[quote=jpinpb]partypup – I used prophetic. Maybe too strong of a word, but it sort of seems to be unraveling generally according to your concerns. That’s why I said that. I didn’t mean it in a bad way. It was a little eerie, though. You seem pretty in touch w/things or very aware (maybe too much?)[/quote]

Thanks for explaining, jp. I never take offense to your posts, BTW 🙂

If I’m in touch with things it’s only because I’ve now reached a point in my life that my father – a retired member of the L.A. County Sheriff’s and a 35-year veteran – reached very early on in his career. He taught me to trust almost nothing I see on TV, and to trust absolutely nothing our elected officials tell us. For example, he told me very early on that the crime stats issued by law enforcement were completely bogus and purposefully downplayed for political reasons. Everyone in the department knew and played along. If you ever really want to know what’s going on, listen to what the talking heads say, listen to what the folks in government are telling you, and understand that the EXACT opposite is usually occurring. And as our economic condition deteriorates, you will see this axiom holds truer than ever. Last fall when Hank Paulson came begging for TARP money, I suspected he was a crook. And when he was hailed as a savior by Congress and the media, that was my confirmation. Flash forward 6 months, no one can figure out where the TARP funds went, the media is now discovering he may be guilty of SEC violations based on information withheld from shareholders in the B of A/Merrill merger, and Larry Kudlow is practically accusing Paulson of treason. It’s become a complete and utter joke now.

I should add that my profession has also colored my thinking. Lawyers comprise an unusually high percentage of elected officials in government. Shocking as it may sound, before I went to law school I believed in the goodness and kindness of men, the honesty of those charged with leading us and the fairness of our justice system. All that completely changed by my third year in law school after I had spent thousands of hours poring over cases written by men (and women) who claimed to honor our judicial system, but too often and quite clearly manipulated it to accomplish their own agenda. Seriously, if you want to see damn smart people twist language and reason backwards to reach conclusions and opinions formed at the outset, just spend a few days in a law library. Bush v Gore pretty much ended my belief in the justice system – and our government.

And now, sadly, the people responsible for destroying my faith in our justice system (lawyers) are the people “leading” us through this crisis.

This is why I have retreated to the only area of law that I can stomach: entertainment. At least when lawyers screw people over in my line of work, the only ones who get hurt are overpaid dolts with marginal talent.