Judge Judy

No.

No.

I don't think I like watching the current crop of "judge" shows. I will readily admit, however, that I watched 'The People's Court' faithfully during the '80s when Judge Wapner was presiding. That is THE 'judge' show - the only one worth watching. At least, that's what I think.

 

I like Judge Judy.

Joseph Botwinick

 

"Judge not lest you be judged."

 

I enjoy watching her make the low-lifes squirm.

Judge Joe Brown is great, too.

Those are the only two I watch.

 

I like Judy. Is she seriously Laura's sister? I
would never have imagined.

I am astounded, however, at the people who
will air such dirty laundry and (especially)stupid-
ity in public! Amazing!

I watch Judge Judy because bad people and
publicly-stupid people are fascinating to me.
I watch that show for the same reasons I watch
everything that comes on TV about Hitler: the
deliberate choosing to do evil is amazing.

The choice to deliberately do evil must be
brought on by some source--like a stupid-pill
or something. Proof: Judge Judy's show.

 

A buddy of mine from work was on Judge Judy last Halloween. It was a riot.

Judge shows are just that--shows. If the jurisprudence were a language, the judge shows would be profanity.

 

These shows are generally small claims and divorce courts, neither of which require a jury.

Having been in small claims a couple of times as the plaintiff, I think some of those shows are pretty close to what actually happens -- the only difference with mine was that we were informed of the decision by mail in the second one because the judge wanted more time to go over the records (the first was settled immediately in court in our favor against a tenant we needed to evict for lack of payment and keeping about 400 rabbits! The second was against the seller of a horse for misrepresenting the animal to my kids. We technically lost the second one, but since we got the information out of the guy that we needed to track the animal, and that was all we wanted, we felt like we won actually).

I've also had to go to juvenile court with one of my sons and that can get pretty informal and 'chatty', too! Everything depends on the judge.

 

You're supposed to be studying, Adam. Get back to work!

 

I have been in court a few times. When I was
home-schooling my children for a short time,
I took them to watch a few small-claims cases
in Minneapolis. Another time, I took Roto
Rooter to small claims and won. I stood up for
my son and stepson in two traffic cases: first
one won, last one lost unfairly. I was there as
moral support when my daughter sued the
father of her son for child abuse; she, praise
be to our God, won.

And finally, I went for traffic court. It was funny!
Age 27, newly widowed, I was unfairly caught
going through a yellow light that had been
changed in order to catch people in MPLS. I
told the officer, "You KNOW this is not right!" He
said, "Take it up with the judge.." I did.

I had a little over $2.00; absolutely no money
because my husband had died 3 months earlier,
and nothing was left. I appeared before the
judge, with my children in the room, explained
why I did not deserve the ticket, and lost. When
I saw the bailiff, I said I had no money and asked
if I could write a post-dated check. She sent me
back before the judge.

The judge asked me why I had no money. Ii
answered that I "just didn't" but was expecting
a check on Tuesday. (This was on a Friday.)
He said, "Tuesday. Tuesday. What is the date
on Tuesday?"

I said nothing as he looked at his calendar. He
said, "That is the day Social Security checks go
out. You don't look 65 to me!"

"Well!" I retorted with a fake attitude. "I most
certainly am!"

He absolutely guffawed! Then he got serious a
and asked, "Your husband just died, didn't he?"
I answered yes.

He answered, "Well! I am not taking money from
the State to pay the State!"

He held up my ticket, tore it top to bottom with
great flair, and said, "Next case!"

I had no idea how close I came to jail and having
my children taken from me until long later.

[ November 10, 2002, 05:25 AM: Message edited by: Abiyah ]

 

Wow Abiyah, what was all THAT about?
The courts out here can be pretty funny. My boss had me go to court with his son in law to talk him out of a ticket that would have gotten his license taken away. I hadn't recognized the judge as someone I knew through his wife I worked with, and the guy had me jumpin' through hoops trying to get around the ticket. Finally he busted out laughing and asked who married me, and it hit me. (no ticket there)
I got a $100 ticket once and I didn't have it right then, and requested that they let me do community service instead, but they said no and they'd put me in jail if I didn't come up with it...that same day they arrested a neighbor 8mos. pregnant for the same thing, grrr, so I knew they were serious. I thought it was pretty silly...people who don't have it right away will be forced to do something illegal to try not to go to jail! Is that backwards or WHAT?
Gina