Re: Eliot Spitzer, antismoking leader, self-destructs

On Fri, 21 Mar 2008 06:19:05 -0700 (PDT), Alistair
<alistair@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>> So with these three choices - An Islamic terrorists, a Patriotic
>> soldier, and a wacko psychotic - are caught and brought to justice -
>> how should the consequences vary?
>>
>> I have noted before that the person who commits road rage is a greater
>> danger to society than the person who commits cold-blooded murder for
>> insurance.
>
>And more people slip and die in their baths than are killed in
>terrorist acts each year but there is no war on bathtubs.

In this subthread about intent, I suppose it is whether a bathtub
maker is more liable for intentional slippery tubs than for
unintentional slippery tubs.   Seeing how the tobacco industry was
finally brought down, I suspect so.

We like to punish who we think are bad more than others who do the
same thing but who we think are good.   That's about punishment, not
about safety.

The book _Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of
Everything_, by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner is quite fun. One
stat that he brings forth is that your kid is in significantly greater
danger if you live next to someone with a swimming pool than if you
live next to someone with a gun.    

Some of this is helplessness - we get real upset when we read about
some Mad Cow meat getting through - while having much more dangerous
food practices at home.