MetaFilter posts tagged with Policy

Why We Must Ration Health Care

grouse — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:16:03 -0800

Why We Must Ration Health Care by Peter Singer.

Who did and who didn't inhale?

PeterMcDermott — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:37:45 -0800

Santayana would likely approve

Abiezer — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 06:08:02 -0800

History and Policy UK-based collaborative project by noted historians, offering free-to-view history papers on topics relevant to current policy issues.

Making Policy Public

netbros — Sun, 31 May 2009 11:14:59 -0800

Urban Omnibus is an online project of the Architectural League that explores the relationship between design and New York City's physical environment. They are featuring Making Policy Public, a program of The Center for Urban Pedagogy, through their articles about Vendor Power and Predatory Equity. "Just as we were beginning our collaboration, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, a predatory equity building in the Bronx widely recognized as the birthplace of hip-hop, was being overleveraged by a predatory developer. This was not only a case of people potentially losing their homes; but also of New York City losing its heritage and culture. The threats are social and cultural as well as economic. Through their work helping tenants organize and speaking to lawmakers and media sources, (we) knew that the poster would have to address two different audiences: 1) Tenants who wanted to know how the law and predatory equity practices could directly affect them and 2) decision-makers who would need inside information to take action. They imagined the publication’s goal was to mobilize tenants in affected and at-risk buildings and to convince politicians and banks to recognize the problem and take immediate action. We agreed finding a way to visually explain predatory equity was the best place to start."

I would tell you the story myself if I could.

OverlappingElvis — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:21:53 -0800

"Growing up, I never told anyone about not having my papers, but one day, just when I finished high school, I just had to tell people." The bi-partisan DREAM Act creates a path to citizenship for the estimated 65,000 undocumented youth who graduate high school each year. "Papers is the story of undocumented youth and the challenges they face as they turn 18 without legal status" (trailer). Alienated: Undocumented Immigrant Youth (video, 8 minutes). House bill on THOMAS. Senate bill on THOMAS. College Board press release on the DREAM Act. Wikipedia.

Drug war

caddis — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:35:21 -0800

The Portugal experiment. On July 1, 2001, a nationwide law in Portugal took effect that decriminalized all drugs, including cocaine and heroin. Under the new legal framework, all drugs were “decriminalized,” not “legalized.” Thus, drug possession for personal use and drug usage itself are still legally prohibited, but violations of those prohibitions are deemed to be exclusively administrative violations and are removed completely from the criminal realm.... The data show that, judged by virtually every metric, the Portuguese decriminalization framework has been a resounding success. Within this success lie self-evident lessons that should guide drug policy debates around the world. (pdf of complete paper) Winds of change are blowing and a primary driver appears to be that very American value - money.

So much for organic farming?

bitter-girl.com — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:02:51 -0800

No conflict of interest there, no sir. Organic food fans and small farmers alike are saying if HR 875 is passed, it will mean the end of organic farming in the United States. An overstatement? Perhaps, but HR 875 has serious flaws. The bill, introduced by Rosa DeLauro last month (who happens to be married to Stanley Greenburg of Monsanto, the world's largest producer of herbicides, chemical fertilizers and genetically engineered seeds), is here. This isn't the first bill that could damages small farms under the guise of protecting consumers. Remember NAIS? HR 875 isn't getting a lot of press yet except on slightly fringe-y blogs. Two less-panicky responses to the bill here and here.

Brave New Welfare

Pope Guilty — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 03:54:14 -0800

"Lies about surgical sterility requirements. Questions about their sex lives. Outright threats. Here's what faces families in Georgia when their luck runs out."

great generation or greatest generation?

kliuless — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 08:24:42 -0800

Now is the time for a less selfish capitalism - "we should stop the worship of money and create a more humane society where the quality of human experience is the criterion... accelerated economic growth is not a goal for which we should make large sacrifices." Lord Layard challenges the orthodoxy; perhaps it's time to rein in the banks and try trickle-up bailouts? btw Richard Layard's 2003 LSE happiness lectures I think were pretty influential in reorienting economics back towards a more 'utility-based' approach in recent years, cf. Giddens on 'third way' politics re: Blair, New Labour and now Brown, viz. "to build tomorrow today..." ...which leads me to obama: third wayist of the hermeneutian order? from one part of his 'Q&A' at the business roundtable [transcript]

I think we have a moral obligation to make sure that, in a country this wealthy, you don’t have single moms not able to send their kids to a doctor because they just can’t afford it, and they don’t have insurance on their job... But having said that, I also just have a very hard-headed analysis about this, which is the path we’re on is unsustainable. If you have six, eight, 10 percent health care inflation every single year, at some point we are all broke... we can’t simply just add on a whole bunch of people to a broken system... because then you’ll just be broke that much faster... So the cost issue is the thing that we actually think is the big driver in this whole debate... everybody agrees on this theoretically until you start getting into the specifics... resistance is not based on evidence, it’s based on people’s interests. Everybody is kind of dug in. They know that the system doesn’t work, but at least it kind of works for them in one particular aspect. And part of the reason that we did not simply design our own plan and try to jam it down the throats of Congress is we want them to see some of the contradictions in their own positions... Not everything is going to be implemented now. And this, by the way, goes to a broader issue with respect to our budget... the budget document that we put forward is a 10-year document. We are, like any organization — just like all of yours, we have to do long-term planning even as we’re addressing short-term issues. If we don’t do the long-term planning, then we end up having more short-term issues again and again... We’re not going to have instant health IT all next year. The same is true on the energy front... But if we don’t start now, if we wait until — to have the debate in 2012, and then suddenly it turns out that oil is at $150 a barrel again, and we say, oh, why is it that we didn’t start thinking about this and making some steps now to figure this out. Well, that’s what Washington does. You guys could not run your business that way. And so the notion that we are doing some long-term planning now and trying to get this town to think long term, that somehow that’s a distraction just defies every sound management practice that I’ve ever heard of.

BONUS amartya sen & stephen colbert previously 1 2

Remaking the case for humanitarian intervention abroad.

allkindsoftime — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:20:25 -0800

From The Economist (remember who they endorsed recently?): What Congo Means for Obama.

Policy Potpourri

Rykey — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:46:51 -0800

Policy Archive compiles research and recommendations from think tanks, universities, government agencies and foundations into one browseable/searchable site. Designed to give the ~~non-wonk~~ layperson free, centralized access to subject-specific information on public policy in the USA, Policy Archive offers quick links to topics like banking & finance, education, labor, and military. Or just browse by who wrote, published, or funded a given bit of research. 16,000+ documents and growing.

Life in a Northern Town

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:33:13 -0800

Policy Exchange, the same British conservative think tank who brought you reports such as the tastefully titled The Hijacking of British Islam (previously), have released a new report, Cities Limited (pdf), which states that the only solution for people living in the North of Britain - where unemployment and poverty are high - is to abandon their homes and move south. Leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, minced no words in his response: "This report is rubbish from start to finish. I think the author himself said it might be a bit barmy. It is barmy. I gather he's off to Australia. The sooner he gets on the ship the better." Conservative bloggers have been very quick to distance themselves from the report, some going as far as to blame it on Liberal Democrats. Co-author of the report, Tim Leunig, a lecturer in economic history at the London School of Economics, defends his position.

Where do we go from here? Why is the path unclear?

WCityMike — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:54:27 -0800

The antidote to LOLbushsuxx0rs. Over the course of the past week, Slate ran a ten (10!)-piece series, "Fixin' It", in which various writers postulated how the course of various aspects of the United States' military, culture, and policies could be redirected for the better. Although the articles are not entirely devoid of Bush criticism, there's mostly a fairly rare focus on the positive actions to be taken from here onward by the next President (whether it be McCain or Obama or Clinton).

Frightening new military technology

hellslinger — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:05:46 -0800

Presented in a way that is familiar to gimmicky kitchen appliances, this frightening weapon can fire 120,000 rounds per minute without a human operator. It makes no noise or flash, and can be mounted anywhere and is operated remotely. With this and other frightening developments that may become a part of our military like, AA12 Fully Automatic 12 Gauge shotgun, Electromagnetic "Rail Gun", will reducing the human cost of war by removing soldiers from the battlefield make it "cheaper" to get public approval for war in the future? Will this increase how often the US is allowed to engage in secret and small scale operations?

Get your damn fruits and vegetables off my lawn.

Toekneesan — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:21:22 -0800

I’ve discovered that typically, a farmer who grows the forbidden fruits and vegetables on corn acreage not only has to give up his subsidy for the year on that acreage, he is also penalized the market value of the illicit crop, and runs the risk that those acres will be permanently ineligible for any subsidies in the future. (The penalties apply only to fruits and vegetables — if the farmer decides to grow another commodity crop, or even nothing at all, there’s no problem.) If you can't stop demand, curtail production. One farmer's view on the power of commodity crops. See also: Joel Salatin & Polyface Farm. Everything I want to do is Illeagal (Amazon) Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (Amazon ) Barbra Kingslover's Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: A Year in Food (Amazon)

Is alcohol worse than ecstasy?

Jakey — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 06:37:10 -0800

A BBC Horizon documentary, asks "Is alcohol worse than ecstasy?" (iPlayer link valid for UK users until 11 Feb). Here comes the science... The programme is based on a paper published last year in the Lancet titled "Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse" (pdf), which attempts an objective ranking of the 20 most common recreational drugs in the UK in terms of harm. A summary of the rankings and comparison with the existing UK classifications is here. The Transform Drugs Policy Foundation (Previously).has an interesting blog post summarising some of the policy discussions and media reaction resulting from the original paper.

Lesbian couples should have a right to state-supported artificial insemination?

orthogonality — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:36:33 -0800

A year from yesterday, George W. Bush will no longer be President. So here's yet another online quiz to help you "Test your party preference". But the policy questions in contention in this quiz may seem surprising to many Americans.

1898 baseball cursing policy, amply illustrated

LobsterMitten — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:17:13 -0800

"In terms of language, it is also the most offensive official Major League baseball document that we have ever seen." An auction house obtains a one page letter sent to baseball players in 1898, outlining the league's new anti-cursing policy. Includes lots of examples of the kind of language that is not allowed. Nervous auctioneers not sure how to exhibit it. Purely of historical interest, naturally. It says at the bottom of the document "may not be mailed - must be delivered by express". I wonder if it couldn't be mailed because of its obscene content?

"we upheld against proportionality attack a sentence of 40 years' imprisonment for possession with intent to distribute nine ounces of marijuana" - Justice Kennedy

daksya — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:04:29 -0800

DrugPolicyCases.com - Yakov Spektor, a New York-based attorney, combed through two decades of US Supreme Court opinions "to discern certain trends in the Court's treatment of various issues" related to the War on Drugs. The collection of opinions are organized by case, author and topic.

"And I am even supposed to love our enemies.”

amberglow — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:20:41 -0800

"Killing others is not loving them.” --meet US Army Captain Peter D. Brown, just granted Conscientious Objector status due to his religious beliefs and honorably discharged after first being denied and taking them to court---only 224 applicants were approved for it during 02-06, out of 2.3 million serving. ... While deployed in Iraq for more than a year, Brown applied for discharge from the Army as a conscientious objector. Though the Army-appointed Chaplain and Investigating Officer designated to investigate Brown’s conscientious objector application concluded that he was sincere and recommended that he be honorably discharged, the Army disagreed and his request was denied. In July 2007, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area intervened on Brown’s behalf and asked a federal court in Washington, DC to order the honorable discharge. Before the court acted, the Army reconsidered the issue, this time granting Brown’s request. ... from the Medill link: ... But some veterans who oppose the war in Iraq, say the actual numbers of conscientious objectors has been underreported due to the difficult application process and because peer pressure within a military unit discourages conscientious objectors. The Government Accountability Office report found that from 2002 to 2006 the active and reserve components of all the military reported processing 425 applications for conscientious objectors of approximately 2.3 million current service members. Of the 425 applications, 224 (53 percent) were approved,188 (44 percent) were denied and 13 (3 percent) were pending, according to the GA0, an arm of Congress. ...

Just Say No .. to John Stuart Mill

daksya — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 08:23:01 -0800

"An open society must be prepared to listen to those who offer a critique of its conventional wisdom—and our conventional wisdom about drugs and addiction should be no exception."

"This collection outlines the promises and pitfalls of new energy technologies..."

sergeant sandwich — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:13:02 -0800

Navarre now generates more than 50% of its energy needs by wind power: a profile of the small autonomous region in northern Spain that is leading the way in renewable energy. This is one of many free access articles in this special supplement on energy issues to the journal Nature.

Constitutional Showdowns: a good thing for constitutional and political efficiency

dios — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:40:34 -0800

Constitutional Showdowns. Eric Posner and Adrian Vermeule analyze constitutional showdowns, ask what rate and level of showdowns would be socially optimal, and ask whether socially optimal showdowns will be supplied by government institutions acting to promote their policy preferences and institutional interests.

Debating the war on drugs

daksya — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 09:28:51 -0800

The British Transform Drug Policy Foundation has recently released their 2nd guide After the War on Drugs: Tools for the debate. Described as a guide for prospective and current policy reform advocates, it enumerates the points typically brought up against reform, and offers strategies to rebut them. Somewhat of a counterpoint to the US DEA's Speaking Out Against Drug Legalization.

Lessig moves on.

delmoi — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 08:23:12 -0800

Lawrence Lessig moves on Lessig has spent the last 10 years fighting for IP reform and open culture, He's decided to focus on fighting what he calls "corruption" (with quotes)... the pernicious effect that moneyed interests have in crafting and controlling public policy.

_{Finally, I am not (as one friend wrote) "leaving the movement." "The movement" has my loyalty as much today as ever. But I have come to believe that until a more fundamental problem is fixed, "the movement" can't succeed either. Compare: Imagine someone devoted to free culture coming to believe that until free software supports free culture, free culture can't succeed. So he devotes himself to building software. I am someone who believes that a free society -- free of the "corruption" that defines our current society -- is necessary for free culture, and much more. For that reason, I turn my energy elsewhere for now.}