Peter Jaworski writes:

I’ve been hosting the Liberty Summer Seminar on my parents property for the last 10 years (we celebrated our ten-year anniversary this year) without a problem. This year, however, the Municipality of Clarington decided to charge my parents for using their land as a “commercial conference centre” on land zoned Agricultural. They are facing a possible $50,000 fine ($25,000 for my mom and $25,000 for my dad). 

I have no direct knowledge of the facts of the case, and it seems possible that Peter’s parents are, technically, in violation of the law. The law in question, however, seems misguided, and the punishment excessive in any case.  You can read more here.

This is a story about a courageous policy in an unexpected place. In this place homeless shelters have vending machines selling clean syringes for injecting drugs.  Drug users are not prosecuted as long as they are in treatment programs.  Drug addicts are given clean needles and methadone maintenance therapy ─ available on a widespread basis even in prison.  These tactics have worked to reduce crime, lower H.I.V. rates among drug users and keep AIDS from spreading out into the general population.  The place is not Amsterdam.  It is Tehran.

Read the rest here; sensible and interesting throughout.

Government sponsored needle exchanges would be unnecessary, of course, if heroin and syringes were legal, unrestricted goods. Then heroin would be cheap, so fewer people would feel the need to inject to get a big “bang-for-the-buck.”  Syringes would also be cheap, so those who wanted to inject would find it easy to use clean needles. And a clever marketing guru would probably convince heroin sellers to package their product jointly with clean, disposable syringes.

An ominous flight pattern: Canadians opting for U.S. airports

Ottawa appears unmoved, saying there are no immediate plans to address the cross-border bleeding. Ms. Burr, the assistant deputy minister at Transport Canada, told the Senate committee that “the U.S. is a huge market with many more passengers and many more airlines.” She called it “a fact of life” that “ours is a vast country geographically, but a much smaller one in terms of population. Therefore, Canadian airlines have higher costs than those in the United States.”

But the gap between Canadian and U.S. airfares has never been as large as it is now. Canada’s aviation leaders see a crisis brewing, so they’re ramping up their lobbying for dramatic reforms.

If Ottawa cancelled airport rent, eliminated security charges on tickets, axed the excise tax on fuel and reimbursed funds related to debt financing for air traffic control, Canada’s aviation sector would receive a much needed shot in the arm, said George Petsikas, president of the National Airlines Council of Canada. “Air travel is globally competitive, and we are in a fight for our lives,” he said, urging Ottawa to overhaul its aviation policy.

Hard to argue with that logic.

Loyal readers:

I have recently set up a Facebook Fan Page because my number of Facebook friends is approaching 5,000. If you like following my blogging via Facebook, you might want to check it out.

Thanks, jeff

The continuing saga of my web developer’s legal battles over New Jersey’s gun laws.

Who said this:

If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.

Some rabid tea partier? Sarah Palin? Click here for the answer and the rest of the story.

In some ways, yes. The incidence of violence against U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians has declined dramatically, for example.

Whether Iraq is really on a good path going forward, however, is not so clear:

BAGHDAD — A second exodus has begun here, of Iraqis who returned after fleeing the carnage of the height of the war, but now find that violence and the nation’s severe lack of jobs are pulling them away from home once again.

Since the American invasion in 2003, refugees have been a measure of the country’s precarious condition, flooding outward during periods of violence and trickling back as Iraq seemed to stabilize. This new migration shows how far the nation remains from being stable and secure.

When governments subsidize the purchase of a good, people buy more of that good. This increase in demand raises prices.  Governments then face rising expenditure and therefore limit the price they will pay the sellers of the good. Sellers respond by not offering the good for sale.

That is what is happening with Medicare:

Want an appointment with kidney specialist Adam Weinstein of Easton, Md.? If you’re a senior covered by Medicare, the wait is eight weeks.

How about a checkup from geriatric specialist Michael Trahos? Expect to see him every six months: The Alexandria-based doctor has been limiting most of his Medicare patients to twice yearly rather than the quarterly checkups he considers ideal for the elderly. Still, at least he’ll see you. Top-ranked primary care doctor Linda Yau is one of three physicians with the District’s Foxhall Internists group who recently announced they will no longer be accepting Medicare patients.

“It’s not easy. But you realize you either do this or you don’t stay in business,” she said.

What’s the solution? Not price controls on health care suppliers, but less Medicare: a higher age of eligibility, plus higher co-pays and deductibles.

The standard argument for government funding of research holds that ideas, and especially basic insights that cannot easily be patented, are a public good: once in existence, everyone can copy them, so private forces will under produce relative to the socially desirable amount because no one can capture a sufficient financial reward.

This argument has some merit, but it is easily overstated: much research that governments funds yields marketable products, so the private sector has ample incentive to invest in them.  Apparently my employer understands this well:

Harvard University has begun to focus more on partnerships with private industry to fund science research, as the federal budget is expected to remain flat or decline in the coming years.

Harvard received about 6 percent of its operating revenue from federal agency grants in 2010, of which a large majority went toward science. But with the federal government facing looming deficits and the Republicans now in control of the House of Representatives, the University must prepare for a potential decline in those funds, according to University Provost Steven E. Hyman.

“While we continue to advocate for government funding of science…taking a clear eyed look at the domestic discretionary budget, we have to accelerate our attempts to diversify funding sources for scientific endeavors,” Hyman said in an interview Monday. “It’s important that we develop effective models of industrial sponsorship.”

Exactly.

In March, 2006, the U.S. government banned over-the-counter sales of cold medicines (such as Sudafed) that contain pseudoephedrine, a pre-cursor product for methamphetamine. Under current regulation these products are only available “behind the counter.” Customers must show photo ID to purchase, and the amount per month is limited.

The argument for this law was that it would help shrink the black market in methamphetamine.  Well, apparently not:

VERACRUZ, MEXICO – Exploiting loopholes in the global economy, Mexican crime syndicates are importing mass quantities of the cold medicines and common chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine – turning Mexico into the No. 1 source for all meth sold in the United States, law enforcement agents say.

So, the law wastes time for both consumers and pharmacists while enriching Mexican drug cartels. Nice job.