Chinese Idol Revisited...*

"Chris, you are staying. Stephanie Edwards heads home tonight."
Ryan Seacrest
Host "American Idol"

I guess Sampan, my favorite Chinese restaurant is more popular than "my" American Idol.
If you didn't like Stephanie, don't judge my taste in food by my taste in music.
I think I'll smother my sorrows in House Special Fried Rice and Pot Stickers.

*To fully understand this post, read my post "Chinese Idol" of March 2nd.

Truth, justice and my batting average...

"Never confuse the law with justice."
James R. Brown esq.

I’ve recently been a casual observer at a court proceeding and in conjunction with a prior court experience I was intimately involved in; I’ve learned that Wikipedia is not the only place a lie repeated over and over again, somehow becomes the truth.

When I was a kid, Saturday nights in our home meant watching "Perry Mason" on television, or perhaps I should say, it meant waking up on the floor in front of the TV as the show ended. You know the infamous stack of three law books. (Thank goodness for nighttime re-runs on KBYU so I can finally get the answers to all of those; "Who did it?" questions still weighing heavily on my mind nearly 45 years after the fact.) But, whether it was on TV, or in Erle Stanly Gardner’s books, both Lt. Tragg and District Attorney Burger’s ultimate goal was to get the truth. (Admittedly Tragg was usually easier for Mason to persuade.)

But I digress, the job of the state, was then, and still is to enforce the law. However, it seems to me that back then, the job or goal of the state was also truth and justice.

Will someone please tell me when the Prosecutor’s "Batting Average" or for that matter, any attorney’s "Batting Average" became more important than the truth?

Oh, and while you’re at it, is perjury still enforced or like adultery and fornication to the far right, is perjury just kept on the books to make some of us feel warm and fuzzy?

"Wikipedia is the only place that a lie repeated 10 times, becomes the truth."
Kimberly A. Hinckley
March 5, 2007

http://kimberlyahinckley.blogspot.com/

A Question of Truth...

"The truth is always the first casualty of any legal proceeding."

Michael T. Russell

(My late best friend of 25+ years)

"I've always told you some variation of the truth."

Harry Sanborn as portrayed by Jack Nicholson

"Somethings Gotta Give"

"...what I told you was true, from a certain point of view."

Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi as portrayed by Sir Alec Guinness

"Return of the Jedi"

I've been thinking about the truth quite a bit of late and I'm wondering...

What is truth?

or

What is the price of the truth?

They say the truth hurts. But, does knowing the whole truth make the facts any more or less harsh?

Or, is it all simply a matter of perspective?

Chinese Idol

After a rather long work week this week, including tonight (7:30 to 7:00 is that just under a half-a-day?) I elected to have take-out from my favorite (Sampan 2100 South and 7th East in Salt Lake City) Chinese restaurant for dinner.

To get through, I hit the redial key on my cell-phone more times tonight than I did on Wednesday night to vote for "my American Idol".

The question is...

Does "American Idol" have more phone lines than Sampan or is Sampan more popular than the young lady I voted for Wednesday night?

P.S. The pot-stickers and house special fried rice are the best.

P.P.S. Once again, "my American Idol" made it through to the next round.

If a tree falls in the forest...

A good friend of mine who is a skilled writer/blogger recently tackled the age old question; "If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make any noise?" (http://rachelthomae.typepad.com/ There's No Record)

It brought to mind an experience I had nearly ten years ago. I was a religious volunteer at the Utah State Prison in Draper. During our training session, (a totally fascinating way to spend a Saturday) we learned of a study out of the Louisiana Penal System.

A Louisiana study concluded that well over 80% of their inmates believed even if they committed the crime, if they were either acquitted, acquitted due to a technicality or if their conviction was overturned on a technicality, they not only didn't commit the crime, the crime didn't even happen.

If a tree falls in the forest...