On Wed, 3 Jul 1996, Herb Lin wrote:
Folks -- I object to the characterization of my remarks about crime prevention being made with sarcasm. The complete remark was "Crime prevention ought to be part of the FBI's mission, ... and it is -- ask them, and they acknowledge that."
OK, sorry, my reading. I'd certainly hate to jeopardize any professional relationships by implying that you'd been poking fun at them on purpose. There's already far too much distrust to go around. As I recall, the sequence went "Crime prevention ought to be part of the FBI's mission [audience snickers, Herb realizes what he just said and smiles]... and it is -- ask them, and they acknowledge that." The best standup comics are the genuine straight men, I guess. To avoid any trouble, I'll be using that line *without* specific attribution from now on. -rich