Americans, perhaps because they have a guilty conscience, think of the IRS as being omniscient.

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For an eater suffering from a guilty conscience, a spoonful of vitamins makes the fattening food go down.

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The plaintiffs also have to show executives acted with scienter, or guilty conscience.

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While it makes for a nice sound bite to console those with a guilty conscience, IT IS A LIE .

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Australia well might since it has a particularly guilty conscience about the East Timorese: though they fought in the second world war to help prevent a Japanese invasion of Australia, the Australians ever nervous of their big neighbour shamefully broke western ranks to recognise Indonesia's rule of the annexed territory.

ECONOMIST: The tragedy of East Timor | The