Today’s reason: the far right is disenfranchising consumers.
Commonweal Institute and MediaTransperancy.org dive into the issues of tort reform and The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Tort Law breaking open the far right’s echo chamber on this issue.
[CI] Our system of tort law, and the attorneys who help individuals and businesses bring suit for redress of injuries, are essential for protecting most persons against the powerful few —whether those with power are corporations, individuals, or government. Efforts to weaken tort law and limit access to the legal system are anti-democratic. While there may be ways in which our tort system, like every other system, could be improved, Commonweal Institute considers it important to educate the public and elected officials about the vital role that tort law and trial lawyers play in our society.
[MT] Our report shows that along with the ideological effort to change the public’s views about consumer litigation, the “conservatives” also employ a strong tactical component. We show how the conservative movement seeks to limit damage awards because doing so will “defund” one group of their assumed political opponents, trial lawyers, and thereby limit the litigators’ ability to contribute money and clout to anyone who opposes the Right’s agenda.
It’s a two-front attack: removing the ability of citizens to protect their rights, then removing the financial structure of the opposition. Maybe they’re scared that as church attendance falls so will tithing, and as a result their funding.
GW’s – All-American, high tech, high-dollar, carbon fibre Trek
Kerry – likewise American, high dollar, looks like steel or maybe titanium Serotta
Both nice. Both out of my league. My only gripes: W- If you can afford the carbon fibre bike, you can afford better than sneakers and toe cages. F – Yellow handlebar tape with orange frame? Even the French would balk at that.
Iran’s doing the twist.
The Uranium centrifuge twist, that is: Iran has broken the seals on nuclear equipment monitored by United Nations inspectors and is once again building and testing machines that could make fissile material for nuclear weapons.
… America has in recent weeks renewed its call for Iran to be referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.Read more!However, diplomats said senior officials from the “EU-3” – Britain, France and Germany – would try to coax Teheran back to the path of co-operation at a secret meeting in Paris on Thursday.
Their chances of success seem slim, however, because Teheran now appears to have calculated that America is paralysed by the presidential election campaign and that Europe is too divided to exert real pressure.
Tonight’s slate at the DNC Convention features Barak Obama, who is a man who we could all use as an example. Excelled at school, and has been defending the less fortunate ever since. He’s now the frontrunner in the race for Illinois’ open Senate seat.
But he’s there in large part due to the unsealing of messy divorce records of both his opponent in the Democratic Primary, Blair Hull, and of the winner of the Republican Primary, Jack Ryan. The Chicago Tribune “outed” both opponents on the principal of “sunlight” on the private lives of public figures.
As such, Obama should call for the complete release of the records of the divorce between Kerry and his first wife. The precedent is established twice in this election cycle, and should be continued. On a completely practical note, the records are bound to come out anyway – much like the DNC’s leak of the Sandy Berger investigation, releasing divorce records now while there’s so much else positive to report would be a way of sweeping them under the rug. Though better timing would be during the GOP convention – even bad publicity would be good publicity while attention would otherwise bee on W.
The design on this version of wastepaper basketball overwhelms the mechanics, but it’s a fun little timewaster.
