Topic: Legislation

The real key to economic recovery isn #8217;t in the form of a piece of legislation waiting for passage in Congress or on the President #8217;s desk awaiting signature. In fact, the real key to econom ... more

Mexican drug cartels cripple Pemex operations in basin Reporting from Reynosa, Mexico �� The meandering network of pipes, wells and tankers belonging to the gigantic state oil company Pemex have long ... more

Wall St. firm behind slow solar pace on federal lands? - Goldman Sachs subsidiary bought lots of leases �� but hasn't used them ROACH DRY LAKE, Nev. �� Not a light bulb's worth of solar electricity ... more

We need a better understanding of the 'environmentalist's paradox' We hear lots of concerned chatter these days �� not least, here on this site - about peak oil, peak water, deforestation, resource d ... more

The news on Monday that one in six Americans are now enrolled in government poverty programs (Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment insurance and welfare) was an unsettling reminder of the economic fix ... more

Editor's note: This article originally appeared on February 27, 2009. We are reposting it because of current concern about bedbugs. NEW YORK--Sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite? If only . T ... more

Anaesthetists are calling for greater clarity on the legal implications of testing incapacitated patients for blood-borne viruses (BBV), after a survey found that this is often done following staff ne ... more

Kurt Cobb - Personality profile: Do you "go with the flow" or do you "stock up" just in case? Why is it that some people believe they can really store up much of anything? Yes, it is wise to have emer ... more

The most recent Health Wonk Review, hosted by Joe Paduda at Managed Care Matters, raises provocative questions about making health care reform a reality. You ��ll find Paduda ��s round-up of some of t ... more

Dealing With Scarcity Julian Cribb, in his book ��The Coming Famine �� (which I reviewed today over in Arts), contends that we ��ve already seen peak oil �� the time when production can do nothing b ... more

On Wednesday, August 25, I gave a presentation called How limited global oil supply may affect climate change policies at the MIT-NESCAUM Endicott House Symposium on climate change. The audience inclu ... more

The religious beliefs of a doctor can play a part in end-of-life care discussions for terminally ill patients, a British study published this week in the Journal of Medical Ethics determined. Doctors ... more

On Wednesday, August 25, I gave a presentation called How limited global oil supply may affect climate change policies at the MIT-NESCAUM Endicott House Symposium on climate change. The audience inclu ... more

Oil analyst: U.S. policy detached from market reality The world is running out of oil. This prediction could be made today, of course, but it also has been stated with moral certainty numerous times ... more

This is a guest post by George Mobus. George is an Associate Professor of Computing and Software Systems at the University of Washington, Tacoma. His blog is Question Everything. Solving the Unemploym ... more

Summary: #0160; Could we bring our nation ��s health care bill down from 17% of GDP to 12%? An intriguing study from Milliman, the independent consulting and actuarial firm, says ��yes. �� Looking at ... more

Over at the New Republic, Jon Cohn reports that the Affordable Care Act gives Kathleen Sebelius great latitude in regulating insurers. And Cohn thinks that she is likely to use it. ��It #39;s not imp ... more

Summary: #0160; Some optimistic liberals have begun to suggest that if conservatives manage to block the Affordable Care Act (ACA) , this #0160; could open the door to better reform legislation.Why th ... more

Crude prices likely to rise on firm global demand Peak Oil is the time when petroleum-extraction activity in the world reaches an optimal level. Thereafter, the rate of oil production enters a termina ... more

How do you go about marketing your small business? Chances are these days much of your marketing is done online. So an important part of marketing your small business is to be sure your marketing site ... more

Russia: Iran's nuclear plant to start next week MOSCOW (AP) �� Russia's nuclear agency said Friday that it will load fuel into Iran's first nuclear power plant next week, defying U.S. calls to hold o ... more

In marketing, identifying customer segments is extremely important to strategy development and ultimately business success.  But what is the ethical line between serving a neglected market segment an ... more

Below the fold is a post I wrote a little over two years ago--in May 2008--about the deplorable state of the US electrical transmission system. The situation may have improved somewhat since then, ina ... more

Health Wonk Review offers a summary of some of the most provocative health care posts of the preceding two weeks. The newest edition went up today, and it ��s hosted by the ��Disease Management Care ... more

Cash-strapped governors can expect another $16.1 billion to help pay Medicaid bills next year, Politico reports.The extension funds are part of a $26 billion aid package the Senate okayed for state an ... more

Oil glut in Middle East as crude sales falter The Gulf region, which supplies 40 per cent of the world ��s oil, is glutted with crude that producers cannot immediately sell, even as US and European oi ... more

That Republicans don ��t support health care reform.Opponents of health care reform have been touting the results of yesterday ��s primary in Missouri as if it were a national referendum on ��the wil ... more

The U.S. Census Bureau released a report last week that includes the latest figures on the number of uninsured in each county, of each state. It ��s an exhaustive breakdown that highlights the wide fl ... more

JPMorgan Cuts Forecasts on 2010, 2011 New York Oil Prices as Demand Slows JPMorgan Chase Co. lowered by 5.5 percent its forecast for New York oil prices this year on speculation a slowdown in global ... more

Friday evening, the US House of Representatives passed legislation that would remove the $75 million liability cap on economic damages incurred by offshore drilling activities by oil companies. The U ... more

In ��Bad Medicine �� the Cato Institute white paper exploring ��The Real Costs and Consequences of the New Health Care Law, �� Cato senior fellow Michael Tanner declares the ��individual mandate, � ... more

Friday evening, the US House of Representatives passed legislation that would remove the $75 million liability cap on economic damages incurred by offshore drilling activities by oil companies. The U ... more

Summary: As regular readers know, not long ago Cato Institute senior fellow Michael Tanner published a 52-page critique of the new health care legislation titled Bad Medicine, and I decided to write ... more

JPMorgan Cuts Forecasts on 2010, 2011 New York Oil Prices as Demand Slows JPMorgan Chase Co. lowered by 5.5 percent its forecast for New York oil prices this year on speculation a slowdown in global ... more

A Florida judge knocked a GOP-backed healthcare amendment off the November ballot, calling its wording "manifestly misleading," the Associated Press reports. The proposed constitutional amendment woul ... more

Fossil Fuel Subsidies Are 12 Times Support for Renewables, Study Shows Global subsidies for fossil fuels dwarf support given to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power and biofuels, Bloo ... more

If you don't know much about the healthcare reform bill passed in March, you're not alone. When 2,100 adults were given a list of 18 reform items and asked to identify which were part of the law and w ... more

Iran ��s top oil customer buys less China ��s imports of Iranian crude oil fell by almost a third in the first half of the year, new figures showed this week. Volumes have decreased just as new US an ... more

Summary: In the August 2 issue of the New Yorker, Boston surgeon Atul Gawande writes about the ambiguities that plague end-of-life care. #0160; With the candor that makes his writing both so cre ... more

Mitsui Says Oil Tanker Possibly Attacked Near Hormuz Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., operator of the world ��s second-largest oil-tanker fleet, said one of its ships may have been attacked near the Strait o ... more

Australia: Food security plan essential for the national interest While people discuss the threat of obesity in the suburbs and in the seat of power, nobody talks about the threat of global food scarc ... more

U.S. Says 27% of Gulf of Mexico Oil Production, 10% of Gas Idled by Storm About 27 percent of crude-oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and 10 percent of natural-gas output is still idle because of T ... more

Nuclear experts seek to advance fusion project MARSEILLE, France (AFP) �� An explosion in costs has cast a cloud over a multi-billion-dollar nuclear fusion project aiming to make the power that fuels ... more

Scientists: Oil plumes definitely from BP's well TAMPA, Fla. -- Researchers in Florida say they have the first scientific proof that two plumes of oil beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico came fr ... more

E.P.A. Considers Risks of Gas Extraction CANONSBURG, Pa. �� The streams of people came to the public meeting here armed with stories of yellowed and foul-smelling well water, deformed livestock, pois ... more

E.P.A. Considers Risks of Gas Extraction CANONSBURG, Pa. �� The streams of people came to the public meeting here armed with stories of yellowed and foul-smelling well water, deformed livestock, pois ... more

A comparison of the current state of the healthcare system in the UK and the new system proposed under legislation pushed through by Barack Obama ��s government, shows some surprising results. ... more

A Big Oil Field in Central Asia Isn't Earning What Chevron Planned On ATYRAU, KAZAKHSTAN �� A single oil field here in Central Asia stands ready to produce nearly as many barrels each day as the enti ... more

Who #8217;s in your small business corner? If your small business has no one to turn to, how can you work to improve your company #8217;s opportunities on your own? Unfortunately much promised help fo ... more

The Cato Institute ��s Michael Cannon has replied to Part 1 of my response to Cato ��s report on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) .You ��ll find his reply here. Unfortunately, the ... more

FACTBOX - Oil reserves: declining - but how fast? (Reuters) - A declaration by Venezuela last week that it hopes soon to overtake Saudi Arabia as the country with the biggest oil reserves has stoked d ... more

Investors in startups and small businesses have been concerned about language buried deep within the Restoring Financial Stability Act of 2010, the financial reform bill passed by Congress this week. ... more

Caribbean System Has a 40% Chance of Developing Into Cyclone, Center Says An area of thunderstorms and clouds is becoming more likely to develop into a tropical cyclone in the next two days, the U.S. ... more

Does Middle East Oil Get a Carbon Subsidy? The federal government ��s position on ethanol fuel is that it must contribute less to global warming than gasoline does, or why bother promoting it. Yet by ... more

Rethinking the Measure of Growth Andy Xie, a private economist in Shanghai, has long argued that the 1.3 billion people in China cannot realistically hope to live like Americans. ��That statement is ... more

Healthcare data should be linked and aggregated across data sources from different organisations to manage performance and provide integrated services. The internet offers the possibility of providing ... more

This week, the Cato Institute released a 52-page report on health care reform titled: Bad Medicine: A Guide to the Real Costs and Consequences of the New Health Care Law. The tract was written by Mich ... more

(TrendHunter.com) Alto Arizona has launched an Arizona immigration law art campaign in protest of the recently enacted state legislation. Alto Arizona encourages artists who support the cause of immi ... more

The Peak Oil Crisis: A Mid-Year Review Nearly everyone will admit that continuing oil shortages and that high (above $100 a barrel) oil prices would be devastating to the prospects for economic recove ... more

Michael T. Klare: Clean, Green, Safe and Smart If the ecological catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico tells us anything, it is that we need a new national energy policy ��a comprehensive plan for escapin ... more

Who is the better business owner? Could it be you? Today we realize that it is not so much money or the right connections that make a business succeed in the long run. How many well funded businesses ... more

Wall St and peak oil One of the enduring lines about peak oil is that authorities keep it a secret because there would be some kind of financial havoc if it were revealed. A recent example is a claim ... more

Jeff Rubin: Oil must rise to make oil sands economical It ��s not its carbon trail that stands in the way of the Alberta tar sands �� picking up the supply ball dropped by deep-water drilling in the ... more

Saudi Arabia's House Of Cards Seventy-eight years after Abdul Aziz ibn Saud triumphantly carved out his kingdom on the Arabian Peninsula following a quarter-century of warfare against rival tribes, Sa ... more

The e-participation research has investigated and suggested some Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) tools such as e-forum, e-petition and e-community tools. This paper investigates the ... more

(TrendHunter.com) Today is a landmark in animal welfare legislation, as Governor Schwarzenegger signs Proposition 2 to include eggs. The legislation means that all eggs sold in California must come f ... more

What do these two cases have in common?Case No. 1: Jayant Patel, a surgeon dubbed "Dr. Death" in Australia for several botched operations was sentenced last week to seven years in prison for killing t ... more

Let me now share what the Judging Panel and the SharpBrains team found most impressive from each Winner and Finalist of the 2010 Brain Fitness Innovation Awards, accompanied by some additional info ... more

Tonight the White House Blog explained: ��In April, President Obama nominated Dr. Donald Berwick to serve as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Many Republicans in ... more

Consumption of home-brewed alcoholic beverages and illicit distillates throughout Zimbabwe has reached alarming proportions. The major reason for the increase is that some Zimbabweans cannot afford th ... more

Summary: Below an excerpt from ��Dirty Medicine �� which appears in the July/August 2010 issue of Washington Monthly. The article reveals how ��group purchasing organizations ��( GPOs) have taken co ... more

Iran to stop subsidised petrol sales from September TEHRAN (AFP) �� Iran is to halt the sale of subsidised petrol from late September as part of plans to phase out subsidies on energy products, ISNA ... more

Women business owners �� access to federal contracts has long been a bone of contention. I blogged here earlier about the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) rule, proposed in March of this year, and ho ... more

When Less Was More We tend to think of the decades immediately following World War II as a time of exuberance and growth, with soldiers returning home by the millions, going off to college on the G.I. ... more

It takes guts, determination and plenty of drive to start a small business. But even once you #8217;ve launched your new venture, the hard work isn #8217;t over. You #8217;ll make some big mistakes an ... more

Earlier this month Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) spoke for more than a few conservatives when he declared ��We ��ve been working to dismantle Obamacare. We have to fight this terrible law that ��s a thr ... more

For now, all those physicians who threatened to make a mass exodus from Medicare can take a breather. Last week, the House voted to once again delay the mandated 21% cut in physician fees by another s ... more

Animation industry has some unique characteristic which distinguish it from other industries. Such characteristics as broad market, special requirements of the audience, cultural aspects, legislation ... more

Gulf gas shortage threatens oil production Gulf states seeking to prolong the lives of aging oilfields face a big problem: insufficient gas to pump in to maintain their crude output. And the problem i ... more

India Frees Gasoline, Diesel Prices to Help Cut Government's Expenditure India decided to free prices of gasoline and diesel, saying they would be market driven in line with a panel ��s recommendation ... more

This is the next in the series of Tech Talks on Coal Mining, and I #8217;m now going to move more into more recent mining, rather than dealing with the historic background of the recent past. Specifi ... more

Let me now share what the Judging Panel and the SharpBrains team found most impressive from each Winner and Finalist of the 2010 Brain Fitness Innovation Awards, accompanied by some additional inform ... more

We need to place greater emphasis on wellness and preventive medicine in our lives and healthcare system (see: Wellness, Preventive Medicine, and the Classic Disease Model). The goal of such an approa ... more

One of the many challenges we are facing in the clinical lab industry is a shortage of medical technologists as well as an aging of this group (see: Comments on the Medical Technologist Shortage). Thi ... more

Both liberals and conservative critics have charged that the health reform legislation that President Obama signed this spring focuses mainly on insurance coverage, and does little to rein in the spir ... more

Summary: #0160; Deficit Hawks want to slash both Medicare and Social Security, and they seem to be in control of the President ��s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. #0160;Hoveri ... more

Summary: Opponents of reform will continue to pretend that at some point in the future, ��Obama-care �� will mean drastic across-the-board cuts in reimbursements to doctors who take Medicare patients ... more

As Congress once again wrestles with ��the doctor fix �� ��yet another postponement of the 21% cut in Medicare reimbursement that went into effect this month ��the media has been swirling with storie ... more

Speaking at a Third Way event earlier this week, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) had this to say about the deficit: ��On the spending side, we could and should consider a higher retirement a ... more

The Minnesota Rural Health Cooperative (MRHC), a group of 25 hospitals and 70 physicians in southwestern Minnesota, has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding allegatio ... more

Has your hospital looked at what's behind breaches of patient privacy? Two examples from California show just how easy it is to accidentally give unauthorized access to confidential patient medical re ... more

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a report that looks at what state-level partnerships have done to expand America's capacity to teach and graduate more nurses. With baby boomer nurses poise ... more

Just when you might think it was safe to drink the water in plastic bottles, along comes another chemical called BPA or bisphenol A. Now it looks as though you might want to think twice next time befo ... more

Some days it still feels like September 12, 2001: Millions of Americans arrested for but not convicted of crimes will likely have their DNA forcibly extracted and added to a national database, acco ... more

It tolls for thee: Flexibility on highway funding would make all the difference The building and repairing of roads in America is paid for by a federal petrol tax, which replenishes the highway trust ... more

Greek Crisis and Euro Fall Snare Clean-Energy Stocks (Bloomberg) -- As Europe grapples with the fallout from Greece ��s economic woes, at least one unexpected corner of the economy is suffering: renew ... more

Economists and utilities say the draft legislation could help avoid costly regulations. ... more

BP And Goldman Sachs Sued For Oil Fraud Dozens of small oil and gas producers across Oklahoma and the Midwest are suing Goldman Sachs, BP and ConocoPhillips, claiming the defendants conspired to defra ... more

Important reminder: members of the Judging Panel will recognize the Finalists and the 3 Winners in an Awards Ceremony Call on Monday, noon-1pm Pacific Time. In order to participate in the call: Membe ... more

Last week I wrote about the President ��s Cancer Panel Report which highlighted the ��grievous harm �� caused by environmental carcinogens and urged action that included removing the toxins from our ... more

What is the state of small business? Unlike the State of the Union, we need a report more than once a year and here is the latest. A recovery is coming, distinguishing your business remains key and th ... more

Summary: #0160; A startling study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that just as doctors in some towns are more aggressive in treating their patients, physicians in some places ... more

One of the problems that has consistently plagued underground coal mining lies in the height of the coal seam that is being mined. This was the portal (i.e. entrance) to a coal mine that we once ran ... more

Peru: Gas Exports Will Cause Local Shortages, Governors Protest LIMA (IPS) - The Peruvian government refuses to change the contract it signed with Consorcio Camisea to export natural gas to Mexico, a ... more

BP chief backs oil drilling in wake of US disaster BP's chief executive has said the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster should not mean the end of deep-water exploration. But Tony Hayward told the BBC's Tod ... more

Believe it or not, your small business has an edge. No, you might not be as well-funded, well-connected or even as well-established as the big guys. But something convinced you to go out on your own. ... more

John Michael Greer: After money During the 350 years of the industrial age, a good fraction of Europe did consume more than it produced, by the simple expedient of owning most of the rest of the world ... more

The Obama administration filed on Tuesday its defense against the first of a growing number of state lawsuits fighting the landmark health overhaul passed in March, specifically the provision that wou ... more

The triple crises of civilization The evidence is overwhelming. We are facing triple crises. Global warming is already happening. We are at or close to being at peak oil (and some say as result peak m ... more

Discretionary spending related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act could cost an additional $115 billion over the next 10 years, pushing the total cost of health reform over the $1 trill ... more

Turkey, Russia sign deals on nuclear power plant, pipeline to carry Russian oil to Europe ANKARA, Turkey (AP) �� Turkey and Russia signed agreements on Wednesday for the construction of Turkey's firs ... more

Jeff Rubin: It ain ��t about Greece A $10-per-barrel drop in oil prices seems a curious response to the ongoing disaster at BP ��s Deepwater Horizon wellhead and to its potentially devastating reperc ... more

Since last I wrote I have travelled to London and then up North into southern Scotland (I write this looking down at the station in Dumfries, having passed the one-time house of Scotland #8217;s Bard) ... more

Rig Owner Had Rising Tally of Accidents The sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which triggered the spill spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, caught the energy world by surprise. The opera ... more

Droughts Turn Out the Lights in Hydro-Dependent African Nation NAIROBI, Kenya -- The restaurant manager shrugs as his customers eat in darkness and his kitchen limps along on half power. "What they ... more

DOE Still Disavows Peak Oil Forecast, Despite New Studies A few weeks after the joint force report came out, there was speculation that the DOE had endorsed peak oil theory after Glen Sweetnam, former ... more

Summary: If hospitals pay more attention to how they discharge patients, and what happens to them after they leave, Medicare could save billions. Under the reform legislation, beginning in 2011 Medica ... more

In concentrated markets, providers might look at their competitors' publicly available prices and raise their own accordingly, suggests Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce ... more

Saudi, Algeria Oil Ministers See Consumption Rising (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil demand will rise this year, unimpeded by a debt crisis in Greece that may spread to other European nations and slow growth, ... more

We are witnessing the emergence of what a recent article in the New York Times called Big Medicine (see: More Doctors Giving Up Private Practices). Simply put, it consists of the following triad: (1) ... more

Since last I wrote I have travelled to London and then up North into southern Scotland (I write this looking down at the station in Dumfries, having passed the one-time house of Scotland #8217;s Bard) ... more

Falling crude oil prices could keep gasoline under $3 NEW YORK (AP) �� Gasoline prices that typically begin a sprint for their annual highs about now are losing steam well ahead of the summer driving ... more

Organic farms 'produce less than HALF as much food as conventional ones' The benefits to wildlife and increases in biodiversity from organic farming are much lower than previously thought, scientists ... more

Financial Sense Newshour: Peak Oil 2014 - Warning and Precautions (audio) �� Jeremy Leggett Founder Executive Chairman Solarcentury �� Dr. Oliver Inderwildi Research Fellow Smith School of Ent ... more

The countries engaged in a process of transition from a centrally planned economy to a free market business environment are evolving through a number of stages, each with specific characteristics in t ... more

Health reform's ban on physician-owned hospitals has so far halted construction on 27 facilities, according to Molly Sandvig, executive director of the Physician Hospitals of America. Another 40 or so ... more

President Obama signed the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act on Wednesday, calling the legislation a "major step forward in America's commitment to families and caregivers who tend t ... more

ANALYSIS - Reforms needed as China plans unconventional gas push BEIJING (Reuters) - China's plans to triple natural gas use by 2020 by tapping potential massive supplies locked up in vast coal and s ... more

Over on ��Movin �� Meat, �� an ER doctor living in the Pacific Northwest tells a true story titled ��Where romance and medicine collide. �� http://allbleedingstops.blogspot.com/2010/04/where-romance ... more

Russian special forces storm oil tanker, free ship ABOARD THE HSwMS CARLSKRONA �� Russian special forces rappelled onto a disabled oil tanker taken over by Somali pirates, freeing 23 Russian sailors ... more

The long and divisive fight over U.S. health care reform exposed basic weaknesses in the processes of governance. As is so often true in American politics these days, politicians and lobbyists kept co ... more

More and more small business is being conducted in the online world. But taking things online hasn #8217;t changed the basics when doing business and online business isn #8217;t necessarily immune to ... more

Summary: In Part 3 of ��Myths Facts about the Impact of Reform on Hospitals and Patients Who Need Hospital Care, �� #0160; I addressed the fear that #0160; cuts in Medicare spending will threaten t ... more

On Monday, May 3, John Hofmeister, recently retired president of Shell Oil Company, gave a luncheon speech at the Offshore Technology Conference on our energy predicament, and the challenges the oil a ... more

For me, preventive medicine is one of the key elements in reducing health care costs by avoiding or ameliorating some chronic diseases (see: Seeking Solutions to the Chronic Disease Epidemic; Preventi ... more

The Physician Payments Sunshine Act will require companies that provide gifts, including stock options, research grants, consulting fees, travel to medical conferences and more to begin tracking and p ... more

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) agree that "volume over value" is a concept that needs to be reversed in hospitals throughout America. But how this ... more

Drilling Down: A Troubled Legacy in Oil The spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the latest disaster for BP, which has been haunted by a history of cost-cutting. ...The price of the historic inherent flaws ... more

For a compendium of some of the most provocative healthcare posts of the past two weeks, see Health Wonk Review, hosted this time by Health Care Economist Jason Shafrin. #0160; For instance: The Incid ... more

Healthcare reform will likely affect many despite how you as a small business owner feel about it. Critics would have you believe it will wreak havoc with the smallest of enterprises while others insi ... more

U.S. may send in troops as Gulf oil spill worsens NEW ORLEANS ��A massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is even worse than believed and as the government grows concerned that the rig ��s operator is ... more

Is this the golden age of small business? Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine thinks so. We lead off with an Open Forum interview of Anderson by marketing guru Seth Godin. It may feel st ... more

Summary: Earlier this month, an FDA committee voted on whether it should tighten the rules for generics to make certain that they are exactly the same as brand-name drugs. Medical research says that t ... more

Pity poor Marc Siegel, a hard-working, primary care doctor who is facing hard times. ��As the months drag on, and my office expenses continue to increase, my patients will find that I am barely able ... more

What drove oil prices in 2009 It wasn ��t speculators, and it wasn ��t fundamentals - at least, not short-term fundamentals. The key to understanding what has driven crude oil prices since the financ ... more

Global downturn cushioned peak oil impact One of the Federal Government's top infrastructure advisers is warning of an oil crunch that could send the global economy spiralling back toward recession. ... more

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) agree that "volume over value" is a concept that needs to be reversed in hospitals throughout America. But how this ... more

Global downturn cushioned peak oil impact One of the Federal Government's top infrastructure advisers is warning of an oil crunch that could send the global economy spiralling back toward recession. ... more

The Physician Payments Sunshine Act will require companies that provide gifts, including stock options, research grants, consulting fees, travel to medical conferences and more to begin tracking and p ... more

Shale-Gas Drilling in U.S. May Stall as Below-Production Prices Erode Cash Drilling in U.S. shale-gas formations may tumble as companies run short of cash after prices for the fuel languished below th ... more

INTERVIEW - Oil over $100 damaging, OPEC would act - Kuwait KUWAIT (Reuters) - OPEC would pump more oil to prevent a rally in oil prices above $100 from hurting the global economic recovery, Kuwait's ... more

Shell says Middle East needs to solve "gas puzzle" KUWAIT (Reuters) - The Middle East needs to solve the conundrum which leaves it sitting on 40 percent of the world's gas reserves and yet suffering ... more

Shell says Middle East needs to solve "gas puzzle" KUWAIT (Reuters) - The Middle East needs to solve the conundrum which leaves it sitting on 40 percent of the world's gas reserves and yet suffering ... more

Robert Bryce: Five myths about green energy Americans are being inundated with claims about renewable and alternative energy. Advocates for these technologies say that if we jettison fossil fuels, we' ... more

Shale-Gas Drilling in U.S. May Stall as Below-Production Prices Erode Cash Drilling in U.S. shale-gas formations may tumble as companies run short of cash after prices for the fuel languished below th ... more

Iran begins war games in Persian Gulf oil route TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard held war games Thursday in the strategic Persian Gulf oil route, the Hormuz Strait, a show of it ... more

Peak oil predictions At the launch of BP's most recent Statistical Review of World Energy in early June 2009, BP's chief executive, Tony Hayward, said that as the oil price went over $90, consumers "b ... more

Oil Producers Risk Blowouts, Blazes in Search for Deeper Fields (Bloomberg) -- Energy companies delving miles beneath the seafloor for oil are risking pressure surges like the one this week that may ... more

Physicians in hospital-based outpatient clinics now are eligible for federal EMR incentive payments, as President Obama has signed into law legislation that removes a restriction in the American Recov ... more

Researchers have found that less than a quarter of Americans want no changes to the health care legislation signed into law by the president last month. Of the nearly four in 10 Americans who want the ... more

Fossil-fuel subsidies hurting global environment, security A comprehensive assessment of global fossil-fuel subsidies has found that governments are spending $500 billion annually on policies that un ... more

Since 1992, the federal government has spent close to $1 billion on abstinence-only sex education, despite growing evidence that these ideology-based programs are ineffective in delaying the onset of ... more

Patient deaths would decrease noticably if more states adopted California's nurse-to-patient ratios, according to a new study published in Health Services Research. California's 2004 mandate requires ... more

World Bank Report: Lights Out? - The Outlook for Energy in Eastern Europe and Central Asia [PDF] Emerging Europe and Central Asia, the region made up of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CE ... more

Global stability is hallmark of Kingdom ��s oil policy The Saudi energy policy is based on two principles: Maintaining moderate international oil prices to ensure the long-term use of crude as a major ... more

The recently passed health care reform legislation will have an effect not only on millions of existing small-business owners and their employees., but also on an untold number of businesses that have ... more

A new physician-rating system co-created by Blue Shield of California and the Pacific Business Group on Heath (PBGH) set to go public June 1 has drawn the ire of the California Medical Association. Th ... more

It's been predicted that health reform will make busy doctors busier when insurance coverage becomes nearly universal in 2014, but some physicians say their work days have already lengthened due to th ... more

#0160;Twenty-eight states are now engaged in a heated debate over the difference between a doctor and a nurse: Legislators in these states are considering whether they should let a nurse practitioner ... more

The Maryland General Assembly and insurers are hoping that paying more to primary-care physicians who work off-hours will pay off with healthier patients and lower overall health costs. Always in shor ... more

Lobbyists representing the many who profit from our $2.6 trillion health care industry spent millions in the war over healthcare reform. Yet National Journal Contributing Editor Eliza Newlin Carney su ... more

India to build 1st oil reserve facility by Oct 2011 NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India aims to build its first strategic oil reserve facility with a capacity of 1.33 million tonnes at Visakhapatnam in south ... more

Abortion was such a hot-button issue in the battle over health reform that it threatened to derail the process on multiple occasions ��including the final push to get the legislation through Congress. ... more

No doubt you have seen some of the numbers about the assault that corporate lobbyists mounted to try to block health care reform: In 2009 spending on health-care-related lobbying and TV advertising to ... more

As the reality of the nation's shortage of primary-care physicians sinks in, a growing number of states are looking beyond the daunting task of finding more physicians and considering the roles of oth ... more

EXCLUSIVE - China's top oil firms sell gasoline to Iran - trade DUBAI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - State-run Chinaoil has sold two gasoline cargoes for April delivery to Iran, industry sources said on Wedne ... more

Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine responded ahead of deadline to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius's request for states' plans regarding high-risk pools. He was the f ... more

Fifty-eight percent of Americans support repealing the health care reform legislation that was signed into law by President Barack Obama in March, according to a new national survey. ... more

Michael T. Klare: 'Two, Three, Many Afghanistans' "The struggle against violent extremism will not be finished quickly, and it extends well beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan," Obama declared at West Po ... more

Unbearable lightness?: To make cars frugal, they will have to become lighter ��and more expensive WHEN it comes to motor vehicles there is widespread belief ��at least in America ��that bigger is not ... more

Energy Secretary Chu gave a talk at the EIA/SAIS Energy Conference on April 6-7. I want to share a few highlights of it, and give my impression. Both the Powerpoint slides and audio can be accessed at ... more

Since the implementation of anti-smoking legislation, hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory conditions have decreased 39 percent and 33 percent respectively, according to new research ... more

MYTH #1: #0160; Reform legislation calls for a 21% cut in Medicare payments to physicians. FACT: #0160; First, the 21% cut has nothing to do with reform legislation. Secondly, it is never going to hap ... more

China Boosts Oil Imports 29%, Remains Net Fuel Buyer (Bloomberg) -- China, the world ��s second-biggest energy consumer, increased March crude oil imports by 29 percent from a year earlier and remaine ... more

Energy Secretary Chu gave a talk at the EIA/SAIS Energy Conference on April 6-7. I want to share a few highlights of it, and give my impression. Both the Powerpoint slides and audio can be accessed at ... more

As Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle announced his newly created Office of Health Care Reform as part of the state's pending healthcare legislation, the Associated Press obtained a memo that indicated the ... more

UK: Record gas prices may be election issue "With the election campaign now in full swing, Britain's hard-pressed motorists will be keen to hear what the political parties have to say about the escala ... more

As health plans prepare for a surge in newly eligible individual consumers of their products, they're also refining their marketing message to greet an entirely different kind of audience. "From a bus ... more

Over the past two years, I have met the leaders of a relatively new physicians �� organization, the National Physicians �� Alliance, and I have been impressed by their agenda. Quite simply, they put p ... more

Despite Massachusetts' efforts to better spread health insurance costs among its population with an individual mandate, health plan data suggests that 2006 legislation has been severely undermined by ... more

The Obama administration began work on Friday to provide "immediate relief for potentially millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions, like diabetes or high-blood pressure, who have been shut ... more

This is the first in a series of posts that will try to pierce the myths and reveal the facts about the reform legislation. #0160; This first post focuses on the impact that reform will have on ... more

Despite Massachusetts' efforts to better spread health insurance costs among its population with an individual mandate, health plan data suggests that 2006 legislation has been severely undermined by ... more

On Friday, the Obama administration began work to provide "immediate relief for potentially millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions, like diabetes or high-blood pressure, who have been shut ... more

Michael Klare: Is the World ��s Future Resource Map Tilting East? Think of it as a tale of two countries. When it comes to procuring the resources that make industrial societies run, China is now the ... more

UK Treasury lukewarm on plan for Iceland to pay debt in energy Iceland could pay the £3.48bn it owes the UK and Holland by providing the two countries with a steady stream of green electricity instea ... more

UK Treasury lukewarm on plan for Iceland to pay debt in energy Iceland could pay the £3.48bn it owes the UK and Holland by providing the two countries with a steady stream of green electricity instea ... more

Countries Blame China, Not Nature, for Water Shortage BANGKOK �� In southern China, the worst drought in at least 50 years has dried up farmers �� fields and left tens of millions of people short of ... more

I loved the lead to a story that ran in the New York Times yesterday: ��With the government ��s blessing, a drug giant is about to expand the market for its blockbuster cholesterol medication, Crestor ... more

CMS could have collected an additional $231 million in Medicare overpayments during the three-year Recovery Audit Contractor demonstration, had it taken steps to actually correct the "vulnerabilities" ... more

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Internal Revenue Service, health information technology professionals, physicians, health plans, and individual states face hefty to-do lists now th ... more