Peace Negotiations Between Taliban, U.S. & Afghanistan

Last week representatives of the Taliban, U.S. and Afghani tribes had a round table discussion about the merits of a Taliban rule or a U.S. democracy as a government model for Afghanistan. Both the Taliban and the U.S. were trying to sell the Afghani rep on their own paradigm.

U.S. Rep. : Mr Afghani we want a democracy in Afghanistan.

Afghani Rep. : What will democracy bring and what will it cost me?

U.S. Rep. : First, we will stop bombing you. Second , democracy will bring law and order because we will send our lawyers to train your new lawyers. Thirdly we will show you how to share your wealth with people who don't work as hard as you do. The cost will be about 30% of your present daily income in cash to achieve both goals.

Afghani Rep. : I don't have cash. Can fruits and vegetables and my personal service be used in place of cash?

U.S. Rep. : No a democracy needs cash. We need the illusion of wealth and something that can be put in a sack in case the lawyers and pols have to leave town quickly and start a new democracy somewhere else.

Afghani Rep. : So I give real produce and get worthless paper in return.

Afghani Rep. : Mr. Taliban Rep. What do you want?

Taliban Rep. : All we ask is for you to let your hair grow, don't educate your women and for this we will cut you in on our drug business profits that lives off of the disenchantment of voters in democracies around the world.

Afghani Rep. : Where do I sign?

Problem Attorneys : Final Solution

Ira Sorkin is a friend, investor and attorney for Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff. Sorkin presumably lost money with his investments in Madoff securities. But now Sorkin will defend Madoff against all criminal charges. I don't know what passes for normal friendship between shady consenting Jewish operators but they are still talking. Of course Ira is talking and Bernie is paying. Ira Sorkin is the quintessential form of attorney. Cheating and lying friends will not stop him from defending those same friends so they may delay or escape justice. There is one caveat: "Innocent until proven broke".

Here in San Francisco our Yellow Pages have 76 pages of attorneys ! There is no other professional category in the Yellow Pages that even comes close to that count. This fact begs the question," Are there any barriers to becoming an attorney?" The underlying fact that supports this legal infestation is the legal system rewards delay and by extension this includes rewarding lying and outright incompetence. No other professional pursuit rewards delay. Consequently the carrer attracts morally ambivalent people who can also be incompetent. One only needs an abundance of greed to succeed in the legal profession.

What's to be done to solve this predation? I'm intrigued by an old African rights of manhood ritual. This ritual happened before the European colonials and Bill Gates showed up. The custom was for young men to kill a lion with a spear ( my sympathy is with the lion). Then he would be considered a man worthy of respect from the tribe.

How about introducing a variation on that custom here in the U.S.? To wit, in the pursuit of real-time justice and to shed political correctness young men and women should be encouraged to slay attorneys with a weapon of choice to prove a break from childhood. Maybe a higher mark of ranking could be given if the slain lawyer was Jewish.

Moderation As A Goal

Too much of anything is bad.

Too much credit led to home buyers having only to sign a contract to assume title to multi-hundreds of thousand dollar houses. Even the stock buyers that led to the Crash of '29 had to put down at least 10%. And so todays foreclosures and credit crunch are a direct result of criminally-loose credit requirements.

Too many laws lead to a forsaking of the spirit of laws to a following of the fine points of laws or what is not technically covered. Consider San Francisco's legal profession community . Attorneys in S.F. take up 42 pages of fine print in the Yellow Pages. In contrast there are only 6 pages of electricians. And what do we get for all this legal "protection" from these roving hyenas? We get a "sanctuary city" where young, illegal, criminal immigrants are are allowed to grow up shielded from federal law enforcement so they can commit adult crimes. A society can exist with a spirit of fair play but not with a conniving legal- law-breaking mentality.

Too much concentration on national defense leads seamlessly to a C.I.A. that foments trouble that leads to war on a proactive and preemptive base. Better to spend military money on infrastructure improvement. Less opportunity for mischief.

Moderate is better than too much.

Lawyer Richard Scruggs: Champion Of Poor Judgment

Twenty-five percent of my graduating class went on to become lawyers. Half of those guys would steal a hot stove. And the other half would watch and learn how they did it. I can't really blame them. The legal system in the U.S. grants it's practioners a license to steal. The legal process is so cumbersome and lengthy that the attorneys on both sides of the judicial action are enriched far beyond their actual worth. Their participation is effectively an impediment to a quick resolution and is tantamont to stealing the wealth of the plaintiffs and defendants. Also the mere mention of a law suit will bring forth settlement talks. This casts the lawyers as shake-down gunslingers.

Which brings up the name of attorney Richard Scruggs. He's the premier trial attorney in America. He was the architect of the $ 286 billion tobacco industry settlement. He won damages for people who smoked and the states who provided the care giving to the related diseases.

Scruggs was recently in the news as both plaintiff and his own lawyer against the defendant State Farm Insurance. Scruggs lost his home when Hurricane Katrina hit Mississippi's gulf beaches. Scruggs built his home only 50 yards from the water. State Farm which was backed up by the Mississippi courts and the state insurance commissioner said the policy never covered the flooding which ruined his home. Scruggs didn't like that fact. So he threatened State Farm and other insurance providers with a similar nation wide legal effort as per the tobacco industry. State Farm settled by paying $130 million to all similarly situated flood victims.

And so people who built houses on flood plains will get rewarded like the people who had the bad personal judgment to smoke. Personal responsibility and critical thinking are not honored by these results. How long can that go on?