Thursday Randomness:Death and Immunity

Tomorrow is not promised.

It’s as true as it is clichéd. Senator Edward Kennedy died two days ago. I feel for his family, because I know firsthand how hard it can be to deal with a brain cancer diagnosis. At least he was blessed with a little over a year to spend with his loved ones. My aunt had a similar diagnosis and she was gone in a much shorter time. Death really has a way of making just about any squabble or difference you may have with someone insignificant. It makes a lot of things insignificant, actually.

Everybody wants immunity.

The most recent Bush Administration wants immunity for actions that should have resulted in firings and/or impeachments. Once the true nature and full extent of the wall street bailouts comes to light (despite those billions of dollars and rising stock prices, the number of troubled banks are up and the amount of deposits are down at the FDIC, btw), several Obama Administration officials will most likely want it too. Equally troubling, is the fact that three laws have been passed in Louisiana that grant health care professionals immunity from most civil lawsuits (with the exception of cases of willful misconduct – which, knowing the Louisiana’s history of gilded lily justice, will have an unreasonably high burden of evidence on the part of the plaintiff) in the event of a disaster. How about people try using some ethics and following the law? How about using THAT to avoid prosecution or at least to minimize it? Simplistic, I know. Sigh.