We'll Miss Ye Aunt Dorothy

Better than a shoot-out

The paid obituaries in the Democrat-Gazette sometimes dispense with the traditional obsequies in favor of plain talk. For those who don't subscribe, a remembrance of a Levy gal:

COLORADO SPRINGS - Dorothy Viola Southern, formerly of North Little Rock, passed away in Colorado Springs on July 9, 2009. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Angela Hill and son, Ronald Whitley, and survived by her children, Steven Grant of Colorado Springs, Linda Novak of Nashville and Pam Boyd of Dallas who are glad that she died peacefully and not in a shoot-out. Undoubtedly, she was quite a character, feisty, passionate, out-spoken and known for many shenanigans in her 83 years. In spite of her nine marriages and mostly turbulent life, Mom was a dedicated and conscientious mother to her five children.

Born in Levy to Sylvia and Chester Thorn on February 11, 1926, she married at the age of 13, had two children by the age of 16, was a jack of all trades, and lived in 12 states before she died. She was most proud of her career modeling shoes with her tiny little size-4 foot.

Her children have never ceased to marvel at her tenacity, work ethic, ingenuity, and sense of humor that she kept through it all. (Unfortunately she never learned the art of contentment or anger management which she desperately needed. But, understandably, she got off to a rocky start and really never had a fair chance.)

She sincerely delighted in (well, except sometimes when she was living near them) her 11 grandchildren, Ronnie Whitley, Heather Whitley, Christopher Grant, Tonia Bruce, Kim Vance, Chanin Koehn, Michael Novak, Susannah Hill, Justin Hill, and Hudson, Sydney, and Pammy Boyd. She also had four great-grandchildren who are only familiar with the urban legend of their crazy grandmother. Many nieces and nephews live in the Little Rock area, and who sometimes remember her fondly as their unusual and unpredictable Aunt Dorothy.

Almost to the end she was still making people laugh, cussing people out, and looking for the perfect husband.

Arkansas Times Blog, Posted by Max Brantly

Don't Kill The Lawyers Yet

Bashing the lawyers
BY BRUCE MCMATH SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
I see that the Democrat-Gazette has picked up the "It’s the greedy trial lawyers’ fault" chorus. This oldie goldie public relations ditty is periodically re-released by the liability insurance industry when it needs a scapegoat to cover high and rising insurance premiums, in this instance medical malpractice.
Hearing this refrain brings to mind the Shakespearean quote, "First, we will kill all the lawyers," which one often sees derisively displayed. What is rarely noted is that Dick the Butcher, who uttered those words, was a scoundrel and a rogue. The lawyers he would kill were members of society standing firm against chaos and tyranny.
Today, Dick the Butcher takes the form of "think tanks" funded by the liability insurance industry, pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers, and others who desire to be freed of their responsibility to consider the consumer or society’s interest, not just their profits. While they accuse the "greedy trial lawyers," it is the law and individual rights at which they are aiming. The goal is to replace the common law with immunizing legislation purchased with political favors.
Convincing the average citizen that it is in his interest to restrict or eliminate his common law rights when injured by another’s conduct would obviously be difficult if honestly presented. The clever use of lawyers, with their unpopular image, as surrogates for those rights makes it feasible.
The trial lawyer’s image, at least in part, is derived from the fact that the law works on the dark side of human conduct-from insurance companies and financial institutions that bilk the old and unsophisticated to corporations that knowingly sell defectively designed vehicles because the market cycle demands a new product on time; from the sexual misconduct of ministers to an industry selling addictive toxins under false pretenses.
People don’t want to hear about these things, they don’t want to think they happen. However necessary the work, that trial lawyers make their livings dealing with such maters makes them easy public relations targets.
It is well and good to encourage morality and ethics in corporate and individual conduct, but society can never assume that it will universally take place. The genius of the free-market system is that it harnesses the inevitable impulse to pursue self-interest. This, however, is also its great weakness.
There will always be those, especially in the corporate setting, who will have trouble discerning the proper limits of this pursuit. Only a system of justice that makes a reckoning a probability can provide the moral corporate employee or officer the rationale to insist upon restraint in corporate behavior. Adam Smith’s invisible hand must, in fact, be a pair of hands if society is to uniformly benefit-one hand to do the nation’s commerce, the other to wash the former of its excesses and transgressions.
Our civil judicial system and the common law upon which it is based make it possible for our diverse, complex, democratic, free-market society to function. Unnecessary personal injury, fraud on consumers and investors, and conversion of the environment and other community resources all represent a cost to society, not just to the individuals who are the initial victims. Civil lawsuits measure the losses caused by destructive conduct and shift the loss to the source; they don’t cause that loss. This function will always make the law unpopular with those held responsible, and the latter will never cease to try and blame trial lawyers for the harm caused by their own conduct.
Medical malpractice insurance premiums are currently rising for two basic reasons. One is cyclical and relates to the interplay of the insurance industry‘s underwriting and premium practices and the difficult investment market the industry currently faces. The second is a long-term problem:
There is far too much malpractice.
A Harvard medical study has reported that less than one in 10 acts of malpractice is ever compensated. Other studies have confirmed this, and that most acts of medical negligence are from repeat offenders. Medical malpractice results in real losses to real people, medical bill and lost wages, loss of life or quality of life-losses not caused by lawsuits but measured by them.
The civil justice system is telling us that our health care system has problems. For sure, there is room for improvement in the civil justice system.
However, improvements there would on balance uncover more, not less medical malpractice costs. We can cut the tongue out of the messenger by closing the courthouse door on victims and pretending that these losses are not happening, or we can get serious about addressing the real problems.
Unfortunately, the solutions are not simple. They are entwined in issues related to the regulation of the insurance industry and the practice of medicine. They relate to how we pay for and ration health care; false economies of staffing; and inadequate pay for medical support staff.
Perhaps this inherent complexity explains the willingness of some to latch on to simpler explanations. That solutions will involve challenging a lot of special interests explains why we are going to continue to hear that it is the "greedy lawyers’ fault."
Bruce McMath is a past president of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association and a past member of the Board of Governors of the American Association of Trial Lawyers. He is a partner in McMath Woods, P.A., in Little Rock.

Your Insurance Company Needs You! Please Help Now.

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Thanks to Judge C.

Oh dear...this does not look good!

From Politico on Mike Ross's personal finances....

Protect my insurer's profits!

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Arkansas Has A Whore House In It.

"Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Rep. Mike Ross are doing the bidding of the insurance industry to block the public health insurance option. But a majority of all Arkansans, and 80% of Arkansas Democrats, support a public option. Lincoln and Ross are out of touch with their constituents, and out of touch with the Democratic Party."  Tell Blanche Lincoln and Mike Ross to Act Like Democrats

Wow is really all you can say.

I would like to think that Jimmy Carter is still wrong though, that the folks in these pictures are not actually the reason Obama is having trouble on Healthcare. These folks are always there, they were Jim Holt voters in 04 and they were McCain voters in 08. BUT, its still pretty shocking. I mean, its the President of the United States we're talking about here.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/09/its-not-racism-its-being-american-gop.html

The mans got a point....

Well, I'm still new here, so I'm going to stick with the YouTube---another good one here. This man actually succeeded (along with his fellow "plump" people in arms) in getting Jimmy Dean Sausage to reinstate their 16 ounce packages. Democracy in action.

Mrs. Betty Bowers On Bible Interpretation & Republican Science.

Ode To Joy-Clap Yo Hands!

Rugby? or Squash?

all those posts are confusing. can we just talk about baseball???

George Brett has kindly offered to kick it off:

Dick Cheney became President on September 11, 2001..

Thanks to Gene.

All Ireland Finals-Rebelettes Take Camogie, Cats in Hurling

Camogie
"Cork 0-15 Kilkenny 0-7: IT WAS a grind more than a fluid performance but that was still enough for Cork as they eventually pulled away from Kilkenny to claim their 24th Gala All-Ireland senior camogie title at Croke Park.Cork were never really firing on all cylinders but they still held too much class and experience for the youthful Cats."


Hurling

"Kilkenny 2-22 Tipperary 0-23
WHERE do you honestly begin when trying to describe the events at Croke Park last Sunday?
We knew it was a dream final pairing, the two best counties in the country clashing in hurling’s showpiece event.
But what we witnessed was quite simply the stuff of fairytales. In what is the GAA’s 125th year there was no better way to celebrate than this captivating clash between Kilkenny and Tipperary."

The Truth About the Public Option for Health Care

Thanks to Sara

Cameron's First Day at School.

He's the one on the left. The other one is Mom.

Vacation & Highway 57 from Pump Boys & Dinettes

The Fighting Irish- Americans With Roots in County Clare-Muhammad Ali & Buster Kilrain.

"Muhammad Ali was greeted with a roar to rival the Rumble in the Jungle when he took a few frail steps on Turnpike Road yesterday, from where his great-grandfather Abe Grady set out for the New World almost 150 years ago" Muhammad Ali the Irishman given hero's welcome in Ennis, County Clare by David Sharrock
And here's Steve Earle with Buster Kilrain's story.

Next Sunday 12.45pm. Dublin Time Kilkenny v Tipperary in The All Ireland Finals in a Sold Out Croke Park.

Sunday's All-Ireland hurling final will be a sell-out, according to Croke Park officials.

"In fact both Tipperary and Kilkenny have been back to us looking for more tickets. There is an ancient rivalry between Tipperary and Kilkenny and the fact that Kilkenny are going for the four in a row also adds to the interest," said GAA ticketing manager Ronan Murphy.

"Throughout the country the demand for tickets has been very strong."

And he added: "We had more people attending the two (football) semi-finals than we had at the equivalent games last year. Our ticket packages this year have been hugely successful and overall we are delighted with how tickets and attendances have gone in both hurling and football championships."

My Thoughts About . . . Robert McGehee's Ramblings.

Robert is a FOV, and has other Snoddy connections, being friends with Virg's Parisite cousins Sally C, Edye, Dorothy & Jake. He is smart & right thinking no matter what Dot & Jake may think.
Give his new blog a read at http://mcgeheesramblings.blogspot.com/