Controversies
Hospitals Healthier When Run by Doctors, Which Rarely Occurs
It doesn’t take a bean-counter to run a hospital. In fact, the better run a hospital is—from a patient standpoint—the more likely a doctor is in charge.
A study out of Germany, but focused on 300 top-ranked American medical facilities, says ... read more
Federal Job Bias Complaints Up, With Retaliation for Complaining About Bias Leading the Way
The U.S. government has been hit with a double whammy in a new report showing job discrimination complaints—and retaliation for making said complaints—on the rise among federal employees and applicants.
According to the Equal Employment Oppo... read more
Bachmann, Santorum Sign Pledge That Recalled the Good Old Days When Slavery Kept Families Together
To demonstrate her conservative bona fides with Iowa voters, Republican Michele Bachmann became the first presidential candidate to sign a pledge by a religious right group, The Family Leader, that contains 14 points addressing everything from opp... read more
The Incredible Shrinking Government
Republican anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist famously once said he wanted to reduce government “to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” He made some headway in June.
While the private sector added a disa... read more
Coal Industry Decries "Job Killing" EPA Power Plant Rules that Will Prevent 34,000 Premature Deaths
A new environmental regulation from the Obama administration intended to cut pollution and save lives has been blasted by the coal industry as a job killer.
The Environmental Protection Agency finalized the “Cross-State Air Pollution Rule” tha... read more
America’s Most Hated Companies: Mid-Year Report Card
We’re only halfway through the year, but it looks like a lot of the companies Americans love to hate are continuing to frustrate and bedevil them.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) surveys thousands of people about 245 companie... read more
Obama Talks About Jobs at Twitter Town Hall; Republicans Talk Trash
President Barak Obama’s first crack at an online town hall held exclusively through Twitter proved to be an opportune move for House Republicans who flooded the event with bated questions and negative remarks about the economy.
Led by House Sp... read more
Michele Bachmann May Have a Hubby Problem
Michele Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, plays a multi-faceted role in the rising Republican’s campaign for her party’s presidential nomination. But as he sketches out a new role for himself, his day job is drawing a bit of attention.
Marcus Bach... read more
Despite Fire Threat to Los Alamos Lab, Plans Proceed for Plutonium Bomb Factory
The largest fire in New Mexico history finally receded from the edges of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, but it crept close enough to spark concern among local residents and anti-nuclear activists opposed to the lab’s proposed plutonium facili... read more
Fewer States Are Doing the Write Thing When It Comes to Cursive
Young Hoosiers won’t have to deal with turning in their assignments this fall in cursive, because the Indiana Department of Education has decided to eliminate the flowing handwriting style as a requirement.
Indiana became one of the latest of ... read more
Environment May Be as Important as Genes in Causing Autism
Health experts have gone from blaming mothers to singling out genetics for causing autism in children, to now giving considerable weight to environmental factors as potential causes.
A few decades ago, therapists attributed autism to a lack of... read more
Federal Trade Commission Spending Heavily on Travel to Nations Outside Its Jurisdiction
Primarily responsible for combating unfair trade practices within the United States, the Federal Trade Commission has spent 30% of its travel budget in recent years on foreign excursions.
Over a three-year period, FTC employees and commissione... read more
Florida Goes to the Head of the Class
Florida does not lack for challenges in its public schools. Half of all students qualify for subsidized lunches, an indication their families may be struggling financially. And many children are the first in their homes to speak English or even co... read more
Cost of U.S. Wars: $4 Trillion and 225,000 Dead
Just before the United States attacked Iraq in 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld gave his estimate of the war’s eventual cost. “If you think we’re going to spend a billion dollars of our money over there, you are sadly mistaken.”
He m... read more
Federal Prisoners in for Crack Will Get Sentence Cuts
Freedom will come sooner to thousands of prisoners convicted of possessing crack cocaine now that the U.S. Sentencing Commission decided to retroactively apply a new sentencing regulation to those already serving time.
In response to the pas... read more
Ocean Floor Muddies China’s Grip on Valuable Rare-Earth Minerals
China’s monopoly over rare-earth minerals—used in flat-screen TVs, energy-saving lightbulbs, hybrid cars and missile guidance systems—may be coming to an end now that news out of Japan indicates a large swath of the Pacific Ocean floor contains ... read more