http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2VxpTMAb...

and jumping off swings and rocketing down slides and getting dizzy on merry-go-rounds?

The Safety League morphed into the Anti-Fun Group.

I still say that the attempt to guarantee 100% safety for everyone doing anything is an indicator of a decline of a species. We didn't get where we are and develop the GOOD things we've created by playing safe ALL the time.

I think it's too late, though, to try to reverse the decline.

well I can think of a couple who are productive, moral individuals. It is the system and too many lawyers in the legislature.
1. reform the process of discovery.
2. Have more remedies that do not involve a court decision.
3. repeal laws in general which are over-burdensome
4. cap monetary judgement.
These are all procedural remedies. We lose when we make it about that. We lose on winning small arguments. It is ultimately winning philosophical arguments. There is no shortcut.

omg-see-saws. remember going around the world on the swings?

It would be interesting to see the stats. My guess is that the vast majority of cases filed are small, local matters without a huge payout. If so, it wouldn't make financial sense for most attorneys to be chasing thousands of clients, and then make a percentage on just the few they sign that actually settle or win in court.

Yes, lawyer bashing is a perennial popular sport. But how about those auto mechanics? Haha!

I was a witness in a lawsuit by a bicyclist that had been struck by a car in which I was passenger. Actually, the bicyclist struck the car (the front license plate holder of the car, to be specific), not the other way around. He careened off the license plate holder and ran into a fire hydrant. A slimy lawyer (archetype for the class) convinced the family to sue rather than settle. The jury eventually ruled it was a 60/40% responsibility split (car driver/bicyclist) of $13K, so the family of the cyclist got about $6K. The 'settle' offer had been $20K! (When it was refused the car insurance company had wisely decided to fight rather than cave to a larger settlement sum.) The slimy lawyer (with whom I had firmly polite words whilst I was on the stand) saw the way the wind was blowing and did not even stay in the court room for the verdict.

Slimeball. Ambulance chaser. So the family got $6K (instead of $20K) and had to spend several days in court (and there were expert witnesses involved on both sides, a presumed additional expense) and hopefully the lawyer got nothing.

Jan

Hell, yes... someone might get hurt. Just like the demise of the 'monkey bars' on the playground.

I've viewed it as some kind of Darwinian Revenge... the 'new goal' in America (and definitely Europe) of trying to guarantee 100% safety for Everyone when they're doing Anything.

Add the "follow the money" rule to that context and to me, it explains the growth of the litigious society and its facilitators (lawyers).

Yeah, I might be wrong about that, .... :) but I think the evidence is compelling.

I vaguely remember a news report in the nineties that estimated there were nine lawyers for every possible client in the Washington, DC and surrounding area.
Home-ec classes cancelled, really? What: the ovens and sewing machines are a potential hazard?

Yes, but in the vast majority of lawsuits a lawyer would never think to make a case at all, if not for a client initiating contact to see if she or he can get some money out of a situation. I'm pretty sure ambulance chasing and the like are barred everywhere in the US, as they are in my state. An ethical lawyer can decline cases that are unreasonable or unfair, and at least some do.

Of course, there are those "join our class action lawsuit" ads on tv, and bad actors in the profession, as there are in any other. But the blanket condemnation of lawyers as shysters places all the blame on them, instead of on the clients who are willing to make mountains out of molehills as long as there's a payoff involved.

Interesting observation. Perhaps the dumbing-down of this nation through progressive education can ultimately be attributed to an overabundance of lawyers.
I know that wood shop, welding and home-ec have been all but eliminated in most schools because of litigation.

I immediately thought of a freakin missile strapped to your butt when I saw that

Hilarious, & true.

Wile E Coyote IQ = 192 super-genius vs. Dr. Stadler and ProjectX. Not much difference?

I love it.

Wash rinse repeat.

Thank-you. Back attcha! Lol.

Good cartoon. $5Au can relate.

5$ as usual is pithy and sage

More lawyers today.