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License to What? Sam Aurelius Milam III Several years ago, I observed the situation of a young lady who went into the Kaiser hospital in Santa Clara, California, to have a baby. During her few days there, every possible attempt was made to prevent her from smoking. Although she had smoked like a chimney during her entire pregnancy and fully intended to keep doing so after the delivery, the nurses couldn't stop whining about the horrible consequences that smoking would cause for her baby. They seemed to be too stupid to realize that, compared to the long-term situation, a few days of enforced abstinence wouldn't matter. However, I don't believe that they were stupid. I believe that they were arrogant. They had this lady under their control and they took full advantage of the opportunity to impose their beliefs upon her. The fact is that they weren't behaving as nurses, but as evangelists on a Holy Crusade. I know of another, more recent example of the same kind of thing. An acquaintance of mine, a man who drinks a lot of beer, was recently in the hospital for pneumonia. Predictably, he was prohibited from drinking beer while in the hospital. Predictably, he was drinking again shortly after his release. So far as I can tell the only consequence of the prohibition was to add to his already difficult hospitalization the additional strain of temporary withdrawal from alcohol. It was another example of medical evangelism instead of medical treatment. I understand that some medicine reacts adversely with alcohol. In that case, the doctor should be sufficiently astute to avoid prescribing such medicine to an alcoholic. If he isn't, then he shouldn't be prescribing medicine. Regardless of his alleged superior knowledge, a doctor should never give a patient orders. He should give advice. A nurse should never enforce discipline. She should offer treatment and comfort. A medical license is a license to offer aid and assistance, not a license to impose belief systems or dictate behavior.
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Sad But True
compiled by Jeffrey Trunzer from actual news reports Bridgeport, Connecticut, and the unified Miami-Dade County government in Florida recently joined the growing ranks of local governments announcing they will sue gun makers in an attempt to recover the costs of gun violence. Auto makers beware! You'll soon be reimbursing cities for the costs of high speed chases by cops, drive-by shootings, bent road signs, or any other "misuse" of a car, because you didn't control the resale of used cars. — editor
— Elliot; N. Merrick, New York
Democracy exists when the masses make the political decisions. Oligarchy exists when the privileged few do so. The oligarchs may be elected in the USA, but they're oligarchs just the same. — editor
Dear Editor, I must disagree with your Fantasy Machine article regarding your First and Second laws of Economics. The First law example of the grocery store purchase explains that the inherent (?) value of groceries in equivalent units (?) is less than the inherent value of the money used to purchase the groceries. In fact, the purchaser of the groceries must value the groceries more than the purchase money. Why else would purchaser buy the groceries? And the seller of the groceries must value the purchase money more than the groceries. Why else would the seller offer the groceries for sale? The voluntary purchase of groceries (or any voluntary transaction) is a win-win situation for both parties and each party exchanges something for more value than he is giving up. Both parties have exchanged something for higher value. An observer to the transaction may feel that the groceries are worth less or more than the purchase money, but -- so what. A women paid thousands of dollars for Elvis Presley's fingernail clippings. I may not agree with her, but again, so what! There is no such thing as "value in equivalent units." All voluntary transactions take place because each party exchanges something for more value. — Bob; Lee's Summit, Missouri
I believe that it's possible to directly and accurately compare the value of different commodities. The trick is to understand value objectively instead of subjectively. That means we must distinguish between the actual value of something and how desirable or useful it is to us. In the car example, where I've used energy as analogous to value, there is less energy in the speed of the car than there was in the gasoline. The reason the driver accepts the loss of energy in the process is that the smaller amount of energy in the speed is more useful to him than the larger amount of energy in the gasoline. In your example, the value of the fingernail
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Buck Hunter Shoots Off His Mouth Dear Buck I just don't understand it. What causes popcorn to pop? — Baffled
Dear Baffled Heat. Acknowledgments
— editor
Frontiersman Cancellations — If you don't want to keep receiving this newsletter, print REFUSED, RETURN TO SENDER above your name and address, cross out your name and address, and return the newsletter. When I receive it, I'll terminate your subscription. You may also cancel by letter, e-mail, carrier pigeon, or any other method that gets the message to me. Back Issues — Back issues or extra copies of this newsletter are available upon request. Reprint Policy — Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this newsletter in its entirety or to reproduce material from it, provided that the reproduction is accurate and that proper credit is given. Please note that I do not have the authority to give permission to reprint material that I have reprinted from other publications. For that permission, you must go to the original source. I would appreciate receiving a courtesy copy of any document or publication in which you reprint my material. Submissions — I solicit letters, articles, and cartoons for the newsletter, but I don't pay for them. Short items are more likely to be printed. I suggest that letters and articles be shorter than 500 words, but that's flexible depending on space available and the content of the piece. I give credit for all items printed unless the author specifies otherwise. Payment — This newsletter isn't for sale. If you care to make a voluntary contribution, you may do so. The continued existence of the newsletter will depend, in part, on such contributions. I accept cash and U.S. postage stamps. I don't accept checks, money orders, anything that will smell bad by the time it arrives, or anything that requires me to provide ID or a signature to receive it. In case anybody is curious, I also accept gold, silver, platinum, etc. I'm sure you get the idea. — Sam Aurelius Milam III, editor
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Uncertain Deadline
The possibility still exists that my funding will be terminated on or about the end of March. If that happens, and if I don't secure a replacement source of cash by that time, then it's possible that I will, shortly thereafter, discontinue mailings of the Frontiersman. If so, I will post future issues on my website for as long as I can maintain the website. I've received a few contributions, but not enough to cover our expenses. I haven't received any pledges at all. If you feel that you can make a contribution or a pledge, I'd appreciate it. I'd prefer that you send cash, but if you'd rather send a check then please make it payable to John Webster. If you have a different suggestion, I'll be happy to hear it. Mail your contributions to me at: 479 E. 700 N., Firth, Idaho 83236.
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