Public Policy and Governance

Climate of Denial

As usual, Gail Collins says it all so much better than I could. Read it and weep.

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A Question of Professionalism

First there were the laws that allowed pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for legal medications that violated their religious beliefs. Now, Tennessee and several other states are considering legislation that would protect social workers and mental health professionals who turn away suicidal clients when those clients’ “life styles” offend the provider’s religious beliefs. If [...]

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Countdown

Warning: if you are in a good mood, skip this post, because I’m finding it very hard not to be depressed by the constant reminders of of American institutional dysfunction. Everywhere you look, there are people who should know better engaging in self-defeating behaviors and magical thinking, fiddling while America burns. I’ve tried to examine the [...]

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Fun with Trans-vaginal Probes….

It was only a momentary diversion, but yesterday the Indiana Senate debated a proposed amendment to the offensive bill requiring (among other things) that poor women wanting prescriptions for abortifacants undergo two trans-vaginal probes. Here’s the relevant language: “Before giving, selling, dispensing, administering, prescribing, or otherwise providing an erectile dysfunction drug to a man showing symptoms of [...]

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Quote of the Day

From Dick Lugar’s first address after leaving elective office, an observation worth pondering: Perhaps the most potent force driving partisanship is the rise of a massive industry that makes money off political discord. This industry encompasses cable news networks, talk radio shows, partisan think tanks, direct mail fundraisers, innumerable websites and blogs, social media and [...]

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