Big item of news tonight: finally, it's been "discovered" that the enormous fines levied against Dow Corning and the awards given to hundreds of those women who blamed everything from lupus to tumors and fatigue on breast implants, were improper decisions of the courts. This came too late to save Dow Corning from bankruptcy, and the awards will all be paid.

This is just one more example of how wrong our court system can be. Incompetent and unqualified "expert witnesses" plague the system, and sympathy-driven juries generously give out corporate fortunes if it seems even vaguely possible that someone has been injured or inconvenienced.

The O.J. Simpson verdict was arrived at largely because very firm DNA evidence was ignored and devalued in a bout of science-bashing choreographed by lawyers who knew they could manipulate an average jury who had little understanding of statistics or science.

NBC-TV News, in concluding its coverage of the silicone-implant story, stated, "The courtroom is often not the best place to settle scientific issues." Say what? The courtroom is NEVER the best place to settle scientific issues! Science does not come to decisions by voting. It goes where the evidence leads. A courtroom is a battleground where lawyers compete for the minds of jurors, regardless of the facts. When a just decision is made, it's often not the result of reason and logic, but of emotion and coercion. In court, you get law all of the time, and justice most of the time.

If you need another example of this sort of really bad court decision, examine Peter Huber's book, Galileo's Revenge, which deals with the atrocious treatment of the Audi Motor Company by our legal system. This is another excellent example of honest, competent, business people being badly served by an agency that should be protecting them.