Public Policy

By Stephen C. Griffith

Especially in the midst of a political season, let’s take a moment to think about the “why” of politics. The July Fourth holiday always prompts me to think about political roots. The obvious basic source is the Declaration of Independence, and I look forward to the annual reading of our nation’s founding document on National Public Radio. If I can’t listen, I get out my copy and read it myself. For this review, however, let me suggest a local text: the Nebraska State Capitol.

By Paul R. Cullinan

In recent issues of the Prairie Fire, the coming fiscal calamity facing the United States has been described and decried by a diverse set of respected policy analysts and former public officials. If federal spending policies are not changed, the country can expect the government to claim an ever-increasing share of the country’s resources either through higher taxes or greater borrowing (essentially requiring future tax hikes). Given an aging population and health-care costs that grow much faster than income, tax rates or debt levels would eventually get sufficiently high to discourage Americans from working and saving and foreign investors from buying American debt.

By Daryll Ray

Budget issues are central to the slowness with which the farm bill is making its way from passage by the two chambers to a conference committee and eventually to the president’s desk. Both the House and Senate versions of the farm bill called for spending increases above the level provided for in the budget baseline.

By Richard Oswald

The purpose of direct payments, included in the 1996 farm bill, was to cushion the impact of low agricultural commodity prices. Initially, direct payments, referred to as transition payments, offered financial aid to farmers as they made the seven-year transition to a stated goal of the farm bill; open, supply-and-demand oriented “free” markets.

By Lance O. Rice

It appears that the commodity market has now caught the world’s attention. This once largely insular world of commodities trading has pushed itself to the forefront of our economic news with the prices of some of our most basic raw materials surging to new all-time highs. In fact, many of our most important commodities, such as oil, natural gas, copper, steel, wheat, soybeans and corn, have all seen dramatic price increases over the past several years. Additionally, the currency markets have witnessed the value of the U.S. dollar fall to all-time lows relative to the Euro currency unit. Weighed against the Federal Reserve Board’s trade weighted index of major currencies, the dollar has declined by more than 20 percent since 2002. What are the forces driving these rapid and dramatic price movements and how do they impact agriculture, one of our most important industries here in the Midwest? Further, how do farmers and ranchers use these markets to manage risk and increase the profitability of their operations?

By Arthur Pearlstein

Some conflicts present enormous challenges for those of us in the field of dispute resolution and take years, even generations, to get resolved (if they ever do). Imagine an island paradise where individuals and companies lose everything from their homes, to their Chevys, to their factories, rum distilleries, villas, hotels and even boat docks, seized by a dictator who claims to have acted on behalf of an aggrieved people. Imagine over 40 years pass without settlement and now you are asked to devise a process to bring about a solution. This is the challenge that was presented to Creighton University, starting near the end of 2005.

On Oct. 1, 2005, Creighton University was awarded a grant from USAID to develop a model for a property claims settlement mechanism between Cuba and the United States.

By Chris Beutler

Children. Families. Health care. Environmental protection.

Progressive concerns are in jeopardy from a slowing economy and the ever-increasing pressures on government to reduce spending and lower taxes.

How do we protect and preserve the Nebraska values that we hold dear?

Amendment One is part of the answer.

By Joseph J. Minarik

As explained in the two preceding articles in this series, the United States faces large and growing budget deficits. Those deficits are piling up as an accumulated public debt - in fact, they are piling up so fast that the debt is growing faster than the nation’s income (its gross domestic product, or GDP).

By Jerry Heinauer

A little-known fact about Nebraska is that one of its major federal employers is the Nebraska Service Center (NSC). The NSC, located in Lincoln, employs 1,100 men and women who process applications for a wide variety of immigration benefits. Half of these employees are federal employees. The other half work at the center for a contracted firm that does data entry, mail room and file room functions. The NSC operates out of two buildings. One building on the north end of the Haymarket area houses mail, data entry and file functions; the other, located northwest of the airport, houses most of the adjudicative functions.

By Daniel Cattau

Martin Marty is the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he taught chiefly in the Divinity School for 35 years. He also is a columnist for the Christian Century, on whose staff he has served since 1956. Mr. Marty, a Lutheran pastor ordained in 1952, is the author of more than 50 books, including “Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America,” for which he won the National Book Award. Former Dallas Morning News religion editor Dan Cattau recently interviewed him in Chicago:

Updated Feb. 10, 2008 - Nebraska Democratic Party

By Stephen Griffith

An icon died this February. William F. Buckley, journalist, debater and intellectual force behind the conservative movement, died Wednesday, Feb. 27. Founder of the National Review and author of 54 books, he shaped a conservatism that took both people and ideas seriously, and he enjoyed life in the process. That showed in his smile. Others have outlined his life, and many who knew him have paid eloquent tribute.

By James Turpen, Ph.D.

The pace of new discoveries in science and biomedical research has increased dramatically. This is especially true in the field of stem cell biology where reports of significant findings appear almost weekly in the scientific literature. As with most scientific advances, there are numerous ethical implications that must be considered. At the same time, there also is a critical need to ensure that the public understands the promise that stem cell research holds for developing therapies for incurable diseases. Here, I would like to share why it is critical for the University of Nebraska Medical Center to develop and maintain a strong research program in embryonic stem cell research.

By Joseph J. Minarik

The major source of the long-term federal budget problem is health care. Many decisions have contributed to the federal budget mess, and there is plenty of blame to go around. However, on a simple arithmetic dollars-and-cents basis, the major driver of rising projected deficits in the coming decades is the cost of health care - in particular, the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs. Medicare provides health care primarily to the elderly, but also to the disabled. Medicaid provides health care to the low-income population, and by far the most costly of those persons to treat are the elderly and disabled in nursing homes. Thus, the federal government’s responsibilities in health care are not optional; the people in those programs have nowhere else to go.

By Don Hutchens

Over the last 18 months there has been more media attention devoted to the corn and ethanol industries than at any other point in time. Unfortunately much of the coverage has been negative and one-sided. As with any issue it is good to be as educated as possible, to get the facts and to look at the issue from various perspectives - and then use good old Nebraska common sense to determine your position.

By Rick Carter and Philip Young

One of the biggest changes in the way campaigns have been run in recent years is the creation - or expansion - of "absentee" or "early" voting. Currently, 31 states have in place some form of early voting, and interest in voting by mail has increased nationally. Some states have changed their laws to allow all voters to cast ballots by mail for any reason.

By Joseph J. Minarik

The latest budget figures indicate that a short period of relief from the record high deficit of 2004 is over. A brief boom of tax receipts, fueled by excesses in the financial markets, has come to an end. We face decades of significant budget deficits, with a continuing intense war effort and a sustained high price of oil. A big drop in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to free-floating foreign currencies signals possible concern in world financial markets.

By Ann Bleed

West of the 100th meridian, which bifurcates Nebraska, the availability of water determines the quality of life. In the last century Nebraska has been blessed with having enough water to meet our demands. Our challenge was that the water was not always in the right place at the right time. Precipitation and stream flows were highly variable, and although there was often ample rain and stream flow in the spring, in July and August when the water was needed to grow crops, water supplies were often lacking. With cooperation and ingenuity we built diversion dams and canals to deliver water to the right place and constructed reservoirs to store spring flood flows for later summer use.

By Amory B. Lovins

Let me tell you a story. In the early 1950s, the Dayak people in Borneo had malaria. The World Health Organization had a solution: spray DDT. They did; mosquitoes died; malaria declined; so far, so good. But there were side effects. House roofs started falling down on people’s heads, because the DDT also killed tiny parasitic wasps that had previously controlled thatch-eating caterpillars. The colonial government gave people sheet-metal roofs, but the noise of the tropical rain on the tin roofs kept people awake. Meanwhile, the DDT-poisoned bugs were eaten by geckoes, which were eaten by cats. The DDT built up in the food chain and killed the cats. Without the cats, the rats flourished and multiplied. Soon the World Health Organization was threatened with potential outbreaks of typhus and plague, and had to call in RAF Singapore to conduct Operation Cat Drop - parachuting a great many live cats into Borneo.