Month: October 2009

The world’s tallest female econoblogger takes on cost-shifting at hospitals. When asking whether hospitals engage in cost-shifting–subsidizing inadequate public reimbursement with private insurer fees–the question is partly one of framing. One way to look at it is that the private insurers pick up the slack for the public programs. Another way to look at it…

This post touched on one of my worst fears: A skunk in Oklahoma, USA, was rescued by a good samaritan and a ‘skunk whisperer’ after it got its head stuck in a jar of peanut butter. Teresa Vick spotted the stuck skunk while delivering papers and called for help. Ned Bruha, ‘Skunk Whisperer’, used a…

On the front page of today’s Detroit Free Press, there’s a scary article about ferocious killer fish from Asia which are about to invade and destroy Lake Michigan. The situation is said to be as bad as a hurricane: Immediate action is needed to prevent a flood-prone Illinois river from releasing scores of ferocious Asian…

Breaking news: the Iraq war is still over — and won. I think this makes it official: the liberal Brookings Institution is apparently no longer bothering to update their Iraq Index, with the last update having been done on September 1st. Final score: 8500-11000 MW of power (vs. 4000 prewar), vastly improved access to potable…

Whenever I read news reports like this about horrendous crimes being committed by people society considers “children,” I am reminded of the fiction of child innocence. DETROIT (WXYZ) – The Wayne County prosecutor announced first degree murder charges against a teenage boy and his mother for the shooting death of a teenager who was playing…

I suspect liposuction fat oozing out of our ground. I have no proof. H/T rj40 at Talk Polywell Cross Posted at Power and Control

So the NFL won’t allow the likes of Rush Limbaugh within its hallowed tent, but dog torturer Michael Vick is just fine. Yet another in a long line of mind-numbing double standards. (See this post from Stephen Spruiell which Glenn linked yesterday.) The message? Uttering opinions with which powerful activists like Al Sharpton disagree is…

Smart power. We scrap the Eastern European missile defense program that Russia hates, and Russia responds by… changing their policy to start using nukes in just about every conceivable military situation: In an interview published today in Izvestia, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Kremlin’s security council, said the new doctrine offers “different options to…

The Chinese are finding out it’s difficult to have one without the other: The future of China’s most independent and outspoken publication is in doubt following a mass walkout of its commercial staff and rumours that many members of its editorial team are planning to follow them out of the door. Under Ms Hu’s leadership,…

Former police officer Barry Cooper (author, “Never Get Busted Again“) is so disgusted with the War on Drugs that he came up with an idea for a reality TV show called “Kop Busters.” In a clever sting operation, police ended up raiding a house where nothing illegal was going on — most likely because their…

I’m glad Dave Price put up a post to commemorate the defeat of Communism, and I’m glad Glenn Reynolds remembered it too Matt Welch asks an excellent question: The defeat of communism 20 years ago was the most liberating moment in history. So why don’t we talk about it more? And here’s an excerpt from…

An article that Glenn Reynolds linked about the up-and-coming search engine Bing reminded me that something is rotten in the state of Google — especially where it comes to searches related to abortion. If you’re familiar with Google (and who isn’t?) you know that most of the time when you enter a search word, you…

Matt Welch asks why we aren’t celebrating it. It’s a question that needs to be asked: why don’t we celebrate the greatest victory in American history? After all, we celebrate V-E day, even though our WW II “victory” in Europe left more of that continent under totalitarian rule than before the war, and failed to…

One of the reasons I am against Global Warming theory is because it’s not just a theoretical argument or a scientific position. The theory that man-made CO2 causes warming is so inextricably intertwined with the notion that the power of government must be utilized against CO2 that it can literally said to be built in.…

Cornered by an interviewer, Jerry Garcia tries to explain.

No I’m not talking about his Nobel Peace Prize. I’m talking about the Economic Prize announced this morning. Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson won it for: Ostrom, a political scientist at Indiana University, showed how common resources — forests, fisheries, oil fields or grazing lands — can be managed successfully by the people who use…

The Media Threat Level (MTL) has been raised from Fawning Lapdogs to Praetorian Guard. WHAT THIS ALERT LEVEL MEANS: Danger of dissent is extremely high. Any criticisms of Barack Obama should be made with the understanding the media will portray them as racist or dangerous. Exercise free speech at your own risk. ABOUT THE MTL:…

In an amazing development I learned about at Greg Mankiw’s blog, a first year graduate student in Economics has won the Nobel Prize! In Economics! LONDON — The surprise choice of first-year graduate student Quintus Pfuffnick for the Nobel Prize in Economics drew praise from much of the world Friday even as many pointed out…

The Belmont Club was discussing the McChrystal letter and the President’s response to it. The Wall Street Journal says Secretary Gates has passed on a request for more men for the Afghan campaign from General McChrystal. Gates had attempted to delay the formal transmission, but mounting public interest in the issue made it pointless to…

Maybe I’m too sensitive to images, but for some time, I’ve been wondering something about the Obama logo. And I have to ask. Do we have a president who wants to be a soft drink? Or do we have a soft drink that wants to be president? Or does it matter? I realize it’s all…