Profit Motive

Twelve Oaks Lodge is a senior citizens residence. One of our ladies has been collecting papers for her church; many of us have contributed. The papers were then sold to a recycling center. It now appears that this center is offering such a reduced rate that the church cannot even cover the cost of handling the loads. The reason given for this low rate was that there was a glut of used paper. We read and hear a great deal about ecology, pollution and saving forests. But in the final analysis, there seems to be a greater interest in the profit motive.

Everyone has by now heard about the manic, tough-talking Charlie Sheen, the sitcom actor who publicly insults his bosses and makes T-shirt-ready boasts of "winning" and having tiger blood. But former porn star Ginger Lynn says she got intimate with another side of TV's top-earning actor ? one that fans can now share for a price. "There's a side of him that I don't think many people hear about," Lynn said during an interview Friday. "Especially because right now, everyone's focusing on the negative.

Stephanya inherited a rundown house from her grandmother. A real estate agent told her it would sell quickly for $229,000. But it needed repairs. Instead of selling, Stephanya decided to rent the house to her brother, Ronny, in exchange for $500 a month rent and his promise to repair the house. In May 1992, Ronny moved into the house with his girlfriend and their child. But that December they decided to move out.

A onetime con man and a veteran newspaper reporter launched a partnership eight months ago that they hoped would be a new model for business reporting. Barry Minkow and Bill Lobdell said they would pay for their work sniffing out financial fraud by betting against the stocks of the companies they reported on. If they proved improprieties, they would profit by holding short positions in the companies — allowing them to make money when stock prices declined. But the short-sell-to-success model collapsed just a few months after their website, iBusinessReporting.

A millionaire real estate broker, accused of inducing an acquaintance to mail a bomb to a woman because of a dispute over a beach bungalow, was too rich to quibble over a modest profit for a small home, his defense attorney argued Wednesday. Mitchell W.

Stunning advances in the technology of human reproduction are proving to be a mixed blessing. Medical science now can address the age-old problem of childlessness; with wise choices and proper counseling, surrogate parenthood has the potential to bring satisfaction to couples who in the past would have lived out their lives without children.

Flushed with the Oscar night successes of Whoopi Goldberg, "Dances With Wolves" and its black sound technician, Russell Williams II, some Hollywood observers are daring to ask whether the industry has finally become more racially and culturally inclusive. And the answer is . . . maybe. The question has been asked on more than one occasion and those who had hoped for more enlightened scripts, less stereotypical images and equal access to trade-industry jobs were met with disappointment each time.

The main problem with American healthcare is too much government. Let's reduce government control and let real competition create better services and lower prices. The shortest explanation of conservatives' approach to improving the best -- albeit still imperfect -- healthcare system in the world is: Do the opposite of what President Obama wants. I see four key components to the conservative approach. First, it's time for honesty from Democrats, Republicans and the health profession.

On the night in question, the Florida State University building that houses Robert Holton's lab was locked. But somehow a desperate man who had driven hundreds of miles managed to slip inside. Despite the hour, nearly midnight, the bespectacled chemist was at work. When Holton responded to the rapid pounding on his office door, he faced a youngish-looking stranger, talking fast and loud: His mother had cancer. He needed taxol for her, needed it right away.

Everyone has by now heard about the manic, tough-talking Charlie Sheen, the sitcom actor who publicly insults his bosses and makes T-shirt-ready boasts of "winning" and having tiger blood. But former porn star Ginger Lynn says she got intimate with another side of TV's top-earning actor ? one that fans can now share for a price. "There's a side of him that I don't think many people hear about," Lynn said during an interview Friday. "Especially because right now, everyone's focusing on the negative.

Many hard-working people need access to short-term credit in a pinch to cover the cost of an emergency room visit or replacing a busted stove or carburetor. Yet apart from asking friends and relatives for assistance, a wellspring that comes with its own costs and often runs dry, many families turn to alternative, "predatory" lenders to finance unexpected expenses. Although the products offered by these alternative lenders — such as payday or car-title loans — can help families weather a financial emergency, the eye-popping interest rates can be devastating.

The main problem with American healthcare is too much government. Let's reduce government control and let real competition create better services and lower prices. The shortest explanation of conservatives' approach to improving the best -- albeit still imperfect -- healthcare system in the world is: Do the opposite of what President Obama wants. I see four key components to the conservative approach. First, it's time for honesty from Democrats, Republicans and the health profession.

Re "A booster shot for insurers," June 7 I have some questions for the health insurance companies pushing a mandate: I'm apparently uninsurable, according to your own underwriting standards. Will you cover me? Will you cover my preexisting conditions? Will you be as expensive or more expensive than COBRA or California's high-risk pool? What will be my options as my divorce at this later stage of my life becomes final? Will I make too much money to qualify for assistance, or will I make too little to afford it in the first place, because I'm self-employed and my income in this economy is so uneven?

Re "Help for healthcare reform," editorial, March 27 Health insurers insisting they have the "same objectives as consumer groups, doctors, hospitals and the government" is disingenuous. Most insurers are for-profit companies whose primary goal is to pay high dividends to shareholders. Healthcare is essential to the welfare of all Americans. No portion of medical insurance premiums or other patient payments should be managed to generate a profit for shareholders, because that creates conflicts of interest between the patient and the insurer and its directors.

Re "Sold on food safety," editorial, Aug. 19 The Wal-Marts and McDonald's of the world have been requiring enhanced food safety from their suppliers for more than a decade, and, as your editorial notes, they may be the best advocates for consumers. Making customers sick is bad business. But many of the checks and balances on supplying fresh produce, like the kind involved in this year's salmonella outbreak, are hidden and poorly validated. Any commodity is only as good as its worst grower.

Schools run by private enterprise? Free iPods and laptop computers to attract students? It may sound out of place in Sweden, that paragon of taxpayer-funded cradle-to-grave welfare. But a sweeping reform of the school system has survived the critics and 16 years later is spreading and attracting interest abroad. "I think most people, parents and children, appreciate the choice," said Bertil Ostberg from the Education Ministry. "You can decide what school you want to attend and that appeals to people."

Re "Media Titans Stress Profits Over Journalistic Mission," Commentary, Oct. 10: One can understand self-censorship by Chinese journalists who must fear for their lives, but profit motive is only one reason why these media giants, Sumner Redstone, Gerald Levin and Rupert Murdoch, would want their journalists from CBS, Time Magazine and Fox to self-censor themselves. A more subtle reason is that these gentlemen are in fact closet racists who are more than willing to accept the explanations given by the People's Republic of China government that its citizens do not need to enjoy the full human rights accorded to other human beings.

Ration cards for pork, China's most popular meat, have appeared in major cities for the first time since Deng Xiaoping, China's top leader, restored the profit motive for farmers in 1979. The return of rationing in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin is a major embarrassment for the Beijing government, which has taken pride in its gains in agricultural production. The new regulations limit residents to one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of pork a month.

The nights are long this time of year in Kasilof, Alaska, a small community of about 500 people south of Anchorage. And for Keith Laurie, they're just a little bit longer. His 15-year-old son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes five years ago. A year later, Laurie, 56, lost his job with a chemical manufacturer. Because of the high cost quoted for an individual insurance policy -- $1,300 monthly -- they've been without insurance for four years.

Producer-director Robert Greenwald has the soul of an 18th century political pamphleteer. An issue burns a hole in his pocket, and he just has to take it on, the sooner the better. But although someone like Thomas Paine wrote pamphlets such as "Common Sense," Greenwald makes films. As hard-hitting and as fast as he can. "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" is the sixth of these films Greenwald has produced since 2002.