Another Cautionary Tale . . .

For those of you who find yourselves in a courtroom now and again, be sure to turn off your cell phone. Better yet, leave it in the car.

This judge may not be a judge much longer, but the mere fact that he jailed everyone in the courtroom because a cell phone went off should give us all an idea about how much this sort of thing aggravates judges. Story here.

The First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Lawyers

So will anyone other than lawyers really sit up and take notice that it's the Pakistani lawyers who are laying across the tracks after Musharraf's power grab?

According to the Globe this morning, laywers are the "fiercest opponents" to Musharraf's government and thousands of lawyers engaged in a "pitched battle" with Musharraf's police. Of the approximately 2,000 people who have been rounded up since "emergency rule" was imposed, between 500 and 700 are lawyers.

Musharraf swept house of all those pesky judges who were not going to rubber stamp his activities, and is replacing them with "loyal" judges. The lawyers are refusing to recognize the authority of these puppets.

You just have to admire these people. It's easy to get mighty cynical hanging around courthouses, but you have to keep in mind what the alternatives are.