Free Republic

Okay. So it’s too late for some fried brains – but better late than never. From Reuters: Now, a Dutch commission has found that hashish and marijuana on sale in the Netherlands contain around 18 percent of THC, the main psychoactive substance, and advised the health minister that anything above 15 percent put drugs on a par with heroin or cocaine. “I've been very worried for years about the THC concentration, especially if it is so high. We will take a serious look at it," Health Minister Edith Schippers told public broadcaster NOS. “The addictive consequences are much stronger and...

How much did the Obama administration’s knee-jerk moratorium on offshore drilling cost residents on the Gulf of Mexico last year? Although the moratorium was lifted after six months, the Heritage Foundation notes that nothing changed. It was only after tens of thousands of jobs were lost and gas prices soared that the Obama administration began approving a permit here and there. This lagging energy exploration has had serious impacts on the energy industry and, as a result, the entire U.S. economy:

If you've tried to buy a used car recently -- a lot of people are finding it hard to get what they want. There is something of a used car shortage going on. News 10NBC found out there are a number of factors why there are fewer used cars out there. One is -- more people are holding onto their new cars longer but also, there are fewer rental cars coming on the market and fewer people are leasing vehicles so therefore -- fewer of those cars are out there. Joan Kamisch is trading her 2000 Chevy Lumina for a...

A Tomahawk missile costs $1.4 million. If you don't know that, you haven't paid attention to the debate over the Libya War. The war is America's first conflict initiated against the backdrop of $1 trillion deficits, and as such practically every strike is subject to the accountant's bean-counting. Our first fusillade of 160 cruise missiles, we are told, cost hundreds of millions of dollars alone. Even Indiana's Sen. Richard Lugar, a Republican establishmentarian and internationalist of long standing, argues the cost of the war is too damn high. "Who has really budgeted for Libya at all?" he asks. Yes, by...

Madison - Law enforcement agencies ran up more than $3.2 million in pay, overtime, mileage, food and hotels while providing security during weeks of protests at the Capitol, according to preliminary numbers compiled by the Journal Sentinel.The total bill is certain to go higher, largely because some municipal police departments and county sheriff's departments have not completed totaling their bills, some invoices are incomplete and costs for some larger law enforcement agencies, including the Wisconsin State Patrol, were not immediately available.

With U.S. and coalition forces bombarding Libya leader Muammer al-Qaddafi's forces from the sea and air, the cost for the first day alone of the operation was well over $100 million with the total price tag expected to grow much higher the longer the strikes continue, analysts said.(Snip) With allies expected to shoulder some of the bill, the initial stages of taking out Libya's air defenses could ultimately cost U.S.-led coalition forces between $400 million and $800 million, according to a report released by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments earlier this month. Maintaining a coastal no-fly-zone

Forget Medicare, THIS Is The Chart That Shows Why America Is Doomed Joe Weisenthal Mar. 6, 2011, 8:16 AM If you look at the US fiscal situation, it's easy to see that Medicare is a looming black hole ready to swallow the entire economy. Reforming the entitlement seems necessary to prevent fiscal ruin. But actually that's too narrow a way of looking at things. After all, the costs borne by Medicare are no more sustainable if they're shifted to private individuals. It's just the path is different. The REAL problem is how expensive our healthcare system is compared to its...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Workers at a circuit-board factory here just saw their health insurance premiums rise 20 percent. At Buddy Zaremba’s print shop nearby, the increase was 37 percent. And for engineers at the Woodland Design Group, they rose 43 percent. The new federal health care law may eventually “bend the cost curve” downward, as proponents argue. But for now, at many workplaces here, the rising cost of health care is prompting insurance premiums to skyrocket while coverage is shrinking. As Congress continues to debate the new health care law, health insurance costs are still rising, particularly for small businesses....

Madison -- Administration Secretary Michael Huebsch estimated Wednesday that law enforcement costs to provide security at the State Capitol through February would likely total $4 million to $5 million.

(snip)Filing taxes takes too long, costs too much money and is far too overwhelming a process for taxpayers. (snip)"If tax compliance were an industry, it would be one of the largest in the United States," the report says. "To consume 6.1 billion hours, the 'tax industry' requires the equivalent of more than three million full-time workers."

<p>You can't blame New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie if he feels some satisfaction over news out of the MTA.</p> <p>A new report by Inspector General Barry Kluger found that the transit agency's major development projects -- the Second Avenue subway, the LIRR link and the Fulton Transit Center -- are five years late and $2 billion over budget.</p>

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- At least 17 people have been detained as students at the largest public university in the Caribbean clashed with police during an indefinite strike over a new fee, officials said Tuesday. Hundreds of students launched the strike a week ago to demand that university officials eliminate an $800 yearly fee that will be imposed next year to help reduce the system's budget deficit. ... A similar strike in April over the fee and other issues paralyzed the university for nearly two months. The violent clash Monday afternoon began when several people threw smoke bombs inside...

Cape Wind has outlasted a decade of government review, a slew of court brawls and fierce opposition from mariners, fishermen, Indian tribes and Kennedys just to win the right to sell its wind-fueled electricity. Now, all it needs are customers. Last month, the nation's first offshore wind farm nailed down its first buyer when the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approved a deal that sees Cape Wind selling half its power to National Grid, the state's largest electric utility. But the other half of the Cape Wind project's electricity remains available with no obvious takers, raising the possibility of a...

It has become a trend among Chinese traveling abroad to go shopping for products such as iPads, laptops and cameras. The Christmas and New Year season will see more people from the Chinese mainland looking for bargains in Hong Kong and Macao, and other places. Ironically, most of the these products are made on the mainland. So why this craze? Because - ironically again - they cost more on the mainland. Take 16 gigabyte iPads, assembled in Shenzhen, Guangzhou province, for instance. Their launch price was $499 (3,326 yuan) each in the United States and HK$3,888 (3,336 yuan) in Hong...

We know illegal immigration is no longer really unlawful, but is it moral? Usually Americans debate the fiscal costs of illegal immigration. Supporters of open borders rightly remind us that illegal immigrants pay sales taxes. Often their payroll-tax contributions are not later tapped by Social Security payouts. Opponents counter that illegal immigrants are more likely to end up on state assistance, are less likely to report cash income, and cost the state more through the duplicate issuing of services and documents in both English and Spanish. Such to-and-fro talking points are endless. So is the debate over beneficiaries of illegal...

In the City of Jackson, the discussion at city hall involves cutting police and fire by as many as 35 positions while the city runs two public pools that are swimming in red ink. Jackson is among many cities in the state that operates recreational opportunities - at a loss - while other core services are put on the chopping block. According to the city's budget, Jackson lost about $132,000 in 2008-09 by operating its two pools. The city also lost another $7,500 on its golf center. Jackson owns one 18-hole golf course, but its expenses are grouped in with...

The big aircraft maker Boeing Co. says "cost pressures" from the new health care law are part of the reason it's asking employees to pay more for their medical benefits next year. In a letter mailed to employees late last week, Boeing said deductibles and copayments are going up significantly for some 90,000 nonunion workers. The company cited three major reasons for the cost shift, including untamed health care inflation, the effects of the new law, and lifestyle issues including being overweight and lack of exercise. Spokeswoman Karen Forte said Boeing is concerned that its relatively generous plan will get...

President Obama prom ised that his health reform would "fix" our rising med ical costs and a growing legion of uninsured Americans priced out of coverage. Fix it in which direction? Data out last week shows that the price of insurance is rising even faster than before, the number of uninsured Americans is spiraling upward, and the choices people have of doctors and health plans are being sharply constrained as a result. Welcome to ObamaCare, Year One. This is the change we should start believing in. The Obama team blames the recession or the "greedy" insurance industry for these ills....

Rate Increases Are Blamed on Health-Care Overhaul; White House Questions Logic Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums on some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul as soon as next month, complicating Democrats' efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before the midterm elections. Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1% and 9% to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators. These and other insurers say Congress's landmark refashioning of U.S. health coverage, which passed in March after a...

Amid high unemployment and a weak economy, employers have been shifting health care costs to workers, according to a study released Thursday. The premiums that employees pay for employer-sponsored family coverage rose an average of 13.7 percent this year, while the amount that employers contribute fell by 0.9 percent, the survey found. For family coverage, workers are paying an average of $3,997, up $482 from last year, while employers are paying an average of $9,773, down $87, according to the survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust.