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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…
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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.
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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 .
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How did the President’s Council swine flu scenario measure up?
Sorta depends on who you ask. The read about the flu in the mainstream media, you would think men are going through the streets with…
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Mass v. EPA’s legacy of “absurd results”
Last week I posted several excerpts from EPA’s “Tailoring Rule,” which confirm that the Supreme Court, in Massachusetts v. EPA (April 2007), set the stage for…
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Nobel Prize “Gift” Double Standard
Drug companies are apparently forbidden from offering freebies to doctors in certain liberal states like Massachusetts and Vermont, under the theory that doctors’ loyalty…
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Best article on Obama’s Nobel — Wash Post’s Cohen
Here’s Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen’s take this morning on the Nobel Prize announcement. It’s too good to excerpt: In a stunning announcement,…
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Secretary Chu Crosses the Line; Should Resign
Yesterday, energy secretary Steven Chu told reporters at a solar energy conference in Washington, D.C. "it's wonderful" that Apple Inc., Exelon, Nike, PG&E, and…
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DOJ Investigates IBM’s Mainframe Business
The lawyers at the US Department of Justice must be getting bored around the office. This week, antitrust regulators launched an investigation of IBM‘s…
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President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
President Obama is in a prime position to work wonders for the cause of peace. He can institute free trade in America. Trade is the…
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CEI Weekly: EPA Should Reopen Proceedings After Data Deletion Story
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features CEI's petition to the EPA to reopen proceedings because of…
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Regulation of the Day 58: Banning Children from Playgrounds
A new regulation in Kensington, Maryland bans children over five years old from using a local playground between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm.
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New ObamaCare Version Claims Not to Increase Federal Deficit, But It Explodes State Deficits, and Relies on Mythical Savings and Unlikely Medicare Cuts
Democrats are cheering a Congressional Budget Office decision to “score” the Senate Finance Committee’s version of ObamaCare as not increasing the federal budget deficit. But…
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CBO report: new taxes will balance Baucus health care bill
Those pushing the Senate health care bill were ecstatic when the Congressional Budget Office reported that the bill “would result in a net…
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Precisely Backwards
Few things are more taxing than our elected officials’ economic illiteracy. How sad that visiting a wonderful country like ours may soon be one of…
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Obamacare’s Provisions Have Already Been Tried, and Failed, at the State Level
The major provisions of ObamaCare already have been tried. They've led to increased costs and reduced access to care" for people who once had private…
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Eminent Domain Abuse in New York (Upstate Edition)
The court found that the mall was not liable because the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency condemned the property through eminent domain, which stripped all rights…
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Regulation of the Day 57: Minimum Price Agreements
A new Maryland law makes it illegal for manufacturers to set a minimum retail price for their products in sales contracts. The law is meant…
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Supreme Court Confronts Free Speech, Animal Cruelty, Gun Rights, Violent Crime, and National Sovereignty Issues
The Supreme Court is back in session. Today, it is hearing a challenge to a federal law banning depictions of cruelty to animals…
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Now Crist Goes after Utilities
Not content with exposing Florida to financial catastrophe by taking on responsibility for insuring coastal properties, Florida Governor Charlie Crist (R) continues his assault…
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Corporate Human Rights?
Over at the Detroit News, Hans Bader and I explain why corporations have human rights despite not being human. The reason why? Transaction costs.
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Regulation of the Day 56: Kahlua in Ohio
Kahlua contains 20% alcohol in 49 states. But in Ohio, it is 21.5%. Weird, huh? Turns out regulations are the reason.
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World’s largest country reports first swine flu death
Six months into the swine flu outbreak China, with a population of over 1.3 billion or a fifth of the word’s population, has just…
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Net Neutrality and Rent-Seeking
Net neutrality proposals give companies the incentive to seek rents at each other’s expense when they could be benefitting from each other’s innovations instead.
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“Advanced” biofuels lag behind mandate
EISA mandates the sale of 100 million gallons of advanced biofuel in 2009 and 200 million gallons in 2010. But, Matt Carr of the Biotechnology…
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LibertyWeek 63: Suing the Government into Honesty
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Unemployment Rises to 26-Year High of 9.8%; Obama’s Policies Worsen Unemployment and Credit Crunch
Unemployment has risen to 9.8 percent, a 26-year high. That’s much higher than the Obama administration predicted unemployment would rise, if Congress had refused…
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Video Response to Will Ferrell MoveOn.org: People Are Saying Mean Things About Big Government!
Remember that Will Ferrell, celebrity-packed video on Obamacare last month? The one from MoveOn.org? One of those “we’re from Hollywood, and we’re here to…
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Weekly Flu Watch – What swine flu ISN’T doing this week
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CEI Weekly: CEI Battles Climate Change Policies
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features CEI's response to disastrous climate change policies being pushed in…
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Stimulus Packages Don’t Work; Obama’s $800 Billion Stimulus Will Shrink the Economy
“Stimulus” packages that increase government spending don’t work, notes Harvard economist Robert J. Barro in the Wall Street Journal. The administration claimed that Obama’s…
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Supreme Court to Decide Whether Second Amendment Forbids State and Local Gun Bans
The Supreme Court has agreed to review a lower court ruling upholding Chicago’s handgun ban. In 2008, the Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 vote,…
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EPA “Tailoring Rule” confirms Mass v. EPA set the stage for administrative quagmire and economic disaster
Attorney Peter Glaser, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, CEI and other free market groups warned that regulating GHG emissions from new motor vehicles would have…
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Why does recycled paper make such crappy toilet paper?
“I remember the importance of toilet paper while being shelled a few times, a couple of times while on the throne. I don’t understand why…
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Nike quits the Chamber. When will the sanctimony end?
Today’s Greenwire (subscription required) reports that Nike, the sports shoe king, is resigning its position on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors. Nike…
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Overpaid Bureaucrats Expand in Number and Pay
Thanks to the $800 billion stimulus package, and other huge government spending increases, the number of federal and state employees is projected to increase massively.
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The Magic of Numbers
Is it really easier to work in groups or is it just a way to shift responsibility? This question is relevant after the recent summit…
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Big Labor’s Big Prize in Health Care “Reform”
In his Wall Street Journal column today, Holman Jenkins highlights one of the prizes at stake for organized labor in the current health care…
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Rowdy Unionists Shout Down Opponents
Yesterday in Harrisburg, rowdy unionists disrupted a rally held by two Pennsylvania state legislators to promote legislation to end project labor agreements (PLAs), which…
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Wishing for a Regulatory Monster?
Be careful what you wish for because sometimes you might not like the result. And big-government advocates should be particularly careful since government rarely meets…
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Swinenewsflash! 21,000 college students missing!
“Twenty-one thousand college students are sick,” begins a Fox online news report titled: “H1N1 Picks Up Steam One Week Before Vaccine Becomes Available.” Wow!…
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Senate Finance Committee Rejects Public Option
Liberal Democrats are fuming. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) and House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Cal.) remain committed to a "public option". President Obama…
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Student Loan Socialism
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7-Eleven serves up Big Gulp of Big Government to credit card consumers
Tomorrow, 7-Eleven Inc. and other big retail chains will hit Capitol Hill to offer Congress members and their staffs a supersize serving of hypocrisy. Retailers,…
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Cutting Off Funds to ACORN Is Constitutional, and Would Protect Against Voter and Financial Fraud
Earlier, ACORN was caught in a scandal, promoting child prostitution. Both Houses of Congress voted to cut off federal funds to ACORN. Rep. Barney…
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PG&E, Exelon, Duke — progressive companies or energy-rationing profiteers?
Divide et Impera — divide and conquer — is perhaps the oldest strategic maxim of war, politics, and diplomacy. Businesses succumb to it time and…
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Greens’ Not so peachy Advice
Led by groups like the Environmental Working Group (EWG), environmental activists continue in their crazy crusade to fight pesticide use of any kind, even when…
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Alleviating Paul Krugman’s Fears
Mr Krugman in Sunday’s New York Times is worried. In his article “Cassandras of Science” he says, “What’s driving this new pessimism? Partly it’s…
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Dannon Activia class action settlement
A stipulation of settlement has been filed in the Dannon Activia yogurt consumer-fraud case. A $35 million fund will be established to pay claim…
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Is 350 the New 450?
In today’s New York Times, Lauren Morello of ClimateWire asks, “Is 350 [parts per million] the New 450 [ppm] When It Comes to Capping Carbon Emissions?”…
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It’s Complicated
Journalists have a tendency to present overly-simple explanations of current events that often turn out to be false. Part of it is due to the…
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LibertyWeek 62: Soak the Rich, Reap the Wind
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Lee Doren Discusses ‘The Story of Stuff’ on Lou Dobbs
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New Study on How Government Employee Unions Squeeze Public Budgets
As in other states, government employee unions oppose cuts that would affect their members. All unions do this, but public sector unions are different.
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Union Blocks Action Against Dangerous Bus Drivers at DC Metro; Obama Expands Union Power at Expense of Airline and Rail Security
Thanks to their union, bus drivers for Washington’s Metro system can be dangerously incompetent and still draw a government paycheck, avoiding discipline for repeated…
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Enviros trying to wipe out soft toilet paper!
Okay, this time they’ve gone too far! Now, says the Washington Post, environmentalists are trying to wipe out plush toilet paper! They say that’s…
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Pig pandemic panic calls for . . . Obamacare!
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Biased Press Coverage of the Supreme Court Fuels Leftist Resurgence
American law has moved in a leftward direction over the last 20 years, steadily restricting use of the death penalty and criminal sentencing, and expanding…
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Weekly Flu Watch – What Swine Flu ISN’T Doing This Week
Every Friday the CDC website publishes a situation update on swine flu with figures updated through the previous week, though some of the data…
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“The Cy Pres Racket”
Karen Lee Torre, in the Connecticut Law Tribune, hates cy pres even more than I do, so we’ll be seeing her Sep. 28…
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John Broder’s spin job on Alan Carlin
In today’s New York Times, John Broder strains to belittle Alan Carlin, the “whistle blower” whose skeptical comments on EPA’s proposed endangerment finding the…
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Truth-In-Labeling? Call the Federal Advertising Bureau
This week, the New America Foundation called for government-mandated “Truth-in-Labeling” from the nation’s broadband service providers. They’ve even created a mock-up of what they…
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Obama Slaps Unconstitutional Gag Order on Critic of His Health Care Plan
While Obama ally ACORN attempts to gag whistleblowers who exposed its role in a recent scandal, the Obama administration is trying to gag…
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Fisking Paul Krugman
In today’s New York Times, Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman preens about intellectual dishonesty while presenting the most intellectually dishonest case about the cost of…
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CEI Weekly: CEI Challenges UN Global Warming Alarmism
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features CEI taking part in the debate on climate change as…
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Obama Losing Youth on Health Care
The National Journal had an interesting article this week describing the difficulty Democrats have been having getting young adults interested in the health care debate.
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ACORN Sues Whistleblowers for Exposing Its Wrongdoing in Scandal
ACORN is now suing the whistleblowers who allegedly filmed it promoting illegal sexual activities for $2 million! And not just them, but…
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Put the Fanny State Behind
In the interest or saving trees, the legacy of Mr. Whipple (please don’t squeeze the Charmin!) could be a thing of the past.
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DC Councilman Graham’s Chief of Staff Indicted on Bribery Charges Related to Taxi Legislation
Graham's chief of staff, Ted Loza, has been indicted on bribery charges relating to the taxicab legislation.
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In the Recorder
The Recorder has a brief piece on CCAF on their blog.
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No data, no science
In “The Dog Ate Global Warming,” published yesterday in National Review Online, Cato Institute scholar and climatologist Patrick J. Michaels delivers a body blow to the “science…
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PNAS: Peer Review or Old Boy Network?
On February 25, 2009, Dr. James Hansen of Columbia University’s Earth Institute and Dr. John Christy of the University of Alabama in Huntsville testified on…
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Selling the Rope, as Lenin Predicted
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“No Way” to San Jose
In recent years, the San Jose City Hall has led the way in stupid environmental policies. Several years ago, they were among one of the…
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The Economics of Net Neutrality
Over at the Washington Examiner's Opinion Zone, I apply what I learned back in Economics 101 to the net neutrality debate. It's all about scarcity.
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Hard-Left Obama Policies Draw Criticism for Undermining Democracy, Security, and the Rule of Law
In his 2008 campaign, Barack Obama talked a lot about “bipartisanship,” but in office, he has governed from the far left, on both domestic and…
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Gypsy Cabs Coming soon to DC?
If you’ve ever been to Brooklyn, you’ve almost certainly seen firsthand the shortage of taxis that has been created by New York City’s licensing restrictions,…
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Yet Another ACORN Scandal
ACORN, which had its housing funds cut-off by Congress over a recent scandal, is now embroiled in a tax-evasion scandal, reports the…
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Slate’s William Saletan vs. the Food Cops
Slate’s William Saletan has had it with the growing overreach of the food police, a reaction which he acknowledges puts him in unusual company.
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Carbon dioxide by any other name would fertilize as well: Myron Ebell quoted in Climatewire
Today’s ClimateWire (subscription required) carries an analysis by reporter Lauren Morello that begins: Say goodbye to “greenhouse gases.” Say hello to “carbon pollution” and “heat-trapping gases.” Morello…
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Funny, That
An article in today's New York Times laments the difficulty of "building momentum for an international climate treaty at a time when global temperatures have…
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Lee Doren on Glenn Beck discussing “The Story of Stuff”
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Regulation of the Day 55: Home Environmental Inspections
If cap and trade passes, almost all homes for sale would be required to undergo an environmental inspection. The home cannot be sold until it…
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ACORN’s Empire Will Expand Under Obama’s Health-Care Plan and Financial Rules
Congress recently voted to cut off federal housing funds to controversial group ACORN. But since most federal money goes to ACORN-related…
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Rent-seeking utilities: you reap what you sow
Yesterday, in State of Connecticut et al. v. American Electric Power et al., the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals decided that states and other…
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Obama’s UN speech and energy facts
Sounding more like Yes Men prankster than president, President Obama spoke of rising seas, floods, drought, and climate refugees. Yet his policies have been…
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Obama Speech to the UN: The Data
Myron has already pointed out how most of what the President claimed were the threats from global warming are exaggerated. Here’s the data to…
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Finding Something to Praise in Obama’s Speech Today
While this speech is mostly hogwash, I am surprised and delighted to be able to find one thing to praise in it: Later this…
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Obama Speech to the UN
President Barack Obama’s speech on global warming to the United Nations today is based on fantasy. Here are some quotes from the speech followed by…
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Costco Fuel Settlement
Costco, along with other fuel retailers, has been sued over the way it measures gallons of fuel in some states. The putative class plaintiffs have…