This is mindful of a particular scene in Shakespeare’s Richard III.  Richard, having scandalized and terrified everybody, most of who are his friends and competitive heirs takes his place to assume his rule as King of England.

With bloodied hands, he sits before the mass, bemoaning the tragedy he made possible.  To cure any doubts about himself, Richard poses, immune to his role in the killings, two Priests on each side. 

Hood and Moore are surely unremarkable for their roles in the events which brought about tragedy, but they should know that there are five acts to Richard III, and only in the last act is there a real tragic ending.  Enjoy the mass.  The scene plays well.

The former and present AG of Ms. said nothing good comes out of this; they are wrong.  Good did come out of this.This took some rotten apples out of the barrell.  Now is the time for the present AG to get into getting more apples removed.  I hope he has learned a very strong lesson, if his hands are clean to move forword.  If they are not , I hope he finds himself standing in front of the judge .

Where did the phrase “The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers” come from?

It is a line from Henry VI, part 2, by Shakespeare.  The line is spoken by the character Dick the Butcher.  Dick is a real thug but the line is in a somewhat comedic scene.  Some have said it is actually in praise of lawyers by saying that if we kill all of them it opens up society to being preyed on by criminals and oppressors.  If you read the play you will know that such an interpretation could only be made by those whose job is to obfuscate and twist words into things they do not mean, e.g. lawyers.  The Bard is clearly describing a version of Utopia and to make Utopia exist, “First, we kill all the lawyers.”

Thanks Bluedog, Timeless words that still apply even today.

Bluedog: literature, especially Shakespeare, is often interpretred by new generations.  The line here is used too much and too often, but it can seemingly apply to many lawyer jokes.  Since it is most likely influenced from the artful humor of Machiavelli’s two comic plays, La Clizia and La Mandragola, I tend to think the line is as good as any modern sitcom line, and meant for a good laugh.  Shakespeare’s audience wasn’t the high brow, hardly knew what “lawyer” was, but knew the ineffectual bombastic uselessness of the Queen’s counsel.  They didn’t stink, nor did their shit, but the line was passed by generations of actors by professional male actors, not for reasons of the Italian Renaisance imported from th 1520’s to England, but socially fitting the sadistic reality of “counsel”; the masses didn’t like the up-scale rich and mighty.  I’m not sure if there’s any need to brush up on your Shakespeare, and that’s pointless to say anyway, but there are many ways of reading and performing Shakespeare and no one thing is right.  For example, you won’t find that line as translated by Russian writers in the 18th century.  Besides, there are lots of good modern lawyer jokes, and they’re much more prophetic and funny.

Ribald, my MSU degree is in chemistry and I make no claim to expertise in Shakespearean interpretation.  But I have read the play, seen it performed, and the implications of Dick the Butcher’s line seemed pretty clear to me.  I also confess I have never, ever, read an 18th century Russian translation of anything, much less Shakespeare.  Oh, I could never tell a lawyer joke.  You know, 98% of our Mississippi lawyers are giving the other 2% a bad name.  It is just terrible.

Bluedog, I don’t recommend Pushkin.  Nice lawyer joke there.

What, in particular, is tragic about the possibility that litigants in this state may now be able to walk into a state courtroom built atop a level playing field?

What specific loss of catastrophic proportions will the courtrooms in this state and this state’s bar association have to deal with while a handful of dirty lawyers are temporarily out of pocket?

It appears that some of the boys who think june 27 should be declared a statewide day of mourning are (a) those who played key roles in enabling scruggs to amass a fortune; (b) those on the receiving end of scruggs’ largess and dependent upon him for their livelihoods; and, (d) those who, as they warm the church pews on Sunday mornings, may wish to start considering how they can repurchase the souls they sold long ago.

Have they not seen enough blood splatter and innocent casualties from the precipitous falls from grace?

And, to think that, once again, this “sad” and “tragic” day would have never come to pass without intervention of the federal government.  It’s a disgrace.

bluedog: @ 02:24 pm, HAAAAAAAAA haaaaaaaaaa ha !!!!
jplay: @ 03:47 pm Jim Hood and clean hands HAAAAAA haaaa!
& liblen @ 04:416 pm a few words litigants, this state, courtroom, and legal playing field. HAAAAAAA haaaaaaa. Hey Mississippi let’s go walking.

liblen, look at it from Hood’s and Moore’s perspective.  Hood is losing a major, I mean MAJOR, set of campaign contributors in Scruggs and Langston.  He is also losing the persons he could call for advice/instructions on how to cultivate more campaign contributions with creative “Special Assistant Attorney General” plums he could pass out to trial lawyers around the nation.  For Moore, Balducci’s comment about this not being his first rodeo with Scruggs and the bodies buried comment must be a real ulcer promoter.  Judge Biggers also alluded to the rather casual, business as usual, routine way Scruggs went about bribery.  Clearly he does not think it was Scruggs’ first rodeo as well.  How far back does this go?  Asbestos cases?  Tobacco cases?  Whoa!  That had Moore involved up to his moustache holder, right?  So, look at it from their side.  It was a tragic and sad day for those who have every reason to be nervous and scared of what might come out next.  But maybe Jim Greenlee is already looking forward to his next job and is losing interest in Mississippi trial lawyer scandals.  But, then again, maybe he isn’t.  Be nervous, Mike.  Be very nervous.

I certainly hope that all of those who enjoy denigrating all lawyers will remember that the liberties that we enjoy as Americans are largely the product of the minds of lawyers and their training. The famous phrase, “When in the course of human events....” was penned by Jefferson (and yes, he actually was a lawyer); the justifications for the American Revolution were given shape and form by lawyers like John Adams. The Constitution of the United States, which most of us prize as one of the great documents in human history, is the work product by lawyers. While lawyers do have great capacity for harm when they do evil (as Scruggs did in attempting to bribe a judge), they are also the first guardians of individual freedom and liberty in daily life in this country. We certainly depend on our military to protect us from foreign enemies, but we depend on our lawyers to protect us from the tyranny of our own government and sometimes our neighbors.

The next time that you are falsely accused of a crime or someone tries to take something or deny you something that is rightly yours, just remember that you will be glad you have a lawyer. The legal profession isn’t perfect, far from it, but most lawyers are in fact quite honorable. Most merchants are honorable, most doctors are honorable. But there are some in each profession who aren’t. Like you, I have dealt with the dishonest merchant or tradesman, the unskilled or incompetent doctor, etc.  Lawyers are no different than other people, though we all wish that they were always better. We hold them, as we should, to a high standard. We are especially disappointed when a lawyer violates the ethical standards of the profession. But we also should recognize that lawyers are indispensable to our liberties as Americans. Without them, as imperfect as they may be, there would be no liberty, no order, no justice.

If only justice applied to their leader, Bill Clinton who got the ball rolling. He’s off to London, with a pretty girl and hating the second black president to be.