Free Republic

Once upon a time, health care was simple: If you had a cut or hemorrhoids, you reached for a leech. There was no medical problem that couldn't be solved, in theory, by applying leeches to the body and letting the wild bloodletting begin. Now, it seems, some public-health experts have found a modern equivalent that will drain America of all its nasty public-health problems: tax increases. Thomas Frieden, the former New York City health commissioner who's now director of the Centers for Disease Control, has hailed taxes on sugary sodas as a painless way to reduce obesity -- despite much...

NEW YORK, Aug 7 - Most binge drinkers will reach for beer rather than wine or liquor when they set out to get drunk, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. The study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined the drinking habits of 14,000 adult binge drinkers across 18 U.S. states. What they found is that 67 percent of these drinkers drank only or mainly beer in their most recent binge, with easy access to beer seen as a major reason. The researchers defined a binge drinker as someone drinking more than five drinks at one sitting. "Beer...

<p>It wasn't yet noon, and Hank Denny had almost finished drinking a 40-ounce bottle of King Cobra malt liquor.</p> <p>Denny, 53, was drinking with his friends at Tuolumne River Regional Park in Modesto. He says he drinks here, and in other parks around the city, often.</p>

<p>From bullets to Bordeaux, plans aim to get voters to tax others' proclivities.</p> <p>SACRAMENTO - That glass of merlot would cost you an extra nickel. Plinking with a .22 would be about 50 cents more per magazine than it is today. Smokers? You might want to budget another 65 cents per pack.</p>