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LibertyWeek 65: Your TV Violates State Law
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People: The Ultimate Resource
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CEI Weekly: Scholars Support Case Against Sarbanes Oxley
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features new "amicus briefs" submitted by legal scholars for the Sarbanes…
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Labeling food for their CO2 emissions — Sweden tries it out
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Widening a highway is both an environmental AND civil rights issue?
Was a time when “civil rights” meant things like equal opportunities in employment and schooling for racial and ethnic minorities. And “environmental” meant something affecting…
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Regulation of the Day 65: Weighing Animals
If you sell poultry or livestock, it’s a good idea to weigh them first. Makes it easier for buyer and seller to agree on a…
Newsletter
Telecom Regulation, Maritime Recycling and the Economics Nobel
The Federal Communications Commission moves to regulate telecom networks in the name of “net neutrality.” Italian police investigate illegal disposal of “toxic” shipwrecks. Experts continue…
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Sen. McCain Introduces Anti-Net Neutrality Bill
Senator John McCain introduced a bill yesterday to combat the FCC’s push for Net Neutrality. The “Internet Freedom Act of 2009” would limit the…
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Net Neutrality at 28 kilobits per second.
Why didn’t the Federal Communications Commission impose net neutrality a decade ago? We don’t need all this multimedia and advanced services. They finally caught…
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Keeping Priorities Straight
Bjørn Lomborg, head of the Copenhagen Consensus, brings some much-needed common sense to the global warming debate. Reporting from Vanuatu, he finds that many locals…
American Spectator
Kerry Looks for a Legacy
After cap-and-trade energy legislation cleared the first test in the House of Representatives this summer, it stalled in the world's most deliberative body. Then, John…
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Shipwrecking Opportunity
Earlier this week, the Financial Times ran a story about a conspiracy between governments, Italian mafia, and industrialists to illegally dump ships containing hazardous…
Newsletter
Health Care Competition, Financial Regulations in Court and Net Neutrality
The House Judiciary Committee votes to strip antitrust protections from health insurance companies who share risk information. Prominent officials and scholars endorse CEI’s Supreme Court…
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Regulation of the Day 64: Starting a Business in Sacramento, California
The human mind is capable of creating limitless, endless wealth. The human mind is nearly as adept at preventing that wealth from being created. Sacramento…
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A Cure Worse than the Disease
As I explain in a new CEI paper, which is out today, most of the alleged cost-cutting measures in the Baucus bill merely shift costs…
Study
A Cure Worse than the Disease
Obama Care Won’t Cut Costs, But May Cut Quality…
Wall Street Journal
One of These Groups is Wrong About Climate Policy
I would like to add a point to your editorial "Apple, Nike and the U. S. Chamber" (Oct. 14). In supporting energy-rationing legislation, Apple…
News Release
New Report: Finance Committee Health Care Bill is a Cure Worse than the Disease
New Report: Finance Committee Health Care Bill is a Cure Worse than the Disease Baucus Proposal Won’t Cut Costs, But May Cut Quality…
News Release
Net Neutrality Rules Depress Investment, Reduce Competition
On Thursday, October 22, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would put government, rather than consumers and…
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Waxman-Markey: A $3.6 trillion gas tax
Senators Kit Bond (R-MO) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) have just released a report, Climate Change Legislation: A $3.6 Trillion Gas Tax, which estimates…
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Mortgage Meltdown Was Caused by Government Mandates
The mortgage meltdown was caused partly by the government, which created an artificial market for bad mortgages. The Washington Examiner cites a recent study…
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Fumento yells “Sooo-eeeee!” on Liddy
I bent G. Gordon Liddy’s ears back today on his radio show (easy to find them, given his lack of hair) on my current…
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More Hypocrisy Regarding FTC Blog Regulations
Michael Masnick at Techdirt offers up another incidence of government inconsistency in light of the FTC’s blog-watching rules, reminding us that “…
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Obama Accepts “Blasphemy” Exception to Free Speech
In USA Today, liberal law professor Jonathan Turley is criticizing the Obama administration for endorsing a “blasphemy” exception to free speech: “Around the…
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Banning Bake Sales
The American Enterprise Institute held a panel discussion yesterday on food safety. They discussed congressional proposals aimed at addressing contaminants in our food,…
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Science and the Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture
The UK Royal Society's long-awaited study on improving agricultural productivity and increasing food security was released this morning. it suggests that a healthy concern for…
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Data deflates threat-multiplier hype
The new, more 'nuanced' rationale for energy rationing is that global warming will aggravate several pre-existing environmental and health threats that cause or contribute to…
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Is Cognitive Dissonance an Insured Condition?
Rep. Diana DeGette is proposing: 1)That health insurers' antitrust exemption be removed. 2) Require, by law, that people buy health insurance. What one hand giveth,…
News Release
Repeal of Insurance Antitrust Exemption Threatens Competition
Repeal of Insurance Antitrust Exemption Threatens Competition Patients Brace for Higher Prices, Raw Deal Washington, D.C., October 21, 2009—The House Judiciary Committee voted on…
Investors' Business Daily
Memo to Spitzer: It’s Not Your Money
Disgraced former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer went on a rant last week. Hurling half-truths and red herring arguments in an article for Slate, he…
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Bank of America to Impose Annual Fees on Some Credit Cardholders, Thanks to New Credit Card Law
Bank of America recently announced that it will impose annual fees on some of its cardholders. This is in response to the CARD Act…
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American Society Now Responsible for Saving Journalism
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Regulation of the Day 63: Sports Agents in New Hampshire
It is illegal to be a sports agent in New Hampshire without a Secretary of State-issued certificate. Don’t forget your biennial renewal!…
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Franken Uses Inflammatory Rape Claim to Destroy Arbitration of Employment Disputes, Including Disputes Totally Unrelated to Rape
Recently, the Senate voted to ban defense contractors — that is, much of American business — from contractually mandating arbitration of employment discrimination disputes. The…
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Hot time in EU
The first half of Fall 2009 was a busy season in European politics. On September 27, the general elections took place in Germany. The results…
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Surprising comments on NYT article on climate treaty
Today’s New York Times carries an article, “Hopes fade for comprehensive climate treaty.” It’s not that important an article about the lead-up to Copenhagen. …
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Health Insurer Competition and Democratic Saber Rattling
Last week, after the industry association America’s Health Insurance Plans released a study showing that premiums would rise 18 percent under the Senate Finance Committee’s…
E&E News
Groups debate NRC effort to tally ‘hidden costs’ of energy production
News Release
Prominent Officials, Scholars Endorse CEI’s Supreme Court Challenge to Sarbanes-Oxley Accounting Board
Prominent Officials, Scholars Endorse CEI’s Supreme Court Challenge to Sarbanes-Oxley Accounting Board CEI Case Gains Bipartisan Support from Attorneys General, Former…
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Bill Gates Says Africa Needs GMOs
On Friday, Bill Gates announced at the World Food Summit in Des Moines that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would be redoubling its efforts…
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FTC Sets its Sights on Bloggers
In the past, guidelines have determined the kinds of research claims companies or celebrity endorsers can make about products in advertising. With the recent update,…
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SuperFreakonomics generates heat on global warming
Even before publication, the book SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance is the topic of hot debate…
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WashPost buries coldest day in 138 years
It’s got a good lede that should have won at least a front-page Metro slot. Instead, buried in Saturday’s Washington Post’s Metro Section amid…
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Congress Moves to Reinflate the Housing Bubble That Caused the Financial Crisis
Veteran political commentator Michael Barone reports that liberal congressional leaders are pushing policies to “inflate the housing bubble again.”…
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Regulation of the Day 62: Government Employees and Texting while Driving
Executive Order No. 13513 prohibits federal employees and contractors from texting while driving while on duty.
Newsletter
Teacher Unions, Obama’s Climate Czar and Public Choice
Director Bob Bowden exposes corruption and waste in public schools in the new film The Cartel. Critics object to the potentially sweeping powers of President…
Ecomerce Times
Tech Heavies to FCC: Stay on Target
Letters
Coalition Letter to President
Full Document in PDF We represent a diverse group of environmental, taxpayer, and consumer interests. We've seen the letter that Rep. Gene Taylor…
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Weekly Flu Watch IV – What swine flu ISN’T doing
Total deaths since Aug. 30 from “Influenza and Pneumonia-Associated” illness are 2,029 reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web site…
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“The Pandemic Is Political,” my article in Forbes Online
As evidence continues to mount that swine flu is more of a piglet than a raging razorback, why isn’t curiosity mounting as to why the…
Boston Herald
Trust but Verify at EPA
Boston Herald
Obamacare May Be Unconstitutional
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Deficit Hits $1,400,000,000,000
Pittsburgh Live
The Climate Debate: Data in Doubt
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California federal court dismisses global warming common law nuisance lawsuit
My weekend is starting out fine, thanks to this happy news. Peter Glaser, an environmental attorney with Troutman Sanders, just sent around his analysis. Here it…
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Obama administration promotes junky, risky mortgages at taxpayer expense, ignoring history’s lessons
George Mason University Professor Ilya Somin explains how the Obama administration is expanding the awful policies that caused the mortgage crisis, like having taxpayers…
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Happy 90th Birthday to Nobel Laureate James Buchanan
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CEI Weekly: John Berlau Criticizes Proposed Consumer Protection Agency
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week's feature is John Berlau's appearance on C-Span talking about ways to…
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Socialist International Meets, but Carol Browner Can’t Make It
The Socialist International’s Commission for a Sustainable World Society has sent an interesting account of their recent meeting and release of their report, “From…
Newsletter
Global Warming Data, Estimating Health Care Costs and Pulling Down Trade Barriers
Critics question the disappearance of scientific data used to make global warming predictions. The Congressional Budget Office releases new cost estimates for competing health care…
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Regulation Not Worth Its Salt
A recent study by University of California, Davis nutritionists concludes that it may not even be possible to reduce salt intake through regulation.
Washington Examiner
A Big Chill on Global Warming
Washington Examiner
It’s Raining, You’re Snoring
In his book "The Audacity of Hope," Barack Obama acknowledged that "sometimes there are facts that cannot be spun, just as an argument about…
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Reps. Issa and Sensenbrenner issue report on the politics of EPA’s endangerment finding
Updated 10/16/09 Today [Oct. 15, 2009], Rep. Darrell Isa (R-CA), ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. James Sensenbrenner,…
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Defending free trade: the pending FTAs
The pending U.S. Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia are languishing in limbo, despite the fact that all three agreements will improve…
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Robert Reich Gets It
Some of the consequences of increasing government’s role in health care are easy predict.
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Free-market commentary on the Kerry-Graham cap-and-trade oped
Updated 10/16/09 Over the weekend, Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) co-authored an oped in the New York Times titled, “Yes We…
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New Version of Obama Health-Care Plan Relies on Imaginary Savings, Costs More Than $2 Trillion, and Will Explode Federal and State Budget Deficits
Health-care “reform” always costs more than predicted, as ObamaCare provisions have at the state level. So the claim that the new, cheaper version…
Newsletter
Big Screen Ban, U.S. Chamber Politics and Silencing Science
California poised to ban the sale of big-screen televisions. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce launches a new initiative to defend free enterprise and create jobs.
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Regulation of the Day 61: Big Screen TVs – Mankind’s Doom!
On November 4, California regulators may vote to ban big-screen televisions. The large sets use more energy than they would prefer.
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Web help wanted for Fumento.com
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Eliot Spitzer Wants your Pension
Today, Slate features a rant by disgraced former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer that includes distortions and falsehoods so blatant that they wouldn’t merit…
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How Much Harm Do Teacher Unions Do?
Plenty, according to the new film, The Cartel. The film purports to show “educational system like we’ve never seen it before. Behind every dropout…
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Taking the heat and defending free enterprise
It’s about time that business groups started defending free enterprise, and the U. S. Chamber of Commerce is off to a good start – a…
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Madison on National Health Care Reform
Here is the letter I wrote that appeared in the Los Angeles Times in response to Erwin Chemerinsky’s article on the constitutionality of…
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Congressional Conference Committee Attempts to Turn Hate Crimes Law Into a Speech Code
Hate crimes are irrational, and what sets them off is often unpredictable. The hate-criminal whose sentence was upheld in Wisconsin v. Mitchell by a…
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More on Public Sector Unions
Slate blogger Mickey Kaus explains how public sector unions are driving state and local governments to the brink of bankruptcy (via Nick Gillespie at…
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Regulation of the Day 60: Hybrid Car Noise
One advantage of hybrid cars is that they are quiet. Too quiet, some would say. Blind pedestrians may not hear a hybrid coming around the…
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Silencing Criticism through Libel Law
The physicist turned science journalist Simon Singh has been sued in a UK court and, this past summer, found liable for libel for an April…
Newsletter
Health Care, Climate Change and Nobel Economics
The Senate Finance Committee approves major new health care legislation. Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) write an op-ed for the New York…
New York Times
Scientists Return Fire at Climate Skeptics in ‘Destroyed Data’ Dispute
New York Times
“Gifted Hands” Surgeon Rips into Obamacare
As the Senate Finance Committee completed its work on a bill that would greatly expand the government’s role in health care – requiring nearly…
The Washington Independent
‘Not Evil Just Wrong’ Puts Human Face on ‘Disastrous’ Effects of Green Policies
The Washington Independent
Not So Peachy Advice
Recently featured on Good Morning America, the Environmental Working Group identified a “dirty dozen” list for the most contaminated produce that includes: peaches, apples,…
New York Times
Identity Chip Planted Under Skin Approved for Use in Health Care
The New York Times discusses implantible chips used for medical reasons with Wayne Crews. ''The fact that we're engaged in such a deep,…
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Fighting Eminent Domain Abuse
Popular outrage over eminent domain abuse may have waned a bit since the Supreme Court’s poorly-reasoned Kelo ruling in 2005, but economic development takings remain…
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LibertyWeek 64: Regulators Gone Wild!
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Senate Finance Passes Health Reform Bill
Earlier today, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Me.) announced that she would vote in favor of the health care reform bill authored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman…
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Senators Lindsey Graham and John Kerry: Yes We Can (Raise Your Energy Prices and Send Jobs Abroad)
Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) published a curious op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times titled, “Yes We Can (Pass Climate Legislation).” …
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The Wages of Government Unions
The Economist‘s current Lexington column highlights the growing public resentment at the widening disparity between compensation and job security in the private and public…
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Three Cheers for the Nobel Economic Prizes!
After the weird “future” award to President Obama of the Nobel Peace Prize, another Nobel committee has made a brilliant choice – awarding the Economics…
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2002 Economics Nobel Prize Winner Vernon Smith on 2009 Winner Elinor Ostrom
In honor of the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Economics to Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson, it’s worth recalling a mention of Ostrom’s…
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Regulation of the Day 59: Pharmacy Interns in Colorado
It is illegal to intern for a pharmacist in Colorado without a license.
Newsletter
Climate Negotiations, Senate Health Care and the Nobel Prize
Climate negotiators attempt to reach an agreement ahead of UN-sponsored talks in December. The Senate Finance Committee prepares to vote on health…
News Release
Nobel Economics Prize Recognizes Success of Liberty
Nobel Economics Prize Recognizes Success of Liberty Statement by Fred L. Smith, Jr., President of the Competitive Enterprise Institute Washington, D.C., October 13, 2009―The…
News Release
Moderates Should Be Cautious on Health Care Reform
The Senate Finance Committee today approved new health care legislation by a 14 to 9 vote and reported it out to the full Senate. All…
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Markets vs. Special Interests
"It is precisely the fact that the market does not respect vested interests that makes the people concerned ask for government interference."…
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This Year’s Economics Nobel Winners
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Windmills for spite
Clean Energy Splits France: It's Carbon vs. Countryside in Environmental Battle Over Plan for Windmills Near Coastal Shrine." So reads the Washington Post headline. But…
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No “Weekly Flu Watch” this week
See instead my article “Swine Flu: the Real Threat Is Panic,” from the New York Post .