Where is the Attempted Murder Charge?

Jay Beattie wrote:
snip
Except that jurors don't particularly like bicyclists.

Dan O wrote:
Jurors are supposed to be a cross section of society, right? Seems to
me a lot of folks I encounter don't have a clue about bicycles and the
law. Even if they do get boned up on the applicable law, they can't
begin to know what it is to Ride Bike.
snip

AMuzi wrote:
That way lies madness.
What's the end of it? Special juries of crackheads, of
big-block V8 owners, of compulsive texters or of sociopaths?

Dan O wrote:
I'm not suggesting stacked juries. - no way. Only observe that a
representative cross section of (US) society will not usually be
capable of sympathy for bicyclists. One would hope for
reasonableness, but I'd also like to see more of it out on the road.


A representative cross section doesn't always show mercy to
axe murderers either. But sometimes they do. Heck,
Blagojevich had a hung jury on all but one count last year
and may well get the deadlock free pass again this week.

I think juries ought to be the next 12 people on the voters'
list, period. Hyperselection has not proved to be any better
than randomness.

p.s I'm no expert, I just read the papers every day.
Jay? You out there?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

"Tºm Shermªn °_°" " wrote in message
...
[...]
Great wealth (aka filthy rich) often buys the privilege of being
anti-social/immoral without punishment, which is one of the best arguments
for progressive taxation, inheritance taxes, and taxes on wealth.

On the other hand, you never want to kill the goose that lays the golden
eggs, i.e., entrepreneurs. Follow Mr. Sherman's prescriptions and we will
all end up starving like the North Koreans.

As it is, the wealthy do in fact end up paying for most of the government of
this country. The poor end up paying little or nothing.

--
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

On 6/16/2011 11:54 PM, Edward Dolan wrote:
"T�m Sherm�n " wrote in message
...
[...]
Great wealth (aka filthy rich) often buys the privilege of being
anti-social/immoral without punishment, which is one of the best arguments
for progressive taxation, inheritance taxes, and taxes on wealth.

On the other hand, you never want to kill the goose that lays the golden
eggs, i.e., entrepreneurs. Follow Mr. Sherman's prescriptions and we will
all end up starving like the North Koreans.

Not when the "entrepreneurs" spend their time creating financial schemes
that create no added value, e.g. credit default swaps.

Or does Mr. Dolan believe that Enron is the corporate model to follow?

As it is, the wealthy do in fact end up paying for most of the government of
this country. The poor end up paying little or nothing.

As usual, Mr. Ed Dolan is wrong. He needs to stop listening to so much
talk radio and watching so much Faux Noos.

Billionaires in the US typically pay a smaller share of their total
income in taxes than the people gutting chickens done at the assembly
line slaughterhouse.

--
Tºm Shermªn - 42.435731,-83.985007
I am a vehicular cyclist.

In article
,
Andre Jute wrote:

On Jun 16, 9:35Â*am, Michael Press wrote:

So a bicyclist doesn't have to be on a busy road very long to be in
close proximity to a psychopath in charge of a moving lethal weapon.

Â* ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^

Are we supposed to guess what your problem is, Mikey? Or just hold our
breath until we grow old and die?

You quoted my message incorrectly.

My meaning is clear to a wordsmith of your
self-proclaimed attainments.

--
Michael Press

"Tºm Shermªn °_°" " wrote in message
...
On 6/16/2011 11:54 PM, Edward Dolan wrote:
"T?m Sherm?n " wrote in
message
...
[...]
Great wealth (aka filthy rich) often buys the privilege of being
anti-social/immoral without punishment, which is one of the best
arguments
for progressive taxation, inheritance taxes, and taxes on wealth.

On the other hand, you never want to kill the goose that lays the golden
eggs, i.e., entrepreneurs. Follow Mr. Sherman's prescriptions and we will
all end up starving like the North Koreans.

Not when the "entrepreneurs" spend their time creating financial schemes
that create no added value, e.g. credit default swaps.

Agreed!

Or does Mr. Dolan believe that Enron is the corporate model to follow?

Nope, but I do not believe that the European model is the one to follow
either.

As it is, the wealthy do in fact end up paying for most of the government
of
this country. The poor end up paying little or nothing.

As usual, Mr. Ed Dolan is wrong. He needs to stop listening to so much
talk radio and watching so much Faux Noos.

Fox News - fair and balanced! MSNBC - whores for Obama and the Dems.

Billionaires in the US typically pay a smaller share of their total income
in taxes than the people gutting chickens done at the assembly line
slaughterhouse.

Those working in the meat packing plants pay very little income tax. That is
the chief advantage of having a low income - no income tax. I should know
because I fall into that category myself. But my property taxes are killing
me!

By the way, Minnesota is playing an interesting role in the Repub primaries.
Usually Minnesota is infested with liberals wanting to be president (Eugene
McCarthy, Hubert Humphrey). Keep your eye on Bachmann. Even Pawlenty says a
few intelligent things from time to time although I partially blame him for
my high property taxes.

--
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

On 6/17/2011 1:40 AM, Michael Press wrote:
In article
,
Andre wrote:

On Jun 16, 9:35 am, Michael wrote:

So a bicyclist doesn't have to be on a busy road very long to be in
close proximity to a psychopath in charge of a moving lethal weapon.

^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^

Are we supposed to guess what your problem is, Mikey? Or just hold our
breath until we grow old and die?

You quoted my message incorrectly.

My meaning is clear to a wordsmith of your
self-proclaimed attainments.


Maybe Mr. Jute works at the Department of Redundancy Department?

--
Tºm Shermªn - 42.435731,-83.985007
I am a vehicular cyclist.

On 6/16/2011 9:39 PM, Dan O wrote:

Around here it doesn't take long to meet a cycling psychopath! we must
be somewhere between the US and GB, so say one out of every 150 cyclists
should be a psychopath. Saw one yesterday going over an overpass in
rush hour traffic on a three lane road with head phones on and popping a
wheelie with the cars all around him. Thought immediately of Dan on
drugs but he was "taking the lane" so ...

The first wheelie out of the driveway - being also a 90 degree turn -
tells me a lot about my particular balancing abilities ATM. If I
almost bite it there, I need to be careful. Completely sane behavior.

That's why I said "Dan on drugs" g It was the wheeljie that reminded
me of you, not the insane behavior. You're probably one of the saner
lurkers around here. You seem to enjoy riding a bike.

On 6/16/2011 10:11 PM, Dan O wrote:

Jurors are supposed to be a cross section of society, right? Seems to
me a lot of folks I encounter don't have a clue about bicycles and the
law. Even if they do get boned up on the applicable law, they can't
begin to know what it is to Ride Bike.


They may not know what it means to ride a bike but they probably can
think of lots of cases of cyclists blowing through red lights or stops
where they nearly killed one themselves. Even if it's not the average
behavior of cyclists, we don't tend to remember the average as well as
the unusual. Not sure how to fix that.

On Jun 17, 3:11*am, Dan O wrote:

Jurors are supposed to be a cross section of society, right? *

I presume the Jay won't let this pass, but just in case he doesn't --
it isn't quite correct. A jury is supposed to be your peers, and only
by inference to share your outlook, experience and morality. That's
most decidedly not "a cross-section of society", except by mental
acrobatics. In practice, I understand, even less so, since a large
section of society tries and succeeds in escaping jury duty. -- Andre
Jute

On Jun 17, 7:40*am, Michael Press wrote:
In article
,
*Andre Jute wrote:

On Jun 16, 9:35*am, Michael Press wrote:

So a bicyclist doesn't have to be on a busy road very long to be in
close proximity to a psychopath in charge of a moving lethal weapon..

* ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^

Are we supposed to guess what your problem is, Mikey? Or just hold our
breath until we grow old and die?

You quoted my message incorrectly.

Crap. I quoted your message *exactly* as it appeared in my newsreader.

My meaning is clear to a wordsmith of your
self-proclaimed attainments.

Of course your meaning is clear to me, Mikey, and I even made a joke
about it elsewhere on this board. But it is none of my business to
interpret your obstructive obtuseness to the world. -- AJ