Annie Leonard, Poker Games, and the Ethanol Tax Credit

Annie Leonard

Annie Leonard, creator of the popular anti-capitalist video “The Story of Stuff,” is receiving funding from the EPA.

Communications Coordinator Lee Doren explains why people should be concerned that Leonard’s new pro-recycling television show is being funded by taxpayer dollars.

“I’ve heard some people ask me why we shouldn’t teach kids to recycle. The answer is because we are not running out of landfill space, we are not running out of resources and recycling is not always the right thing to do. Just read the Eight Great Myths of Recycling to understand why tax dollars should not be used to indoctrinate kids to fear their juice boxes. Kids should be able to enjoy their childhoods without being bombarded with Malthusian propaganda.”

Poker Games

In South Carolina, five men are still dealing with the legal ramifications of getting caught playing Texas Hold’em in a private residence once a week.

Policy Analyst Michelle Minton argues that the a recent statement by an Assistant State Attorney General seems to foreclose the possibility of arrests for private poker games; yet the power is still in the hands of law enforcement.

“While the statement seems promising for the right to play poker, leaving the definition vague and for cops to determine on the seem leaves the legality of individual behavior within his or her own home that much more opaque. It does, however, get to the heart of the issue under debate with this case. When does one’s private residence become ‘public’ because of the activities they choose to engage in within the privacy of their own home?”

Ethanol Tax

Credit Statutory authority for the domestic ethanol tax credit and imported ethanol tariff will expire at the end of this year.

Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis argues that Congress should let it expire.

“For economic, humanitarian, and environmental reasons, Congress should sit back and let the grim policy reaper sweep these special-interest giveaways into history’s dustbin, as I explain this week on National Journal’s Energy Blog. Tomorrow, at the National Press Club, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will discuss the Obama Administration’s ‘strategy’ to grow the biofuel industry. I’ve seen no inside info on what Vilsack will say. However, the corn ethanol lobby is pushing for ‘reforms’ that would not only reauthorize the tariff and tax credit but also mandate the production and sale of ethanol-fueled vehicles and provide new subsidies to build a gigantic ethanol pipeline network and install 200,000 ethanol fuel pumps at service stations.”