Opinion
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FCC Considers Raising Residential Phone Fees
Opinion -The Federal Communications Commission wants to overhaul the fees phone companies pay each other to connect calls—and increase the fund subsidizing phone service in under-served areas. -
Georgia Cuts Spending to Save Taxpayer-Funded Insurance Programs
Opinion -Georgia health officials have implemented $1.6 billion in spending cuts in order to keep those enrolled in the state’s two key taxpayer-funded health insurance programs from losing coverage amid a statewide budget crisis. -
Internet Providers OK Ad Opt-In Plan
Opinion -Telecommunication giants Verizon, AT&T, and TimeWarner Cable announced their support of an opt-in plan for targeted online advertising, a decision that has been met with praise by legislators and puzzlement by industry experts. -
Jewish Groups Lobby for Federal School Choice Bill
Opinion -Forty-four years after the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a new rights movement is gathering steam as ethnic groups are increasingly joining forces to press for school choice. Jewish groups have taken a prominent role in the effort. -
Less Government Involvement Holds Key to Affordable Health Insurance, Experts Say
Opinion -Experts are pointing to the troubling growth of health care costs to justify making cost containment, rather than covering the uninsured, legislators’ top priority in 2009, citing excessive mandates and a lack of consumer control of health care as -
Malpractice Reform: Five Steps to Liability by Contract
Opinion -Excerpt from The Handbook on State Health Care Reform, coauthored by John C. Goodman, Michael Bond, Devon M. Herrick, Gerald L. Musgrave, Pamela Villarreal, and Joe Barnett. -
Massachusetts Insurance Mandate Is Causing Longer Wait Times and Physician Shortage
Opinion -The dramatic increase in the insured population that followed Massachusetts’s imposition of an individual health insurance mandate has caused an increase in average wait times to see primary care physicians, according to figures provided by the -
Massachusetts, San Francisco Expand Government’s Reach
Opinion -Massachusetts has won another round in its ongoing effort to force taxpayers across the country to help fund its experiment in so-called universal health coverage. On the last day of September, Gov. -
Michigan’s On-Time Graduation Rate Is Shockingly Low: Report
Opinion -A yearly report conducted by Michigan’s Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI) has come up with startling new statistics concerning the state’s high school students. -
Purpose of AFT ‘Reform’ Fund Questioned
Opinion -The American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest teachers union, has announced the creation of a new fund to “support sustainable, innovative, and collaborative reform projects ... to strengthen our public schools. -
Rhode Island Seeks Caps on Medicaid, Will Shift Costs to Emergency Room Patients
Opinion -In response to an ongoing state budget crisis, Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri (R) has requested the federal government relax its strict Medicaid regulations in exchange for caps on state spending and federal contributions to the program. -
San Francisco Employer Mandate Can Go Forward, Circuit Court Rules
Opinion -San Francisco’s “pay-or-play” health care mandate will be allowed to continue operating following a ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decreeing the program does not violate federal law governing employee benefit plans. -
Senator Quizzes Telecoms on Texting Rates
Opinion -The chairman of a powerful U.S. Senate committee is demanding the telecommunications industry justify rising text-messaging charges, in a letter suggesting the price hike is the result of collusion and consolidation. Sen. -
States Seek to Remedy Shortage of Professional Nurses
Opinion -Several states are offering aid to universities in an effort to address the current shortage of professional nurses. -
Technology Increases Appeal of Toll Roads
Opinion -Before the Highway Trust Fund’s establishment in1956 to finance building of the nation’s Interstate Highway System, tolling was the predominant source of revenue for America’s roadways. -
Tennessee Expands Welfare Benefit Eligibility to Include New Taxpayer-Funded Health Care
Opinion -Unemployed Tennesseans are now receiving taxpayer-subsidized insurance benefits as a result of Gov. -
U.S. House Passes No Child Left Inside Act
Opinion -The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the No Child Left Inside Act of 2008, amending the National Environmental Education Act and authorizing $14 million in 2009 for the implementation of “environmental literacy” programs. -
U.S. Tech Exports Dip
Opinion -In another nugget of bad news for the U.S. economy, international demand for the nation’s technology exports is falling. According to the American Electronics Association, U.S. tech exports fell 3 percent in 2007, to $214 billion. -
Lawsuit Abuse Fortnightly #7-21
Opinion -Good for the Soul? The Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and one of its priests is being sued by a New York woman who alleges the priest seduced her immediately after she confessed her marital difficulties to him. -
Tax Hike Would Drown Economy
Opinion -Gov. Schwarzenegger’s sales tax increase proposal, aimed at closing the $10 billion deficit, would be about as useful as telling a person to kick his legs while stuck in quicksand (Nov. 19 Our View, 'No more ‘no new taxes’? -
Colleges’ Spending Contributes to Woes
Opinion -One of the great tragedies affecting higher education today is the overpricing of an education that carries less and less value. -
Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Greenhouse Gases Under the Clean Air Act, EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0318-0117 [ANPR]
Opinion -Clearly, the ANPR is attempt to develop a carbon management tool by the U.S. -
Comments from The Heartland Institute Submitted to EPA Regarding the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Greenhouse Gases Under the Clean Air Act
Opinion -The hard science of global warming is extremely complex, involves many scientific disciplines, and is in its infancy. -
Consumer Power Report #155
Opinion -With the stock market crashing, home values falling, unemployment rising, and the prospect of massive federal intrusion in the health care you get, it may be hard to find things to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.
