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'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:54:36 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118611&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FpP2-UtiQPnQ%2F By Neal McCluskeyThe good news: Supporters haven’t been able to completely stamp out debate over national curriculum standards. The bad news: The Invasion of the School Snatchers strategy is real, and it is working!  Yesterday, I blogged about a letter from Jeb Bush reportedly causing a subcommittee of the American Legislative Exchange Council to table model legislation opposing national standards. Subsequent to my writing that, a follow-up Education Week post reported that debate wasn’t, in fact, quashed by Bush’s letter. Unfortunately, it appears consideration was postponed for another reason: Most state legislators have no idea what’s going on with national standards: “Legislators have heard of it, but not a whole lot of states engage legislators in... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118611 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:20:28 +0100 5118611 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118616&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FNjfGOgNR6eg%2F By Neal McCluskeyFormer Florida governor Jeb Bush cares about education. He made major education reforms in the Sunshine State, including many centered on private school choice. He has established the Foundation for Excellence in Education, and dedicates much of his time to education reform. Unfortunately, when it comes to national curriculum standards, it seems his genuine caring has led him to avoid—and now attempt to quash—critical debate on both the dubious merits of national standards, and the huge threats to federalism posed by Washington driving the standards train. As I’ve complained on numerous occasions, it’s clear that supporters of national standards have employed a stealth strategy to get their way: back-room drafting of standards, content-free Language ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118616 Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:19:38 +0100 5118616 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968470&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fzi2qAyxyu4s%2F By Chris EdwardsNew projections from the Congressional Budget Office show that without reforms rising federal spending will fundamental reshape America’s economy, and not in a good way. Under the CBO’s “alternative fiscal scenario,” the federal government will consume an 86 percent greater share of the economy in 2035 than it did a decade ago (33.9 percent of GDP compared to 18.2 percent). The CBO report and many centrist budget wonks focus more on the problem of rising federal debt than on rising spending. As a result, many wonks clamor for a “balanced” package of spending cuts and tax increases to solve our fiscal problems. But CBO projections show that the long-term debt problem is not a balanced one—it is caused by historic increases in spending, not shortages of revenues... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968470 Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:20:12 +0100 4968470 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934104&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F6MkY2e8QJ3k%2F By David BoazE.  J. Dionne Jr. has suddenly discovered the big-government George W. Bush, 12 years late, and he’s feeling nostalgic: Perhaps I should thank the current crop of Republican presidential candidates for providing me with an experience I never, ever expected: During this week’s debate in New Hampshire, I had a moment of nostalgia for George W. Bush…. Unlike this crowd of Republicans, Bush acknowledged that the federal government can ease injustices and get useful things done. Say what you will about his No Child Left Behind education-reform program. It accepted, correctly, that the federal government has to play an important part in reforming our public schools and held them accountable to a set of standards…. And while there are many problems with the way... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934104 Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:13:09 +0100 4934104 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893413&cid=t_109160_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=4872204&cid=t_109160_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FM2lKprj3Yl8%2F A blog post today by Microsoft’s Dr. Bill Crounse got me thinking again about the cloud. Crounse cited a new CDW poll showing that 30 percent of healthcare organizations could be considered “cloud adopters,” and for good reason. “The flexibility, scalability and lower costs associated with moving certain line of business applications to the cloud are compelling, especially for an industry like healthcare. After all, the primary focus of hospitals and clinics is caring for patients, not running an IT empire. There’s not a CIO, CFO, CEO, COO, CNO, CMIO, or CMO who wouldn’t love to shift some of their IT spending to delivering better care to the communities they serve,” Crounse wrote. They were more likely to turn to the cloud for “commodity” serv... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4872204 Thu, 26 May 2011 20:25:03 +0100 4872204 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4828986&cid=t_109160_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F15%2F10-great-moms-of-the-twentieth-century%2F Due to an error on our part, this article should’ve appeared a week ago… But hey, better late than never! – Ed. They are activists, humorists, Holocaust survivers, writers, first ladies, and missionaries. But first and foremost, they are moms. And, in my opinion, some of the best. As a relatively new mom, I could learn a lesson or two from the veterans. So here is a list of my blue-ribbon picks. 1. Erma Bombeck. She was the funniest mother in America, with an uncanny ability to bemuse fellow moms with hilarious twists on cleaning toilets and carpools of whinny kids. For more than 30 years her clippings occupied the most coveted real estate in middle-class homes — the refrigerator — where she’d offer invaluable insight and a dose of comedy amid lost sock... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4828986 Sun, 15 May 2011 10:28:28 +0100 4828986 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4813250&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FuNKtjcc03sI%2F By Justin LoganWhat Does This Mean? (Reuters/Ceerwan Aziz) Today’s New York Times has a piece on the running discussion in Iraq about the prospect of U.S. military withdrawal from their country. As the article highlights, the discussion itself “reflects a nation still struggling with issues of sectarian identity, national pride, and how to secure its future.” One of the few things former President Bush said about Iraq that I agreed with was his claim on Al Arabiya in 2005 that “the future of Iraq depends on Iraqi nationalism and the Iraq character—the character of Iraq and Iraqi people emerging.” In general, I am not very fond of nationalism, but if you want to hold together a country of 25 million people, especially when they have been riven by decades of s... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4813250 Wed, 11 May 2011 15:15:33 +0100 4813250 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4775373&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FIn343nt1Z4k%2F By George Scoville Habeas corpus applies to anyone, citizen or not, in custody under American law, no matter what President Bush and President Obama decree. House Republicans’ cuts to the Department of Education, which will spend over $70 billion next year, didn’t even amount to $1 billion. “Regardless of whether Pakistan gets its way, its impudence in pushing Afghanistan to abandon America exposes the real balance of power in the region.” “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to refer to a government whose intelligence service assists military efforts by al Qaeda and the Taliban against U.S. troops in Afghanistan as an ‘ally.’” Here are five ways to cut military spending today without changing our strategic focus: Monday Links is a post f... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4775373 Mon, 02 May 2011 14:29:08 +0100 4775373 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4775620&cid=t_109160_167_f&fid=38271&url=http%3A%2F%2Frebeccascritchfield.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F05%2F02%2Finspiring-women-at-the-2011-aalu-annual-meeting-today%2F Today is going to be a great day! That’s because I get to do what I love best… talk! (LOL, seriously, I was voted “most talkative” in middle school and high school). No. What I love best is engaging people and helping them think differently about their health and wellness. I want people to see their daily choices about nutrition, exercise, and managing stress as self-care. Unfortunately, we don’t. Most women (97%) spend most days “bashing” the way they look. We don’t get any help from certain forms of media either. Take this month’s issue of Marie Claire. They published self-proclaimed “nutritionists” daily food journals. One woman starved herself all day and then binged on fruit, smoothies, and a box of macaroons once she f... Balanced Health and Nutrition Rebecca Scritchfield's Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4775620 Mon, 02 May 2011 12:52:59 +0100 4775620 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4758742&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FqriEL585sqM%2F By Steve H. HankeThe public has finally started to give President Obama’s economic policies a big “thumbs down”.  This shouldn’t surprise anyone who is familiar with the Misery Index. While President Obama sings the glories of big government, it is ironic that he has been marked by the curse of government failure.  One metric that measures how this curse will affect the President’s performance is the Misery Index (see the accompanying chart). The Index is calculated by adding the difference between the average inflation rate over a president’s term and the average inflation rate during the last year of the previous president’s term; the difference between the average unemployment rate over a president’s term and the unemployment rate during the last month... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4758742 Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:14:55 +0100 4758742 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789384&cid=t_109160_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F04%2F26%2Ftell-me-something-i-dont-know-with-jonathan-bush-from-athenahealth%2F When I got the request at HIMSS 11 to be able to sit down and talk with Jonathan Bush, CEO of AthenaHealth, I knew that I had to take it. Him and I had a very interesting conversation and he’s a fascinating individual since you never know what he might say next. On that note, I decided that I better get Jonathan Bush on video at HIMSS. In fact, I think it might have been the only video I did at HIMSS. Although, once I saw how easy it was to upload this video from my phone, I might have to do more EMR related videos on the future. Although, I’ll probably need to hold it the other way. Now to the video. The basic idea of “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” comes from the Sunday show that Chris Matthew’s does. In the segment, the people try and tell you someth... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789384 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 19:03:25 +0100 4789384 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4723786&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FNFg2b0upjHA%2F By Walter OlsonAs Iain Murray points out at National Review‘s “Corner,” there’s no date on the calendar each year that reminds us, the way income tax filing day does, of the huge share of our economic labors that the government commands in the name of regulation. In part this is because the costs of regulation are even better disguised than those of taxation: while paycheck withholding may lull us into complacency about our income tax burden, it is downright transparent compared with the costs of regulation, which the ordinary citizen may never recognize when passed along in the form of higher utility bills or sluggish performance by some sector of the economy. Iain notes the good work done by his colleagues at the Competitive Enterprise Institute: Regulations cost... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4723786 Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:19:45 +0100 4723786 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4709192&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F1d48imqwYoY%2F By George Scoville “Whatever your views on climate change, you ought to find it unsettling that, here and elsewhere, most of the actual ‘law’ in this country is crafted by unelected executive-branch bureaucrats.” “The Framers’ Constitution freed us, to make our own individual choices.” “The world’s dictators are fleeing for their lives, all because of Secretary Clinton’s efforts.” “Total spending jumped by almost $2 trillion during the Bush-Obama spending binge, so a $39 billion cut is almost too small to mention.” The Founders would agree with the idea that “it should be hard to get into wars and easy to leave them“: Wednesday Links is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4709192 Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:48:36 +0100 4709192 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4636413&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F1dImHb3owjo%2F By Gene HealyRecently, I've been blogging over at the Washington Examiner's lively "Beltway Confidential" site, mostly on the subject of congressional war powers and President Obama's Libyan adventure. Today's post, "Obama Makes 'Kinetic Military Action' on the English Language" has a little fun with the administration's wordgames and the legal rationales behind them. Other posts and a column on the subject are here, here, and here. Today also brings a pair of columns--in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, respectively--from conservative luminaries defending the notion that Obama has the constitutional power to bomb Libya without congressional authorization. Yoo, the legal architect of George W. Bush's Terror Presidency, chides Tea Party Republicans like Jason Chaffetz of Uta... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4636413 Sat, 26 Mar 2011 00:31:45 +0100 4636413 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4636417&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FRfPRr5HVj74%2F By George Scoville When is an entitlement not an entitlement, but a command? When a federal judge contradicts herself, of course. As the Arab League's influence over its own member states wanes, of course they support the creation of an international no-fly zone over Libya. Of course, there's really no such thing as a "Social Security trust fund." Should the United States and Saudi Arabia remain allies? Of course—but Washington should probably re-think the terms of the partnership. Of course, when George W. Bush was president, you couldn't go anywhere in Washington without seeing an anti-war protest. Where have they all gone? Friday Links is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4636417 Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:04:37 +0100 4636417 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4622228&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FBYJDNP1o0dQ%2F By George Scoville America's involvement in the war in Libya can't be justified on either security or humanitarian grounds. Obamacare can't be fixed, and now is the time to dismantle it. The no-fly zone over Libya can't mean good things for American politics or policy. Bureaucrats can't allocate goods more efficiently than market actors. President Obama can't blame former President Bush for Guantanamo Bay anymore: Tuesday Links is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4622228 Tue, 22 Mar 2011 14:19:38 +0100 4622228 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4615080&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOdE0M9UYEOc%2F By Christopher PrebleThis morning at the Skeptics, I blogged about a series of questions raised by the ongoing military operations against Libya. But I left room for one big question: Is the Weinberger/Powell Doctrine dead? Actually, it isn't a question. It's a statement: the doctrine that sought to prevent the United States from engaging in risky and counterproductive missions that had nothing to do with protecting U.S. vital interests (e.g. Lebanon 1983; Somalia, 1991; and Kosovo, 1999) is dead. Shovel dirt on it. To review, the doctrine was first coined by Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger, in a speech at the National Press Club in 1984. Weinberger was aided by a rising military officer, Colin Powell, who later adapted the concepts for his own purposes as National ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4615080 Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:00:55 +0100 4615080 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4615081&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FMS8NpV5DC1U%2F By George Scoville "The New Health Care Law: What a Difference a Year Makes," featuring a keynote address from constitutional attorney and counsel in Florida v. HHS David Rivkin, and panels including economist and former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Cato director of health policy Michael F. Cannon and vice president for legal affairs Roger Pilon, and many more, begins at 1pm Eastern today. Please join us as we stream the event at our new live events hub, or watch on Facebook. If you prefer television, the forum will be broadcast live on C-SPAN 2. "The next time gun-control advocates point to violence in Mexico and call for more restrictions on gun sales or a revived assault-weapons ban, they should consider that the problem may not be with the laws on the books, but with those who enf... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4615081 Mon, 21 Mar 2011 14:46:35 +0100 4615081 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4610795&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F8PneG7ZOVVw%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThere's an interesting debate in the blogosphere about whether President George W. Bush was a conservative. Here's a good summary of the discussion, along with lots of links. (I especially like this analysis since it cites my work.) I've already explained that Bush was a statist rather than a conservative, and you can find additional commentary from me here, here, here, and here. Simply stated, any president who doubles the burden of federal spending in just eight years is disqualified from being a conservative — unless the term is stripped of any meaning and conservatives no longer care about limited government and constitutional constraints on Washington. But if you don't want to read the blog posts I linked above, this chart should make clear that Bush was a big ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4610795 Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:55:13 +0100 4610795 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4565887&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F18vOaTm2NKA%2F By Tim LynchThis week Obama announced that he intends to prosecute prisoners before military tribunals.  The administration is taking pains to point out that Obama is not embracing the Bush policy.  These will be Obama's tribunals, not Bush's.  But since Mr. Obama's executive order can be revised or withdrawn at any time, the new and improved procedures do not amount to much.   The tribunals were wrongheaded under Bush and the critique applies equally well to Obama's "new" policy. As others have noted, Obama has now embraced tribunals, Gitmo, and the Patriot Act.    Bad news, but at least Obama kept his promises to end the wars and get us on a sound financial footing. For additional Cato work related to military tribunals, go here and here. Obama’s Military Tribunals is a ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4565887 Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:03:12 +0100 4565887 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4544943&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F6jeuUQdVw-o%2F By Daniel GriswoldPresident Obama and Mexican President Calderon announced this afternoon that the U.S. government will finally allow qualified, safety certified Mexican truckers to deliver goods in the United States, fulfilling a commitment our government made more than 17 years ago in the North American Free Trade Agreement. It’s about time. America’s violation of the agreement had resulted in sanctions against $2.4 billion worth of U.S. exports to Mexico. According to one press report today, The plan, announced at a news conference by the two presidents, will allow for half of those tariffs to be lifted immediately. It will establish a reciprocal, phased-in pilot program that allows Mexican trucks to operate inside the U.S. provided they comply with a series of safety and driver-ski... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4544943 Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:59:44 +0100 4544943 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4536448&cid=t_109160_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2Ffv2Jsa06fpQ%2F Some of the biggest drugmakers do not have a good track record when it comes time for FDA inspectors to visit their plants. Overall, the FDA found violations at 54 percent of plants inspected last year, up 20 percent from a decade low in 2007, according to data obtained from the agency by Bloomberg News. And 80 drugmakers failed more than half of their inspections. Who led the pack? Pacira Pharmaceuticals, which makes painkillers sold in hospitals, was the worst offender among publicly traded drugmakers with an 82 percent failure rate during 11 inspections. Abbott Labs failed 59 percent of 111 inspections; Pfizer flunked 57 percent of 202 inspections; Merck bombed out on 52 percent of 134 visits and Johnson & Johnson failed 48 percent of 161 inspections. By contrast Mylan passed 79 pe... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4536448 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 15:14:42 +0100 4536448 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4536052&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FrAKm_FwW5es%2F By Malou InnocentIn 2008, the election of President Barack Obama was widely touted as a repudiation of President George W. Bush’s messianic vision that “Our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity—men and women—to reach their full potential.” In the years following America’s failed democratic experiment in Iraq, many Americans began to spurn the Bush era’s presumptuous conviction that “We have the power to make the world we seek.” Liberals in particular roundly rejected the supposed “unyielding belief” that America is called to lead the cause of “rule of law” and “the equal administration of justice” around the world. Such pious declarations are in keeping with Bush’s neo-Wilsonian foreign policy.  Does it surprise you then, that all of ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4536052 Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:36:22 +0100 4536052 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4545031&cid=t_109160_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fv%2FNnYiPbIAzEQ%3Fhl%3Den%26amp%3Bfs%3D1 As has become custom at HIMSS, I sat down with Jonathan Bush, chairman, CEO and president of athenahealth, at the 2011 conference in Orlando, Fla., last week. But due to some technical difficulties in getting the room we thought we had reserved and in getting my audio recorder to work (OK, OK, I didn’t have fresh batteries on me), I busted out the HD video camera. (Wouldn’t you know, the battery was losing steam there, too, so I had to plug the camera in. I have since determined that the USB port wasn’t working, so I exchanged it this past weekend. But I seriously digress.) In this interview, we talk athena’s business, meaningful use, 5010/ICD-10, ACOs, cloud computing and health reform. We poke a little fun at the “boat show” that the vendor expo has be... Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4545031 Mon, 28 Feb 2011 14:00:18 +0100 4545031 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4507262&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FA4YRqrIWVIY%2F By Daniel J. MitchellAmerica faces a fiscal crisis. The burden of federal spending has doubled during the Bush-Obama years, a $2 trillion increase in just 10 years. But that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Because of demographic changes and poorly designed entitlement programs, the federal budget is going to consume larger and larger shares of America's economic output in coming decades. For all intents and purposes, the United States appears doomed to become a bankrupt welfare state like Greece. But we can save ourselves. A previous video showed how both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton achieved positive fiscal changes by limiting the growth of federal spending, with particular emphasis on reductions in the burden of domestic spending. This new video from the Center for Freedom an... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4507262 Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:16:41 +0100 4507262 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4477695&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FK3uc-XQxohY%2F By Tad DeHavenThe George W. Bush administration ushered in a new era of big government. The Obama administration has built on Bush's profligacy, and the president's new fiscal 2012 budget proposal would further cement the trend. Spending as a percentage of GDP has increased dramatically since the surplus years of the late 1990s. As the chart shows, the president’s budget once again seeks a permanently high level of federal spending as a share of the economy: While the numbers drop from their stimulus- and recession-induced highs, it is not because the president has suddenly decided that he desires a less active government. Rather, optimistic economic assumptions largely account for the slight retrenchment. Tax increases and optimistic economic assumptions explain the projected rise in r... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4477695 Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:04:15 +0100 4477695 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4477705&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FwJFsb7B85WQ%2F By Daniel J. MitchellPresident Obama unveiled his fiscal year 2012 budget today, and there's good news and bad news. The good news is that there's no major initiative such as the so-called stimulus scheme or the government-run healthcare proposal. The bad news, though, is that government is far too big and Obama's budget does nothing to address this problem. But perhaps the folks on Capitol Hill will be more responsible and actually try to save America from becoming a big-government, European-style welfare state. The solution may not be easy, but it is simple. Lawmakers merely need to restrain the growth of government spending so that it grows slower than the private economy. Actual spending cuts would be the best option, of course, but limiting the growth of spending is all that's needed ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4477705 Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:17:13 +0100 4477705 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4436939&cid=t_109160_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FsCHNSKX3aBI%2F The ongoing shortage of a drug used for prison executions has now ensnared the FDA. Six inmates on death row in prisons in Arizona, California and Tennesse yesterday filed a lawsuit claiming the agency violated federal law by allowing the states to import thiopental sodium, even though there was no official review for safety and effectiveness. In other words, there are no approved suppliers. The shortage began when Hospira stopped making thiopental in 2009, prompting prisons to seek alternates. Last month, the FDA decided to permit imports, but declined to vouch for the meds, even though one recent execution may have involved an expired import (back story). “Reviewing substances imported or used for the purpose of state-authorized lethal injection clearly falls outside of FDA’s exp... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4436939 Fri, 04 Feb 2011 23:53:10 +0100 4436939 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4429001&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FeTTbx3E-cfM%2F By Daniel J. MitchellRonald Reagan would have been 100 years old on February 6, so let’s celebrate his life by comparing the success of his pro-market policies with the failure of Barack Obama’s policies (which are basically a continuation of George W. Bush’s policies, so this is not a partisan jab). The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis has a fascinating (at least for economic geeks) interactive webpage that allows readers to compare economic downturns and recoveries, both on the basis of output and employment. The results are remarkable. Reagan focused on reducing the burden of government and the economy responded. Obama (and Bush) tried the opposite approach, but spending, bailouts, and intervention have not worked. This first chart shows economic output. The employ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4429001 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:05:52 +0100 4429001 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4411506&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F62l8IwsAU44%2F By David BoazKarl Rove, the architect of Republican victories in 2000 and 2004 and Democratic victories in 2006 and 2008, denounces President Obama’s “spending binge” and “liberal activism” as described in the State of the Union address. The Wall Street Journal‘s tagline on the column is, “On Tuesday, Republicans offered an alternative to the president’s big-government vision.” What Rove omits is that he and President Bush started the spending binge, delivered big government, and indeed came into office with a big-government vision, as Ed Crane pointed out in 1999. Just take a look at the analysis in Rove’s Wall Street Journal column: Most of his hour-long speech was a paean to liberal activism, as the president called for redoubl... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4411506 Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:17:38 +0100 4411506 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4360950&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FETzvB6mvXRI%2F By David BoazFrom a New York Times report on NBC’s interview: Former Vice President Dick Cheney . . .  said President Obama is likely to be a one-term president because his policies are unpopular with the public. “His overall approach to expanding the size of government, expanding the deficit, and giving more and more authority and power to the government over the private sector,” Mr. Cheney said in an interview with Jamie Gangel for NBC News. “Those are all weaknesses, as I look at Barack Obama. And I think he’ll be a one term President.” I recall the Bush-Cheney administration also came under criticism for “expanding the size of government, expanding the deficit, and giving more and more authority and power to the government,” and it didn’t preve... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4360950 Tue, 18 Jan 2011 22:26:55 +0100 4360950 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4349493&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FMlxQa9OOemg%2F By Justin LoganStuart Reid’s Twitter points to this Condi Rice discussion with Katie Couric in which the following exchange takes place over the decision to invade Iraq: RICE: …I’m also, frankly, just very glad [Saddam Hussein is] out of power. Now, to be frank, we tried to take him out of power without going to war. We tried to take him out of power by — we got a report from an Arab state that shall remain nameless that he would take a billion dollars to lead — to leave. We said, deal. Right? (Laughter.) We tried to (find ?) him – COURIC: Has that — has that been made public before? RICE: Yeah, I — it may be in President Bush’s book. I’m not sure. I don’t remember. But we did. We said, if he’ll go, everybody’s happy. A ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4349493 Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:10:34 +0100 4349493 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4337919&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FkHbk2m319fQ%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThanks to decades of reckless spending by European welfare states, the newspapers are filled with headlines about debt, default, contagion, and bankruptcy. We know that Greece and Ireland already have received direct bailouts, and other European welfare states are getting indirect bailouts from the European Central Bank, which is vying with the Federal Reserve in a contest to see which central bank can win the “Most Likely to Appease the Political Class” Award. But which nation will be the next domino to fall? Who will get the next direct bailout? Some people think total government debt is the key variable, and there’s been a lot of talk that debt levels of 90 percent of GDP represent some sort of fiscal Maginot Line. Once nations get above that level... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4337919 Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:53:45 +0100 4337919 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4326896&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FGaNTH6JFSS0%2F By David BoazVirginia governor Bob McDonnell must be a Bush Republican. The Washington Post reports today: Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell plans a massive spending campaign that he said would unclog state roads, award thousands more college degrees and spur job creation, part of an aggressive legislative agenda he is expected to roll out this week. McDonnell (R) will press lawmakers to approve a series of statewide projects he said would be paid in part through Virginia’s $403 million budget surplus, $337 million in higher-than-expected tax revenue, and $192 million generated through cuts and savings…. He plans to borrow nearly $3 billion over the next three years. That doesn’t sound like the agenda of a Reagan Republican or a Tea Party Republican. It sounds a lot like ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4326896 Sun, 09 Jan 2011 21:56:50 +0100 4326896 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4285184&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FP0YgTZ2LAps%2F By Tad DeHavenOver at Downsizing Government, we focused on the following issues this week: Taxpayers received a rare, albeit small and temporary, victory when a pork-laden omnibus bill died in the Senate. We’re now about to find out how serious Republicans are about cutting spending. Chris Edwards looks at breastfeeding and argues that bigger isn’t better when it comes to subsidies. “The nearest earthly approach to immortality is a bureau of the federal government.” Former President George W. Bush defends his abysmal spending record in his book Decision Points. Upon further review, perhaps the book should be retitled Deception Points. A new Cato essay discusses the problems of the U.S. Postal Service and concludes that taxpayers, consumers, and the broader economy would st... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4285184 Thu, 23 Dec 2010 20:43:58 +0100 4285184 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4277820&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FlzMi7K3F1hg%2F By Chris EdwardsFormer President George W. Bush’s book Decision Points is apparently selling quite well. The book includes a defense of the president’s fiscal record, and a table on page 447 compares Bush to prior presidents on spending and debt (you can see the table on Amazon’s search inside feature). One problem with the table is that Bush claims credit for the low spending and debt of President Clinton’s last year, fiscal 2001. The first budget Bush crafted was for fiscal 2002. Here are the data reported by Bush, and data recalculated to better reflect the budgets that each president had some control over. Figures are averages over the fiscal year periods, measured as a share of GDP: Decision Points Comparison: Clinton (1993-2000) 19.8%, Bush (2001-2008) 19.6%... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4277820 Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:03:18 +0100 4277820 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4258806&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=34470&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehealthcareblog.com%2Fthe_health_care_blog%2F2010%2F12%2Fwelcome-to-the-cloud-clan.html By JONATHAN BUSH I’m watching ads during the ballgame (I watched the kick-off and the ads—the rest, not so much) and who should be declaring itself a “cloud solution” but Microsoft?! See the ads here and here, in case you... (Source: The Health Care Blog) The Health Care Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4258806 Mon, 13 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4258806 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4233166&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fa_QwBH92uOI%2F By Doug BandowThe U.S. and South Korean governments have agreed to changes in the free trade agreement negotiated by the Bush administration. The president rightly lauded the FTA as a good deal for Americans: “This agreement shows the U.S. is willing to lead and compete in the global economy,” the president told reporters at the White House, calling it a triumph for American workers in fields from farming to aerospace.” Approving the FTA has taken on added urgency after the European Union negotiated a similar accord with the South. Once that agreement takes effect, Europeans would have better access than Americans to the world’s 13th largest economy. Protectionism is always foolish, but especially so when one’s competitors are promoting open markets. The accord also offer... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4233166 Mon, 06 Dec 2010 16:29:51 +0100 4233166 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4233170&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FoWhkg6aROzo%2F By Daniel J. MitchellMuch to my surprise, Senate Republicans held firm earlier today and blocked President Obama’s soak-the-rich proposal to raise tax rates next year on investors, entrepreneurs and small business owners. I fully expected that GOPers would fold on this issue several months ago because Democrats were using the class-warfare argument that Republicans were holding the middle class hostage in order to protect “millionaires and billionaires.” Republicans usually have a hard time fighting back against such demagoguery, and I was especially pessimistic since every Republican senator had to stay united to block Senate Democrats from pushing through Obama’s plan for higher tax rates on the so-called rich. But the GOP surprised me earlier this year with the... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4233170 Sat, 04 Dec 2010 22:27:38 +0100 4233170 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4230152&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FoWhkg6aROzo%2F By Daniel J. MitchellMuch to my surprise, Senate Republicans held firm earlier today and blocked President Obama’s soak-the-rich proposal to raise tax rates next year on investors, entrepreneurs and small business owners. I fully expected that GOPers would fold on this issue several months ago because Democrats were using the class-warfare argument that Republicans were holding the middle class hostage in order to protect “millionaires and billionaires.” Republicans usually have a hard time fighting back against such demagoguery, and I was especially pessimistic since every Republican senator had to stay united to block Senate Democrats from pushing through Obama’s plan for higher tax rates on the so-called rich. But the GOP surprised me earlier this year with the... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4230152 Sat, 04 Dec 2010 22:27:38 +0100 4230152 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4225227&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F62M3ZCtiK9Q%2F By David BoazIt looks like Republicans and Democrats may have made a deal on blocking the tax increases that loom on January 1. No details yet, but reports are that they will extend the current tax rates for one to three years. That means investors and businesses will face continuing uncertainty and the real prospect of a tax increase in one to three years. Unfortunately, pundits continue to use terms like “extending the Bush tax cuts” or “tax breaks for the wealthy.” In reality, American taxpayers have faced a particular range of personal income tax rates for the past eight years. If the 2001 and 2003 tax laws are allowed to expire, then Americans will see increased tax rates on income, dividends, capital gains, and estates. So the issue is not “tax cuts” or “tax breaks,”... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4225227 Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:34:49 +0100 4225227 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4214029&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=34470&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehealthcareblog.com%2Fthe_health_care_blog%2F2010%2F11%2Ffriends-with-benefits.html By JONATHAN BUSH What if one doctor could “friend” or “link in” with another for the purpose of patient exchange? Today when we hear people talk about clinical integration, they’re talking about financial integration…literally owning every stage of the treatment... (Source: The Health Care Blog) The Health Care Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4214029 Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4214029 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4214086&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F_2z-16QiXAc%2F By Daniel J. MitchellI’m understandably fond of my video exposing the flaws of Keynesian stimulus theory, but I think my former intern has an excellent contribution to the debate with this new 5-minute mini-documentary. The main insight of the mini-documentary is that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) only measures how national output is allocated between consumption, investment, and government. That’s useful information in many ways, but if we want more output, we should focus on Gross Domestic Income (GDI), which measures how national income is earned. Focusing on GDI hopefully would lead lawmakers to consider ways of boosting employee compensation, corporate profits, small business income, and other components of national income. Focusing on GDP, by contrast, is misguided since ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4214086 Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:56:30 +0100 4214086 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4179303&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYxlU1guvzQA%2F By Daniel IkensonThere seems to be a lot of confusion about the meaning of GM’s IPO today.  A common narrative in today’s media is that GM’s return to the stock market affirms the wisdom of the auto bailout.  Some tougher customers in the media insist on a higher threshold being met—that taxpayers get back the entirety of their $50 billion investment in GM—before declaring “mission accomplished.” And then there are the rabid partisans who—in their seething animosity toward the Obama administration—reach conclusions devoid of logic and rich only in conspiratorial-mindedness.  For example, yesterday I was contacted by a media outlet vetting this conclusion: “The IPO is evidence of the failure of the bailout because taxpayers were excluded from buyin... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4179303 Thu, 18 Nov 2010 20:59:37 +0100 4179303 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4164667&cid=t_109160_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2010%2F11%2F13%2Fobama-2012-exit-right%2F New cartoon by Trussell & Trussell on Politics Daily. Obama 2012: Exit Right. Not weak, Mr. President. Commitment-challenged. Filed under: Politics Daily Tagged: bush tax cut, democrat, election 2012, health care reform, obama, political cartoon, robert donna trussell, yes we can (Source: Donna Trussell) Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4164667 Sun, 14 Nov 2010 01:59:01 +0100 4164667 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4164519&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FQhtvYHK4SLE%2F By David BoazMuch of the media discussion of the massive tax increase that looms on January 1 uses terms like “extending the Bush tax cuts” or “tax breaks for the wealthy.” In fact, American taxpayers have faced a particular range of personal income tax rates for the past eight years. If the 2001 and 2003 tax laws are allowed to expire, then Americans will see increased tax rates on income, dividends, capital gains, and estates. So the issue is not “tax cuts” or “tax breaks,” it’s whether we should increase taxes in 2011. It’s good to see that President Obama understands this. At a news conference at the end of the G-20 Summit on Friday, he said: I want to make sure that taxes don’t go up for middle class families starting o... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4164519 Sat, 13 Nov 2010 21:10:48 +0100 4164519 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4159276&cid=t_109160_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSciencebaseScienceBlog%2F%7E3%2FZfVMnbGkAHs%2Falcohol-effects-giant-testicles-pennycress-diesel.html An alcoholic FAQ – Aspirin and other drugs prevent the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (found in the stomach and liver) from breaking down alcohol, thus slowing the liver’s ability to metabolise alcohol and so it accumulates in your blood faster and has longer-lasting effects, which means you get drunk faster and say drunk longer, but you will have an almighty hangover too (one that aspirin will not cure) The biggest balls of all – The largest testicles by mass as a proportion of body mass are those of the bush cricket. According to behavioural ecologist Karim Vahed who has presumably had a good look, the tuberous bush cricket has testes accounting for 14% of its body mass. Making pennycress pay its way – I'd never heard of this weed until today, but apparently, p... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4159276 Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:29:19 +0100 4159276 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4151855&cid=t_109160_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSciencebaseScienceBlog%2F%7E3%2FZfVMnbGkAHs%2Falcohol-effects-giant-testicles-pennycress-diesel.html An alcoholic FAQ – Aspirin and other drugs prevent the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (found in the stomach and liver) from breaking down alcohol, thus slowing the liver’s ability to metabolise alcohol and so it accumulates in your blood faster and has longer-lasting effects, which means you get drunk faster and say drunk longer, but you will have an almighty hangover too (one that aspirin will not cure) The biggest balls of all – The largest testicles by mass as a proportion of body mass are those of the bush cricket. According to behavioural ecologist Karim Vahed who has presumably had a good look, the tuberous bush cricket has testes accounting for 14% of its body mass. Making pennycress pay its way – I'd never heard of this weed until today, but apparently, p... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4151855 Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:29:19 +0100 4151855 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4133600&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=34470&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehealthcareblog.com%2Fthe_health_care_blog%2F2010%2F11%2Fthe-emr-cage-match-results.html By JONATHAN BUSH It turns out, there was no cage at the experimental debate earlier in October between me and Girish Kumar Navani of eClinicalWorks. And Girish was wearing a shirt…and no mask. These, plus other anticlimaxes, sent our PR... (Source: The Health Care Blog) The Health Care Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4133600 Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4133600 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4097905&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FmON0D8QzICM%2F By Daniel J. MitchellGallup just released a poll showing that 46 percent of Americans view the federal government as an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary Americans. My first reaction was to wonder why the number was so low. After all, we have a political elite that wants to do everything from control our health care to monitor our financial transactions. But a secondary set of numbers is even more remarkable. As seen in this chart, both Republicans and Democrats tend to view the federal government as a threat mostly when the White House is controlled by the other party. This complacency is very unfortunate. Republicans presumably want to limit government control over the economy, yet it was the Bush Administration that put in place policies such as Sarbanes-Oxley, th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4097905 Thu, 21 Oct 2010 19:31:22 +0100 4097905 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4073983&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=34470&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehealthcareblog.com%2Fthe_health_care_blog%2F2010%2F10%2Fwhats-your-platform.html By JONATHAN BUSH We’ve done some heavy dipping into the world of policy recently. In mid-September, I spent a day in Washington, D.C., with friend and advisor Tom Scully meeting researchers, senators, and a congressman. We heard from “ONCHIT” that... (Source: The Health Care Blog) The Health Care Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4073983 Thu, 14 Oct 2010 23:00:00 +0100 4073983 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4036631&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F0DmXBgK2qaY%2F By Daniel J. MitchellI dislike taxes as much as the next person (and probably a lot more), but other policies matter as well, so if I had the choice of replacing current government policies with the ones that existed at the end of the Clinton years, I would gladly make that trade. Yes, it would mean higher tax rates, but it also would mean slashing government spending from 24 percent of GDP down to 18 percent of GDP. It would mean no sleazy TARP bailout, no Sarbanes-Oxley red tape, no expansion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and no added power and authority for the federal government. This is the argument that I made in this interview on CNBC, though my opponent tried to do his version of the Brezhnev Doctrine (what’s mine is mine, what’s yours is negotiable), so I concluded th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4036631 Tue, 05 Oct 2010 19:24:43 +0100 4036631 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4031317&cid=t_109160_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F10%2F05%2Fthe-situation-of-high-marginal-income-tax-rates-and-motivation%2F A leading rationale against progressively higher income tax rates for top-earners is that high taxes will dissuade them from working hard, being innovative, or trying to be the best at whatever they do. This rationale has seemingly prevented a return of the very high marginal income tax rates used between 1951 and 1963, when taxable personal income over $400,000 was taxed to the tune of 91% by the federal government. Now-a-days, taxable personal income over $373,650 is taxed at 35% by the federal government (the percent will increase to 39.6% in 2011 if the Bush tax cuts are not extended or made permanent.  39.6% was used during the Clinton years.  When combining many states’ income taxes, the effective rate would–at least for those high-earners living in states with progres... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4031317 Tue, 05 Oct 2010 04:01:09 +0100 4031317 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4031180&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=34470&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehealthcareblog.com%2Fthe_health_care_blog%2F2010%2F10%2Fseeds-of-destruction.html By JONATHAN BUSH I never used to talk much with hospital CEOs. After all, if you’re running a hospital, improving the revenues of the physician practice by 6%, when the physician revenues only make up 10% of your overall revenues,... (Source: The Health Care Blog) The Health Care Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4031180 Sun, 03 Oct 2010 23:00:00 +0100 4031180 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3972902&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F8Nt4jEtPUQQ%2F By Tad DeHavenMost of the debate over extending the Bush tax cuts has focused on whether to extend slightly lower marginal rates for higher earners who already bear a huge burden. But at the other end of the income spectrum, a growing share of Americans don’t pay income taxes. Indeed, the Bush tax cuts increased the share of U.S. households that pay no income taxes. From the Wall Street Journal: Efforts to tame America’s ballooning budget deficit could soon confront a daunting reality: Nearly half of all Americans live in a household in which someone receives government benefits, more than at any time in history. At the same time, the fraction of American households not paying federal income taxes has also grown—to an estimated 45% in 2010, from 39% five years ago, according to t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3972902 Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:00:49 +0100 3972902 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3954228&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F_xVwx6kegIc%2F By Mark A. CalabriaLike President Bush before him, Obama has a knack for taking the worst ideas of his opponents and making them his own.  It is truly bipartisanship in the worst of ways (think Sarbanes-Oxley, the TARP or No Child Left Behind).  The newest example is the President’s proposed “infrastructure bank.”  A bill along those lines was introduced a few years ago by then Senator Hagel, although the idea is far from new. First, let’s get out of the way the myth that we have been “under-funding” intrastructure.  Take the largest, and usually most popular, piece:  transportation.  Over the last decade, transportation spending at all levels of government has increased over 70 percent.  One can debate if that money has been spent wisely, but the... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3954228 Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:03:26 +0100 3954228 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3938416&cid=t_109160_117_f&fid=38856&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.timemastermd.com%2F%3Fp%3D1126 A recent study definitively proved that women’s body goes into sexual overdrive when she smells testosterone.  Her body prepares for a booty call when a whiff of androstadienone – a form of testosterone found in male sweat hits her nostrils. This is unavoidable, unintentional, and entirely animalistic! Do you think it is a coincidence P. Wentz took Ashlee Simpson to basketball gym? He had to hire sweat with substance!  Wentz has less testosterone than Lady Gaga!   Ashlee, her sister Jessica Simpson, and Pud Wentz also gets excited around sweaty men with orange balls I hear. Girls with bigger nostrils should therefore have  legs up on other females with smaller proboscises when it comes to seeking male partners.  Paris Hilton knows about about legs up, and now we know wh... Timemaster MD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3938416 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:24:37 +0100 3938416 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3920826&cid=t_109160_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=3907587&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FiC5M7-NXd2s%2F By David BoazE. J. Dionne writes in the Washington Post today that many Republicans think the George W. Bush administration was “too ready to run up the deficit.” But, he says, That the deficit increased primarily because of two tax cuts and two wars was not part of most conservatives’ calculation because acknowledging this was ideologically inconvenient. That’s one explanation. Of course, spending did rise by more than a trillion dollars during Bush’s eight years, and it wasn’t all military spending. And as Michael Tanner writes today, “The Deficit Is a Symptom, Spending Is the Disease.” Traditionally, federal spending has run around 21 percent of GDP. But George W. Bush and (even more dramatically) Barack Obama have now driven federal spend... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3907587 Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:21:00 +0100 3907587 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3885332&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FyJGSdDLReOg%2F Several of today’s front pages feature iconic images of U.S. troops marching onto troop transports and into the sunset in Iraq. Today’s story by Ernesto Londoño in the Washington Post, features Lt. Col. Mark Bieger of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division,  “This is a historic mission!” Beiger bellows as his troops prepared to depart Baghdad for the last time, ”A truly historic end to seven years of war.” No disrespect to Col. Bieger and his troops, but the war isn’t over, and it won’t be so long as there are significant number of U.S. troops in Iraq at risk of being caught in the cross-fire of a sectarian civil war. The Iraqi government, more than five months after nationwide elections, remains in limbo. Talks over a power shari... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3885332 Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:40:04 +0100 3885332 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3880845&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fs4kbUW4ySfU%2F Some leaders within the Republican Party seem to have fixed on a useful club with which to bludgeon the president and his fellow Democrats — Cordoba House, aka the “Ground Zero” Mosque. Over the weekend, Republican strategist Ed Rollins explained how the party would use the issue in the coming months: ROLLINS: Intellectually, the president may be right, but this is an emotional issue, and people who lost kids, brothers, sisters, fathers, what have you, do not want that mosque in New York, and it’s going to be a big, big issue for Democrats across this country. “Face the Nation” Host Bob SCHIEFFER: So you see it as an issue that’s going to continue? ROLLINS: Absolutely. No question about it. Every candidate — every candidate who’s in t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3880845 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:51:51 +0100 3880845 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3861996&cid=t_109160_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=3858138&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FUmTu15HUr5o%2F By Daniel J. MitchellI’m still dealing with the statist echo chamber, having been hit with two additional attacks for the supposed sin of endorsing Reaganomics over Obamanomics (my responses to the other attacks can be found here and here). Some guy at the Atlantic Monthly named Steve Benen issued a critique focusing on the timing of the recession and recovery in Reagan’s first term. He reproduces a Krugman chart (see below) and also adds his own commentary. Reagan’s first big tax cut was signed in August 1981. Over the next year or so, unemployment went from just over 7% to just under 11%. In September 1982, Reagan raised taxes, and unemployment fell soon after. We’re all aware, of course, of the correlation/causation dynamic, but as Krugman noted in January, &#822... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3858138 Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:39:11 +0100 3858138 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3854712&cid=t_109160_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2010%2F08%2F10%2Fgop-on-the-deficit-what-part-of-balance-the-budget-dont-you-understand%2F New cartoon by Trussell & Trussell on Politics Daily. GOP on the Deficit: What Part of ‘Balance the Budget’ Don’t You Understand? Filed under: Politics Daily Tagged: bush tax cut, comics, deficit, democrat, political cartoon, republican, unemployment benefits (Source: Donna Trussell) Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3854712 Wed, 11 Aug 2010 03:13:43 +0100 3854712 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3831315&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=34470&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehealthcareblog.com%2Fthe_health_care_blog%2F2010%2F08%2Femrs-checklists-and-meeting-atul.html By JONATHAN BUSH Recently, I got to shake hands with and also have lunch with doctor-writer extraordinaire Atul Gawande! He was nearly everything I had made him out to be. He wore a snappy blue blazer, a jumble of ID... (Source: The Health Care Blog) The Health Care Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3831315 Thu, 05 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3831315 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3802554&cid=t_109160_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2010%2F07%2F29%2Fafghanistan-obama-and-the-man-in-the-mirror%2F New cartoon by Trussell & Trussell on Politics Daily. Afghanistan, Obama and the Man in the Mirror. Filed under: Politics Daily Tagged: afghanistan, comics, george w bush, obama, political cartoon, war (Source: Donna Trussell) Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3802554 Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:29:39 +0100 3802554 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3790690&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F5u2jrZzk8jo%2F By Chris EdwardsThe debate on extending the Bush tax cuts has begun. Those opposed to extension argue that the cuts would greatly increase the federal deficit. The first thing to note is that extending all the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts would lose the government about $216 billion a year in 2012 and rising amounts after that (see page 16). By contrast, federal spending in 2011 will be almost $2 trillion higher than in 2001 when the first Bush tax cuts were passed. Thus, in a rough sense, spending increases have had a nine times greater impact on our changed budget situation since 2001 than have tax cuts. How big were the Bush tax cuts compared to previous tax legislation? One way to compare different tax bills is to look at the initial projections of the effects when they were passed... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3790690 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:43:52 +0100 3790690 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3757850&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fg0Zva-ruO1Q%2F By Tad DeHavenA recent paper by Veronique de Rugy examines how policymakers use various budgeting gimmicks to increase spending and obscure liabilities. One particularly abusive mechanism is the designation of supplemental spending as an “emergency.” The emergency designation makes it easier for policymakers to skirt budgetary rules, particularly “pay-as-you-go” (PAYGO) requirements. The following chart from the paper shows how supplemental spending, most of which was designated as “emergency,” has taken off in the last decade: As the chart notes, much of the increase is attributable to supplemental appropriations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Bush administration was rightly criticized by analysts across the ideological spectrum for funding the wars outside of the ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3757850 Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:59:40 +0100 3757850 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3721755&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FUVtuLr3JLis%2F By David BoazAt Politico Arena, the question of the day is: A new Siena College poll ranks Barack Obama as the 15th best U.S. president (landing him below Bill Clinton, ahead of Ronald Reagan). Franklin Delano Roosevelt earned top honors, while Andrew Johnson was last. Pollsters say Obama is high on imagination, communication and intelligence, but weak on background. On your list of best presidents, where would President Obama land? Who was the best president, and who was the worst? I responded: Of course Obama ought to be given an incomplete. But he got a Nobel Peace Prize purely on spec. He does now have 18 months of presidential action, and he has already done many things that establishment political scientists like. Presidential scholars love presidents who expand the size, scope and p... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3721755 Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:03:23 +0100 3721755 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3710546&cid=t_109160_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_109160_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=3665958&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F8ioEw_gRbHc%2F By Daniel GriswoldFormer Reagan speechwriter Peter Robinson tries to answer that very good question in an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal. It’s a question my conservative Republican friends should ask themselves as the party tries, once again, to turn public opposition to illegal immigration into political success at the polls. Robinson correctly observes that Reagan would have had nothing to do with the anger and inflamed rhetoric that so often marks the immigration debate today. “Ronald Reagan was no kind of nativist,” he concludes, noting that Reagan was always reaching out to voters beyond the traditional Republican base, including the fast-growing Hispanic population. It’s worth remembering that Reagan signed the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which ope... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3665958 Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:32:07 +0100 3665958 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3665960&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F970q7bQwFEs%2F By Daniel J. MitchellEven though the Obama Administration claimed that squandering $800 billion on so-called stimulus would  keep the joblessness rate below 8 percent, the unemployment rate today is almost 10 percent. There are many reasons for the economy’s tepid performance, including a larger burden of government spending and the dampening effect of future tax rate increases (tax rates will jump significantly on January 1, 2011, when the 2003 tax cuts expire). A closer look at the unemployment data, though , suggests that minimum wage laws also deserve a big share of the blame. In this Center for Freedom and Prosperity video, a former intern of mine (continuing a great tradition) explains that politicians destroyed jobs when they increased the minimum wage by more than 40 per... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3665960 Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:30:11 +0100 3665960 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3629621&cid=t_109160_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_109160_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=3577385&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FZTW5FqSefH4%2F By Tim LynchAn atrocious ruling from the Supreme Court yesterday in United States v. Comstock, as has been noted.  It is no real surprise that the liberals on the Court ruled the way they did.  They believe in big government and need a way to get around a Constitution that set up a federal government of limited and enumerated powers.  Thus, we are told a “living” Constitution “evolves” in such a way as to accomodate the administrative state that is all around us.  But the law at issue in the Comstock case did not arise during the Clinton years.  The Adam Walsh Child Protection Act was championed by conservative legislators  in the Congress and signed by Bush. Until the Comstock ruling was issued, court watchers were unsure of how committed Bush’s Sup... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3577385 Tue, 18 May 2010 21:01:00 +0100 3577385 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3569784&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36050&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblisstree.com%2Flive%2Flast-weeks-10-best-posts-from-crushable%2F Image from "Tiny Furniture" trailer on Vimeo Our sister site, Crushable, published some kick-ass posts last week. Here are our top ten faves: 1. Sarah Jessica Parker: “Sex and the City 2″ Cast Grew Closer While Filming in the Middle East 2. Video: Laura Bush Is All for Gays and Abortions Now 3. New Fake Trend: “Gender Disappointment” In Your Baby 4. The Death of “Law and Order” 5. Lines That Won’t Get You Laid: “I Totally Relate to Don Draper” 6. Stars on the Spot: Do You Have an Emergency Escape Plan? 7. Cutegreggator: 23 Adorable Baby Dolphins 8. Would You Post Your Prom Dress Online? 9. Crushable Questionnaire: Elizabeth Spiers 10. Anonymous Celebrity: Lena Dunham Hits Big With “Tiny Furniture” Post from: BlissT... Breastfeeding 1-2-3 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3569784 Sun, 16 May 2010 18:00:33 +0100 3569784 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3563951&cid=t_109160_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=3560330&cid=t_109160_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fattention-doctors-and-vendors-selling-patient-data-without-informed-consent-now-federal-crime Another misguided, uninformed EHR vendor will discount the price of EHR software for doctors willing to sell patient data! According to CEO Jonathan Bush, "Athena might be able to halve the amount that physicians pay to use its EHR."   Great business plan: Entice doctors to violate the law and the Hippocratic Oath.   (See the story on Athenahealth).   (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3560330 Thu, 13 May 2010 13:35:24 +0100 3560330 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3556069&cid=t_109160_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=3552405&cid=t_109160_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fdoes-ehr-incentive-program-favor-licensed-software-companies Jonathan Bush, CEO of Athenahealth, said that the federal stimulus funds for EHR adoption give an unfair advantage for the traditional software license companies. He has a point up to a certain point. (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3552405 Tue, 11 May 2010 13:05:00 +0100 3552405 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3530033&cid=t_109160_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FpRdqsbzwpcs%2F As the BIO convention gets under way today in Chicago and the thousands of attendees look forward to keynote speeches by former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush on Tuesday, and former Vice President Al Gore on Wednesday, some folks will be precluded from the events. Who? The media. Not only will journalists be barred from the room, but there will be no feed to the press room, either. The stated reason, according to a BIO spokeswoman, is that the trade group is simply adopting this particular policy this year. No further explanation was given, although presumably speakers may feel freer to say certain things when the media isn’t around. Of course, this doesn’t mean some attendees won’t Tweet, unless BIO finds a way to prevent that as well. There is precedent for ... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3530033 Mon, 03 May 2010 16:41:17 +0100 3530033 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3471772&cid=t_109160_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=3460151&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fp-ta1-uWmjQ%2F This article by Veronique de Rugy is probably a good place to begin since it compares all Presidents and shows that Bush was a big spender compared to Reagan…and to Clinton. Chris Edwards has similar data, capturing all eight years of Bush’s tenure. But the most damning evidence comes from the OMB’s Historical Tables, which show that Reagan reduced both entitlements and domestic discretionary spending as a share of GDP during his two terms.  Bush (and I hope nobody is surprised) increased the burden of spending in both of these categories.That’s the spending side of the ledger. Let’s now turn to tax policy, where Thiessen writes: Bush enacted the largest tax cuts in history — and unlike my personal hero, Ronald Reagan, he never signed a major tax increa... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3460151 Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:39:32 +0100 3460151 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3432864&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F3pfaF9XQCho%2F By Tim LynchThe BBC has put together an interesting documentary on the writ of habeas corpus, a legal concept most people have heard of, but too few understand and appreciate. You can stream it here. We should not forget that President Bush and the coterie of lawyers around him tried to advance a theory of executive power that would have made the writ of habeas corpus worthless.  I hasten to add that President Obama has not really disavowed Bush’s claims and so the danger to the great writ has not passed just because Bush has left office. Related video clip of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez here.  Related Cato work here, here,  and here. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3432864 Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:40:10 +0100 3432864 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3429161&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FryT-nxDPSAo%2F By Tim LynchThat’s the finding by Federal Judge Vaughn Walker in a ruling made late yesterday.  As the news reports note, Obama’s lawyers came into court to defend Bush’s policy–so that’s two administrations acting contrary to law. The ruling itself can be found here (H/T to the How Appealing blog).  For related Cato work, go here and here. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3429161 Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:29:41 +0100 3429161 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3424954&cid=t_109160_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F1rlTMgJJbYo%2F I’m always amazed at the ability of businesses to innovate and find new ways to build their business. One of the impressive ones I’ve seen lately is Athena Health’s EHR stimulus guarantee program. Yes, you might remember that I’ve written about the EMR stimulus guarantees before. Seems like most EMR vendors are providing some sort of guarantee or promise about the EMR stimulus money. Of course, the Athena Health EHR stimulus guarantee is probably the strongest guarantee I’ve seen. Most other EHR stimulus guarantees still require that the end user fulfill their part of the bargain or else there is no guarantee. Makes sense right? How can an EMR vendor guarantee that you’re going to actually meaningfully use their EHR software? You are the one that’s... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3424954 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:38:45 +0100 3424954 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3382803&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FgyutLzFlzco%2F By David BoazIt’s that time of year again, when friends start telling me about this or that candidate I should support because he or she is a dedicated defender of liberty and limited government. I’m a political junkie, so I love getting these recommendations. But I don’t end up supporting or contributing to many candidates. In my view, it’s not enough for a candidate to say that he’s ”committed to slashing wasteful spending, providing tax relief, and eliminating red tape.” What’s your actual tax plan? What spending do you propose to cut or eliminate? Not many of them offer clear answers to that. And liberty involves more than just economics. Often I’m told, “Congressman X is a libertarian.” I always check, and then I say, ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3382803 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:16:27 +0100 3382803 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3335285&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FiEItZahRNDc%2F By Sallie JamesSen. John Kerry (D, MA) made an, er, interesting rhetorical case yesterday (as reported on E2 Wire, The Hill’s Energy and Environment blog) that borrows heavily from the Bush playbook: your patriotism hinges on voting for his favored policy — in this case, a climate change bill. Not that the bill is really about climate change, of course. It’s about a list of goodies completely unrelated to the changing political winds: What we are talking about is a jobs bill. It is not a climate bill. It is a jobs bill, and it is a clean air bill. It is a national security, energy independence bill,” he told reporters in the Capitol… “And people are going to have to decide whether they are going to vote for America or against it,” he concluded. (Source: Cato-... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3335285 Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:17:19 +0100 3335285 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3322345&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F0UC1gBFocaw%2F By Julian SanchezI’ve been meaning to follow up on Gene Healy’s post from last week on the interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects.  I share Gene’s bemusement at the howls emanating from Republicans who have abruptly decided that George Bush’s longstanding policy of dealing with terrorism cases through the criminal justice system is unacceptable with a Democrat in the White House.  But I also think it’s worth stressing that the arguments being offered — both in the specific case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and more generally — aren’t very persuasive even if we suppose that they’re not politically motivated. Two caveats.  First, folks on both sides would do well to take initial reports about the degree of cooperation terror ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3322345 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:45:01 +0100 3322345 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3302295&cid=t_109160_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=3298301&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FWyI3OXjBna0%2F By Gene HealyIn recent weeks, conservatives have worked themselves into a self-righteous lather over how the Obama administration handled the would-be Christmas bomber.  It’s a complaint you could hear again and again at last weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference: Mirandizing the 23-year-old Nigerian Muslim was a big mistake, the story goes, because it denied us valuable intelligence, and it’s just so typical of Barack Obama’s callow, weak, law-enforcement-oriented approach to the terrorist threat. As a constitutional matter, I’ve never been entirely comfortable with the Miranda decision, which smacks of judicial lawmaking, and I don’t think liberty stands or falls on whether one failed terrorist got read his rights.  In fact, I think Mirandizing Abdulmu... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3298301 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:39:03 +0100 3298301 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3294572&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FQ8KukpfAq1E%2F By Tad DeHavenThat is the title of a 2003 New York Times column by economist Paul Krugman. The gist of his column was that the Bush tax cuts and future entitlement program liabilities would usher in calamitous deficits. Setting aside the tax cut and entitlements issue, Krugman’s comments on the dangers of deficits are interesting considering seven years later Krugman is one of the most prominent supporters of massive deficit spending to stimulate the economy. Here are some selected Krugman quotes from the column: With war looming, it’s time to be prepared. So last week I switched to a fixed-rate mortgage. It means higher monthly payments, but I’m terrified about what will happen to interest rates once financial markets wake up to the implications of skyrocketing budget defici... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3294572 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:57:29 +0100 3294572 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3266889&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fj5XsHa47BeU%2F By Daniel J. MitchellIf you want to get depressed or angry, the New York Times has an article celebrating the effort by politicians at all levels of government to lure more people into the food stamp program. New York City is running ads in foreign languagues asking people to stick their snouts in the public trough. The City is even signing up prisoners when they get out of jail. The state of New York, meanwhile, actually set up quotas for enrolling new recipients. And on the federal level, there apparently is a program that gives states “bonuses” for putting more people on the dole. No wonder one out of every eight Americans is receiving food stamps. By the way, this is not just the fault of Democrats. The ranking Republican on the Agriculture Committee is a big defender of th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3266889 Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:04:46 +0100 3266889 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3246871&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FUSg6690jbRY%2F By Tad DeHavenOver at Downsizing Government, we focused on the following issues this week: Will Obama’s deficits turn out to be as low-balled as Bush’s? Obama blames Bush for his problems, but his new budget is worse. Obama’s budget would kill the Constellation program, but his budget still goes to the moon. The Federal Housing Administration bailout watch continues. There’s nothing “fiscally responsible” about Sen. Kent Conrad. The government is creating jobs — federal government jobs. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3246871 Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:29:49 +0100 3246871 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3239548&cid=t_109160_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=3231455&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FaP89vCC3svc%2F By Tad DeHavenExactly two years ago, George W. Bush released his final budget. Here’s what the Washington Post had to say: [T]he president’s budget envisions a big jump in the budget deficit, from $163 billion in 2007 to about $400 billion in 2008 and 2009. Much of that increase will be the result of a slowing economy and a stimulus package expected to cost about $150 billion. Today’s release of President Obama’s FY 2011 budget shows that those deficit prognostications were way off: Instead of a “big jump” to $400 billion in 2009, the actual deficit turned about to be a trillion dollars higher. Bush deserves most of the blame for that deficit, but the 2010 and 2011 deficits will be on Obama. The frightening prospect is that, like Bush, Obama’s future budget projections w... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3231455 Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:05:37 +0100 3231455 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3227720&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F3sNsaUG-6i0%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThe Office of Management and Budget has released the President’s FY2011 budget and the Congressional Budget Office has released its semi-annual Budget and Economic Outlook. Much of the coverage of these documents has focused on deficit numbers. This is not a trivial concern, particularly since the Bush-Obama policies of bigger government have dramatically boosted red ink. But the most important numbers in the budget documents are the estimates of what is happening to government spending. The good news is that burden of government spending is projected to decline over the next few years from about 25 percent of GDP to less than 23 percent of GDP. That’s the good news. The bad news is that federal government outlays only consumed 18.2 percent of economic out... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3227720 Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:06:27 +0100 3227720 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3223233&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FEnWGAlEdeTA%2F By Chris EdwardsFormer George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove enjoys complaining about the spendthrift ways of President Obama and the Democrats. But I noted in a Wall Street Journal letter today:  Annual average real spending grew faster under President George W. Bush than any president since Lyndon Johnson… Even leaving out defense, President Bush was the biggest spender since Republican Richard Nixon. My letter pointed to two prior op-eds by Rove, but he was at it again yesterday in the Journal. He said that his former boss “cut in half the growth of discretionary domestic spending from the sizzling 16 percent rate of President Bill Clinton’s last budget.” Call me crazy, but I don’t think supporting domestic spending growth of 8 percent during a time of v... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3223233 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:43:57 +0100 3223233 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3223467&cid=t_109160_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2010%2F01%2F29%2Fthe-obama-whisperers%2F New cartoon by Trussell & Trussell on AOL’s Politics Daily. The Obama Whisperers. Filed under: Politics Daily Tagged: chaos theory, george w bush, jimmy carter, obama, political cartoon, president (Source: Donna Trussell) Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3223467 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:38:18 +0100 3223467 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3200426&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F0dPQYKhI0_4%2F By Christopher PrebleLast week, Iraq’s independent electoral commission disqualified 511 candidates — most of them Sunnis — from running in the parliamentary elections scheduled for March. Today’s Washington Post reports that Vice President Joe Biden is hurrying off to Baghdad to try to convince the Iraqis to change their minds. U.S. troop withdrawals were supposed to accelerate after the elections were held and a new government seated. But the elections have already been postponed at least once, and the administration is worried that the obvious bias against Sunnis could stoke sectarian tensions. “U.S. officials are in a precarious position,” the Post story explains: They are stuck between the government they created and bolstered — a coalitio... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3200426 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:06:52 +0100 3200426 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3197608&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Ft6txusxMfOo%2F By Daniel J. MitchellGeorge Bush ranks as one of America’s most fiscally irresponsible presidents. He increased overall spending from $1.8 trillion to $3.5 trillion and most of that new spending was used to create or expand domestic programs (no-bureaucrat-left-behind education spending, pork-filled highway bills, sleazy Wall Street bailouts, corrupt farm spending, new Medicare entitlements, etc.) that are not legitimate functions of the federal government. So it is galling to see his former senior adviser writing columns complaining about Barack Obama being a big spender. Many of the criticisms about the Obama Administration in his latest WSJ column are correct, to be sure, but Karl Rove has zero moral authority to make those arguments. Moreover, Rove once again engages in sloppy or... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3197608 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:36:32 +0100 3197608 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3189126&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FaxTtFN283XA%2F By Chris Moody Gene Healy on today’s election in Massachusetts: “If Republican Scott Brown wins the Massachusetts special election Tuesday, the Bay State will have its first GOP senator since the era when disco was king. And Brown will have the much-derided Tea Party legions to thank.” Why opportunistic politicians need to stop using times of crisis for their own ends and let the next one go to waste. George W. Obama? “Bush’s successor—who actually taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago—is continuing much of the Bush-Cheney parallel government and, in some cases, is going much further in disregarding our laws and the international treaties we’ve signed.” Can Google beat China? Cato’s Timothy B. Lee tackles the questi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3189126 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:02:39 +0100 3189126 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3167092&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FgeFiJfl40nQ%2F By Doug BandowRemember when President George W. Bush was pushing war for democracy.  Excited neoconservatives promised that a new wave of democratization was about to roll through the Middle East, sweeping out authoritarian and anti-American regimes. Oops. Reports the Washington Times: The most significant finding of the latest report is the decline in freedom in the Middle East, [Arch Puddington] said. Three countries — Jordan, Yemen and Bahrain — were reclassified from “partly free” to “not free,” and freedoms declined in Morocco and Iran. “Freedom House saw the region as a whole as headed slightly in the right direction after 9/11,” he said. “But that has changed.” Not only are countries moving backwards, but America’s friends a... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3167092 Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:45:05 +0100 3167092 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3153355&cid=t_109160_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=3149030&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FD2SGI9kBI9g%2F By Daniel J. MitchellEven though I’ve been in Washington for almost 25 years, I still get shocked by the deceit and double-talk that characterizes this town. A perfect example can be found in today’s Wall Street Journal, which features a column by Karl Rove attacking President Obama for fiscal incontinence. I’m a big fan of condemning Obama’s big-government schemes, but Rove is the last person in the world who should be complaining about too much wasteful spending. After all, he was the top adviser to President Bush and the federal budget exploded during Bush’s eight years, climbing from $1.8 trillion to more than $3.5 trillion. More specifically, Rove was a leading proponent of the proposals that dramatically expanded the size and scope of the federal governm... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3149030 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:36:55 +0100 3149030 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3136683&cid=t_109160_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_109160_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=3133583&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FAdXDT33zON0%2F By David BoazThis is not the change we hoped for. President Obama rose to power on the basis of his early opposition to the Iraq war and his promise to end it. But after a year in the White House he has made both of George Bush’s wars his wars. Speaking of Iraq in February 2008, candidate Barack Obama said, “I opposed this war in 2002. I will bring this war to an end in 2009. It is time to bring our troops home.” The following month, under fire from Hillary Clinton, he reiterated, ”I was opposed to this war in 2002….I have been against it in 2002, 2003, 2004, 5, 6, 7, 8 and I will bring this war to an end in 2009. So don’t be confused.” Indeed, in his famous “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow” speech on the night ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3133583 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:22:13 +0100 3133583 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3111402&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FAakMJhyZahk%2F By Chris EdwardsThe Congressional Budget Office has released final budget numbers for fiscal year 2009. The numbers allow us to take a last look at the Bush administration’s record on spending from a statistical point of view. The following three charts show annual average real (or constant dollar) outlays during the tenures of recent presidents. Presidents were in office for either 4 or 8 budget years, except JFK (3 years), LBJ (5 years), Nixon (6 years), and Ford (2 years). President George W. Bush’s last year was fiscal 2009. Outlays that year were $3.522 trillion, according to the CBO. However, $108 billion was spending for the 2009 economic stimulus package passed under President Obama. Bush was thus roughly responsible for $3.414 trillion of spending in 2009, ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3111402 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:26:23 +0100 3111402 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3106720&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FUOSayk4FbN8%2F By Chris EdwardsIn November, the Congressional Budget Office released final budget numbers for fiscal year 2009. The numbers allow us to take a final look at the Bush administration’s record on spending from a statistical point of view. The following three charts show annual average real (or constant dollar) outlays during the tenures of recent presidents. Presidents were in office for either 4 or 8 budget years, except JFK (3 years), LBJ (5 years), Nixon (5 years), and Ford (3 years). The last year of spending that President George W. Bush was responsible for was fiscal 2009. The CBO says that outlays that year were $3.522 trillion. However, $108 billion was spending from the 2009 economic stimulus package, according to the CBO, which Bush was not responsible for. So I have as... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3106720 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:26:23 +0100 3106720 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3075483&cid=t_109160_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_109160_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=3067013&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FyefUWEV1P1c%2F By Patrick J. Michaels25,000 bureaucrats, factota, hangers on, and representatives of various environmental organizations have just converged on Copehagen for the UN’s latest “Conference of the Parties (COP) to its infamous 1992 climate treaty. Expect a lot of heat, not much light, and a punt right into our next election. President Obama says that the US will agree to a “politically binding” reduction of our emissions of carbon dioxide to a mere 17% of 2005 levels by 2050. This will allow the average American the carbon dioxide emission of the average citizen in 1867. Obama’s pronouncement has stepped all over the toes of the US Senate, which really doesn’t want to vote on similar legislation this election year. Jim Webb, a democrat heretofore very loyal to the President recent... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3067013 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:01:37 +0100 3067013 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3052128&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FqfczHlmalmQ%2F Barack Obama first became a credible presidential candidate on the basis of his antiwar credentials and his promise to change the way Washington works. But he has now made both of George Bush’s wars his wars. The Washington Post’s front-page analysis began, “President Obama assumed full ownership of the war in Afghanistan on Tuesday night…” The cover of the tabloid D.C. Express was even more blunt. Speaking of Iraq in February 2008, he said, “I opposed this war in 2002. I will bring this war to an end in 2009. It is time to bring our troops home.” Responding to Hillary Clinton’s criticisms in March 2008, he said, “I will bring this war to an end in 2009, so don’t be confused.” Now he is promising to end the Iraq war in 201... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3052128 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:38:15 +0100 3052128 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3044731&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FeRQDJdrSYEY%2F Reports have leaked out over the past week that President Obama will announce that he is sending additional troops into Afghanistan. The only question seems to be whether he will send 30,000, 40,000 or some number in between. That is, frankly, not a very important issue. And for all of his talk about “off ramps” for the United States if the Afghan government does not meet certain policy targets or “benchmarks,” the reality is that he is escalating our commitment. Since Obama has repeatedly asserted that the war in Afghanistan is a war of necessity, not a war of choice, his talk of off ramps is largely a bluff—and the Afghans probably know it. There are obvious hazards in equating one historical event with a development in a different setting and time period, but t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3044731 Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:54:07 +0100 3044731 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3039764&cid=t_109160_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=3015274&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FLqjgGYeZLeo%2F Just in time for Thanksgiving, the turkey has arrived: How Harry Reid’s health care “reform” bill is stuffed with extra costs. A few things you might not know about the Chrysler bankruptcy. Why you should not blame Obama for Bush’s 2009 deficit. Standing against the storm: Nien Chang, 1915-2009. Podcast: Think the Federal Reserve is independent? Think again. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3015274 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:04:29 +0100 3015274 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3008068&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYJpYxCCNmzA%2F Some critics are lambasting President Obama for record deficits. This is not a productive line of attack, largely because it puts the focus on the wrong variable. America’s fiscal problem is excessive government spending, and deficits are merely a symptom of that underlying disease. Moreover, if deficits are perceived as the problem, that means both spending restraint and higher taxes are solutions. The political class, needless to say, will choose the latter approach 99 percent of the time. A higher tax burden, however, simply means that debt-financed spending is replaced by tax-financed spending, which is akin to jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, or vice-versa. In addition to being theoretically misguided, critics sometimes blame Obama for things that are not his f... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3008068 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:17:59 +0100 3008068 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2993745&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYR_r2UvFCjM%2F Yesterday I thought I was reading the Onion.  The Washington Times headlined its article “Bush Warns of Dangers of too Much Government”: Former President George W. Bush said Thursday that America must resist the “temptation” to allow the government to take over the private sector, taking a subtle shot at his Democratic successor by warning that too much state intervention and protectionism will squelch the economic recovery. As the Obama administration has made far-reaching moves into the auto, real estate, health care and financial sectors to fight the economic recession, Mr. Bush, without mentioning the president by name, said, “The role of government is not to create wealth but to create the conditions that allow entrepreneurs and innovators to thrive. &#8... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2993745 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:44:00 +0100 2993745 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2993746&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FuKrznrefbVg%2F When the Bush administration started its misguided adventure in Iraq, the president and his Neocon chorus presumed that the U.S. would be acquiring a loyal, even obseqious ally.  With the American-subsidized bank embezzler Ahmed Chalabi in charge, Baghdad would create a Western-style democracy, enshrine women’s rights, recognize Israel, provide the U.S. with permanent military bases, and offer a new market for American businesses. Alas, we’ve struck out:  zero for five.  Although America’s uber-hawks bridled at reference to our “occupation” of Iraq, Iraqis had no hesitation in using the word and surprised the Bushies by demanding a deadline for the withdrawal of American forces.  And Iraqi opposition to the U.S. occupation has affected their attitude t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2993746 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:40:43 +0100 2993746 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2989130&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FcI191T_xNQw%2F Former President George W. Bush said Thursday that America must resist the “temptation” to allow the government to take over the private sector, taking a subtle shot at his Democratic successor by warning that too much state intervention and protectionism will squelch the economic recovery… “As the world recovers, we will face a temptation to replace the risk-and-reward model of the private sector with the blunt instruments of government spending and control. History shows that the greater threat to prosperity is not too little government involvement, but too much,” said Mr. Bush. Um, what? The president who expanded federal spending by more than a trillion dollars a year, before his disastrous last hundred days federalized education laid out “a smorgas... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2989130 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:49:19 +0100 2989130 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2898926&cid=t_109160_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_109160_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_109160_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_109160_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_109160_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_109160_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=2788502&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FyeCxe6_APHo%2F On the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and D.C., things are going much better than most of us dared hope in the initial aftermath of that horrible day.  We’re still a secure, prosperous, and relatively free country, and the fear-poisoned atmosphere that governed American politics for years after 9/11 has thankfully receded. Not everyone’s thankful, however.  Boisterous cable gabber Glenn Beck laments the return to normalcy. The website for Beck’s “9/12 Project” waxes nostalgic for the day after the worst terrorist attack in American history, a time when “We were united as Americans, standing together to protect the greatest nation ever created.” Beck’s purpose with the Project?  “We want to get everyone thinking like it is September... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2788502 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:07:00 +0100 2788502 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2766003&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F-zYKRXFN79Q%2F Glenn Greenwald, author of Cato’s much-discussed paper on the success of drug decriminalization in Portugal, writes about cults of presidential personality. He notes that Jay Nordlinger of National Review and other conservatives — not to mention a few libertarians — have criticized the Obama administration’s plan to broadcast a presidential speech into American schools and push teachers to post Obama quotes in their classrooms and encourage students to talk about how President Obama inspires them. Greenwald never actually defends the Obama plan. But he does argue that conservatives have short memories when they say that this is something unique. In particular, he reminds us of the notorious Monica Goodling’s questions to job candidates at the George W. Bush D... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2766003 Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:01:35 +0100 2766003 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2724817&cid=t_109160_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=2725004&cid=t_109160_117_f&fid=38856&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.timemastermd.com%2F%3Fp%3D648 Have you heard of the Flat Belly Diet or the Quik Trim Diet?   This sexy belly was not made with the Flat Belly or the Quik Trim Diets I can assure you! “A MUFA (monounsaturated fatty acid) at Every Meal” is the pitch from the proponents of this latest fad “diet” plan.  I can’t believe how popular some diet plans become, and now I am convinced that facts don’t matter, it’s all about the marketing.  This one has Yale and Prevention Magazing behind it, which is even more shocking.  I guess if Yale was in Florida it would be a D school, and we would stop sending them free lunch money.  Here’s what they’re saying, and I guess they’re doing it with a straight face.  MUFA’s  and weight loss? MUFA (MOO-fah)  is a term ... Timemaster MD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2725004 Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:15:06 +0100 2725004 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2703926&cid=t_109160_133_f&fid=35452&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.graphictruth.com%2F2009%2F08%2Fdont-piss-on-crazy-bush.html The thing about us cosmopolitan elitists is that we have learned that taking crazy people seriously can make you crazy. They USED to teach people in Journo 101 that you don't give credence to the incredible.It is fun at times to ridicule the ridiculous - but some things are so f.ing INHERENTLY ridiculous that pointing it out amounts to insulting the intelligence of any audience worth having.Rick Perlstein -- Birthers, Health Care Hecklers and the Rise of Right-Wing Rage - washingtonpost.com: "So the birthers, the anti-tax tea-partiers, the town hall hecklers -- these are 'either' the genuine grass roots or evil conspirators staging scenes for YouTube? The quiver on the lips of the man pushing the wheelchair, the crazed risk of carrying a pistol around a president -- too heartfelt to be an ... Graphictruth blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2703926 Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:37:00 +0100 2703926 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2588184&cid=t_109160_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=2570387&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FUMANFZ4yFM4%2F It’s fair to say that civil liberties and limited government were not high on President George W. Bush’s priorities list.  Indeed, they probably weren’t even on the list.  Candidate Barack Obama promised “change” when he took office, and change we have gotten.  The name of the president is different. Alas, the policies are much the same.  While it is true that President Obama has not made the same claims of unreviewable monarchical power for the chief executive–an important distinction–he has continued to sacrifice civil liberties for dubious security gains. Reports the New York Times: Civil libertarians recently accused President Obama of acting like former President George W. Bush, citing reports about Mr. Obama’s plans to detain terrorism ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2570387 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:58:38 +0100 2570387 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2556082&cid=t_109160_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=2414750&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FfyWjk_7L5nA%2F President Obama is expected to announce how his administration is going to prosecute prisoners for war crimes and perhaps other terrorist offenses.  Instead of civilian court, courts-martial, or new “national security courts,” Obama has apparently decided to embrace George W. Bush’s system of special military tribunals, but with some “modifications.” Glenn Greenwald slams Obama for seeking to create a “gentler” tribunal system and urges liberals to hold Obama to the same standards that were applied to Bush: What makes military commissions so pernicious is that they signal that anytime the government wants to imprison people but can’t obtain convictions under our normal system of justice, we’ll just create a brand new system that dimini... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2414750 Fri, 15 May 2009 15:22:48 +0100 2414750 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2398791&cid=t_109160_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F05%2F08%2Fbush-cheney-rumsfeld-and-tenet-guilty-2%2F More than 10,000 people cast their votes during the last year and a half in a virtual voting booth at www.LuciferEffect.com. Their judgments accord with the recent Senate Armed Services bipartisan report that blames Bush officials for detainee abuse. It also finds that the prison guards and interrogators were not the “true culprits.” The vast majority of these voters found all four Bush officials guilty of having created the legal frameworks, laws, and motivational conditions that provided the foundation for the abuses and torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons. The guilty verdicts (for George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and George Tenet) were true regardless of political preference, across all age groups, and whether or not they had read The Lucifer ... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2398791 Fri, 08 May 2009 04:01:18 +0100 2398791 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2398595&cid=t_109160_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=2382258&cid=t_109160_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FUTNdxnUrl_A%2F In choosing a Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Souter, President Obama will have an opportunity to avoid the partisanship he promised to reduce on the campaign trail, which his legislative agenda has thus far only exacerbated. But given the way Bush nominees were treated by Senate Democrats, it won’t be easy. After the stormy confirmation hearings for Judges Bork and Thomas, President Clinton’s nominations of Judges Ginsburg and Breyer sailed through the confirmation process with little opposition and even less acrimony. With the return of Republican nominees after the election of George W. Bush, however, Senate Democrats resumed their scorched earth practices, starting with appellate court nominees and continuing to the nominations of Judges Roberts and Alito to the Hi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2382258 Fri, 01 May 2009 18:54:44 +0100 2382258 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2380721&cid=t_109160_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_109160_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=2376555&cid=t_109160_133_f&fid=35452&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.graphictruth.com%2F2009%2F04%2Fassume-moral-position-mr-bush.html War Crimes T-Shirt by webcarveI just found this via Reddit"War crimes will be prosecuted, war criminals will be punished and it will be no defense to say, 'I was just following orders'." --GW BushIt's a CNN transcript of a speech from 2003 - which, oddly enough, is some time after torture - those would be war crimes - had been authorized and butt-coverage issued by Yoo, et al. (TPM)Nonetheless, it is a statement that is founded solidly in both international and domestic law. Uttered as it was and by whom it was, it may be and should be taken as the official position of the United States. Indeed, it always has been. We were not supposed to learn of the conditional exceptions; the Pentagon and White House went to rather great lengths to keep these things out of the news. No doubt this was in... Graphictruth blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2376555 Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:01:00 +0100 2376555 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2349567&cid=t_109160_136_f&fid=35302&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FWhitePebble%2F%7E3%2FAyRU0w0YVC0%2F This is another of my clippings to/for myself in re: the Bush years. I have no idea how I am going to cobble all of this together with my thoughts, but at least I can assemble some pieces. Editorial - The Torturers’ Manifesto - NYTimes.com: To read the four newly released memos on prisoner interrogation written by George W. Bush’s Justice Department is to take a journey into depravity. Their language is the precise bureaucratese favored by dungeon masters throughout history. They detail how to fashion a collar for slamming a prisoner against a wall, exactly how many days he can be kept without sleep (11), and what, specifically, he should be told before being locked in a box with an insect — all to stop just short of having a jury decide that these acts violate the laws against tortu... white pebble blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2349567 Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:25:36 +0100 2349567 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2348801&cid=t_109160_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fl_tM6nAON_c%2F In the final interview by Matthew Holt at HIMSS, Jon Bush knocks it out of the park. Jon Bush is CEO of AthenaHealth and one of the most entertaining interviews I’ve seen. He agrees with me on CCHIT, but that wasn’t even the best part of the interview. Definitely a breathe of fresh air in the HIT and EHR world. Check out the video interview: My favorite John Bush quote from the interview: “These legacy [EHR] systems have to die.” Related posts:CCHIT Head Mark Leavitt Interviewed at HIMSS This is basically the second part in a 3 part...Allscripts CEO Glen Tullman Interviewed at HIMSS I finally had a few moments to watch the Matthew...EMRUpdate Videos from HIMSS Nick Harrington, EMRUpdate guru, is traveling around HIMSS recording some... (Source: EMR and HIPAA) EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2348801 Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:18:16 +0100 2348801