Michigan Lawyer's Weekly exposes myths of tort deform

Michigan Lawyer's Weekly has exposed tort deform for what it is: Chamber of Commerce anti-lawyer propaganda based on myths instead of hard data. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce, facing the worst economic forecast of Michigan's future in decades, came up with a disingenuous, cynical plan to improve Michigan's economic future by blaming trial lawyers, victims of negligence, and victims of dangerous drugs. Michigan Lawyer's Weekly, in a well-researched, thorough expose, debunked just about every single argument set forth in the Chamber's "study." The article, by Todd C. Berg, Esq., debunks the the Chamber's myths by using hard data and expert analysis to establish: Michigan's economy hasn't benefited in any measurable way from tort deform; Tort deform in Michigan hasn't increased personal income or opportunities for employment; Most of the "reforms" sought by the Chamber are already present in Michigan law and Court Rules; The Chamber is wrong about needing more incentives to settle cases -- the vast, vast majority of cases already do settle out of court; Doctors have not enjoyed lower malpractice insurance rates despite the clear, measurable trend toward lower payouts and fewer numbers of them; Declining numbers of physicians are not related to tort deform but to other economic factors. What is perhaps most interesting is the consensus found among the defense bar, the plaintiff's bar, and the neutral State Bar of Michigan, all of which agree that there is no measurable connection between tort deform and economic opportunity in Michigan. Never one to fess up when confronted with facts, the Chamber nonetheless maintains its frivolous position that more tort deform is needed. This post is cross-posted on tortdeform.com, of which I am a guest contributor.

"Ah s'port da Ipsa-tucky skool bard and dem In'juns"

I received word yesterday that one of our elected officials has placed on the school board's agenda for Monday, June 25, 2007, a rejection of the name chosen by students for the high school sports teams. Instead of moving our district forward and using the name "Royals," which the students of our district voted on and approved, BOE Vice President Tom Reiber (better known for his homophobic, anti-gay views than for his expertise in education), has placed on the agenda a resolution to go back to using the Braves name. This is all the more embarrassing to me personally because, for reasons that now escape me, Tom had me convinced that he had changed his stripes back when we coordinated our campaigns for school board in 2004. I guess hindsight really is 20/20. Yea, yea, you told me so, I know . . . . The problem with the Braves name is that it is overtly racist. I know, I know, we keep hearing from the ignoramus crowd that it isn't intended to be racist -- it's intended to confer respect on them In'juns and show 'em how much we love 'em. But that's little more than a modern day recycling of the same ignorant attitude expressed back in the late 1800s when Plessy vs. Ferguson proclaimed the propriety of separate but equal facilities for whites and blacks. Now, of course, it cannot be denied that those backward views were long ago discarded, constituting an embarrassing era in our history. Fast forward to today. We are well into the 21st century. We make educational policy on the basis of science and scholarly study. We enact federal, state and local laws based on consensus in the educational community in an effort to improve the quality of education. We generally entrust people with advanced degrees to move us forward and forge new paths in education. In our endeavor to be diligent, precise and thorough in formulating our educational policies, we know that: Every scholarly study done on the issue of using Native American nicknames for sports teams has concluded that it is harmful. Every scholarly study done on this issue has concluded that it does little if anything to benefit students. Every professional organization with expertise in the social sciences that has chosen to speak out on this issue has concluded that the practice should be banned. The committee established by the District to look into whether the name should be changed concluded the name should be changed. The NCAA has concluded that the name should be changed. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights has concluded the name should be changed. The United States Commission on Civil Rights has concluded the name should be changed. The American Psychological Association has concluded the name should be changed and cited a number of scholarly articles in its own resolution. The Michigan State Board of Education has concluded the name should be changed. There's plenty more, but I'll stop there. So why is it that people unabashedly show up at school board meetings demanding the opposite? Why do people order their elected officials to ignore the social science, the scholars and the experts in favor of doing something that has been proven to harm the self-esteem and racial identity of Native Americans and, in particular, their children? The only lucid conclusion that can be reached is that this vocal minority doesn't read the scholarly studies, won't listen to the experts, and can't be bothered by social science or scholarly literature. They haven't done the hard work of educating themselves, and they don't care to. They selfishly, insensitively and unapologetically want what they want, regardless of the utter lack of basis for it, regardless of the harm it does, and regardless of how embarrassed our community will be by a governmental endorsement of an overtly racist sports team name for use in our public schools. That, in my view, is little more than ignorant, selfish and lazy. What's sad is that nobody seems able to predict whether our Board of Education will follow the consensus in the educational community and dump the racist name. I guess we'll find out on Monday.

40 things I had the privilege of doing before I turned 40

I've lived a charmed life. I've had the pleasure of many unique and exciting experiences, and I'm looking forward to many, many more. Before I turned 40 today, I managed to do the following 40 things: Traveled to Hell and back (Hell, Michigan, that is) Stopped my mother's bicycle by jamming my foot into the spokes while it was moving at a pretty good clip Got lost on a mountain in Scotland Made partner at one of the largest law firms in Michigan Got two tattoos Traveled to 44 states and 5 foreign countries on 2 continents Successfully climbed several mountains over 14,000 feet Tipped over in a sailboat with 3 generations of Gettos aboard Spelunked the longest underground lava tube in North America from start to finish in total darkness Made my own beer (and it was pretty darn good) Got married and divorced and managed to fall in love again with a wonderful woman (hi Meredith!) Had two children, both of which are the lights of my life Got elected to a Board of Education by a landslide only to resign from it three years later Crossed the salt flats in Utah during summer in a car with no air conditioning Beat the State of Michigan in federal court on behalf of the ACLU Watched a tarantula walk across a dirt road near the coast of Mexico Felt earthquakes in two separate states Drove through South Central L.A. while the riots were going on Locked myself out of my car more than once (but I'm not sayin' how many times total) Sat in a back-country natural hot spring while watching a wild marten dance down a stream toward me Jumped out of perfectly functioning airplanes on three occasions Won $625 from a quarter slot machine Wrote and recorded a song about a fellow blogger Won a jury trial and lost a jury trial Built two working electric guitars from unfinished components Hiked in the Bavarian Alps, the Rocky Mountains, the White Mountains, and the Appalachian Mountains Snorkeled in the presence of fish larger than me Was a victim of a burglary Had an orchestral work that I wrote played by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony Got stranded on the Silver Lake Sand Dunes at night Worked at Capitol Records Studios at Hollywood and Vine Got takeout for Rick Rubin, Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked, the Happy Mondays, and a number of other artists and bands Drove all the way from L.A. to San Francisco and back just to pick someone up at the S.F. airport Camped in an enormous lodgepole pine forest that had burned entirely to the ground a few years earlier Scaled a cliff in the Nevada desert, rappelling down afterward Bungee jumped Covered a Loverboy song, a U2 song, and the Who while playing in a high school band Saw rainbows in Michigan, Colorado and Honduras Rode in a helicopter from Catalina Island to the mainland Rafted the Colorado River with my father, camping by night -- floating by day I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see what's due to come up in the next 40 . . .

The cause of deja vu has been discovered

You can read about it here. And I had thought that the feeling was caused by the massive, multi-dimensional quantum wave generated each time they turned the time machine off in the future . . . Photo of the giant quantum wave spiraling back from the future courtesy of sgeier.net.

Huh?

I can't believe Fox News broke into coverage of the Paris Hilton situation today with this: It ruined the entire flow of the unfolding drama.

YSO concert an enormous success!

The YSO concert I attended Saturday evening at the EMU Student Center was a great success! The program included Western favorites, and almost the entire orchestra arrived clad in Western garb. Adam Riccinto, the Musical Director and conductor wore jeans and a Western shirt. The children loved the concert and can't wait to attend more of them. I will definitely keep you posted as to when future concerts will be. Also, the Student Center was quite a nice building as well. It was very peaceful inside, and there was a food court geared toward the college and graduate school crowd.

Ypsi City Council: Secretive or just incompetent?

I guess you'll have to decide. The latest chapter in the never-ending saga over the ill-conceived income tax vote will take place this Monday at 7:30 A.M. Yep, that's A.M., which in Latin is short for ante meridiem. Which translates to "before the middle of the day," a/k/a in the morning. As in, early in the morning on Monday. As in "are you f-ing kidding me?" Indeed, our elected representatives are so incredibly interested in transparency in government via "letting the voters decide" that they have scheduled a meeting to discuss the ballot language to be submitted to those voters at 7:30 A.M. this Monday when, of course, all the people who earn incomes, the very incomes Council wants the "voters to decide" to tax, will be getting their children off to school and/or going to work. As Council well knows, the vast majority of residents and taxpayers don't have the luxury of simply blowing off work Monday morning on short notice to show up at what could only be described as the lousiest conceivable time to hold what is supposed to be an open and public meeting. Then again, perhaps I'm being hard on Council. Perhaps this is a true emergency, requiring special consideration. I guess it could be that since the ballot language is apparently due about 9 hours later, that Council could not any time in the last 2 friggin' years (or the last week, for that matter) get together at a more convenient date and time to have this discussion when the public could actually attend. But if you go with that assumption, it would make Council a group of incompetent nitwits for failing to plan this out with a modicum of proficiency, skill and adequacy. And we all know that Council isn't made up of a group of incompetent nitwits, right? I hope everyone who reads this has a moment to give their elected representative a call sometime on Sunday. And let them know that whoever the jackass is who thought it would be a good idea to have a Council meeting on the income tax at 7:30 A.M. on a Monday ought to be recalled or fired or both, whichever is applicable. Mayor Paul Schreiber 277-5446 mayor@cityofypsilanti.com Ward 1 Trudy Swanson 487-3094 satswanson@hotmail.com Ward 1 Lois Richardson 482-2017 loiserich@hotmail.com Ward 2 Bill Nickels 483-8896 kbnickels@aol.com Ward 2 John Gawlas 484-0372 jgawlas@cityofypsilanticom Ward 3 Brian Filipiak 485-3054 bfilipiak@cityofypsilanti.com Ward 3 Brian Robb 485-9122 brobb@cityofypsilanti.com