Commentary
California
California Health Plans’ Success
Like other bloggers here, I’m no fan of employer-sponsored health care. I wish those who benefit from it would embrace real, consumer-driven reform. Nevertheless, I am always amazed at how the mainstream media covers stories of health insurers’ “denial of care”. It’s kind of like watching Michael Moore’s grotesquely misleading ...
Business & Economics
Rising Demand, Weak Dollar Cause Pain at the Pump
The price of oil just soared above $130 per barrel. Consumers want to know why oil prices are so high and what they can do about it. Politicians claim that greedy oil companies are hiking prices to fatten profits. But weren’t oil companies greedy in 2002, when the price was ...
Business & Economics
Tort reform would spark lagging local economy
The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen more than 1,500 points since last year. Bear Stearns has gone belly up. Every week talking heads point to a different blue-chip company supposedly teetering on the brink of financial ruin. It seems as if things couldn’t get worse for Wall Street and ...
Commentary
Opinion column ignored real concerns about GMOs
The Eureka Reporter, June 21, 2008 Dear Editor, The opinion column by Amy Kaleita of the Pacific Research Institute reads as if it was written by and for the benefit of Monsanto Corp. Many consumers are concerned about the effects of GMOs on food security and believe that GMOs are ...
Commentary
New York’s Discount Prescription Drug Plan: Medicaid Hammer With A Twist?
A bill to provide discounts on prescription drugs to low-income New Yorkers recently passed the Assembly and has moved over to the Senate. A03848 seeks to give the state the power to “negotiate” discounts for prescription drugs for Empire Staters who earn up to 350% of the Federal Poverty Line, ...
Commentary
Izumi Reflects on 10 Years of Prop. 227–And Krashen Rebuts
Learning the Language It was only yesterday that FlashReport published a commentary by Lance Izumi, the senior director of education studies for the Pacific Research Institute, that praises Proposition 227, the ballot measure approved by California voters 10 years ago this month that greatly curtailed bilingual education in California. And ...
Business & Economics
Directorship’s Annual Boardroom Guide to State Litigation Climates
BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Illinois and West Virginia are about the last states in which you would want your company to do business. Following close behind are California and Pennsylvania as among the states with the worst litigation climates for business and the highest risk for lawsuits. These are just some of the ...
Business & Economics
New legislation could lower credit card interchange fees
A subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee recently began considering legislation that would control the rising interchange fees credit card companies charge to merchants who accept plastic from their customers. Titled the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 (H.R. 5546), the bill was introduced by Rep. John Conyers ...
Commentary
How state violates students’ right to safe schools
Lincoln News Messenger (CA), June 19, 2008 Editor’s note: This editorial refers to suspension rates for violence and drugs at local schools, a topic covered in depth on the front page of the News Messenger. While the numbers might seem alarming, many of the suspensions referred to in this editorial ...
Commentary
Does Families USA Know What’s Up in Its Own Backyard?
Families USA seems to be really polishing up its business of putting out publications that rank states according to dubious criteria. They’re coming fast and furious. This latest one is a real howler – but for what it ignores, not what it measures. In Your Own Backyard purports to measure ...
California Health Plans’ Success
Like other bloggers here, I’m no fan of employer-sponsored health care. I wish those who benefit from it would embrace real, consumer-driven reform. Nevertheless, I am always amazed at how the mainstream media covers stories of health insurers’ “denial of care”. It’s kind of like watching Michael Moore’s grotesquely misleading ...
Rising Demand, Weak Dollar Cause Pain at the Pump
The price of oil just soared above $130 per barrel. Consumers want to know why oil prices are so high and what they can do about it. Politicians claim that greedy oil companies are hiking prices to fatten profits. But weren’t oil companies greedy in 2002, when the price was ...
Tort reform would spark lagging local economy
The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen more than 1,500 points since last year. Bear Stearns has gone belly up. Every week talking heads point to a different blue-chip company supposedly teetering on the brink of financial ruin. It seems as if things couldn’t get worse for Wall Street and ...
Opinion column ignored real concerns about GMOs
The Eureka Reporter, June 21, 2008 Dear Editor, The opinion column by Amy Kaleita of the Pacific Research Institute reads as if it was written by and for the benefit of Monsanto Corp. Many consumers are concerned about the effects of GMOs on food security and believe that GMOs are ...
New York’s Discount Prescription Drug Plan: Medicaid Hammer With A Twist?
A bill to provide discounts on prescription drugs to low-income New Yorkers recently passed the Assembly and has moved over to the Senate. A03848 seeks to give the state the power to “negotiate” discounts for prescription drugs for Empire Staters who earn up to 350% of the Federal Poverty Line, ...
Izumi Reflects on 10 Years of Prop. 227–And Krashen Rebuts
Learning the Language It was only yesterday that FlashReport published a commentary by Lance Izumi, the senior director of education studies for the Pacific Research Institute, that praises Proposition 227, the ballot measure approved by California voters 10 years ago this month that greatly curtailed bilingual education in California. And ...
Directorship’s Annual Boardroom Guide to State Litigation Climates
BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Illinois and West Virginia are about the last states in which you would want your company to do business. Following close behind are California and Pennsylvania as among the states with the worst litigation climates for business and the highest risk for lawsuits. These are just some of the ...
New legislation could lower credit card interchange fees
A subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee recently began considering legislation that would control the rising interchange fees credit card companies charge to merchants who accept plastic from their customers. Titled the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 (H.R. 5546), the bill was introduced by Rep. John Conyers ...
How state violates students’ right to safe schools
Lincoln News Messenger (CA), June 19, 2008 Editor’s note: This editorial refers to suspension rates for violence and drugs at local schools, a topic covered in depth on the front page of the News Messenger. While the numbers might seem alarming, many of the suspensions referred to in this editorial ...
Does Families USA Know What’s Up in Its Own Backyard?
Families USA seems to be really polishing up its business of putting out publications that rank states according to dubious criteria. They’re coming fast and furious. This latest one is a real howler – but for what it ignores, not what it measures. In Your Own Backyard purports to measure ...
