Commentary
California
Senator Kuehl’s Health Care Agenda
Democratic Sen. Sheila Kuehl, who chairs the Senate health committee, made sure that a recent attempt at health care overhaul in California went down in flames last month. Her committee rejected ABX1 1, the Schwarzenegger-Nunez health care reform legislation. That measure aimed for “universal” health care through compulsory purchase of ...
Business & Economics
Radio to the People
This week marked the anniversary of the announcement that the satellite radio firms Sirius and XM plan to merge, yet so far the companies have not been allowed to consummate the marriage. That’s because regulators are standing in the way, backed by well-heeled Washington lobbyists out to prove that ridiculous ...
Commentary
Do Our Candidates Need Their Vision Corrected?
The campaign trail is awash with promises to make universal health care a reality in the next presidential term. Candidates from both parties claim they can lower costs — and insure everyone — through legislative mandates and increased government intervention in the healthcare market. But they’re wrong. Only with a ...
Commentary
Massachusetts Hospital Association’s New Recipe for Fudge
An amazing story in the usually reliable Boston Globe by Steve LeBlanc made me gulp: might I have to recant my position on the ineffective and expensive Massachusetts health reform? Luckily, no: a report by the Massachusetts Hospital Association on the reform’s “success” manages to fudge the numbers just enough ...
Commentary
The Hidden Dangers of Government Health Care
Child and Family Protection Association, February 21, 2008 “Socialized health care” is the term we are using to describe various forms of government-controlled health care delivery and funding programs. This topic continues to spark a great deal of debate. We have already addressed a critical part of this issue from ...
Commentary
We’re Number Eight: Decoding the Advanced Placement Spin
SACRAMENTO – Last week the College Board released the results of Advanced Placement (AP) tests placing California eighth in the nation, with nearly one in five public school students scoring a college-credit-earning three or better on at least one 2007 AP exam. The news came with a positive spin, but ...
Commentary
On Patent Reform, Don’t Be Evil
Google has achieved wild success and cultural notoriety by operating under the corporate mantra “Don’t be evil.” But when it comes to patent reforms currently under consideration in Congress, Google — along with several other tech heavyweights — seems to be straying from the company line. The Patent Reform Act, ...
Agriculture
Bad Biofuel Policy Boosts Asian Inflation
Asia Sentinel (Hong Kong), 19 February 2008 The US decision to divert food crops for motor-fuel is proving a costly mistake – especially for Asia. What has long been predicted – that the US decision to push the use of corn to make biofuel would be a costly mistake – ...
Commentary
Reject National Health care
America’s medical system has flaws, but government control is no cure Last December, Nataline Sarkisyan, a comatose leukemia patient, failed to receive a liver transplant potentially in time to save her life. Politically motivated opportunists such as former presidential candidate John Edwards have been exploiting the 17-year-old’s tragic death to ...
Commentary
Drug ads a form of free speech
David Lazarus claims that direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising results in “forcing physicians to respond to people’s demands for heavily touted drugs.” (“Ads spur urge for drugs,” Consumer Confidential, Feb. 6.) Actually, physicians have a government-granted monopoly on prescribing drugs, and no patient can “force” a physician to do anything. Rather, research ...
Senator Kuehl’s Health Care Agenda
Democratic Sen. Sheila Kuehl, who chairs the Senate health committee, made sure that a recent attempt at health care overhaul in California went down in flames last month. Her committee rejected ABX1 1, the Schwarzenegger-Nunez health care reform legislation. That measure aimed for “universal” health care through compulsory purchase of ...
Radio to the People
This week marked the anniversary of the announcement that the satellite radio firms Sirius and XM plan to merge, yet so far the companies have not been allowed to consummate the marriage. That’s because regulators are standing in the way, backed by well-heeled Washington lobbyists out to prove that ridiculous ...
Do Our Candidates Need Their Vision Corrected?
The campaign trail is awash with promises to make universal health care a reality in the next presidential term. Candidates from both parties claim they can lower costs — and insure everyone — through legislative mandates and increased government intervention in the healthcare market. But they’re wrong. Only with a ...
Massachusetts Hospital Association’s New Recipe for Fudge
An amazing story in the usually reliable Boston Globe by Steve LeBlanc made me gulp: might I have to recant my position on the ineffective and expensive Massachusetts health reform? Luckily, no: a report by the Massachusetts Hospital Association on the reform’s “success” manages to fudge the numbers just enough ...
The Hidden Dangers of Government Health Care
Child and Family Protection Association, February 21, 2008 “Socialized health care” is the term we are using to describe various forms of government-controlled health care delivery and funding programs. This topic continues to spark a great deal of debate. We have already addressed a critical part of this issue from ...
We’re Number Eight: Decoding the Advanced Placement Spin
SACRAMENTO – Last week the College Board released the results of Advanced Placement (AP) tests placing California eighth in the nation, with nearly one in five public school students scoring a college-credit-earning three or better on at least one 2007 AP exam. The news came with a positive spin, but ...
On Patent Reform, Don’t Be Evil
Google has achieved wild success and cultural notoriety by operating under the corporate mantra “Don’t be evil.” But when it comes to patent reforms currently under consideration in Congress, Google — along with several other tech heavyweights — seems to be straying from the company line. The Patent Reform Act, ...
Bad Biofuel Policy Boosts Asian Inflation
Asia Sentinel (Hong Kong), 19 February 2008 The US decision to divert food crops for motor-fuel is proving a costly mistake – especially for Asia. What has long been predicted – that the US decision to push the use of corn to make biofuel would be a costly mistake – ...
Reject National Health care
America’s medical system has flaws, but government control is no cure Last December, Nataline Sarkisyan, a comatose leukemia patient, failed to receive a liver transplant potentially in time to save her life. Politically motivated opportunists such as former presidential candidate John Edwards have been exploiting the 17-year-old’s tragic death to ...
Drug ads a form of free speech
David Lazarus claims that direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising results in “forcing physicians to respond to people’s demands for heavily touted drugs.” (“Ads spur urge for drugs,” Consumer Confidential, Feb. 6.) Actually, physicians have a government-granted monopoly on prescribing drugs, and no patient can “force” a physician to do anything. Rather, research ...
