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Jun. 10th, 2003 09:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
malsperanzaAm crushed.
Case on which I was to be a juror has been settled (surprise surprise).
Am crushed because the plaintiff's attorney was young, billiard bald, and English, and his name was Cosmo,
Case on which I was to be a juror has been settled (surprise surprise).
Am crushed because the plaintiff's attorney was young, billiard bald, and English, and his name was Cosmo,
[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<and</i>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]
Am crushed.
Case on which I was to be a juror has been settled (surprise surprise).
Am crushed because the plaintiff's attorney was young, <i>billiard bald</i>, and English, <i>and</i> his name was Cosmo, <and</i> he looked exactly--exactly--like young Lex Luthor. Now, that's a TV show I have only seen once and found utterly boring, but nonetheless I was all set to be captivated by veryverycute Cosmo and his veryveryU accent.
Too bad, no Great American Novel this week. However, I did manage to write the lyrics to about a dozen more songs for LOTR--The Musical! while staring politely into space, during those many long stretches when the attorneys were at the bench, conferring. When trial attorneys do that, I am always convinced they are a) discussing where to have lunch; b) on their cell phones, dealing with another case; or c) doing Bork impressions for each other.
Tiresome lot. Much prefer criminal court, for all the anguish there is in sitting in judgment on other people.
*eyes discussion of Israel askance*
Oh, well, might as well add my $0.02. Not that this discussion ever sheds light on anything. Will do it in my own LJ, as a matter of courtesy.
<lj-cut text="$0.02">
1. It would be wonderful, and proper, if Jerusalem were an international city. I note that for the last 3000+ years, the three religions currently in contention for the city each had a long stretch of owning it, and a prime opportunity to make it an international city. All three categorically refused to do anything of the kind. So I'm not holding my breath.
2. The proposal to give back half the captured territories* is a bit like the proposals currently circulating regarding land use in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which suggest only opening half of it to oil exploration, commercial development, and the like. Well and good, and in 10 years we can entertain the idea of opening up only half of what remains, and so on.
3. The Palestinians don't want reparations; they want their ancestral homes back. "Ancestral" as in pre-1948, not as in some romantic, fictive notion of when God spoke to Abraham. Similar, indeed, to those Jews from refugee German families (my own family among them) who have filed suit in German and international courts to recover their homes, businesses, land, paintings, and other possessions expropriated by the Nazis. Many of them did receive reparations money after WWII. It is not possible to purchase people's heritage from them. However poor they may be, however much the money might mean to them, they are unlikely to be bought off.
4. Political recognition is on the horizon. The old-guard Arab leaders who remember Nasser's pan-Arabism are dying. Syria wants the Golan back, and will get it as soon as there is a change of government in Israel. Jordan is close to recognition now.
Oslo was a good plan; it can still work. Indeed, there is no other option. The model is Northern Ireland--an equally intractable, brutal, ancient, poisonous brew of land, class, and religion. NI is working--slowly, painfully, 2 steps forward, 1 step back. The bombings have stopped. New coalitions are forming. A generation of teenagers is growing up without any personal memory of the violence, which is probably the most useful thing of all.
A friend of mine in Belfast who has worked for many years in the trenches of the NI peace process told me once that when things got better in South Africa, Belfast got quieter, and when things heated up in Israel, Derry would blow up too. Because people look for examples to be hopeful or pessimistic about.
The Forces of Light have had a run of rotten luck in the last few years: If Rabin hadn't been killed, if the Beast Sharon hadn't won (by an extremely narrow margin), if Hussein of Jordan hadn't died, if Gore had become president, Oslo would be in place by now.
Among other things.
*"Occupied" is the correct term. It's the term used by Israel, officially, just as Iraq is currently occupied, officially, by the U.S.
</lj-cut>
Yeah, well, enough about that. Will probably regret posting this. Will probably delete it. Gah.
Case on which I was to be a juror has been settled (surprise surprise).
Am crushed because the plaintiff's attorney was young, <i>billiard bald</i>, and English, <i>and</i> his name was Cosmo, <and</i> he looked exactly--exactly--like young Lex Luthor. Now, that's a TV show I have only seen once and found utterly boring, but nonetheless I was all set to be captivated by veryverycute Cosmo and his veryveryU accent.
Too bad, no Great American Novel this week. However, I did manage to write the lyrics to about a dozen more songs for LOTR--The Musical! while staring politely into space, during those many long stretches when the attorneys were at the bench, conferring. When trial attorneys do that, I am always convinced they are a) discussing where to have lunch; b) on their cell phones, dealing with another case; or c) doing Bork impressions for each other.
Tiresome lot. Much prefer criminal court, for all the anguish there is in sitting in judgment on other people.
*eyes discussion of Israel askance*
Oh, well, might as well add my $0.02. Not that this discussion ever sheds light on anything. Will do it in my own LJ, as a matter of courtesy.
<lj-cut text="$0.02">
1. It would be wonderful, and proper, if Jerusalem were an international city. I note that for the last 3000+ years, the three religions currently in contention for the city each had a long stretch of owning it, and a prime opportunity to make it an international city. All three categorically refused to do anything of the kind. So I'm not holding my breath.
2. The proposal to give back half the captured territories* is a bit like the proposals currently circulating regarding land use in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which suggest only opening half of it to oil exploration, commercial development, and the like. Well and good, and in 10 years we can entertain the idea of opening up only half of what remains, and so on.
3. The Palestinians don't want reparations; they want their ancestral homes back. "Ancestral" as in pre-1948, not as in some romantic, fictive notion of when God spoke to Abraham. Similar, indeed, to those Jews from refugee German families (my own family among them) who have filed suit in German and international courts to recover their homes, businesses, land, paintings, and other possessions expropriated by the Nazis. Many of them did receive reparations money after WWII. It is not possible to purchase people's heritage from them. However poor they may be, however much the money might mean to them, they are unlikely to be bought off.
4. Political recognition is on the horizon. The old-guard Arab leaders who remember Nasser's pan-Arabism are dying. Syria wants the Golan back, and will get it as soon as there is a change of government in Israel. Jordan is close to recognition now.
Oslo was a good plan; it can still work. Indeed, there is no other option. The model is Northern Ireland--an equally intractable, brutal, ancient, poisonous brew of land, class, and religion. NI is working--slowly, painfully, 2 steps forward, 1 step back. The bombings have stopped. New coalitions are forming. A generation of teenagers is growing up without any personal memory of the violence, which is probably the most useful thing of all.
A friend of mine in Belfast who has worked for many years in the trenches of the NI peace process told me once that when things got better in South Africa, Belfast got quieter, and when things heated up in Israel, Derry would blow up too. Because people look for examples to be hopeful or pessimistic about.
The Forces of Light have had a run of rotten luck in the last few years: If Rabin hadn't been killed, if the Beast Sharon hadn't won (by an extremely narrow margin), if Hussein of Jordan hadn't died, if Gore had become president, Oslo would be in place by now.
Among other things.
*"Occupied" is the correct term. It's the term used by Israel, officially, just as Iraq is currently occupied, officially, by the U.S.
</lj-cut>
Yeah, well, enough about that. Will probably regret posting this. Will probably delete it. Gah.
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no subject
Date: 2003-06-11 06:35 am (UTC)