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Thank you, KIA Motors - your retarded commercial with the dancing sales force singing, “So Long, Farewell, auf Wiedersehen Adieu . . .Adieu, Adieu, to You and You and You,” is enough to make me puke.
I couldn’t find the actual commercial, but this song, in any version, is too much to stomach.
[tags]kia, commercial, farewell, adieu, auf wiedersehen[/tags]
And the loser is, the general public.
Among the highlights of the new survey are the following:
- over three-quarters, 76%, believe FDA’s approval process is too slow;
- 60% believe FDA hinders their use of new therapies;
- 73% believe FDA approval delays hurt patients;
- 70% favor changing the law to give physicians access to unapproved therapies if they carry a warning about their unapproved status;
- 80% favor having Vioxx available again.
Perhaps the Food & Drug Administration should adhere to the Hippocratic Oath.
I will prescribe regimen for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgement and never do harm to anyone.
The amount of “bad” drugs and procedures kept off the market is outweighed by the harm done from the long delays in the FDA approval process.
In the view of many analysts, impeding the availability of new therapies creates a far greater risk to public health than that posed by the handful of drugs and devices that may have been erroneously approved.
Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute
The FDA can be bad for your health.
[tags]FDA, drugs, procedures, approval, process, study, orthopedic-surgeons, youtube[/tags]
I wasn’t sure what I wanted for dinner. I didn’t have any meat or seafood thawed and didn’t feel like waiting or nuking something out of its frozen state.
I perused the cupboards and came up with this meal.
It was easy and quick. I sauteed some chopped garlic and onion in butter. I added some canned artichoke hearts, which I cut in half. Some freshly ground pepper and parsley flakes complete the seasoning.
Once the garlic and onion were tender and translucent, I added some heavy cream and stirred it continuously until thickened. I poured the whole thing over some linguine and topped it off with some freshly grated parmigiana cheese. A green giant frozen vege medley, nuked for 5 minutes, completed the meal. Click the photo for the large version.
[tags]food, dinner, linguine, alfredo, artichoke hearts[/tags]
Gov. Eliot Spitzer said the budget he will submit to the state Legislature on Wednesday will contain a new $500 million in aid to distressed municipalities and deeper property tax cuts.
I sure wish that we would get an explanation about where all money for this extra spending is coming from.
But the new governor said the money will come with strings attached.
Strings = more centralization of power in Albany and reduces accountability at the local level. Mandates from Albany are the source of many of our economic woes. Why not just reduce the State involvement in local government? Spend less, benefit more!
As he has been promising since 2006, Spitzer said his spending plan would contain a three-year, $6 billion property tax cut that will be targeted at middle-income and low-income homeowners. Spitzer said the problem with the current STAR property tax reduction plan is that millionaires and the lowest-income homeowners both get benefits.
Can you spell socialist? It is the same as the spelling for redistribution of wealth. E-L-I-O-T. I guess the concept that the people who pay the most also receive a benefit doesn’t sit well with Governor Spitzer. That just happens to be the same people who are in the position to create jobs and spur economic growth. I thought he campaigned on a business friendly climate platform. I guess pandering for votes with false hopes is more his style.
The average savings for homeowners in Erie County would rise 80 percent to $947 from $526.
Spitzer also reiterated earlier promises that his budget for fiscal 2007-08 will contain no tax increases.
The tax cuts with no spending cuts simply means the costs are being reallocated. The savings Spitzer claims to be giving are a myth. The costs will be paid indirectly through other means.
We need transparency and spending cuts, not shell games.
Source: Governor wants $500M for cities - Business First of Buffalo:
We got a few inches of sparkly snow overnight. This is a view of downtown at 4:37 am, compliments of my cell phone. Leave a few minutes to warm up the car and to plan for some possible slippery roads.
[tags]Buffalo, New York, snow, winter, downtown, cold[/tags]
Both the Grover Cleveland Library and the Libertarian Hall of Fame will be valuable cultural assets to the City of Buffalo honoring the past and celebrating the future.
The following essay appeared on Lewrockwell.com last night. Lewrockwell has a good sized national following drawing well over a half million visitors per month. The articles are informative and entertaining, provided by a highly skilled staff of columnists, including the most highly principled member of Congress, Rep. Ron Paul, Texas. The complete list of Jim Ostrowski’s columns can be viewed here.
A great irony has occurred to me just in the last few months of jousting on the web about politics.
I’ve been a libertarian since I was in college. I’ve never hidden that fact and have always been proud of it. I’m always amazed when liberals complain about being called “liberals.” What are you ashamed of? If you’re ashamed of what you are, change! And calling yourself “progressives” changes nothing. The concept is the same. In fact, if you know anything about libertarians, you should know that while we have some fondness for the term “liberal,” which was stolen from us fair and square about 100 years ago, we have little use for Progressives with a capital “P.” Most of what’s wrong with the country now we owe to them.
Anyway, people on the web have frequently used the word “libertarian” as a term of derision. They often ask, “What have you libertarians ever accomplished?”
One of the purposes of Free New York’s new Libertarian Hall of Fame will be to answer that question. Like the Grover Cleveland Library, the Hall of Fame will be an exploration of history that has direct and palpable relevance to what is happening now in politics, locally, nationally, and internationally.
Some people think history doesn’t matter. Henry Ford said, “History is more or less bunk.” Sometimes I think that history is the only thing that matters! Churchill said, “History is written by the victors.” The first few drafts of history are usually bunk as Ford said because those who write them have an axe to grind as the historian Churchill understood. Orwell sums it up: “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” If you are ignorant of history, you become history’s slave.
Read the rest: What Do We Owe the Libertarians by James Ostrowski
The full column is available at the link above. If you would like to show your support for the projects of Free New York, Inc., cruise on over to their website or blog. Secure PayPal donations are graciously accepted. If you want to stop by and offer opinions on the blog, feel free to do so.
George Bush did it when he spoke of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Hitler describe it in Mein Kampf.
“All this was inspired by the principle - which is quite true in itself - that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods.“
Now Eliot Spitzer is combing the sound bite, which he perfected during his campaign, with the big lie.
“From now on, health policy, not health politics, will guide us.”
That was from a speech Spitzer gave on Friday, January 26, addressing the high cost of health care. What he completely ignores is the fact that government involvement in health care is what has led to the spiraling costs. He is now advocating further involvement in the form of price controls. Price controls are another method that falsely lures the public into thinking good is being done, when in fact, just the opposite occurs.
But despite the frequent use of price controls, and despite the superficial logic of their appeal, economists are generally opposed to them, except perhaps for very brief periods during emergencies. The reason is that controls on prices distort the allocation of resources. To paraphrase a remark by Milton Friedman, economists may not know much, but they do know how to produce a surplus or shortage. Price ceilings, which prevent prices from exceeding a certain maximum, cause shortages. Price floors, which prohibit prices below a certain minimum, cause surpluses.
If Eliot Spitzer really wanted to get the politics out of health care, he would get the government out of health care. Instead he is playing politics by making empty promises.
LOCKPORT - Lockport stockbroker Lee J. Bordeleau has followed through on his plan to erect a billboard declaring that Niagara County has the nation’s highest taxes.
Bordeleau’s billboard on South Transit Road (Route 78), just north of the border with Erie County, will be up for two months.
It states: “Welcome to Niagara County. We’re # 1. We pay the highest property taxes in the United States. Too many government agencies employing too many workers, making too much money! Help us free Niagara! Go to FreeNewYork.org.”
The Web site is Internet headquarters for a small-government group that arose out of Buffalo attorney James Ostrowski’s Free Buffalo movement.
The reaction from politicians to the billboard was mixed.
County Legislature Chairman Clyde L. Burmaster didn’t approve of the billboard, especially near a main entrance to the county.
“I don’t think it’s a good way to get your point across. If the idea is to make Niagara County a better place to live, I don’t think that’s the way to do it,” said Burmaster, a Ransomville Republican. “That’s not putting our best foot forward.”
City of Lockport Mayor Michael W. Tucker said, “People can do whatever they want to do as long as they’re not hurting anyone. Whether it hurts or helps remains to be seen. I really don’t have an opinion on that.”
But Lockport Supervisor Marc R. Smith said, “I applaud Mr. Bordeleau. All of us in New York State need to do a better job and take a critical look at how we provide services.”
Smith, in whose territory the billboard stands, added, “I want to be part of the solution, not the problem. Things are what they are. We’re not going to bury our heads in the sand. The Town Board hasn’t taken that approach.”
Marc Smith gets it. You have to identify the cause of a problem in order to devise an effective solution. Lee Bordeleau gets it. Taxpayers need to speak up in order to affect change. Lee has accomplished a lot to help expose government waste to the light of day. As more people support the cause to reduce government waste, the size and scope of victories will increase.
Anyone interested in making a donation to support the cause to expose government waste and inefficiency can make a secure donation at Free New York, Inc.’s main website or at the blog.
Source: Buffalo News - Billboard not so welcome a sign
[tags]Niagara-County, Free-New-York, Free-Buffalo, taxes, rate, tax, property, government, waste, billboard[/tags]
I visited the CitiStat Buffalo website and was very disappointed by the lack of data available. What was available was spotty, infrequent and inconsistent data. The site mainly consisted of a sparse number of glossy looking PDF files with no real substance.
Judging from the information found, CitiStat appears to be another waste of the taxpayers’ money.
[tags/]citistat, Buffalo, New+York, Byron+Brown, Mayor, government+waste[/tags]
I ran across a very interesting viewpoint while surfing some enlightened blogs. Everyone knows that the military has been struggling and failing, for the most part, to meet its recruiting goals in light of the toll Iraq is taking on our troops. What better way to increase recruiting than increasing the number of potential recruits? Increasing the federal minimum wage is the perfect answer.
Everybody knows that an increase in the federal minimum wage constitutes a “raise” to all those who work now or will work in the near future at the lowest legal rate of pay. Why, 650 prominent economists, including five Nobel Prize winners, recently signed an open letter in support of raising the minimum wage.
Now, the minority, non-Nobel-Prize-winning view that is found, for example, among Austrian economists and 13,000 labor economists, holds, along with the Law of Supply and Demand, that if the price of a good (or service, like labor) is raised, less of it will be bought.
This means that employment among the young, the inexperienced, and unskilled will decline with the institution of a higher minimum wage. And at last count, 1.9 million Americans were working for the minimum wage. Not only these jobs, but all the millions more jobs between the present minimum wage and the new minimum wage, are threatened.
The civilian alternative for fresh high-school drop-outs and graduates will indeed seem superior to the military alternative by an increased margin. And it will be unattainable to that many more of them. Now, the recruiter will be able to choose, not just among those who can’t compete for the scarce jobs that pay $5.15 per hour, but among those many more who can’t win one of the even-scarcer jobs that pay $7.25 per hour — not only more cannon fodder, but better as well, all thanks to that “raise” the government “gave” them!
Who ever said welfare and warfare don’t go hand in hand?
Source: Cheryl Cline: Welfare and Warfare Go Hand-in-Hand
[tags]minimum wage, military, recruits, government, economics, libertarian[/tags]
Paulette chose the perfect metaphor to describe an affliction affecting many people in the Buffalo area. I have often referred to this same affliction by saying that people are failing to address the root cause(s) of our economic decline. It happens when people use window dressing and sleight of hand techniques while claiming progress. In reality, they are just perpetuating the problems that plague us.
Imagine your doctor discovering that you have an aggressive and life-threatening medical condition and telling you that accentuating the positive, making yourself look nice and saying great things about it will lead to your cure. That doctor would be sued so quickly his or her head would spin.
[tags]big government, social programs, waste, economy, decline, Buffalo, New York, libertarian[/tags]
Has the wrong man been locked up in prison for 21 years for 2 rapes he did not commit?
Investigators now believe the Bike Path Rapist/Killer - now suspected in 10 attacks - could be responsible for as many as 17 attacks over the past 30 years, including two that put an innocent man in prison for 21 years.
There are many similarities between the 2 rapes leading to Capozzi’s conviction and the rapes allegedly performed by Sanchez.
Donn Esmonde weighs in with a column.
Delano is a Buffalo homicide cop, a rumpled bear of a man with a “before” body and a soft heart beneath a thick crust. His theory that the Bike Path rapist struck earlier than previously believed - 1981, not 1986 - led to clues that police say cracked the case. But in pursuit of justice, Delano believes he found an injustice.
A West Side man named Anthony Capozzi was charged in 1985 with three sexual assaults, in or near Delaware Park. He was convicted, without DNA evidence, of two rapes and has since been in prison.
Delano doesn’t think the rapist was Capozzi, who has a history of mental problems. Delano believes - based on numerous similarities to the Bike Path Rapist’s methods - that the attacks were the early work of Altemio Sanchez.
Delano, a cop for 28 years, said, “I would bet my career on it.”
Read the rest: Buffalo News - Police: Jailed man may be innocent
[tags]bike, path, rapist, killer, murderer, Buffalo, New York, justice, Anthony J. Capozzi, Altemio C. Sanchez, police[/tags]
this is a test post for photo blogging from my cell phone.
I said it here, here and here. President Bush is getting ready to attack Iran. He may try another all out “preemptive” strike or he could goad Iran into firing the first shot. Either way, Bush’s plans will be realized.
The American public and the US Congress are getting their backs up about the Bush Regime’s determination to escalate the war in Iraq. A massive protest demonstration is occurring in Washington DC today, and Congress is expressing its disagreement with Bush’s decision to intensify the war in Iraq.
This is all to the good. However, it misses the real issue – the Bush Regime’s looming attack on Iran.
Rather than winding down one war, Bush is starting another. The entire world knows this and is discussing Bush’s planned attack on Iran in many forums. It is only Americans who haven’t caught on. A few senators have said that Bush must not attack Iran without the approval of Congress, and postings on the Internet demonstrate world-wide awareness that Iran is in the Bush Regime’s cross hairs. But Congress and the Media – and the demonstration in Washington – are focused on Iraq.
Source: Bush Is About To Attack Iran by Paul Craig Roberts
[tags]Iran, President, George Bush, war, foreign policy, libertarian, preemptive, strike, aggression[/tags]
Eliot Spitzer proposes “free” health insurance coverage for 400,000 uninsured children in the State of New York. He admits that government involvement in health care has led to the sad state of affairs we have today.
“What went wrong is that health care decision-making became co-opted by every interest other than the patient’s interest,” he told a group of health care industry executives in Albany on Friday. “Government abdicated its responsibility to set standards, demand results and hold institutions receiving billions in state tax dollars accountable to the state and to the people those institutions serve.”
It makes absolutely no sense to increase the amount of government involvement. The result will be even higher costs overall to taxpayers for health care services. I am sick and tired of politicians increasing the commitment to failed government programs.
Source: Buffalo News - Spitzer vows health insurance for state’s children
[tags]Eliot Spitzer, health, care, insurance, children, New York, libertarian[/tags]
