. . .
K “Economists are indifferent to honesty yet revere efficiency as a fetish. Look at how inefficient the practice and pursuit of dishonesty is in our daily lives. I have enough experience and am confident that one out of every ten of her statements is false. Confirming the veracity of her statements consumes resources, both in time and money. Of her ten statements, which one is false? The seventh statement? The second statement? The fifth statement is the one in the middle and surely must be false. Surely. Probably. Possibly. Likely.”
J “If you cannot rely on the veracity of every statement, then you cannot rely on the veracity of any statement.”
K “The dilemma. The expensive dilemma. After nine honest statements, the next statement must be a lie. Then, if or when it is a lie, can I rely on the next nine statements as truth? However, the very next statement may be a lie followed perhaps by nine honest statements.”
J “They are right. Inefficiency is so inefficient.”
. . .
K “I have seen the handiwork of a judge who probably is not a fundamentally dishonest person who nonetheless wrote at least one blatantly dishonest decision. He could not know. And I know the truth, the facts and the law. If that is the only data, is the judge accurately characterized as dishonest?”
J “If someone is dishonest only ten percent of the time, is the person honest?”
. . .
J “Joe DiMaggio said ‘There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time, I owe him my best.’ The judge did not care that you would only be seeing him once.”
K “And no camera lights were on him to keep him honest.”
J “When you get right down to it, someone who is dishonest only ten percent of the time is presumptively dishonest.”
K “Challenging the presumption is expensive, both in time and money. Over the decades I have discovered that judges, all on the public payroll in America, are more dishonest more of the time than any other profession except real estate agents and used car salesmen.”
J “They are in the private sector and are expected to cant their sales pitch. Judges may forget that they are in the public sector and are paid by the public.”
K “Their power is unchecked. There is no ethos of ethics or honesty in America today.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “On Standards & Quality (July 20, 2015)”, “The Court Of Truth And Justice (CTJ) (August 29, 2016)”, “Assigning Blame: The Lawyers: 50 Percent; The Non-Lawyer Public: 50 Percent; The Judges: 100 Percent (December 3, 2012)” and “Perjury, the American Way (February 20, 2006).”
Bumper stickers of the week:
If it feels good, do it
“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.” Friedrich Nietzsche (?)
e-commentary 