Mr. Paterson said he often had to remind himself that it was probably unwise to call stations these days as "David from Harlem".
Second, anyone with real dirt on him would be unwise to call in on an open telephone line: the information wing of Sistema, a powerful Moscow company close to Mr Luzhkov, is run by a former head of the KGB.
Before that he was a Mob lawyer, who, upon entering politics, said it was unwise to call him after 5 p.m., because there was a good chance he'd be drunk.
Rich, famous, happily married, blessed with four handsome children who adored him, Styron would seem to have achieved something like perfection in both his life and his art — but as we know from Oedipus, it is unwise to call any man fortunate before he is dead.
Dr. Nader Said, a sociologist at Bir Zeit university in Ramallah who is active in broader efforts to change Palestinian society, said the ousters were a distraction from real reform and were caused by what he considers an unwise American call for Mr. Arafat to leave.
Likewise, if you are instigating divorce proceedings, it is unwise to call your soon-to-be ex-wife anything like, "that cunt", or "the menopausal hag to my left".
"Sinner ladies" they were labelled, campaigners against Jamie Oliverism and what one of the women involved, in an unwise moment, called the "rabbit food" that the school was insisting on feeding to their children.
This is unwise when calling local councils, however, unless the neighborhood has seen way too much rapid turnover.
So his critique this time of mandatory minimum sentences, which he called "unwise and unjust" in "too many cases," wasn't really new, and didn't make much news.
The provision, which the administration called unwise and unnecessary when it was proposed by lawmakers, became another flash point in the debate over whether terrorism suspects should be handled exclusively as wartime prisoners, as many Republicans argue, or whether the civilian criminal justice system should remain an option, a more flexible approach backed by the Obama administration.
