California Train to Nowhere, Postcards from Hell, and Cancer Treatment

California Train to Nowhere

CEI has filed a FOIA request request to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of the Secretary of Transportation (OST) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), seeking communications and records pertaining to congressional liaison and the Central Valley High-Speed Rail Corridor, dubbed California's "Train to Nowhere."

Policy Analyst Marc Scribner, who filed the request on behalf on CEI, explains why these records are of interest.

"With the recent highly critical reports of both the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office and the Independent Peer Review Group on the questionable future of high-speed rail in California, Californians and the rest of America have many questions that merit answers. The need for increased transparency is even more apparent after the Department of Transportation rejected attempts by the California High-Speed Rail Authority to secure more flexibility in where to construct and operate the first segment.”

 

Postcards from Hell

Foreign Policy recently released their "Postcards From Hell" feature on the worst failed states, according to their "Failed States Index."

Research Associate Will Tew responds to the feature.

"The confusion about failed states in FP’s list comes from its imprecise name. The state didn’t fail in many cases. Most states learn quickly how to extract money from their people, how to use it to finance everything from wars to junkets to bottles of rare cognac (if you happen to be a certain short, round North Korean madman), and how to suppress dissent and discontent. I don’t think FP would call the Third Reich a failed state. However, it’s unlikely they would be comfortable calling Stalin’s regime a success, even considering his industrialization of the USSR. So what, beyond blood and dying, makes all these countries similar? A general disrespect for the individual links each 'failed state.' Economically, property rights are rarely enforced, often with the government perpetrating the most flagrant offenses. Increased state power isn’t the obvious or immediate solution — usually it’s the problem."

 

Cancer Treatment

In The Wall Street Journal this week, Senior Fellow Greg Conko explains why breast cancer patients are anxious for the FDA to allow the drug Avastin onto the market.

"Last year, the FDA began the process of revoking Avastin's approval for breast cancer. Some leading oncologists applauded the decision, arguing that, for the average patient, Avastin doesn't work very well and has significant side effects. Patient advocates and thousands of women who credit their survival to Avastin argue that it's unfair for the FDA to remove one of the few available options for patients diagnosed with terminal cancer. They're right."

Nicole Ciandella

Tue, 2011-06-21

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Hell Yes, Mayor Bloomberg. I’m With You.

New York City Mayor Bloomberg calls for major immigration reform:

The Mayor proposed green cards for graduates with advanced degrees in essential fields; a new visa for entrepreneurs with investors ready to invest capital in their job-creating idea; more temporary and permanent visas for highly skilled workers…The Mayor also announced the results of a study conducted by the Partnership for a New American Economy – a bipartisan group of business leaders and mayors from across the country – that found more than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants and those companies employ more than 10 million people worldwide and have combined revenues of $4.2 trillion.

and

“We would not have become a global superpower without the contributions of immigrants who built the railroads and canals that opened up the west, who invented ground-breaking products that revolutionized global commerce, and who pioneered scientific, engineering, and medical advances that made America the most innovative country in the world.

“But make no mistake: we will not remain a global superpower if we continue to close our doors to people who want to come here to work hard, start businesses, and pursue the American dream. The American dream cannot survive if we keep telling the dreamers to go elsewhere.

“It’s what I call national suicide – and that’s not hyperbole. Every day that we fail to fix our broken immigration laws is a day that we inflict a wound on our economy. Today, we may have turned away the next Albert Einstein or Sergey Brin. Tomorrow, we may turn away the next Levi Strauss or Jerry Yang.

“And we certainly will be turning away many of the people who – like my grandparents, and no doubt many of yours – came to this country with almost nothing except one thing: a desire to work – and work and work and work – to build a better life for themselves and their families.

In the last presidential election I interviewed most of the candidates on a variety of tech issues, including immigration. Most of the candidates punted because the issue is so politically charged. Everyone knows immigrants fuel Silicon Valley, but most politicians won’t fight for it.

It’s exceptionally frustrating to see our government doing so many things that hurt growth in Silicon Valley. So frustrating that I ranted in 2010 that the best thing the government can do is just leave Silicon Valley alone.

In that post I said “I would have said let in any highly educated person in the world that wants to live here, but I know that isn’t going to happen. We will continue to shun the next generation of brilliant foreign entrepreneurs because of some absurd fear that they’re going to take away our jobs. In a few years those entrepreneurs will no longer want to live here anyway.”

The fact is that those immigrants create companies, create jobs, create wealth. The issue of illegal immigration over our Southern border must be separated from the issue of immigration of people who want to come here to build companies. I am so happy to see a politician take this stand.

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