TSA Employees, Horse Dentists, and the Biofuel Lobby

TSA Employees

TSA Employees, who are now instructed to grope airline passengers in the name of national security, have to undergo very little screening before being employed.

Warren Brookes Fellow Kathryn Ciano says that TSA agents should be forced to undergo a psychological screening.

“If TSA officers want to be given authority similar to exercise discretion like police officers can, they should also face the same screening process we use for police. Nearly every police jurisdiction requires officer applicants to undergo psychological screening. Lawsuits against police officers also take place in the jurisdiction where the cop lives, before a jury of his or her peers. Liability for police exists on both the city, county, and state levels. Not so for suits against individual TSA officers, which contend with the legal morass that is federal indemnity, granting federal TSA officials even more procedural protections.”

Horse Dentists

The Institute for Justice has won their battle against the Texas Veterinary Medical Examiners Board, who wanted authority to regulate the small niche industry of equine dentistry.

Policy Analyst Michelle Minton says the Board’s argument that equine dentists (or “floaters”) are unskilled is patently absurd.

“Veterinarians claimed that horse dentists, since they are not licensed veterinarians, should not be allowed to operate on horses without the direct supervision of a licensed vet. While floaters won this time, the fight is far from over. Vets claim that they are only worried about horse safety that ‘unskilled floaters will damage the horse’s gums or strip away protective enamel,’ but this is really about elitism and the protection of profits from competition. Vets are angry that floaters can bypass their licensing regime and their would-be monopoly on the animal welfare industry. Full disclosure: my father is an equine dental technician. That gives me some bias, but also a little insight to say that the claim that equine dentists are ‘unskilled’ is total bunk.”

Biofuel Lobby

A group of senators are concerned that the ethanol industry is being repressed by “marketplace limitations.”

Research Associate Brian McGraw notes that the ethanol industry is pressing senators to continue their generous subsidies.

“With 2011 a month and a half away, the ethanol industry is pushing full steam ahead for a renewal of the tax credit and tariff provided to support the industry. There seems to be ample opportunity to push this legislation, as it could be attached to either any energy or tax legislation that makes it way through Congress. Rent-seeking lobbyists and politicians are out in full force hoping the river of cash doesn’t run dry.”