Above the Law

If you've never checked out Above the Law, it's worth a few seconds of your work-time wasting. Basically, it's a self-described legal tabloid with a great technique for digging up dirt. They hear about a story, post it on their site, and ask anyone who reads it and has ever known any of the story's actors to write in and tell them all sorts of bad shit about the person in question. Since the legal world is relatively small and incestuous (except at Wisconsin, where lawcest is strongly discouraged (most of the time)), they normally get all sorts of great stuff on people getting trashed already in the media.

Meet Peter Barta. A Legal Aid defense lawyer, Barta placed cameras hidden in desk clocks on female co-workers' desks and downloaded the stream at nights in hope, allegedly, of catching them changing clothes. The story broke in New York's Daily News and Post, but under the constraints of decent journalism, they were unable to print the really nasty stuff people say about this dude.

Enter ATL. In just a few days, they have a veritable feast of hysterically mean things people told them about Mr. Barta, including his pick-up lines, high school debating history, and place of residency (with mom). JP, ever clean and sacrosanct as a freshly-carved gavel, does get a kick out of watching other people get totally punk'd on the net.