Ethics

I don't understand how stuff like this happens: According to the suit, police arrested Jamie Lockard, 53, on suspicion of drunken driving in March. A Breathalyzer test showed he was under the legal limit, but Officer Brian Miller doubted the findings. Lockard and his attorney claim in the suit that police took him to Dearborn County Hospital and forced him to submit to a … [Read more...] about What Are the Medical Ethics of Forced Catheterization?

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." -- Winston ChurchillFor those of you who didn't follow it, an amendment to a bill in the US Senate was defeated this week, on a 58-aye, 39 nay vote.  (Yeah, I know that sound strange; another time, okay?)  You'll find a remarkably typical MSM take on it here, and, honest, I'd love … [Read more...] about Playing Catch Up

Is it ethical to sell-off a criminal's possessions to pay restitution to his victims? You'd certainly think so. After all, he took something from the victims, so he should have to give them back enough money to make up for what they lost. It's a basic case of making good for the damage done. When the crime is murder, of course, the victim isn't around any more, and money … [Read more...] about Restitution of Famous Murderers

My paying job has kept me too busy to blog much, but I've been thinking about a particular application of something Fernando Tesón wrote on Tuesday about how to distinguish between moral posturing and genuine moral principles: We propose The Display Test: a position is genuinely moral when the speaker can accept, without embarrassment, its bad consequences. For example, I am … [Read more...] about Moral Posturing About Richard Paey

When they kick at your front door How you gonna come? With your hands on your head Or on the trigger of your gun I recently ran across the above lyric somewhere on the web that I can no longer remember. You might think, as I did, that it sounds like a piece of gangsta rap about some gangbanger deciding between surrendering to the police or trying to shoot it out. In other … [Read more...] about Guns of Brixton