The whole issue is “frivolous and junk”.

Business is responsible for the bulk of all lawsuits in this country. The Congress has enabled business to sue people for all sorts of things, including downloading songs from the Internet.

Malpractice insurance is going up because the economy is in the tank and medical costs are skyrocketing.

The whole stock of “horror stories” about malpractice awards is essentially bogus. They amount to a series of anecdotes that don’t stand up to scrutiny, a litany of urban legends.

If doctors would clean house, malpractice lawsuits would plummet. Medicine is a guild system with the doctors in control, but they don’t want to purge the bad doctors. Doctors rarely report colleagues who are incompetent, and avoid testifying against each other. If doctors started removing the minority that cause the lawsuits, instead of protecting them, the insurance companies might be forced to lower rates.

Florida slapped these caps on and the insurance companies responded by raising rates. For the slow, the caps had absolutely no effect.

Also be warned that this bill the President wants is going to shield drug companies and others from law suits. More payoffs for campaign contributors.

Also on the World Service, former British Secretary of State for International Development, Clair Short, said she never visited disaster sites because she felt that VIP visits used resources needed for recovery efforts, and if you couldn’t tell that Asia was a disaster after the tsunami you must not watch much “telly”.

Having just gone through hurricane Ivan, I would say that between looters and sightseers, I prefer looters who at least have a reason for being out. If these guys need first-hand knowledge about disasters, they can watch the weather and move into a trailer before the next hurricane hits.

He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.
Psalms 28:27 [KJV]

As reported by the BBC World Service and Ntodd: Michael Schumacher, the dominant driver in Formula 1 racing, has donated $10 million dollars to tsunami aid. That’s 40% of Schumacher’s annual driving contract, so he won’t be a burden on the welfare system any time soon, but it will probably be a jolt to German tax officials. The officials will also be dealing with Chancellor Schroeder’s decision to offer a total of $680 million dollars of assistance over the next 3 to 5 years.

Excuse me, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, are you ashamed of your paltry offer yet?

To give people a basis for evaluation of these aid numbers, the US gives Israel $3 billion every year, and has done this for years. That’s where the bulk of US foreign aid goes.