Archives for June 2012

By Tom Watts
Part 2 in a series on National Federal of Independent Business v. Sebelius:

Roberts and the four liberals upheld the individual mandate as valid under the Taxing Clause. The majority noted, “The exaction the Affordable Care Act imposes on those without health insurance looks like a tax in many respects.” It pointed out that the “penalty” (a) “does not apply to individuals who do not pay federal income taxes because their household income is less than the filing threshold in the Internal Revenue Code,” (b) has an amount “determined by such familiar factors as taxable income, number of dependents, and joint filing status,” and (c) is described “in the Internal Revenue Code and enforced by the IRS.”
[Read more…] about ACA: Individual Mandate

By Hudson Kingston

In a day and age when green eggs and ham seem like the rule rather than the exception it is rare to eat food that was hunted down and killed. Statistically speaking modern people no longer hunt, and it is not like the grocery stores are full of venison that is hunted by professional snipers. Nevertheless, the fishing industry is still a hunter/gatherer profession. Though the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act may use the word “harvest”, the world’s supply of fish is a natural resource that we usually cannot grow. We can only avoid not taking too much.
[Read more…] about One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish . . . No Fish

By Hudson Kingston

Stately, plump [David Cameron] came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.* And though he may have tried to use this Christological imagery to cut the worldwide public news offerings his government graciously provides, he seems to have failed in delivering on the economic recovery he said his cuts would bring. In fact, it’s very nearly Bloomsday and it seems his projections were wrong. He seems to have bought a double-dip recession with austerity instead.
[Read more…] about “My methods are new and are causing surprise. To make the blind see I throw dust in their eyes.”

By Jonathan Peters
Follow me @jonathanwpeters on Twitter.

Middleborough is a quiet town in Massachusetts known for its cranberry bogs and profanity problem. It’s located in historic Plymouth County and … wait, what? A profanity problem?

Absolutely, says Mimi Duphily, a former Middleborough selectwoman who runs a small business in the downtown area. She and other business owners are taking a stand against public profanity that can discomfit customers.
[Read more…] about Massachusetts town plans to cite people for public profanity. Here’s why it won’t work …

By Hudson Kingston

Last week, I wrote on how Myanmar’s new influx of corporate investment was something to watch, especially with a history (both ancient and recent) of brutal corporate involvement in empire building and resource extraction. While the United States is planning to open investments to Myanmar with no treaty in place, it is pertinent that the U.S. recently rewrote its Model Bilateral Investment Treaty – a document that guides bilateral agreements between our country and every country we negotiate a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with in the future.
[Read more…] about One of these things is not like the other: Why the U.S. Model BIT will not adequately protect the world environment