Uncategorized
Commentary
Student DNA tests could go wild
SACRAMENTO – The University of California, Berkeley, has inadvertently stepped into a brewing ethical debate over genetic testing and medical privacy after it asked the incoming freshman class to submit to the campus cotton swabs with DNA samples from their saliva. The unusual experiment is part of Berkeley’s annual “On ...
Commentary
Obama’s promises, promises
“How do you know when a politician is lying?”, asks the hoary joke. His lips are moving. Some politicians are skilled manipulators of words. Recall President Bill Clinton’s definition of what “is” is. Our current president prefers the head-down, right-up-the-center approach. He campaigned on a promise to decrease health care ...
Commentary
Will Business-Toxic Environment Poison Silicon Valley Innovation?
The world is full of pseudo-Silicon Valleys — private and public attempts to re-create California’s high-tech mecca. But they have achieved only pale copies of an original that remains the undisputed cradle of innovation. Historic leaders like Hewlett-Packard and Intel have stayed there, and more recent giants like Google, Facebook ...
Climate Change
The EPA’s Power Grab
The climate campaigners play their trump card, but it may turn out to be a joker. Washington (The Weekly Standard) Vol. 015, Issue 15 12/28/2009 the climate campaign, built step-by-step over the last 20 years, has reached its Waterloo. the Copenhagen conference that ended Friday was an exercise ...
Energy
Blown Away
The Detroit Free Press has reported on the initial Ludington and Pentwater resident reaction to a massive wind turbine installation construction proposal. If allowed to move forward, advocates claim the installation is capable of producing 1,000 megawatts of power while crowding more than 100 square miles of Lake Michigan. At ...
Commentary
The Power of the Plaintiffs’ Bar
Why Democrats are avoiding medical-malpractice reform at all costs. The health-care bill the Senate Finance Committee approved makes a lot of promises. It will cost American taxpayers $829 billion, on top of an already out-of-control federal budget, as well as guarantee an increase in their individual medical expenditures. But one ...
Commentary
Earthquake Fears Halt California Geothermal Project
The federal government has halted a geothermal power project in California in response to concerns the project is causing an increase in regional earthquake activity. The project was launched last fall with more than $6 million in taxpayer funding. The project, in a Northern California region knows as The Geysers, ...
Commentary
Cochrane Threatens Austrians More Than Krugman Ever Did
This is a very short-sighted view. Just because someone gets in a fight with someone who we can’t stand–and I’ve criticized Krugman enough to have credibility on that score–doesn’t mean we should endorse any old arguments. There was quite a bit in Cochrane’s response that should alarm an Austrian economist, ...
Commentary
Anti-Aging Technology Is No Excuse for Bad Habits
For those interested in longevity, July was a good news month. Recently published research in the journal Science shows that caloric restriction helps monkeys live longer and healthier, while a parallel study demonstrated the possibility that a drug could mimic this process. Clearly, new technologies aimed at lengthening and improving ...
Commentary
The president’s Trojan horse
During his recent speech to the American Medical Association, President Obama addressed what he called the “illegitimate concern” that “a public option is somehow a Trojan horse for a single-payer system.” Referring to such concerns, he added that “when you hear the naysayers claim that I’m trying to bring about ...
Student DNA tests could go wild
SACRAMENTO – The University of California, Berkeley, has inadvertently stepped into a brewing ethical debate over genetic testing and medical privacy after it asked the incoming freshman class to submit to the campus cotton swabs with DNA samples from their saliva. The unusual experiment is part of Berkeley’s annual “On ...
Obama’s promises, promises
“How do you know when a politician is lying?”, asks the hoary joke. His lips are moving. Some politicians are skilled manipulators of words. Recall President Bill Clinton’s definition of what “is” is. Our current president prefers the head-down, right-up-the-center approach. He campaigned on a promise to decrease health care ...
Will Business-Toxic Environment Poison Silicon Valley Innovation?
The world is full of pseudo-Silicon Valleys — private and public attempts to re-create California’s high-tech mecca. But they have achieved only pale copies of an original that remains the undisputed cradle of innovation. Historic leaders like Hewlett-Packard and Intel have stayed there, and more recent giants like Google, Facebook ...
The EPA’s Power Grab
The climate campaigners play their trump card, but it may turn out to be a joker. Washington (The Weekly Standard) Vol. 015, Issue 15 12/28/2009 the climate campaign, built step-by-step over the last 20 years, has reached its Waterloo. the Copenhagen conference that ended Friday was an exercise ...
Blown Away
The Detroit Free Press has reported on the initial Ludington and Pentwater resident reaction to a massive wind turbine installation construction proposal. If allowed to move forward, advocates claim the installation is capable of producing 1,000 megawatts of power while crowding more than 100 square miles of Lake Michigan. At ...
The Power of the Plaintiffs’ Bar
Why Democrats are avoiding medical-malpractice reform at all costs. The health-care bill the Senate Finance Committee approved makes a lot of promises. It will cost American taxpayers $829 billion, on top of an already out-of-control federal budget, as well as guarantee an increase in their individual medical expenditures. But one ...
Earthquake Fears Halt California Geothermal Project
The federal government has halted a geothermal power project in California in response to concerns the project is causing an increase in regional earthquake activity. The project was launched last fall with more than $6 million in taxpayer funding. The project, in a Northern California region knows as The Geysers, ...
Cochrane Threatens Austrians More Than Krugman Ever Did
This is a very short-sighted view. Just because someone gets in a fight with someone who we can’t stand–and I’ve criticized Krugman enough to have credibility on that score–doesn’t mean we should endorse any old arguments. There was quite a bit in Cochrane’s response that should alarm an Austrian economist, ...
Anti-Aging Technology Is No Excuse for Bad Habits
For those interested in longevity, July was a good news month. Recently published research in the journal Science shows that caloric restriction helps monkeys live longer and healthier, while a parallel study demonstrated the possibility that a drug could mimic this process. Clearly, new technologies aimed at lengthening and improving ...
The president’s Trojan horse
During his recent speech to the American Medical Association, President Obama addressed what he called the “illegitimate concern” that “a public option is somehow a Trojan horse for a single-payer system.” Referring to such concerns, he added that “when you hear the naysayers claim that I’m trying to bring about ...
