:: To Be Or Not To Be ::
arrgh!!! i suppose i can now kiss my hopes of getting a law degree goodbye... *sigh*

was watching David E. Kelly's "The Practice" on the tube last night, and mom actually sat down to watch it with me (surprise, surprise)... and well, to be expected, she couldn't catch most of what was going on... so she kept asking, and i kept explaining (that's what i hate about watching anything with her... tv, movies, anything! she keeps asking and asking... can be quite irritating... but i digress...)... then she made this really off-hand comment about me probably being able to excel if should ever do law! my! and there i was trying to think of means and ways to broach on this er, sensitive topic... and mom just gave me a great opening line!!! so off i went! launched right into my "the Law is an excellent career path" speech! there i was... rambling on and on about studying in australia and the uk... sprouting out well known Unis, when mom, well... she was just being mom, i suppose... should have known that good things never last long... sigh...

"actually, the Law is quite dirty, you know?" says she... i mean like... duh?! which occupation isn't?? even a clerk will face office politics.. and that is usully horrible... well, i suppose i have David Kelly to thank... *grumble* last night's show was about how Helen, the D.A. (District Attorney, for those who don't know) lied to a convict to coerce a confession out of him... she also lied to Jimmy, the accused's lawyer... the case was dismissed in the state court (the only thing going against the accused was his confession, and that was suppressed), so Helen brought it up in a Federal court... and blah blah blah... long of the short of it is, Helen screwed up the whole case... just because she used under-handed (that being lying) means to obtain the confession she needed to prosecute the accused. and the accused, though he did kill a woman, got off scot free... shows how much justice there is in the world, eh?

i know it's just a drama serial, but... this kinda things happen in real life, doesn't it? a phrase i remembered Jimmy Balooney once said - "i'd rather let ten guilty men walk out of here [the courtroom], than put an innocent man in jail." to some extent, it's true... but think of the ten guilty ones... still roaming our streets (not literally, of course)... and it makes you think...

What keeps a man out of prison? by this, i'm referring to those that have been prosecuted in a court of law... if you're really and truely innocent, does it always guarantee that you'll be free to go? or will you win the case just because you have the finance to engage some fancy-pants lawyer to fight for you? the role of the lawyer in litigation is so important... failure to follow some minute detail (like informing the other party of some teeny tiny evidence) can cause you your case... it's also extremely challenging... and exciting.. and...

mom, i hope you're reading this...