R Blog

Tort Reform: Wait a Minute

“12/02/05 WASHINGTON, D.C.. – U.S. Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi today credited the agenda of tax cuts, deregulation and tort reform initiatives passed by the Congress and signed into law by President Bush with the overall upturn in the national economy, but he urged President Bush not to leave Mississippi behind in the nation’s recovery.”

But, notorious trial lawyer Richard Scruggs who, interestly enough, is Senator Trent Lott’s brother-in-law, has filed suit against a number of insurance companies who are apparently denying storm damage claims from hurricane Katrina. Senator Lott’s home, as well as the Scruggs’ were destroyed by a storm surge.  From my days in the insurance business I can report that flood damage as defined in the policy is excluded from a homeowner’s contract.  "Scruggs' basic contention: The water damage that insurers classify as flooding and exclude from a homeowner policy's hurricane provision — including damage from tidal water and water carried by wind — is a different animal than storm surge. Storm surge, he argues, is how hurricanes wreak havoc on coastal areas.”

Sirotablog reports:

"The Democrats seem to think that the answer is a lawsuit. Sue everybody."
- Sen. Trent Lott, 7/20/01

"I'm among many Mississippi citizens who believe tort reform is needed."
- Sen. Trent Lott, 5/8/02

"You know, obviously we should [enact tort reform]...Someday it will happen, and the sooner the better."
- Sen. Trent Lott, 1/24/01

" Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi today credited the agenda of tax cuts, deregulation and tort reform initiatives passed by the Congress and signed into law by President Bush with the overall upturn in the national economy."
- Sen. Trent Lott press release, 12/2/05

"If their answer to everything is more lawsuits, then yes, that's a problem, because I certainly don't support that."
- Sen. Trent Lott, 8/2/02

"It's sue, sue, sue... That's not the answer."
- Sen. Trent Lott, 8/4/01

PUNCHLINE: Today, Senator Trent Lott and his wife Sue, sued State Farm Fire and Casualty (those good hands people) for the loss of his home.

War on Christmas

Bill O'Reilly has smoked me out. I’ve had a bit of a war on Christmas for quite a long time. Perhaps my humbuggery started around ‘65 or ‘66 when I spent consecutive Christmases in Southeast Asia. Actually, those “holidays” weren’t too bad. Saw Bob Hope one year. Great show.  But that’s not my problem with Christmas. My problem is that Christmas seems to happen every ten months with decorations and commercials appearing even before Thanksgiving. Christmas is really quite repetitive. There’s old chestnuts like Handel’s Messiah and the Charlie Brown Christmas album and chestnuts roasting by an open fire that get dragged out every year. Certain people persist in caroling. They  come right up to your house. Most of them now want money for something. Foreign missions? I don’t know where that money goes? Even Regis Philbin puts out a Christmas album. TV commercials are filled with brightly colored packages. Talk show sets are decorated. Some people wear Santa hats. Now, with the internet, your mailbox fills up with those Jackie Lawson animated cards where a little dog chases a snowflake. Then there’s all the wasteful lights on houses. Some people leave them up all year long. Don’t forget all the little trees that get sawed down. The merchants have that desperate look because, face it, December is it for them. Their stores are filled with junk that people actually believe other people want as gifts. (I prefer the gift of cash so I can get what I want). We really can’t afford this Christmas thing to start seeping into September. (It’s already started with year round Christmas shops. But that’s the way we are headed.
So, here’s my solution: have Christmas every four years like the Olympics. It is, after all, the Olympics of holidays right now. No one has the energy to do the Olympics every year and very few can cope with Christmas as an annual event. If Christmas were held every four years it would be something to really look forward to. Productivity would increase across the country. (Right now people pretty much stop working as soon as they start the planning for the Christmas party). Traffic fatalities would decrease as you’d only have to drive or fly to grandma’s house every fourth winter. (Cars would last longe; it would be easier to get airline reservations). The nation would lose weight due to a reduction in consumption of Christmas candy. There would be an abatement of depression as people normally by themselves at Christmas would be alone for the holidays only one year out of four. And, you wouldn’t have to feel as sorry for the little kids who don’t get presents because they won’t be expecting them as often. Marriages would be saved because the emotional tension created by Christmas pressures will only happen every four years. TV might improve due to lack of Christmas specials three years out of four.  Christmas could be special again.
Think about it. If the Nutcracker only showed up every four years, you might consider going.

Pinter Trashes Bush and Blair

Playwright Harold Pinter, receiving his Nobel Prize for literature did an impression of The Girl in the Cafe a nice little HBO film now out on DVD  by taking advantage of the Nobel podium and using the opportunity to indict both the American President and British PM for, well...shall we say “war crimes.” It’s a long speech which you ought to read. But if you aren’t interested in his comments about his plays you can scroll down about three quarters of the way through the  speech where he finds his beef and asks some reasonable questions. Mr. Pinter doesn’t doesn’t hold back. A sample:

“What has happened to our moral sensibility? Did we ever have any? What do these words mean? Do they refer to a term very rarely employed these days – conscience? A conscience to do not only with our own acts but to do with our shared responsibility in the acts of others? Is all this dead? Look at Guantanamo Bay. Hundreds of people detained without charge for over three years, with no legal representation or due process, technically detained forever. This totally illegitimate structure is maintained in defiance of the Geneva Convention. It is not only tolerated but hardly thought about by what's called the 'international community'. This criminal outrage is being committed by a country, which declares itself to be 'the leader of the free world'. Do we think about the inhabitants of Guantanamo Bay? What does the media say about them? They pop up occasionally – a small item on page six. They have been consigned to a no man's land from which indeed they may never return. At present many are on hunger strike, being force-fed, including British residents. No niceties in these force-feeding procedures. No sedative or anaesthetic. Just a tube stuck up your nose and into your throat. You vomit blood. This is torture. What has the British Foreign Secretary said about this? Nothing. What has the British Prime Minister said about this? Nothing. Why not? Because the United States has said: to criticise our conduct in Guantanamo Bay constitutes an unfriendly act. You're either with us or against us. So Blair shuts up.”

He’s just getting started with his The Girl in the Cafe moment.  Read on.

Lummi Island Destinations

If you happen to come to Lummi Island you will discover that there aren’t many points of interest. There are virtually no public beaches, there aren’t any parks on the water (the Heritage Trust, a conservancy group, does own and maintain trails in two conservation preserves, both inland), there’s no way to get to the top of imposing Lummi Mountain without trespassing, and there’s no dock, public or private where one can tie up a boat. So, here’s what you can do: take the ferry over, drive your car or bike or walk around the island and enjoy the great views, have a meal at the Willows Inn or Beach Cafe (both operated by the same people), buy a souvenir at the Islander Store or, on the three weekends when the island artists host their tour, view some art, often at the residence/studio of the artist. One of these artists, Ann Morris, is a ‘don’t miss’, actually worth the trip to Lummi Island. Her studio sits in the middle of a 15 acre  Sculpture Woods. You can wander through the woods and view many large bronzes that seem to live in the small clearings among  big cedars and pines, or grow out of ferny mounds. This will give you an idea of the work you might see.
These bronzes are artists proofs and if you are a collector (a fairly wealthy one) you can order one of these for your own backyard. Prices range from $10,000 to $100,000 plus shipping and handling. Ms. Morris isn’t fooling around here. No $6 etched rocks, or $10 glass pins or $20 bead necklaces or 3 for $10 cards. If you want a piece of her art you are going to have to step up. And, you’ll have to wait because the foundry doesn’t just keep a stack of these on the shelf. They will have to make you one and that might take a few months. I think I’ve walked the garden about a dozen times now. On my first visit the sculptures seemed gloomy; foreboding. Lots of bones and dead-like things looming in the NW mist. But lately I’m much more comfortable with her naturalistic vision, bones forming the underlying architecture of us all and whatever else real artists think about before they make a huge muscular figure with confusing sexual parts and no head, handing you a bowl of something. I like to go, though, for the entire ambiance: the beautiful piece of wooded property that flows downhill past her amazing studio building, past a yoga studio and to the edge of the bank where Mt. Constitution on Orcas is staring back at you across Rosario Strait. Even non art lovers enjoy the experience. For the boorish amongst us there are lots of boobs and penises (curiously, all circumcised) and some hermaphroditic themes which cause some “hmmmmms,” and tilted heads. For sculptures and carvers there’s evidence of amazing skill and craftsmanship. For architects and builders a substantially built studio of pragmatic design that fits perfectly on the site.  And, for car buffs, on our last trip, an old faded red Ford truck that appeared to emerge from the earth like one of Ann's sculptures. The Sculpture Wood is as surprising as as it could possibly be and more than you might hope to see on a small, quiet island with no points of interest.

Murtha and the First Mom

The Adults Report for Duty

Vice-President Cheney famously promised us that the adults were taking over after Clintonian shenanigans. This proved not to be the case unless you are willing to classify Bushian stubbornness, petulance and faith-based policy making as adult behavior. But, there are signs and rumors that some real adults are about to make a move. Seymour Hersh, the mature reporter from the New Yorker who constantly breaks big stories (like  this one in the current New Yorker) says about Congressman Jack Murtha, a hawkish conservative Democratic congressman who recently called for withdrawal from Iraq causing White House undies to imbed deeply up their collective ass cracks says: “Murtha is one of those oldies, in his 70s now...He's a very conservative military guy, who controls the budget, not only the budget we know about, but the black budget, the covert budget. He's one of those people trusted...  Murtha...in particular (is) known for his closeness to the four-stars (generals). They come and they bleed on him...And so, for Murtha to suddenly say it's over, as he did three weeks ago or two weeks ago...it drove the White House crazy. They were beyond mad, as somebody said to me, because they know that the generals are talking to him...So... you can consider it a message from a lot of generals on active duty today. This is what they think, at least a significant percentage of them, I assure you. This is, I’m not over-dramatizing this. It's a shot across the bow. They don't think it's (Iraq) doable. You can't tell that to this President. He doesn't want to hear it. But you can say it to Murtha...”
Even after name-calling and  Swiftboating old Mr. Murtha is keeping up the drumbeat saying the Army is shot and will be out of there next year. You can try and shoot the messenger but when the message is seeping out of the Pentagon it’s not so easy.

Bush’s reply was a rewrite of the speech that Nixon gave on Vietnamization in 1969  wherein Nixon said the following: “For these reasons, I rejected the recommendation that I should end the war by immediately withdrawing all of our forces. I chose instead to change American policy on both the negotiating front and battlefront....” You can read the entire speech here. Substitute Iraq for Vietnam as Eric Alterman suggests and you will be amazed and perhaps appalled at the similarities.

But perhaps the most interesting rumor that the adults are rising up comes from Washington reporter Steve Clemons who suggests that the first mom, Barbara Bush is about to get on her high horse and ride into the White House and kick some ass just like Nancy Reagan did after the Iran-Contra fiasco. Clemons writes: “Barbara Bush is allegedly TICKED off at Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Andy Card, nearly all of them -- except Karen Hughes -- for how her boy is faring in the hearts and minds of Americans.The matriarch of the Bush clan is colder than North Pole ice right now to those around her son who she thinks have undermined him...Barbara Bush is one of those wonders of nature (we hear) who knows no limits and can easily surge beyond category 5 hurricane winds.Should be interesting to watch the role of the First Mother in the coming couple of months. Watch for a lot to change right after the State of the Union address, I've been told.”
I saw Bar once in person as she toured the Central Washington State Fair grounds. I was about twenty-five yards away and she scared me quite badly. Can’t wait to see what happens and which other adults might show up to help out.