35 things to get excited about in 2007
Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the U.S. House of RepresentativesThe theatrical release of "The Final Season" and its Iowa premieres
John Edwards' presidential campaign, and its primary focus on the widening gap between rich and poor
The terrific theater of Barry Bonds chasing Hank Aaron's all-time home run record
The new political pressure to act on Global Warming because of the newly-revealed short-term threat to polar bears
No Rick Santorum, Bill Frist, Tom DeLay, or Donald Rumsfeld
The promise of more celebrity crotch shots
Moeller TV Festival #6
Re-mastered and re-packaged James Brown classics on compact disc
The prospect of Barack Obama actually telling us something about his agenda if he were to be elected president
The return of universal health care to the national policy debate
Bobby Knight as college basketball's all-time winningest coach-- it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy
The last odd-numbered year with George W. Bush as president
The Rose Parade--- Dammit, it's over already?
The best reality show since "Taxicab Confessions"?
The first "post-Bobby" Whitney Houston album
A 95th year on Earth for Studs Terkel
The continued Latin American explosion throughout Iowa and the Midwest, helping us combat our rapidly-aging and -declining population, and spicing up the culture, in general
A bull-headed Howard Dean still chairing the Democratic Party, and now having the electoral success to back the agenda of the Democratic wing
Four sporting heroes-- Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds, and Chris Carpenter-- each collecting their first championship ring at Busch Stadium in April
Wrigley-ville's high expectations for Alfonso Soriano
The re-opening of the I-235 eastbound ramp at ML King in Des Moines-- Please God!
Dennis Kucinich forcing his Democratic caucus and primary opponents to talk about the war in their presidential campaigns
The final season of "Moonlighting" available on DVD in March
Breaking out a headband on the tennis court in the spring
J.D. Drew getting booed at every home game in Fenway Park
More Rosie O'Donnell on "The View"
Less Donald Trump everywhere
Catching that Ralph Nader documentary
Jeff Suppan leaving Missouri state politics
The awarding of the 2009 MLB All-Star Game to St. Louis and the Cardinals
An Academy Awards telecast potentially enlivened by the presence of Eddie Murphy, Borat, and an Al Gore acceptance speech
"The Simpsons" on the big screen
A year-long "M*A*S*H" marathon on the Hallmark Channel (so far, so good)
The Cardinals' pursuit of their 11th World Championship and first ever back-to-back titles
posted by CM @ 1:46 PM
9 Comments:
Edwards' net worth is $12.8 million and we’re supposed to believe that he’s concerned about “poor people”? TA
Last MASH is on TV Land tonight.
Not everyone lets money define who they are-- rich or poor. Likely Edwards is one of those people. He did make most of his dough sticking it to sleazy corporations in class action suits.
---
Next up-- the AfterMASH marathon.
Another way to describe how Edwards got rich would be to say that he made his dough by sticking it to his clients by keeping a large portion of their settlement from the sleazy corporations for himself. If he were really concerned about the gap between the rich and poor he would have charged a progressive rate for his services in the class action suits based upon his clients’ income or net worth. I can guarantee that he did not.
CM, how would you define poor in the context of this argument? TA
How in the world can you guarantee that he didn't charge a progressive rate? I'll bet he DID. In fact, I'll bet it's almost a standard in class action cases.
I am talking about 'poor' in the monetary sense. That's what Edwards is doing. He's talking about the millions of uninsured and all of those living and working below the livable wage level.
Fear not, though. Help is on the way-- in the next 100 days.
Oops... make that 100 HOURS.
"How in the world can you guarantee that he didn't charge a progressive rate? I'll bet he DID. In fact, I'll bet it's almost a standard in class action cases."
Chris- You are kidding? right?
Still waiting for that evidence...
My brief research after my ethics class and the Hawkeye game tonight allow me to conclude the following:
1) Edwards worked mostly personal injury and medical malpractice cases on a contingent basis and not class action suits.
2) Unfortunately, neither CM nor I can prove one way or the other what percentage of the plaintiffs’ awards Edwards kept because he refuses to discuss the issue. 30 to 40 percent is the estimate I’ve seen. We can assume that he will never publicly disclose this information because it will make people realize that he got rich by keeping large portions of the settlements that juries intended for victims.
3) These judgments only increase the gap between the rich and the poor because the people who receive the awards become rich and Edwards gets richer. His clients probably weren’t even poor in the first place because Edwards mostly picked his cases based upon his chances of winning.
4) Now Edwards is concerned about the gap between the rich and the poor after he got rich by widening this gap himself. IMO this is the perfect example of the phony, hypocrite politician with which this country is plagued throughout the entire political spectrum. TA
Post a Comment
<< Home