Monthly Archives: October 2008

President Bush Launches Last-Minute Deregulation Push

Written On October 31, 2008 By Bob Kraft

An MSNBC story today
talks about a big rush by the administration to push through a raft of
new regulations loosening restrictions on such matters as pollution and
consumer safety. Here are the opening paragraphs. Please click the link
to read the entire story. 
The White House is working to enact a wide
array of federal regulations, many of which [...]

Posted in Government, Political and/or Judicial, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Friday Fun

Written On October 31, 2008 By Bob Kraft

Great costumes for this pre-election Halloween!

Posted in Friday Fun

Camera Lets You Spy On Your Teenage Driver

Written On October 28, 2008 By Bob Kraft

I just wrote a few days ago about making it easier for people to snitch on your teenage driver. Now here’s a story from the Washington Post about actually installing a camera inside your car so you can spy on your kid yourself.Here are excerpts:
Ken Richardson does not have to ride in his 17-year-old daughter’s [...]

Posted in Vehicle Law or News

Heart Device Maker Thoratec Recalls Implant

Written On October 27, 2008 By Bob Kraft

The Associated Press reports that heart device maker Thoratec is recalling certain implants after five patients who used these implants have died. Only certain batches of the device have been recalled. The apparent defect is an electrical wire that needs to be replaced.
The recall affects devices with catalog numbers 1355 and 102139, which have been [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Featured Link – BrowserShots.org

Written On October 27, 2008 By Bob Kraft

If you maintain a Web site, you should know how it looks in different browsers. Although most people use Internet Explorer, more and more are using Firefox, Safari, or any of a dozen others. One Web site that lets you see how your own site appears in different browsers is BrowserShots. It’s very easy to [...]

Posted in Computer Tips, Tricks, and Tools, Featured Link

Featured Link – LawyerSuccessClub.com

Written On October 25, 2008 By Bob Kraft

My friend, Maryland attorney Steven Heisler, has launched the Lawyer Success Club Web site. The site is new, and Steve is still building up content, but it shows great promise. If you’re a personal injury lawyer, check it out. Membership is free. Here is the description from Steve:
It’s like having your own P.I. Marketing and [...]

Posted in Bar Associations and Legal Groups, Practice Tips

Television Ad About The Texas Supreme Court

Written On October 24, 2008 By Bob Kraft

The ad says it all:
Supremely Embarrassing from Texas Watch on Vimeo.

Posted in Political and/or Judicial

Featured Link – CoverTheUninsured.org

Written On October 24, 2008 By Bob Kraft

Those of us who represent personal injury clients and Social Security disability claimants have to see every day the problems caused by lack of health insurance. Regardless of your politics, no one can argue that our country wouldn’t be better off if everyone had some type of health insurance.
One Web site that has this goal [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Featured Link, Health Insurance

Friday Fun

Written On October 24, 2008 By Bob Kraft

I may not be perfect at punctuation, but I’m better than most. Maybe that’s why I "love" the "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.

Posted in Friday Fun

Computer Crash Hinders Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Case

Written On October 23, 2008 By Bob Kraft

According to the Dallas Morning News, the Texas Attorney General has hit a major speed bump in his investigation into Medicaid fraud in Texas, and all because of a computer crash and a failure to backup data. Let this be a lesson to all of us – back up your computer now!

A massive
computer crash [...]

Posted in Computer Tips, Tricks, and Tools, Government, Medicaid

Chantix And Heparin Lead Reports Of Serious Drug Reactions

Written On October 23, 2008 By Bob Kraft

The Dallas Morning News today has an alarming story about the dangers of the prescription drugs Chantix and Heparin. Here are excerpts:
Previous research from ISMP has shown
that serious drug safety problems reported to the FDA increased
markedly from 1998-2005. The FDA case reports provide a signal of
possible problems with a drug, but a cause-and-effect connection can
only [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Disturbing Study Warns Of Dangers Of Approved Medications

Written On October 23, 2008 By Bob Kraft

The American Association for Justice has issued this news release:

Study indicates many biological medicines trigger safety warnings after coming on the market.

USA Today (10/22, Rubin) reports that about "one in four recently approved products in a relatively new class of medicines needed some type of regulatory action because of safety issues that arose after they [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Medical and Health Resources, Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Featured Link – CaringBridge.org

Written On October 23, 2008 By Bob Kraft

One of the unfortunate aspects of representing Social Security disability clients is that many of them become gravely ill during the course of representation. We do what we can to help them, but of course we can’t offer the kind of comfort and support that personal friends and family can offer. One Internet site that [...]

Posted in Featured Link, Medical and Health Resources, Social Security Disability

Featured Link – ReportMyTeen.com

Written On October 22, 2008 By Bob Kraft

Do you want to make it easy for people to snitch on your teenage driver? If so, ReportMyTeen will do the job for you. In a nutshell, you sign up for a cheap annual subscription, you get a bumper sticker like you see on big trucks – Report Bad Driving – with a phone number, [...]

Posted in Featured Link, Vehicle Law or News

Delta Recalls Nearly 1.6 Million Cribs Linked To Infant Deaths

Written On October 21, 2008 By Bob Kraft

Today’s Wall Street Journal reports:  "Children’s products maker Delta Enterprise Corp. will announce a recall [today] of 1.59 million cribs linked to two infant deaths, the company said, continuing a string of recent recalls of cribs and bassinets involving other manufacturers." The voluntary recall is the result of "two different types of problematic hardware used [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Featured Link – WorldMapper

Written On October 20, 2008 By Bob Kraft

This should be a Friday Fun post, but sometimes we need to waste time on Mondays too, right? WorldMapper shows distorted global maps weighted by birthrate, religion, and many other categories. If you like maps and trivial information, you’ll enjoy this site. For instance, have you ever wondered about the distribution of the earth’s population [...]

Posted in Featured Link, Miscellaneous

Social Security Administration Releases 2009 COLA Numbers

Written On October 17, 2008 By Bob Kraft

Based on the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) from the third quarter of 2007 through the third quarter of 2008, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries will receive a 5.8 percent COLA for 2009.  Other important 2009 Social Security information is as follows:

Tax
Rate

2008

2009

Employee

7.65%

7.65%

Self-Employed

15.30%

15.30%

NOTE:
The 7.65% tax rate is the combined rate for Social Security and
Medicare.  The Social [...]

Posted in Government, Social Security, Social Security Disability

Friday Fun – Bonus

Written On October 17, 2008 By Bob Kraft

This is blatantly political, so I’ll include it as a bonus Friday Fun. Be sure to mouse over everything and click when you see the hand. Check out PalinAsPresident.

Posted in Friday Fun

Friday Fun

Written On October 17, 2008 By Bob Kraft

This great video features a former Dallas Mavericks player getting "schooled" in the tactics of street basketball. The great move comes about 1:30 into the video.

Posted in Friday Fun

Finally, Seat Belts Required On Small School Buses

Written On October 16, 2008 By Bob Kraft

As reported by the Associated Press, we finally have a federal rule requiring harness-style seat belts on small school buses. Another part of the rule requires higher seat belts on larger buses, but does not require seat belts on those buses. Unfortunately, the rule does not take effect until 2011. Here are excerpts from the [...]

Posted in Government, Vehicle Law or News