MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'bush administration'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:09:25 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893413&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FrydOQNq3g4U%2F By Gene HealyMy Washington Examiner column today closes out a three-part series this week on “Obama’s Imperial Presidency” (also running at Reason.com). Tuesday’s column covered Obama’s expansion of executive power abroad, and Wednesday’s looked at the ways in which Obama has turned the Imperial Presidency inward against the private sector. Today’s column begins with a recap of the powers 44 holds: Abroad, Obama claims the power to start wars at will; scoop up your email and phone records without answering to a judge; assassinate you via drone strike far from any battlefield, and — should your relatives complain — keep the whole thing secret in the name of national security. At home, Obama has summarily fired the CEO of General Motors, ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893413 Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:11:38 +0100 4893413 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3920826&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FWvHypO842XQ%2F By Christopher PreblePresident Obama will not declare “mission accomplished” in his prime-time speech on Iraq tonight, nor should he. He should not claim that a flowering democracy has been created in Iraq. He should not make unrealistic predictions about the long-term prospects for that shattered country. The war isn’t over for the 50,000 U.S. troops left behind in Iraq. The president should recognize the sacrifice of all our troops, who have performed admirably. The war won’t be over for Americans back home until every last man and woman in uniform returns home safely from a conflict that has claimed so many lives and consumed so much treasure. The president should reaffirm the strategic rationale for the drawdown set in motion by the Bush administration in consultation with th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3920826 Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:09:18 +0100 3920826 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3861996&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F7JRVnrsWLHs%2F By Tad DeHavenThe White House Office of Management and Budget homepage currently features the following quote from the president: President Obama says he wants to “invest in our people without leaving them a mountain of debt.” That’s a curious statement because the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the president’s current budget proposal projects that publicly held debt as a share of the economy would reach levels last seen at the end of the Second World War. When the CBO’s numbers are plugged into a bar chart, the projected Obama debt levels (red bars) look like…the upward slope of a mountain (!): To be fair, Obama’s predecessors — particularly the previous Bush administration — share in the responsibility for the mountainous rise in federal debt. How... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3861996 Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:34:32 +0100 3861996 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3710546&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F2r8788ebKU8%2F By Julian SanchezA confession: For all my innumerable policy disagreements with Barack Obama, on election night 2008, I found myself cheering with the rest of the throng on U Street. I fully expected to be appalled by much of his agenda — but I had also spent years covering the Bush administration’s relentless arrogation of power to the executive in the name of the War on Terror, its glib invocation of “national security” to squelch the least gesture toward transparency or accountability, its easy contempt for civil liberties and the rule of law. However fitfully, I thought, we could finally hope to see that appalling legacy reversed. And that seemed worth celebrating even if little else about the declared Obama agenda was. As you might guess, I had a lot of disappo... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3710546 Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:28:50 +0100 3710546 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3695547&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FydiFcV9kdoc%2F By Michael F. CannonIn a move reminiscent of the George W. Bush administration, the Obama administration is cracking down on the Minerals Management Service…by changing the agency’s name. The MMS has fallen into disrepute because, well, as E&ENews PM put it, “employees accepted gifts from oil and gas companies, participated in ‘a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity,’ and considered themselves exempt from federal ethics rules.”  The “drug and sex abuse [occurred] both inside the program and ‘in consort with industry.’ “  The New York Times reports that MMS employees “viewed pornography at work and even considered themselves part of industry.”  Yet this government agency somehow failed to prevent the oil s... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3695547 Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:53:06 +0100 3695547 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3629621&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FAxsKHLf1jHc%2F By Tim LynchDana Milbank has an article about an Ashcroft address at Heritage yesterday.  Here’s an excerpt: Ashcroft, in his own conciliatory gesture, implicitly acknowledged that he was on the wrong side in the Hamdi v. Rumsfeld detention case, in which the Supreme Court ruled against the Bush administration. “The Hamdi case was a bit of an anomaly because Hamdi was an American citizen, and it’s been considered settled law for a long time that American citizens always have the right in American courts to petition the court for habeas corpus,” Ashcroft allowed. Well, yes, it was settled law right up until Bush’s lawyers launched their attack on the writ of habeas corpus.  Nowadays those lawyers play down the dangerous legal positions they advanced during th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3629621 Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:37:53 +0100 3629621 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3603577&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FI1Ibu4PyRp4%2F By Tad DeHavenAnalysts across the ideological spectrum generally agree that the government’s regulatory bodies fail far too frequently. However, analysts seem to learn different lessons from this experience. Washington Post business columnist Steve Pearlstein cites numerous examples of failure and concludes, “It’s time for the business community to give up its jihad against regulation.” He says: It hardly captures the breadth and depth of these regulatory failures to say that during the Bush administration the pendulum swung a bit too far in the direction of deregulation and lax enforcement. What it misses is just how dramatically the regulatory agencies have been shrunken in size, stripped of talent and resources, demoralized by lousy leadership, captured by the industries the... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3603577 Wed, 26 May 2010 19:07:15 +0100 3603577 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3563951&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FMi9sxOQSUa0%2F By Julian SanchezThere are too few periodical venues for good short fiction these days, so I’d normally be enthusiastic about the Wall Street Journal’s decision to print works of fantasy. Unfortunately, they’ve opted to do so on their editorial page—starting with a long farrago of hypotheticals concerning the putative role of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in hindering the detection and apprehension of failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad. In fairness to the editors, they acknowledge near the end of the piece that much of it is unvarnished speculation, but their flights of creative fancy extend to many claims presented as fact. Let’s begin with the acknowledged fiction. The Journal editors wonder whether Shahzad might have been under surveillance... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3563951 Thu, 13 May 2010 16:55:25 +0100 3563951 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3556069&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FUlleBYNc0wc%2F By Mark MollerKagan gets an endorsement from superstar conservative appellate litigator and Bush II appellate nominee (also my old boss) Miguel Estrada here (see last paragraph). Plus, Stuart Taylor says Kagan’s nomination could mean a more conservative Court: Commentators on the left . . . complain that Kagan never compiled much of a record of aggressively championing liberal causes during her years as a law professor. Some say she was too friendly as dean of Harvard Law School to conservatives and did not recruit as many women and minorities for the faculty as diversitycrats desired. Speaking as a moderate independent, I like everything about Kagan that the left dislikes. To borrow from my friend Harvey Silverglate, a leading Boston lawyer who champions both civil liberties and a... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3556069 Wed, 12 May 2010 14:35:35 +0100 3556069 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3471772&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FMnaO7gg739U%2F By David BoazTony Blankley, former press secretary to Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, exults in the Washington Times that Americans are waking up “to our heritage of freedom” and to the abuse of the Constitution: All the following acts have suddenly awakened Americans to their Constitution: (1) The nationalization of car companies and banks; (2) the subordination of the car companies’ legal bondholders to union bosses; (3) the creation of trillion-dollar slush funds (the stimulus package) used for, among other purposes, the corrupt purchase of congressional votes; (4) the mandating of individual health insurance purchase against the will of Americans; (5) the attempt to have Obamacare “deemed” to have been enacted, rather than actually publicly voted on by... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3471772 Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:20:24 +0100 3471772 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3302295&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FkCsNBMSpO9A%2F By Daniel J. MitchellLike the sequel to a horror film, the politicians in Washington are talking about just passed another stimulus proposal. Only this time, they’re calling it a “jobs bill” in hopes that a different name will yield a better result. But if past performance is any indicator of future results, this is bad news for taxpayers. By every possible measure, the first stimulus was a flop. But don’t take my word for it. Instead, look at what the White House said would happen. The Administration early last year said that doing nothing would mean an unemployment rate of nine percent. Spending $787 billion, they said, was necessary to keep the unemployment rate at eight percent instead. So what happened? As millions of Americans can painfully attest, the jobless rate actually c... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3302295 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:03:38 +0100 3302295 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3239548&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FGm8h5rMVYhE%2F By Roger PilonToday Politico Arena asks: Terror suspects: Eric Holder’s defense (nothing new here)–agree or disagree? My response: There’s no question that after the killings in Little Rock and Fort Hood, the decision to try the KSM five in a civilian court in downtown Manhattan, and the Christmas Day bombing attempt (the government’s before and after behavior alike), the Obama-Holder “law-enforcement” approach to terrorism is under serious bipartisan scrutiny.  And Holder’s letter yesterday to his critics on the Hill isn’t likely to assuage them, not least because it essentially ignores issues brought out in the January 20 hearings before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, like the government’s failure to have its promise... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3239548 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:38:06 +0100 3239548 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3153355&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F9SAHBGsYaRw%2F By Thomas FireyWashington is fretting this week over news that mortgage applications fell dramatically in November. Coupled with earlier indications of renewed softening in the housing market, there is growing fear that housing is headed for a “double-dip downturn” that could further damage the economy. As a result, Federal Reserve policymakers are considering additional stimulus, while the National Association of Realtors is suggesting an(other) extension of the “temporary” homebuyer tax credit. Remarkably, neither policymakers nor the media are asking the obvious question: Given all of the emergency interventions in housing that government has undertaken, and the fact that the housing market continues to erode, do such interventions do much good? Since... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3153355 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:44:22 +0100 3153355 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3136683&cid=t_109920_133_f&fid=35452&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.graphictruth.com%2F2010%2F01%2Fdecade-ends-snark-in-two-t-shirts.html William Rivers Pitt writes in his last column of 2009 or his first of 2010:It is not at all difficult to argue that if the broken election of 2000 had not taken place; if the right-leaning majority on the Supreme Court did not take rank partisanship to the highest and lowest levels by giving that election to their party's man instead of letting the votes be counted in the proper fashion; if Al Gore had been allowed to assume the office he rightly won, his administration would have continued to pursue the rigorous Clinton-era anti-terror policies that had successfully defeated those would-be millennium murderers. In other words, but for the sad and sorry electoral debacle at the outset of this decade, two tall towers would still stand in New York City, the Pentagon would be whole and there ... Graphictruth blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3136683 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:42:00 +0100 3136683 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3133582&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FKKgp8fSDho8%2F By Benjamin H. FriedmanTerrorists are named after an emotion for a reason. They use violence to produce widespread fear for a political purpose. The number of those they kill or injure will always be a small fraction of those they frighten. This creates problems for leaders, and even analysts, when they talk publicly about terrorism. On one hand, leaders need to convince the public that they are on the case in protecting them, or else they won’t be leaders for long. On the other hand, good leaders try to minimize unwarranted fear. One reason is that we shouldn’t give terrorists what they want. Another is that fear is a real social harm, particularly when it is exaggerated. Stress from fear harms health. It causes bad decisions. For example, if people avoid flying and drive inst... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3133582 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:27:10 +0100 3133582 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3075483&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FMTDefxxybWI%2F By Julian SanchezA modest proposal: Suppose that we decide to streamline our inefficient criminal justice system by treating people under suspicion of involvement with violent crime—whether or not they’ve been arrested, charged, or even informed of this suspicion—as equivalent to convicted felons.  Suppose, then, that we permit them to be stripped of certain constitutionally protected rights at the discretion of the executive branch. Outrageous?  Some depraved brainchild of the Bush administration’s Office of Legal Counsel?  Actually, it’s the editorial position of The New York Times: Under federal law, people who pose a heightened risk of violence cannot buy or own firearms, including convicted felons, domestic abusers, the seriously mentally ill and several other... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3075483 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:40:43 +0100 3075483 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3071130&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FNZ7UqXUUQ-o%2F By Tad DeHavenHuge deficit spending, a supposed stimulus bill, and financial bailouts by the Bush administration failed to stave off a deep recession. President Obama continued his predecessor’s policies with an even bigger stimulus, which helped push the deficit over the unimaginable trillion dollar mark. Prosperity hasn’t returned, but the president is persistent in his interventionist beliefs. In his speech yesterday, he told the country that we must “spend our way out of this recession.” While a dedicated segment of the intelligentsia continues to believe in simplistic Kindergarten Keynesianism, average Americans are increasingly leery. Businesses and entrepreneurs are hesitant to invest and hire because of the uncertainty surrounding the President’s agenda for higher... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3071130 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:04:42 +0100 3071130 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3039764&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FdB8uKN8QnFo%2F I caught a lot of flack from my Republican friends for my post blaming the FY2009 deficit on Bush instead of Obama. Well, I must be a glutton for punishment because I can’t resist jumping (albeit reluctantly) to Obama’s defense again. I’m venting my spleen for two reason. First, FoxNews.com posted a story headlined “Obama Shatters Spending Record for First-Year Presidents” and noted that: President Obama has shattered the budget record for first-year presidents — spending nearly double what his predecessor did when he came into office and far exceeding the first-year tabs for any other U.S. president in history. In fiscal 2009 the federal government spent $3.52 trillion …That fiscal year covered the last three-and-a-half months of George W. Bush&#8... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3039764 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:15:53 +0100 3039764 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2898926&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FAJxasCjcgZI%2F The Hill’s Congress blog has a regular series that provides policy experts a forum to discuss current topics of the day. This week, the editors posed this question: President Obama has taken a very different approach to diplomacy than President Bush. Does the new approach serve or undermine long-term U.S. interests? My response: What “very different approach?” Sure, President Bush implicitly scorned diplomacy in favor of toughness, particularly in his first term. But he sought UN Security Council authorization for tougher measures against Iraq; a truly unilateral approach would have bombed first and asked questions later. By the same token, President Obama has staffed his administration with people, including chief diplomat Hillary Clinton and UN Ambassador Susan Rice, who favore... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2898926 Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:45:18 +0100 2898926 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2828186&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FgT-ocop5HCg%2F Despite Barack Obama’s frequent paeans to the value of transparency during the presidential campaign, his Justice Department has incensed civil liberties advocates by parroting the Bush administration’s broad invocations of the “state secrets privilege” in an effort to torpedo lawsuits challenging controversial interrogation and surveillance policies. Though in many cases the underlying facts have already been widely reported, DOJ lawyers implausibly claimed, not merely that particular classified information should not be aired in open court, but that any discussion of the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” of detainees to torture-friendly regimes, or of the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping, would imperil national security. That may—emphasis on m... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2828186 Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:51:30 +0100 2828186 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2823951&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FR7XAGt9qZN4%2F President Obama’s address to the United Nations General Assembly this morning, and his chairing of the UN Security Council on Thursday, is a grand attempt to tell the world–after eight years of George W. Bush–that the United States will no longer go it alone. The president has a very difficult task, however, if he expects to invest the United Nations with renewed credibility. The UN is a weak and fractured institution, whose limited power and authority has been steadily undermined by a progression of U.S. presidents, both Democrats and Republicans. We should not forget that President Bill Clinton explicitly circumvented the UN Security Council when he chose to intervene militarily in Kosovo in 1999. Clinton’s evasion of the UNSC established a precedent for future mi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2823951 Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:29:12 +0100 2823951 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2814397&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FdOUTrF4ueVU%2F Pakistan long has tottered on the edge of being a failed state:  created amidst a bloody partition from India, suffered under ineffective democratic rule and disastrous military rule, destabilized through military suppression of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) by dominant West Pakistan, dismembered in a losing war with India, misgoverned by a corrupt and wastrel government, linked to the most extremist Afghan factions during the Soviet occupation, allied with the later Taliban regime, and now destabilized by the war in Afghanistan.  Along the way the regime built nuclear weapons, turned a blind eye to A.Q. Khan’s proliferation market, suppressed democracy, tolerated religious persecution, elected Asif Ali “Mr. Ten Percent” Zardari as president, and wasted billion... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2814397 Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:45:20 +0100 2814397 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2807573&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FfW_As3G7OtI%2F As Tim Lynch noted earlier this week, Barack Obama’s justice department has come out in favor of renewing three controversial PATRIOT Act provisions—on face another in a train of disappointments for anyone who’d hoped some of those broad executive branch surveillance powers might depart with the Bush administration. But there is a potential silver lining: In the letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) making the case for renewal, the Justice Department also declares its openness to “modifications” of those provisions designed to provide checks and balances, provided they don’t undermine investigations. While the popular press has always framed the fight as being “supporters” and “opponents” of the PATRIOT Act, the problem with many of the... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2807573 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:23:43 +0100 2807573 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2803893&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOcSb6u6tsWM%2F Andrew C. McCarthy has an article up  at National Review criticizing a recent decision by Obama administration officials to improve the detention procedures in Bagram, Afghanistan. McCarthy calls the decision an example of pandering to a “despotic” judiciary that is imposing its will on a war that should be run by the political branches. McCarthy’s essay is factually misleading, ignores the history of wartime detention in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency, and encourages the President to ignore national security decisions coming out of the federal courts. More details after the jump. McCarthy is Factually Misleading McCarthy begins by criticizing a decision by District Judge John Bates to allow three detainees in Bagram, Afghanistan, to file habeas corpus petitions testing the... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2803893 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:42:23 +0100 2803893 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2724817&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOK5ffHsJt-c%2F Former congressman, governor, and secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge is a long-time GOP loyalist.  But he apparently doesn’t have good things to say about the Bush administration on its vaunted war on terrorism. A new report on his upcoming book warns: Tom Ridge, the first head of the 9/11-inspired Department of Homeland Security, wasn’t keen on writing a tell-all. But in The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege…and How We Can Be Safe Again, out September 1, Ridge says he wants to shake “public complacency” over security. And to do that, well, he needs to tell all. Especially about the infighting he saw that frustrated his attempts to build a smooth-running department. Among the headlines promoted by publisher Thomas Dunne Books: Rid... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2724817 Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:18:32 +0100 2724817 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2588184&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fn1CSRqpQTXQ%2F In a recent post, I noted how Department of Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano was “taking the national ID tar baby in a loving embrace.” Now the administration seems to be similarly embracing the E-Verify government background check system. Starting September 8th, it will go forward with a Bush administration plan to require federal contractors to check their employees against federal databases. The E-Verify program is riddled with problems, and it will send many American workers and legal immigrants into Kafkaesque ordeals when they find they aren’t approved by the federal government to earn a living. Ultimately, “internal enforcement” of immigration law, which is what E-Verify is about, requires a biometric national identity system. Wasn’t a... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2588184 Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:39:47 +0100 2588184 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2556082&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fx2eR4WlcWos%2F The U.S. is not yet out of Iraq, but American forces have pulled back from Iraqi cities.  Iraq’s future increasingly is in the hands of Iraqis.  And most Iraqis appear to be celebrating. Reports the Washington Post: This is no longer America’s war. Iraqis danced in the streets and set off fireworks Monday in impromptu celebrations of a pivotal moment in their nation’s troubled history: Six years and three months after the March 2003 invasion, the United States on Tuesday is withdrawing its remaining combat troops from Iraq’s cities and turning over security to Iraqi police and soldiers. While more than 130,000 U.S. troops remain in the country, patrols by heavily armed soldiers in hulking vehicles as of Wednesday will largely disappear from Baghdad, Mosul and Iraq... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2556082 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:40:22 +0100 2556082 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2398595&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FdosPwWxBMmk%2F President Obama’s estimated $17 billion budget cuts for fiscal year 2010 amounts to a measly .5 percent of the president’s total proposed spending, and 1.5 percent of the president’s proposed deficit for the coming fiscal year. His offerings to cut the budget should be dismissed as unserious. In fact, this is reminiscent of the Bush administration’s annual list of minuscule proposed cuts in the face of profligate spending and mounting federal debt. President Obama says his efforts “are just the next phase of a larger and longer effort needed to change how Washington does business and put our fiscal house in order.” Promising more spending and more debt while celebrating relatively insignificant cuts and ignoring the looming entitlement crunch represents businesses as usual, not... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2398595 Thu, 07 May 2009 18:09:00 +0100 2398595 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2380721&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXnGJVy-Jw4s%2F A small group of Chrysler debt holders rejected the Obama administration’s restructuring plan last night, leaving Chapter 11 bankruptcy as the most salient option for the company. The Obama administration accused the investors who walked away of “failure to act…in the national interest.” But it’s not difficult to understand why these secured creditors rejected the government’s offer of essentially 29 cents on their investment dollar. If that is how the Obama administration treats capital markets, how exactly do they expect to spur private investment in American companies, as the White House claims it wants to do? Bankruptcy reorganization will probably yield a better deal for investors than the government’s plan. It also will imbue the process with more financial sanity than ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2380721 Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:45:15 +0100 2380721 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2375852&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FLTDX_h9nBD4%2F President Obama campaigned on a promise of change. But the first 100 days of his administration have seen a continuation of the Bush administration’s irresponsible fiscal policies: more bailouts, higher spending, and mounting debt. The president has already signed a tax hike that disproportionately hurts lower-income people, and is seeking additional tax increases to fund a transition to a more centrally-planned, European-styled economy. Just as previous administrations have done, the president is using the current economic ‘crisis’ to justify further government encroachment upon the private sector. In doing so, dangerous precedents are being set that could have negative repercussions for future economic growth and individual liberty. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2375852 Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:45:48 +0100 2375852 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2284342&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fk4W0mLGJ3XE%2F The Constitution obviously does not leave Americans helpless in fighting against those who wish them ill.  But it also sets standards of conduct that should not — indeed, cannot — be carelessly tossed aside. The prison at Guantanamo Bay has become such an international symbol of the U.S. abandoning its principles because it reflects an anti-terrorism policy gone badly awry.  First, the Bush administration was both callous and careless in imprisoning people, even paying unreliable tribal allies for captives.  Second, the U.S. government created no effective and objective truth-determining process to assess guilt.  Third, Washington employed torture, violating both domestic and international law. No doubt dangerous terrorists have been incarcerated at Gitmo.  But so to... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2284342 Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:17:10 +0100 2284342 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2284344&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FEwZpnqY6sFA%2F House Approves 90 Percent ‘Bonus Tax’ Sparked by outrage over the bonus checks paid out to AIG executives, the House approved a measure Thursday that would impose a 90 percent tax on employee bonuses for companies that receive more than $5 billion in federal bailout funds. Chris Edwards, Cato’s director of tax policy studies, says the outrage over AIG is misplaced: While Congress has been busy with this particular inquisition, the Federal Reserve is moving ahead with a new plan to shower the economy with a massive $1.2 trillion cash infusion — an amount 7,200 times greater than the $165 million of AIG retention bonuses. So members of Congress should be grabbing their pitchforks and heading down to the Fed building, not lynching AIG financial managers, most of whom... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2284344 Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:50:14 +0100 2284344 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2284355&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FNoT-w7ex4VU%2F Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement that the federal government will end raids on medical marijuana distributors is terrific news. The Bush administration’s scorched-earth approach to the enforcement of federal marijuana laws was a grotesque misallocation of law enforcement resources. The U.S. government has a limited number of law enforcement personnel, and when a unit is assigned to conduct surveillance on a California hospice, that unit is necessarily neglecting leads in other cases that possibly involve more violent criminal elements. This shift in policy is also more mindful of the constitutional principle of federalism by allowing the states to try different policy approaches, and it is more respectful of the division of opinion within the medical community about ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2284355 Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:43:15 +0100 2284355 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2270277&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F-y1gVavF3_w%2F Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, the exchange student from Qatar who was detained by the FBI with alleged ties to al-Qaeda, sat for years in a military brig in South Carolina as the only domestically detained enemy combatant. The Bush Administration used al-Marri to test a legal theory aimed at keeping suspected terrorists in military prisons indefinitely. President Obama has reversed that ruling, and has moved al-Marri into civilian courts. The Supreme Court is no longer hearing al-Marri’s appeal. In Monday’s Cato Daily Podcast, Legal Policy Analyst David Rittgers says that there’s nothing that will stop future administrations from again reversing the policy. This is creating this legal cul-de-sac where we can have military detention domestically…and the reason that they... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2270277 Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:08:11 +0100 2270277 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1440206&cid=t_109920_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F05%2F13%2Fthe-situation-of-john-yoo-and-the-torture-memos%2F Situationist friend Andrew Perlman recently published a terrific editorial in The National Law Journal on the situation of John Yoo, “The ‘Torture Memos’: Lessons for all of us.” Here are a few excerpts. * * * It is easy to believe that John Yoo wrote his widely discredited “torture memos” because he holds radical views of presidential authority or because he has some unusual moral failing. The reality, however, may be far more ordinary and disturbing: He willfully followed the lead of White House officials who were eager to find a legal justification for torture. The banality of Yoo’s compliance shouldn’t excuse him in any way, but his mistakes can help us understand why attorneys might offer equally troubling legal advice in much less publ... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1440206 Tue, 13 May 2008 14:15:50 +0100 1440206 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1272612&cid=t_109920_93_f&fid=35707&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhemodynamics.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F03%2Fsnapshots-of-va.html For two weeks, I'm on nightfloat at a Veteran's Administration hospital, a dark quiet place at night. ***There's a big photo of the president at the entrance. Each night as I walk in, I think, I hope that photo looks a lot different next year.***There's no cafeteria at night. There is a room full of vending machines. I had a 20 dollar bill and I wanted a Coke Zero. In a quiet hour, I walked down to the emergency department and asked the clerk if there was a cashier anywhere who took payments at night, so I could get change. He sent me to the security desk, staffed by a VA police officer who told me that there was no cashier anywhere, and no change machine he could think of. I thanked him, and started to turn to walk away. "But there's a stamp machine," he said; "You could buy a stamp and i... hemodynamics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1272612 Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:22:00 +0100 1272612 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1192822&cid=t_109920_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2008%2F01%2F31%2Farmy-suicides-up-20%2F Two stories out this week suggest that you have a lot more to worry about than just getting shot at by the enemy in today’s Army. Today, the Army reported that suicides for 2007 jumped 20% over the previous year, up to 121 soldiers. CNN has the story: Internal briefing papers prepared by the Army’s psychiatry consultant earlier this month show there were 89 confirmed suicides last year and 32 deaths that are suspected suicides and still under investigation. More than a quarter of the combined total — about 34 — died while serving a tour of duty in Iraq, an increase from 27 in Iraq the previous year, according to the preliminary figures. The report also showed an increase in the number of attempted suicides and self-injuries — some 2,100 in 2007 compared ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1192822 Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:23:53 +0100 1192822 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=979242&cid=t_109920_134_f&fid=35152&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsstrumello.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F10%2Finsulin-vials-topped-with-rubber.html What do you all think of this ad?It's powerful, but don't expect to see it run, as this ad was shelved in favor of a less effective ad that ran for a very short time (see below for that ad).Apparently this was a concept ad that was proposed to the Department of Health and Human Services in an attempt to raise the nation's historically low rate of breast-feeding. A few years ago, federal health officials commissioned an attention-grabbing ad campaign to try and convince mothers that their babies faced genuine health risks if they did not breast-feed. The campaign featured striking photos of not only insulin vials and syringes, but also asthma inhalers topped with rubber nipples (see BrandWeekNRx.com for all of the pictures).But this ad, along with several others, were apparently caught up i... Scott's Web Log blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=979242 Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:30:00 +0100 979242 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=779984&cid=t_109920_133_f&fid=35452&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.graphictruth.com%2F2007%2F08%2Fif-us-is-battlefield-in-war-on-terror.html First, a little history lesson on the justification for the Iraq war by means of deceit, deception and demagoguery.As a result, even deeply conservative Republicans are troubled; Bruce Fein, for example, is speaking out against Bush and his badly-hidden agendas. What agendas? Well, with all the utter bullshit flying about, it's difficult to say for sure, but a few truths are emerging. Alternet is bold enough to baldly come to this conclusion about the Administration's domestic spying agenda.The extraordinary secrecy surrounding the spying operations revealed in Alberto Gonzales' Senate testimony is not aimed at al-Qaeda, but at the American people.They proceed to back it up with both reason and evidence, evidence based primarily on Gonzalez's awkward and obvious perjuries.Sorry, Perjury is... Graphictruth blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=779984 Sat, 04 Aug 2007 04:00:00 +0100 779984 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=872175&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=35060&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthnewsblog.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Fhnblog.pl%3Fhnblog%3D711071 The IHT reports that former Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona testified to a congressional panel that the Bush administration blocked him about speaking on certain subjects such as birth control and stem cells.Carmona said the Bush administration even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics. He also said they delayed and tried to weaken a report on secondhand smoke. The administration, Carmona said Tuesday, would not allow him to speak or issue reports on the subjects of stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education or prison, mental or global health issues. Top officials tried to "water down" a landmark report on secondhand smoke and delayed it for years, he said. Released last year, the report concluded that even brief exposure to cigarette smoke can cause immediate ... HealthNewsBlog.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=872175 Thu, 12 Jul 2007 02:00:00 +0100 872175 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=651740&cid=t_109920_93_f&fid=35707&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhemodynamics.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F05%2Ften-years-ago-today-on-may-18th-1997.html Top: Bill Clinton and Bill Gates, both of whom head foundations which make AIDS a high priority, and also tend to favor technological solutions; since leaving office, Clinton's own choices have suggested more strongly than ever that political expediency drove his AIDS decisions in office. Bottom: George Bush plugs a cord into a prototype hybrid electric-hydrogen car.Ten years ago today, on May 18th, 1997, President Clinton called on scientists to develop a vaccine to prevent HIV infection, and to do it within ten years:“My fellow Americans, if the 21st century is to be the century of biology, let us make an AIDS vaccine its first great triumph.”Clinton compared this presidential goal to President Kennedy’s “moon shot.” But this year, we mark the date knowing that Clinton’s goal... hemodynamics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=651740 Fri, 18 May 2007 04:01:00 +0100 651740 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=651741&cid=t_109920_93_f&fid=35707&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhemodynamics.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F05%2Ftestimony-alberto-gonzales-should-be_17.html Apropos of I'm not sure what, except to illustrate the general theme that Alberto Gonzales is an ethics-less toady, Senator Chuck Shumer (D-NY) drew the following story out of former deputy Attorney General James Comey, told below in an excerpt of the transcript from Wednesday May 16 2007. Let the other blogs chatter about how this hurts or doesn't hurt Gonzales' chance at keeping his job. Here are the questions from the Hemodynamics.blogspot point of view:Where was hospital security?And where were the doctors? and John Ashcroft's nurse?And if you were a resident that month in the ICU, and John Ashcroft were your guy, and you'd been having family meetings with Mrs. Ashcroft, and you knew that Mr. Ashcroft was not the acting attorney general at that moment, what would you do?Finally, if the... hemodynamics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=651741 Thu, 17 May 2007 04:24:00 +0100 651741 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=541239&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=34867&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thediabetesblog.com%2F2007%2F04%2F13%2Fbush-to-veto-stem-cell-research-bill%2F Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Drugs, Research, Daily News, Events, SupportAfter the successful outcome of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, the White House has announced that it will veto the bill. However, congressional leaders have said that if the bill is vetoed, they will consider this legislation again later in the year. The Senate passed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 last Wednesday, April 11th. The bill would change existing federal policy to allow the use of stem cells that were derived from human embryos donated from in vitro fertilization clinics. The Senate also considered another bill, S. 30, the Hope Offered through Principled and Ethical Stem Cell Research Act sponsored by Senators Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Johnny Isakson (R... The Diabetes Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=541239 Fri, 13 Apr 2007 04:00:00 +0100 541239 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=521806&cid=t_109920_87_f&fid=34867&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thediabetesblog.com%2F2007%2F04%2F04%2Fdiabetes-and-pot%2F Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Lifestyle, Drugs, Opinion, SupportA new study found smoked marijuana to be safe and effective at treating peripheral neuropathy, which causes great suffering among diabetics. Diabetic nerve disease, or "peripheral neuropathy," is the most common complication of diabetes, affecting up to 62% of Americans with diabetes. This type of pain is caused by damage to the nerves and can make patients feel like their feet and hands are on fire, or being stabbed with a knife. This type of pain responds poorly to conventional pain medications -- even addictive, dangerous narcotics. In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, a majority of patients had a greater than 30% reduction in pain after smoking marijuana. For many, that level o... The Diabetes Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=521806 Wed, 04 Apr 2007 04:00:00 +0100 521806