Downtown
I loved what the April 24 OC Insider had to say. I too agree that the downtown area of Orange County is the South Coast Metro/Costa Mesa area. I have been saying that for years.
We have everything from world-class shopping at South Coast Plaza to funky New York “Soho chic” shopping at the Lab and the Camp, to shopping for all needs at Metro Point.
To top it off, we have a beautiful park only blocks away. We have world renown art, both performing and unique visual public art.
We have some of OC’s best restaurants, premier lodging and the award-winning “Bridge of Gardens.” We are the home to the famous Nochuci Gardens, which is the No. 1 tourist attraction for Asian visitors to the area.
Costa Mesa is home to numerous corporate headquarters and maintains the busiest business district in the county.
We currently have homes to own and beautiful rental apartments within walking distance, and within a short time we will have upscale, mixed-use, high-rise housing.
I could go on, but I think you get the picture.
Linda Dixon
Councilwoman
Costa Mesa
OC 50
Re your new list (May 1 issue) of the OC 50:
I know I’m getting old when there are only nine of the top 50 older then me.
Where does the time go?
Barbara deBoom
President and CEO
Orange Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Bureau
Junk Science
In time for spring cleaning, Orange County Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse has launched the “Take Out the Trash” campaign encouraging judges, legislators and the public to dump the junk science from our courtrooms.
Those “expert witnesses” will say anything for the right price for greedy personal injury lawyers bringing questionable claims, or plaintiffs filing lawsuits without experiencing any injury. More and more personal injury lawyers are using “expert witness” doctors who have never even met the plaintiffs they diagnose.
Junk lawsuits based on junk science undermine the integrity of our courts, drive up the price of medicine and doctors’ fees for healthcare consumers, and divert funds and attention away from researching and developing medical cures.
Asbestos and silicosis litigation are just the latest examples of how questionable facts are being used to exploit our legal system.
Some of the most egregious examples of junk science in the court:
In recent fen-phen litigation, an independent review of 120 echocardiograms diagnosed with heart damage by two cardiologists hired by plaintiffs’ attorneys found that only 6% actually showed heart problems. One of the doctors received an extra $1,500 for every positive reading.
U.S. district court judge Janis Jack in Texas tossed out many silicosis claims as manufactured diagnoses. Of the 10,000 alleged silicosis victims, 99% had been diagnosed by only nine doctors. One doctor had his secretary fill out patient diagnoses on blank forms, while another analyzed 1,239 patients in 72 hours. Many of the alleged victims in the lawsuit had at one time been diagnosed with and filed claims for asbestosis.
In California, Dr. Gary Ordog, dubbed “Dr. Mold” by Forbes, has appeared as an expert witness in hundreds of cases claiming that mold can cause a terrifying array of diseases, from lung cancer to cirrhosis of the liver. This is despite the American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, the Federal Institute of Medicine and the American College of Medical Toxicology all saying there’s no evidence for such claims.
Just as judges in Texas and Florida have begun throwing out testimony from questionable “experts,” judges everywhere must take an active role in throwing the junk science out of the legal system.
Maryann Maloney
Executive Director
Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse
Corona del Mar
Desperate Hubbies
Viewing the highly watched ABC Series, “Desperate Housewives” you get the impression the women of Wisteria Lane and “everywhere USA” are the desperate ones.
However, in OC-themed series such as “The O.C.,” and “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” the women lead lives of comfort and luxury.
I contend it’s the guys,in the real OC and counties elsewhere,who are the truly desperate ones.
For the most part, it’s the husbands and ex-husbands who have to cover the purchases for a lot of frivolous indulgences by wives, ex-wives, kids and stepkids. If graves could talk, Pacific View would be crying with male lamentations of hypertension, heart attacks, strokes, acute anxiety and depression.
I recently participated in a male focus group.
The married guys said they would be just as happy in their old homes as in their new coastal and Shady ones. The bills for the new mortgages, luxury cars, cruises, multiple club memberships and credit card charges ran into the tens of thousands per month. One soul lamented his property taxes jumped from $1,200 to $20,000 a year.
For ex-husbands, pile on alimony and child support. And, oh, the costs of dating.
Women go out with rich older men on a strictly observed sliding scale. For example, a 60-year-old man must be worth $25 million to date a 50-year-old woman, $50 million for a 40-year-old, $100 million for a 30-year-old and, for Hugh Hefner Wannabes, $250 million for a 20-year-old.
And all of this only buys the poor fool more stress and anxiety.
Besides the new expenses, the guy gets ostracized by his older lady friends and is always worried about competition from younger men.
Now, let me concede that in these “liberated” days there are successful women who find themselves on the short end of this equation, too. We all know females who have gotten stuck paying support for ex-husbands of lesser means.
But in such situations, there is typically an outpouring of sympathy for the woman, from guys as well as gals.
Do men get such understanding? Nope, just another bill.
Desperate Doc
(The writer, a happily married Newport Beach physician who contributes frequently to this page, used a pseudonym to avoid having his computer cords clipped.)
Christie Hefner
Kudos to the OCBJ for securing Christie Hefner as the speaker for its May 25 Women in Business Awards luncheon.
My thinking is that she’ll be the perfect match for this luncheon with her national prestige and relevant success story.
There’s no gender bias here, either. My boss, Melinda Morgan, is an OC business owner and she shares my sentiments. (She’s actually the one who excitedly first told me about this year’s speaker.)
Having Ms. Hefner as a speaker is a real tribute to out-of-box thinking and innovative event planning. Well done.
Danny Craig
Account Supervisor
Morgan Marketing & Public Relations LLC
Irvine
