Lively Debate

John Stossel has an interesting article on unintended consequences of lawsuits. I have wondered why the number C-sections keeps rising. Is it true that three fourths of all obstetricians have been sued?

I watched John Stossel on CSPAN and he made a compelling argument against some lawsuits. He talked about how as a consumer reporter for ABC, lawyers would try to hand him ready made stories on the supposed dangers of this product as the first stage in developing a class action lawsuit. After this, I think twice now about the objectivity and accuracy of the various X considered harmful stories when I see one on the news.

I told my mom about seeing Stossel on CSPAN and she bought his book and enjoyed it. She gave it to my brother to bring to me and I am looking forward to getting it one of these days.

I can see a need for tort reform when lawyers set up lawsuit factories to practice legal extortion. Would you vote for Edwards if he were formerly a lawyer for Acacia or SCO? I would like to see more information on Edward's trial cases before the election.

UPDATE: NYT article on Edwards trial work including more information on Cerebral Palsy C-section lawsuits.

This post was inspired by seeing a Marine's post on Kuro5hin: Marine fights Altovis charges.

With slick commercials designed to look like those of FDA approved drugs and the supposed cure to a nonspecific disease that everyone has (who is not tired?), I have to grudgingly admire Altovis as the pinnacle of the craft of selling snake oil.

It turns out that the same company, Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, that makes Altovis makes Enzyte and Avlimil. If you haven't watched commercial TV lately, Enzyte is marketed as "natural male enhancement" (penis pills) with a series of slick commercials full of double entendre.

The non-specificity of Altovis for fatigue may only be exceeded by the non-specificity of their new product: Numovil for memory loss. Who doesn't forget things? Beware. Evil marketing genius at work.

There is an Enzyte class action lawsuit against the makers of these products claiming that they billed customer's credit cards without authorization. Corey Nahman's summaries of Altovis, Avlimil and especially Enzyte do a good job of documenting the complicated billing procedures that trick people and form the basis for the class action lawsuit. They also do a good job of explaining how BPN is very careful not to claim that their products actually do anything.

Acording to this article, the company employs 800 people and will make $260 million dollars this year. After reading this, I have to wonder, is it only in America that the headline here is "entrepreneur makes tons of money selling snake oil."

Quack Watch has a wealth of information about nutritional supplement scams.

I took this picture of my photogenic grandmother today. She recently had her 80th birthday and overcome cancer and is sporting her spectacular new post-cancer 'do. She has an iMac and is proficient at sending email.

Last week, we went to a church potluck. Although it was a somewhat poorly attended, they had rhubarb pie there, and I really like rhubarb pie. Those church ladies really know their pies. Afterwards, we watched some old home videos from the church that had been transfered to video tape. My great grandfather was in the movies, as he had helped build the roof to an addition on the church some 50 years ago.

Since I discovered how nice the park is here in town, I have been planning a lunch time picnic for us in the park. Perhaps I can take more pictures then.