One Good Sign: Too Many Lawyers

[Plaid Adder]

My partner has been trying to figure out for the past few weeks where to go to help out on election day. She's a lawyer, so she originally planned to get trained on voting rights protection in, say, Ohio and then go out there and do that. Well, when you have a kid, it's hard to schedule stuff, and things are kind of disorganized out here, so that didn't pan out; but since we've been getting calls--seriously--several times a DAY trying to get us to go volunteer in Indiana, she decided she would look into that instead. Easier to get to from where we are.

So yesterday she said she had it finally nailed down: she will go down to Indiana--where exactly they have not yet determined--and help with getting out the vote. But the point is, when telling me this, she said, "They don't need any more lawyers. They have so many laywers volunteering they don't know what to do with them. They're full up." So she is going in her capacity as ordinary footsoldier, while I stay here in my capacity as PJ's caretaker and writer of checks to the Obama campaign.

So, for what it's worth, there is apparently an army of lawyers fanning out across the Midwest looking to protect the vote. Godspeed, lawyer horde!

The Plaid Adder

[EFerrari]

1. That IS good news.

:)

[justiceischeap]

2. Honestly, how many of us ever thought we'd say this - "Godspeed, lawyer horde!"

Let's hope all these lawyers are put to use (or not have to be used at all).

[Jackpine Radical]

3. I just hope we can figure out how to disband

those roving packs of lawyers once the election is over.

The whole business of grouping them together is kinda scary when ya think about it.

[justiceischeap]

4. Perfect for Halloween--Roving bands of post-election Zombie Lawyers the Sequel nt

[JPZenger]

11. shakespeare play

One of the phrases that is quoted horribly out of context was from a Shakespeare play King Lear: "First thing we do is kill all the lawyers."

The meaning was that an authoritarian wanted to take over the country, and he wanted to first get rid of the people who knew how to stop him.

Where the law ends, tyranny begins.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. That's a highly revisionist (i.e. wrong) reading of Henry VI.

http://www.spectacle.org/797/finkel.html


The argument of this remark as in fact being favorable to lawyers is a marvel of sophistry, twisting of the meaning of words in unfamiliar source, disregard of the evident intent of the original author and ad hominem attack. Whoever first came up with this interpretation surely must have been a lawyer.

The line is actually uttered by a character "Dick The Butcher". While he's a killer as evil as his name implies, he often makes highly comedic and amusing statements. The wisecracking villain is not an invention of modern action movies, it dates back to Shakespeare and beyond.

The setup for the "kill the lawyers" statement is the ending portion of a comedic relief part of a scene in Henry VI, part 2. Dick and another henchman, Smith are members of the gang of Jack Cade, a pretender to the throne. The built-up is long portion where Cade make vain boasts, which are cut down by sarcastic replies from the others.

{The remainder of this piece details how the famous line is actually part of a Shakespearian anti-lawyer joke}

[ailsagirl]

15. First thing I thought of when I read this thread!! LOL!!

[Hepburn]

9. I don't know....

...we don't eat our young ... or at least not very often! :hi:

[grantcart]

10. lol good luck school of piranha

[JPZenger]

12. Wolfpacks for Voter Protection - Ready to Pounce

[JPZenger]

13. I wish I know how to photoshop blackberries onto that photo

I wish I knew how to photoshop a set of blackberries and briefcases onto the above photo.

[Overseas]

5. Glad to hear it.

Hope they'll be documenting all the cases well and deterring some of the GOP tricks.

[Window]

6. Absolutely wonderful news!

[JPZenger]

7. Still recruiting in other states, such as PA

That is good news. However, there still are needs in other states. Recruitment efforts were actively underway for lawyers in PA over the last week.

[Dinger]

8. Good, We Need 'Em. puke AG In Wi. Trying HARD To Steal Our Votes

I voted already, but this asshole is on a mission.
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/311891


P.S. I heard Obama has 5,000 lawyers here in Wisconsin (not kidding)

[Sanity Claws]

16. I'm one of the horde

I'm from NY and going to PA.
The Obama Campaign trained over 500 lawyers in NYC alone this past Sunday. As far as I know, we're all going to PA on Tuesday.

[Liberal Elitist]

17. 5,000 lawyers in Florida alone - no way will the GOP steal it this time!

Reminds me of a Doonesbury about Microsoft - "This platform supported by x thousand lawyers!

"This comes on top of an effort the Democratic National Committee began after the 2000 election. The committee set up a National Lawyers Council to work on ballot issues, established a voter protection hot line and surveyed 1,300 state and local election officials to flag potential Election Day problems in advance.

So far, over 10,000 lawyers have signed up over the committee’s Web site. “We want to assist voters in real time to make sure they will be able to vote,” said Joe Sandler, general counsel for the committee, “and to advocate for them with local election officials.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/us/politics/28lawyers.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=lawyers%20obama&st=cse&oref=slogin

[DefenseLawyer]

18. I am part of that Indiana Lawyer Horde

Taking on Republican "challengers" and the Republican cops that try to park their patrol cars right in front of the polling places and all the other bullshit voter suppression that they have done for years. Bring it on.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

19. I'm a lawyer doing voter protection in Dallas County on Election Day

I know we're not a battleground state, but I'm doing what I can do here to help. They already sent away a kid who just moved to Dallas County, and I let him know he should come back with his Dallas County driver's license and they should let him vote.

[hootinholler]

20. As long as it's not followed by

Wot's in yer wallet!

-Hoot