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CEI in the News for May 11, 2010
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Kellogg’s Flaky Reasoning (the foundation)
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Risky alternatives for online gamblers post-UIGEA
On June 1st, it seems inevitable that banks will have to be in compliance with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA); the vague and…
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Bipartisan letter urges action on Korea FTA
On May 10, 2010, two high-ranking senators, a Democrat and a Republican, sent a joint letter to President Obama asking him to take action…
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The Enviro-Left Machine in Action
Fenton Communications has a long history of work within the left-wing advocacy apparatus. I’m delighted to see a great addition to the blogosphere, the…
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The Toyota Hobgoblin, my piece in today’s Philly Inquirer
‘The whole aim of practical politics,” wrote H.L. Mencken, “is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing…
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Obama Nominates Liberal Lawyer Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court
President Obama has nominated liberal lawyer Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. She currently serves as Solicitor General. Before that she was dean at…
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LibertyWeek 92: FCC Power Grab
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Mortgage Giant Seeks Another $8.4 Billion in Bailouts, After Obama Lifts $400 Billion Limit on Bailouts for Government-Sponsored Enterprises
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae is seeking another $8.4 billion in federal bailout money, after the Obama administration earlier lifted a $400 billion limit…
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Heartland podcast
Arin Greenwood interviews me about some recent Center for Class Action Fairness cases.
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Friday Regulation Roundup
In Yukon, Oklahoma, it is illegal for a patient to pull a dentist's tooth, plus more.
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Lindsey Graham: “It’s not a global warming bill to me.”
Today’s Greenwire (subscription required) includes an edited transcript of an interview with Lindsey Graham (R-SC) that recalls Bill Clinton’s famous line, “It all depends on…
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Let Your Voice Be Heard
Today's Daily Caller features an article of mine about CEI's entry in the EPA's YouTube video contest on regulations.
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Pennsylvania’s IRS Knows Where You Live
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D.C. Rail Fetishists Propose “Free” Trolleys
If you believe the “city of northern charm and southern efficiency” is geared solely toward imposing stupid, expensive directives on the rest of the country,…
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Taxpayers to Put Up Billions More for Bailouts of Greece and Corrupt Mortgage Giant
Government-sponsored mortgage giant Freddie Mac is demanding another $10.6 billion in bailouts, which the Obama administration is expected to give it. Obama’s so-called…
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CEI Weekly: CEI Catches GM’s Misleading Ad
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features CEI's complaint filed to the FTC against General Motors for…
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Federal Register Hits 25,000 Pages
This morning, the 2010 Federal Register passed the 25,000 page mark.
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More GM Bailout Lies: Ally (GMAC) Bank’s Deceptions
General Motors’ false advertising that it has paid back its bailout money “in full” has prompted harsh criticism. Yesterday, Competitive Enterprise Institute Attorneys Hans Bader…
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A Day in the Life of the Regulatory State
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Wherein I join the Manhattan Institute
I have joined the Manhattan Institute as an adjunct fellow. This won’t have any adverse effect on the Center for Class Action Fairness—I’ll still…
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General Motors Accused of Fraud Over Misleading Claim That It Paid Back Taxpayers; CEI Files FTC Complaint
The Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a complaint today against General Motors with the Federal Trade Commission, over…
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The NEW reason for fomenting pig flu panic – “Use up those vaccines!”
According to Reuters, the U.S. has 71 million unused H1N1 swine flu vaccine doses. And damned if it isn’t determined to use up every…
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2010 Bureaucrash Student Activism Competition
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Another Oldie But Goodie: Mark Mills 1998 CO2 Compliance Burden Study
In the interest of ensuring public access to climate-related documents that may be hard to find, I am posting here the original, June 1998 study…
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Politics is Conflict
In Massachusetts vs. EPA, the Supreme Court sided with a group of Green States seeking to impose draconian energy rationing schemes on America. A few…
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Bogus Financial “Reform” Bill Regulates Internet, Does Nothing About Corrupt Government-Sponsored Mortgage Giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The so-called financial “reform” bill backed by President Obama gives federal bureaucrats new powers over the Internet, while doing nothing about the corrupt government-backed…
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Chris Horner on the Gulf Coast Oil Spill
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LibertyWeek 91: Musical Chairs
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Dear Florida, This is why you pay too much for insurance
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ObamaRail: Great for Railfans, Bad for Transportation
In 2000, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment (the “Monorail Initiative“) authorizing the creation of a high-speed intercity rail network. However, as the economy…
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Bluetooth case press coverage
Our appeal has drawn attention from the National Law Journal, Overlawyered, Bob Dorigo Jones, California Civil Justice, Hans Bader,…
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Chris Horner on Offshore Oil and Obama Energy Policy
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When White House Correspondents Go Green, Follow the Money
In the Politico today, there’s a story about how the Natural Resources Defense Council is advising the White House Correspondents’ Association on how to…
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Regulation of the Day 136: Off the Record
If you work for the Department of Energy's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a regulation in 18 CFR 385.2201 requires you to keep records of off-the-record…
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Hypocritical California Government Boycotts Against Arizona Over Immigration Law
“Representatives at three levels of California government were quick to call for economic measures against neighboring Arizona this week in the wake of its…
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CEI Weekly: CEI Protects Main Street From Financial Reform Bill
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features CEI's coalition efforts with other organizations to show the harms…
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Bachman v. A.G. Edwards class action settlement objection
The attorneys in the case of Bachman v. A.G. Edwards, Inc. negotiated what they call a $60 million settlement. Which sounds good, until…
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“Nearly Two-Thirds of Americans Say the Stimulus Isn’t Working”
“Nearly two-thirds of Americans do not believe the $787 billion stimulus package the president passed last year has helped create jobs, according to a…
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Things are getting better and better
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“How many regulators does it take . . .?
On Bankstocks.com Thomas Brown has a clever piece about why a new consumer financial protection agency doesn’t make any sense. He describes a commercial…
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An Oldie But A Goodie: John Christy’s Letter to Lisa Jackson on Fuel Economy Regulation
Well, it’s not really so old. I’m referring to a March 10, 2009 letter by atmospheric scientist John Christy to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. I…
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Supreme Court Overturns Ban on Cross; Gay-Marriage Opponents Will Lose Privacy Battle; Controversial Judicial Nominees; Wal-Mart Faces Mega-Lawsuit
In a splintered ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that a trial judge erred in issuing an injunction against a cross honoring veterans. It…
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Regulation of the Day 135: Mustache Nets
Just like church and state, hair and food are best kept separate. Which brings us to the latest fad in Brooklyn’s trendy Cobble Hill neighborhood:…
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Goldman Sachs Endorses Trojan-Horse Financial “Reform” Bill; Bill Has Payoffs for Special Interests
The CEO of Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street firm accused of fraud by the SEC, has endorsed…
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FDA Salt Statement Leaves a “Mistaken Impression”
Some 80 years ago this month, Mahatma Gandhi led tens of thousands on a 240-mile march in protest against a British salt tax, inciting millions…
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ObamaCare Vastly Expands IRS Red Tape and Power, Raises Medical and Insurance Costs, Taxes, and Deficits, and Harms Very Sick People
“Billions of more documents” will be have to be filled out by small businesses for the IRS so that a “spendthrift Congress can shake…
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Regulation of the Day 134: Not Voting
Despite its flaws, democracy has worked tolerably well in this country for a long time. Perhaps the best part of our particular democracy is that…
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As financial vote fails in Senate, Florida shows how to really protect consumers from deception
Yesterday, the Senate failed to achive the 60 votes necessary to move forward on the Restoring American Financial Stablity Act. All Republicans present and Sen.
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Fixing America’s Immigration Black Market
In today's American Spectator, Alex Nowrasteh and I make the case that lowering the cost of legal immigration through liberalization will reduce the amount of…
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ObamaCare Will Raise Insurance Premiums and Health Care Costs, Perhaps Bankrupt Hospitals, Federal Officials Admit
“Economic experts from President Obama’s own Health and Human Services Department have released a devastating report noting that Obamacare ‘will increase national health care…
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Class Action Lawyers Ripped Off Their Clients, With Approval From Federal Judge
Class-action lawsuits all too often benefit only the lawyers, not the allegedly victimized consumers they claim to represent. The Center for Class Action Fairness…
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And Another Free Trade Agreement Bites The Dust?
In Friday’s Christian Science Monitor, Howard LaFranchi discusses increasing tensions between the U.S. and Colombia over the pending free trade agreement. According to…
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LibertyWeek 90: Jerry Brito’s Surprisingly Free
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“Economists: The Stimulus Didn’t Help”
“The recovery is picking up steam as employers boost payrolls, but economists think the government’s stimulus package and jobs bill had little to do with…
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Ninth Circuit appeal in Bluetooth
Today, we filed our Ninth Circuit appellate brief in the Bluetooth case, No. 09-56683. Our objection in this case was previously covered…
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Michael Specter and The danger of market denial
Michael Specter, a journalist who’s also an excellent speaker, appeared at the last TED conference. Specter is technologically optimistic but has accepted many…
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CEI Weekly: Horner Talks “Power Grab” on Fox News
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features Chris Horner's appearance on Fox News' Hannity shot to talk…
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The War of the SEIU Succession Is Over, or Is It?
The battle over who would succeed outgoing Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andrew Stern (picture above, next to President Obama) appears to be over,…
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Arlington County Board Raises Taxes 10 Percent To Go On A Spending Binge In The Middle Of A Recession
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Porn More Interesting to Media Than Flaws of Financial ‘Reform’ Bill; Obama Is “Lying His Face Off”
There are plenty of problems with the financial “reform” bill, but the media aren’t interested in that. They’re much more interested in revelations that senior…
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Additional briefing in Costco fuel class action
On April 1, I participated in the fairness hearing in the Costco fuel class action in Kansas City, KS, before Chief Judge Kathryn Vratil.
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Online Gambling Could Have Brought $150 billion and 32,000 jobs to the US
In the past five years since the de facto ban on Internet gambling (congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006) the US…
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Center-Right Coalition Letter Opposes Toxic Provisions in Dodd Bill
Below is a letter sent today to the Senate that was signed by several prominent groups in the Center-Right Coalition expressing “grave concerns about the…
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Obama Uses Phony Rhetoric About Financial ‘Reform’ to Push Bill That Enriches Special Interests and Perpetuates Bailouts
President Obama has collected millions from Wall Street special interests, his administration is chock full of Wall…
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Friday Regulation Roundup
Some of the stranger governmental goings-on I’ve dug up recently.
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Internet Gambling Catches Second Wind
Pokerati.com reports that Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is working on a new bill (one of many in the past year) to legalize…
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Waxman baseball tobacco ban not worth chewing on
Major League Baseball should ban players from using smokeless tobacco in dugouts and on the field because of its health risks and influence on kids,…
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Hidden EU Analysis: Biofuels Can Produce More CO2 Emissions Than Fossil Fuels
Reuters reports that it used freedom of information laws to obtain a copy of text that was stripped from a December 2009 European Union…
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Parody Becomes Law: Crimes Against Homeless Become “Hate Crimes”; Hate-Crimes-Envy Spreads
Florida is now poised to join Maryland and Maine in treating crimes targeting the homeless as “hate crimes,” with increased penalties of up to…
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The Excellent Powder — DDT
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Public Employee Unions’ Suffocating Grip on California
The current issue of the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal features a must-read account of how government employee unions have turned California into “The Beholden…
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“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”
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General Motors Repays Tiny Portion of Taxpayers’ $50 Billion Bailout; Obama Backers Bash Critics of Bailout
President Obama’s tax-cheat treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, is trumpeting the fact that General Motors has paid back…
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“Basic needs” need to be regulated, say Dems
Reason’s Ron Bailey, in an “I told you so” article today, points out that Senate Democrats are poised to support a bill that would…
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Earth Day Agriculture and Sustainable Intensification
What’s the most sustainable way to grow the food we eat? The answer environmentalists give is always "local and organic." But, increasingly, the answer from…
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Foreign Aid is Wasteful: Recent World Bank Move Could Easily Make it Moreso
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Even Cranky Liberals Are Coming to Understand the Air Travel Sector!
Brett Snyder, editor of the web site, crankyflier.com, wrote a revealing column this weekend, “Don’t let bag fees make you nostalgic. Airlines’…
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The End of Anti-Discrimination Discrimination?
Affirmative action proponents face a battle this Monday when the Supreme Court hears Christian Legal Society vs. Martinez. The challenger argues that a…
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Last Bastion of Progressive Optimism
Progressives once believed in bureaucracy. A wise, enlightened civil service kept immune from the corrupting influence of politics would create Heaven on Earth. …
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Congressional Bill Threatens Direct Shipping of Wine
This week, the National Beer Wholesalers Association members descend on Washington for their annual legislative conference and lobbying visits to Congress. High on…
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Food Fight Over a Living Relic of the Past
There’s an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today on a big new…
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Food Safety Vote Threatens Food Safety
This week, the Senate may vote on an amendment to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act that could undermine the integrity of the U.S. food…
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Supreme Court Strikes Down Ban on Depictions of Animal Cruelty
In an 8-to-1 ruling, the Supreme Court has struck down a ban on depictions of animal cruelty as a violation…
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What’s the Cost if Congress “Fails” to Enact Cap-and-Trade?
That is the question posed this week on National Journal’s energy experts’ blog. My answer, available here, is that “failure” will have multiple benefits: —…
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Pennsylvania’s perpetual prohibition
Philadelphians love our beer. Especially our little niche-serving craft-beers. The city of brewerly love has produced some of the countries best-loved brands and…
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The Private Provision of Surface Transportation Infrastructure in the United States
Private sector involvement in surface transportation infrastructure is not new. Public and private turnpikes—roads that require the payment of a toll for passage—have existed for…
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The Spin Zone
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SEIU Recruits College Students as Muscle
At Biggovernment.com, the writer known as Liberty Chick offers a good, concise summary of the corporate campaign being waged by the Service Employees International…
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Chris Horner on His Book “Power Grab” & Obama’s Green Agenda
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LibertyWeek 89: Tax the Sin, Love the Sinner
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Insurers need a fallback plan
It seems that insurance companies can do no right. This is especially true when it comes to setting rates. Customers demand high quality insurance coverage,…
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For Profit, Not-for-Profit and Government – The Metric Problem
Americans tend to forget the value of institutional specialization. A private for-profit firm has a straightforward metric – maximizing shareholder profit-a complex goal, requiring managers…
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Hate mail from an M.D. regarding my AOL News piece, “Did WHO Knowingly Hype Swine Flu?”
Dear Mr. Fumento: Well, if you wish to destroy the credibility of the WHO, publishing a few more articles like the most recent one…
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Trojan Horse Financial “Reform” Bill Enriches Goldman Sachs, Rips Off Taxpayers
The Obama administration and Congressional leaders are pushing a trojan-horse financial “reform” bill that would enrich the wealthy and powerful investment bank Goldman Sachs, which…
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Big Labor Pension Strategy: United States of Argentina?
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andrew Stern made a big splash last week, when he announced his retirement from leading what is arguably America’s…
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CEI Weekly: Ten Thousand More Commandments in 2010
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features Wayne Crews' study "Ten Thousand Commandments," which focuses on the…
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CEI in the News: April 16, 2010
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Taxpayers Take Another Hit from Obama; Administration Panders Yet Again to Big Labor
Taxpayers will pay billions more due to an executive order signed by President Obama that effectively restricts federal construction contracts to the minority of construction…
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Justice Stevens Retires; Left-Wing Law Professor Nominated to Federal Appeals Court
Justice John Paul Stevens, the leader of the Supreme Court’s liberal bloc, is retiring. His most famous ruling is probably the 5-to-4 Kelo decision, which…