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Getting far too heated over global warming
PRI in the News
By: David Smith
4.30.2006
VOTE Blue, Go Green. Vote Brown and, it seems, you'll Go Green, too. Vote Orange, Liberal Democrat that is, and you'll probably go a nice safe shade of magnolia.
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Californians face growing tax burden
Business and Economics Op-Ed
4.29.2006
STATE treasurer Phil Angelides recently admitted that if elected governor he would raise taxes for Californians. His poll numbers soon dropped, and that can be no coincidence.
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Health savings accounts are becoming best option
Health Care Op-Ed
By: Sally C. Pipes
4.28.2006
Imagine you're heading out to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for a nagging cough. On the way, you stop by the ATM: You punch up your account for health expenses and take out $50 — no, make that $250. You'll pass the optician's on the way home, so you might as well stop in for the new pair of glasses you ordered.
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Microsoft's European Hearing and America's Future
Technology Op-Ed
4.28.2006
What many countries are calling "competition policy" is starting to look a lot like anti-Americanism that specifically targets successful U.S. companies. If so, that is a disastrous outcome that doesn't bode well for the future.
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Fighting Middle-Grade Blues
Education Op-Ed
By: Lance T. Izumi, J.D.
4.25.2006
While Rob Reiner is running around California telling voters that preschool is the magic bullet for the state’s education woes, testing data shows that children are having learning problems not at the beginning of their school careers, but in the middle. Too many public middle schools have become barriers to student achievement. In contrast, the KIPP charter schools, relatively new to California, offer a promising model for raising the achievement levels of middle-school students, especially those from low-income backgrounds.
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Cheer Up, Earth Day Is Over
PRI in the News
By: John Tierney
4.23.2006
Now that we have survived another Earth Day — the annual attempt to heal the planet by making its human inhabitants feel worse — I have a short quiz to cheer you up:
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Breathe Easier
PRI in the News
4.22.2006
Today, April 22, is Earth Day, which has been marked each year since 1970 as s day of reflection on the state of the environment. At least that's the idea, so let's begin with some figures.
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Earth Day 2006
PRI in the News
By: Pat Cleary
4.22.2006
We just wanted to get our oar in the (clean) water here, so to speak, on this auspicious day, Earth Day.
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Progress, by golly
By: John McCaslin
4.21.2006
The fact that not a single Code Red day for poor air quality was declared in the nation's capital during the long hot summer of 2005 is proof that the march of environmental progress continues.
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Calling for a Response to Digital ID
Technology Op-Ed
4.21.2006
Last year, Congress passed the Real ID Act, a law that calls for standardization of drivers' licenses across the country by 2008. The current reaction from states like California and New Hampshire raises questions about how a national ID system would affect civil liberties, putting welcome pressure on the federal government.
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China Comes Clean. A hopeful breath of fresh air.
Environment Op-Ed
By: Steven F. Hayward, Ph.D
4.21.2006
It is the fashion these days to apply the overused phrase the "tipping point" to just about everything, especially when it comes to bad news for the environment. And nowhere is the pessimism greater than when it comes to China, whose spectacular economic growth and voracious appetite for natural resources is said to be leading the region and perhaps the world toward irreversible ecological catastrophe.
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We are responsible in fat fight — not lawyers, not courts
Health Care Op-Ed
By: Diana M. Ernst
4.20.2006
SAN FRANCISCO - While millions of us are still struggling to shed those extra holiday pounds, food activists, personal injury lawyers and bureaucrats say we don’t have to make the effort — it’s up to Congress and the courts to produce a trimmer America.
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Need capital? Donate. Pensions Shouldn't Be Run By The State
Business and Economics Op-Ed
By: Anthony P. Archie
4.18.2006
A recent Los Angeles Times article revealed that California State Controller and gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly helped guide $5 million in pension funds to a venture capital firm run by two well-connected campaign contributors. Taxpayers and public employees should be concerned because this quid pro quo is the latest example of how politicians use California’s public employee retirement systems to benefit their campaign cronies.
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Beware of Kennedy’s side effects
By: Sally C. Pipes
4.18.2006
Warning: Sen. Ted Kennedy’s prescription to “fix” Medicare Part D with cheap, government-approved drugs may cause dangerous side effects, including outdated medicine, stifled research and reduced life expectancy for Medicare recipients.
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Dirty Secret
PRI in the News
4.17.2006
Environment: With Earth Day (April 22) still a week off, there's still time for alarmists to scare the pants off the public with stories of impending doom. But the truth is, the planet keeps getting cleaner.
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Proceed with Caution
PRI in the News
By: Grace-Marie Turner
4.13.2006
The new Massachusetts health plan has dominated the policy conversation over the past week, causing more division among conservatives than liberals.
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California is addicted to taxation
PRI in the News
By: Adam B. Summers
4.13.2006
SAN FRANCISCO - Think taxes in the Golden State are too high? You are not alone. Apparently, Steve Jobs agrees with you. BusinessWeek recently reported that Cupertino-based Apple has decided to set up a company, Braeburn Capital, in Nevada to manage its cash and short-term investments. Incorporation in Nevada has significant tax advantages, as Nevada has no corporate income tax, has no capital-gains tax, and doesn’t share information with the IRS. California, on the other hand, has corporate income, capital gains, and franchise taxes, all in the neighborhood of 9 percent.
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Think Tanks Chart US Environmental Progress
PRI in the News
4.13.2006
While much of the current popular media reporting on the environment is centered on the impending effects of rapid global warming, two think tanks have issued a report charting a steady path of improvement on a number of environmental fronts in the US.
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U.S. Scores High Marks This Earth Day
Press Release
4.12.2006
Though 2005 offered a full plate of environmental episodes that riveted the world’s attention, including environmental calamities in China, Hurricane Katrina, and the U.N. conference on climate change, the march of environmental progress continues, according to the 2006 Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, released today by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
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Red China Earns Green Marks on Earth Day
Press Release
4.12.2006
While China has formidable environmental problems, there are unacknowledged signs of improvement, according to the 2006 Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, released today by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). The Index (available at www.pacificresearch.org), for more than a decade has provided an annual review of the positive trends occurring in key areas of the environment including climate change, air quality, water quality, toxic chemicals, and biodiversity.
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County to look into new health plan
PRI in the News
By: Ben Brown
4.10.2006
The Mendocino County Health Planning Council is sponsoring an educational meeting, Tuesday, on a bill currently in the state senate that would create a single-payer health care system in California.
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Massachusetts "health care" prelude to government takeover?
PRI in the News
By: Bruce McQuain
4.10.2006
Individual health insurance is not always a good deal in Massachusetts, thanks to state-imposed community rating regulations that require companies to charge the sick and healthy the same rates. The result: Some people elect not to purchase it.
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This isn't child's play
PRI in the News
By: Steven Greenhut
4.9.2006
Our next governor will be either a liberalized Arnold or one of two Democrats, none of whom want to face adult realities
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Massachusetts will fail
Health Care Op-Ed
By: Sally C. Pipes
4.9.2006
Massachusetts' health care plan won't lead to universal care through private insurance. It just might, however, give the Bay State government-run single-payer health care.
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Spamalot Revisited: Goodmail Trapped in Bad Debate
Technology Op-Ed
4.7.2006
Despite national legislation, spam remains a menace that clogs e-mail inboxes and costs Internet Service Providers millions of dollars. One California company is trying to stem the flow of unwanted mail, but California legislators are threatening to stand in the way.
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New Study says Consumers are Paying Too Much for Cable TV
Press Release
4.6.2006
SAN FRANCISCO – Consumers are paying too much for cable services, a problem that can be fixed by Congress, according to a new study by the Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in California. “Cutting the Cord: Streamlining the Video Franchising Process” co-authored by Sonia Arrison, director of Technology Studies and Vince Vasquez, technology public policy fellow, explains the video franchising process, why it’s broken, and how to fix it.
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Calif. Legislator Gives Pension Reform Another Try
Business and Economics Op-Ed
By: Anthony P. Archie
4.1.2006
Despite strong opposition from unions and lukewarm support from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), California State Assemblyman Keith Richman (R-Northridge) hasn't given up on reforming the state's public employee pension systems. This year he has introduced Assembly Constitutional Amendment 23 (ACA 23), another measure that would secure 401(k)-like investment accounts for all state and local employees.
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