Squashed

I hear frivolous lawsuits are clogging up the courts and “law suit abuse” makes it impossible to get business done. I don’t think this is a fair characterization.

I don’t deny that there are some really bad lawsuits. And some businesses have attempted to turn the abuse of the judicial system into a profit engine. But the vast majority of so-called “frivolous” lawsuits are either a) dismissed very quickly, or b) not frivolous. (Of course the attorney for the opposing side says the suit is frivolous. That’s what he’s paid to do.)

And, on the other side, we see a lot of people who have meritorious suits but, for one reason or another, don’t sue. Culturally, we have more respect for “don’t rock the boat” than we do for “get every penny you’re owed.” While the litigation process can be tedious and stressful for everybody involved, this has everything to do with the nature of litigation (and the failure of alternatives) and nothing to do with the quantity of lawsuits.

I suspect the real ruckus about “law suit abuse” has more to do with businesses who don’t want to be held accountable for hurting people than it does with actual abuse of the litigation process.

The population of Pakistani civil engineering grad students at the University of Illinios is split about evenly down the middle between those who hate Pervez Musharraf and those who, being sponsored by the Pakistani military, love Musharraf.

They take it out during cricket matches.

Complicated Shoes thinks I’m an “America-hating tool” because I listed indefinite detention without charge or trial as something implicitly un-American. Or as something we should, implicitly, reject.

Since Mr. Shoes doesn’t seem capable of defining what makes one “American” or what ideals we want to represent us as a country, I thought I would nudge him in the right direction. As a country of immigrants, we’re defined more by ideas than by ancestry or heritage. But what are those ideas?

1. Is it “American” to apply the law consistently, even when we think somebody is a horrible person or has done something horrible?
2. Is doing the right thing ever unpatriotic?
3. Is the U.S. a country of insecure and abrasive blustering—or is a country that’s willing and able to work with—and often lead—allies.
4. Is the U.S. a land of opportunity—or is it more of a walled compound?
5. Is the U.S. defined by a set of principles or a set of prejudices?
6. Does the U.S. strive to follow its espoused ideals—or are they simply propaganda?
7. Is the U.S. strong because of these ideals or despite these ideals?

I don’t consider myself an America-hating Tool, primarily because I’m not going to let somebody who has no idea what he’s talking about define my country in whatever way is convenient for his political agenda. Complicated Shoes “usually doesn’t engaging the left.” It’s probably a good plan for him. It wouldn’t make him look particularly clever.