24 June 2001
Notes are Fun
Mary Cutrufello rocked last night at Rudyard's. The woman has an intensity about her that is hard to describe, and that certainly isn't captured on cd or video (but hey, to each his own -- the smokey haze you could cut with a knife isn't captured, either!). She turned that intensity up a notch or two last night, and played with more passion than any artist I've seen with the possible exception of Joe Ely. I LOVE people who are passionate about their craft, whatever it is. I've seen Mary twice now, and can't wait for more.
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This is a tired story, but hey -- I've been spending most of my discretionary time on the redesign, so what else would I write about? The stylesheet is about 90% complete now. All that remains are some class selector definitions to modify from the old design. The main task ahead is to revamp the GreyMatter templates and the few non-journal/non-weblog pages that I'm actually keeping on the site. Also, I need to change the physical location of some of the files for organization purposes. This is a problem since some people who have linked to me will be linking to the wrong place now, although I will probably set up redirect files. None of this happens anytime soon, as the weekend is over. Blar.
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I blogged an article the other day in which the author was moaning about trial lawyers and healthcare litigation. That's a favorite refrain of conservatives these days, but I wonder to what extent the complaining is grounded in politics (since trial lawyers are a huge Democratic constituency -- and cash cow). I've thought for some time that this country does need to consider serious tort reform. But I also wonder if the tort SYSTEM itself is the problem, or an increasingly ill-informed (irrational, what?) citizenry that composes juries that are empowered in tort cases. Conservatives who favor caps on monetary awards as their big "tort reform" really are doing nothing to change the fact that idiots are the ones making these awards in the first place (if, indeed, that is taking place) -- except what they WOULD accomplish is to limit awards in cases where it might not be appropriate. (NOTE: this is the contemporary version of the question being addressed, as I understand it, by Plato in the Statesman, going back to a journal entry of a few days ago.)
In any case, I find conservatives who constantly moan about trial lawyers and healthcare litigation a little annoying, since litigation is an integral part of the rule of law, and to a large extent, I would prefer that a rational tort system take the place of much of the current criminal law system. (NOTE: yes, I do sound like one of those crazy law and econ types.)
[Posted @ 11:36 PM CST]
