Posted on 05/30/2002 5:33:35 PM PDT by cd jones
This Friday's "Give Me A Break" is about what we lose... because of
lawsuits.
The center of summer activity in High Falls, N.Y. was once the town's
swimming hole. Says one resident: "People were having a good time. It
wasn't wild, it wasn't late at night. It was just a good summer time, and
people were having a ball."
Why is she speaking in past tense? Because Robert Every, the man who owns
the land around the swimming hole, built a fence around it, because he's
so worried that someone will sue him. "They could take everything I own,"
said Every.
They could. Because America is one of very few countries that doesn't
have a "loser-pays" legal system, he could lose everything even if he WON.
Just defending yourself can bankrupt you.
Joanne McParlan still swims in the water hole, but only because she climbs
over the fence and sneaks in. She'd been swimming there for 25 years.
She said, "It's sad to me what's happening because children aren't going
to know that anymore. They're just going to know swimming pools."
It's just one of many summer pleasures have we lost because people are
afraid of being sued. School diving programs have been dropped, and diving
boards taken out of pools ... school gymnastics programs have been
dropped ... playground equipment has been removed ... and some parents are
so afraid of suits they won't coach Little League.
A soccer league where I've coached, fearing lawsuits over AIDS, sent all
coaches a notice that says, if a child gets a nosebleed, we must stop the
game, put on latex gloves, clean all the blood away, before the game may
resume. All this does it teach the fifth graders to be afraid of blood.
Last year Atlanta Braves outfielders were told not to toss balls to fans
anymore. The fans and players liked it, but it's just too lawsuit risky.
The lawyers claim their suits make life safer -- but do they? Joanne
McParlan now sneaks onto Robert Every's property to swim. Is that safer?
Too many "no-trespassing" signs just encourage people to break rules. Last
year, a 21-year-old man sneaked into a more dangerous part of the swimming
hole to gain access ... and drowned.
Closing swimming holes and gym programs makes kids less SELF-protective
... it doesn't teach them to take responsibility for their actions.
Yes, kids may fall and hurt themselves swimming or climbing trees, but are
we happier -- or safer -- when they aren't even given the chance to act?
Give Me a Break.
On NOW at RadioFR!
6pm PDT/9pm EDT- Listen to Radio FreeRepublic live tonight, as Luis Gonzales interviews G. Edward Griffin and discusses his book 'The Creature From Jekyll Island. A Second Look At The Federal Reserve'. Find out the true nature of our monetary system and how it affects you!
Recently I've begun to hire only offshore programmers. The reason is not because "they're cheaper", but rather because I want to have a nest feathered somewhere else where my children might someday enjoy the freedom that I enjoyed growing up.
I'm hedging my bets on America.
Actually, their suits make life more oppressive, but they make lawyers richer.
Already my new programmers as inviting me to come down to show me around.
Given the destruction to this country that bogus litigation has caused and continues to cause, I would hardly call it "whining."
Maybe if some of you ever visited foreign countries you'd have your eyes opened.
Well, to set the record straight, I've been to 20 or so, from the finest cities in europe to 5th world S$%^tholes, so don't go there.
Ever wonder why when you cross the street with your children people stop their cars to let you cross? It ain't that way everywhere.
You're correct, but not because of scummy shakedown lawyers. Try "rule of law"; in many of those countries that will run you down, they throw you in jail and if your family won't feed you during your time, thems the breaks. No club med for those boys, let me tell you.
Ever walk along a sidewalk with the manhole covers missing or open even at night?
Yeah. And if I were to fall in, the very last thing that would go through my mind is that I just won the fricking lottery by suing the state. S&^t happens, and then you die. No guarantees. When *I* go walking around at night, I take a flashlight, and watch where the hell I'm going. The biggest and most egregious abuses of our system occur precisely because our country has forgotten the principle of INTENT. This means nothing anymore. Even *if* these manhole (sorry, maintenance access covers) were removed on purpose, the punk kid that did it hasn't got any money, so let's just sue the maker, the city, and the candlestick maker.
<<------ (more true whining removed)
Anyone ever think to ask what you have gained because of lawsuits
Yes, all the time, and it's a shame. Given that I have been overseas, I'm often asked if we have lost our mind. They hear our bullshit lawsuits and find it absolutely insane. We now have a helmet wearing four cylinder driving limp wristed politically "correct" populace who actually buy stuff that says "Do not Eat Frozen Pizza" and "Warning -- Cape Does Not Enable User To Fly" and feel that anything and everything bad that might happen is carte blanche to a free ride at the expense of taxpayers and consumers. We all pay to subsidize a bunch of crooked lawyers.
(As for skiing in foreign countries, I'll take European skiing anytime--and I do. They don't close the slopes at 3 p.m. so they can groom them for fear of lawsuits.
You don't have attendants everywhere--to help you onto the lift etc.--which also serve as reminders that in America lawsuits are ubiquitous and inescapable.
And if you accidently collide with someone in Europe, the first thing you think is, "This is Europe; we don't have to worry about lawsuits."
You're on your own, all right. You have to be an adult. Skiing originated in Europe. It's been going on there for a long, long time.
And when you stop for lunch, somebody invariably brings up the subject of lawsuits in America: "Everybody's suing everybody else! All the time! How do you people stand it? Why do you put up with it?"
"It's insane," you reply. "I hate it."
The feeling of freedom, freedom from the oppressive, mercenary, litigious society! It's like dreaming of liberty whey you don't have it.)
"Anyone ever think to ask what you have gained because of lawsuits?"Yes, this is what I have gained: Health care is unaffordable, and my son is uninsurable.
"nice to have options"I would give almost anything if I could choose between (1) affordable health care with no option to sue and (2) the present system, i.e. unaffordable health care with the option to sue.
Obviously, the trial lawyers lobby will never permit such a choice, for obvious reasons.
I deeply resent being forced to pay an army of wealthy lawyers to police the system.
Obviously, if their motives were not mercenary, they would choose other systems to police--maybe drug trafficing, for example--but the health care system is where the money is.
There is no point in hoping for relief from all this. The cards are stacked in favor of lawyers. They control politics. And they are well trained in the arts of persuasion--that's what they do. All this litigation will end only when it becomes no longer lucrative--so that will probably be never. That's why people whine. They can't do anything about it.
For the past few years I've been routinely hiring college kids to assist me with computer programming projects - and have really derived a significant degree of pride that I've been able to help these fine young people finance their educations. Recently I've begun to hire only offshore programmers. The reason is not because "they're cheaper", but rather because I want to have a nest feathered somewhere else where my children might someday enjoy the freedom that I enjoyed growing up.
I'm hedging my bets on America.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.