WASHINGTON — Global warming isn't to blame for the recent jump in hurricanes in the Atlantic, concludes a study by a prominent federal scientist.

Not only that, warmer temperatures will actually reduce the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic and those making landfall, research meteorologist Tom Knutson reported in a study released Sunday.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying, "A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats." Well, in two states, the kitties' feast has finally ended. Missouri and Mississippi, both one-time playgrounds for trial lawyers, have closed the door on free rides.

Missouri's transformation began three years ago, when the legislature limited punitive damages in liability cases to $500,000 or to five times the net amount of the plaintiff's award, whichever proved greater. The legislation also capped non-economic damages at $350,000. Since then, medical-malpractice claims have plunged by 61 percent, and fewer doctors are leaving the state.

Travel south to Mississippi, and the results are similar. Since that state's tort reform four years ago, which capped awards for non-economic damages and banned trial attorneys from shopping around for a sympathetic judge, jobs are up by approximately 60,000. In addition, unemployment is down from nine percent to six percent, out-of-state business investment is up and medical-malpractice lawsuits are down by almost 90 percent, resulting in a 30-45 percent reduction in malpractice insurance. Furthermore, more students are now considering studying business and fewer are studying law.

While there is reason to celebrate, don't hold your breath. Outside of unions, trial lawyers are the biggest Democrat donors on the list by giving 97% of their donations to the Democrat party . And while cats will often bite the hand that feeds them, Democrats won't.

I report,U decide.

"It’s just amazing to feel like I am a full citizen — I am not a second-class citizen" This after a ruling by California Supreme Court sanctioning same-sex marriage.

"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along,” Mr. Bush said, in a speech otherwise devoted to spotlighting Israel’s friendship with the United States.

“We have an obligation,” he continued, “to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false-face for the urge to rule it." -H. L. Mencken

"All affectation is the vain and ridiculous attempt of poverty to appear rich." -Johann Kaspar Lavater

"Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom." -George Smith Patton

"The chief mourner does not always attend the funeral." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Well, the conference met today and appointed a commission to meet tomorrow and appoint a delegation which will eventually appoint a subcommittee to draw up ways and means of finding out what to start with first." -Will Rogers