March 24, 2008

"My Pa's smarter'n your Pa." "Oh yeah, prove it."

"You say Bigfoot don't exist? Prove it!"

We've all heard arguments like these. The first one places the burden of proof on the one who makes the assertion. It's called Logic 101. Western jurisprudence is based on the premise that a person is innocent unless someone can prove him guilty.

The second is an argument from irrationality, which demands that a person perform the logical impossibility of proving a negative.

The second argument is winning.

Shifting the burden of proof onto the accused makes life easier for governmentcrats everywhere.

From an AP article:

Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday accused critics of "corrupt and shameless" revisionism in suggesting the White House misled the nation in a rush to war. "We never had the burden of proof," he said, adding that it had been up to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to prove to the world that he didn't have such weapons.

Pre-war Baghdad, Iraqi Presidential palace, Saddam Hussein addresses UN weapons inspectors:

This first slide doesn’t show the gigantic caves that we didn't dig into the sides of mountains where we didn't hide the chemical weapons that we don't have. This next slide doesn’t show the steel and concrete bunkers that are not cleverly concealed beneath sand dunes where we don't hide the biological weapons that we don't have. And this is not a metal canister that does not contain a deadly nuclear dirty bomb that we haven't developed. So there, ladies and gentlemen, is your negative proof that we don't have weapons of mass destruction.

From the Washington Post:

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that parents of special-education students disputing proposed instructional plans for their children have the burden of proving why the plans are inadequate.

Judgment finding for the parents:

Well now, Mr. And Mrs. Normal Shmo, your six-year-old son drooled on himself, wet his diapers, and babbled incoherently. You wanted to raise him at home with love and personal attention, but he was forcibly taken from you by Federal Meddlecrats from the Department of We Know Best and placed in a postmodern holistic psychotherapeutic special-ed group home. Today, your forty-six year old son drools on himself, wets his diapers, and babbles incoherently. You have met the burden of proof that the government's plans were inadequate. Take your kid home.

From a New York Times article:

In a reversal of usual trial rules in which the burden of proof is on the prosecution, the judge told the jury that it was up to the defense to prove that Mr. Gotti had completely withdrawn from the crime family.

Everyday fallout from the John Gotti judicial ruling:

Sir, I'm giving you a citation for driving while intoxicated. Sobriety check? No, we don't need to give you a breathalyzer or a blood test. The burden of proof will be on you to prove to the judge that you were sober when I stopped you. Probable cause? Our town needs the seven hundred bucks or so this whole hassle will cost you. Your rights? What are you, some kind of libertarian? Now I’m ticketing you for a broken taillight. It isn't broken? Well, of course you will have to prove to the judge that it wasn't broken before I walked back to my patrol car. Have a pleasant evening.

Crack!

From an opinion column by Robin Mullins Boyd:

Unlike San Francisco, Savannahians are still allowed to keep guns in their home. Not one single gun in Savannah has jumped off the shelf, loaded itself with ammunition and hopped down the street spreading death and destruction.

Future news story from the San Francisco Chronic Cull:

The city's leading citizens are holding around-the-clock vigils, mystified by the ever-increasing gun violence despite laws banning citizen ownership of guns, hundreds of police confiscation raids and ongoing buy-back programs. Small groups of aging hippies, liberal yuppies, psychic channelers and many other New Age spiritual energy junkies take turns gathering in the downtown police armory. There, they never take their eyes off of a table holding only a handgun and a single bullet.

"We know that criminals can't possibly be getting guns," explains Councilwoman Crystal Aura (Virgo – Haight-Ashbury Precinct), a transgendered born-again Wiccan holistic astrologer, "because we've ritualistically banished guns. But we know that evil has its own energy." Others murmur in agreement between mantras and Tantric chants. "The burden of proof that guns will not load themselves and hurt someone is on the guns themselves. We will be watching."

(Originally published here)

Garry Reed's articles have appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, LP News and other print and online publications.

Copyright -- Garry Reed
The Loose Cannon Libertarian

Archives

The War on Peanuts

The state of the State of Columbia

A Paean to Political Patriotism

The war against law-abiding citizens

The Stupidification of America

Ten reasons to love global warming

America needs Gun Control ... for Bureaucrats

Yelling 'Peace' in a Crowded Classroom