December 23, 2010 9:20AM 

# Recommended Reading 

By [Walter Olson](https://www.cato.org/people/walter-olson) 

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Assorted media clips worth catching up with over the holiday:

- You’ve probably seen the [ongoing scandal](http://www.latimes.com/news/local/bell/) about how local officials used the southern California city of Bell to enrich themselves at [taxpayer expense](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/city-bell-federal-dole). A *Los Angeles Times* investigation finds that the city was [milking small tradespeople too](http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/16/local/la-me-bell-code-enforcement-20101216): “Legal experts point to a lack of due process and judicial oversight in hundreds of ‘civil compromises,’ in which plumbers, carpet cleaners and bottle-gatherers paid up to $1,000 for alleged code violations.”
- “To get the check, you’ve got to medicate the child”: a horrifying *Boston Globe* series exposes how the incentives created by the federal SSI dependent [disability program](https://www.cato.org/social-security-disability-benefits-unsustainable/) result in the overdiagnosis of disability among school-age kids. The result can be lifelong dependency, especially when grown kids realize that entering the labor force would make their families worse off by losing the “disability money.” \[[first](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/12/12/with_ssi_program_a_legacy_of_unintended_side_effects/), [second](http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/12/13/follow_up_process_lacking_in_ssi_disability_program/?camp=obinsite), [third](http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/12/14/teenagers_in_ssi_program_face_a_cruel_dilemma/?camp=obinsite) parts, [more](http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/12/18/brown_calls_for_hearings_on_disability_program/)\]
- A U.S. Congressman ousted by Ohio voters in last month’s election is suing a PAC that campaigned against him, saying its unfair ads deprived him of his “livelihood” \[[*Cincinnati Enquirer*](http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101203/NEWS0108/12040320/Driehaus-sues-anti-abortion-group), [*Politico*](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/45938.html)\]
- The supposedly poisoned town of Hinkley, Calif., made famous by the Julia Roberts vehicle [*Erin Brockovich*](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4339), turns out to have cancer rates [a bit below the average](http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hinkley-cancer-20101213,0,7881571.story), a new epidemiological study finds \[[more](http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/below-average-cancer-rates-found-in-town-of-brockovich-fame/)\];
- Aside from the morality aspects, there are really good reasons not to [steal a meerkat](http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/16/2526094/it-doesnt-pay-to-steal-a-meerkat.html) ([via](http://www.loweringthebar.net/2010/12/how-the-great-kansas-city-meerkat-caper-unraveled.html)).

##### Related Tags 

[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Regulation](https://www.cato.org/regulatory-studies), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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