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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (15251)	10/4/2002 2:57:55 AM
From: jttmab	Respond to of 93284

If someone was running around SI using the "N" word all the time would you be defending that...???? Good example. I would find it to be bigoted and a racial slur ... I've got not problem, per se, of you doing something similar. It's the shaddup part that I would point to. "Free speech" does not include the pornography I think there's been a number of efforts to ban and/or control pornography and far more often than not, it's been considered protected speech...you might refer to the USSC decision regarding the attempt to control internet pornography...you can even check how Scalia voted on that one.... There is a difference between dissent and the retailing of outright lies, libel and crackpot conspiracy theories.... Sure there's a difference, and Rush makes a damn good living at outright lies, libel and crackpot conspiracy theories. But I don't [wouldn't] tell Rush to "shaddup". jttmab

To: jlallen who wrote (15251)	10/5/2002 4:39:22 AM
From: jttmab	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

NT: Stupid attorney.... latimes.com Philip Morris Ordered to Pay $28 Billion to Smoker The L.A. jury's punitive award is the largest to an individual in U.S. history By HENRY WEINSTEIN, Times Staff Writer A Los Angeles jury on Friday ordered tobacco giant Philip Morris Cos. to pay $28 billion in punitive damages to a 64-year-old woman suffering from lung cancer. The judgment is the largest punitive award given to an individual in any case in U.S. history. .....Judge Ettinger instructed the jury that it should consider three factors in assessing how large the punitive award should be if the jury voted for one: the amount of punitive damages that would have a deterrent effect on the company; the degree of reprehensibility of the company's conduct; and that the amount of damages bear a reasonable relationship to the injury suffered. I'm sure that each one of us would come up with a different number for punitive damages in this case...but why on god's green earth would the defense lawyer, Peter Bleakley, go and do this. In his closing argument, Bleakley went so far as to concede that Philip Morris could absorb a $20-billion punitive award. ------------------------------------ Peter: What were you thinking? That's what the plaintiff's attorney was saying. You idiot, you're not supposed to agree with the plaintiff's attorney in your closing arguments. What law school did this guy go to? How much does this guy get paid to come up with closing arguments like that? It's not like the attorney is under oath for his closing arguments. A mere mathematician, would suggest that you would focus the jury on the after-taxes profit of Phillip-Morris [the smallest number possible]; talk about financial bankruptcy, loss of jobs, starving women and children...the end of America as we know it.....not, Oh, $20B isn't so bad. The defense attorney basically told the jury not to even think of anything less than $20B in punitive damages. What a freaking idiot. jttmab