Howard Dean’s pro-gun position will have to be tolerated by the lefties if they want to dump Bush. Dean’s gun position can help him peel off socially liberal hunter types who see Bush as bad for the economy.

http://www.senate.gov/~sbc/members.html

Also, Republicans are trying to manipulate the public. The reason premiums are skyrocketing is because of losses by INSURANCE COMPANIES in the stock market, so they raise them.

It has nothing to do with lawsuits…MOST OF WHICH ARE LEGITIMATE LAWSUITS…and we know that is the case because the juries agree that the doctor was at fault. Remember, in those cases where the plaintiff’s trial lawyer wins, he has to convince a jury. You can’t call trial lawyer’s the scum of the earth, because juries agree with them, and juries represent…YOU…the people. So are you saying that…WE THE PEOPLE…have the mental capacity of dirt, to let the…”SCUM OF THE EARTH”…manipulate us? That’s what Republicans are saying.

And Edwards supports reforms of frivilous lawsuits, because he didn’t do any frivilous lawsuits when he was a practicing attorney. He had a screening system to weed them out, and that’s why LAUCH FAIRCLOTH could not win that argument against Edwards in 1998 when he ran for Senate. Besides, North Carolina has measures in place like having a licensed physician prove that malpractice had occurred.

Those are the types of reforms that Edwards proposes.

Not true, in my experience. What I’ve found is that many corporations are so afraid of such lawsuits that they have overreacted and many stupid internal policies result that are actually employee-hostile and make the workplace less friendly. Sensitivity training? What bs — like that is going to change someone’s attitude in a day or two. It’s a good way to make employees feel like stupid children, though, and does wonders for morale.

I now help run a corporation and am deathly afraid of such a suit because my own capital is on the line, and a stupid lawsuit could take it all away. Some laws shouldn’t apply to small corporations, which are more likely to act nice because they are owned by the people who birthed it. Large corporations don’t have to worry because they large stables of lawyers and cash to back them up. But many seem to love to demonize all corporations without realizing that their beloved local bookseller or mom&pop is also incorporated.

John Kerry showed tremendous courage on Thursday by also coming out in favor os expensing stock options for public companies. Of all the Presidential candidates, he had the laregst base of supporters in Silicon Valley. In Q1, he raised 1.5X more money in Northern California than all 8 candidates combined, so his position is very courageous and just the opposite of pandering. He has been a huge tech leader and Business Week previously declared him one of the Digital Dozen, so his stance here is simply because he feels strongly that it is right. Since we will now see checks dry up in Silicon Valley, I hope he will get the appropriate kudos for his convictions!

When the policies are the means and the end of holding office held too dear and too important, resultant policy is haphazard and merely coincidental. There is meant to be a line between politics and policy. Someone erased the line.

As to pandering, Senator Edwards has merely picked the much greater constituency. There are a lot more voters suspicious of options than those who have them. How better to showcase your courage than to defy the lion? Especially when the lion is really only a small pussycat?

As to expensing options, I know a fella who, in lieu of director fees the company was unable to pay, holds tens of thousands of options so deep under water that they are certain to drown. Worthless options must be accounted for as such and probability built into the reporting formula.