Yes, there was such a time. I read about it in the NYT, back when it was a serious newspaper.

More law = more defendants.

But then Dwight David Eisenhower rewarded one of the men most responsible for the internment of thousands of loyal Japanese Americans just so White agribusiness scumbags could steal their land, Earl Warren, by making him Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Pity the poor ol' soul.

Yes, in TV land: Leave It To Beaver, Donna Reed Show, and way back into the days of Gunsmoke and The Rifleman.

I didn't see it in the articles, but I would guess that Young is from some deep-blue urban area, and moved to a rural area "for the quality of life there" and thinks of herself as a wonderfully tolerant person who supports all the "right" causes.

What the mother? Is going on with us? And find a link or some way to help pay their fine.

Raoul - She seems to be an antisocial, somewhat paranoid person who quarrels easily ... she had had past disputes with neighbors, and fears them. It's sad that she should be that way, but worse that a court would reward her for it.

You will see this woman and 100 cats in the future.

Forget help with paying the fine--what I want to contribute to is their legal defense fund so they will be able to appeal this unconscionable ruling.

Oddly enough, there is a perfect proverb for this sort of woman: "A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all sound judgment". [Proverbs 18:1]

I wouldn't be surprised if cookies start showing up on her porch (and the judge's) with regularity.

2 things are obvious about this. One, the girls did not have a lawyer. Two, the judge must be stupid. There are concepts called proximate cause and foreseeability in the law of torts. Her 'injury' was neither caused by the cookie delivery nor would a reasonable person foresee such a 'injury' occuring. So, no liability.

2 things are obvious about this. One, the girls did not have a lawyer. Two, the judge must be stupid. There are concepts called proximate cause and foreseeability in the law of torts. Her 'injury' was neither caused by the cookie delivery nor would a reasonable person foresee such a 'injury' occuring. So, no liability.

It's articles like these that demonstrate the truth of my wife's constant contentions:

1. Lawyers go to law school so they get educated out of their common sense.

2. The prevalence of lawyers marks a danger to us, since the profession is, according to its own ethics, a promoter of anti-social attitudes.

I'd suggest that Ms. Young has cost society much more than $900 in goodwill, since the reports of this case have spread widely. What is even worse is that evidently she had asked for punitive damages in addition, although the judge denied it.

Odds are sometime soon some of the local teen boys may do something like toilet paper her front lawn one night, and thanks to her actions and the judge's ruling in court, there isn't going to be much sympathy for her side of the argument.

"She seems to be an antisocial, somewhat paranoid person who quarrels easily"

Okay , I'll accept that. But still, tht's even less excuse for the judge to be acquiescing in her use of the law to attack and punish people who have committed no offense other than bad manners, if that.

And I like the idea of lots of secret cookie deliveries, as the usual response would be of the burning bag variety.

What about the girls? They are permanently scarred.

On the other hand, cases like this can't help the Democrats in their fight against Bush's judicial appointments.

The ruling is ridiculous, but am I the only one here who thinks there is something a little bizarre about 17 and 18 year old girls secretly dropping homebaked cookies all over the neighbourhood at night instead of going to a dance where they might be "cursing and drinking"? Aren't these two perhaps a little too perfect?

10:30 o'clock would not be considered especially late, even in my rural neighborhood.

But, no, Peter, not necessarily.

When I was a midwesterner, we had an amusing story about hijinks in a small Wisconsin town, where the entertainment was street dances, and -- to the consternation of the big-city reporter -- both parents and children went, and sometimes the fathers danced with their daughters.

Maybe the girls are, by the standards of Colorado, sophisticates and didn't want to hang out with the yahoos.

Harry:

OK, I'll buy that. See what damage growing up in a liberal environment can do to even the most adamant conservative? You spend hours bemoaning lost innocence and then are suspicious of it when you run into it.