Justice 4/23/2010

 I know I will be writing on this again, but today's thought comes from Luke 16:10:

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithfuo also in much; and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

The Catholic Study Bible that is here in the place of my incarceration has this rendition:

The person who is trustworthy very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.

Interesting how the King James Version has justice, where the Oxford University's New American Bible has honesty. I do not recall thinking of justice in terms of honesty/dishonesty. More often, justice gets portrayed as fairness. Yet is not dishonesty unfair and honesty equates fairness?

Let me tell you why I found this quote so interesting is it evoked memories of several judges. Want to know why lawyers burnout - it is because of judges. Judges who decide to order shared parenting regardless of fairness to the children's welfare - because they can. Judges who rule a questionable issue against the party least capable of appealing the issue. Appellate court judges turning a blind eye to the trial court stupidity or incompetence, or bias, by finding harmless error - piling those harmless error s high into the sky.

Yet, the judges do much of this out of the fear of being voted out of office and finding work away from the public teat. In this they are no different from any other politicians. Still, let us not call it justice.

The public lacks any ability to think about these issues. The public consists of a mob whipped up by the demagoguery and the politicians. 

Some day, someone will get the idea that elderberries pose a threat to the public. The media will take up the issue, amplifying the din without examining the substance of the issue - muttering to do so would be impartial journalism. Other parts of the media will join in the noise, terrified of missing the story and its market share and advertising dollars, as a dog having caught the scent of a bitch in heat fears he will not find her in time. The noise getting more intense reinforces and increase's the populace's fear and attention, even if it does not increase the populace's knowledge about elderberries. (yes, the population could educate themselves about elderberries if they had a computer and could understand how to use a search engine to educate themselves. It seems most people have a computer as a large paper weight or a tool for self-pleasure in social media.) With all the noise from media and population acting in a nasty synchronicity, the politicians pass a law which they convince the median and the populace solves the elderberry problem. Woe unto them that when this does not solve the elderberry problem, but gives the government so much power to deal with elderberries, they can also wiretap your telephone without a warrant. The sheep bleat constitutional rights are only for criminals.

In the end, we get the justice equals the justice we give. Honesty in the American legal system begins with us, the people. Until we come clean with our expectations and the expectations of American law, there will be no honesty or fairness or justice. What we will have is the frightened hitting out at what they think will chase away their fears. Does that not sound like some ignorant tribe of savages praying that their shaman will save them?

sch