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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (70895)	1/14/2005 1:44:40 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 89467

Pair arrested after telling lawyer jokes BY ZACHARY R. DOWDY STAFF WRITER January 12, 2005 The line leading into First District Court in Hempstead Monday morning was long and frustrating, but it was the punch line in a lawyer joke that got two rabble-rousing comedians arrested. "How do you tell when a lawyer is lying?" Harvey Kash, 69, of Bethpage, said to Carl Lanzisera, 65, of Huntington, as the queue wound into the court. "His lips are moving," they said in unison, completing one of what may be thousands of standard lawyer jokes. But while that rib and several others on barristers got some giggles from the crowd, the attorney standing in line about five people ahead wasn't laughing. " 'Shut up,' the man shouted," Lanzisera said. "'I'm a lawyer.'" The attorney reported Kash and Lanzisera to court personnel, who arrested the men and charged them with engaging in disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. "They put the handcuffs on us, brought us into a room, frisked us, sat us down and checked our driver's licenses to see if there were any warrants out for our arrest," Lanzisera said yesterday. "They were very nasty, extremely nasty." The men are founders of Americans for Legal Reform, a group of outspoken advocates who use confrontational tactics to push for greater access to courts for the public and to monitor how well courts serve the public. One tactic is driving a truck around the Huntington area emblazoned with the slogan "Stop The Lawyer Disease." They said their rights to free speech were violated Monday. But Dan Bagnuola, a spokesman for the Nassau courts, said the men were causing a stir and that their exercise of their First Amendment rights to free speech was impeding the rights of others at the court. "They were being abusive and they were causing a disturbance," Bagnuola said. "They were making general comments to the people on line, referring to them as 'peasants,' and they were causing a disturbance. And they were asked on several occasions to act in an orderly manner, not to interfere with the operation of the court." Bagnuola said he did not have the name of the lawyer who complained to officers. Kash said he and Lanzisera were merely saying out loud that the public was being treated like peons or peasants while attorneys, who wave their security passes to court officers and don't have to stand on line, are treated like kings. "I'm not surprised this happened because anybody who stands up for their rights is put down because these people want only one thing, and that is control," Kash said. The men were given desk appearance tickets and are due back in court - as defendants - next month. Court jesters Harvey Kash and Carl Lanzisera poked fun of lawyers while in line at First District Court in Hempstead yesterday - but court officers weren't laughing. Here are some of the jokes that got them in hot water: Q: What do you say to a lawyer with an IQ of 50? A: Good morning, Your Honor. Q: How do you tell if a lawyer is lying? A: His lips are moving. Q: Why do they bury lawyers 100 feet into the ground? A: Because down deep, they're good people. Q: What's the difference between a vulture and a lawyer? A: Wing tips. newsday.com

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (70895)	1/14/2005 1:47:48 PM
From: abuelita	Respond to of 89467

it will be interesting to see how the immigration board rules on this one. it has never granted refugee status to an american. i hope they rule in his favour 'cause i think he'll be lynched if forced to return to the u.s.a. -rose

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (70895)	1/14/2005 5:23:41 PM
From: Crimson Ghost	Respond to of 89467

Ritter Right About Iraq by Randy Scholfield President Bush has been handing out Presidential Medals of Freedom lately like they were Little League good sportsmanship ribbons. The medal apparently is an award for good effort, even if the results aren't so winning. He awarded one to former Iraq viceroy Paul Bremer, who most notably disbanded the Iraqi army, leading to our present security implosion. And he gave one to George Tenet, the former CIA chief, who most notably presided over two of the most devastating intelligence failures in the nation's history: first Sept. 11, then Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. It was Tenet who told the president that finding weapons stockpiles in Iraq was a "slam dunk." Right. Give that man a medal. I'd like to nominate someone who really deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom: Scott Ritter. Remember Ritter? In a column in 2002, I wrote about the square-jawed former U.S. Marine and United Nations weapons inspector, who was in Wichita several months before the invasion of Iraq, giving a talk -- no, a plea -- about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He was adamant: Saddam Hussein had no WMDs -- at least none of any consequence or that posed an imminent danger to the United States. Certainly nothing that would warrant a rushed invasion. "We can't go to war based on rhetoric and speculation," he told the crowd. "We'd better make sure there is a threat out there worth fighting." He argued that 90 percent to 95 percent of Saddam's WMDs had been dismantled by the U.N. inspection team in which he served from 1991 to 1998. And that Saddam was otherwise well-contained by U.S. forces. Now we know: He was right. You've probably heard that the Bush administration this week quietly called off the weapons search. There aren't any WMD stockpiles. As in none. Zip. And, no, they weren't moved to Syria. The weapons didn't exist. True to form, Bush insisted this week that it didn't matter -- that's right, his main justification for taking this country into a bloody, costly war didn't matter. He would still have invaded Iraq! Huh? That makes sense only if he had planned to invade Iraq all along, as critics charged. I remember Ritter telling the largely anti-war audience at the Wichita church that he wasn't a pacifist. A proud U.S. Marine, he believed that it was sometimes necessary to go to war and fight. But he also believed that it was wrong to put American fighting men and women in harm's way without very good reason. Ritter saw that his country was headed down a disastrous path and had the guts to speak out. At the time, he took a lot of abuse from Bush loyalists. They questioned his motives, and his integrity. They compared him to Jane Fonda. They asked in mocking tones what exercise video he was making next. He could be saying, "I told you so." Instead, he's speaking out on another security boondoggle -- the anti-missile defense shield program, which is costing U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars without the Pentagon even being able to prove that it works. We're spending the national treasure on it, with nothing in the way of enhanced security to show for it. On the contrary, argues Ritter, it's unleashing a dangerous and pointless new arms race. Will we listen to him now? Probably not. But make no mistake: Scott Ritter is an American patriot who cares enough about his country to tell it the unvarnished truth. Give that man a medal. He actually deserves it. Randy Scholfield is an editorial writer for The Eagle.