Opinion: In today’s pages: Prisons, unions and nursing home sex. And beer.

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With state officials discussing the early release of 27,000 inmates, the editorial board takes a closer look at California’s broken prison system in the wake of the abduction and slaying of Lily Burk. The board traces much of the mess in the current prison system to Jessica’s Law, Megan’s Law and other emotion-driven pieces of legislature that trap criminals so they can’t ever escape the vicious cycle or recidivism.

The board also weighs in again on the Employee Free Choice Act, this time on the elimination of the contentious card check provision. The card check would have tipped the balance of power in favor of unions and away from employers, who hold the advantage today. Neither should have the upper hand, the board says. Instead, workers should be able to decide whether to unionize with as little pressure from either side as possible:

Those management powers to come between workers and their right to choose freely should at the very least be rolled back. Far from preserving the secret ballot, which business groups claim was their concern all along, such powers whittle away at the independence and fairness that confidential voting provides.

Meanwhile, the op-ed page discusses healthcare from a Canadian perspective, sex bans in nursing homes, and beer in the White House.

First, physician and health policy analyst Michael M. Rachlis gives his Canadian perspective on the U.S. healthcare reform debate, arguing that his country’s system hasn’t been studied enough by U.S. policymakers. His comparisons are not pretty: All Canadians have health insurance, 46 million Americans do not. Canadians pay no co-pays, health problems bankrupt more than 1 million Americans each year.

Lesson No. 1: A single-payer system would eliminate most U.S. coverage problems.

On costs, Canada spends 10% of its economy on healthcare; the U.S. spends 16%. The extra 6% of GDP amounts to more than $800 billion per year. The spending gap between the two nations is almost entirely because of higher overhead. Canadians don’t need thousands of actuaries to set premiums or thousands of lawyers to deny care. Even the U.S. Medicare program has 80% to 90% lower administrative costs than private Medicare Advantage policies. And providers and suppliers can’t charge as much when they have to deal with a single payer.

Next, psychologist and author Ira Rosofsky ponders whether sex should be banned in nursing homes (is that even legal?). He concludes that one’s sex life should never be restricted, but frequently are in nursing homes because of a lack of privacy. He calls for that policy to change.

Finally, columnist Gregory Rodriguez analyzes last Thursday’s ‘beer summit’ at the White House and thinks the idea of resolving intra-national conflict -- even something as big as race -- over a few beers just might be the way to go. We’ll drink to that.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley and President Barack Obama share a brewski (or in Biden’s case, a pseudo-brewski) at the White House on July 30. Credit: Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images