Jim Hightower

At George W's recent "National Economic Conference," an entire session was devoted to bashing trial lawyers and what a rollicking good time it was!

A panel of corporate interests wowed the hand-picked audience of Bush partisans with jabs at the lawyers who try to hold wrongdoing corporations accountable to those of us who are harmed. George himself nodded and chuckled as panelists cried about people who sue these business empires.

For example, Home Depot's CEO, Bob Nardelli, a fat cat Bush donor, was there, wailing that his $64 billion-a-year retailing Goliath is a target for pesky consumers and their lawyers: "You've got deep pockets colliding with shallow principles," Bob snorted, drawing guffaws from an appreciative George who is demanding that congress limit the rights of consumers to bring lawsuits against the Home Depots.

Missing from Bush's BashFest was Mary Penturff. Even if invited, though, she wouldn't have come, since... well, she's dead. Her head was crushed by a 75-pound box that fell from one of Home Depot's "high-stack" shelves. Nor could Janessa Horner be there to testify. This three-year-old's body was shattered by wood fragments when more than a ton of kitchen countertops fell 10 feet from a Home Depot forklift, splitting a main blood vessel in Janessa's brain. She died four hours later.

Nardelli tries to keep secret the number of people killed or maimed by Home Depot which has been labeled "the most dangerous store in America" but it's known that in one year alone they were getting 185 injury claims per week. Why doesn't Bob do something about it? Because it's more profitable for him to settle with the families than to change the dangerous way his stores are operated.

This is Jim Hightower saying... And it's even more profitable for him to back his buddy Bush, who'll then push a law to keep families like Mary Penturff's and Janessa Horner's from suing Home Deport for their loss, pain, and suffering.