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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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OT for Texans VOTE NO !
Mark Your Calendars for September 13!
On September 13, 2003, an election is going to take place in Texas. It is perhaps the most important election in which you will ever vote. At issue is the abolition of the Constitutional "open courts" guarantee that was originally embodied in the Magna Carta, and that has been a part of our constitutional law in Texas since our republic was founded. If it passes, you will lose your Constitutional guarantee to a free and independent court system. This astounding attempt to change our Constitution is being pushed by the same lobbyists for the insurance industry and special interest groups who recently hoodwinked our legislators into passing the admittedly unconstitutional statute known as House Bill 4. They now need to change the Constitution in order for HB4 to stay on the books, but HB4 was just the first step in their plan. HB4 is a dehumanizing statute that places profits above the value of human life. One of its principal objects is to immunize the health care industry from responsibility for their negligence. While HB4 still allows recovery of so-called "economic losses" such as lost income, if you are a housewife, or elderly, or a mother who does not work outside the home, and you are maimed or crippled for the rest of your life, of if you have a baby or child who is dismembered, disfigured, brain damaged, or sentenced to a lifetime of pain and suffering by the negligence of a hospital, nursing home, or physician, and you or your baby has no "monetary losses," HB4 caps your compensation at $250,000. Apparently, in the eyes of the special interest groups who secured the passage of HB4, if you are a multimillion dollar a year ENRON executive, you have value. If not, you have very little value. In Lucas v. United States, 757 S.W.2d 687 (Tex. 1988), the Texas Supreme Court struck down the damage caps in the prior medical malpractice statute - which were six times larger, or about $1,500,000 in current dollars! - and ruled that even such much larger caps were arbitrary, unreasonable, and prohibited by the Constitutional "open courts" guarantee. In part, the September 13 election is intended to retroactively make the new, even lower, caps in HB4 "constitutional" by changing the constitution. BUT THAT IS NOT ALL. The September 13 election is intended to completely abolish the Constitutional "open courts" provision so that the insurance industry and special interests groups that currently hold the economic and political power in Texas can pass more legislation placing whatever caps they want, on any claim, of any nature, they desire. Obviously, that will sound the death knell for our court system. Our forefathers recognized the historical truth that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. To prevent the concentration and consolidation of power, they created a constitutional form of government with three "equal" branches, executive, legislative and judicial, and a separation and balance of powers between the three branches. On September 13, we will find out whether that form of government will continue to exist. Don't be misled by the false propaganda about this change in the Constitution. This is not about "greedy lawyers" or "frivolous lawsuits" or doctors' insurance premiums. This is about increasing the power of the insurance industry and special interest groups who desire special protections under the law. It is about drastically reducing responsibility and accountability for maiming and crippling (so that it becomes a manageable cost of doing business). While responsible businesses place a high priority on safety and a high value on human life, there are and always have been many that do not. This proposed Constitutional change will grant new, unbridled freedom to those who desire to put profits above human life. The proposed constitutional amendment does nothing to protect doctors - or anyone else, including you - from being gouged by escalating insurance premiums. The Constitutional change will not allow the legislature to cap insurance premiums. What it will do is allow caps on compensation for serious injuries - the very thing that insurance is intended to cover. It is not about frivolous lawsuits. There are already laws, sanctions, juries and judges that minimize frivolous lawsuits. The proposed Constitutional change does not even address the issue: it does not cap damages for frivolous lawsuits, or sanction those who file them. In fact, it would be ridiculous to cap damages for a frivolous lawsuit. You should have - and under the existing law already have - no right to any recovery for a frivolous claim! Nor does it address "insignificant" or "nuisance" lawsuits. Under existing law, such suits result in very small recoveries - much less than $250,000. It would be silly to cap lawsuits where damages would never exceed the cap! No, it's not about small claims. The Constitutional change is intended to allow damage caps on the most serious lawsuits. Nor is the proposed Constitutional change intended to prevent "excessive" judgments. There are already procedural and substantive laws, enforced by our trial and appellate court judges, that protect against judgments disproportionate to the damages established by the evidence in the case. No. What September 13 is all about is deciding cases contrary to the evidence. It is about abolishing the constitutional power of judges and juries to decide cases in our courts of law, usurping that power, and giving it to the legislature where politics will decide the outcome of cases before they even come to trial. It is about firing our judges and juries, and giving their jobs to lobbyists who will decide the outcome of cases without regard to the facts of the case, without regard to the evidence, and without regard to the nature or extent of the injuries - but with the utmost regard for the special interests who hire them. In the end, September 13 is about freedom. To use Governor Perry's words at the signing ceremony, HB4 announced loudly and clearly and once and for all to the whole world that "Texas is open for business." He obviously hopes that the door will be permanently nailed open by changing the Constitution on September 13. If the open courts protections are deleted from our Constitution, those who already control the legislative and executive branches of our government will finally gain the absolute freedom to exercise their power without fear of any interference or restraint from the formerly independent and coequal judicial branch of our government. The only question is, What will happen to your freedom when they make their freedom absolute? If you want to help preserve our constitutional form of government, please forward this email to your friends, and urge everyone you know to VOTE NO on September 13. Gary Cornwell 850 Park Street, Suite 101 Beaumont, Texas 77701 (409) 833-1889 FAX: (409) 833-0711 e-mail: |
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