Today’s Links: August 1, 2012

OPINION

JOHN MERONY: “A Conservation With Gore Vidal”
“[Hillary Clinton] would have been a wonderful president. As for my support for Obama, remember that I was brought up in Washington. It was an all-black city when I was a kid. And I’ve always been very pro-African-American – or whatever phrase we now use. I was curious to see what would happen when their time came. I was delighted when Obama appeared on the scene. But now it seems as though our original objection to him – that experience mattered – was well-founded.

ROBERT BRYCE: “Food as Fuel”
“[T]here is no doubt that the corn ethanol mandates imposed by Congress are distorting the market, which will mean higher prices for everything from milk to cheeseburgers. And yet the ethanol scam continues. Indeed, thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency, which is allowing retailers to increase the percentage of ethanol that can be mixed into gasoline, the biofuel disaster now extends from the grocery store to the service station. That could mean bad news for your lawn mower and weed whacker, which aren’t designed to run on fuel containing more than 10 percent ethanol.”

WASHINGTON EXAMINER EDITORIAL: “Fauquier County Steps Over the Line”
“Farmers in Fauquier County are planning to bring their pitchforks to an Aug. 2 hearing before the Board of Zoning Appeals to protest the arbitrary treatment of one of their own. On April 30, Zoning Administrator Kimberley Johnson sent Martha Boneta an official cease-and-desist notice for selling farm products and hosting a birthday party for her best friend’s 10-year-old daughter on her 70-acre Paris, Va., farm without a special administrative permit.”

NEWS

ANTITRUST – Commission sends supplementary statement of objections to Visa
“The European Commission has informed Visa of additional concerns about possible violations of EU antitrust rules concerning multilateral interchange fees (MIFs) set by Visa.”

INTERNET ADVERTISING – Does Facebook Have a Bot Problem?
“Facebook’s advertising model is under attack — facing allegations that ad clicks on the site aren’t real, but are more likely from “bots,” (web robots) than from people.”

FED – Fed Wraps Up Meeting As Markets Await Action
“The Federal Reserve concludes its two-day policy meeting Wednesday with a big question looming: Will it take some new action to jolt the U.S. economy out of its slump?”