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Wednesday, October 06, 2004 |
Tort of a different color ...
Tort of a different color ...: "Tort of a different color  U.S. Businesses File Four Times More Lawsuites Than Private Citizens And Are Sanctioned Much More Often for Frivolous Suits: But Corporate America and Political Allies Bush and Cheney Campaign to Limit Citizens' Rights to Sue
American businesses file four times as many lawsuits as do individuals represented by trial attorneys, and they are penalized by judges much more often for pursuing frivolous litigation, according to a report issued today by Public Citizen.
The survey of case filings in two states (Arkansas and Mississippi) and two local jurisdictions (Cook County, Ill., and Philadelphia, Pa.) in 2001 found that businesses were 3.3 to 5.8 times more likely to file lawsuits than were individuals. This comes as businesses and politicians are campaigning to limit citizens' rights to sue over everything from medical malpractice damages to defective products. By way of comparison, the number of American consumers (281 million) outnumbers the number of businesses in America (7 million) by 40 times.
The report also found that businesses and their attorneys were 69 percent more likely than individual tort plaintiffs and their attorneys to be sanctioned by federal judges for filing frivolous claims or defenses. The report, Frequent Filers: Corporate Hypocrisy in Accessing the Courts, is available by clicking here. "Corporations think America is too litigious only when they are on the receiving end of a lawsuit," said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen. "But when they feel aggrieved, businesses are far more likely to take their beef to court than are consumers." [more]
(Via Craig's BookNotes.)
2:24:42 PM Permalink
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We can't be too purist about these things.
Here's an amazing interview with E. Howard Hunt in Slate. Hunt takes "credit" for the coup that overthrew the elected president of Gatemala in 1954, leading to the long civil war that took the lives of over 200,000 people. He plotted against Castro, and was part of Richard Nixon's attempted, unnecessary coup in the United States. By all rights he should be rotting in prison somewhere.
8:17:03 AM Permalink
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Cheney Lied
CORRECTION TO PREVIOUS POST: Cheney lied out his ASS: "UPDATE: The Wash Post just published an article detailing the falsehoods each candidate spoke tonight. I gotta tell you, the article reads like the Post is desperately trying to find ANYTHING Edwards might have gotten wrong, even slightly, if only to offset the incredible number of things they caught Cheney lying about in the article.
From the Kerry-Edwards campaign TONIGHT - bless their little hearts: CHENEY TONIGHT: "I have not suggested there's a connection between iraq and 9/11."
IRAQ/AL QAEDA
Cheney: "His regime has had high-level contacts with al Qaeda going back a decade and has provided training to al Qaeda terrorists." (Cheney Remarks, 12/2/02)
Cheney: "His regime aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. He could decide secretly to provide weapons of mass destruction to terrorists for use against us." (Cheney Remarks, 1/30/03)
Cheney: "If we're successful in Iraq, if we can stand up a good representative government in Iraq, that secures the region so that it never again becomes a threat to its neighbors or to the United States, so it's not pursuing weapons of mass destruction, so that it's not a safe haven for terrorists, now we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11." (NBC, Meet The Press, 9/14/03, emphasis added)
Russert: "The Washington Post asked the American people about Saddam Hussein, and this is what they said: 69 percent said he was involved in the September 11 attacks. Are you surprised by that?
Cheney: "No. I think it's not surprising that people make that connection." (NBC, Meet the Press, 11/14/03)
Cheney: "If we're successful in Iraq, if we can stand up a good representative government in Iraq, that secures the region so that it never again becomes a threat to its neighbors or to the United States, so it's not pursuing weapons of mass destruction, so that it's not a safe haven for terrorists, now we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11." (NBC, Meet the Press, 11/14/03)
Cheney: "We now know based on documents that we've captured since we took Baghdad that they put (Yasin) on the payroll, gave him a monthly stipend and provided him with a house, sanctuary in effect, in Iraq in the aftermath of . . . the '93 attack on the World Trade Center." (Rocky Mountain News, Interview, 1/10/04)
Cheney: "I think there's overwhelming evidence that there was a connection between al-Qaeda and the Iraqi government." (National Public Radio, "Morning Edition," 1/22/04)
Cheney: "Freedom still has enemies in Iraq, terrorists who are targeting the very success and freedom we're providing to that country. Recently, we intercepted a letter sent by a senior al Qaeda associate named Zarqawi to one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants...America will finish what we've begun in Iraq, and we will win an essential victory in this war on terror." (Cheney Remarks, 2/27/04)
Cheney: "It's clearly established in terms of training, provision of bomb-making experts, training of people with respect to chemical and biological warfare capabilities, that al-Qaeda sent personnel to Iraq for training and so forth*" (Cheney, CNBC's "Kudlow & Kramer," 6/4/04)
Cheney: "In Iraq, Saddam Hussein was in power, overseeing one of the bloodiest regimes of the 20th century* He had long established ties with al Qaeda." (Cheney, Orlando, FL, 6/14/04)
Cheney: "There's been enormous confusion over the Iraq and al-Qaeda connection, Gloria. First of all, on the question of--of whether or not there was any kind of a relationship, there was a relationship. It's been testified to. The evidence is overwhelming. It goes back to the early '90s...There's clearly been a relationship." (CNBC "Capital Report," 6/17/04)
Borger: "Well, let's get to Mohamed Atta for a minute because you mentioned him as well. You have said in the past that it was, quote, 'pretty well confirmed.'"
Cheney: "No, I never said that."
Borger: "OK."
Cheney: "I never said that." (CNBC "Capital Report," 6/17/04) In response to Cheney's comment above that he "never said" that the connetion between Atta and Iraq was "pretty well confirmed," check this out from tonight's Washington Post:On Dec. 9, 2001, Cheney said on NBC's "Meet The Press" that "it's been pretty well confirmed that [Atta] did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April, several months before the attack." On March 24, 2002, Cheney again told NBC, "We discovered . . . the allegation that one of the lead hijackers, Mohamed Atta, had, in fact, met with Iraqi intelligence in Prague." On Sept. 8, 2002, Cheney, again on "Meet the Press," said that Atta "did apparently travel to Prague. . . . We have reporting that places him in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence officer a few months before the attacks on the World Trade Center." "
(Via AMERICAblog.)
12:36:18 AM Permalink
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© Copyright 2004 Steve Michel.
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