Today’s Links: February 10, 2012

OPINION

DON BOUDREAUX: “The Twistocracy”
“[U.S. Senator Kirsten] Gillibrand (D-NY) said: ‘The power to decide whether or not to use contraception lies with a woman – not her boss.  What is more intrusive than trying to allow an employer to make medical decisions for someone who works for them?‘ The twisted logic underlying Ms. Gillibrand’s worldview is stunning.  First she wants to collectivize health-care funding.  Second, she then expresses indignance that express orders by the state on how private parties spend their funds are resisted by those private parties.  And third, she parades her indignance as being a defense of private spheres of actions that ought not be intruded into by outsiders!”

PETER SCHWEIZER: “Warren Buffett: Baptist and Bootlegger”
“Warren Buffett is very much a political entrepreneur; his best investments are often in political relationships. In recent years, Buffett has used taxpayer money as a vehicle to even greater profit and wealth. Indeed, the success of some of his biggest bets and the profitability of some of his largest investments rely on government largesse and “coddling” with taxpayer money.”

KATY WALDMAN: “Uncle Sam Is Not Coming For Dinner”
“America is fat, but Americans disagree about what this means. Either the country’s obesity rates—one third of all adults are obese—are a dangerous health crisis, or they show that the nation is healthier and wealthier than ever. Either the government must act immediately to curb our waistlines, or we must act to curb our bloated government. These were the questions debated in NYU’s Skirball Center last night at theSlate/Intelligence Squared live debate, in which four health and policy experts argued the motion that “Obesity is the government’s business.””

NEWS

LEGAL: Tribe Suing Beer Makers Over Alcohol Problems
“A Native American tribe sued some of the world’s largest beer makers Thursday, claiming they knowingly contributed to devastating alcohol-related problems on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota said it is demanding $500 million in damages for the cost of health care, social services and child rehabilitation caused by chronic alcoholism on the reservation.”

TSA – No Female TSA Agents Means No Flight For Denver Woman
“A Denver woman claims she couldn’t board a flight from Wyoming to Denver because of her gender. […] ‘They asked if I was on the flight to Denver, I said yes, they said that they couldn`t screen me because they sent all the female TSA agents home,’ Winning said.”

HEALTH – FDA Outlines Path for Lower-Prices Biotech Drugs
“The guidelines issued by the FDA on Thursday are the final step in a decades-long effort to lower the price of biotech drugs, high-tech injectable medications that cost the nation billions of dollars each year.”