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New Stimulus Plan Gets Skeptical Response, Even From Democrats
Obama’s plan for $50 billion more in stimulus spending is getting a skeptical response even from some Democratic lawmakers. (We explained earlier why…
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CEI in Europe: Travelblog 2–Porto, Portugal
The Portuguese Constitution guarantees the provision of many social services, including free health care. The students at the Porto Language of Liberty camp remind us…
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One Cheer for Obama Tax Plan, with Plenty of Caveats
President Obama’s new economic recovery plan, coming more than a year-and-a-half after an infusion of $1 trillion in big-government spending failed to “stimulate” the moribund economy, deserves…
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VA Liquor Privatization Bought with Higher Taxes?
Free marketeers in the Commonwealth of Virginia waited with high hopes after Governor Bob McDonnell made the announcement that he planned to privatize state-run…
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Obama Proposes $50 Billion More in Wasteful Deficit Spending
President Obama has proposed $50 billion more in deficit spending after his original $800 billion stimulus package…
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Regulation of the Day Update: Ladies’ Night Bar Specials
Attorney Roy Den Hollander think ladies' nights are unconstitutional. So he sued several bars.
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Kiss Your Ash Goodbye — Regulating Coal Combustion Byproducts As Hazardous Is An Unnecessary Job Killer
The Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to regulate carbon dioxide as an air pollutant is currently garnering most of the attention from the agency’s critics, but…
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CEI in Europe: Travelblog 1–Porto, Portugal
On the plane to Lisbon—on our way to our first Language of Liberty camp—I watched the first half of the unwatchable Prince of Persia. Alfred…
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You Were a Sucker If You Were Responsible, Thrifty, and Saved Money for a Down Payment
The Obama administration will launch today a new $14 billion program to bail out some people who are underwater on their mortgages. During the…
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Speaking Truth to Power Rarely Works
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Unemployment Jumps to 9.6%, 54,000 More Jobs Lost
Unemployment went back up to 9.6%, as the nation shed 54,000 jobs in August. Yet Obama calls this “Recovery Summer.” This is…
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Stockholm Syndrome in the Nachshin v. AOL case
CCAF filed its reply brief today in the Nachshin v. AOL appeal. The principal-agent problem does not just affect class action plaintiffs’ attorneys enriching…
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Federal Government Wastes Millions on Vacant, Run-Down Buildings, Including a Pink Monkey House
The Department of Veterans Affairs is spending millions annually on 314 run-down, vacant buildings, including a pink monkey house. “The buildings are home to…
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Will Grading Cars Dispell or Enhance “MPG Illusion”?
As discussed in my recent post “Obama’s EPA: School Marms R Us,” EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTSHA) are…
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Greenhouse Protection Racket — An Update
Last week, the Obama Administration filed a brief on behalf of industry petitioners urging the Supreme Court to vacate an appeals court decision (State of Connecticut et…
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Record Federal Spending Increase Due to Wasteful Spending Like the Failed Stimulus Package
Federal domestic spending increased by a record 16 percent this year, thanks to wasteful spending by the Obama administration, such as its “huge economic…
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Antibiotics and Meat DO Mix
Whether you’re talking about human or animal use, banning beneficial uses today can have negative impacts on human and animal health just as surely as…
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Unions hire non-union protesters?
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqm5RRBCmiw 285 234]…
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Video Exposes Labor Union Protesters – No “Living Wage,” No Health Insurance, No Union Membership
Video: Unions hire non-union protesters? Should labor unions pay their protesters the wages and benefits that the unions demand of other employers? CEI labor…
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Obama’s EPA: School Marms R Us
The Obama Administration’s EPA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTSHA) are proposing new rules “labeling each passenger car with a government letter grade from A…
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Professor John Palmer on the Center for Class Action Fairness
Professor John Palmer has some very generous things to say about me and the Center for Class Action Fairness on his excellent economics blog.
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Government Insurance: Guaranteed to Fail
Few observers were shocked when the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) asked for a nearly $20 billion bailout of its National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
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Expensive Jobs
Stimulus spending costs $221,428.57 per job saved or created. Startlingly inefficient.
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CEI Weekly: Post-Spill Moratorium Worse than the Spill
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features Ben Lieberman's op-ed, criticizing the deleterious effects of the oil-spill…
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More Mercantilist Claptrap
No wonder people are confused about the trade issue when they read mercantilist articles like the front-pager by Howard Schneider in the Washington Post…
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Federal Regulators Making Laundry More Costly And More Dingy
In a classic case of a government solution in search of a problem, Washington has for years set energy efficiency standards for home appliances. By…
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Money for Nothing
A Virginia man collected 12 years of salary despite never showing up to his government job.
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Update on Sears Holding Corp. derivative shareholder suit
Plaintiffs filed an opposition; I filed a reply. The hearing has been moved from today to September 10, 9:30 AM.
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Barring Illegals from Driver’s Licenses: Dangerous and Dumb
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Medicare Proposal Could be a Real Killer
Medicare is speeding toward insolvency , and only major fundamental changes can save it. But beware the “tweakers” — those who say that little things…
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Appeal bond struck down
Imagine our surprise when we checked the docket in the Bachman case in late July (after checking it weekly since we filed our appeal) and…
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National Security Risks of Biofuel Mandates — Corrected*
Those amazing Idsos who run the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change review a paper recently published in AMBIO: A Journal…
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Fret Over Smoking on “Mad Men”?
“Desperate Housewives” star Kathryn Joosten made a bit of news this week complaining about cigarette smoking portrayed on AMC’s hit TV series “Mad…
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Regulation of the Day 149: Sliced Bagels
In New York State, sliced bagels cost 8 cents more than unsliced bagels.
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Sugar in the News Again
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s September 2010 issue of its magazine, “Amber Waves,” has an excellent article on the U.S. domestic sugar program –…
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Hype About Lobsters and BPA: Here We Go Again!
A series of articles and blogposts now warn that the chemical Bisphenol A–used to make hard clear plastics–is wreaking havoc on lobsters in the Long…
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Biofuels and Tax Expenditures
One of the claims that the renewable energy groups continue to make, as their tax credits approach the chopping block, is that the U.S. is…
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GM IPO Buyers Beware: Filing Asserts Exemption from Anti-fraud Laws
General Motors filed paperwork last week to launch its much-anticipated initial public offering. It could be the biggest IPO in U.S. history, raising up to $20 billion,…
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Bed Bugs Bite Liberals: Will They Call for DDT?
As bed bugs gnaw on liberal reporters at CNN, perhaps there is a chance some will reconsider their views of DDT. CNN offices apparently…
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CEI Weekly: The Union Pension Bailout
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features Vincent Vernuccio's appearance on Fox Business to discuss the multi-billion-dollar…
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Video: The Open Internet and Lessons from the Ma Bell Era
Earlier this week, The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart summed up the debate over net neutrality by stating, “On one side [are] those who want…
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When TSA Agents Attack
For most people, the TSA is merely an annoyance. For Kathy Parker, it was something far more serious.
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Privacy Isn’t Dead, It’s Evolving
Recent revelations about Microsoft’s internal debate over Internet Explorer’s handling of tracking cookies, as chronicled by The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, have…
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Republicans Should Favor Privatization of Liquor Sales
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A Full-Court Press on Trade? Not Likely
Today’s Washington Times has a lengthy article on the Obama Administration’s trade agenda vis-à-vis the stalled free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and…
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Regulation of the Day 148: Cutting Grass in Cemeteries
In the world of regulation, no good deed goes unpunished.
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Political Pessimism, Human Optimism
If you're despairing over the state of the world, the data are a wonderful cure for pessimism.
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The Ethanol Industry and Competition
Growth Energy, an ethanol trade group, released a blog post yesterday titled “In An Open Market, All Fuels Can Compete.” The…
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A “Chickening Out” Lesson
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Regulation of the Day 147: Breathing Fire
Jimmy’s Old Town Tavern in Herndon, Virginia has fire-breathing bartenders. Two of them are facing 45 years in prison for fire code violations.
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Is GOP Opposition to Cap-and-Trade Self-Contradictory?
Betsy Moler of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership and Phil Sharp of Resources for the Future would like Republicans to think so. After all, if…
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Mexico’s Retaliation — A Good Idea?
Cato’s Dan Ikenson posted today in favor of the trade retaliation measures announced by Mexico in response to the U.S. refusal to open its…
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Federal Register Hits 50,000 Pages
And it's on pace to hit a near-record 80,447 pages.
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Fannie-Freddie White House Sham Summit Produces Short-Sighted Solutions
After ramming through a “financial reform” bill that increases government controls on such “ants” (hat tip to House Minority Leader John Boehner’s comments–distorted by the press–in full context) as orthodontists…
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Radical Capitalism: A Noble Experiment We Ought to Try
Earlier this month, Bloomberg published an article by Boston University economist Larry Kotlikoff in which he declared that the U.S. was bankrupt and headed…
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Against derivative shareholder strike suits: Sears Holding Corporation, Robert F. Booth Trust v. Crowley
In the 1998 case of Felzen v. Andreas, the Seventh Circuit suggested that it was looking for an opportunity to take action against derivative…
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BlueGreen Alliance Forgets their Aristophanes
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) mothballed cap-and-trade legislation when it became apparent that he could not muster the three-fifths super-majority required to end a…
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Court rejects settlement in Costco fuel case
Today’s a busy day (there were filings in three different pending objections and appeals, two of them by us), but we’ll have to postpone discussion…
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Primer on Extreme Weather Mortality
The indomitable Indur Goklany — “Goks” to his friends — has just posted a primer on extreme weather-related mortality entitled, Global Death Toll From Extreme…
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You Can’t Make This Up
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Regulation of the Day 146: Airplane Child Seats
The NTSB wants to throw away 50 lives to save an estimated 1 or 2 lives.
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CEI Weekly: Congress Bails Out State Teachers’ Unions
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Yandle: Everyman’s Deficit
Clemson University economist Bruce Yandle has published a new paper that compares the federal government’s spending habits with that of the average family. Yandle…
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The Dangerous Minds of Urban Planners
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 Kelo v. New London decision, significant attention has been paid to the way government interacts in the property…
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Government Spends Billions Bailing Out Foreign Firms and Countries, and Replacing American Jobs With Foreign Green Jobs
Our government spent as much money bailing out foreign firms as some countries spent on stabilizing their entire financial system. Much of the money…
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Voting the Bums Back In
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Government-Sanctioned Lying and Reparations Increase National Debt: The Pigford Class Action
There are only 36,697 black farmers in the entire country, but in a class-action lawsuit, more than 86,000 African-Americans claimed to have suffered…
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Spinning the Defeat of Cap-and-Trade
Barring the trickery of a lame duck conference committee, cap-and-trade is dead in the 111th Congress. Some blame Obama for not taking a…
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Why Government Layoffs Tripled in June
It wasn't because of spending cuts.
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Financial “Reform” Harms Farmers, While Leaving Corrupt Government-Sponsored Mortgage Giants Unreformed
Farmer Betsy Jensen explains how the so-called financial “reform” bill signed by President Obama will harm agricultural markets, and thus farmers, in today’s New…
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Not So Ancient History – How CEI (and friends) Nixed Early Action Crediting (on three separate occasions)
I’m posting three relatively obscure items by which CEI and friends killed a mischievous Trojan Horse strategy for Kyoto-style regulation variously known as credit for early action, credit for voluntary…
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Around the Country with Public Sector Unions
It’s often a sign that a problem is turning into a crisis when the public outcry over it becomes ubiquitous. That seems to be the…
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House Approves Obama’s $26 Billion Public-Employee Bailout By a Vote of 247-161
The House has just approved President Obama’s $26 billion public-employee bailout by a vote of 247 to 161. Billions will now go disproportionately to…
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Oh, the Horror! Budget Cuts Mean Pampered Artists Get Less Government Money to Insult Taxpayers
Thanks to budget cuts under England’s new Conservative coalition government, “London may no longer be ‘a beacon for controversial pieces’ such as last year’s…
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Why Mortgage Giant Freddie Mac Is Getting a Bailout: Costly Obama Policies and Giveaways
Earlier, I wrote about mortgage giant Freddie Mac’s demand for $1.8 billion more in bailouts. Why does it still need more bailout money, when…
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Amicus brief in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion
The Ninth Circuit’s holding in Concepcion v. AT&T Mobility, barring an arbitration clause that prohibits class actions as “unconscionable,” rests upon a belief in…
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In re Yahoo! Ninth Circuit appeal
Today the Center filed the opening brief in the appeal of the In re Yahoo! settlement approval. We make a process argument—the district…
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House Panel Releases Ethics Charges Against Rep. Maxine Waters
A House ethics panel has released the charges against left-wing firebrand Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) arising out her shady dealings with OneUnited Bank. (Her…
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Government-Sponsored Mortgage Giant Seeks $1.8 Billion More in Bailouts
Mortgage giant Freddie Mac is seeking $1.8 billion more in bailouts from the federal government. This mortgage giant, and its sister company, Fannie Mae,…
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Obama Justice Department Uses Americans with Disabilities Act to Harm the Disabled, Risk Lives, and Undermine Safety
“Amazon.com . . . tried to sell a talking Kindle reader, but” the Justice Department “said it couldn’t because the button to make the…
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TCEQ to EPA: Don’t Mess with Texas
In a blistering letter published earlier in the week, the head of Texas’s environmental agency and the State’s attorney general told the U.S. Environmental Protection…
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Justice Kagan, Please Be a Judicial Activist
Over at the Daily Caller, I explain why newly-minted Justice Kagan should be a judicial activist -- but not in the way most people use…
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CEI Weekly: Lessons from the Ma Bell Era
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features CEI's Ryan Radia in his film on the history of…
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131,000 Jobs Lost in July; Obama Aide Abandons Ship; Economists Criticize Obama; More Bailouts
“Non-farm job losses hit 131,000 in July,” on top of a loss of 97,000 jobs in May and June. Another Obama economic advisor is…
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Settlement approved in Dewey v. Volkswagen
Wednesday, August 4, Judge Patty Shwartz (D.N.J.) approved the Dewey v. Volkswagen settlement to which the Center for Class Action Fairness had objected. In…
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Elena Kagan Confirmed, 63-37, for Supreme Court; Divided Senate Approves Nomination in Partisan Vote
The Senate has voted 63-to-37 to confirm Elena Kagan as the next Supreme Court justice. Click here for details. The vote…
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Obama subsidizes Ford after blocking its access to credit
At the 1986 White House Conference on Small Business, President Ronald Reagan offered these famous remarks about politicians’ views on business in the 1970s. Reagan…
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Obama Pushes More Bailouts; Nobel Laureate Criticizes Obama Policies
Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith criticizes the Obama Administration’s stimulus package and skyrocketing deficit spending, saying that deficit-financed stimulus is “the problem, not the…
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Fumento on Neil Cavuto tonight on Toyota
I’m scheduled to be the lead guest on Neil Cavuto on the Fox Business Channel at 6pm tonight. Subject: The news that NHTSA is withholding…
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“Mom Who Starved Son Praised by Judge”
That’s the headline from the Associated Press. A Baltimore mother got nothing more than a suspended sentence for starving her 1-year-old son to…
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The Story of Cosmetics: The Critique
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CSR and Oil Companies: The Truth Dawns?
The environmental left is in some disarray following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. After all, BP had trumpeted for years the idea that it was…
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Manuel “Muso” Ayau RIP
Manuel Ayau, known by his many friends and admirers as “Muso,” passed away early this morning, in his native Guatemala — a country he loved and…
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Missouri Voters Overwhelmingly Reject ObamaCare’s Individual Mandate in Referendum
“Missouri voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a federal mandate to purchase health insurance, rebuking President Barack Obama’s administration and giving Republicans their first political…
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LibertyWeek 104: Battlefield Arizona
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Left-Wing Politician Faces Ethics Charges for Improperly Using Influence to Aid Bank
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) is facing ethics charges after she improperly used her influence to get special favors from regulators, and costly taxpayer bailouts,…
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Minneapolis’ Block E: The Failure Continues
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The Environment is a Luxury Good
One of the central insights of Free-Market Environmentalism is that people treat the environment as a luxury good. They are willing to pay for it…
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Regulation of the Day 145: Unregistered Chariots
King Tut's chariot is now on exhibit in New York, but not without incident. Officials demanded to see its VIN before Allowing it in the…
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Paycheck Fairness Act Would Mandate Equal Pay for Unequal Work
The Obama administration wants to force employers to pay some people equal amounts for doing unequal work, through a deceptive bill known as the Paycheck…