARD CARELLI=
> Associated Press Writer=
> WASHINGTON (AP) _ Americans may be too apathetic or cynical
> about their government to bother carrying on the democratic
> decision-making the Constitution envisioned, according to Supreme
> Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer.
> ``I worry about indifference and cynicism because indifference
> means nonparticipation and cynicism means a withdrawal of trust,''
> Breyer said in a speech prepared for delivery to a Law Day luncheon
> of the Tulsa, Okla., Bar Association today.
> An advance text of his speech was made available by his office.
> ``It does not bother me when I read that the public is less
> aware of the names of Supreme Court justices than of the Three
> Stooges,'' Breyer said.
> ``But it does bother me when I read that more teen-agers can
> name the Three Stooges than can name the three branches of the
> federal government; or that three times as many know that '90210'
> stands for Beverly Hills than that 'the birthplace of the
> Constitution' stands for Philadelphia,'' he said.
> Breyer also cited statistics indicating that although 80 percent
> of Americans in 1964 said they trusted the government, only 35
> percent say so today.
> The Constitution, Breyer said, ``creates a method for making
> decisions; it then leaves decision-making to the democracy that it
> creates.''
> ``For this reason, too, the Constitution not only foresees
> participation by the public, it demands that participation,'' he
> said. ``For without trust and participation, the Constitution
> cannot work.''
> Breyer, 60, joined the nation's highest court in August of 1994
> and remains its most junior justice.
> ``I confess to a few butterflies in my stomach the first year or
> two,'' Breyer said. ``Indeed, I keep thinking of a New Yorker
> cartoon. ... A circus dog is about to set out, very gingerly, upon
> a tightrope while a clown below unfolds a scroll. It says: 'All Rex
> could think about when he stepped out upon the high wire was that
> he was a very old dog and this was a brand-new trick.'''
> The passage of time, Breyer said, has made him less anxious.
> ``It has given me more experience interpreting the Constitution ...
> enabled me to try to develop consistent approaches to its various
> parts and begin better to understand the document as an integrated
> whole.''
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html