Court Quotes, Volume I, Issue 3 - What Not To Say

I found today's issue of court quotes on "Thursday Drive." It describes an event from the 1970s. After enduring six years of mental torture and physical abuse, a pair of sisters are adopted by their truly evil stepmother:

The judge stepped down from the bench and came over to where we stood with our attorney, clustered around a wooden table. The moment was celebratory. He had just approved Sue’s adoption of my sister and me.

'Congratulations,' the judge said as he reached out to shake my hand. 'Now she can spank you legally.'

Horrible! Incredibly insensitive. I'll grant it's possible that he didn't know and had no reason to suspect the girls were being abused. But wouldn't you try to curb making 'jokes' like that anyway? Judges aren't (normally) psychic, but that only illustrates why they shouldn't presume everything is 'fine.'

Why Can't We Be Friends?

We heard a great "gypsy jazz" band at a brunch at Chautauqua last week:

It was great. (I just said it was great twice. My brain hurts. Maybe it's cancer.)

I'm sitting at an internet cafe, writing a response to a 12(b)(6) and 56 motion in a case that should never have happened. The defendants are at war with each other and they don't care who gets hurt in the process. It reminds me of the massive brawl scene in the movie "Semi-Pro," set to the tune of "Why Can't We Be Friends?" The motion takes eight pages to say "it's the other guy's fault" and then twist the truth like a pretzel. Eight pages. Eeeeeevil.