Weblog at the End of the World

So maybe I am being too hard on the profession. But I am not being too hard on the professionals. Attorneys ought to know better than to duck discovery orders. They ought to know better than to do so, then claim incomplete discovery as a basis for not going ahead with trial. They ought to know better than to raise frivolous defenses, and threaten frivolous motions, when they know they are frivolous. They ought to know better than to tell their opponents one thing out of court, then say something entirely different when they get to court. They ought to know better than to communicate to the court without their opponents present, or carbon-copied. They ought to keep their word. They ought not to do whatever it takes to win a case despite ethical considerations. They should be civil, and polite, and fair. They really aren't, though. This is why the profession is less esteemed than it ought to be. I don't blame the profession, per se, just the so-called professionals who are increasingly practicing it.

Anyone who has practiced law for long enough knows that, after about ten years, you either make partner and want to kill yourself, or quit the profession and want to kill yourself. The only advantage of the former is that the money pays the bills, whereas leaving the profession entails the risk of starvation. It is not a profession for the kind, the gentle, the wise, the idealistic, the naive, the short, the tall, the excessively stressed, the narcoleptic, the blue-eyed, the left-handed, the liberal... you get the picture. Everyone burns out. Don't pretend it's not so. The constant back-biting, the plotting, the scheming, the weaseling out a victory at nearly all costs, it gets to you. Know what I mean? I have successfully left it all behind, for now, and do not miss the nastiness of my opposing counsel. The obstreperousness, the downright lying I had to put up with every day. I do not miss the fear that others were plotting against me, withholding the truth, devising schemes and stories to get good cases kicked out of court. What really burned me up is the sheer impossibility of anyone in the wrong ever just admitting it. Sure, they settle on the eve of trial, but that's an economic decision. It grates on you to constantly hear clients and lawyers tell you they just are not to blame for anything that went wrong, and they shouldn't pay for it either. I am a big civil libertarian, and part of that means actually taking responsibility for one's actions. I am partly to blame for how badly I hated practicing law: I was too trusting, too naive, to idealistic in the notion that people actually want justice. They don't.

My significant other is now looking to get out too. She is attempting to join the Red Cross so she can actually do some good in society. Think about it. She is willing to be made the target of actual bombs, and ammunition, in order to leave the profession. Wow.

Right now, Dean has everything to lose. He stands poised to win New Hampshire handily, enjoying a nearly 15 point lead over Kerry, and is tied with Gephardt in Iowa. Gephardt needs Iowa to survive. He has no money, and needs momentum from a good showing there. Dean can still win without Iowa, but Iowa would lock it up for him. Kerry has faded well into the background, and his poor showing in NH so far, his backyard geographically, ought to tell him something. Dean has money, and momentum from a NH and then an IA win would propel him to victory handily. Now, the good news. He polls at 49 to 43 behind Bush right now. This is even better than centrists like Kerry and Lieberman poll. If he comes out of the primaries with the kind of money he has been raising, he need only close a 6 point deficit in about 9 months. That is certainly possible. The fly in the ointment will remain some sort of real or concocted national security emergency to rally support behind Shrub at the last minute.

Judge Scalia is just the latest justice to completely misinterpret this nation's supposed "judeo-Christian" history. He gets it part-right, the group he recently trashed gays in front of stands for: "enhanc[ing] the rising generation's knowledge of our nation's founding principles — limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, free enterprise..." So, any consistent and honest person would say that limited government, individual liberty and personal responsibility dictate that we ought to keep the government out of our bedrooms. Instead, the hard right want government only to be involved in our personal, sexual decisions, and decisions about our bodies, and nothing else.

Here's an interesting point: the Bush family seems more concerned with feeding people who want to die with dignity than those who want to live. This whole case is being fought by those in the Christian right to promote their Right to Life agenda. Anytime the State steps in to keep a heart beating, despite quality of life issues, it is a win for them. Anytime the State interferes to prevent someone dying with dignity, it is a win for them. In the meantime, individual liberty and dignity lose.

Here is why America is reviled:

Conservatives Back Gen. in Remarks Flap
Mon Oct 20, 6:58 PM ET

By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press Writer



WASHINGTON - Religious conservatives in Congress are defending a Pentagon general who referred to the war on terror as a Christian fight against Satan.

In remarks many consider demeaning to Islam, Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin has told church audiences his mission is "a battle with Satan." The struggle, Boykin said, is "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian ... and the enemy is a guy named Satan." Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., drafted a letter Monday asking Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld not to discipline Boykin, saying that elected officials and military leaders have talked about God and spiritual matters throughout U.S. history. "As elected officials serving in the United States Congress, we recognize the vital importance our personal faiths play in helping us make decisions," Tiahrt wrote. "We ask that any actions taken in response to Lt. Gen. Boykin's remarks not, in any way, intimidate the free religious exercise of his faith."

Will anyone know who won? Diebold had made new computer-controlled voting machines, with touchscreens, etc., designed to avoid the hanging chad problems in Florida 2000. But now, there is no paper trail. There is no way to verify the results. And Diebold is a huge Republican contributor, and Republican Chuck Hagel is a big stockholder... Click here to see how the election will be won, without chads, without a paper trail, and entirely by fraud. Aberrations in mid-term election results should make us wonder if the fraud has already been successful.

The latest poll in New Hampshire has Dean at 30%, Kerry at 17% and Clark at 10%. NH is the first primary, on January 27, 2004. It underscores the uncontrovertable fact that boots on the ground mean everything at this stage. Dean's organization is tops, right now, and he has bucket loads of cash from his grassroots, internet campaign. Kerry and Clark have a big game of catch-up to play. Traditional wisdom has the winner of New Hampshire and Iowa locking it up, so Dean has to ensure he also gets Iowa, which so far leans his way. Clark is planning to make inroads there, and bypass NH, but this is a risky strategy. It's playing out so far as I thought it would. Clark is eating into Kerry's support, spliting the national security vote, while Deanies remain faithful. Stay tuned. it's gonna get interesting.

"Where's the outrage?" baffled supreme hypocrite Bennett asked when people didn't riot in the streets upon learning that Clinton boffed an intern. Well, I am asking the same thing. The same week we learned that the White House jeopardized lives and its crusade against terror in an act of political revenge, and that lackey and wowser (look it up) Ashcroft was heading the investigation of the crime that likely involves at some level the Svengali Rove who once worked for Ashcroft, Bush's poll numbers went from 50 to 55 approval. WTF? I mean WTF.??? My escape plans to Canada remain viable, and seem ever increasingly necessary as time goes by....

More illegality from the team that promised to bring honesty and integrity back. besides the ever unfolding CIA leak debacle, what we also call "treason" in legalese, it seems the DoD might be behind an unlawful use of the military for political purposes. In the midst of a high profile PR front to put a happier face on the regular death toll, political backlash, and security failures in Iraq, form letters have been turning up in newspaper editorial offices, allegedly from soldiers in Iraq, all praising our efforts, and also completely identical.

Wes Clark came under fire at last night's debate, apparently. The frontrunner will always draw the big fire. I wonder if Clark entered to take flak for Dean, then side up with him as his veep? I'm still dreaming so.

and yet Condi is on the road, touting the Kay report as proof that we had to go to war...

http://www2.observer.com/observer/pages/conason.asp

it's a bit like Alice in Wonderland, where words mean exactly what I say they mean...

California, Uber Alles!

NEWS FLASH: California has just invaded Poland. Film at Eleven.

my condolences, California.....

Well, the Bills finally pulled out of the slump they shouldn't have been in, in a very dramatic and unpleasant way. I have watched them play for too long. It's been season upon season of gut-wrentching, year-deducting, heart-stopping overtimes with them. Of course, they shouldn't have gone down early to the Bengals, and they shouldn't have depended upon a field goal to tie it up, and that overtime win was way too much for me. I remember hearing my dad watch them play way back when, and listening to his groans of agony and disgust, and then, watching them yesterday in my newly renovated rec-room football den, I realized I was making dad-noises.

It almost seems too good to be true. Now Rush Limbaugh is on the ropes. Of course, his most ardent fans will forgive him, but it will be nice to watch him squirm. Hopefully, he will do jail time. I think it would give him a much needed opportunity to mingle with folks he so quickly ridicules, and to gain some perspective on life, don't ya think?

With all that's been going on recently, between Arnie, Rush, and Bush, I am hoping that the chickens are finally coming home to roost. Which make me nervous, because there will either be a terrorist attack or a war. It's the only way they can maintain their fake hegemony.

I am getting seriously nervous... Condi and Powell have unintentionally blown the cover on the big Iraq Lie given the unearthing of their statements in 2001 explictly noting that Iraq posed NO THREAT. Now, the White House sits on the verge of a controversy that may be worse than Watergate: the outing of the CIA operative wife of Ambassador Wilson as an act of political revenge. Of course, it was Rove. Nothing happens in the Bush White House without Rove's approval. It reeks of this Atwater protege's tactics and nastiness. I am getting nervous. The Bushies are in the midst of the Perfect Storm of politics, as their policies unravel, the economy and Iraq in shambles, and the tactics of the bullies in the White House being exposed for what they are... I get nervous when things look bad for Bush, because it means either a terrorist attack, or a war, or both....