Altanta PI lawyer Andrew Speaker has been very much in the news lately.  Nicknamed by Drudge “TB Andy” (a la Typhoid Mary, for those of you who didn’t get it the first time), his face has been plastered all over the tabloid media.  We sure do love diseases.

So why have blawgers found this story so interesting?  Let’s see.  Man is sick.  Virulent, perhaps deadly, strain of TB.  Father-in-law researches the stuff for the CDC.  Makes it through customs even though he’s on the watch list.  Oh yeah, he’s a lawyer.

Friends, his profession neither adds (nor subtracts) to the story.  Did anyone suggest that he contracted TB from a judge?  Did his employ his vast rhetorical skills to overcome the ICE guard?  No.  It just happens that he’s a lawyer.    Let’s leave Andrew Speaker alone.  He really didn’t mean to bump Paris Hilton out of the news.  So can we forget that irrelevant aspect and focus on the really important stuff.

Why is it they check the bottoms of my shoes, and won’t let me go through the magnetometer, because I have a fourth ounce of shampoo in my possession, but TB Andy breezes through?  If you ever needed proof that this whole border crossing nonsense is a palliative to make the public believe they are safe from terrorists, here ya go.  It’s designed to make average, ordinary and utterly non-threatening Americans (of whatever race, color, national background, etc.) feel better through harassment.  That’s right, safety by annoyance.  The more they annoy, the safer we feel.  God bless America and Homeland Security.

Have you ever considered the ramifications of cracking wise to one of these fellows with the private security company patches on their shoulders while you’re trying to convince them that your Rolex is real?  Don’t you dare bring that coca-cola (that you bought 12 feet away at the concession stand) through.  Why not?  No TB in there?  LOL.  That one will cost you a strip search.  Oh my god, not the latex gloves!

Seriously, this is just silly.  The border is a sieve.  We all know this.  So why pick on the easy targets, the regular folks who pay taxes so that those guards can earn minimum wage.  If someone on the watch list can waltz in, the scheme is not working.  So give us a break.  Let’s go back to that America where we didn’t have to prove our worthiness to anyone in a uniform.  And profile the guys who are coughing uncontrollably. 

UPDATE:  Mark Bennett, Houston defense lawyer extraordinaire,
  I’ve got this all backward.  He contends that the rationale for this airport charade is to instill and maintain fear in regular folks so that they remain willing to give up their individual freedom for the pretense of safety.  He’s makes a very good point.  I’m not sure we are really saying anything different, but rather make the same point at different places on the spectrum.  Either way, it’s a good read on an important issue.

Nancy “I don’t know nothin’ about birthin’ no babies” Grace is not generally considered a favorite of thoughtful people anywhere.  So check out how her producers have decided to expand her appeal (and watch the whole thing, it just gets better):

If you thought yesterday brought the final note to the Flea saga, you were wrong.  Today, we have the coda, the backlash of anger and angst by the fans of the Flea against the evil lawyers.  Take a look…here and here.

As it should be, Eric the Turk of the famous NY Personal Injury Blog bore the brunt of the docs’ outrage at the Flea’s settlement and outing.  This is as it should be, since Eric was the first of our “ilk” to recognize what was happening over at the Flea’s blog and bring it to the attention of lawyers, and indeed had engaged in discussion/debate with the Flea and his sycophants even before the Med Mal trial blogging started.  I even engaged in a bit of it, but only following on Eric’s heals, which earned me a piece of the Flea’s

So let us first deal with the Angels of Mercy.  While their knee jerk support for the Flea (never mind the dead child, who apparently is now forgotten) is understandable in a “circle the wagons” sort of way, their blame of lawyers, and even the evil judge, is simply laughable.  Is it just me, or did you want to believe that physicians were just a little smarter than appears from their rants?  Such anger. Such jumping to baseless conclusions in the absence of evidence.  Such a total loss of control.  They are giving docs a really bad name here.  And, of course, they can’t see it at all.

Caveat:  Remember that these Flea Followers do not represent all physicians and physicians’ friends.  Don’t do what they do, and jump to the conclusion that all physicians are morons.  They are not.  Morons are morons, and it happened that some members of the club are docs.  Remember, some are lawyers too.

That said, let us now move on ourselves, the lawyers.  The Flea story is all over the blawgosphere, as well it should be.  Some of the biggest names put up stories yesterday about it.  But it was as if they just discovered it.  All on their own.  Aren’t they just the most brilliant bloggers?

Where is the credit due Eric Turkewitz?  Take a look at Volokh, Althouse, even the venerable WSJ and others. (UPDATE: Overlawyered was in this list originally, but has since been removed because they did mention Eric in their first post about the Flea, although not in their post of May 31).  No hat tip.  No mention that they stole the piece from Eric.  Zippo.  Legal blogs across the country had a field day stealing this story from Eric, and many linked to NY Personal Injury Blog or gave credit where credit was due.  But these big shot blawggers who enjoyed the bounty of Eric’s efforts but neglected to mention their source are scoundrels.  Eric is far too polite to mention anything.  But I’m not.  What’s the matter guys.  Too ashamed of the fact that you have to go to school on the Turk to find your fodder?  Want to pretend that you did it all yourself?  Well, it didn’t go unnoticed.