Monthly Archives: July 2013

Ron Paul: Let Market Forces Solve Organ Transplant Crisis

"Ten-year old cystic fibrosis patient Sarah Murnaghan captured the nation's attention when federal bureaucrats imposed a de facto death sentence on her by refusing to modify the rules governing organ transplants. Even though Sarah's own physician said she was an excellent candidate to receive an adult organ transplant, government officials refused to even consider modifying their rules. Fortunately, a federal judge intervened so Sarah received the lung transplant. But the welcome decision in this case does not change the need to end government control of organ donations and repeal the federal ban on compensating organ donors." Continue reading →

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The Truth About SwedenCare

"As a Swede currently living in the United States, with actual experience of Swedencare, I must reply to the delusions propagated by professor Robert H. Frank in his June 15 article titled 'What Sweden Can Teach Us About Obamacare.' It is surprising to read something so out of line with basic economic theory from an economics professor. But theory aside, it would have sufficed for professor Frank to have taken a field trip down to the nearest public emergency room to have his illusions irreparably shattered. The reality is that Swedish healthcare is the perfect illustration of the tragedy of central planning. It is expensive and — even worse — it kills innocent people." Continue reading →

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Restaurant Shift: Sorry, Just Part-Time

"Rod Carstensen, owner of 11 Del Taco restaurants around Denver, began in April converting his mostly full-time workforce into one comprising mostly part-time help to minimize his health-care costs. He estimates the costs could have climbed by as much as $400,000 a year without the change. Mr. Carstensen had 180 full-time and 40 part-time workers and is in the process of switching to 80 full-time and 320 part-time workers who clock no more than 28 hours per week. He is plowing ahead despite the Obama administration's reprieve, he said, because 'we need to get there anyway, and it will take until January 1, 2015, to make this transition.'" Continue reading →

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The Overworked and the Idle

"Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) unions who recently went on strike, paralyzing public transit for 6.5 million inhabitants of the San Francisco Bay Area, were apparently caught off guard by the public animosity to their demands for 23% raises on top of their 50%-above-market base salaries and unavailable-at-any-private-job benefits. Memo to BART union members: the overworked earn on average slightly over half ($47,000) of what you earn for 'driving' an automated train and staffing station offices ($80,000), and those who earn more than you in the private sector often work 50% more than your 37 hours a week in highly stressful jobs." Continue reading →

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Paul Craig Roberts: Coup d’etat

"During my professional life it was Soviet Russia that persecuted truth tellers, while America gave them asylum and tried to protect them. Today it is Washington that persecutes those who speak the truth, and it is Russia that protects them. It is not the US that is damaged by Snowden’s revelations. It is the criminal elements in the US government that have pulled off a coup against democracy, the Constitution, and the American people who are damaged. It is the criminals who have seized power, not the American people, who are demanding Snowden’s scalp. The Obama Regime, like the Bush/Cheney Regime, has no legitimacy." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: You Say You Want a Revolution

"Muskets were seized. Revolutionary groups were formed. The proletariat was hot now... and it saw no limit to its power or its prospects. Surely, it could pass laws too... and make itself rich. Even many of Louis' soldiers were talking about it... and taking the proles' side. Then, on July 14, a mob of about 1,000 people attacked the Bastille. Nearby troops did nothing to aid the small garrison of the fortress. The mob routed the defenders and murdered the Bastille's governor, Bernard-René de Launay. De Launay's head was sawed off and put upon a pike that was paraded around Paris. Louis XVI was executed, by guillotine, on January 21, 1793." Continue reading →

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‘Synthetic pot’ cases hard to prosecute, but family businesses lose everything anyway

"In March, police raided Dennis and Christie England's shop on the fringes of historic downtown Norman and effectively shut the business down, accusing the pair of selling dangerous synthetic marijuana to the public. Police seemed confident even though XLR-11 — the chemical compound present in the hundreds of grams of synthetic marijuana seized at the Englands' shop in March — wasn't even on Oklahoma's ban substance list. Yet after a June 24 preliminary hearing before a judge in Cleveland County District Court, the case against the couple — who has since lost everything — was dismissed." Continue reading →

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Georgia prepares to execute mentally disabled prisoner under secrecy law

"The second legal challenge, put before Georgia state courts last Friday, concerns the new Lethal Injection Secrecy Law passed recently by the Georgia assembly that allows the department of corrections to obtain supplies of the sedative pentobarbital in secret. The legislation bypasses normal freedom of information rules by declaring the identity of drug suppliers a 'state secret' in an attempt to circumvent a growing boycott of medical drugs used in executions. The Georgia department of corrections is understood to be seeking pentobarbital to kill Hill through a compounding pharmacy, though it is using the new secrecy law to keep details of the supplier obscured." Continue reading →

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Republican governor pushes to restore vote to nonviolent felons in Virginia

"While Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) touted his plan to restore voting rights to the state’s nonviolent felons, advocacy groups were split in their assessment as to how much impact it could have. The Washington Post reported on Monday that the plan could impact about 100,000 former prisoners. Since 2010, McDonnell’s administration has approved 5,235 to return to the voting pool. But without electronic records before 1995, state officials also have a hard time locating former felons who are potentially eligible to renew their voting rights, and are turning to felons’ rights groups for assistance." Continue reading →

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All True Journalism is Adversarial

"Last spring, the Monitor learned that the McAllen city government was negotiating with the GEO Group, a Florida-based private prison corporation, about building a 1,000-bed jail that would accept federal inmates. The paper didn’t report on the discussions until July 2, in a story that contained the following admission: 'At the city’s request, The Monitor didn’t report the news to avoid tipping off potential competitors and skunking the deal.' Were The Monitor an actual newspaper, rather than a propaganda organ, its editorial board would understand that its job is to disclose things the city government seeks to conceal, especially when taxpayer money is involved." Continue reading →

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