It’s always good to see old friends — or read about them.

I’m perusing a publication by Americans for Tax Reform called “State, Federal and Local Efforts to Increase Transparency in Government Spending” and bumping into old friends.

Now, I knew that our buddy Tom Coburn, U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, had worked with Barack Obama on transparency at the federal level. But here I read that Coburn teamed up with Brandon Dutcher, a really bright guy I know at the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs. And they succeeded in bringing more openness to state government by getting a bill passed to set up a state website: OKopenbook.gov.

Well, I’ll be . . . the sponsor was none other than state Senator Randy Brogdon, the taxpayer’s best friend.

And here it looks like Missouri Governor Matt Blunt didn’t wait for legislation. He took the initiative and his administration created the Missouri Accountability Portal (or MAP) to disclose state spending. The website is MapYourTaxes.mo.gov.

Now here’s something about Minnesota. Hmmm. A bill passed this session requiring disclosure of all government grants and contracts worth more than $25,000. Wow. Want to know the sponsor? My old friend Erik Paulsen, the very state representative who has pushed for years to bring voter initiatives to Minnesota.

Good folks. Glad to know them. And I’m not too surprised they’re pushing for voters to be able to find out what’s going on with their government.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Things keep getting worse in Zimbabwe. No matter how much destruction the dictator Robert Mugabe inflicts, he’s ready to inflict ever more.

Now it’s draconian price controls to combat hyperinflation. Of course, it was Mugabe’s administration that caused the hyperinflation by printing lots of worthless paper money.

After the announcement of price controls, some ordinary Zimbabweans were actually ecstatic for a minute, expecting to get a break on the cost of living. Then the cupboards grew bare. Government officials and other members of the elite jumped to the head of the line and scooped up as many goodies as they could as fast as they could. And companies stopped making and selling stuff they could no longer make money on.

Thank goodness this kind of thing can’t happen in America. Right?

Well, we’ve had price controls here, too. The controls haven’t been so sweeping. So the effects haven’t been as severe. But they haven’t been good, either.

Price caps attempting to curb inflation ignore the real cause. They don’t “work” in Zimbabwe, or here, or anywhere else. It has something to do with economic law, supply and demand, all that. So let’s not to go down the Zimbabwe path, imposing either explicit or de facto caps like price-gouging laws. Not on gas. Not on anything else.

In power for 27 years, Mugabe has violently overcome his country’s term limits. Funny how the power-hungry dictator-for-life types always hate term limits, isn’t it?

Or is that just in Zimbabwe?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Go to the doctor with a new complaint and one of the first things the doctor asks is what medicines you are taking. Many ailments are caused by medications, so doctors know where to look first.

For some reason, Americans concerned about our sickest patient, the medical care system, tend not to respond in kind. Yes, our health care is severely messed up. But before we start prescribing new cures, we should look at the current ones not working.

Take medical insurance. That’s how many Americans pay for the bulk of their medical care. But in every state of the union, medical insurance is regulated. In some, it’s heavily, heavily regulated.

Oregon legislators, for instance, just added a few new mandatory benefits to all health insurance policies: contraceptives, proesthetics and orthotics, and treatments for injuries caused by intoxication.

So now, if you are married and want children, or remain celibate, you are lumped in with those who aren’t, and can expect to be placed in their risk category. And if you don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t take psychoactive drugs, you are placed in a category with drunkards, meth abusers, and opium eaters.

Before these benefits were mandated, Oregon had supported 33 other mandatory benefits.

Do you really wonder why health insurance costs so much? I don’t.

The American health care system is addicted to regulation. Our legislators are the pushers. We need to go cold turkey.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Why is the Board of County Commissioners in Lewis and Clark County, Montana ignoring the citizens they’re supposed to represent? Why are they imposing draconian new zoning laws without proper notice?

That’s the question posed by county resident Michael Fasbender. According toFasbender, “The answer is simple. They don’t want public input.”

There is a public protest process available to residents , and last year citizens protested the BOCC’s new zoning regulations. But county officials stonewalled residents and then cited some technicalities to throw out “the entire successful protest, thus disenfranchising almost 600 citizens. . . .”

Now the same trickster board is seeking to impose these same zoning laws, but without allowing for public input by doing so under cover of non-existent “emergency.”

By end-running the public’s opposition to the zoning, commissioners are also blatantly ignoring the law. “State law is very clear,” Fasbender points out; “the BOCC has to provide proper notice and hearing for any type of zoning.” Meaning even this new emergency zoning business.

Michael Fasbender isn’t taking this lying down. He’s suing.

There’s a critical relationship between our freedoms and the political procedures we need to maintain them. When our alleged representatives want to make sure we can’t watch what they’re doing — watch out!

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

It’s almost back to school time, so we’re hearing stories about schools and students getting ready.

Unfortunately, in the Washington, D.C. area, these are not children’s stories, but horror stories.

Just the other day it was reported that half of the city’s schools will not have a complete set of books for the students. Same problem as in 2005, when some students didn’t get books until December.

Gee whiz, back when I was in school, books were sorta important, kinda fundamental to the whole, you know, education-thing.

So what happened? The Washington Post was quick to report that the textbook department had its budget cut from $8 million to $1.5 million. And that it only has one employee.

But wait a second . . . D.C. public schools are spending about $13,000 per student, that’s third-highest among the nation’s 100 biggest school districts. Their overall budgets are going up, not down. And the city just found half a billion dollars to build a baseball stadium.

Many of the books have been bought and paid for, and sit in warehouses because there is no system for keeping track. I read that each school is supposed to have one person in charge of ordering textbooks, but less than a third of the schools have even bothered to appoint someone to fill this role.

This isn’t a money problem, but a case of incompetence or neglect . . . or both.

Will it ever change? Perhaps some competition is in order.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.