The Fat Lady Is Clearing Her Throat

I remember after the November presidential elections, many asbestos lawyers in California were despondent. Some spoke of moving to Canada or New Zealand. The re-election of George W. Bush and the pick up of four senate seats was the end of asbestos litigation and life as they knew it. John Ashcroft was going to start putting members of Moveon.org into reeducation camps, Kofi Annan would be arrested as a war criminal and they'd cancel "The West Wing" and "All Things Considered".

Well, all those folks are still here in the US, walking on the streets with not a single reeducation camp in sight and the only person out of a job is John Ashcroft...and the former leaders of the Ukraine and Lebanon.

And, it looks like the swan song for the asbestos trust fund now that some of the larger insurers are rallying against it. Don't know if it was the big price tag or the realization that no amount of money was going to be enough to buy them peace. Now, perhaps they can try something more feasable like medical criteria and damage caps. Oh yeah, and replace Josiah Bartlett with a conservative Republican so the show would be more believeable.

11 Insurers Lobby Against Asbestos Fund