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 'freedom'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:50:59 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139701&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F5dtKfNMRi2s%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonEarlier this summer, I released a study comparing the performance of California’s charter school networks with the amount of philanthropic grant funding they have received. The purpose was to find out if this model for replicating excellence was consistently effective. The answer, regrettably, was no. But a new study we are releasing today finds that there is at least one place where better schools HAVE consistently scaled-up: Chile. Thanks to that nation’s public and private school choice program, chains of private schools have arisen, and they not only outperform the public schools, they also outperform the independent “mom-and-pop” private schools. For anyone interested in replicating educational excellence, this study by a team of Chilean sch... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139701 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:09:48 +0100 5139701 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5130756&cid=t_101057_88_f&fid=38129&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Flifeinthefastlane%2FWZHV%2F%7E3%2F9o1-UChiy-0%2F This week Ian Miller’s blog impactednurse.com along with his twitter account and Facebook page have been removed as a result of 'issues' with his employer (The Canberra Hospital). (Source: Life in the Fast Lane) Life in the Fast Lane blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5130756 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 05:10:04 +0100 5130756 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125906&cid=t_101057_133_f&fid=35452&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.graphictruth.com%2F2011%2F08%2Fnymwars-content-is-king-and-king-is.html My patience has ended. I'm just about to pull the pin on Google+ so that I can take some time and think about my reliance on other Google services. The entire debate tells me that for whatever reason, google as a corporation has jumped the shark and I do not feel comfortable investing my social capital in it.And if that social capital were not valuable, they would not be locked in a death match with Facebook over data-mining futures, and governments would not be petitioning them for their databases.Oddly, my decision is not based on whether I have anything to hide. I have always made the point of never putting anything on the Internet that could put me at risk, and I make a point of distancing myself from those who do."Content is King, and King is Content." The reality of the Internet... Graphictruth blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125906 Sat, 13 Aug 2011 00:19:00 +0100 5125906 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159029&cid=t_101057_90_f&fid=36413&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcscience.net%2F%3Fp%3D4683%26utm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dprofessor-geoffrey-petts-of-the-university-of-westminster-says-they-are-not-teaching-pseudo-science-the-facts-show-this-is-not-true Jump to follow-up On 23rd May 2008 a letter was sent to the vice-chancellor of the University of Westminster, Professor Geoffrey Petts Dear Professor Petts   You may be aware an article by Zoe Corbyn, published in Times Higher Education 24 April 2008, with the title Experts criticise ‘pseudo-scientific’ complementary medicine degrees.   The subtitle of the article was Vice-chancellors should re-examine courses, say campaigners.  In the light of that, we wondered whether you had anything to add to the comments made by David Peters in todays THE.  We are preparing a response to that, and it seems fair to ask your view before we proceed. (In order to save you time, copies of the two articles are attached.)   As an expert on... DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159029 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:37:57 +0100 5159029 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050521&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FJA4uHq64LKQ%2F El Universo, the newspaper with the largest circulation and the paper that publishes my weekly column, ran a mostly blank front page today that features only this quote from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged: When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed. This quote is from Francisco D’Anconia’s speec... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050521 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:12:09 +0100 5050521 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028141&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FhvnYWPITKek%2F By David BoazToday is the 222nd anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, the date usually recognized as the beginning of the French Revolution. I’ll be speaking this weekend at FreedomFest on the topic, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: A Libertarian Version.” I previewed part of my talk at this week’s Britannica Blog column. So what should libertarians think about the French Revolution? The great Henny Youngman, when asked “How’s your wife?” answered, “Compared to what?” Compared to the American Revolution, the French Revolution is very disappointing to libertarians. Compared to the Russian Revolution, it looks pretty good. And it also looks good, at least in the long view, compared to the ancien regime that preceded it…. Lord�... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028141 Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:18:45 +0100 5028141 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008454&cid=t_101057_123_f&fid=39035&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.liddlekidzblog.com%2F2011%2F07%2Findependence-get-some.html Independence is defined as the quality or state of being independent. Essentially, not dependent.Having just celebrated the 4th of July, which we know is celebrated in honor of our freedom and independence. On this day, I always think about independence and how honored I feel to have found massage therapy to create my own independence. Yes, it seems odd to celebrate massage therapy on the 4th, but if you think about it, massage therapy can be your vehicle to true independence. How Massage Therapy Can Create Independence:1 - create your own freedom You can schedule your massage sessions, workshops and bodywork clients at times when it is convenient for you, while at the same time honoring their time as a client. Yes, we’ve heard the mantra “the client is always right”, and this is tr... Liddle Kidz Infant and Pediatric Massage Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008454 Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:20:00 +0100 5008454 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008311&cid=t_101057_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F05%2Fbest-of-our-blogs-july-5-2011%2F Another holiday’s come and gone. Whether you celebrated Canada Day or Independence Day, you may be basking in the glory of a glorious holiday or exhausted from another family gathering of trying to keep your sanity in toll. If I’ve learned anything over the years is that you could spend years working on yourself and then poof! just like that you’re back to where you started. Maybe it’s your people-pleasing ways that return when you’re in the company of old friends who knew you way back when. Or certain relatives who trigger painful childhood memories when you are in their presence. Perhaps, the extra day of freedom could remind you just how toxic your work environment is and how much you are in need of a new job. Whatever it is, I feel you. The only thing we c... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008311 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:48:51 +0100 5008311 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4992660&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FMs8uLWDUeq0%2F By Jason KuznickiNPR’s Morning Edition today ran a surprisingly sympathetic report on “libertarian summer camp“ — the Porcupine Freedom Festival, held every year in New Hampshire. How did it go? There was a lot of bacon, apparently. And a good time was had by all — many of whom, I gather, are a shade or two more radical than I am. It sounded like a fun, slightly zany, and not completely unworkable experiment in living, right down to the alternative currencies in gold and silver. Correspondent Robert Smith seems to have set out looking for “nasty, brutish, and short,” and what he found was just… different. The main complaints? First: “There are no guarantees in a free market,” which is nothing if not obviously false. Businesses offer gua... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4992660 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:13:43 +0100 4992660 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4992692&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fsupreme-court-data-mining-ok-even-when-physician-privacy-is-compromised%2F2011.07.01 The Supreme Court has sided with Big Pharma in their challenge to the Vermont Law limiting the pharmaceutical Industry’s access to physician prescribing information. The nation’s high court handed down a verdict Thursday in the Sorrell v. IMS Health case, striking down by a 6-3 vote a 2007 Vermont law that that bans the practice of data mining — the sale and use of prescriber-identifiable information for marketing or promoting a drug, including drug detailing — unless a physician specifically gives his or her permission to use the information. Apparently, Big Pharma’s right to “free speech” trumps my right to privacy. How getting access to my prescribing information has anything to do with free speech is beyond me.  In the twisted logic of the pro-business, anti-citizen Sup... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4992692 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:00:14 +0100 4992692 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4984419&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FQXF8ynXPiVM%2F By David BoazIn the Wall Street Journal today, Cato senior fellow Walter Olson praises the New York legislature both for passing a marriage equality bill and for including guarantees of religious freedom in the bill: For those of us who support same-sex marriage and also consider ourselves to be right of center, there were special reasons to take satisfaction in last Friday’s vote in Albany. New York expanded its marriage law not under court order but after deliberation by elected lawmakers with the signature of an elected governor. Of the key group of affluent New Yorkers said to have pushed the campaign for the bill, many self-identify as conservative or libertarian. A GOP-run state Senate gave the measure its approval…. To their credit, New York lawmakers devoted much attent... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4984419 Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:28:41 +0100 4984419 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4984424&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FtX8A0d1ktBg%2F By Caleb O. BrownSome smart folks have drawn strongly on the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Annual Report to put together a short video extolling the virtues of economic freedom. Enjoy! The Fraser Institute report is published in the United States by the Cato Institute. Economic Freedom 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=4984424 Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:53:45 +0100 4984424 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4975827&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Ffsa2Wum2Vxs%2F By Julian SanchezI note that I’m not hearing many critics of Citizens United decrying yesterday’s very welcome Supreme Court ruling, in which the majority held unconstitutional a California statute prohibiting the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. Perhaps that’s just because they’re concerned with corporate influence on elections as a policy matter, and not so much about Grand Theft Auto, but as a matter of First Amendment interpretation, it seems as though the elements that supposedly made Citizens United a travesty are present here. As the conservative Justice Alito notes in dissent, for example, the statute at issue here does not prohibit anyone from creating, possessing, freely loaning, or playing violent video games: It regulates only their renta... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4975827 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:39:05 +0100 4975827 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921393&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FPTxrRugA624%2F By Tad DeHavenThe Department of Labor has been added to Cato’s Downsizing Government website. Proposed spending cuts are $143 billion. The following essays examine the department’s activities: Failures of Unemployment Insurance. The UI system is costly to taxpayers and creates numerous economic distortions. Federal involvement should be ended and the states left free to design their own systems. Employment and Training Programs. Federal programs for unemployed workers have never worked very well, are relatively little used, and are unneeded in today’s economy because private markets provide many alternatives. Reforming Labor Union Laws. Federal union laws that mandate exclusive representation, union security, and prevailing wages are costly to the economy and restrict indivi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921393 Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:17:19 +0100 4921393 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893393&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOZ9e91N17Gw%2F By Neal McCluskeyToday the Washington Post has a big story on efforts by the coal industry to get public schools to teach positive things about — you guessed it — coal. The impetus for the article is no doubt a recent kerfuffle over education mega-publisher Scholastic sending schools free copies of the industry-funded lesson plan “The United States of Energy.” Many parents and environmentalists were upset over businesses putting stealthy moves on kids, and Scholastic eventually promised to cease publication of the plan. Loaded curricula designed to coerce specific sympathies from children, however, hardly come just from industry, as the Post story notes. Indeed, as I write in the new Cato book Climate Coup: Global Warming’s Invasion of Our Government and Our Live... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893393 Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:21:54 +0100 4893393 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4883848&cid=t_101057_136_f&fid=39016&url=http%3A%2F%2Fturquoisegates.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F05%2Fhurt_31.html I swallowed 24 pills. Half of me hoped 24 is enough. The other half hoped 24 wasn't enough. I told my husband, and he found this bottle, the bottle I bought in 2003 because it was on the list of things you should have in your home when you have a baby. This bottle saved me the the indignity and nastiness of having my stomach pumped and activated charcoal.I come home, and go back, and come home, and go back - 4 times in 6 weeks, and now it's been 3 that I've been out. Progress.My rock of support, my mama, leaves on vacation, and we tend Papa's chickens, check the mail, feed the cat and dog, through balls for the lonely dog. Little things. A schedule. Something that keeps us going.I think I'm admitting myself to the hospital again this evening. Thoughts of suicide are edging their way back i... Turquoise Gates blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4883848 Tue, 31 May 2011 09:33:00 +0100 4883848 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4883677&cid=t_101057_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F30%2Fremembering-those-who-died-for-us-2011%2F It’s hard to repay the debt of a human life. Yet today in the United States, we remember those who died for us, fighting in wars to keep our freedoms safe from those who would take them away from us. War still rages around us, soldiers still fight today. And every month, soldiers die fighting for us. For our democracy. For our country. I’m not sure how to repay that debt. All I can do is remember and give thanks to those who fell in battle, because without their sacrifice, I’m not sure I’d be here living in one of the world’s greatest democracies. Memorial Day’s roots can be traced back to the Civil War, when people who honor those who fought in that bloody war by decorating the graves of the dead. After WWI, it was expanded to recognize the sacrifices g... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4883677 Mon, 30 May 2011 12:26:30 +0100 4883677 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4852840&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FAbdjvAohbwQ%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonI am often told that pointing out the serious shortcomings of government-funded school vouchers and the relative superiority of education tax credits is a case of “making the perfect the enemy of the good.” It’s isn’t. That is a misapplication of Voltaire’s famous aphorism. What the aphorism exhorts is that we not pursue an unattainable perfection when a good alternative is within reach. Education tax credits are not only attainable, they are usually easier to obtain than vouchers. Consider a recent example: Pennsylvania’s state House has voted 190 to 7 to expand its existing EITC tax credit program while the state Senate has been deadlocked for weeks looking for the bare minimum of votes to pass a voucher bill. On top of that, it is... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4852840 Mon, 23 May 2011 18:12:31 +0100 4852840 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841431&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FmJzoGRuj-4U%2F By John SamplesSteve Simpson and Paul Sherman of the Institute for Justice have written an excellent short essay about Stephen Colbert’s effort to undermine the Citizens United decision. But the joke is on Colbert: Campaign-finance laws are so complicated that few can navigate them successfully and speak during elections—which is what the First Amendment is supposed to protect. As the Supreme Court noted in Citizens United, federal laws have created “71 distinct entities” that “are subject to different rules for 33 different types of political speech.” The FEC has adopted 568 pages of regulations and thousands of pages of explanations and opinions on what the laws mean. “Legalese” doesn’t begin to describe this mess. So what is someone who... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841431 Thu, 19 May 2011 18:33:00 +0100 4841431 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841897&cid=t_101057_136_f&fid=39016&url=http%3A%2F%2Fturquoisegates.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F05%2Fin-his-grip-yet-free.html My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28) 10 years ago, I met this amazing woman who was descended from missionaries and had been one herself. It was kind of an "Amy Carmichael" moment for me as a floundering but desperately seeking young Christian. Her son was in the hospital for a bone marrow transplant that would either cure him and give him extra years of life, or kill him slowly and painfully. Her father had just been released from captivity in Eastern Europe, minus a few fingers. As she readied herself for the long season to come, the marrow transplant process that is at least 100 days and often spans years, God gave her a song and words. Be still and k... Turquoise Gates blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841897 Thu, 19 May 2011 10:16:00 +0100 4841897 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841437&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FLrWEFtQ-Q3Q%2F By George Scoville Next up for marriage equality: Perry v. Schwarzenegger. Please join us at 12:00 p.m. Eastern today as co-counsels for the plaintiffs Theodore Olson and John Boies join Center for American Progress president John Podesta and Cato chairman Robert A. Levy for a panel discussion on marriage equality, exploring legal and moral questions dating back to the landmark 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision that ended state bans on interracial marriage. If you cannot join us here at Cato, please tune in to watch a live stream of the event. “Republicans have an opportunity for a much more important debate, which will frame the election campaign next year.” In President Obama’s next speech, Cato director of foreign policy studies Christopher Preble hopes “that the ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841437 Wed, 18 May 2011 14:29:53 +0100 4841437 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841898&cid=t_101057_136_f&fid=39016&url=http%3A%2F%2Fturquoisegates.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F05%2Fjoy-without-lament-is-deflated-balloon.html This guest post comes from one of the wise and questioning bloggers I know, Joy from Joy In This Journey.A father, oldest daughter lying in a cemetery a few miles from the church, stands with arms raised and sings ragged, “Blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering, though there’s pain in the offering…blessed be Your name. You give and take away. My heart will choose to say ‘Lord, blessed be Your name.’”How many times have you exulted over how something worked out just right and said, “God is so good”?It is easy to praise God when life is good.We don’t struggle at all to thank God for success-as-we-define-it. And it’s easy for those don’t love God to explain it away as hard work or good luck or “of course Christians thank God for good things.”What do y... Turquoise Gates blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841898 Wed, 18 May 2011 10:48:00 +0100 4841898 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841899&cid=t_101057_136_f&fid=39016&url=http%3A%2F%2Fturquoisegates.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F05%2Fwind-on-skin.html Easter is just one of those days of traditional finery I cannot seem to squelch with my most tom-boy mom style. Shirt and tie, toe the line, proud of our judgement.As the sun warms the earth now, I am like new skin, in new wind, in new lifeFade, fade each earthly joy; Jesus is mine.Break every tender tie: Jesus is mine.Dark is the wilderness,Earth has no resting place,Jesus alone can bless;Jesus is mine.Tempt not my soul away; Jesus is mine.Here would I ever stay; Jesus is mine.Perishing, things of clay,Born but for one brief day;Pass from my heart away;Jesus is mine.Farewell, ye dreams of night; Jesus is mine.Lost in this dawning bright; Jesus is mine.All that my soul has triedLeft but a dismal void: Jesus has satisfiedJesus is mine.Farewell, mortality; Jesus... Turquoise Gates blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841899 Wed, 18 May 2011 00:44:00 +0100 4841899 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841448&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FnlYx76dXyj8%2F By David BoazTwo weeks ago I wrote about the documentary “Stonewall Uprising” and the line from a police official that caught my attention: “This time they said, ‘We’re not going.’” That’s how Seymour Pine of the New York Police Department’s Morals Division described the raid he led on the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village on June 28, 1969, and the unprecedented refusal of the gay men in the bar to hang their heads in shame and go silently into the paddy wagons. The “Stonewall riots” that resulted are generally regarded as the beginning of the gay rights movement in the United States. Last night on PBS’s “American Experience,” I saw another excellent documentary, “Freedom Riders,” about the white and black civil rig... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841448 Tue, 17 May 2011 13:46:59 +0100 4841448 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841449&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FN95MFU-TZlQ%2F By Christopher PrebleThe news media is abuzz with speculation about what President Obama will say in an address this Thursday at the State Department. The topic is the Middle East, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney explained, “we’ve gone through a remarkable period in the first several months of this year…in the Middle East and North Africa,” and the president has “some important things to say about how he views the upheaval and how he has approached the U.S. response to the events in the region.” The speech, Carney hinted to reporters, would be “fairly sweeping and comprehensive.” If I were advising the president, I would urge him to say many of the same things that he said in his June 2009 speech in Cairo, this time with some timely references... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841449 Tue, 17 May 2011 13:44:14 +0100 4841449 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4813254&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FyaHpze74qWg%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonThe Pennsylvania state House has just passed an expansion of its existing k-12 scholarship-donation tax credit program. The vote was a deafening 190 to 7 in a state that has voted Democratic in every one of the last five presidential elections. Nevertheless, there is serious opposition to this expansion of education tax credits in the Senate, where several prominent lawmakers prefer a voucher bill. It’s not clear which path the legislature will ultimately take, but there seems to be considerable agreement on the goal: giving parents true freedom of choice in education. A key point to consider, then, is which type of program is most likely to preserve the freedom and diversity of the education marketplace, thereby giving families a meaningful range of alternatives ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4813254 Tue, 10 May 2011 22:11:14 +0100 4813254 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789209&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F6Orqh1j6Ak0%2F By Adam SchaefferIndiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed an expansive new voucher law today. It’s a disaster for educational freedom. Read the full explanation here. The voucher program has been widely praised as a momentous victory for school choice and Gov. Mitch Daniels on the brink of his long-awaited presidential campaign announcement. In reality, the voucher program is a tactical victory for highly constrained choice won at the price of a broad strategic defeat for educational freedom. This program will greatly expand state regulation of and authority over participating private schools. In our efforts to expand educational choice across the country, we can’t lose sight of what makes that choice valuable: educational freedom and the diversity of choices it allows to develop. Sch... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789209 Thu, 05 May 2011 18:04:38 +0100 4789209 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4780272&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F05%2Fwho-is-really-bullying-academic-leaders.html Universities, which are supposed to discover and disseminate knowledge, ought to be the foremost defenders of free speech and a free press.  However, in the past decades, university executives have become notorious for trying to control speech that offends their political sensibilities (for numerous examples, see the FIRE - Foundation for Individual Rights in Education web-site.)  It seems that academic leaders get even more upset when their or their faculties' conflicts of interest are criticized, as demonstrated by updates about two important cases we have discussed.Columbia UniversityWe recently posted about reactions at the university to revelations in the movie "Inside Job" that the Dean of the Business School and one of its prominent professors failed to disclose ... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4780272 Tue, 03 May 2011 19:46:00 +0100 4780272 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4775406&cid=t_101057_90_f&fid=36413&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdcscience.net%2Fmaterial-world-part2-220307.mp3 One of my first posts about nonsense taught in universities was about the University of Westminster (April 2008): Westminster University BSc: “amethysts emit high yin energy”. since then, there have been several more revelations. Jump to follow-up Professor Petts The vice-cnancellor of Westminster, Professor Geoffrey Petts, with whom the buck stops, did have an internal review but its report was all hot air and no action resulted (see A letter to the Times, and Progress at Westminster). That earned Professor Petts an appearence in Private Eye Crystal balls. Professor Petts in Private Eye (and it earned me an invitation to a Private Eye lunch, along with Francis Wheen, Charlie Booker, Ken Livingstone . . ). It also earned Petts an appearence in the Guardian (The opposite of... DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4775406 Tue, 03 May 2011 08:10:00 +0100 4775406 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4759039&cid=t_101057_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FlVjvoT8rNwo%2F The sad case of Dan Markingson appears to have no end. The latest twist is playing out as an issue of academic freedom at the University of Minnesota where, seven years ago, researchers ran a clinical trial in which the 26-year-old participated. But the circumstances surrounding his participation and subsequent death led to widely publicized allegations the university put its own interests first. One university researcher also consulted for AstraZeneca, which sells the drug and sponsored the study. And researchers were allegedly under pressure to bolster enrollment. These details emerged following a lawsuit filed by Markingson’s mother, who objected to her son’s participation because he was already mentally ill and possibly incompetent, but was enrolled anyway. Her lawsuit went nowher... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4759039 Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:16:18 +0100 4759039 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753663&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FpXmPkYP_95k%2F By Neal McCluskeyAs promised (actually, a week later than promised) I have read the Fordham Institute “Briefing Book” for reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act. As expected, it’s big on trumpeting national standards, and squishy on almost everything else. Perhaps most aggravating, though, is how loose it is in characterizing the views of those of us at the Cato Institute, who apparently are part of the big group of education analysts who love the idea of Washington lavishing money on education but are, presumably, too blinkered to want to get results for it:   The local controllers. These folks, led by conservative and libertarian think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, want Uncle Sam, for the most part, to butt out of education polic... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753663 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:19:33 +0100 4753663 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753671&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FJmiTfJ9uJiA%2F By Neal McCluskeyThere’s more bad news about the school choice bill awaiting Gov. Mitch Daniels’ signature in Indiana. Yesterday, Adam Schaeffer wrote about its possible negative fiscal impact if coupled with the state’s tax credit program. Perhaps just as concerning is the law’s requirement that private schools prove that they are sufficiently “American” to participate in the program. This interview with State Sen. Carlin Yoder (R), one of the bill’s sponsors, captures the sentiment behind the requirement: Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Perhaps the problem here is that, in all of the education policy community’s obsession with test scores and dollars, we’ve lost sight of what school choice should ultimately be about: fr... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753671 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:50:11 +0100 4753671 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753674&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FLEordRvBfBk%2F By Adam SchaefferA new voucher program in Indiana looks likely to be signed by Gov. Daniels soon, but without a slight modification it may not have the benign budgetary impact that is expected. As written, the program could have a significant negative impact on state finances if families claim both the vouchers and funds from the state’s existing education tax credits. There is nothing that precludes children who receive a voucher from also topping off that amount with private funds from the existing education tax credit program. That means a voucher student could accept, for example, $4,500 in government funds and then apply for a tax credit scholarship that reduces state revenue by, say, $2,000. The voucher student would cost the state $6,500, not the $4,500 that would be counted on th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753674 Mon, 25 Apr 2011 20:54:49 +0100 4753674 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4747603&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FzgxhrmmdCgg%2F By Ilya ShapiroLately I seem to have been blogging — and filing briefs – a fair bit on campus First Amendment issues, regarding both students and professors.  The threats to free speech and academic freedom stretch far beyond the halls of Widener Universty and concern more than just the rules of political correctness. This month, UCLA’s James Enstrom (34 years a professor) is fighting his dismissal from UCLA for submitting a paper to a regulatory board that denied that diesel particulates cause 2,000 premature deaths in California per year.  The scientific literature published subsequent to his initial findings support his thesis and the conclusions his work refuted turned out to be written by a fraud who received his Ph.D. from a diploma mill.  In short, he was f... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4747603 Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:36:50 +0100 4747603 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4704619&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FZSt0Xu-Ax1E%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonI have an op-ed in the Huffington Post today arguing that it’s possible to ensure universal access to education without compelling anyone to support types of instruction that violate their convictions. This eliminates the central objection that the ACLU and ADL have given for their opposition to private school choice. Indeed, if those organizations really care about freedom of conscience, they should prefer the policy solution I outline to the status quo system in which every taxpayer is compelled to support a single government organ of education. Or is there some other reason why the ACLU and ADL oppose liberating American education? Feel free to chime-in in the comments section on Huff Po. “Winning” is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4704619 Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:20:47 +0100 4704619 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4704621&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FWDzxhAgxFEM%2F By Daniel J. MitchellIf you are an average American, today is a great day. According to the Tax Foundation, you have finally worked long enough and earned enough money to satisfy the annual tax demands of federal, state, and local governments. This means you now get to keep any additional income you earn. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Tax Freedom Day only measures the direct and immediate impact of taxation. It doesn’t measure the overall burden of government. This chart from the Tax Foundation shows that the fiscal burden of government has jumped enormously since the end of the Clinton years. Happy Tax Freedom Day! 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=4704621 Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:03:38 +0100 4704621 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4693272&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FgCEly6uUjxk%2F By David BoazThe government of China finally confirmed that it has detained the artist Ai Weiwei. Meanwhile, Evan Osnos writes from Beijing for the New Yorker about China’s “Big Chill”: Step by step—so quietly, in fact, that the full facts of it can be startling—China has embarked on the most intense crackdown on free expression in years. Overshadowed by news elsewhere in recent weeks, China has been rounding up writers, lawyers, and activists since mid-February, when calls began to circulate for protests inspired by those in the Middle East and North Africa. By now the contours are clear: according to a count by Chinese Human Rights Defenders, an advocacy group, the government has “criminally detained 26 individuals, disappeared more than 30, and put more than 200... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4693272 Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:59:05 +0100 4693272 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684280&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F2ZwaAvJwdcU%2F By Ilya ShapiroAs I described yesterday in the context of Cato's latest brief, Virginia’s challenge to the constitutionality of the individual mandate is now on appeal before the Fourth Circuit (the federal appellate court that covers Maryland, Virgnia, and the Carolinas).   Before the court even considers the constitutional merits, however, it must confirm that the state has standing to bring the lawsuit in the first place.  Indeed, two amicus briefs filed by some law professors argue that the state does not have the legal power to challenge the constitutionality of Obamacare.  But Pacific Legal Foundation attorney and Cato adjunct scholar Timothy Sandefur filed a brief responding to those briefs and arguing that Virginia does have standing to bring the case. Here's the issue:  A... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684280 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:13:50 +0100 4684280 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4676755&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXa1GjVtc2HM%2F By Adam SchaefferToday, the Supreme Court of the United States issued the Zelman decision for education tax credits. More than that, it's Super-Zelman. The findings in Zelman apply just as well to education tax credit programs, but only credit programs allow taxpayers to spend their own money on education. As Andrew Coulson explained in detail earlier, the Court ruled that education tax credits are not government funds, and the plaintiffs therefore have no standing to bring suit in the first place. They were not harmed because none of their money was collected and then disburse by the state. Children are rightly our primary concern, but taxpayers deserve more consideration than they often get in debates over education reform. Education tax credit programs can expand educational choice and ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4676755 Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:00:51 +0100 4676755 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4676758&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FAw33lCK0gZo%2F By Julian SanchezThe Electronic Frontier Foundation has unearthed an interesting case of an improper use of surveillance in an investigation where the FBI had obtained "roving wiretap" authority. In a bizarre turn, the Bureau ended up eavesdropping on young children rather than their adult suspects for five days. The case is generating some attention because that same "roving wiretap" authority is one of the three surveillance powers set to expire in late May. The thing is, on the basis of what I can glean from the heavily redacted document EFF obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, it's not a case involving misuse of the roving authority. But it is a good concrete example of why the roving authority needs to be modified. First, a bit of background: Roving wiretaps in criminal ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4676758 Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:54:39 +0100 4676758 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4592369&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F6l3b7Oy1uew%2F By George Scoville How can we have an "adult conversation" on the budget if the White House won't release its budget and deficit projections to the public? A new guide to India's uneven spread of economic freedom could help state-level policymakers there improve the welfare of citizens there. "When the Cato guy tells you someone is corrupting the idea of HSAs, pay attention." Despite having the bully pulpit, and despite touting opinion polls in favor of reform, the Obama administration finds it necessary to use taxpayer funds to tell Googlers what's best for them. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has doubled down on the social issues truce--Cato's John Samples talked about this on Friday on the Cato Daily Podcast: Monday Links is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: C... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4592369 Mon, 14 Mar 2011 15:17:19 +0100 4592369 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4592371&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FJAVZY3Aq0cM%2F By Michael F. CannonIn a March 4 article for National Review Online titled, “Mitch Daniels’s Obamacare Problem,” I explain how Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) is undermining the effort to repeal ObamaCare, and how he might do even more damage to that movement as the Republican nominee for president.  My article came under fire from Daniels' policy director Lawren Mills (in the comments section of my article), Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute, and Bob Goldberg of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. Today, NRO runs my response.  An excerpt: In brief, the trio believes that Daniels’s expansion of government-run health care is a conservative triumph. I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation... Daniels has an ObamaCare problem that could hurt the ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4592371 Mon, 14 Mar 2011 12:40:37 +0100 4592371 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4566308&cid=t_101057_136_f&fid=39016&url=http%3A%2F%2Fturquoisegates.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F03%2Fslaying-dragons.html Sun don't go downpurple and scarlet and bluelet me pause herethese precious moments are fewWhen the moon has taken the sky's throneand turned all the land to shadowthat's when I dream of the little girlwho once was me.Twirl me around,and hold me tight,tell bedtime storiesand kiss me goodnightthen I'd return to the child I've beenThe princess who once was me.High heels, lace veils,dresses too long and too loose.In games I was grown up,a little bit taller than you.Now that I'm taller, I long to be smaller,like the gangly, brown-eyed girlwho once was me.A tattered shoeboxhouses my little girl thingsBits of writing,pearls, fake diamonds, and rings.A rose that my Mama once gave to meA picture of Papa by the sea - I open it sometimes to have a peakat the girl that once was me.Sometimes I go... Turquoise Gates blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4566308 Wed, 09 Mar 2011 11:56:00 +0100 4566308 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4560250&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fk_9bm4uY9ic%2F By Michael F. CannonThat's the title of my latest Kaiser Health News column, which addresses President Obama's offer to accelerate the waiver process that would allow states to replace many of ObamaCare's most offensive provisions: If you think that means the president was himself exhibiting flexibility, you would be wrong. Despite the rhetoric about compromise, what the president actually did was offer states the option of replacing his law with a single-payer health care system three years earlier than his law allows... HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has written that ObamaCare gives states "incredible freedom" to implement the law. We now know what she meant: states are free to coerce their residents even more than ObamaCare requires. What's incredible is that she calls that freedom. A... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4560250 Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:44:45 +0100 4560250 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4544953&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F20H0N09Y9H4%2F By Ilya ShapiroOn Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times published an editorial critical of the Institute for Justice’s lawsuit against the National Organ Transplant Act’s prohibition of compensation for bone marrow donors.  But, as I have written before, Congress has no legitimate authority to interfere with the right to participate in safe, accepted, lifesaving, and otherwise legal medical treatment. Given the lack of bone marrow donors, the congressional overreach here literally costs lives. The Times editorial board conveniently ignores the constitutional arguments in IJ’s suit, resting their argument on the "what if?" scenario that the poor may be induced to give up major organs, such as kidneys, if the price is right.  This misses the point of the suit, because bone marrow is regener... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4544953 Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:52:03 +0100 4544953 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4522094&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FFsqvqdCUeow%2F By Jim HarperThat will be the subject of a Cato on Campus session this afternoon entitled: "The Internet and Social Media: Tools of Freedom or Tools of Oppression?" Watch live online at the link starting at 3:30 p.m., or attend in person. A reception follows. The delight that so many felt to see protesters in Iran using social media has given way to delight about the use of Facebook to organize for freedom in Egypt. But this serial enthusiasm omits that the "Twitter revolution" in Iran did not succeed. The fiercest skeptics even suggest that the tweeting during Iran's suppressed uprising was mostly Iranian ex-pats goosing excitable westerners and not any organizing force within Iran itself. Coming to terms with the Internet, dictatorships are learning to use it for surveillance and control... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4522094 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:23:22 +0100 4522094 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4507352&cid=t_101057_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2F22%2Fbest-of-our-blogs-february-22-2011%2F This article looks at bipolar disorder in Hollywood. (Source: World of Psychology) World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4507352 Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:54:13 +0100 4507352 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4495178&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FxIIWRsNaR1A%2F By David BoazBill Monroe, who was moderator for NBC's Meet the Press for about 10 years, has died at 90. The Washington Post does a fine job with his long career, from his pro-civil-rights journalism in Lousiana in the 1950s to his years with NBC and Meet the Press.   I want to draw attention to his longtime advocacy of extending the First Amendment to broadcasting. Actually, I'm sure he thought that the First Amendment did cover all forms of the news media — but he knew that Congress and the courts didn't see it that way, so he wanted an explicit amendment to make that clear. Because his articles on this topic were published in the pre-Internet Dark Ages (yes, children, there are great ideas not online), I can't link to any of them.  He spoke at the Cato Institute in 1984 on the t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4495178 Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:46:15 +0100 4495178 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4495181&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FsL1_FYAgPiw%2F By Michael F. CannonEarlier this month, President Obama's HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took to the Washington Post's op-ed page to reassure everybody that ObamaCare "puts states in the driver's seat" and "gives states incredible freedom to tailor reforms to their needs."  One grows weary of exposing the brazen falsehoods this administration incessantly and unconscionably peddles about its corrupt, unconstitutional, and irredeemable health care law.  But here I go again: the very idea that ObamaCare puts states in the driver's seat is nonsense. States already had the power to enact all the taxes, mandates, and price controls that ObamaCare expects them to implement — and to make what few choices ObamaCare leaves them.  If you want to know what Incredible Freedom really means, look... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4495181 Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:14:00 +0100 4495181 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4489641&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fkde81-kgKf4%2F Conclusions: This study finds that elementary students who were randomly assigned to attend the 21st Century Community Learning Centers after-school program were more likely to feel safe after school, no more likely to have higher academic achievement, no less likely to be in self-care, more likely to engage in some negative behaviors, and experience mixed effects on developmental outcomes relative to students who were not randomly assigned to attend the centers.   In light of its (at-best) impotence, did the program go away? Of course not! In FY 2010 it was appropriated $1.17 billion, and the Obama administration has asked for $1.27 billion for FY 2012. And this despite not just poor performance, but a pesky $14 trillion national debt. This is small potatoes, though, compared to some... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4489641 Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:58:48 +0100 4489641 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4477704&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYGTW9YOSXeY%2F By Neal McCluskeyAfter House Republicans' weak first attempt at offering cuts to gargantuan federal spending -- a proposal that included nary a flick at education-related outlays -- and the Obama administration's hinting that it would leave education totally untouched, there is a tiny bit of good news: Both the GOP and the administration are apparently willing to trim funding putatively intended to help educate people. But these are just tiny bones they're throwing to people who know that the federal government likely does zero net good when it comes to actually educating people, and that there is no acceptable excuse not to make big cuts to federal "education" programs. House Republicans, for their part, scheduled lots of education programs for shaves in their second attempt at mak... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4477704 Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:33:36 +0100 4477704 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4460147&cid=t_101057_136_f&fid=39016&url=http%3A%2F%2Fturquoisegates.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F02%2Ffly-away.html Love can be defined as the free gift that voluntarily cancels the debt in order to free the debtor to become what he might be if he experiences the joy of restoration. ~Dan AllenderI am the harvest frozen under winter's white blanket.He is the bright speck in the darkness.I am the girl with her hobo stick swinging, ready for a new adventure.He is the silent companion in the twilight of this season,waiting to shine light when the darkness grows impenetrable.Together we're driving back into town from the windblown prairie.Armed with new dreams.Uncovering fresh hope carved with ancient letters.Lifted by the updraft of healingWinged with prayerHeavenward.Oh I swear this town gets smaller everyday,and I'm waitin for my chance. I'm gonna break away.I'm so sick and tired of being told what's good... Turquoise Gates blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4460147 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:36:00 +0100 4460147 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4445775&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FFtl1ksAqnmc%2F By David Boaz"Cat groomers, tattoo artists, tree trimmers and about a dozen other specialists across the country . . .  are clamoring for more rules governing small businesses," reports the Wall Street Journal in a front-page story today. "They're asking to become state-licensed professionals, which would mean anyone wanting to be, say, a music therapist or a locksmith, would have to pay fees, apply for a license and in some cases, take classes and pass exams." And despite all the talk about deregulation and encouraging entrepreneurship, "The most recent study, from 2008, found 23% of U.S. workers were required to obtain state licenses, up from just 5% in 1950," according to Morris Kleiner of the University of Minnesota. The Cato Institute has been taking on this issue for decades. In 198... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4445775 Mon, 07 Feb 2011 21:25:47 +0100 4445775 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4419115&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fq_H8H0e0nVg%2F By Malou InnocentOppressed people rarely get opportunities to express their anguish and disillusionment. Today in Egypt for the seventh straight day, thousands of ordinary citizens are pouring out onto the streets, demanding the expulsion of President Hosni Mubarak, calling for an end to emergency laws giving police extensive powers of arrest and detention, and claiming the legitimate right to run their own country. It is well past time for U.S. policymakers to stand with the Egyptian people and rethink Mubarak’s purported role as an “anchor of stability” in the Middle East. Many in Washington fear that the path Egypt takes after Mubarak might not lead to a freer and more prosperous future and that an Islamist government led by the Muslim Brotherhood, or the Ikhwan, will ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4419115 Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:27:01 +0100 4419115 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4394421&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FBrGmS-Cv3H4%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonAt one time or another over the past two decades, most school choice supporters have felt like the subject of the “Friends” theme song; that it hasn’t been their day, their week, their month, or even their year. Things are different now. For one thing, choice programs have proliferated and grown over time, more are being introduced this year than perhaps ever before. And for another, well, this IS their week: the first national School Choice Week. Events are being held all over the country to celebrate the idea that families should be able to easily choose the best schools for their kids, and that schools should have to compete for the privilege of serving them. Here at Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom, we’re dipping into the future to... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4394421 Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:47:19 +0100 4394421 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4813629&cid=t_101057_136_f&fid=37856&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FThePeacefulLiberal%2F%7E3%2FwqeKXLH2BGM%2Fsharing-world-with-others-and-road-rage.html @font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman";}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 6pt 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }  Here is another photo by Elena Zhukova and her brilliant eyes at Photography!)  I'm still stoked that  I got to ride my beautiful bike with my younger brother and we had a blast; so much so that he bought himself a cool new cruiser so he could get in shape at home.  He will be back in 2 weeks.  I'm so glad I found him something fun to do at home.  I'm so proud of my brother for finding that one thing that makes him happy and that's grooming dogs.  He passionately loves his job.  I'm so glad h... ShoppingKharma: What comes around goes around blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4813629 Fri, 21 Jan 2011 10:07:00 +0100 4813629 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4377556&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F0aU0e_DPTwA%2F By Michael F. CannonToday is the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, where he implored, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”  People are commemorating the anniversary in various ways.  Google is paying tribute to JFK’s address in its logo: I thought it might be worth reprinting Milton Friedman’s assessment of JFK’s memorable line, taken from the introduction to Friedman’s 1962 book, Capitalism and Freedom: IN A MUCH QUOTED PASSAGE in his inaugural address, President Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” It is a striking sign of the temper of our times that the controversy about this passage cent... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4377556 Thu, 20 Jan 2011 19:45:41 +0100 4377556 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4377557&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FM6ZRGjdMFXQ%2F By Ilya ShapiroIt’s now official: 28 states are challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare in the courts. For those of you keeping score, the following six joined the Florida-led lawsuit: Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Wyoming and Maine. Then of course Virginia is pursuing its own suit, and now Oklahoma is about to file its own separate lawsuit based on its voters’ approval in November of a Health Care Freedom Act similar to Virginia’s. Sadly — if I’m allowed to stop being hard-headed and just shake my head in an “o tempore o mores” sort of way — the government opposed Florida’s motion to add the six states to its lawsuit. There was no basis for this opposition: the newcomers are for these purposes similarly situated to the existing... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4377557 Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:29:49 +0100 4377557 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4360953&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FzsZHyKEouIs%2F By Malou InnocentThe sudden collapse of the Tunisian government on Friday underscores the turmoil toward which the Muslim world  seems inescapably drifting.  As I wrote earlier today at The National Interest Online: Today, as during the Cold War, policy makers in Washington seem to expect economic growth to act as a substitute for political liberty, thereby ignoring the instinctive desire for freedom. Despotic leaders love to adopt pseudo-economic “reforms” to mask their coercive measures and perpetuate the status quo, but in the end, the institutionalized oppression imposed by ruling elites cannot be appeased in that way. Time will tell whether Tunisia and its neighbors evolve toward a freer and more prosperous future. But either way, human history confirms that fundamental change i... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4360953 Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:36:26 +0100 4360953 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4331241&cid=t_101057_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F8xGmflYIDG4%2F An unusual sideshow to the ongoing controversy over the Provenge prostate cancer vaccine has ended - for now - as a federal appeals court has rebuffed a long-running attempt by a group of investors and patients to force the FDA to turn over documents pertaining to the agency’s decision in 2007 to delay approval of the prostate cancer vaccine. The group, which calls itself Care To Live, hoped to overturn a federal court decision denying them access to FDA documents, which they believe may reveal the agency improperly handled the 2007 episode. At the time, the agency ignored the recommendation of its own advisory committee after two committee members privately wrote FDA officials not to approve the vaccine, which is made by Dendreon. Allegations subsequently emerged that the two panelists... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4331241 Mon, 10 Jan 2011 13:57:00 +0100 4331241 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4275544&cid=t_101057_133_f&fid=35090&url=http%3A%2F%2Faspiehomeeducation.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Fblog-demonstrations-for-right-to.html Home schooling is not legal, rules Spanish Constitutional CourtJoin the manifestation of blogs and help us spread the words of freedom and solidarity to the home-educating families in Spain. They need your support.Join the blog protest and help defend the right to education outside school in Spain. Wherever you live, add the symbol of protest in your blogs and your link here. If you want you can also share your thoughts on the decision of the Spanish court.LinksTribunal Constitucional Español contra el homeschoolingThis is the end, my friendMás reacciones a la sentencia del Tribunal ConstitucionalLa angustia de educar en casaLa Constitución no es suficienteLa sentencia del TCLa violencia legítima del EstadoSentencia del Tribunal ConstitucionalPrimeras reacciones ante la sentencia del T... Aspie Home-Education blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4275544 Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:01:00 +0100 4275544 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4266267&cid=t_101057_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FrpFWtBGMpYA%2F This may seem like a moot point in some circles, but a group of activist investors and patients have filed a lawsuit against the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in hopes of forcing the agency to disclose its reasons for conducting a so-called National Coverage Analysis for the controversial Provenge prostate cancer vaccine. The move comes one month after a CMS advisory panel voted that Dendreon’s Provenge shows “clinically significant” improvement in survival as part of the NCA process, which was triggered by questions raised by Medicare contractors amid concerns over off-label use. Such a meeting is unusual, though, given that Medicare generally pays automatically for FDA-approved oncology meds. And so Care To Live, which is also locked in a legal battle with the FDA ... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4266267 Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:11:38 +0100 4266267 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4233187&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fhealthcare-diplomacy-and-a-night-at-the-white-house%2F2010.12.06 It’s not often you get invited to the White House. I had my chance this week, when I was a guest at the White House’s Hanukkah party. Now, when I say “guest,” I mean I was a guest of the president — of Hadassah, that is. My mother, Nancy Falchuk, is the president of one of the largest Jewish charitable organizations in the world, Hadassah. Her organization sponsors many different charitable activities, particularly related to healthcare (here she is in Jerusalem speaking at the ceremony lighting the walls of the Old City pink in honor of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.) One of the terms she uses a lot is “healthcare diplomacy” — the idea that part of the solution to intractable problems of war and peace is building bridges through something that we all share –... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4233187 Mon, 06 Dec 2010 13:00:14 +0100 4233187 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4225257&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=39261&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvactruth.com%2F2010%2F12%2F03%2Fpolice-arrested-twelve-year-old-boy-for-refusing-vaccine-at-school%2F In conclusion, it is clear that the 12 year should have been tested to establish whether he was Gillick competent. If this did not happen, then according to the Canadian Law it was the school officials that the police should have arrested because the school officials violated this young man’s freedom of choice. (Source: vactruth.com) vactruth.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4225257 Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:35:11 +0100 4225257 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4225254&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fdoctors-right-to-freedom-of-speech%2F2010.12.02 Imagine having a medical device that is being tested in multiple centers, but one doctor thinks the device has problems. He says so at a national conference despite glowing reviews by others. Should the company sue the doctor for liable and remove him from their investigative panel? Today, it seems that might not be such a good idea. This is, in fact, what NMT Medical did regarding comments made by Peter Wilmshurst, M.D. regarding NMT’s patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure device called Starflex: NMT sued Dr. Wilmshurst for libel after he criticized its research at a US cardiology conference in 2007. The doctor vowed to take the case to trial in order to defend scientists’ rights to free academic debate. The company threatened Dr. Wilmshurst with libel a second time for subsequen... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4225254 Thu, 02 Dec 2010 19:00:00 +0100 4225254 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4219700&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F12%2Famerican-medical-schools-are-only-in-it.html We recently discussed the plight of young medical faculty.  It appears that their plight is even worse than we imagined.Last month, an abstract was presented at the Annual  Conference on Research in Medical Education at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges, in a session entitled "Your Career is More than Your Specialty."  The citation would be: Pololi L, Ash A, Krupat E.  Faculty Values in the Culture of Academic Medicine: Findings of a National Faculty Survey.The authors described a large survey, of over 5000 faculty at 26 US nationally representative medical schools, done as part of the National Initiative on Gender, Culture, and Leadership in Medicine (known as C ‐ Change) project.  The overall response ra... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4219700 Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:28:00 +0100 4219700 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4214036&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fconfidentiality-clause-or-oath-of.html The advancement of modern scientific medicine depends on the search for and dissemination of truth. Academic medicine, like the rest of academia, ought to be based on openness, transparency, and academic freedom. The 1940 American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure opened with:The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Yet we have written about dark clouds of secrecy spreading over medicine and health care. The increasingly powerful leaders of health care increasingly use opacity and secrecy to keep what they are doing out of the public eye. We have frequently discussed the anechoic effect, how it is just not done to discuss certain topics, particularly those related to the adverse effects ... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4214036 Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:27:00 +0100 4214036 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4214080&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FxdKCm7gj4bw%2F By Ilya ShapiroToday, the Supreme Court agreed to review McComish v. Bennett (consolidated with Arizona Free Enterprise v. Bennett), which challenges Arizona’s public financing of elections as an unconstitutional abridgment of speech. Because the case concerns a crucial new battleground in the fight between free speech and “fair” (read: government-controlled) elections, Cato filed an amicus brief supporting the cert petitions filed by our friends at Goldwater Institute and the Institute for Justice. McComish centers on Arizona’s “Clean Elections” Act, which provides matching funds to publicly funded candidates if their privately funded opponent spends above certain limits. In other words, by ensuring that his speech will not go “unmatched” by his opponen... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4214080 Mon, 29 Nov 2010 20:40:14 +0100 4214080 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4197030&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FZmiEwqb5y0s%2F By Ilya ShapiroAs the legal battle against Obamacare continues, we got good constitutional news today in another aspect of health care law.  The Second Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New York City, ruled that statutes restricting commercial speech about prescription drug-related data gathering are unconstitutional.  The court emphasized that the First Amendment protects “[e]ven dry information, devoid of advocacy, political relevance, or artistic expression.” The case, IMS Health v. Sorrell, concerned a Vermont law that sought to constrain various aspects of prescriber-identifiable data gathering, dissemination, and use. The state argued that such information collection and exchange could induce doctors to alter their prescribing practices in ways that impose additional costs on ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4197030 Tue, 23 Nov 2010 20:37:57 +0100 4197030 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4197035&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FQKJVqmGzqko%2F This article originally appeared in the Washington Times in 2004 and was included in my book The Politics of Freedom. Things to Be Thankful For 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=4197035 Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:21:20 +0100 4197035 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4167972&cid=t_101057_90_f&fid=36413&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcscience.net%2F%3Fp%3D3675 Jump to follow-up The mainstream media eventually catch up with bloggers. BBC1 TV (Wales) produced an excellent TV programme that exposed the enormous degree validation scam run by the University of Wales. It also exposed the uselessness of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). Both these things have been written about repeatedly here for some years. It was good to see them getting wider publicity. Watch the video of the BBC programme, "Week In Week Out – University Challenged." “The programme examines how pop stars and evangelical Christians are running colleges offering courses validated by the University of Wales.” (I make a brief appearance, talking about validation of degrees in Chinese Medicine). In October 2008 I posted Another worthless validation: the Un... DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4167972 Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:45:22 +0100 4167972 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4133675&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F5jjDY7jFbOw%2F By Walter OlsonWriting at CNN, my colleague Jeffrey Miron puts his finger on one reason for the disappointing defeat of California’s Prop 19: Prop 19 failed also because it overreached. One feature attempted to protect the “rights” of employees who get fired or disciplined for using marijuana, including a provision that employers could only discipline marijuana use that “actually impairs job performance.” That is a much higher bar than required by current policy. Like so many other developments in employment law in recent years, this would have chipped away at the basic principle of employment at will, which holds that in the absence of a contract specifying otherwise, either party to an employment relation may end that relation at any time for any reason or f... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4133675 Thu, 04 Nov 2010 01:39:47 +0100 4133675 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4118896&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FyVeElh030gg%2F By Roger PilonToday POLITICO Arena asks: Is it worrisome that Americans spend on political advocacy – determining who should make and administer the laws – much less than they spend on potato chips, $7.1 billion a year? My response: For decades among modern liberals it has been an article of faith — devoid of evidence — that money corrupts politics and that there is too much money in politics — “unconscionable” amounts, we’ve been told, repeatedly. Thus the crusade to restrict and regulate in exquisite detail every aspect of campaign finance, beginning in earnest with the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and culminating with the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (McCain-Feingold). Yet after every new restriction along that tortuous course,... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4118896 Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:05:40 +0100 4118896 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4119730&cid=t_101057_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fdetachment-from-emotion%2F This article may help. Letting someone else’s behavior determine how we feel at every turn is irresponsible. Our emotions should be determined by us, not by someone else. But no doubt we have spent years confusing the boundaries that separate us from other people. Whether at work or at home, we have too often let someone else’s “insanity” affect how we behave and how we feel. At first, it may seem insensitive not to react to others’ problems or negative behavior. We may fear they’ll think we simply don’t care about them. Learning that it is far more caring to let other people handle their own lives takes time and patience. But with practice, it will begin to feel comfortable. In fact, in time it will feel freeing and wonderful. I will work on detac... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4119730 Sun, 24 Oct 2010 16:08:01 +0100 4119730 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4077608&cid=t_101057_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fspirituality-is-an-awakening%2F What is Spirituality? “Spirituality is an awakening—or is it all the loose ends woven together into a mellow fabric? It’s understanding—or is it all the knowledge one need ever know? It’s freedom—if you consider fear slavery. It’s confidence—or is it the belief that a higher power will see you through any storm or gale? It’s adhering to the dictates of your conscience—or is it a deep, genuine, living concern for the people and the planet? It’s peace of mind in the face of adversity. It’s a keen and sharpened desire for survival. From; AA book – Came to Believe, 2004, pg. 5 See also Spiritual Health Blockages SPIRITUAL AWAKENING Spirituality Books Inspirational Books 12 Spiritual Questions Share, print or e-mail this articleWhat About This Spiritual Awa... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4077608 Sat, 16 Oct 2010 14:46:04 +0100 4077608 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4022899&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FtXeNkujL5UU%2F By Michael F. CannonIn all of Washington, is there a greater enemy of free speech than Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius? Her department is forcing millions of Americans to finance speech that they oppose, by using taxpayer dollars to broadcast (misleading) television ads that promote ObamaCare. She is using the powers granted her under ObamaCare to threaten insurers with bankruptcy if they publicly disagree with her about the law’s cost. Now, she is decrying the growth of anonymous political speech in congressional campaigns. Would that coerced speech, or government suppression of speech, troubled her as much as anonymous speech. Sebelius: Anonymous Political Speech ‘Dangerous’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4022899 Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:46:09 +0100 4022899 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3987240&cid=t_101057_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Faas-freedoms-2%2F I craved freedom. First, freedom to drink; later, freedom from drink. The Alcoholics Anonymous program of recovery rests on a foundation of free choice and self-help. There are no mandates, laws or commandments. A.A.’s spiritual program, as outlined in the Twelve Steps, and by which I am offered even greater freedoms, is only suggested. I can take it or leave it. Sponsorship is offered, not forced, and I come and go as I will. It is these and other freedoms that allow me to recapture the dignity that was crushed by the burden of drink, and which is so dearly needed to support an enduring sobriety. Just for today. See also; THE TWELVE REWARDS OF SOBRIETY ABC’s of Recovery The Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book Unplugged Twenty-Four Hours a Day Meditations Share, print or e-mail t... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3987240 Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:10:00 +0100 3987240 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3968996&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FwcpWDx0iesA%2F By Marian L. TupyThe European Union was meant to create a common market with free movement of goods, services, capital and people. The citizens of the “new” member states, such as the Czech Republic, should have been free to work in the “old” member states, such as Austria, from the date of accession of the “new” members to the EU on May 1, 2004. The Austrian government managed to postpone the horror of having laborers from ex-communist countries offer cheaper services to the Austrian citizenry until 2011. With the 2011 deadline looming, Austrian politicians came up with an ingenious way to make it more difficult for the Czechs and other hoi polloi to enter the Austrian labor market. Beginning next year, it will be “illegal” for Austrian employers to pay less to a foreign l... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3968996 Tue, 14 Sep 2010 19:08:53 +0100 3968996 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3961809&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FM2IgRCfBeas%2F By Daniel J. MitchellI touched a raw nerve with my post about Fidel Castro admitting that the Cuban model is a failure. Matthew Yglesias and Brad DeLong both attacked me. DeLong’s post was nothing more than a link to the Yglesias post with a snarky comment about “why can’t we have better think tanks?” Yglesias, to his credit, tried to explain his objections. This leads Daniel Mitchell to post the following chart which he deems “a good illustration of the human cost of excessive government.”…this mostly illustrates the difficulty of having a rational conversation with Cato Institute employees about economic policy in the developed world. Cuba is poor, but it’s much richer than Somalia. Is Somalia’s poor performance an illustration of the human costs of ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3961809 Sun, 12 Sep 2010 17:50:15 +0100 3961809 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3959967&cid=t_101057_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F09%2F11%2Fin-memory-of-911-2010%2F Today was the 9th anniversary of 9/11 and I have little to say, other than to commemorate the people who lost their lives in that tragedy. Such random acts of violence seem senseless because they are. We try and make sense of them by putting them into some sort of context or definition (e.g., “terrorism”), but at the end of the day, there’s little sense to killing thousands of innocent lives. Although anger is still prevalent when we think of the lives lost that day, 9 years ago, we shouldn’t allow such anger cloud rationality and adherence to the principles that make us Americans. The ridiculous assertions against a mosque and community center, built somewhere in the vicinity of the footprints of the World Trade center, suggests that somehow the Constitution could... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3959967 Sat, 11 Sep 2010 23:10:18 +0100 3959967 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3954232&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FHov1qgivtKo%2F By Roger PilonToday POLITICO Arena asks: In his speech in Ohio yesterday, did President Obama draw a stark enough contrast with House Minority Leader John Boehner, whom he attacked by name eight times, to help his party in November? My response: The contrast the president drew was clear enough. His problem is that the people aren’t buying what he’s selling – and for good reason. His ideas, far from being new, have been tried countless times, both here and abroad. They don’t work. And they undermine basic American principles about individual liberty and free choice. So when Obama says that Boehner and the Republicans have no new ideas, he’s partly right. (They have new ideas about how to address unsustainable entitlement programs — ask Rep. Paul Ryan... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3954232 Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:18:48 +0100 3954232 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3946441&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fz_YNqVJQ_dE%2F By Roger PilonToday Politico Arena asks: How does the Koran burning controversy relate to the Ground Zero mosque controversy? My response: As with the controversy over the Ground Zero mosque, Rev. Terry Jones and his tiny band of followers have a perfect right to burn Korans, but it would be well beyond insensitive to do so. Yet where are the establishment voices drawing the parallels? Where is President Obama, leaping to his defense? Instead, we find the likes of the editorialists at the New York Times giving moral instruction to benighted New Yorkers, two-thirds of whom oppose siting a mosque at Ground Zero even as they defend Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s right to build it there. Meanwhile, last evening on the PBS NewsHour, the very essence of establishment TV, the sole guest on th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3946441 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:25:08 +0100 3946441 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3915250&cid=t_101057_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2010%2F08%2F29%2Fmosque-by-ground-zero-this-is-america%2F New cartoon by Trussell & Trussell on Politics Daily. Mosque by Ground Zero? This Is America! Filed under: Politics Daily Tagged: comics, freedom of religion, ground zero, humor, mosque, political cartoon (Source: Donna Trussell) Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3915250 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:41:52 +0100 3915250 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3907811&cid=t_101057_180_f&fid=38619&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FALifeCoachsBlog%2F%7E3%2FomEMYj5x_ZE%2F When I’m working with a life coaching client on values it’s crucial before I try and work out the hierarchy I understand what each values means to them Even though every word has at least one literal translation in the English language, we also have a tendency, to put our own interpretation on what any particular word means to us. Freedom is a great example of this. I could say to you “I think freedom is absolutely crucial” and you may nod your head sagely and agree with my undoubtedly wise words. The only thing is, I may be talking about financial freedom and you may be thinking of freedom to bear arms, or freedom to travel, or freedom of the press, or freedom to worry sheep. Depending on what’s important to you, you will spin the word to meet your expectations and we’ll o... Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3907811 Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:10:03 +0100 3907811 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3902886&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FTjQTIMmjiGA%2F Argentina’s power couple (President Cristina Fernández and her husband and former president Néstor Kirchner) took their fight against the country’s major newspapers one step further today when the government released a report that might ultimately give it control of the company that distributes paper to the newspapers. The government report targets Papel Prensa, a private company that belongs to a group controlled by Clarín and La Nación, Argentina’s major daily newspapers, and that distributes paper to 170 newspapers all over the country regardless of their editorial line and ideology. The government claims that the previous owners of Papel Prensa sold the company back in 1976 under pressure from the military junta that then ruled Argentina. The report says that the government w... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3902886 Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:41:58 +0100 3902886 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3899640&cid=t_101057_150_f&fid=38374&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FePharmaSummit%2F%7E3%2FKes8HMA-yac%2Fpharma-social-marketing-and-data-its.html Bill Harriss of the Sigma Marketing Group commented on the winning uphill climb of social media marketing regulations and the FDA. He believes that Pharma is winning the battle, but in addition, the rich data that can come from online analytics that supplement offline data about the behavior of patients in addition to their conversion and adherence rates.Not to mention this brief filed with the US District court:The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) and Pfizer filed a brief with the U.S. District Court in April requesting to limit the FDA’s guidance to prevent the free speech of drug manufacturers on social media sites such as blogs, Facebook and Twitter.Do you believe that Pharma should be granted free speech when it comes to social media marketing? What benefits and drawbacks could thi... ePharma Summit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3899640 Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:15:00 +0100 3899640 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3890600&cid=t_101057_180_f&fid=38612&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fpickthebrain%2FLYVv%2F%7E3%2FjK-_M8kKDVg%2F A recent survey showed that 60% of us don’t keep a budget. Close to 20% hasn’t a clue where their money goes each month, yet 43% do spend more each year than they earn. Almost a third pay no attention to interest rates on their credit cards, even while carrying an average debt of $15,000 per household. How can this head-in-the-sand approach to managing money end in anything other than disaster? Look at our economy over the last two or three years and the answer is obvious: it doesn’t. You can’t ignore the basic laws of economics. You can’t spend more than your take in without paying the consequences. For over thirty years I have followed a very simple plan to financial stability. It allowed me to treat my family to Christmas in Hawaii several times, maintain a timeshare condo in ... PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3890600 Sat, 21 Aug 2010 19:14:20 +0100 3890600 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3885331&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FtVvBZIljiAY%2F Yesterday, FoxNews.com posted a story on what appears to be a growing problem for public school systems across the country: accommodating Muslim holidays. Unfortunately, the report didn’t contain the solution to the problem. It did, though, contain a very succinct discussion of the root of the problem; an example of the good intent that causes people to ignore the problem; and the kind of “solution” that is ultimately at odds with the most basic of American values. A quote from New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg captured the essence of the problem: One of the problems you have with a diverse city is that if you close the schools for every single holiday, there won’t be any school. There you have the basic conundrum in a nutshell: Whenever you have a divers... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3885331 Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:03:02 +0100 3885331 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3880830&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FZ6xHhY-KTWk%2F Participants in various current controversies would do well to settle into a comfortable chair and ponder these words of George Washington, sent to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I., 220 years ago today: While I receive, with much satisfaction, your Address replete with expressions of affection and esteem; I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you, that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced in my visit to Newport, from all classes of Citizens. The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet, from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security. If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3880830 Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:50:00 +0100 3880830 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3876933&cid=t_101057_180_f&fid=38612&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fpickthebrain%2FLYVv%2F%7E3%2FD1SFeDoeEdU%2F This guest post was contributed by Jane Sanders, who writes about debt management and other personal finance topics at DebtManagement.net. “A man in debt is so far a slave” – Ralph Waldo Emerson One of the greatest hardships a person can face is being burdened by debt. In addition to paying off the original loan, interest (often at extremely high rates) continues to add to the total, making the ultimate pay off far higher than what was borrowed in the first place. Having debt robs a person of freedom. They can’t leave a job they don’t like to pursue a new career, bad credit often prevents them from buying essentials like a home or a car, and it hangs over them for years, chipping away at the amount they can spend and save. It also creates stress, because some... PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3876933 Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:51:42 +0100 3876933 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3845102&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Famerica-has-a-heart%2F2010.08.08 As an American, I was proud when I heard the news. I grinned to myself. It was on my way to work, through a beautiful city park, with the sun rising over the hillside. The morning radio program reported the news that a California judge overturned their state’s ban on gay marriage. I know what you’re thinking: A medical blog is running amuck right into a political hornet’s nest. But isn’t it true that a nation’s kindness is a defining characteristic? America and Americans do much that is good and right. Examples of such goodness are too numerous to list. If you are a victim of a calamity, you can be sure that America will help. Ask Haiti. And it’s not just foreign countries, we help each other. There’s a flood and then there are volunteers. A powe... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3845102 Sun, 08 Aug 2010 14:00:00 +0100 3845102 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3790851&cid=t_101057_133_f&fid=35452&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.graphictruth.com%2F2010%2F07%2Ffirst-amendment-issue-of-our-time.html Senator Al Frankin speaking at Netroots. (Source: Graphictruth) Graphictruth blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3790851 Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:30:00 +0100 3790851 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3784392&cid=t_101057_122_f&fid=37835&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iqscorner.com%2F2010%2F07%2Fresearch-bytes-7-23-10-psychology-and.html Gottfredson, L. S. (2010). Lessons in academic freedom as lived experience. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(4), 272-280.What is academic freedom, what guarantees it, and what would you do if your university violated yours? Few of us academics entertain these questions or ponder possible answers. This leaves us individually and collectively vulnerable to encroachments on our right to free and open inquiry. I use a case study from 1989–1994 to illustrate how violations of academic freedom develop, the typical pretexts used to justify them, and what is required to halt and reverse them. My aim is to help scholars recognize when academic freedom is at risk and how better to safeguard it in daily academic life. To this end, I describe the general social mechanisms that operate both... Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3784392 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:58:00 +0100 3784392 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3780339&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FRMQg-O5v8k4%2F By David RittgersLouisiana has a new law on the books that outlaws “any electronic textual, visual, written, or oral communication with the malicious and willful intent to coerce, abuse, torment, or intimidate a person under the age of eighteen.” This is a statute aimed at “cyberbullying,” the increasingly common use of text messages and social media as a vehicle for teenage taunting. The issue caught its first big headlines with the Lori Drew case. The case against the Missouri woman hailed into court in California for suicide-inducing internet harassment was a stretch of an existing federal statute that was ultimately thrown out. The government continues to contend that violating a website’s terms of service is a federal crime. The federal cyberbullying statute proposed last ye... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3780339 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:26:01 +0100 3780339 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3780343&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fdp797EOAtc4%2F By Neal McCluskeyFor supporters of Title IX, it’s time to put down the pom-poms. From the start, Title IX has been an unnecessary and destructive imposition of government and bureaucracy into college sports, substituting regulation and litigation for the free choices of women and men. But yesterday’s ruling that competitive cheerleading isn’t a sport — a decision worth reading just for its brilliant illustration of the torturous athlete-accounting and word-parsing Title IX demands – highlights how truly absurd it has become. For one thing, tell the women (and men) in competitive cheer that it isn’t a sport – most would probably beg to differ. Much more important, when we have judges ruling what does or does not constitute a sport we have clearly given up way... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3780343 Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:06:49 +0100 3780343 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3780345&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FbR8M2lag0Lk%2F By David RittgersThe Associated Press is reporting that persons filing requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the Department of Homeland Security during the last year faced scrutiny beyond what the law requires. Career employees were ordered to provide Secretary Janet Napolitano’s political staff with information about the people who asked for records — such as where they lived, whether they were private citizens or reporters — and about the organizations where they worked. If a member of Congress sought such documents, employees were told to specify Democrat or Republican. This, despite President Barack Obama’s statement that federal workers should “act promptly and in a spirit of cooperation” under FOIA, and Attorney General Eric Holder&#821... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3780345 Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:31:54 +0100 3780345 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3761415&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FDOZN4t15-P4%2F By Gabriela Calderon de BurgosThe World Cup is over but not the Ecuadorian government’s propaganda campaign vilifying the free press. For those Ecuadorians who don’t have Direct TV, but only have cable TV or the local network channels, the only place to have watched the much-awaited matches was on one of the state-owned TV stations and with constant state propaganda. (You can watch the videos depicting the private press as a snake or as shooting bullets coming out of the TV here, here, here and here.) When I say constant, I might be understating the frequency: according to Infomedia — a media monitoring company— during the weekend of June 18-20 these ads were broadcasted 414 times for a total of 7,988 seconds or 133 minutes. To make matters worse, the ads continue to be ai... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3761415 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:22:30 +0100 3761415 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3757848&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FjHnuknw3Ekg%2F By Juan Carlos HidalgoBy now the name of Yoani Sánchez has become common currency for those who follow Cuba. Through the use of New Media (blog, Twitter and YouTube) Yoani has challenged the Castro regime in a way that various U.S. government-sponsored efforts have  failed to do before, earning the respect and tacit admiration of even those who continue to sympathize with the Cuban regime. As my colleague Ian Vásquez put it a few months ago, Yoani keeps speaking truth to power. Although she’s a remarkable individual, Yoani is not alone in fighting repression with technology. Other bloggers are making their voice heard, and that makes the Castro dictatorship nervous. As Yoani wrote in a paper recently published by Cato, despite the many difficulties and costs that regular Cubans face ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3757848 Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:26:37 +0100 3757848 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3746722&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fp4r7WV6GzEs%2F By Ian VasquezJackson Diehl and Mary O’Grady write today in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, respectively, about Guillermo Zuloaga, critic of Hugo Chavez and owner of Globovision TV, the only remaining independent TV station in Venezuela. Zuloaga has become an international symbol of press freedom as he and his station have come under increasing government harassment, especially in the past year. Last month, a Chavez controlled court issued an arrest warrant for Zuloaga and his son, and they went into hiding. In March, Zuloaga was arrested briefly for having spoken critically of the Venezuelan regime at an international conference. The government accused the Globovision head of criticizing the president and poisoning the minds of Venezuelans. Chavez has promised to shut down ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3746722 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:44:04 +0100 3746722 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3737148&cid=t_101057_129_f&fid=36035&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.everydayhealth.com%2Fblog%2Flife-with-chronic-pain%2Fa-painville-declaration-of-independence%2F In the spirit of Independence Day, I offer this humble tribute… Sometimes in the course of human events it becomes necessary to make a declaratory statement regarding one’s lot in life. It becomes necessary for one group of people to dissolve the connections to their old way of life and to embrace new rules of life to which they are entitled by the right of Nature and Nature’s God. These people acknowledge their right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness as they consider these truths which are self-evident to all men since we are all created equal, and are endowed by our Creator with these specific unalienable Rights. We acknowledge the presence of disease, pain and maiming from accident as falling equally upon all Mankind and do accept our circumstances with much regret... Life with Chronic Pain blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3737148 Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:20:52 +0100 3737148 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3737233&cid=t_101057_136_f&fid=39016&url=http%3A%2F%2Fturquoisegates.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F07%2Fanother-thought-on-storms.html Seen in the hospital gift shop today:"Life is not waiting until the storm passes,but learning to dance in the rain."That, in a nutshell, is what God has taught my husband, my children and I through this season of our lives. I have a hilarious memory of being allowed - at some ridiculous age like 10 or so - to run in the rain in our wooded backyard in the country, clothed only in my underwear. I will never forget the freedom of that sensation, skipping through the yard, naked, the icy chill of the raindrops and heat of the humidity rising from the grass. My brothers were in the basement, and I'm sure my mother watched me dance from the kitchen window. Now I must dance again, in a new way. He has stripped me of my "clothes" now in a spiritual sense. Instead of feeling fear in my nakedness, I... Turquoise Gates blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3737233 Thu, 08 Jul 2010 19:28:00 +0100 3737233 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3724441&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36050&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblisstree.com%2Flive%2Fben-franklin-on-freedom-quote-of-the-day%2F In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria. – Benjamin Franklin Post from: BlissTree Ben Franklin on Freedom (Source: Breastfeeding 1-2-3) Breastfeeding 1-2-3 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3724441 Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:00:53 +0100 3724441 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3706656&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FHthlFOO_vSs%2F By Roger PilonDissenting today in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, Justice Samuel Alito put his finger on the majority’s underlying principle: there shall be “no freedom for expression that offends prevailing standards of political correctness in our country’s institutions of higher learning.” That pretty much says it all. This case arose after the Hastings College of Law, a large public law school in San Francisco, denied the school’s tiny Christian Legal Society the same recognition and support it granted to some 60 other student organizations on the ground that CLS, contrary to the Hastings nondiscrimination policy, discriminates by requiring that its members and officers abide by certain key tenets of the Christian faith. In a word, in the name of anti-discrimination, Has... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3706656 Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:52:37 +0100 3706656 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3703120&cid=t_101057_180_f&fid=38619&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FALifeCoachsBlog%2F%7E3%2FwQFnkPxCB_c%2F It’s a great question, isn’t it? And one I’m guessing most of us ask of ourselves from time to time. For you it may be $100m or half a million or it may not be a specific amount at all, but just ‘enough’ to allow you to forget about paying the bills. I was with with a client recently who was trying to work out how much money he needed so he no longer had to worry for himself, his wife and his kids. I listened to this and got quite concerned. I wasn’t aware there was an amount that meant we had to worry, and another that meant we were ok allowing us the freedom to focus our worrying skills on other areas of our life. “Shit” I thought, “I don’t have enough money and I’ve been fooling myself by not worrying about it for at least a couple of years now, I�... Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3703120 Sun, 27 Jun 2010 21:45:22 +0100 3703120 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3687108&cid=t_101057_90_f&fid=36413&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcscience.net%2F%3Fp%3D3200 Western herbal medicine need not be mystical nonsense, but it usually it is,  Plants often contain chemicals that have pharmacological actions, with all the possibilities for good and for harm that implies (see Plants as medicines).  It would be quite possible to teach about the plant constituents and their actions in an entirely scientific way, but it seems that this is not what courses in herbal medicine choose to do.  That is why they shouldn’t be called Bachelor of Science degrees. We have recently revealed the ancient nonsense taught at Middlesex University in its "BSc (Hons)" degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine in Dangerous Chinese medicine taught at Middlesex University as well as similar dangerous gobbledygook from the University of Westminster:... DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3687108 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:17:47 +0100 3687108 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3672055&cid=t_101057_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fpromises-of-recovery%2F . The Promises of Recovery from Addictiveness The 12-Steps to recovery provide relief from a spiritual malady such that veterans of the program can say; If we are painstaking about [working the Steps to Recovery in] this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of peop... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3672055 Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:09:01 +0100 3672055 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3665955&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fc2OPlOCPOlw%2F By David BoazSubmissions for the Bastiat Prize for Journalism and the Bastiat Prize for Online Journalist close at the end of June. Journalists, bloggers, and writers of op-eds are encouraged to submit their work here. The International Policy Network awards prizes of up to $10,000 to  “writers anywhere in the world whose published articles eloquently and wittily explain, promote and defend the principles and institutions of the free society.” Note that these prizes are not (just) for students. Last year’s winners included law professor John Hasnas, for an oped published in the Wall Street Journal; Robert Guest, Washington Correspondent of the Economist; Robert Robb, editorial columnist of the Arizona Republic; British politician and blogger Daniel Hannan; and Shikha ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3665955 Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:37:26 +0100 3665955 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3641329&cid=t_101057_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Ffreedom-from-emotion-2%2F Detachment means "freedom from emotion." Detachment is something all people in recovery seek. Letting someone else’s behavior determine how we feel at every turn is irresponsible. Our emotions should be determined by us, not by someone else. But no doubt we have spent years confusing the boundaries that separate us from other people. Whether at work or at home, we have too often let someone else’s "insanity" affect how we behave and how we feel. At first, it may seem insensitive not to react to others’ problems or negative behavior. We may fear they’ll think we simply don’t care about them. Learning that it is far more caring to let other people handle their own lives takes time and patience. But with practice, it will begin to feel comfort... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3641329 Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:32:00 +0100 3641329 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3629620&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FhUEjTZCgBhw%2F By Walter OlsonRecall the unionists’ siege of the Maryland banker’s home the other day? Perhaps it was inspired in part by this screed on the world financial crisis that appeared a little while back on the blog New Deal 2.0, published by the left-leaning Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. Other advice in the same piece on how to handle execs from Goldman Sachs and similar investment banks: “Build some Guantanamo-like facility to hold these enemy financial combatants until they can be tried, convicted, and properly punished.” And: “Post the names of all managers and traders on Interpol. Arrest anyone who tries to board a plane, train, or boat; confiscate their passports; revoke their visas and work permits; and put a hold on their bank accounts until cul... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3629620 Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:09:53 +0100 3629620 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3614569&cid=t_101057_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F05%2F31%2Fmemorial-day-2010%2F Another Memorial Day here in the U.S., and another year that we commemorate and remember those who’ve given their lives for our freedom and our nation. Those who have died did so that, in the future, our country might be safer. They died so that great evils could be done away with in WWII (and WWI). They died so that politicians could wage endless, unwinnable wars for political ideals (Vietnam, Korea, and now Iraq). They died, quite simply, so that we could enjoy the freedoms we so often take for granted in our country. I am grateful for the country I live in and for the sacrifices others have made to not only attain its freedom, but to keep it. Today, we remember their lives. For every veteran and every active duty soldier and individual in military uniform — thank you. Than... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3614569 Mon, 31 May 2010 13:08:11 +0100 3614569 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3610322&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FhBsUQsiZdJc%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThe Taxpayers Alliance has a brief but compelling video, entitled “How long do you work for the tax man?,” which shows how an ordinary worker in the United Kingdom spends more than one-half his day laboring for government. “What will they tax next?” is still the best policy video to come out of the U.K., in my humble opinion, but this one is very much worth watching — especially since America is becoming more like Europe with each passing day. What makes the video particularly depressing is that it only considers the tax burden. Regulations and government spending also are a burden on average workers, largely because of foregone economic growth. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3610322 Fri, 28 May 2010 19:12:05 +0100 3610322 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3607483&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FJZDMtZXK4H8%2F By David BoazMichael Crowley, late of the New Republic and now with Time magazine, writes thoughtfully about Ron Paul, Rand Paul, and libertarianism. Crowley notes that Rand Paul, “more politically flexible than his father,” has plenty of unlibertarian positions. But both of them are tapping into a real strain in contemporary politics: But he, like his father, also knows well that a genuine libertarian impulse is astir in America…. polls show an uptick in both social permissiveness and skepticism of government intervention….[Ron Paul] has already waited a long time — and it appears the country is moving his way. This is a current trend, but it’s also deeply rooted in the American political culture. As David Kirby and I wrote in “The Libertarian Vote&#... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3607483 Thu, 27 May 2010 16:17:29 +0100 3607483 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3603576&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F-kewZWjtEQY%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonNRO editor Robert VerBruggen has weighed in a couple of times this week on the relative merits of school vouchers and education tax credits, raising interesting and important issues. In response to my earlier post today about an education tax credit case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, VerBruggen writes: If the Supreme Court buys this logic — which I suppose is sound on its face — it could lead to some very interesting programs. Any time it’s illegal for a government to fund something directly, it could simply make a dollar-for-dollar “tax credit” program for it, allowing sympathetic taxpayers to technically “donate” — but actually just redirect the taxes they’d otherwise have to pay — to the cause. This is actually an argument presented by critic... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3603576 Wed, 26 May 2010 19:15:06 +0100 3603576 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3560217&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FduK7j3vcz7A%2F By Roger PilonIn his post this morning, “Kagan on Military Recruitment,” Cato adjunct scholar Mark Moller touches on Cato’s 2005 amicus brief in Rumsfeld v. FAIR, which he co-authored when he was with us as editor-and-chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review – a duty he performed splendidly before moving off to the legal academy. In mentioning the brief, however, Mark says that he recalls that the position it took was controversial within Cato, that it might still be, and that Cato’s legal shop might take a different view were the case presented today. I don’t recall that the position we took was controversial within Cato, but then it was five years ago, memories fade, and much has happened in the meantime, including the filing of a brief just three months ago that nicely complem... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3560217 Wed, 12 May 2010 16:55:23 +0100 3560217 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3533816&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FLWPoJv0MY8w%2F By Neal McCluskey…the federal government was taking over education. At least, it was moving a lot further in that direction, with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wielding billions of “stimulus” dollars to coerce states to do Washington’s bidding. And that’s not just my take. It’s also the New York Times’: Mr. Duncan is a man in a hurry. He has far more money to dole out than any previous secretary of education, and he is using it in ways that extend the federal government’s reach into virtually every area of education, from pre-kindergarten to college. Race to the Top. SAFRA. National standards. For well over a year, we at the Center for Educational Freedom have issued warnings about all of these escalations of utterly unconstitutional fede... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3533816 Tue, 04 May 2010 20:21:53 +0100 3533816 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3533817&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FSl6XVaJJmW0%2F By David BoazWe’ve written about the jailed Egyptian blogger known as Kareem before. Now the people who are working for his release are asking that people “flood the jail with mail” so that Kareem and his jailers will know that the world is watching. I hope you’ll take a moment to help. Kareem attended a conference for Arabic liberal and libertarian bloggers and writers in 2006, when he was 21 years old. Within months he was arrested and sentenced. He has served more than 3/4 of a four-year sentence for writing about freedom, democracy, and women’s rights on his blog, and yet he still has not been released. He has suffered not only the loss of his freedom, but continuing abuse. It is important to let the Egyptian authorities know he is not forgotten. Please ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3533817 Tue, 04 May 2010 18:43:44 +0100 3533817 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3526725&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fheqs31Ut9lk%2F By adminBritain may have given the world freedom as we understand it (i.e. see The Liberty of Ancients Compared with that of Moderns by Benjamin Constant), but you would not know it from the last prime ministerial debate that took place last Thursday. The candidates (Conservative David Cameron, Labour’s Gordon Brown and Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg) used the word “freedom” only 2 times. They said the word “free” 5 times, but all in the context of the supposedly “free” goodies, which they promised to lavish on the electorate. Words “responsible” and “responsibility” fared somewhat better (4 times). But the winning words were “fair” and “fairness” that were mentioned 22 times — almost always in connection with taxing the rich. Here is a typical example: Bro... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3526725 Mon, 03 May 2010 15:37:16 +0100 3526725 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3515339&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOzLA9q35N5o%2F By David BoazTim Carney has a blog post at the Examiner that’s worth quoting in full: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has issued its 2009 congressional scorecard, and once again, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex. — certainly one of the two most free-market politicians in Washington — gets the lowest score of any Republican. Paul was one of a handful of GOP lawmakers not to win the Chamber’s “Spirit of Enterprise Award.” He scored only a 67%, bucking the Chamber on five votes, including: Paul opposed the “Solar Technology Roadmap Act,” which boosted subsidies for unprofitable solar energy technology. Paul opposed the “Travel Promotion Act,” which subsidizes the tourism industry with a new fee on international visitors. Paul opposed the largest spending bill in history, Obama’s $... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3515339 Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:24:48 +0100 3515339 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3502990&cid=t_101057_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FRecoveryIsSexycom%2F%7E3%2FbZ3ImcVe2Y4%2F Nine Words Towards Freedom and Sobriety My name is Keith, and I am an Alcoholic. Nine Words that allowed me to first find my place on the pathway to freedom – yes freedom. Free from the torments and frustrations that I had known as a practising alcoholic. Nine Words that were to give me hope, hope that I too, could live in peace and contentment’ as so many other Alcoholics Anonymous members were living, free from the use of alcohol. Nine Words -that today play such an important part in keeping me sober, for I know that as long as I can accept their meaning freely, free from any reservations or resentments, I can apply myself to the AA program and in so doing’ ensure my freedom from that first drink Nine Words that give me the freedom of choice for once I am free to choose what ty... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3502990 Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:00:42 +0100 3502990 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3499055&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F3GnUg6nJ_qE%2F By David BoazRecently I wrote an article arguing that there never was a golden age of liberty and that in particular libertarians should not hail 19th-century America as a small-government paradise, at least not without grappling with the massive problem of slavery. Jacob Hornberger, author of an article that I criticized, responded in Reason, and I then responded here. Meanwhile, an interesting discussion took place on a email list of libertarian scholars, and I’m pleased to have gotten the permission of several participants to include some of that discussion here: Aeon J. Skoble: The ideals of freedom which led to the tangible improvements [Boaz] mentions – I’m concerned that those ideals are eroding/have eroded.  Example: say you have a robust theory of rights, but your soci... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3499055 Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:05:32 +0100 3499055 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3475814&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FLHVOkr_d-14%2F By Adam SchaefferVoiceover: Are you tired of trying to use private school choice policy to remove mediocre, incompetent or just plain dangerous teachers from public schools? Just look at how clumsy that can be! This poor school choice supporter is struggling just to get enough kids into private schools so that the public schools notice and start firing bad teachers! What a waste!!! Fordham Industries pitch-man extra-ordinaire Public-Mad Mike Petrilli has a better way! Petrilli: “Rather than use choice to set in motion a chain reaction that ends with the removal of bad teachers from the classroom, why not go right at the bad teachers themselves?”! Voiceover: Don’t waste your time with systemic reforms helping some kids today and all kids tomorrow! Just buy in to Teacher-B-Gone Safety ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3475814 Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:16:04 +0100 3475814 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3471772&cid=t_101057_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=3460167&cid=t_101057_90_f&fid=36413&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcscience.net%2F%3Fp%3D2923 There is something very offensive about the idea that a ‘bachelor of science’ degree can be awarded by a university, as a prize for memorising gobbledygook. Once the contents of the ‘degrees’ has been exposed to public ridicule, many universities have stopped doing it. All (or nearly all) of these pseudo-degrees have closed at the University of Salford, the University of Central Lancashire, Robert Gordon University, the University of Buckingham, and even at the University of Westminster (the worst offender), one course has closed (with rumours of more to follow). I’ve already written about the course in Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University of Salford (Chinese medicine -acupuncture gobbledygook revealed) and at the University of Westminster: see... DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3460167 Mon, 12 Apr 2010 06:51:20 +0100 3460167 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3456669&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FnkONjUE--qc%2F By Timothy B. LeeI’m saddened to hear of the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens. Whatever you might say about his jurisprudence in other areas, one place where Justice Stevens really shined was in his defense of high-tech freedom. Justice Stevens wrote the majority opinion in some of the most important high-tech cases of the last four decades. In other cases, he wrote important (and in some cases prescient) dissents. Through it all, he was a consistent voice for freedom of expression and the freedom to innovate. His accomplishments include: Free speech: Justice Stevens wrote the majority decision in ACLU v. Reno, the decision that struck down the infamous Communications Decency Act and clearly established that the First Amendment applies to the Internet. In the 13 years since t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3456669 Fri, 09 Apr 2010 20:57:19 +0100 3456669 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3453909&cid=t_101057_90_f&fid=36413&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcscience.net%2F%3Fp%3D2914 Yet another university has stopped its homeopathy course. The particular interest of this course was that it was being run at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, the vice-chancellor which was Michael Pittilo, until his recent premature death. Pittilo is the person who recommended to the government that herbalists and Chinese medicine practitioners should get honours degrees and be regulated like doctors. His report, was, in my opinions, disastrously bad.  It recently emerged that this, very bad, advice would not be accepted by the Department of Health (DH), so the campaign against the Pittilo proposals, on this blog and elsewhere was successful. The alternative DH proposals look pretty silly, but we won’t really know until after the election exactly what will happen. ... DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3453909 Fri, 09 Apr 2010 06:04:10 +0100 3453909 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3441016&cid=t_101057_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2010%2F04%2F05%2Fpresident-karzai-and-the-press-its-complicated%2F New cartoon by Trussell & Trussell on AOL’s Politics Daily. President Karzai and the Press . . . It’s Complicated. Filed under: Politics Daily Tagged: afghanistan, freedom of the press, journalism, karzai, Media (Source: Donna Trussell) Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3441016 Tue, 06 Apr 2010 01:45:19 +0100 3441016 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3429197&cid=t_101057_90_f&fid=36413&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcscience.net%2F%3Fp%3D2881 Conclusions I’ll confess to feeling almost a little guilty for having appeared to persecute the particular individuals involved in thie episode. But patients are involved and so is the law, and both of these are more important than individuals,  The only unfair aspect is that, while it seems that even the Prince of Wales’ Foundation for Integrated Health has rejected Daniel and Atkinson, that Foundation embraces plenty of people who are just as deluded, and potentially dangerous, as those two.  The answer to that problem is for the Prince to stop endorsing treatments that don’t work. As for the University of Buckingham. Well, despite the right wing maverick Kealey and the ‘anti-evidence’ Miles, I really think they’ve done the right thing. They’ve li... DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3429197 Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:37:46 +0100 3429197 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3424829&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FtRRTHZKYKjU%2F By Andrew J. Coulson“…a little better all the time.” Some school choice supporters and philanthropists began to suffer burnout a few years ago, disappointed that private school choice programs had not yet scaled up massively a decade-and-a-half after the first modern program was launched in Milwaukee. That disappointment is likely to give way in the coming years to new hope, and looking back a generation from now, 2010 may well be seen as a turning point in the history of educational freedom. Last week, a private school choice bill sponsored by a Democrat (the Rev. James Meeks), passed the Democratic-controlled Illinois Senate. Even if this particular bill isn’t enacted into law, the impact of its passage in the Senate will reverberate around the country. Also in ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3424829 Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:05:53 +0100 3424829 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3420441&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F4XM3Iy_0f0M%2F By Neal McCluskeyCongratulations Delaware and Tennessee — you’ve won the Race to the Top beauty contest! Of course, the grading was subjective and will be disputed by lots of states that haven’t won. Well, haven’t won yet — there’s a second round to this, remember. So what do the victories for Delaware and Tennessee mean? The edu-pundits will no doubt be reading deep into the results over the coming days, trying to determine what they portend for the future of RttT, federal education policy generally, and politicians across the country.  And there are some juicy political leads worth following, including the possibility that the winning states were chosen because they have Republican congress members who could be pivotal in getting bipartisan support for the ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3420441 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:58:47 +0100 3420441 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3416009&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FZ8HOQ9U1GcU%2F By Gabriela Calderon de BurgosEcuadorian President Rafael Correa has long labeled the free press as his “main enemy.” His attitude has unfortunately resulted in official intolerance of individuals critical of the government. The latest example is that of Emilio Palacio, the editor of the op-ed page of El Universo — the newspaper with the highest circulation in the country — who was sentenced on Friday to three years in jail for an op-ed he wrote in August 2009. Palacio accused Camilo Samán, director of a state-owned bank, of having sent protesters to El Universo’s offices after the newspaper reported on possible acts of corruption at the bank. The President has repeatedly stated that Palacio should be punished for what he wrote. In a country where everybody knows that th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3416009 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:39:10 +0100 3416009 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3382882&cid=t_101057_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F03%2F17%2Fmentally-ill-old-woman-tasered-for-refusing-to-move%2F Usually when one thinks of New England, one thinks of the seat of the War of Independence and home of states that value personal freedom and independence above virtually all else. After all, New Hampshire’s state motto is “Live Free or Die.” This was where the very idea of peaceful civil disobedience was born in the U.S. So when a police officer in Barre, Vermont (population: 9,291) decided that a woman with mental illness wasn’t moving to comply with his requests, he decided to arrest her. And when the woman still wasn’t moving to allow herself to be arrested, Cpl. Henry Duhaime of the Barre (Vt) Police Department apparently decided to pull out his Taser, instead of his radio to call for backup. Was the woman a coked up drug addict trying to fight off the pol... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3382882 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:56:27 +0100 3382882 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3374182&cid=t_101057_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F03%2F17%2Fmentally-ill-old-woman-tasered-for-refusing-to-move%2F Usually when one thinks of New England, one thinks of the seat of the War of Independence and home of states that value personal freedom and independence above virtually all else. After all, New Hampshire’s state motto is “Live Free or Die.” This was where the very idea of peaceful civil disobedience was born in the U.S. So when a police officer in Barre, Vermont (population: 9,291) decided that an old woman with mental illness wasn’t moving to comply with his requests, he decided to arrest her. And when the woman still wasn’t moving to allow herself to be arrested, Cpl. Henry Duhaime of the Barre (Vt) Police Department apparently decided to pull out his Taser, instead of his radio to call for backup. Was the woman a coked up drug addict trying to fight off t... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3374182 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:56:27 +0100 3374182 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3354584&cid=t_101057_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FRecoveryIsSexycom%2F%7E3%2FaLk9V9iBG0M%2F What is Spirituality? "Spirituality is an awakening—or is it all the loose ends woven together into a mellow fabric? It’s understanding—or is it all the knowledge one need ever know? It’s freedom—if you consider fear slavery. It’s confidence—or is it the belief that a higher power will see you through any storm or gale? It’s adhering to the dictates of your conscience—or is it a deep, genuine, living concern for the people and the planet? It’s peace of mind in the face of adversity. It’s a keen and sharpened desire for survival. From; AA book – Came to Believe, 2004, pg. 5 See also Spiritual Health Blockages SPIRITUAL AWAKENING Spirituality Books Inspirational Books 12 Spiritual Questions (Source: Recovery Is Sexy.com) Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3354584 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:29:39 +0100 3354584 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3342637&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F5nCD20hVZjk%2F By Ilya ShapiroUnder Washington’s constitution, a popular vote must be ordered on any bill passed by the legislature if a specified percentage of state voters sign a petition for a referendum. Washington’s Public Records Act makes public records, including such referendum petitions, available for public inspection. In 2009, opponents of same-sex marriage used the referendum procedure to attempt to reverse a state law which expands the rights of state-registered domestic partners. Proponents of the law sought access to the petition and two of the petition signers sought a preliminary injunction to prevent disclosure of their personal information, arguing that the PRA violates their right to speak anonymously. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the right to access trump... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3342637 Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:37:10 +0100 3342637 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3326964&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYhuAB56NSM4%2F By Ian VasquezAlthough some comparisons between Haiti’s 7.0 earthquake in January and Chile’s 8.8 quake this weekend have attributed the massive differences in devastation and lives lost (230,000 vs. some 700 respectively) to different enforcement of building codes and planning, the real reason for Chile’s superior ability to endure the disaster has everything to do with its vastly higher level of economic freedom, reliable rule of law, and the much higher level of prosperity that results. Here are three good articles that make those points: Bret Stephens on “How Milton Friedman Saved Chile” John Stossel on “A Tale of Two Quakes” Anne Applebaum, “Chile and Haiti: A Look at Earthquakes and Politics” And here’s a piece I wrote on Haiti explaining how economic freedom ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3326964 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:17:37 +0100 3326964 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3311941&cid=t_101057_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fchoice-making-in-recovery%2F Making choices Choice Making A classic in the literature of codependency. “Freedom from” and “freedom to” are essential elements of recovery. Freedom from our pain and our past gives us the freedom to choose our future life path in recovery. Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse uses her own experiences to show us how to become free and how to enjoy the freedom to make choices. She outlines the journey toward spiritual satisfaction and wholeness–the freedom of choice–in this eloquent work. This is necessary reading for anyone who has lived with addictive relationships, whether the addiction was to a drug or another person. - Choice Making – Order today! - (Source: Recovery Is Sexy.com) Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3311941 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:37:22 +0100 3311941 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3294543&cid=t_101057_86_f&fid=38272&url=http%3A%2F%2Flaikaspoetnik.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F02%2F21%2Fworrying-wordpress-shut-down-a-blog-of-a-student-critizing-the-naturopath-christopher-maloney%2F Last Thursday PZ Myers, author of the very successful science blog Pharyngula tweeted that Christopher Maloney was a quack” (see first tweet below). Prior to that tweet I’d never heard of Christopher Maloney. I used to be rather indifferent about homeopaths and other people practicing CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine), thinking that it might help some [...] (Source: Laika's MedLibLog) Laika's MedLibLog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3294543 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:59:19 +0100 3294543 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3290996&cid=t_101057_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FRecoveryIsSexycom%2F%7E3%2F91BwAxbv7tU%2F This article may help. Letting someone else’s behavior determine how we feel at every turn is irresponsible. Our emotions should be determined by us, not by someone else. But no doubt we have spent years confusing the boundaries that separate us from other people. Whether at work or at home, we have too often let someone else’s “insanity” affect how we behave and how we feel. At first, it may seem insensitive not to react to others’ problems or negative behavior. We may fear they’ll think we simply don’t care about them. Learning that it is far more caring to let other people handle their own lives takes time and patience. But with practice, it will begin to feel comfortable. In fact, in time it will feel freeing and wonderful. I will work on detac... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3290996 Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:05:04 +0100 3290996 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3266931&cid=t_101057_90_f&fid=36413&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcscience.net%2F%3Fp%3D2747 Every single request for information about course materials in quack medicine that I have ever sent has been turned down by universities, It is hardly as important as as refusal of FoI requests to see climate change documents, but it does indicate that some vice-chancellors are not very interested in openness. This secretiveness is exactly the sort of thing that leads to lack of trust in universities and in science as a whole. The one case that I have won took over three years and an Information Tribunal decision against the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) before I got anything. UCLAN spent £80,307.95.(inc VAT at 17.5%) in legal expenses alone (plus heaven knows how much in staff time) to prevent us from seeing what was taught on their now defunct “BSc (Hons) homeopa... DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3266931 Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:59:15 +0100 3266931 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3251190&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FCY8U9KBhJlU%2F By Daniel J. MitchellRonald Reagan was born 99 years ago. To remember what made him special, here are a couple of videos.   (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3251190 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:58:00 +0100 3251190 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3251407&cid=t_101057_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fcontinued-aa-attendance%2F Serenity If one continues to attend AA one has nearly double chance of finding freedom from alcoholism. Comparison of Past Year Drinking Status – Dropouts and Continuing AA Members Dropouts: Abstinent 33% Low risk drinking 14% High risk drinking 53% Continued AA attendance: Abstinent 62% Low risk drinking 9% High risk drinking 29% low risk drinking = never exceed 4 drinks per day(male) or 3 drinks per day (female) high risk drinking = exceeds 4 drinks per day (male) or 3 drinks per day (female) Research Source: NIAAA 1991-1992 National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey (NLAES). Data Brief – National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey (NLAES) Findings on Alcoholics Anonymous Membership by Loran Archer. See also; 12th Step Works Alcoholic, Addictive Behaviors What is... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3251407 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:56:52 +0100 3251407 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3239551&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYgDEqrpv3mE%2F By Ilya ShapiroHastings College of the Law, a public law school in California, has a policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of “race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, disabilities, age, sex or sexual orientation.” In 2004, the Christian Legal Society, a religious student organization at the school, applied to become a “recognized student organization” — a designation that would have allowed CLS to receive a variety of benefits afforded to about 60 other Hastings groups. While all are welcome to attend CLS meetings, CLS’s charter requires that its officers and voting members abide by key tenets of the Christian faith and comport themselves in ways consistent with its fundamental mission, which includes a prohibition on “unrepentan... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3239551 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:40:19 +0100 3239551 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3244056&cid=t_101057_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FRecoveryIsSexycom%2F%7E3%2FUqBwtISbgB0%2F Fellowship - Herd of Elephants Protecting their Young The Buddha’s Secret The Buddha spent years seeking the secret to understanding the human condition and the sufferings that go with it. His insight was simple, and it can free you of an illusion that promotes dependence. The secret is, “There is no secret.” Thus in Buddhism there is no Secret Doctrine. Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Buddha spoke of what came to be known as The Four Noble Truths. The 1st Noble Truth was that there is suffering, or discontentment with what one has; The 2nd Noble Truth was that the cause of suffering is attachment (desire). The Buddha then went on to say that the way out of suffering is non-attachment (non-desire). This doesn’t mean that we don’t want or need certain things but that ou... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3244056 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:29:12 +0100 3244056 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3236015&cid=t_101057_133_f&fid=35090&url=http%3A%2F%2Faspiehomeeducation.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F02%2Four-children-have-been-nationalised.html Gerald Warner reckons that the German homeschoolers' political asylum in America exposes the EU Gulag:Why did the German homeschoolers not seek political asylum in Britain? Because our rulers subscribe to the same tyrannical statist philosophy, is the answer. Every possible obstacle is put in the way of homeschooling parents in Britain.The mentality is that the state – not parents – is the natural controller and shaper of children’s lives and beliefs. When a schoolgirl can be given an abortion without her parents’ knowledge, we know that, while public utilities may have been privatised, children have been nationalised. Read more...ALSO on the news: One of the growing number of children who are being taught at home, for Archie there will be no dreaded Sats exams and when the time is... Aspie Home-Education blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3236015 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:57:00 +0100 3236015 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3231450&cid=t_101057_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYsUdwzn3Ljo%2F By Cato EditorsGlobalization holds tremendous promise to improve human welfare but can also cause conflicts and crises. How will competition for resources, employment, and growth shape economic policies among developed nations as they attempt to maintain productivity growth, social protections, and extensive political and cultural freedoms? In a new study, Cato scholar Jagadeesh Gokhale offers policy recommendations for developed nations to reduce globalization’s negative effects and, indeed, harness it for solving economic challenges. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3231450 Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:47:15 +0100 3231450