AlO-tancaster.Farming, Saturday, October 11,2003
OPINION
Trial Lawyer Industry Bigger
Than Revenues Of Microsoft,
Intel, Or Coca-Cola
Editor’s note: We are a litigation-happy society, and this report
proves it. This editorial is reprinted permission of the PMA Bulletin,
published by the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association, Sept. 29
issue. Website is www.pamanufacturers.org.
A new study of the U.S. lawsuit industry reveals that total tort costs
now exceed $2OO billion per year, or more than 2 percent of America’s
gross domestic product. The report, which was released last week by
the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, extrapolates that as
suming an average take of 19 percent in fees the nation’s trial law
yers rake in roughly $4O billion per year. For perspective, $4O billion is
double the annual revenue of the Coca-Cola company and 150 per
cent of the annual revenues of Microsoft or Intel.
James R. Copeland, director of the institute’s Center for Legal Poli
cy, says in the study’s introduction “while our figures on the size of
the lawsuit industry are estimates due to the industry’s lack of
transparency those estimates are sparingly conservative.”
Among the study’s other findings:
• Even as the U.S. economy has stagnated and the stock market
has plunged, the lawsuit industry’s revenues have continued to sky
rocket: in 2001, the last year for which data is available, U.S. tort costs
grew by 14.3 percent.
• Over the last 30 years, tort costs grew at a compound annual rate
of 9.1 percent; by comparison, the U.S. population grew by 1.1 percent
annually, the consumer price index grew 5 percent annually, and the
gross domestic product grew 7.6 percent annually during the same pe
riod.
The entire report is available online at www.TrialLawyerslnc
.com.
Saturday, October 11
New York State Boer Goat Show,
Cornell University Livestock Pa
vilion, Ithaca, N.Y., (315)
363-7545.
Pruning of Woody Ornamentals,
Lancaster Farm and Home Cen
ter, Lancaster, 9 a.m.-noon, (717)
394-6851.
S.E. Ohio Beef and Forage Field
Day, Ohio Ag R&D Center, Cald
well Branch, 8:30 a.m.-12;30 p.m.,
(740) 432-9300.
Autumn Discovery Day at Ohio Ag
R&D Center, Wooster Campus, 9
Editor:
The Water Resources Planning
Act requires the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) to update
Pennsylvania’s State Water Plan
to determine how much water we
have, how much we use, and how
much will be available in the fu
ture.
There is no cost to you to regis
ter or report your water usage.
Pennsylvania’s water manage
ment plan had not been updated
in more than 25 years, and did
not address which areas had crit
ical water needs. Since 1900, resi
dential water use has increased
from 5 gallons to 62 gallons per
person per day. Total water use
in Pennsylvania has experienced
drought conditions during 8 of
the past 10 years.
Act 220 requires all who with
draw or use 10,000 or more gal-
a.m.-4 p.m., (330) 263-3761.
ADADC New Jersey State Meeting,
4-H Center, Bridgewater, N.J., 6
p.m., (973) 875-7445.
York County 4-H Horse Club Benefit
Horse Show, York County 4-H
Center.
Maryland Chapter of Walnut Coun
cil Workshop, Tree Farm,
Queenstown, (301) 972-0848.
Anselma Preservation and Educa
tional Trust Annual Membership
Meeting, Mill at Anselma Visitor
Center, 10 a.m., (610) 917-0447.
(Turn to Page A 32)
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♦ Farm Forum ♦
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lons of water per day to register
and then periodically report their
water withdrawal and usage to
DEP. Users of fewer than 10,000
gallons per day are asked to reg
ister voluntarily, to help DEP get
as complete of a water plan as
possible.
Reporting your water usage
does not establish water alloca
tion or withdrawal requirements.
It is merely for planning purpos
es, and does not give DEP au
thority to regulate, control or re
quire permits for the withdrawal
of water. Furthermore, the Act
expressly prohibits any require
ments for metering homeowner
wells.
Public water suppliers, hydro
power facilities and individuals
who use or withdraw more than
50,000 gallons of water per day
(Turn to Page A 32)
To Carefully Feed
This Year’s Corn Silage
Each harvest season it is impor
tant to evaluate the quality of your
com silage and adapt your total
nutrition program to balance what
is coming out of your silo. This is
especially important this year,
when many farmers who normally
use com binders harvested their
com with choppers. Many of these
machines were equipped with ker
nel processors and it is important
to understand that this will make
very different silage than what you
may have been feeding in the past.
Lancaster County dairy agent
Beth Grove reports that silage that
has been chopped with a processor
on the harvester has up to 7 per
cent more energy than what is
found in unprocessed silage. Stud
ies have shown that cows fed pro
cessed silage may increase milk
yield by as much as 1-3 pounds per
day. With processed silage you are
THE RIGHT WAY
TO GLORIFY GOD
Background Scripture:
1 Peter 2:11 through 5:142:10,
Devotional Reading:
Galatians 5:16-25.
It is difficult in our country for
us to understand that historically
the normal status of a Christian in
society is that of an alien. That is
how 1 Peter addresses his readers:
“Beloved, 1 beseech you as aliens
and exiles to abstain from the pas
sions of the flesh that wage war
against the soul” (2:11). Although
they may not use the term “alien,”
other New Testament writers indi
cate that the Christian is most like
ly not to “fit in” comfortably in any
society.
The reason is not that Christians
enjoy being outsiders and take a
perverted pleasure in being re
garded as aliens and exiles, but
that invariably the gospel proves
offensive to the ways of the world.
Normally, the only way for Chris
tians to get around this barrier is to
talk about the gospel, but not do it.
I think that all too often our society
molds Christians in their values
and actions and not the other way
around. In as much as we do not
stick out like “sore thumbs” in our
daily world, it is pretty accepting of
us.
Lancaster Farming
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Northeast Farm Communicators
likely to see far fewer cobs left in
the bunk and less grain in the ma
nure of the herd. Hopefully, your
processed silage was not cut too
finely. Effective fiber is very impor
tant in a ration with processed si
lage.
Grove cautions that, depending
on your herd’s ration, you may
need to cut back on energy from
grain to prevent health problems.
It may be necessary to adjust the
amount of grain in the herd’s diet
when feeding processed silage; too
much energy/grain in the diet can
cause acidosis, cows going off-feed,
and laminitis.
Grove reports one dairy farmer
in Virginia who started feeding
processed com silage several years
ago was able to cut 3-5 pounds of
grain out of his 23,000 pound
herd’s ration. The total program
included feeding more silage and
roughage. Consult with your nutri
tionist or dairy extension agent for
suggestions on feeding this new
crop.
To Plant Cover Crops
Most farmers need to empty
their manure storage units during
the fall season. This means these
crop nutrients are applied to cro
pland at a time of year when they
are not needed by a growing crop.
Therefore these nutrients are vul
nerable to being lost to the environ
ment because of soil erosion and
leaching.
Winter cover crops are a valu
able tool farmers can use to pre
vent this economic loss of valuable
nutrients and prevent the environ
mental damage also caused. If you
are applying manure to crop land
this fall, plan on planting a small
grain cover crop such as rye. The
rye will take up the available nitro
gen and hold it in the plant, pre
venting its loss to the water supply.
If the rye is harvested the nutrients
will be utilized as high quality feed.
‘Saving’ God!
Christians in Africa and Asia,
however, are much more aware
that being a disciple of Jesus Christ
means alienation. In both these
continents, Christian values and
behavior are much more likely to
elicit condemnation, ostracism, and
even violence. In Africa and Asia
the only places in the world today
where Christianity is truly growing
being a Christian means sticking
out, not blending in.
Some Christians believe that we
are called to be in continual battle
with our society. It is assumed that
they must “save” God from hea
thens, agnostics, and atheists.
Imagine worshiping and serving a
god that has to be saved by his
human followers! Is it arrogant to
assume that human beings have
the power to eject God from our
schools, cities, and nations? And is
it not equally arrogant to think
that we have the power to put God
back in those places? God does not
need for us to go to court or take
up arms to keep him in our society.
Nor does God need for the govern
ment to let him into schools.
That is not to say, then, that the
Christian is called to blend into our
societies, but that the way of affec
ting the milieu in which we live is
by making the gospel work for all
to see. Too often we fail in making
our mark in the communities, not
because the dice are loaded against
us, but because we don’t live the
gospel, either as individuals or as
churches. We wouldn’t have to
worry and argue about the consti
tutional barrier between church
and state if we really made our
churches lighthouses instead of for
tresses.
If the rye is killed or plowed in the
spring, the nutrients will become
available to the following crop.
The rye will also prevent nutri
ent loss by slowing soil erosion. Rye
can be planted as late as Novem
ber, but the earlier it is planted, the
more nutrients it will take up and
the more yield it will produce in
the spring.
To Be Thankful For
A Safe Harvest
The volunteers who manned the
Com Harvest Aid hot line and the
Lancaster County farmers who
were assisted by custom harvesters
to bring in their storm-damaged
crop would like to pass along their
thanks to all who provided help.
As of this writing there have
been no machinery-related injuries,
which is something to be thankful
for considering the stressful condi
tions during the harvest. The chal
lenges included 24-hour operation,
volunteers who do not regularly
work together, sometimes muddy
conditions, some operators with
limited experience with large
equipment, and a tangled crop.
One man was injured critically
in a fall and he and his family will
appreciate your thoughts and pray
ers.
Since the silage harvest is nearly
finished, the Com Harvest Aid hot
line is no longer manned, but a
voice mail is available if you have a
request. The number for the voice
mail is the same as the hot line,
(717)768-4670.
Quote Of The Week:
“The important thing is not to
stop questioning. Curiosity has
its own reason for existing. One
cannot help but be in awe when
he contemplates the mysteries of
eternity, of life, of the marvelous
structure of reality. It is enough
if one tries merely to comprehend
a little of this mystery every day.
Never lose a holy curiosity. ”
Albert Einstein
Glorifying God
How should we get the gospel
across to the world around us? The
writer of 1 Peter says, “Maintain
good conduct among the Gentiles,
so that in case they speak against
you as wrongdoers, they may see
your good deeds and glorify God
on the day of visitation.”
I’m not suggesting that Chris
tians are not involved in doing
“good deeds,” but that usually
these are eclipsed by other images
of the church that are hardly com
plimentary to God. For Roman
Catholics, the continuing headlines
about abusive priests are what the
“Gentile” public sees regarding
Christianity. For Protestants, our
squabbles over blessing homosexual
unions probably outshines the good
works our churches are perform
ing. (Does the world conclude that
Christianity is chiefly about sexual
ity?)
Yes, we are called by God to re
sist the values and behavior of our
societies, but we need to resist in
the right way: “Maintain good con
duct among the Gentiles, so that in
case they speak against you as
wrongdoers, they may see your
good deeds and glorify God ”
(2:12) and “Above all hold unfail
ing your love for one another, since
love covers a multitude of sins.
Practice hospitality ungrudgingly
to one another in order that in
everything God may be glorified
through Jesus Christ” (4:8,9,11).
Is that really the image that the
world sees in us? Do we really glo
rify God?
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
—by—
Lancaster Farming, Inc
A Stemman Enterprise
William J. Burgess General Manager
Andy Andrews, Editor
Copyright 2003 by Lancaster Farming