Inside Sylvia de Vries lurked an enormous tumour and fluid totalling 18 kilograms [~40 lbs.]. But not even that massive weight gain and a diagnosis of ovarian cancer could assure her timely treatment in Canada. Fighting for her life, the Windsor woman headed to the United States. In
Pontiac, Mich., a surgeon excised the tumour - 35 centimetres at its longest - along with her ovaries, appendix, fallopian tubes, uterus and cervix. In addition, 13 litres of fluid were drained during that October, 2006, operation.
And there was little time to spare: Had she waited two weeks, she would have faced potential multiorgan failure, rendering her unstable for surgery, according to a letter from Michael L. Hicks, who performed the four-hour operation at St. Joseph Mercy Oakland.
[snip]
But a devastating cancer diagnosis was only the beginning of Ms. deVries's troubles.
The Ontario Health Insurance Plan says it won't pay for the $60,000 cancer treatment because Ms. de Vries did not fill out the correct form seeking preapproval for out-of-country care...
READ MORE
Friday, March 14, 2008
Even huge tumour can't secure care in Ontario
MASSACHUSETTS STRUGGLES
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has been boasting that his state's health reform initiative has reduced the number of uninsured by half, with nearly 300,000 more people added to the health insurance rolls. What he doesn't say is that four out of five of them are relying on taxpayer subsidies:
-- Only 63,000 -- or about one in five -- have purchased private insurance, and the majority of them pay no premiums - the rest pay tokens.Meanwhile, the costs:
- Massachusetts now estimates that its spending on the new program for the uninsured may exceed its budget by nearly $150 million.
- Individuals who don't get insurance this year -- or don't get an exemption -- will face a fine of $912, four times last year's penalty and scheduled to increase each year.
- The state "negotiated" with the health insurers participating in the Commonwealth Connector to keep premium increases to about 5 percent this year. [i.e., price controls]
READ MORE
WHO WILL PAY THE BILL?
In 2009, when the next president takes office, the government is expected to spend $400 billion more than it takes in, adding to a national debt that tops $9 trillion. Yet Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both offer a long list of new spending proposals - $287 billion for Obama and $218 billion for Clinton. But what is more unclear is how they would pay for them.
To make matters worse, any tax increases and military reductions might be needed just to cover the government's existing shortfalls caused principally by rising health care costs and the pending baby boomer retirement...
[not to worry, they'll just repeal the Bush tax cuts and that will pay for everything. When are we going to learn: it's the spending.]
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Senate Signals Repeal of Bush Tax Cuts
[aren't I prophetic...]
The Senate on Thursday gave a sweeping endorsement to some of President Bush's tax cuts but rejected renewing others as all three major presidential candidates interrupted their campaigns to cast key votes on the budget. The chamber voted 52-47 to reject a move by Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., to extend Bush's tax cuts for middle- and higher-income taxpayers, investors and people inheriting businesses and big estates.
Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting, voted for the full roster of Bush tax cuts. Rivals Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., both voted against them.
READ MORE
Green movement also behind gas hike
[HT:HS]
USA Today recently reported that 40 percent of economists say the biggest threat of a recession is from rising oil prices. I don't believe it. There is no way 40 percent of economists could agree on anything. But I do believe 40 percent of $3.50 gas is caused by eco-stupidity.
But what if we had our own Iraq-sized supply that we haven't even touched yet?
We do. According to the U.S. Geological Survey we have at least 112 billion barrels of undrilled oil - by comparison, Iraq has 115 billion barrels and Venezuela 80 billion. According to the and American Petroleum Institute that's;
"enough to produce gasoline for 60 million cars and fuel oil for 25 million homes for 60 years."READ MORE
Film's casting call wants that 'inbred' look
A movie about to be filmed in Pittsburgh is casting Gothic characters -- including an albino-like girl and deformed people -- to depict West Virginia mountain people. "'Regular-looking" children need not apply. That's the gist of an open casting call for paid extras for "Shelter," a horror film starring Julianne Moore that will begin shooting in Pittsburgh in March. (Snip) Belajac said the announcement was not meant to stereotype people from West Virginia. But state officials and a history professor called it "unfortunate"...
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/mostread/s_554266.html
Thursday, March 13, 2008
KISSING OFF CANADA
What country has the world's largest oil reserves? Saudi Arabia? Iran? Nigeria? Venezuela? Wrong on all counts. The answer is Canada. And our neighbor to the north is worried we don't want it, says Investor's Business Daily (IBD).
* Canada has an estimated 1.6 trillion barrels of oil on its territory, much of it locked in tough-to-excavate tar sands in the province of Alberta.
* By comparison, oil-rich Saudi Arabia has an estimated 270 billion barrels left.
Yet, according to the Financial Times of London, Canada's government recently sent U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates a letter of warning that it might not be able to sell the United States any of its oil, which the Pentagon desperately needs for national defense. For that,
you can thank the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, passed by our 'new' Congress:
* Under Section 526 of that law, tar sands are considered to be an alternative fuel.
* But the law requires oil sold to the U.S. government and produced from alternative sources to emit fewer greenhouse gases than oil produced from conventional crude sources.
"Classifying the oil sands as a nonconventional fuel," said Tristan Landry, a spokesman for Canada's Embassy in Washington, "would unnecessarily complicate the integrated Canada-U.S. energy relationship."[Translation: they pooched it. Brilliant]
READ MORE
Forget oil, the new global crisis is food
A new crisis is emerging, a global food catastrophe that will reach further and be more crippling than anything the world has ever seen. The credit crunch and the reverberations of soaring oil prices around the world will pale in comparison to what is about to transpire, Donald Coxe, global portfolio strategist at BMO Financial Group said at the Empire Club's 14th annual investment outlook in Toronto on Thursday.
"The greatest challenge to the world is not US$100 oil; it's getting enough food so that the new middle class can eat the way our middle class does, and that means we've got to expand food output dramatically,"At the centre of the imminent food catastrophe is corn - the main staple of the ethanol industry. The price of corn has risen about 44% over the past 15 months, closing at US$4.66 a bushel on the CBOT yesterday. This not only impacts the price of food products made using grains, but also the price of meat, with feed prices for livestock also increasing.
"You're going to have real problems in countries that are food short, because we're already getting embargoes on food exports from countries, who were trying desperately to sell their stuff before, but now they're embargoing exports," he said, citing Russia and India as examples.
Mr. Coxe warned U.S. corn exports were in danger of seizing up in about three years if the country continues to subsidize ethanol production. Biofuels are expected to eat up about a third of America's grain harvest in 2007.
[bad science leading to bad policy leads to bad consequences - who'd of thunk]
READ MORE
SOME GOOD NEWS
By most measures, now seems to be a very good time to be alive, says Pete Geddes, executive Vice President of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment. [that's some title] Consider:
- The world's per capita inflation-adjusted income rose from $5,400 in 1980 to $8,500 in 2005.
- The World Bank reports that between 1980 and 2000, the share of the world's population living on less than $1 a day fell from 34.8 percent to 19 percent.
- It forecasts that the number of people living on less than $1 a day will continue to fall sharply despite population growth, and account for only 10 percent of the world's population by 2015.
- Environmental improvement in the United States has been substantial and dramatic almost across the board
- The chief drivers of this improvement are economic growth, constantly increasing resource efficiency and innovation in technology.
READ MORE
NO AMNESTY IN ARIZONA
Arizona is seeing signs of a flight by illegal immigrants out of the state and back across the border. Local reformers credit the state's recent crackdown on employers - Consider:
- The new state law punishes employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants by suspending their business license for 10 days on the first violation and revoking it for a second offense.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection has given arrest authority to many deputies; so in the course of a traffic stop, illegal aliens without driver's licenses for the first time now stand a real chance of being deported.
- The consulate is reporting an "unusual" 400 percent increase in parents applying for Mexican birth certificates for their anchor babies and other documents they need to return to Mexico.
- Overall, some 30,000 illegal immigrants plan to leave Arizona as the state's tough new immigration laws kick in, according to a survey conducted earlier this month by Chicanos Por La Causa.
[as has repeatedly been shown to be the case - the same better-deal thinking that brought them here will lead to their 'immigration' - south]
READ MORE
Teens losing touch with historical references
Big Brother. McCarthyism. The patience of Job. Don't count on your typical teenager to nod knowingly the next time you drop a reference to any of these. A study out today finds that about half of 17-year-olds can't identify the books or historical events associated with them. (Snip) Among 1,200 students surveyed: •43% knew the Civil War was fought between 1850 and 1900. •52% could identify the theme of 1984. •51% knew that the controversy surrounding Sen. Joseph McCarthy focused on communism.
[that's half the problem - then there's what they are taught. We need universal school vouchers]
READ MORE
College Students Could Benefit From Right History Books
An earlier survey of college seniors at 50 top colleges conducted by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni found that more than half didn't know that George Washington was the commanding general of the Continental Army during the American Revolution who accepted
Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown. Some 36 percent thought it wasUlysses S. Grant, and 6 percent said it was Douglas MacArthur.
And another just-released survey found that a significant proportion of U.S. teenagers live in "stunning ignorance" of history and literature. That survey was conducted by a new research organization called Common Core. Students were asked 60 questions to test their knowledge of U.S. history and government. In general, the better a college ranked on the widely publicized U.S. News & World Report list, the lower it ranked on civic learning...
READ MORE
Journalists Issue Guidelines That Downplay Islam in Terrorism
The Society of Professional Journalists has issued “diversity guidelines,” which are now posted online. No longer confined to the quaint idea of impartially reporting the news, the media are advised to change opinions, engage in public relations and "demystify" Islam and even ask "targeted communities" to "review" coverage and "make suggestions."
— Cover the victims of harassment, murder and other hate crimes as thoroughly as you cover the victims of overt terrorist attacks.
— When writing about terrorism, remember to include white supremacist, radical anti-abortionists and other groups with a history of such activity.
— Avoid using word combinations such as "Islamic terrorist" or "Muslim extremist". Alternate choices, depending on context, include "Al Qaeda terrorists" or "political Islamists." [?]
— Avoid using terms such as "jihad". The basic meaning of "jihad" is to exert oneself for the good of Islam and to better oneself.
— Ask men and women from within targeted [?] communities to review your coverage and make suggestions.
Asking "targeted communities" to "make suggestions" about terrorism coverage is extremely worrisome and will affect media impartiality and independence. Don't journalism schools teach independent evaluation of stories? Some of what the SPJ advocates is sensible. All Muslims are not terrorists. However, it ridiculous to claim that it is unimportant that a man recited passages from the Koran before breaking into an airplane cockpit.
This pattern of downplaying inconvenient story lines is one reason why almost 70% of Americans believe the traditional media are out of touch. The media are too busy trying to help America “understand” The New Truth to realize their audience no longer thinks they are reliable.
READ MORE
California's sweeping budget cuts draw fire
California
[as anticipated, the 'firehouse ploy' in action...]
Mr Schwarzenegger has caused a public outcry with a series of measures aimed at curbing spending. The radical [?] proposals include cutting the state's education budget, closing some of its most popular parks and releasing some prison inmates early.
Some reports have suggested that the highly emotive cuts proposed by the governor are part of a calculated plan to ready the ground for tax increases.
However, an increase in taxes would only make matters worse. "The governor has wisely avoided piling new taxes on Californians at a time when a record number of people are losing their homes," says Teresa Casazza, acting president of the California Taxpayers' Association.
READ MORE
Intruder slain by resident, police say
A man was shot and killed by a homeowner Thursday night after police said he and two others broke into a South Side home. The home invasion occurred in the 5800 block of Sanderling Drive in Littletown around 9 p.m when the three men forced their way into a residence where a 29-year-old man and his daughter, 2, were inside (Snip) The homeowner was shot once in the arm by one of the intruders, and he returned fire, killing one...
[and had he not been armed?]
READ MORE
John Stossel, Award-Winning News Correspondent and Co-Anchor of ABC News '20/20', On Calls for Gun Control:
"The usual suspects keep calling for more gun control laws. But this idea that gun control is crime control is just a myth. The National Academy of Sciences reviewed dozens of studies and could not find a single gun regulation that clearly led to reduced violent crime or murder. When Washington, D.C., passed its tough handgun ban years ago, gun violence rose.Source
"The press ignores the fact that often guns save lives."
Why Is President Bush Attempting to Fund The Dangerous Law of the Sea Treaty?
In his fiscal year 2009 budget proposal, President Bush solicits some $5 million of American taxpayers' hard-earned dollars on behalf of the infamous United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, more commonly known as the "Law of the Sea Treaty," or "LOST." Indeed, few words could better characterize this pernicious accord better than "lost
For those unfamiliar, LOST is the proposed international agreement, rejected by President Reagan, that seeks to create an international legal tribunal governing the oceans and their resources. Just what America needs - another unaccountable multinational court to undermine its interests and further erode its sovereignty. Like the United Nations itself, such a tribunal would constitute a forum in which anti-American tyrants and kleptocrats could sue the United States and place the world's unclaimed oceanic resources under its authority. This body would take unto itself the authority to 'allocate' nations' ability to navigate the seas.
The Bush Administration's effort to endow this atrocious treaty with American dollars is perplexing and alarming. Because the United States is not a member of this agreement, it is under no obligation whatsoever to fund it or submit to its destructive terms. By choosing to finance it, however, President Bush sends a signal that America should somehow accept its obligations and ratify it formally.
In response, the Senate should rightfully resist the Bush Administration's not-so-clever attempt to circumvent its Constitutional advice and consent responsibilities, and refuse to provide the requested funds.
[worst of all: it would finally give the UN the (major) power to tax nations, thereby removing that pesky business of being beholden to its members for funding. This thing is an overt assault on the sovereignty of the US and its navy - it needs be defeated...]
READ MORE
President Bush: 202-456-1111 , Comments@whitehouse.gov + president@whitehouse.govBarbara Boxer = 415-403-0100 (SF),202-224-3553 9DC) + http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfmDianne Feinstein = 415-393-0707(SF) + 202-224-3841(DC) + http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMeAny other Senator's contact information = http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Reuters Lines Up Iraqis Who Hate Bush, Pine for President Hillary
The Reuters wire service has scoured the countryside of Iraq for opinions about who should be elected to the U.S. presidency. Apparently, either Iraq or the Reuters template offered only two options: (a) "change" from the hasty and stubborn Bush team, or (b) and apathy over how America will never change from its ruinous policy. But isn't there anyone in Iraq who is grateful for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, or grateful for the American commitment to stay and help build a civil society? Reuters interviewers couldn't seem to find a one. Reporter Aseel Kami began by underlining the need for change:
Iraqis are avidly watching the 2008 U.S. election race, searching for signs of policy change under a new president and prospects for U.S. troop withdrawals from their country.The story reads like a lineup of Iraqis voting rhetorically for Democrats...
"I do not care if the president is a man or a woman, what really matters is the change of American policy towards Iraq," said Muhenad Sahib, a university professor from the southern oil hub of Basra, Iraq's second largest city.
[This is despicable. I've been 'harvesting' half a dozen Iraq stories a day (to forward one or two) for years now, and I can tell you from those living there that the overwhelming majority of Iraqis are worried about just the opposite: our leaving too early, and essentially throwing them to the wolves. Leaving the American people with the impression that the majority of Iraqis want us out runs the real risk of becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy - and risks potentially millions of Iraqi lives. Then what? Reuters apologizes {if that}? Dangerous irresponsibility and truly despicable.]
READ MORE
Iraqi cannot understand why we discuss leaving Iraq
NOT LONG AGO, I finally succeeded in arranging for my Iraqi cultural adviser to move to the safety of the United States. My adviser -- whom I'll call by his tribal name, al-Dulaimi -- helped me navigate the thickets of local culture and politics when I served in Iraq during the first year of the war.
As we drove from the airport down an Oklahoma highway in the darkness, Dulaimi told me that he'd watched the Democratic presidential debates while waiting for his flight out west.
"They all talked about leaving Iraq," he said of the candidates. "They're just saying that to get votes, aren't they? They would never do that, would they?"His plaintive question gave me pause. Of course, Dulaimi wouldn't understand American politics, or the way some Americans would view this war. After all, he had known American soldiers who were selfless and dedicated. Who cherished Army values. Who had committed their lives to each other and this cause.
So it would seem impossible to Dulaimi that the United States might give up. The Americans he knew, the ones he had risked his life (and the lives of his family members) to support, would never "cut and run."
[snip]
When I turned to answer Dulaimi's question about the heart of America, I didn't duck the obvious. Yes, we could pull out of Iraq. As bizarre as it sounds to anyone who has given a piece of themselves to this effort, retreat is possible. However, it is unnecessary...
READ MORE
Face of Defense: Soldier Makes Positive Impact in Iraqi Community
[snip]
“Every time we come back, I love each and every one of those kids,” Dietzman, the Rough Riders first sergeant, said. “I have a blast with them.”[snip]
Escuza and Dietzman are planning more trips to the school to deliver supplies and see what else is needed. They rely mostly on supplies sent from the United States, they said.
READ MORE
Al-Qaeda Commander in Northern Iraq: We Are in Dire Straits
On February 12, 2008, the Qatari daily Al-'Arab published an interview with Al-Qaeda commander in northern Iraq Abu-Turab Al-Jaza'iri. The interview, at an Al-Qaeda hideout in northern Iraq, was conducted according to Al-Qaeda's stipulations - including no disclosure of the region where it took place and no communications or recording equipment of any kind brought to the site. The following are excerpts from the interview: [1]
We Have Been Forced to Withdraw from Several Cities
"It is true that we have lost several cities and have been forced to withdraw from others, after a large number of [Sunni] tribal leaders betrayed Islam and when their tribe members joined forces against us. However, we are still fighting, and the 'paralysis' mentioned by the Crusaders is true only for some of the regions. [Besides,] it is common knowledge that any war always involves advance and retreat, so that [even] in those regions I wouldn't call our position 'paralysis,' but rather 'the [changing] conditions of the war.'"
Al-Jaza'iri added: "…I do not want to paint a false picture: Our position is very difficult, but we are fighting, and will continue to do so…"
READ MORE
Can Germany muster the courage to commit to fighting in southern Afghanistan?
Munich - When someone asks Hans-Ulrich Klose if he is the only member among the Bundestag's 614 parliamentarians willing to openly call for a move by German troops into the fighting and dying of Afghanistan's south, he provides this gracious sidestep: ''We are six who believe things must change.'' But the others remain in the closet, right? Right, Klose answers. (Snip) the idea persists that Germany can go on providing materiel and a kind of uniformed alternative service at a noncombatant's distance from the battlefield.
[translation: 'no']
READ MORE
How to commit national suicide
And I thought Berkeley was bad. The UK goes one step beyond.
The Queen was deeply concerned to learn that RAF servicemen and women had been banned from wearing their uniforms in Cambridgeshire after months of verbal abuse in the streets, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
As head of the Armed Forces, the Queen backed the Prime Minister's decision yesterday to speak out against RAF Wittering for ordering its personnel to keep a low profile in Peterborough.
Gordon Brown insisted that members of the Armed Forces should wear their uniforms with pride in public.
Buckingham Palace would not comment publicly, but one source said: "Naturally the Queen was concerned to hear about the uniforms.
"Her two sons were in the Forces and so are two of her grandsons. It is very sad."
READ MORE
Canada expected to back out of UN racism conference
UNITED NATIONS -- Canada is poised to become the first country to significantly distance itself from a major anti-racism conference the United Nations is planning. Insiders say the government feels the new conference is shaping up to be like the anti-West and anti-Israel free-for-all that critics said the initial gathering quickly turned into.
"At the moment, much of the planning for the conference suggests it will focus little on denouncing racism wherever it occurs, and a lot on advancing some countries' agendas against Israel and the West," said one insider familiar with the new policy. "The government feels that taking a stand against the gathering will do more in the long run for combating racism than joining in."
Arab- and Muslim-led verbal attacks on Israel at the 2001 conference were so dominant the United States and Israel walked out in protest. Canada, then under a Liberal administration, stayed, but its senior delegate told the assembly it did so "only ... to ... decry the attempts ... to de-legitimize the State of Israel and to dishonor the history and suffering of the Jewish people."
The UN gave planning oversight to its Human Rights Council, which since its launch less than two years ago has targeted Israel in 14 of its 15 resolutions charging human rights violations. States sitting on the Council then placed Iran, which has called for Israel's destruction, on an executive planning committee. Libya is the chair.
"Make no mistake, Durban II is on track to be even worse than Durban I," said Anne Bayefsky, a Canadian academic who edits the New York-based monitoring Web site EyeontheUN.org. "Canada, if it drops out, would be exhibiting moral clarity and courage after making the mistake at Durban I of staying despite serious reservations."
Canada was among 41 countries that last month opposed allocating US$6.8-million in UN funding to help pay for preparatory meetings for Durban II. The measure carried in the 192-member General Assembly.
"No one can stop Durban II because countries that are classified as less than democratic hold a majority in the General Assembly, and they are for it,"
["because countries that are classified as less than democratic hold a majority in the "general assembly" - where they exercise what they don't grant others, to our perpetual detriment. The organization has morphed into a gaming mechanism for despots - which we finance - it needs to go (or we from it)]
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Female Muslim medics 'disobey hygiene rules'
Muslim medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules brought in to stop the spread of deadly superbugs, because they say it is against their religion. Women training in several hospitals in England have raised objections to removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up their sleeves when washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in Islam.
[if we let government run our healthcare, it will become subject to any & all the political correctness that infests every other facet of government]
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Islam's Animal Gulag
...there are ten things that are essentially unclean for Shi'ite
Muslims. These are urine, feces, semen, dead bodies, blood, pigs,
alcoholic liquors, the sweat of an animal that habitually eats unclean
things, unbelievers, and - dogs.
Thus a man who walks his dog in a public place, where people might come
in contact with it, is liable to render them unclean. That's why the
Iranian authorities have come down so hard on this man: he is
compromising the ritual purity of the populace...
[WHAT?!! -more seriously, how long will it be before dog owners face
restrictions in the name of tolerance of Islam? Silly? Read preceding piece...]
READ MORE
THE WAGES OF HILLARYCARE
Hillary Clinton's "individual mandate" for health care, is being exposed for its inevitable government coercion. Under HillaryCare II, everyone would be required to buy health insurance, along with more insurance regulation, a government insurance option for everyone and tax hikes. HillaryCare II isn't about "choice,
"but would require financial penalties for people to comply, including garnishing wages. To put it more accurately, the individual mandate is really a government mandate that requires brute force plus huge subsidies to get anywhere near its goal of universal coverage."
Consider: Mitt Romney's mandate program in Massachusetts is already expected to reach $1.35 billion in annual costs by 2011, up from $158 million today. And that's with only half of the previously uninsured currently enrolled.
Most experts calculate that a national mandate with subsidies like Clinton's would enroll about half to two-thirds of the uninsured - but such guesswork is pointless without the basic enforcement assumptions, which Clinton refuses to provide.
The political lesson that Clinton learned in 1994 wasn't about compromise or market forces. It was that a government health-care takeover can only be achieved gradually and by stealth. Her individual mandate is an attempt to force everyone to buy into a highly regulated and price-controlled system where government redistributes income and dictates coverage.
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Economists See US Avoiding Recession
The U.S. economy will suffer as the slumping housing market eats away at job creation and consumer spending, but the nation should avoid slipping into a recession this year, according to a new economic report. A recession could still happen though, if the credit crisis that has stifled the housing market deepens, preventing consumers from buying big-ticket items (Snip) The forecast anticipates job growth remaining sluggish in 2008, with the U.S. unemployment rate rising to
5.5 percent by the end of the year
[who knows - point: no one really]
READ MORE
Depression Coverage
Economists "don't even agree that we're in a recession yet," Gainor said. "But then if you watch the network news shows, we're already up to eight times this year - that's once a week where they've made a comparison to the Great Depression."
Gainor was referring to new research from the Business & Media Institute showing the media's tendency to compare current economic conditions to the Great Depression. Network news shows have made the comparison eight times in 2008, and made the comparison 18 times in 2007.
"[P]art of the problem is [they don't] put it in context," Gainor said of the media's coverage of potentially negative economic news. "And when you don't put it in context you forget - yes, housing is down, nobody is saying that it's not gloomy right now, but then put it context and say we had several record years before this."
The incessant focus on "recession" and now "depression" poses the threat of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy - and that's according to journalists, Gainor explained. "I got an e-mail today from the Poynter Institute, one of the foremost journalistic authorities in the country," he said. "They're warning also about how the media may be over-hyping recession so much that they're making this basically a fait accompli."
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Moses was high on drugs: Israeli researcher
Jerusalem - High on Mount Sinai, Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten Commandments, an Israeli researcher claimed in a study published this week. Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times, Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy.
[now a cynical person might quip that that explained a lot]
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gEOpkeLopJixolK1-9AQ_zNeWe5g
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Environmental Terrorism and the Price of Oil
Here we have the humiliating spectacle of a president of the United States begging an Arab potentate to increase our supply of oil while Democrats, who bear the major responsibility for the problem, scoff at him as a mendicant groveling at the feet of a foreign monarch. (Snip) Make no mistake about it, you are paying exorbitant prices at the gas pump solely because the environmental terrorists and their Democrat allies in Congress have all but shut down our domestic oil production...
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Bill Delays Oil Exploration for Polar Bear Listing
Environmentalists welcomed a bill introduced by a House Democrat last week that would delay the sale of land in Alaska for oil exploration. Environmentalists believe the Interior Department wants to avoid classifying the polar bear as an endangered species until the land -- which is polar bear habitat -- is sold.
[snip][despite...>]
"Sale 193 was originally scheduled for June 2007, but we delayed the sale until February 2008 to provide sufficient time to complete the environmental analyses," he said in his testimony for the select committee on Thursday.
[snip]
According to Randall Luthi, director of the Minerals Management Service, "the Chukchi Sea Planning Area could hold 15 billion barrels of oil and 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas ... thus providing potentially significant future production of oil and gas from Northern Alaska."
[snip]
"Rep. Markey and too many other members of Congress are willing to use any tools available to stop oil production in this country," he said. "Then they complain about high gasoline prices and importing oil from countries they don't like."
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Oil drilling will not harm polar bears
US officials defended plans for oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea off northwestern Alaska, telling lawmakers that it would not harm polar bears, already threatened by global warming [?]. Randall Luthi, director of the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, which sells oil drilling rights, told Congress Thursday that the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act provides adequate safeguards to polar bears from oil exploration accidents such as oil spills.
[?] = fact? : "Fact: Polar Bears are not going extinct because of the supposedly melting ice, according to a biologist Dr. Mitchell Taylor from the arctic government of Nunavut. “Of the 13 populations of polar bears in Canada, 11 are stable or increasing in number. They are not going extinct, or even appear to be affected at present,” Taylor wrote on May 1, 2006. See here: Source
[nonetheless]: Representative Edward Markey demanded polar bears be declared a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act due to global warming prior to the sale of oil drilling rights in the Chukchi Sea.
[and so our ever-increasing oil dollars continue to flow to our middle-eastern 'friends', while driving up the costs of virtually everything in our economy...]
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HISTORY AND BEAR BIOLOGY SHOW WARMER TEMPERATURES AREN'T A THREAT
In early March, the polar bear could become the first species officially recognized by the U.S. government as threatened by global warming. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has proposed to list the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) -- even though U.S. polar bear populations aren't declining.
Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis, comprehensive research demonstrates that since the 1970s -- while much of the world was warming -- polar bear numbers increased dramatically to approximately 25,000 today -higher than at any time in the 20th century.
Research conducted by the World Wildlife Fund shows that of the 20 distinct polar bear populations worldwide only two — accounting for about 16.4 percent of the total number of bears — are decreasing.
- Those populations are in areas where air temperatures have actually fallen, such as the Baffin Bay region.
- By contrast, another two populations — about 13.6 percent of the total — are growing, and they live in areas were air temperatures have risen.
[I.e., they're not endangered now - but computer models say they will be 50 years in the future due to global warming. It never ends.]
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Sweden, Norway drop out of UN's Darfur mission
Sweden and Norway have dropped plans to send about 400 troops to the UN peacekeeping force in Darfur because of opposition from Sudan's government, a Swedish Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday. The two Scandinavian countries had planned to send a joint engineering unit to the peacekeeping force in the troubled region, but the Swedish and Norwegian foreign ministers said in a joint statement that ''Sudan's opposition makes it impossible to maintain the offer of a Norwegian-Swedish contribution."
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Liberty Versus Socialism
A fortnight ago, I wrote about Mississippi Legislature House Bill 282 that would have imposed fines or revoked licenses of food establishments that served obese people. Fortunately, the measure died in committee. State Rep. Ted Mayhall, one of the bill's sponsors, justified it by saying that he wanted to bring attention to the fact that "Obesity makes people more susceptible to diabetes, which puts a further strain on the state's financially-challenged Medicaid program."
Similar justification was used for laws requiring helmets for motorcyclists and bicyclists. The fact that an obese person becomes ill, or a cyclist has an accident, and becomes a burden on taxpayers who must bear the expense of taking care of him, is not a problem of liberty. It's a problem of socialism where one person is forced to take care of another.
Forcing one person to bear the burden of health care costs for another is not only morally wrong but a major threat to personal liberty.
There are many other behaviors that lead to a greater health care burden, but my question is how much control over your life you are willing to give government in the name of reducing these costs? Would you want government to regulate how much salt you use? What about government deciding how much fat and alcohol you consume? There are immense beneficial health effects of a daily 30-minute aerobic exercise. Would you support government-mandated exercise?
When I was 14 or 15 years old, I thought I could take over the house. My mother told me that as long as she was paying the bills, I was going to do what she said. That's great for a parent/child relationship, but do we want the same relationship between government and its citizens?
[this is the crux of my 'we're making the government our parents' mantra, and it's why socialism is to be avoided: you cannot empower government with 'giving' you things without also empowering it to dictate your conduct in direct proportion - and therein lies the clear and present danger: we're well along our way. Recommended > ]
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Curing the Health Care Crisis
Money magazine has dubbed Regina Herzlinger the “Godmother” of consumer-driven health care, and it’s not just because [she] has written books with titles like Consumer-Driven Health Care: Implications for Providers, Payers and Policymakers. The first woman to be “tenured and chaired” at Harvard Business School, Professor Herzlinger is widely known for her innovative research into health care...
It outlines her plan for creating a consumer-driven system that would deliver affordable, high-quality care to everyone by putting insurance money in the hands of patients, removing the third-party middleman in the doctor-patient relationship and giving employers cost relief...
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Largest Tax Increase in American History - Again
[Your money]
Approaching nearly 10 million words and stretching an interminable 67,000 pages, the American tax code exists today as complicated mess of pitfalls, pratfalls, and potholes – even though its central philosophy couldn’t be more straightforward: “If you want more of something, subsidize it. If you want less, tax it.”
... this past week, the majority leadership unveiled a budget plan for 2009 that raises taxes on everything from starting a family, to starting a family business. All to finance a reckless spending agenda that comes in a full $276 - billion - in excess of what the president has requested [which was no cut to begin with].
... slash the child care tax credit in half (from $1,000 per child to $500) ... resurrect the marriage tax penalty ... punish low-income Americans by replacing the 10-percent tax bracket (the lowest percentage one can pay and still pay income taxes) with a new lowest rung of 15 percent [50% increase, nice] ... increase the current 15 percent tax rate on capital gains ... raise the tax burden on dividends ... pave the way for the Death Tax to rise from the grave in 2011 ... ensure that an estimated 116 million taxpayers pay an average $1,833 more to the federal government this year than they did the year before... [there's {much} more...]
More than anything else, a budget request is a statement of national priorities; a clear enumeration of what our country needs to grow its economy and remain in the future the first-rate power it is today. In the case of the Democrats’ 2009 budget request, the statement of need could not have been articulated any clearer: We need more spending, historic new tax hikes, and greater control over the way American families live their lives...
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HEY, BIG SPENDERS
California
Hand it to Democrats, particularly those in California. One of the great bits of political jujitsu in recent years was to portray Republicans, not themselves, as the party of tax-and-spend. Now, with control of both Congress and California's state house, they're showing their true colors, says Investor's Business Daily.
- Democrats have boosted general spending 32 percent in just four years to $103 billion, or 8 percent a year.
- This increase occurred despite going through the worst financial crisis in its history only 4 years ago.
- Revenues, though growing rapidly, haven't kept pace; if spending had grown just half as much -- at a still-healthy 4 percent -- the budget today would be in balance.
This has been a fiscal disaster. Over the next year and a half, California's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst predicts the state will have an unprecedented $16 billion budget shortfall. Pretty nasty, considering just last summer the state predicted a surplus.
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AP Article on States' Budget Woes Ignores Spending Excesses
Old Media coverage of government budget difficulties usually focuses on the here and now, and all the "tough decisions" that have to be made. Seldom is there ever an examination of how a state or local government entity got into its current fix. Sunday's Associated Press report on the budget situations many states governments face was no exception. In it, AP reporter Andrew Welsh-Huggins:
- Recited a litany of current woes.
- Failed to mention that most states have allowed spending to greatly exceed inflation during the past several years.
- Gave unchallenged quotes to advocates of further tax and fee increases.
[big graphs, show lots of spending increases, etc. etc. - point is; shouldn't professional journalists know that such info. is required in any such story? They do - but ignore it anyway. Why?]
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Monday, March 10, 2008
Notable Quotable
Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Opposing Feingold-Reid Legislation Which Cuts War Funding and Calls for Immediate U.S. Troop Withdrawal from Iraq:
"I have thought a lot about this war, and I cannot help but wonder at a moment like this what some of the political heroes of my youth who are Democrats would think if they were here and could see and listen to this debate and read this resolution.Source
"I think of President Kennedy who declared: 'We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.'
"In my opinion, that is exactly what we are doing in Iraq today.
"I ask my colleagues: Do these words have meaning, have significance? Or are these just words?"
Heroes: Marine Looks Back on Long Journey to Corps
He arrived in America in 1998 with one change of clothes, a small bag and no ability to speak the English language.
“I’m proud that I’m a Marine and honored to serve this country,” ... “I came to this country with basically nothing, and after 10 years, I have a family and everything I’ve ever dreamed of before coming to the United States. I’ll never take the freedom America gave me for granted.”
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Conditions to Determine Post-Surge Troop Levels in Iraq, General Says
[There...]
“There is increasing pressure on al Qaeda in Iraq everywhere inside of Iraq,”
If current conditions continue, the projected U.S. troop strength in Iraq should drop from about 156,000 U.S. troops there now to about 140,000 servicemembers by the end of July, Ham said.
However, U.S. military force levels in Iraq, as always, remain contingent upon conditions on the ground, Ham emphasized.
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Nonsense on Intelligence Reform
[here...]
The Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill has circled the wagons in defense of the party’s determination to roll the dice with American national security.
Senators Jay Rockefeller and Patrick Leahy joined Representatives Silvestre Reyes and John Conyers in penning a fatuous op-ed in the Washington Post Monday. The four are chairs of the intelligence and judiciary committees of, respectively, the Senate and House. They claim that the White House is engaged in fear-mongering when it decries the failure of House Democrats to enact a reform measure that would have preserved essential intelligence-collection authority — a bill that passed in the Democrat-controlled Senate by an overwhelming two-to-one margin and would similarly sail through the House - if only Speaker Nancy Pelosi would allow it to come to the floor for a vote...
[I.e., it's not a case of the house being split: it's not. It's a simple case of Ms. Pelosi preventing the matter from even coming to a vote. How very democratic]
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Egypt puts concrete wall on Gaza border
El-Arish, Egypt -- Egypt is building a 10-foot-high concrete wall along its border with Gaza to prevent any new breaches after Palestinian militants blasted through the barrier in January to escape a blockade of their territory, an official said. The new wall replaces a mixed barbed-wire, iron and concrete barrier which was breached in several places when militants blew it open with explosives (Snip) Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flooded across the open border unchecked for 12 days before Egypt managed to reseal it.
[Will Egypt now be accused of 'apartheid' by the world press {and ex-president-peanut farmers} for controlling its border as was Israel? And the Gazans aren't even trying to murder them.]
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Preserving "Liberty's Best Hope
“Liberty’s Best Hope,” a new book by Kim Holmes, vice president for foreign policy at The Heritage Foundation, boldly proclaims the truth: The United States and our republican democracy is the only true hope for the oppressed nations in the world. If we don’t step up to the plate and accept the responsibility that comes with the many blessings we enjoy as a free nation, then our future -- and indeed that of peace-loving people around the world -- is bleak, at best.
[snip]
Those who think the solution is to work out our differences at the United Nations will get a much-needed education from Holmes. Despite the fact that the U.N. charter calls for the expulsion of member nations that fail to uphold basic human rights, the U.N. has become home to the world’s most repressive regimes, which routinely work to subvert the actions of freedom-loving nations. Yet we keep trying to make it work. The result? “Through countless efforts to work with the U.N., Washington has unwittingly fallen into the trap of conferring more legitimacy on the United Nations than it deserves."
[snip]
“The only way around it is for the U.S. president and his cabinet to understand at times they will have to endure some bad feelings and controversies from friends and allies. … Other countries drive hard bargains because they believe in their own values and interests. China and Russia are ready examples. We should do the same without apology. If tone and style matter, then do it with a smile and without bluster - but be no less forthright in the assertion of our interests than other nations are.”
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Canada to buy old German tanks as spare parts for Afghan mission
Ottawa - Canada plans to buy a handful of older, surplus German tanks to cannibalize for spare parts to keep its combat forces on the move in Afghanistan. The undisclosed purchase is apparently part of the $1.3-billion tank modernization [?] program (Snip) Part of the problem is that cuts to Canada's defence industry throughout the 1990s eroded its ability to service armoured vehicles.
[if you'd like to review a problem that truly approaches the definition of 'pandemic', this is it: the degree to which nearly all liberal-western countries having successively cut back on defense budgets to pay for ever expanding social programs has left them with near-dysfunctional militaries - certainly when it come to force projection outside their borders. I.e., they count on America for that now, and when China and Russia start causing trouble, don't expect there to be any 'help' available from our 'allies'.]
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NO HEALTH INSURANCE? FACE FINES
Massachusetts has begun imposing stiff fines on residents who, for whatever reason, fail to purchase health insurance. The program is the enforcement end of the state's universal health-insurance plan -- and the fees reach up to $912 a year, says WorldNetDaily.com.
"The Massachusetts universal coverage plan is overregulated and largely unworkable," said Devon Herrick, senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis. "The least expensive plan would cost a 37-year-old male resident of Massachusetts $196 a month, and a fine for not having insurance could run half of that, or $98 a month. The same 37-year-old living in Dallas could buy coverage for $98 per month."
[government is also for-profit - but without the pesky need to convince customers of its value - it merely imposes itself upon the populace]
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GLOBAL WARMING: IS IT REALLY A CRISIS?
John McCain, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton all promise massive new regulations that will cost trillions of dollars to combat global warming. Ironically, this political unanimity is occurring as scientific evidence points in the other direction, says John R. Lott, Jr., a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland:
• Global temperatures have now largely eliminated most of the one degree Celsius warming that had previously occurred over the last 100 years, according to a consensus of scientists.Yet we just keep on piling on more and more regulations without asking hard questions about whether they are justified, says Lott.
• Temperatures rose from the late 1970s to 1998, but there has been no net global warming since 1998; indeed, the more recent numbers show that there is now evidence of significant cooling.
• Even if temperatures were not decreasing, mankind is responsible for just a fraction of one percent of the effect from greenhouse gases, and greenhouse gases are not responsible for most of what causes warming (e.g., the Sun).
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Hispanic group calls for boycott of Houston Rodeo
A group of Hispanic leaders called today for a boycott of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, saying show officials haven't done enough to include Hispanics in the event.
[snip]
The show is disrespecting the Hispanic community by hiring non-Tejano performers to play at the show's main venue,and not enough of the show's scholarships go to Hispanic students, said Ruben Cubillos, co-founder of the group. He also complained that the show doesn't have enough Hispanics at the executive level.
State Sen. Mario Gallegos, who said he tried to negotiate with show officials, offered to discuss the issues with them again. "We're open to sit down and talk, and talk for real," he said.
[snip]
But several members of the show's Go Tejano Committee who attended the Rodeo Roundup kickoff event said they didn't agree with the boycott.
"They're completely out of line," said George Hernandez, a committee volunteer. "We're not chartered by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to hear Tejano music. If they want their music heard, they should join a music association."READ MORE
AP Highlights Fewer Jobs, Ignores Steep Drop in Unemployed
Here's is the core information the Associated Press's Jeannine Aversa had to work with today in the Employment Situation Report released by the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS):
[snip]
Here's how her report began (scare words in bold; the headline is also from AP):
Employers Slash Jobs by Most in 5 YearsShe totally ignored the fact that the number of unemployed (i.e., the people we should be concerned about) dropped by almost 200,000 in February, and is now 284,000 (3.6%) lower than it was in December. That doesn't exactly square with an economy Aversa says is "heading dangerously toward recession or is in one already."
Employers slashed jobs by 63,000 in February, the most in five years, the starkest sign yet the country is heading dangerously toward recession or is in one already...
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Government Knows Best
Type "New York City Council" and "ban" and "2007" into Google. Here's some of what you find:
• A New York Times story: New York City Council Approves Ban on Metal Bats
• A BBC News story: "Racial slur banned in New York."
• A CNN story on how New York is considering banning "ultrathin" models.
• A New York Sun article on how New York City is contemplating banning feeding pigeons.
• A link to the Humane Society's effort to ban horse drawn carriages.
And that's on the first page alone.
In Britain, in a perfectly typical event quickly forgotten, police tracked down and nearly arrested an 11-year-old boy for calling a 10-year-old boy "gay" in an e-mail. This was considered a "very serious homophobic crime" requiring the full attention of police, traffic cameras are now trained on drivers to arrest them for eating in their cars.
And in both Britain and Canada, the old Hitler Youth slogan, "Nutrition is not a private matter!" has taken on a new life. One expert this week argued that obesity must now be treated like Global Warming, requiring stern government intervention.
On countless fronts, the natural pastures of daily liberty are being paved over by bureaucrats, politicians and other do-gooders. They aren't merely fixing problems as they come up. They are laying-down a path to a world where people like them are in charge of our lives, in large ways and small.
The old story of the frog who doesn't jump out of the pot because the heat is turned up so slowly comes to mind.
[I recently listened Michael Bloomberg address the World Bank on CSPAN. The man's beliefs are literally indistinguishable to the worst despots in history: government-forced behaviors at every level - frightening]
Jonah Goldberg is the author of the New York Times bestseller Liberal Fascism.
Governor proposes insurance fee to fund firefighting
California
Facing an estimated $14 billion state budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed assessing a fee on property owners’ insurance to help cover the cost of fighting fires.
It is just one of many fees and spending cuts the governor is considering to help close the financial gap, while maintaining public services and protecting Californians from such risks as devastating wildfires.
[once again with the firehouse ploy: when facing budget cuts start with the most obviously necessary: police, fire, infrastructure schools et al - as if there's nothing else in the budge we wouldn't be better of cutting completely than diminishing any of these supposedly basic-critical services. I don't know which insults me more, the arrogance of their perpetually doing so - or its seeming to work on the populace every time the do...]
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Friday, March 7, 2008
‘Active First’ Grad Continues Family Tradition
“It’s my time to serve my country,” Loree said by telephone from Fort Leonard Wood, where he was trained as a combat engineer. ... “I feel motivated,” Loree said. “It’s very motivating knowing that I can get up in the morning serving my country.” ... “Growing up as a kid, I looked up to my dad. I always wanted to serve our country. I get to keep the tradition going.”
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Superb Performance Reflects Force Quality, Personnel Chief Says
The United States has purposely “set high standards for the quality of that force and for the motivation of the young people that seek to join the American military,” Chu explained.
“And, I believe we see the payoff to those high standards in the performance of this force in the field, which has been truly remarkable,” Chu said. “It is a tribute, in my judgment, to this young generation of Americans and to some not-so-young Americans” serving worldwide in the U.S. military. "
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MoveOn, Edwards Unite to 'End' Iraq War
Liberal activist groups MoveOn.org, USAction, Americans United for Change, VoteVets, and the Service Employees International Union, along with former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards joined forces Monday to announce a $20-million public 'awareness' and lobbying campaign to promote a perceived link between the war in Iraq and a weakening U.S. economy.
[snip]
"This Iraq and recession campaign will focus on members of Congress and the Senate who stand in our way, and on Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is arguing for an Iraq policy that takes us in a dramatically different direction,"
[he' right on that point: it's called victory]
[snip]
But Brian Riedl, senior budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told Cybercast News Service that if Mr. Edwards is in any way suggesting the war is responsible for the receding economy, he is mistaken.
"The idea that Iraq spending is causing our economic woes has no basis in any economic theory whatsoever," ..."It's not economically plausible that spending 1 percent of GDP in Iraq would cause a recession."
[damn facts]
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Hamas hails 'heroic' attack
Gaza City - The Palestinian Hamas movement hailed a deadly attack on a Jewish religious school in Jerusalem tonight as ''heroic,'' without claiming responsibility for the strike that killed eight people. ''This heroic attack in Jerusalem is a normal response to the crimes of the occupier...'' (Snip) Hundreds of Palestinians poured into the streets of Gaza City as news of the attack at a west Jerusalem yeshiva spread, firing automatic rifles into the air in celebration.
[the 'occupier' left Gaza in 2005]
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Thanks for your help, Germany
Germany has refused to deploy additional troops to Afghanistan to assist beleaguered Canadian and Dutch forces in the south. The flat refusal to help is a big blow to those desperately trying to get NATO countries who do not have troops in active combat zones to commit to the fight:
Make no mistake. This is the diplomatic crisis of the war in Afghanistan. NATO countries are terrified of the political firestorm that would erupt if they put their troops in harms way and they suffered casualties. The European left is looking for any excuse to get troops out of Afghanistan and nations like Germany, France, Belgium, refuse to change their rules of engagement and prohibit their troops to engage the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the Canucks and their 2500 troops along with a small contingent of Dutch soldiers try and hold off the Taliban at the point where inflitration over the Pakistani border is most common - in Kandahar province. This is while German troops sit at the Kabul airport in perfect safety.
If NATO won't fight in Afghanistan where so much is at stake, where will they fight?
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Colombian rebels find haven in Venezuela
El Cruce, Venezuela -- Leftist rebels fighting Colombia's U.S.-backed military have increasingly found refuge in Venezuela, where they get weapons, food, medical treatment and a smuggling route for the cocaine that keeps them afloat. Former rebels, local citizens and Colombian officials told The Associated Press that hundreds or even thousands of Colombian insurgents are in Venezuela at any given time. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who last month publicly recognized the rebels as "insurgent forces."
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1.9m on benefit 'should go back to work'
[UK]
Up to two thirds of people claiming incapacity benefit are not entitled to the state handout, the Government's new welfare adviser warns today. David Freud, an investment banker hired by James Purnell, the new Work and Pensions Secretary, said the disability tests used to award state aid were "ludicrous" and could be costing billions of pounds.
[but it supports the top goal of all government bureaucracies: grow and expand themselves.]
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A CLEAR CHOICE
Meaningful health care reform has to be national. But the answer is not to subject the whole country to ideas that don't work at the state level. What the country needs is a shift in priorities, from extending coverage to attacking costs.
Once that decision is made -- to make affordability, not scope of coverage, the first objective -- then there's a clear choice to make. Policymakers have just two options if they want to reduce the cost of something: They can stimulate competition or impose price controls.
Control is the norm in most of the world's health care. Competition is the insurgent model. It's getting a test in the Medicare prescription drug program, which actually has cost less than expected.
Congress created the current regulatory regime and could get rid of it, but the political climate would have to change first. Democrats will have to stop scoring cheap points by demonizing the insurance business. They'll have to recognize that insurers are part of the solution, not the problem, and that profit in health care is not a dirty word.
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