ObamaCare is a Trojan Horse for Socialized Medicine: Why Medicare-style insurance will kill our health care system
To justify the invasion of Iraq, President George W. Bush concocted a connection between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein. Now, writes Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia, President Barack Obama is concocting an equally fantastical theory to justify a de facto government takeover of health care. http://www.reason.com/news/show/134222.html<http://sol.sparklist.com/t/4782376/28258852/77712/0/> Death of a Dystopian: The life and legacy of J.G. Ballard >From our July issue, Joanne McNeil profiles the life and legacy of dystopian novelist J.G. Ballard, who recently died at the age of 78. As McNeil writes, apart from maybe Samuel Beckett, no other modern writer saw his ideas proliferate across so many platforms. Ballard influenced filmmakers from David Cronenberg to Mary Harron. The French philosopher Jean Baudrillard and the American critic Susan Sontag were fans. Ed Ruscha quotes Ballard in one of his paintings. Joy Division, Hawkwind, and even Madonna have alluded to his work in their lyrics. There was an art show in Barcelona last year entirely devoted to his life and ideas. http://www.reason.com/news/show/133870.html<http://sol.sparklist.com/t/4782376/28258852/77713/0/> The Eternal Recurrence of Financial Corruption: Lessons for today from the infamous industrialist/crook Ivar Kreuger As America is stunned and battered by turmoil in financial markets, University of San Diego law and finance professor Frank Partnoy takes a look back at a mighty industrialist and financier, Ivar Kreuger, and his rise and fall in the new book *The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, the Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals*. Partnoy convincingly frames Kreuger as the fountainhead of modern financial shenanigans and crimes, and the proximate cause of "the securities laws that govern today's markets." Yet as Senior Editor Brian Doherty writes, contemplating Kreuger's story shows not that government can successfully stop financial fraud, but that certain of Kreuger's crimes were both enmeshed in government and rooted in recurring aspects of human nature. Together, these factors ensure the eternal recurrence of figures like Ivar Kreuger, master industrialist and master financial criminal. http://www.reason.com/news/show/134191.html<http://sol.sparklist.com/t/4782376/28258852/77714/0/> >From Hit & Run, Reason.com’s staff blog All but Three Rhode Island Legislators Vote to Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries This week the Rhode Island legislature overrode Republican Gov. Donald Carcieri's veto of a bill authorizing state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries. The vote was an eye-opening 68 to 0 in the House and a slightly less lopsided 35 to 3 in the Senate. Rhode Island already allows patients with doctor's recommendations to use marijuana as a medicine, but until now they've had no legal place to purchase it. Rep. Thomas Slater (D-Providence), a cancer patient who plans to use marijuana for pain relief, told his colleagues, "This gives a safe haven for those who have to go into the seedy areas to try and get marijuana." Read the rest here. <http://sol.sparklist.com/t/4782376/28258852/77715/0/> Posted by Jacob Sullum http://www.reason.com/blog/show/134242.html Daily Brickbat A Yen for Crime In Japan, police sergeant Naofumi Nomura has been arrested after he allegedly snatched the purse of a 75-year-old woman. Two high school boys saw the theft, chased him down, and caught him. http://reason.com/brickbat/<http://sol.sparklist.com/t/4782376/28258852/75964/0/> Click here to unsubscribe.<http://sol.sparklist.com/t/4782376/28258852/76426/0/> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
