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Posts Tagged ‘tort reform’

The Texas Progressive Alliance brings you the highlights from the blogs.

As the deadline to file for a place on the 2010 March primary ballot drew near, there was lots of activity on the Democratic side: Kinky Friedman followed Hank Gilbert over to the race for agriculture commissioner, Linda Chavez-Thompson was rumored to be running for lt. governor, and, late on Friday, Ronnie Earle dropped his name in the hat for that same post. There’s more on all this news from PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

BARNETT SHALE GAS THREATENS HUMAN HEALTH !!! TXsharon posted the Final Results of the DISH TX health survey at Bluedaze.

WhosPlayin broke the story about a former Republican County Commissioner who got arrested this week for shoplifting a vacuum cleaner.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders why some men in power (here, here, here, here and here) think that abusing women and children is their right? Why does Senator Cornyn choose to enable rapists?

Over at Bay Area Houston, John Coby is bored and thinks Kay Bailey Hutchison’s commercial sounds like a Whataburger commercial.

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote about the fifth anniversary of the terrible Indian Ocean tunami. Five Years Since Terrible Indian Ocean Tsunami—People Are Recovering While many are still suffering from the impact of this killer wave, there are also many who are recovering and getting back their lives.

The folks over at McBlogger are desperate for your help! Find out how you can do them a solid when you help get a planet named for the blog!

Xanthippas at Three Wise Men covers the utter failure of tort “reform” in Texas (with a h/t to John Coby.)

The Texas Cloverleaf highlights the charge against the Denton County District Attorney’s office of racial discrimination and harassment in the workplace

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the fact that elected Texas Republicans still have no sensible ideas about how to pay for roads, Dewhurst and transportation funding.

Off the Kuff took a look at precinct data in the Houston Mayor’s runoff.

lightseeker has a question for you over at TexasKaos, Is Arnold’s California a foretaste of our nations’ future? Check out his analysis in Deadlock, facts ,Partisans -Is California a Fore taste of Our Collective Future?.

XicanoPwr reports that anti-immigration grinches are wanting to replace dreams of success with a lumps of coal by filing a lawsuit challenging Texas’ DREAM Act, the statute that allows undocumented students to pay in-state rates, provided, they meet certain criteria. Their grinch-like behavior would rather punish these extremely vulnerable students for the sins of their undocumented parents, instead of rewarding them for wanting to contribute to our society by making college tuition a bit more affordable, since they already are ineligible for financial aid.

Justin at Asian American Action Fund Blog is excited that Houston has one of the first hospital Asian care units in the nation

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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round upThe Texas Progressive Alliance celebrates the start of early voting for the 2009 elections with its always on time weekly blog roundup.

Human tragedies are mounting in the Barnett Shale as study after study shows high levels of toxins in the air. The only ones who can’t seem to find anything wrong are the regulators. TXsharon asks, “Will the EPA intervene in Texas?” at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Why did the US forcibly detain a Mexican human rights advocate? CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants to know.

Bay Area Houston says Tort Reformers in Texas suck.

The Texas Cloverleaf presents the Kay Coward Bailey Hutchison plan for health care mediocrity.

Off the Kuff takes a look at Cameron Todd Willingham’s supposed confession, and finds the evidence for it lacking.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson states that no matter what you hear Transportation schemes are continuing, despite “death” of the TTC. EOW also had a guest post this week on the PEC, Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC): Who’s Electing Your Board Representative?.

“Other big names” may enter the Republican primary for governor if Perry and Hutchison can’t get their acts together, according to a right-wing talker in D-FW and passed along by PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

WhosPlayin posted an update on gas drilling in Lewisville, and also breaks the story that a local group is looking to ban smoking in public places in Lewisville.

refinish69 reopens Doing My Part For The Left with the latest installment of his series Homesless in Austin-An Insider’s View Part 7.

Mean Rachel got to see President Obama speak in College Station on Friday.

We have known for a long time that Governor Perry is a bottom feeder, but letting an innocent man die and then refusing to get at the truth about his execution? Well, I would not want that on my conscience. Let Libby Shaw bring you up to speed in his posting, All the Good Hair on the Planet Won’t Make the Cover Up Go Away.

Neil at Texas Liberal ran a picture he took this week of the confluence on White Oak Bayou and Buffalo Bayou in Downtown Houston. This spot, important in the founding of Houston, is still a place of connection. If connection could be found in the hot and Hell-like Houston of 175 years ago, we can find connection even in tough circumstances.

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In July, Netroots Nation, a network of online progressive voices, hosted a panel including scholarly authors, film directors, and lawyers with the topic:

“How Corporations and the Politicians they Fund are Fighting to Take Away our Legal Rights … and Convincing Us it’s for the Best.”

The speakers highlighted how corporations and conservative think tanks have framed personal injury law suits. Many people in America believe we are a nation of frivolous lawsuits – both in quantity and quality. Yet in reality, the number of lawsuits has been declining over the last 50 years. And if you would like to debate the quality of these suits, you better take it up with the system we have in place. Our elected system gives power to judges and juries who decides who gets what. So why all the complaining?

Propaganda produced by “you know who” has produced the image of lawyers as money-hungry sharks and injured people as whiners who are living irresponsibly. The campaign against lawsuits has been largely successful, yet now our tendency to buy into this propaganda may cost us our rights.

The Bush Administration wants to leave it up to the US Food and Drug Administration to approve our drugs and medical devices and forfeit give up our right to seek compensation through the courts if we are hurt. While some may argue that the FDA has rigorous tests that its products must pass before being put on the market, many companies slide through (some knowing the harm their product may cause, and others not).

If we take away the company’s fear of “getting sued,” what will be their motive to ensure that their product is completely safe? Not to say that everyone in these companies are evil, profit-seeking jerks; there are good people working there too who have a code of ethics and who believe safety comes first. These are the good people who use the possibility of a law suit as the hovering consequence of failing to take safety more seriously. Why would we, as consumers, want to take this argument away from them?

We ought to think about the rights we are relinquishing by doing away with our access to the courts, as well as our safety, which we are leaving up to drug companies and the imperfect FDA to decide.

Dennis Quaid testifies before Congress earlier this year

Dennis Quaid testifies before Congress earlier this year

Take a look at Dennis Quaid, who says he has always thought of himself as a Republican. Even he is combating the process of preemption by giving testimony in Washington DC after a near-fatal overdose of heparin because of faulty labeling and medical devices that involved his newly-born twins. If Dennis Quaid is this concerned about what is going on with our legal system, we definitely should be!

Even worse is that these same problems continue to plague Texas hospitals, with a near fatal oversdose of heparin being given to 12 premies in a single Corpus Christi hospital last month.

~~Intern Anna

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