[KenWittlief]

wow , I make a couple tongue in cheek comments in here and my reputation page fills up like a christmas tree (both green and red)!

where to start?
at the beginning?

taken at face value biblical genesis is the account of the 1st man and women, so you could not have human history that predates it. It was written by Moses who was reportedly in the presence of God on Mt Sini for 40 days - and it was from that meeting that Moses wrote Genesis - since God was present when Adam and Eve was in the garden of Eden, the event was what? a second hand account? God told Moses, Moses wrote it down? (as I said, if taken at face value).

Some people got really upset for me pointing out that the serpent was the first to question the law of God - the one simple law, 'dont eat from that one tree' - cross examined Eve, questioned what God really said or meant, and in the process confused her to the point where she thought God said she could not touch the fruit either, or she would die (God said nothing about touching it, only eating it)

Techincalities? yes. If the serpent was the first to bring up technicalities in the law, and confuse the issue, why get upset with me if you read Genesis and see the legal profession reflected in the act of the serpent? I didnt write Genesis. If you read it and dont see the connection, then you dont see it - maybe its my imagination - but why get upset with me for noticing it and pointing it out in a lighthearted fashion?

Bill Gates: back when small computers first started being developed with disk drives an engineer took on the incredibly complex and cryptic fuctions of what was normally called "job control language' and created the first easy to use disk operating system, CPM. Forgive me I forget the guys name - He was an engineer, not a businessman, and he did not make any money off this incredible leap in computer system technology.

another engineer took the concepts of CPM, and since he could not copy the source or hex code line by line (that would be a copywrite violation) he rewrote the whole thing, sorta like paraphrasing the other mans work. This was the basis of Dos 1.0. He tried to sell this code to IBM for the original PCs, but could not agree to a price. Along comes Bill Gates, who buys the code from the guy, and then sells it to IBM (with some minor modifications) on a machine by machine lease basis. If it were not for this deal Microsoft would be a footnote in computer history books. This is what I was referring to about Gates selling 'someone elses' SW to IBM. Gates did not write Dos 1.0, he bought it from someone else. It may have been a briliant business deal, but that does not make him a exceptional engineer. (I dont see how anyone could say this is slander or libel)?!

The engineer who originally came up with the concepts for CPM tried unsuccessfull to sue Microsoft. He died several years ago, pennyless.

so the genius who came up with the revolutionary concepts for CPM got practically nothing for his innovation or hard work in making it a reality. There was no legal means to protect his ideas (you cant patent a concept). The engineer who laboriouisly cloned CPM into Dos 1.0 got something on the order of $30 or $50 thousand for his work. Gate/Microsoft who contributed very little to it, made a fortune.

Lawers in general: finally back to the topic of this thread. I dont know about where you live, but here in my town you cant watch TV or turn on the radio for more that 10 minutes without being flooded with commercials from lawyers who want to help you sue people for car accidents, malpractice, insurance.... They are everywhere, the cover of the phone book, the newspapers, billboards.

The US is the only country in the world where you can sue for friviouls reasons and have no fear of recompense - in every other county in the world if you bring a suit against someone and there is no basis for it, YOU have to pay the other persons legal fees - but here in the US its out of control - it IS a nighmare - companies routinely settle claims out of court that have no basis, but it will cost more in legal fees to goto court than it will to pay off the plantiff.

and from an ethic perspective, there was a case here several years ago where a very young girl dissapeared from her apartment complex in broad daylinght. A guy in his 20's had lured her into his apartment and killed her. The police were going door to door looking for her, and he refused to let them check his apartment (only a few doors from hers).

A few days later he disposed of her body, and then pretended to help the search parties look for the girl. After a few years his conscience caught up with him, he called the local police chief (or sherrif), met him in a resturant, and confessed - telling them where her body was.

He was arrested and the little girls body was recovered, right where he said it was. Case closed. Right?

no. This guy ends up with a lawyer who tries to get the case THROWN OUT because the confession was made in a resturant and not at a police station - the lawyer convinces the guy to plea not guilty at his arraignment!

the beginnings of a huge trial got underway, jury selection was started, but someone else (minister or someone) convinced the guy that this was a mistake and he changed his plea to guilty, took his punishment.

Are there good lawyers out there doing a valuable service to society? of course there are - but all it takes is a handfull like these in the public spotlight to taint the entire profession.

If lawyers dont like the perception the public has for them, they need to clean up their profession. Most congressmen are lawyers. Most judges are lawyers. They have the power to clean up the profession, if they choose to. Its not like this in the rest of the world.