The change in average hourly earnings may be the most important part of the employment report.

NYT reports on another innovator for the less affluent. Add in the $100 laptop, less expensive ways to chain wifi, and voila…freer markets without the huge drain of billion dollar Ceo networks who weigh us down with bloated bureacracies and constricted thinking about profit structures. Maybe ‘maximize’ and ‘innovation’ are not synonomous after all, as […]

New England Journal of Medicine reports the following about transparency in the market: On September 6, 2007, Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking member of the Committee on Finance, and Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, introduced the Physician Payments Sunshine Act — so named because it aims to “shine a […]

Guantanomo is the subject of a new hearing for the status of the inmates. An American military lawyer and veteran of dozens of secret Guantanamo tribunals has made a devastating attack on the legal process for determining whether Guantanamo prisoners are “enemy combatants”.The whistle blower, an army major inside the military court system which the […]

HALLOWEEN hits a new high tonight. Still, fewer people are planning on celebrating Halloween in 2007, according to the National Retail Federation survey. Around 59 percent will celebrate Halloween this year, compared to the nearly 64 percent that celebrated last year. Rist said that the drop-off occurs due to tightening economic conditions. However, those celebrating […]

US News magazine reported their listing of the best healthplans in the US based upon multiple criterion, which readers can peruse on their site. I was surprised that the health plans I was familiar with were rated the best. The Honor Roll recognizes the very best of the hundreds of commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid managed-care […]

India, China, Russia, and Turkey have been warned off dealing with Iran, especially concerning oil deals and infrastucture. But Iraq is making deals right and left. I have not updated the Turkey/Kurdistan situation from last week because it has a fast changing life of its own. Iraq and Iran signed an agreement to build pipelines […]

Cactus had a post that advocated freer use of marijuana. Here is another site that agrees. Most people conclude that marijuana carries no special analgesic relief that cannot be addressed by other pharmaceuticals. The FDA did studies decades ago that support that conclusion, but some scientists assert that the studies had flaws which rendered them […]

Executive Order 12866 of 1993 has been amended and shaped to include RPO (Regulatory Policy Officers) positions that in general have strengthened oversight since January, 2007. The issues could be summarized with the following:

LA Times carries an article about the beloved Twinkie. The Twinkie plant that used to smell wonderful as traffic passed, but has been replaced by Nordstrom and Nieman Marcus and condos on top floors, forced to move to Maine, and now only assembled in the US. Ouch! Although eight of the ingredients in the beloved […]