Why are MDs moving to Kaiser?
This article is in today's Santa Rosa Press-Democrat: Fed up with paperwork, low payments from health insurers and the high costs of practicing medicine, Gutfreund told her patients she was packing up...
View ArticleHow the Farm Bureau Paints California Red
I live on a farm. I am not a farmer. Maybe I will be some day. I have animals, a garden, an orchard, and I grow plants, but I do not have the expertise (or the mortgage) to do so profitably. I have a...
View ArticleUSDA says 70% of processed food is GMO: runaway rice
In July, an unapporoved GMO rice variety was found in rice bins in Arkansas and Missouri. LLRICE601, a BayerCropScience GMO strain, has apparently slipped the chains of the research fields and made...
View ArticleHow the Farm Bureau Paints California Red: Propositions
Last week I wrote a diary about the California Farm Bureau, and its weekly newspaper, Ag Alert, and how the newspaper is used to push Republican talking points on rural Californians. This week I'll...
View ArticleHow the Farm Bureau Paints California Red: Pombo CA-11
This week I'm continuing my diary series about the California Farm Bureau, and its weekly newspaper, Ag Alert, and how the newspaper is used to push Republican talking points on rural Californians....
View ArticleInnovative Hospitals: Face Mistakes; Feed Real Food
This week's Newsweek has a really outstanding report on "Fixing America's Hospitals" that profiles several hospitals with innovative programs that are getting patients better care. Join me below the...
View ArticleInnovative Hospitals: Respect Nurses
Yesterday I wrote a diary about two of the articles on improving American hospitals in Newsweek magazine - Innovative Hospitals: Face Mistakes; Feed Real Food. Today I want to focus on the other story...
View ArticleHow the Farm Bureau Paints California Red: NAIS
Today I continue my diary series about farming issues, the California Farm Bureau, and its weekly newspaper, Ag Alert, and how the newspaper is used to push Republican talking points on rural...
View ArticleHow the Farm Bureau Paints California Red: Mom's Apple Pie
Continuing my series on agriculture news and politics in California, let's review Ag Alert for the past two weeks. Mom's Apple Pie How Farm Friendly is Your Legislator? Bin Bandits Saving Fire-scarred...
View ArticleThe Joy(tm) of Small Business Health Insurance
It's that dreaded time of year again. The time when I, a California small business employer group, get the fat envelope from my health insurance company. The envelope full of cheerful reminders that...
View ArticleHealth Care News Roundup
Today I'm highlighting some health care stories that I've come across that you might have missed, covering the rise of walk-in clinics inside pharmacies and the like, insurers ideas for health reform,...
View ArticleEconomists are wrong about healthcare
There were many really excellent comments on Bonddad's diary yesterday, about why the market, and the standard economist mantras, don't really apply well to health care, which is a public good rather...
View ArticleNews from California Ag: Bees, Immigration, Farm Bill
Now that the growing season is back in swing, Ag Alert, the publication of the California Farm Bureau, is back in stride with some interesting articles. Ag Alert is sent to most farmers in the state...
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Vegetables of Mass Destruction: Blackberries
If ever there was a vegetable, uh, fruit, of mass destruction, it is the blackberry. It has several modes of attack. First, the canes. Himalayan Blackberries grow not only like weeds, but as weeds....
View ArticleSCHIP is a Bargain
I was writing a comment, replying to someone complaining that Bush was right because families earning $80k a year shouldn't benefit from SCHIP, when I realized something really profound. Thanks to tax...
View ArticleLiving Fire Safe
With the fires raging across Southern California, we get the usual disaster reactions: sympathy, help, admonitions that we shouldn't live there then, and handwringing about preparations. California...
View ArticleFuturama is Back (with Special Guest Al Gore)
I am pleased to remind everyone that Matt Groening's witty, erudite futuristic Futurama has a new DVD movie out, the first of four feature-length installments. Bender's Big Score has reunited the...
View ArticleWhy Can't Congress Tele-vote?
Okay, I know why. It's because when the Constitution was written, the only practical way to have votes was to have Congressmen show up in person and cast their votes. And so, in grand tradition, House...
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Travelling Amtrak
"Everyone's a rail fan. Some people are just quieter about it than others." That's what a gentleman said to me when I asked him if he was a railfan. Diehards are easily recognized by their casual...
View ArticleThe Poverty Line is a Garbage Number
Plenty of government statistics and programs are based on "the poverty level for a family of 4." In 2009, that number is $22,050 for the mainland US. (Alaska and Hawaii are higher.) There's no other...
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