REUTERS: (Reuters) – Major tobacco companies that spent decades denying they lied to the U.S. public about the dangers of cigarettes must spend their own money on a public advertising campaign saying they did lie, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. The ruling sets out what might be the harshest sanction to come out of […]
Month: November 2012
A ‘Party Drug’ May Help the Brain Cope With Trauma
NEW YORK TIMES: Hundreds of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with post-traumatic stress have recently contacted a husband-and-wife team who work in suburban South Carolina to seek help. Many are desperate, pleading for treatment and willing to travel to get it The soldiers have no interest in traditional talking cures or prescription drugs that have given […]
The false religion of Substance Control
By Tom O’Connell, MD Among the many consequences of the Nixon-Mitchell collaboration a.k.a. the Controlled Substances Act was the creation of two new medical specialties, Pain Medicine & Addiction Medicine, both of which get their raison d’etre (and much of their sustenance) by serving as willing acolytes in the false religion of “Substance Control” that […]
Home Prices Increase in Most Major U.S. Cities
DAILY FINANCE / AP: Home prices increased in September in most major U.S. cities, more evidence of a housing recovery that is providing a lift to the fragile economy. Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller reported Tuesday that its 20-city index of home prices rose 3 percent in September compared with the same month last year. Prices also […]
Consumer Confidence Hits Highest Level Since February 2008
DAILY FINANCE / AP: The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 73.7 in November from 73.1 in October. Both are the best readings since February 2008. The index is still below the level of 90 that is consistent with a healthy economy. It last reached that point in December 2007, […]
Euro Crisis Deal Struck: Euro Zone, IMF Reach Agreement On Long-Term Greek Debt
REUTERS: After 12 hours of talks at their third meeting in as many weeks, Greece’s international lenders agreed on a package of measures to reduce Greek debt by 40 billion euros, cutting it to 124 percent of gross domestic product by 2020. In a significant new pledge, ministers committed to taking further steps to lower […]
Hold hearing before hiring lottery firm
..The administration wants to convert the lottery to private management. Private companies are accountable to their stockholders rather than Pennsylvania citizens…
A Minimum Tax for the Wealthy
By Warren Buffett NEW YORK TIMES Op – Ed: …Between 1951 and 1954, when the capital gains rate was 25 percent and marginal rates on dividends reached 91 percent in extreme cases, I sold securities and did pretty well. In the years from 1956 to 1969, the top marginal rate fell modestly, but was still […]
Corbett a scam on the Commonwealth
I have heard the call for privatizing the liquor store system for over 30 years but that isn’t going to solve Pennsylvania’s inherently corrupt government. This article credits Corbett as fiscally conservative. Take a look at the monies wasted in a 3 year debacle of delaying what should have been an arrest within 1 week […]
More Democrats Willing to Go Over ‘Fiscal Cliff’
NEWSMAX: A growing number of Democrats say they are willing to let the country go off the fiscal cliff if a deal cannot be reached by Jan. 1 that raises taxes on the top two percent of earners while protecting costly entitlement programs. Their theory in this game of chicken with Republicans is that it […]
Future PA editor raised Progressive Standard
THE POLITICAL EXPTRESS: Several Pennsylvania governors in the mid-19th century launched their careers in the newsroom…. [Edwin A. Van ]Valkenburg (1869-1932) was one of the most colorful of the lot. What is intriguing about him is that he first drew attention as the editor of the Wellsboro Republican Advocate, a small country paper in the […]
Morsi Power Grab: Egyptian President Reportedly Agrees To Limit Decree’s Scope
REUTERS: Egypt’s ruling Islamists tried to defuse a political crisis on Monday, with President Mohamed Mursi backing a compromise over his seizure of extended powers and his Muslim Brotherhood calling off a planned demonstration… Mursi held crisis talks with members of the Supreme Judicial Council, the nation’s highest judicial body, to resolve the crisis over […]
County Commissioners should practice ‘benign neglect’
On August 22, 2012, Commissioner Scott Martin stuck his neck out and made the a comprehensive proposal towards solvency for the Lancaster Convention Center. The Lancaster County Convention Center Authority projects a deficit of $1,500,000 in 2013 before, and that is without setting aside a reserve for renovation and replacements.
Flood refugees in Manhattan
We hadn’t expected any serious troubles while viewing the TV news warnings of Hurricane Sandy. A year ago there was a hurricane in New York also, but in Manhattan it was almost unnoticeable. This time it was different.