Of laws and lunacy

Why do some people want to sue another when they are shown to have the IQ of ketchup?

Doctor sued for sex treatment for back pain

SEATTLE (Reuters) - An Oregon woman whose doctor convinced her that he could cure her lower back pain by having sex with her is suing him and his medical clinic for $4 million, according to legal documents obtained on Monday.

The doctor, Randall Smith, who was 50 at the time, was stripped of his license and sent to jail for 60 days last year for charging the state's Oregon Health Plan $5,000 for his 45-minute "treatments" involving the woman. "Dr. Smith's medical treatment included intercourse in which he told plaintiff was needed to help alleviate plaintiff's lower back and lower extremity pain," the former patient said in the lawsuit.

I'm not being uncharitable and obviously what that doctor did was reprehensible, but if anyone I know had fallen for that old line they'd be hiding from the world in shame, knowing that their idiocy had been exposed for all to mock. When will people accept a degree of responsibility for their own actions?

The other big legal story in the US at the moment is the indictment on corruption charges of Tom DeLay, majority leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives. Hadn't paid it much attention, but this article from The Observer reveals the extent to which the US government is in the pay of large corporations;

The oil and gas industry now gives 80 per cent of its campaign cash to Republicans (20 years ago, the split was roughly 50-50), and influence on this year's energy bill was a classic sting. American petrol can now contain a suspected carcinogen; operators of US natural-gas wells can contaminate water aquifers to improve the yields from the wells; the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is open to oil exploration - concessions all created by DeLay's inside track. And to provide ideological juice, there's a bevy of think-tanks, paid for from the same web of contributions, cranking out the justification that the 'state' and 'regulation' are everywhere and always wrong.

Carcinogens in petrol. You lucky people. Maybe that's why the price has shot up so much recently? The implications for the UK should not be ignored though. As the traditional sources Labour Party funding begin to dry up, so dear leader seeks replacement funds from wealthy individuals, people with dodgy motives, those seeking a job or a title, anyone really, discretion assured. A few years ago a proposal was made to finance political parties from public funds. I wonder why Tony isn't banging the drum for this cause anymore?