it's been a while ...

Can I claim to have been "busier than a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest"?

Not really, but it has been a full couple of weeks since the last posting here. Rather than offer excuses, I'll just post what has been going on ... and stretch it out over several posts so it looks even biggerer?

1. Columns:

Last week:

Wal-Mart: Free-market pioneer or corporate exploiter?

Source: ISIL Medical Freedom Channel

"Well, WalMart has done it! This week, they became the first major corporation to begin offering high-deductible, basic coverage health insurance policy options to their employees. ... [T]he Value Plan, for less than $25 per month (as little as $11 in some regions), would allow a WalMart worker to get coverage for limited doctor visits, emergencies and similar curative medical aid. ... If this lead is followed, there could be real progress made in making healthcare a lot more affordable. On the surface, that's how it appears. But we must also note that this apparent 'free-market' move comes from a company that has simultaneously come out strongly in favor of raising the minimum-wage ... [and] advising managers on how to shift from the current elderly workforce to hiring a younger demographic, one more likely to be healthy and less in need of healthcare expenditures. ... Given these subsidiary actions, a true pro-liberty motivation for the new health plan is unlikely." (10/31/05)

Link: http://www.isil.org/channels/archives/357

A welcome sign from the Left?

Source: Free Market News Network

"Although libertarians might cringe a bit at this repeated confusion of the egalitarianism-driven French 'revolution' with its libertarian predecessor in America, the sentiment is nevertheless well stated. If we do not maintain the focus of liberty first, and pursue these laudable yet subsidiary goals only in that context, we will soon have lost all hope of having any of them at all. Anything else is as dangerous as the other major confusion in our society today: the blurring of 'democracy' with the means of establishing the zone of individual sovereignty that must exist before true personal liberty can be attained." (11/02/05)

Link: http://www.fmnn.com/Analysis/136/2798/2005-11-02.asp?wid=136&nid=2798

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more next ...