Friday, October 3, 2008

Readers' Questions;"Libel Tourists"; Mark-to-Market

Readers Question, and I Answer
Q. Is law a basic code of ethics that all people are forced to live by? And is a man a bad person if his ethical code is not contingent with the law?

A. People break the law all the time and get away with it. Not because they are not caught, but because there are times when we are forced to disobey the law and obey the higher authority of our conscience. That is presuming our conscience is of a higher standard than even the law.

For example, a felon breaks the law by owning a gun, but then in his home he kills a mass murderer in the middle of the night who broke in. He must face the consequences of owning that gun, but if the prosecutor or the jury decide that this particular felon has owned the gun for 10 years and never fired it, they might find it justified and merely give him a slap on the wrist. Otherwise, if he's fired it before, he could go back to prison. Ethics are often accepted in law as being better than the law--if and when there is justification for it.



Q. What is your ideology of excellence? MORE


Islamo-fascists Use British Courts to Stop American Free Speech; Congress Fights Back


And from Act! For America

One of the most potent weapons that global jihadists have to advance their cause is one of the least-remarked: censorship.

Billionaire Saudi financier Khalid Salim bin Mahfouz, sued Rachel Ehrenfeld, founder and director of the American Center for Democracy, for libel: in her book, "Funding Evil," she wrote that he was involved in funding Hamas and al Qaeda.

bin Mahfouz denied that he had knowingly given any money to either. Taking advantage of British libel laws that place the burden of proof on the defendant, rather than the plaintiff, Mr. bin Mahfouz sued not in the United States, where Miss Ehrenfeld lives and published her book, but in Britain, where neither he nor Miss Ehrenfeld live and where his entire case depended upon a handful of copies sold in that country mostly through special orders from Amazon.com, and the appearance of one chapter of the book on the Internet, where it may have been read by British readers.

Britain's libel laws have given rise to the phenomenon of wealthy "libel tourists," who sue there on the slimmest British connection in order to ensure a favorable ruling.
"There has been a good deal of talk in recent weeks about imminent economic armageddon. In fact, this is far from being the end of capitalism. The frantic scrambling that is going on in Washington marks the passing of only one type of capitalism - the peculiar and highly unstable variety that has existed in America over the last 20 years. This experiment in financial laissez-faire has imploded."
So wrote the author of the blog "Circle of 13," http://circleof13.blogspot.com/2008/10/shattering-moment-in-americas-fall-from.html But it is not entirely true. It may have laissez faire in the sense that no one was interfering in what Wall Street was doing; but that would be extremely misleading. Washington set the rules first, then, perhaps, did not interfere in the meltdown that Washington itself set in motion.

"U.S. Rep. Candice Miller is calling for the elimination or suspension of some current accounting practices as a way to improve the situation on Wall Street.
"One of those, she said, is the elimination or suspension of so-called mark-to-market accounting practices in relation to mortgage-backed securities. Mark-to-market accounting rules require assets to be valued at their current market value on a company’s books – and many believe mortgage-backed securities’ values have actually fallen below their inherent worth." freep.com http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080930/BUSINESS07/80930061 "Buried within the furore that has gripped Wall Street and other markets around the world, a request was submitted to suspend the practice of mark-to-market ..." wrote Business Day. http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/companies.aspx?ID=BD4A854855

"Under the 'mark-to-market' rules banks value profits based on an estimation of future income based on a calculation of what would be raised if all loans and mortgages were sold in the market at the best possible price. "A number of politician and economists believe this practice has been a key factor in the decimation of the banking system because it does not reflect the true value of the assets in turbulent market conditions." citywire http://www.citywire.co.uk/professional/-/features/sector-watch/content.aspx?ID=316017 MORE




mailto:freeassemblage@gmail.com

http://freeassemblage.blogspot.com/

The Free Assemblage of Metaphysical Naturalists is the SM of the
The Free Assemblage of Metaphysical Naturalists LLC.
The Academy of Metaphysical Naturalism TM,
The Academy of Metaphysical Naturalism Blogger TM, and
Academy of Metaphysical Naturalism Blogger Extra TM
are the educational arms of the LLC and are:

© 2008 by Curtis Edward Clark and Naturalist Academy Publishing ®
blog comments powered by Disqus