Today’s Links: December 7, 2011

OPINION

SEN. JIM INHOFE: “Kyoto Process is Dead
“Today, I’m happy to bring you the good news about the complete collapse of the global warming movement and the failure of the Kyoto Protocol, as world leaders meet for the United Nations global warming conference in Durban, South Africa. For the past decade, I have been the leader in the United States Senate standing up against global warming alarmism and cap-and-trade, which would have been the largest tax increase in American history. This victory is especially important today, as families in America and around the world continue to face tough economic times. Tossing out any remote possibility of a UN global warming treaty is one of the most important things we can do for the economy.”

IRIN CARMON: “Obama Says No to Plan B for Teens
“In an extraordinary statement, FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg said she agreed with an internal study that ‘there is adequate and reasonable, well-supported and science-based evidence that Plan B One-Step is safe and effective and should be approved for non-prescription use for all females of child-bearing potential.’ But, she said, the secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, disagreed. Sebelius issued her own wishy-washy statement, claiming there wasn’t enough data on the drug’s effects on adolescents.”

PETER BOETTKE: “McCloskey’s Transition to Austrian Economics
“Back in the mid 1990s, I attended Deirdre McCloskey’s first talk at the AEA meetings after her coming out publicly as a transgender person.  She had not yet had her subsequent medical procedures, let alone written her telling memoir Crossings.   McCloskey stood before a packed room of 500, dressed in a stylish dress and wig, and proudly announced ‘I am an economist in transition.’ [pause] ‘I am transitioning from a Chicago economist to an Austrian economist.’  Whatever awkwardness or tension that existed in the room was dispelled with that quip, and McCloskey proceeded to give a wonderful talk on the importance of rhetoric within the economy, pursuing a theme she had developed with Arjo Klamer in  “One Quarter of GDP is Persuasion.'”

NEWS

HEALTH – Too Promiscuous to Donate an Organ? Maybe, CDC Says
“If you’ve had sex with two or more partners in the past year, you may be considered a risky organ donor, at least according to proposed new federal health guidelines that have drawn sharp protests from transplant experts who say they’re far too broad. ”

PUBLIC SERVICES – Fire Department Watches House Burn Because Family Didn’t Pay Fees
“Firefighters in one Tenn. county watched this week as a family’s home burned to the ground, refusing to take action to save the structure because the residents had not paid their yearly $75 fee.”