Bob Ackley wrote in a message to Wayne Chirnside:



 WC> Last week, next week and for the foreseeable future it's the cap 
 WC> on medical malpractice lawsuits. JebCo wants a 250,000 dollar cap 
 WC> and the opposition near 10X's that amount with no concesus in 
 WC> sight.

 BA> Two and a half mil isn't a lot of money any more.  One way to cap
 BA> malpractice and other lawsuits is to require that punitive damages
 BA> go to the state, not to the plaintiff (and plaintiff's lawyer).

Oh yeah.  The whole mess is lawyer-driven.  But that's no surprise.

 BA> The plaintiff is (theoretically) made whole by the actual damages
 BA> assessed, punitive damages have become a bonus. 

 BA> A case several years ago in this area points up the fact.  A kid 
 BA> was badly injured at a ski area near Crescent, Iowa. north of here.
 BA> Kid's parents filed civil charges in Nebraska (where they live), 
 BA> discovered that in Nebraska the state gets any punitive damages, 
 BA> dropped the case and refiled it in Iowa.  Tell me it wasn't about
 BA> money.....

Heh.



 WC>> Looks like England's Tony Blair is getting into deep shit over his
 WC>> _mistatements_ regarding Iraq. Now Bush having lost credibility from
 WC>> Iraq is trying to gather international support to go after Iran
 WC>> while we've still got a HUGE mess in Afganistan and Iraq :-(

 RJT>> I'll be surprised if they go there before the current situation gets
 RJT>> rather more nailed down.  If they do that they'll really be
 RJT>> overextending themselves...

 BA> They're *already* overextended.

Ok.

 WC>  It would NOT suprise me, Rumsfeld thinks God is on his shoulder 
 WC> and George is just tree stump stupid.

 BA> IMO Rumsfeld is certifiable and George *is* tree stump stupid. 
 BA> It's interesting the Rumsfeld and most of the other the high 
 BA> muckety-mucks in this administration never served in the military -
 BA> except Bush, of course, and he was a reservist.

That is an interesting point to consider.

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