Heavy-Handed Politics

The Coming Sedition Act?

2010-05-14T23:55:00.001-05:00

By Robert Ringer

The gangster government now in control in our nation’s capitol is a grim and repugnant reminder that freedom, at best, is ephemeral. At worst, it’s a myth. In fact, true freedom – like true capitalism – has never existed anywhere on this planet. Rest assured that those with an insatiable lust for power will never allow either to occur. Read the rest here.

2010-05-14T23:42:00.001-05:00

WE FOUND OUT WHAT'S IN IT
www.ncpa.org

Just before the House passed the health care reform bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi infamously remarked "We have to pass the bill so you can find out what's in it." It has been nearly six weeks now and we are finding out that what is in it is not necessarily good for health care, says Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Penn.).

We are finding that medical costs will rise nationwide: Read on.

2010-05-14T23:39:00.001-05:00

AS MEDICAID ROLLS RISE, STATE BUDGETS WILL SOAR, ACCESS WILL SINK
www.ncpa.org

Despite assurances the Medicaid expansion included in the health care legislation signed into law by President Obama in March is not an unfunded mandate foisted on the states, many states will find their budgets bloated with new Medicaid spending, says John C. Goodman, President, CEO, and the Kellye Wright Fellow of the National Center for Policy Analysis.

The Fatness Federallies

2010-05-14T23:30:00.001-05:00

The Federal Fat Police: Bill Would Require Government to Track Body Mass of American Children

(CNSNews.com) - A bill introduced this month in Congress would put the federal and state governments in the business of tracking how fat, or skinny, American children are.

2010-05-14T23:17:00.001-05:00

Plan for mosque near World Trade Center site moves ahead

A proposal to build a mosque steps from Ground Zero received the support of a downtown committee despite some loved ones of 9/11 victims finding it offensive.

Daisy Khan, of the American
Society for Muslim Advancement and Cordoba Initiative, said her group hopes construction on the project will begin by the
10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks."

Many find this offensive, including some of the 9/11 families. What's more, what's up with a "Cordoba Initiative'? Cordoba? As in Caliphate of Cordoba? And the mosque is to be named "the Cordoba House."

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphate_of_Córdoba

Hmmmmmmmmm.....

The Donut Connection

2010-05-14T22:33:00.001-05:00

Times Square terror suspect Faisal Shahzad picked up cash for plot at L.I. Dunkin' Donuts: sources

He has a black heart - and a sweet tooth.

Palin on economic and political boycotts of Arizona

2010-05-14T22:23:00.001-05:00

'Not a way to secure our borders.'
www.nydailynews.com

Oh no B.O. Say it ain't so.

2010-05-02T18:11:00.001-05:00

OBAMA CHEATING SCANDAL: SHOCKING NEW REPORTS - Celebrity News | Gossip - National Enquirer

2010-05-02T17:23:00.001-05:00

"The Constitution on which our Union rests, shall be administered by me [as President] according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people of the United States at the time of its adoption -- a meaning to be found in the explanations of those who advocated, not those who opposed it, and who opposed it merely lest the construction should be applied which they denounced as possible."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Mesrs. Eddy, Russel, Thurber, Wheaton and Smith, 1801

File this under: "Duuuhhh..."

2010-05-02T17:03:00.001-05:00

Federal Reserve Study: Economic Freedom Matters [Mackinac Center]

Federal Reserve Study: Economic Freedom Matters
By Michael D. LaFaive

A new study published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, called "Economic Freedom and Employment Growth in the U.S. States," concludes that there is a link between economic freedom and employment growth. Other studies have come to the same conclusion. One of the things that makes this one different is its findings on labor markets. The authors write: "In addition, we find that less restrictive state and national government labor market policies have the greatest impact on employment growth in U.S. states."

Obamacare

2010-05-02T16:59:00.001-05:00

Obamacare: Impact on Businesses of the Health Care Reform Bill

"While President Obama continues traveling the U.S. heralding the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, businesses across the U.S. are growing more and more discontent—and for good reason."

Read more at The
Heritage Foundation.

WHY ARIZONA DREW A LINE

2010-05-02T16:45:00.002-05:00

Last Friday, Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona signed a law -- SB 1070 -- that prohibits the harboring of illegal aliens and makes it a state crime for an alien to commit certain federal immigration crimes. It also requires police officers who, in the course of a traffic stop or other law-enforcement action, come to a "reasonable suspicion" that a person is an illegal alien verify the person's immigration status with the federal government.

Predictably, groups that favor relaxed enforcement of immigration laws insist the law is unconstitutional. However, the arguments we've heard against it either misrepresent its text or are otherwise inaccurate, says Kris W. Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City and Attorney General John Ashcroft's chief adviser on immigration law and border security from 2001 to 2003.

It is unfair to demand that aliens carry their documents with them:

* It is true that the Arizona law makes it a misdemeanor for an alien to fail to carry certain documents, but since 1940, it has been a federal crime for aliens to fail to keep such registration documents with them; the Arizona law simply adds a state penalty to what was already a federal crime.
* Moreover, as anyone who has traveled abroad knows, other nations have similar documentation requirements.

"Reasonable suspicion" is a meaningless term that will permit police misconduct:

* Over the past four decades, federal courts have issued hundreds of opinions defining those two words.
* The Arizona law didn't invent the concept: Precedents list the factors that can contribute to reasonable suspicion; when several are combined, the "totality of circumstances" that results may create reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed.

The law will allow police to engage in racial profiling:

* Section 2 provides that a law enforcement official "may not solely consider race, color or national origin" in making any stops or determining immigration status; in addition, all normal Fourth Amendment protections against profiling will continue to apply.
* In fact, the Arizona law actually reduces the likelihood of race-based harassment by compelling police officers to contact the federal government as soon as is practicable when they suspect a person is an illegal alien, as opposed to letting them make arrests on their own assessment.

Source: Kris W. Kobach, "Why Arizona Drew a Line," New York Times, April 29, 2010.

For text:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/opinion/29kobach.html

The source for this summary is from http://www.ncpa.org

WHAT'S KEEPING DOCTORS SO BUSY IN PRIMARY CARE?

2010-05-02T16:21:00.003-05:00

The source for this summary is from http://www.ncpa.org

Dr. Richard Baron -- an internist in a five-provider practice in Philadelphia with roughly 8,500 patients -- conducted a yearlong study using his practice's electronic health record system to evaluate the average daily workload of a primary care physician.

The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, offer "a rare, quantitative look into the mechanics of office practice. Baron found that on an average workday, each primary care provider in his practice:

* Saw 18.1 patients.
* Handled 23.7 phone calls.
* Answered 16.8 e-mails, mostly dealing with test result interpretations.
* Dealt with 19.5 lab reports, 11.1 imaging reports and 13.9 consult reports.
* Issued 12.1 prescription refills, excluding those issued during patient visits.

Overall, the practice's physicians worked roughly 50 to 60 hours a week, Baron found.

Baron said that the results show the need for a new payment method that accurately reimburses primary care physicians for the actual work they do. According to Baron, who chaired the American Board of Internal Medicine in 2009, the study should signal to policymakers and payers that "... the way you pay us doesn't work for the work we actually need to do."

While Baron said reimbursing for each phone call or e-mail a physician handles would be impractical, he suggested that adopting capitation, in which physicians would receive an annual lump sum per patient, would better cover the amount of time primary care physicians actually spend on patients.

Source: Zach Swiss, "What's Keeping Us So Busy In Primary Care?" American Health Line, April 29, 2010; based upon: Dr. Richard J. Baron, "What's Keeping Us So Busy in Primary Care? A Snapshot from One Practice," New England Journal, Vol. 362:1632-1636, No. 17, April 29, 2010.

For text:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/362/17/1632

I can understand this strategy from the MD's perspective since they don't get paid for answering emails, phone calls, etc. But then, what job does? It goes with the territory. It's a necessary function of "your job."

More importantly, how is this going to improve the quality of care for the patient? Seems to me, this will only facilitate more the feeling of being rushed through the doctor's office. The more patients the doctor sees, the larger "the annual lump" the MD receives.

MASSACHUSETTS' SHORT-TERM CUSTOMERS BOOSTING HEALTH COSTS

2010-04-08T23:03:00.001-05:00

Will consumers game Obamacare the way they have in Massachusetts?...

Thousands of consumers are gaming Massachusetts' 2006 health insurance law by buying insurance when they need to cover pricey medical care, such as fertility treatments and knee surgery, and then swiftly dropping coverage, a practice that insurance executives say is driving up costs for other people and small businesses, says the Boston Globe.

2010-04-08T23:00:00.001-05:00

How the Left Really Plans to Pay for Obamacare

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), over half of President Barack Obama’s new $940 billion health care entitlement is paid for by price-fixing Medicare cuts. Never mind that the President’s own Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says that these cuts would cause “roughly 20 percent” of Medicare providers to go bankrupt in Obamacare’s first ten years.

NHS rationing body denies 15 life-saving drugs to cancer patients:

2010-04-03T08:21:00.001-06:00

Too Costly
Mail Online
dailymail.co.uk

Thousands of cancer patients face an early death because the NHS rationing body has rejected or only partially endorsed 15 new drugs.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence totally blocked a quarter of the cancer drugs made available since 2008 and heavily restricted others - despite Government promises to make more treatments available.

Health Reform

2010-04-02T20:35:00.001-06:00

Received this email:

Yeah, this is going to save money.
Just so everyone knows what has been done to us, here is a list of new offices, boards, bureaucracies, committees, councils, exchanges, programs, etc. created in the health care "reform" bill. Section and page number references are included for those who wish to look them up.

1. Grant program for consumer assistance offices (Section 1002, p. 37)
2. Grant program for states to monitor premium increases (Section 1003, p. 42)
3. Committee to review administrative simplification standards (Section 1104, p. 71)
4. Demonstration program for state wellness programs (Section 1201, p. 93)
5. Grant program to establish state Exchanges (Section 1311(a), p. 130)
6. State American Health Benefit Exchanges (Section 1311(b), p. 131)
7. Exchange grants to establish consumer navigator programs (Section 1311(i), p. 150)
8. Grant program for state cooperatives (Section 1322, p. 169)
9. Advisory board for state cooperatives (Section 1322(b)(3), p. 173)
10. Private purchasing council for state cooperatives (Section 1322(d), p. 177)
11. State basic health plan programs (Section 1331, p. 201)
12. State-based reinsurance program (Section 1341, p. 226)
13. Program of risk corridors for individual and small group markets (Section 1342, p. 233)
14. Program to determine eligibility for Exchange participation (Section 1411, p. 267)
15. Program for advance determination of tax credit eligibility (Section 1412, p. 288)
16. Grant program to implement health IT enrollment standards (Section 1561, p. 370)
17. Federal Coordinated Health Care Office for dual eligible beneficiaries (Section 2602, p. 512)
18. Medicaid quality measurement program (Section 2701, p. 518)
19. Medicaid health home program for people with chronic conditions, and grants for planning same (Section 2703, p. 524)
20. Medicaid demonstration project to evaluate bundled payments (Section 2704, p. 532)
21. Medicaid demonstration project for global payment system (Section 2705, p. 536)
22. Medicaid demonstration project for accountable care organizations (Section 2706, p. 538)
23. Medicaid demonstration project for emergency psychiatric care (Section 2707, p. 540)
24. Grant program for delivery of services to individuals with postpartum depression (Section 2952(b), p. 591)
25. State allotments for grants to promote personal responsibility education programs (Section 2953, p. 596)
26. Medicare value-based purchasing program (Section 3001(a), p. 613)
27. Medicare value-based purchasing demonstration program for critical access hospitals (Section 3001(b), p. 637)
28. Medicare value-based purchasing program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 3006(a), p. 666)
29. Medicare value-based purchasing program for home health agencies (Section 3006(b), p. 668)
30. Interagency Working Group on Health Care Quality (Section 3012, p. 688)
31. Grant program to develop health care quality measures (Section 3013, p. 693)
32. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Section 3021, p. 712)
33. Medicare shared savings program (Section 3022, p. 728)
34. Medicare pilot program on payment bundling (Section 3023, p. 739)
35. Independence at home medical practice demonstration program (Section 3024, p. 752)
36. Program for use of patient safety organizations to reduce hospital readmission rates (Section 3025(b), p. 775)
37. Community-based care transitions program (Section 3026, p. 776)
38. Demonstration project for payment of complex diagnostic laboratory tests (Section 3113, p. 800)
39. Medicare hospice concurrent care demonstration project (Section 3140, p. 850)
40. Independent Payment Advisory Board (Section 3403, p. 982)
41. Consumer Advisory Council for Independent Payment Advisory Board (Section 3403, p. 1027)
42. Grant program for technical assistance to providers implementing health quality practices (Section 3501, p. 1043)
43. Grant program to establish interdisciplinary health teams (Section 3502, p. 1048)
44. Grant program to implement medication therapy management (Section 3503, p. 1055)
45. Grant program to support emergency care pilot programs (Section 3504, p. 1061)
46. Grant program to promote universal access to trauma services (Section 3505(b), p. 1081)
47. Grant program to develop and promote shared decision-making aids (Section 3506, p. 1088)
48. Grant program to support implementation of shared decision-making (Section 3506, p. 1091)
49. Grant program to integrate quality improvement in clinical education (Section 3508, p. 1095)
50. Health and Human Services Coordinating Committee on Women's Health (Section 3509(a), p. 1098)
51. Centers for Disease Control Office of Women's Health (Section 3509(b), p. 1102)
52. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Office of Women's Health (Section 3509(e), p. 1105)
53. Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Women's Health (Section 3509(f), p. 1106)
54. Food and Drug Administration Office of Women's Health (Section 3509(g), p. 1109)
55. National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council (Section 4001, p. 1114)
56. Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health (Section 4001(f), p. 1117)
57. Prevention and Public Health Fund (Section 4002, p. 1121)
58. Community Preventive Services Task Force (Section 4003(b), p. 1126)
59. Grant program to support school-based health centers (Section 4101, p. 1135)
60. Grant program to promote research-based dental caries disease management (Section 4102, p. 1147)
61. Grant program for States to prevent chronic disease in Medicaid beneficiaries (Section 4108, p. 1174)
62. Community transformation grants (Section 4201, p. 1182)
63. Grant program to provide public health interventions (Section 4202, p. 1188)
64. Demonstration program of grants to improve child immunization rates (Section 4204(b), p. 1200)
65. Pilot program for risk-factor assessments provided through community health centers (Section 4206, p. 1215)
66. Grant program to increase epidemiology and laboratory capacity (Section 4304, p. 1233)
67. Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (Section 4305, p. 1238)
68. National Health Care Workforce Commission (Section 5101, p. 1256)
69. Grant program to plan health care workforce development activities (Section 5102(c), p. 1275)
70. Grant program to implement health care workforce development activities (Section 5102(d), p. 1279)
71. Pediatric specialty loan repayment program (Section 5203, p. 1295)
72. Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program (Section 5204, p. 1300)
73. Allied Health Loan Forgiveness Program (Section 5205, p. 1305)
74. Grant program to provide mid-career training for health professionals (Section 5206, p. 1307)
75. Grant program to fund nurse-managed health clinics (Section 5208, p. 1310)
76. Grant program to support primary care training programs (Section 5301, p. 1315)
77. Grant program to fund training for direct care workers (Section 5302, p. 1322)
78. Grant program to develop dental training programs (Section 5303, p. 1325)
79. Demonstration program to increase access to dental health care in underserved communities (Section 5304, p. 1331)
80. Grant program to promote geriatric education centers (Section 5305, p. 1334)
81. Grant program to promote health professionals entering geriatrics (Section 5305, p. 1339)
82. Grant program to promote training in mental and behavioral health (Section 5306, p. 1344)
83. Grant program to promote nurse retention programs (Section 5309, p. 1354)
84. Student loan forgiveness for nursing school faculty (Section 5311(b), p. 1360)
85. Grant program to promote positive health behaviors and outcomes (Section 5313, p. 1364)
86. Public Health Sciences Track for medical students (Section 5315, p. 1372)
87. Primary Care Extension Program to educate providers (Section 5405, p. 1404)
88. Grant program for demonstration projects to address health workforce shortage needs (Section 5507, p. 1442)
89. Grant program for demonstration projects to develop training programs for home health aides (Section 5507, p. 1447)
90. Grant program to establish new primary care residency programs (Section 5508(a), p. 1458)
91. Program of payments to teaching health centers that sponsor medical residency training (Section 5508(c), p. 1462)
92. Graduate nurse education demonstration program (Section 5509, p. 1472)
93. Grant program to establish demonstration projects for community-based mental health settings (Section 5604, p. 1486)
94. Commission on Key National Indicators (Section 5605, p. 1489)
95. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 6102, p. 1554)
96. Special focus facility program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 6103(a)(3), p. 1561)
97. Special focus facility program for nursing facilities (Section 6103(b)(3), p. 1568)
98. National independent monitor pilot program for skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities (Section 6112, p. 1589)
99. Demonstration projects for nursing facilities involved in the culture change movement (Section 6114, p. 1597)
100. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (Section 6301, p. 1619)
101. Standing methodology committee for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (Section 6301, p. 1629)
102. Board of Governors for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (Section 6301, p. 1638)
103. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund (Section 6301(e), p. 1656)
104. Elder Justice Coordinating Council (Section 6703, p. 1773)
105. Advisory Board on Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation (Section 6703, p. 1776)
106. Grant program to create elder abuse forensic centers (Section 6703, p. 1783)
107. Grant program to promote continuing education for long-term care staffers (Section 6703, p. 1787)
108. Grant program to improve management practices and training (Section 6703, p. 1788)
109. Grant program to subsidize costs of electronic health records (Section 6703, p. 1791)
110. Grant program to promote adult protective services (Section 6703, p. 1796)
111. Grant program to conduct elder abuse detection and prevention (Section 6703, p. 1798)
112. Grant program to support long-term care ombudsmen (Section 6703, p. 1800)
113. National Training Institute for long-term care surveyors (Section 6703, p. 1806)
114. Grant program to fund State surveys of long-term care residences (Section 6703, p. 1809)
115. CLASS Independence Fund (Section 8002, p. 1926)
116. CLASS Independence Fund Board of Trustees (Section 8002, p. 1927)
117. CLASS Independence Advisory Council (Section 8002, p. 1931)
118. Personal Care Attendants Workforce Advisory Panel (Section 8002(c), p. 1938)
119. Multi-state health plans offered by Office of Personnel Management (Section 10104(p), p. 2086)
120. Advisory board for multi-state health plans (Section 10104(p), p. 2094)
121. Pregnancy Assistance Fund (Section 10212, p. 2164)
122. Value-based purchasing program for ambulatory surgical centers (Section 10301, p. 2176)
123. Demonstration project for payment adjustments to home health services (Section 10315, p. 2200)
124. Pilot program for care of individuals in environmental emergency declaration areas (Section 10323, p. 2223)
125. Grant program to screen at-risk individuals for environmental health conditions (Section 10323(b), p. 2231)
126. Pilot programs to implement value-based purchasing (Section 10326, p. 2242)
127. Grant program to support community-based collaborative care networks (Section 10333, p. 2265)
128. Centers for Disease Control Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
129. Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
130. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
131. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
132. Food and Drug Administration Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
133. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
134. Grant program to promote small business wellness programs (Section 10408, p. 2285)
135. Cures Acceleration Network (Section 10409, p. 2289)
136. Cures Acceleration Network Review Board (Section 10409, p. 2291)
137. Grant program for Cures Acceleration Network (Section 10409, p. 2297)
138. Grant program to promote centers of excellence for depression (Section 10410, p. 2304)
139. Advisory committee for young women's breast health awareness education campaign (Section 10413, p. 2322)
140. Grant program to provide assistance to provide information to young women with breast cancer (Section 10413, p. 2326)
141. Interagency Access to Health Care in Alaska Task Force (Section 10501, p. 2329)
142. Grant program to train nurse practitioners as primary care providers (Section 10501(e), p. 2332)
143. Grant program for community-based diabetes prevention (Section 10501(g), p. 2337)
144. Grant program for providers who treat a high percentage of medically underserved populations (Section 10501(k), p. 2343)
145. Grant program to recruit students to practice in underserved communities (Section 10501(l), p. 2344)
146. Community Health Center Fund (Section 10503, p. 2355)
147. Demonstration project to provide access to health care for the uninsured at reduced fees (Section 10504, p. 2357)
148. Demonstration program to explore alternatives to tort litigation (Section 10607, p. 2369)
149. Indian Health demonstration program for chronic shortages of health professionals (S. 1790, Section 112, p. 24)*
150. Office of Indian Men's Health (S. 1790, Section 136, p. 71)*
151. Indian Country modular component facilities demonstration program (S. 1790, Section 146, p. 108)*
152. Indian mobile health stations demonstration program (S. 1790, Section 147, p. 111)*
153. Office of Direct Service Tribes (S. 1790, Section 172, p. 151)*
154. Indian Health Service mental health technician training program (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 173)*
155. Indian Health Service program for treatment of child sexual abuse victims (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 192)*
156. Indian Health Service program for treatment of domestic violence and sexual abuse (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 194)*
157. Indian youth elemental health demonstration project (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 204)*
158. Indian youth life skills demonstration project (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 220)*
159. Indian Health Service Director of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment (S. 1790, Section 199B, p. 258)*_

2010-04-02T18:40:00.000-06:00

"There is no such thing as the common good, because what is good for me may be bad for you, and vice versa. Civilized people work to improve their own well-being, and they do so while respecting the rights of others to do the same."

-Robert Ringer-

The Coffee Party Enters the Fray

2010-04-02T18:35:00.001-06:00

Robert Ringer's Voice of Sanity Blog

By Robert Ringer

Last week, I caught the tail end of a television interview with Obama supporter Annabel Park, founder of the Coffee Party USA. What little I heard of the interview sounded like it was the progressives’ answer to the tea-party movement. The party’s mission statement, as posted on its Web site, is as follows:

Read more.

OBAMACARE:

2010-04-02T18:23:00.001-06:00

ALL PAIN, NO GAIN

Arguably the most important issue in the health care reform debate on Capitol Hill relates to the budget: How much will this reform cost? Will it add to the deficit? Or reduce it? Americans were also told "If you like the plan you are in, you can keep it." But that is a promise politicians cannot keep, and poll after poll has shown the public is not buying the official estimates -- nor should they, says John C. Goodman, President, CEO and the Kellye Wright Fellow of the National Center for Policy Analysis. MORE.

2010-04-02T17:39:00.001-06:00

HELPING PEOPLE VERSUS FIXING PEOPLE

Written by Dr. Joel Wade
To
The Point News

Obama talks about helping people, but his goal reflects the progressive goal of the left in general. They are not really interested in helping people, they are interested in fixing people.

That profound difference defines the conflict between the visions of right and left (as Thomas Sowell wrote about in A Conflict of Visions). To help people is to accept them as they are, to understand that we are imperfect, flawed beings, who are capable of extraordinary goodness as well as unfathomable evil.

To help people is to accept that.... Read more...

LEARNING FROM WHAT WORKS

2010-04-02T16:32:00.001-06:00

Switzerland as an Example for the World
The Brussels Journal

From the desk of Richard Rahn

Economists, political scientists, reporters and pundits spend too much of their time looking at dysfunctional societies and trying to explain why there are poverty, joblessness and hopelessness. In many ways, Haiti is easy to explain - no rule of law and 200 years of corrupt and incompetent governments. Switzerland is the polar opposite. It has almost no corruption and has the rule of law with honest, competent judges and government administrators. The question should be, "What can we learn from the Switzerlands of the world about how to do things right" rather than, "What is wrong with the Haitis of the world?" Switzerland manages to run a smaller government as a share of gross domestic product than the United States and most other countries while providing a higher level of service, security, prosperity and freedom. How does it do that?

Read more...

Linking Compassion with Aggression

2010-03-30T20:21:00.001-06:00

Robert Ringer's Voice of Sanity Blog

Millions of people are convinced that the implementation of Congress’s new People-Control Bill (a.k.a. as Obamacare) is, of and by itself, the death of liberty in the United States. There’s no question that this draconian measure is the most anti-freedom, unconstitutional, immoral piece of legislation ever ”passed” by Congress, but it would be a mistake to focus on it to the exclusion of everything else. Read on.

The Coming Dictatorship

2010-03-30T20:19:00.001-06:00

Robert Ringer's Voice of Sanity Blog

I have long believed that the mathematics of an insatiable entitlement society in the U.S. guarantees a runaway inflation, which likely would be followed by anarchy and chaos – a perfect excuse for government to resort to strong-armed totalitarian measures to ”restore order.” My model has always been Germany’s Weimar Republic in the 1920s, where runaway inflation brought Adolf Hitler to power. Read on.

2010-03-29T20:29:00.001-06:00

Health premiums could rise 17 pct for young adults

CHICAGO (AP) - Under the health care overhaul, young adults who buy their own insurance will carry a heavier burden of the medical costs of older Americans—a shift expected to raise insurance premiums for young people when the plan takes full effect.