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Today’s Links: August 17, 2012
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On Robert Pattinson, Cosmopolis, And The Folly of National Film Agencies
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CEI Podcast For August 16, 2012: Drought, Food Prices, And Ethanol
Severe drought in the Midwest has driven corn prices to record levels. Policy Analyst Brian McGraw argues that ending the federal government's ethanol mandate could…
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Regulation And The Setting Sun
Agencies are well-equipped for passing regulations, but not for repealing them. This becomes a problem as the years march on, and dusty old rules that…
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My Fox News Interview On GM’s Losses To Taxpayers And Obama’s Auto Dealer Job Shaft
On Tuesday, I was on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” answering Doug McKelway’s questions on the Treasury Department’s upward revision of taxpayers' losses…
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California’s Unconstitutional Proposition 37
Writing in the Daily Caller, legal commentator Walter Olson says that California's Proposition 37 is bad policy that will only enrich opportunistic lawyers:…
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Time To Extinguish Flame Retardant Hype
Flame retardants are making headlines these days thanks to an “exposé” — more properly characterized as an unsubstantiated smear campaign — published as a…
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What The New York Times’ Ron Nixon Doesn’t Understand About Northeast Corridor Travel
In today's New York Times, reporter Ron Nixon has a remarkably misleading article on travel in the Northeast corridor (NEC). Three major distortions stick out:…
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Equal Pay Should Be For Equal Work, Not Unequal Work
Yesterday, I criticized the assumption that people should receive equal pay for unequal work, such as requiring the average woman to be paid exactly…
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Today’s Links: August 15, 2012
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When Wage Gaps Are Fair
When I and my wife first got married, she worked shorter hours than I did, and used her additional time outside the workplace for activities…
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In Praise Of Judicial Activism
Judicial activism is a dirty word in politics. It shouldn't be. Over at The American Spectator, David Deerson try to rehabilitate a term that has…
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Today’s Links: August 14, 2012
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Union contracts driving pension crisis
The Washington Examiner Maryland’s $37 billion public pension system earned a pitiful 0.36 percent return on its investments last fiscal year. How embarrassing is…
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Dog Days Edition
These days in D.C., the mercury regularly rises above the 90-degree mark right along with most of the U.S. As unpleasant as it might be…
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Supposed “Bipartisan” Consensus Can’t Waive Laws Such As Welfare Reform And Its Work Requirements
As I've noted before, the Obama administration violated the text, structure, and purpose of the 1996 welfare reform law, in claiming the authority…
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Today’s Links: August 13, 2012
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
68 new rules, from health care to Glasflugel gliders.
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Yes, Obama Did Gut Welfare Reform
Earlier, I wrote about how the Obama administration gutted welfare reform. Now, the New York Times is claiming that the Obama administration did…
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Bureaucratic Green Chemistry
California bureaucrats recently released their proposed regulations implementing the state’s 2009-passed “green chemistry” law. The law supposedly will make life safer for California residents by…
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Regulation Of The Day 226: Hot Dog Carts
Nathan Duszynski is 13 years old and lives in Holland, Michigan. His stepfather has multiple sclerosis. His mother has epilepsy. Neither is able to work.
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The Myth Of The Phoenix: Losses Resulting From Purity Tests Don’t Plant The Seeds Of Future Success
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Capitalism In Space
Over at National Review Online today, I have a piece on the current state of play in U.S. human spaceflight. It’s…
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The Case For A Repeal Amendment
If you want different results, you need different rules. Allowing two-thirds majorities of the states to repeal federal laws and regulations is one rule change…
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Today’s Links: August 10, 2012
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CEI Podcast For August 9, 2012: Getting TSA To Follow The Law
When the TSA installed full-body scanners in airports across the country, they did so illegally. Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner explains how a…
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Obama Administration Aggravates The Minority Achievement Gap, Increases Risk Of School Violence
If you want to fix the achievement gap between black and white students, you must first fix the behaviors that contribute to it, like the…
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Teachers Unions Defend Institutional Incompetence
Openmarket.org No good deed goes unpunished. Take Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s brave decision to lay off 3,600 employees — including teachers and principals — of…
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When Violations Of The Law Have No Remedy: The Case Of Warrantless Wiretapping
Yesterday, in Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, Inc. v. Obama, a panel for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal government did not…
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Teachers Unions Defend Institutional Incompetence
No good deed goes unpunished. Take Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s brave decision to lay off 3,600 employees -- including teachers and principals -- of 24 of New…
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Today’s Links: August 8, 2012
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Today’s Links: August 7, 2012
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Decoding The Malthusian Fallacy
The writings of Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) inspired Victorian historian Thomas Carlyle to condemn economics as "the dismal science." Witnessing the deplorable crowding,…
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Unions Claim Moral High Ground, Kick Off Sleazy Smear Campaign
Openmarket.org UNITE-HERE, the nation’s largest hospitality union, has assembled a new coalition of pro-union organizations to target Hyatt hotels with the goal of organizing…
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Unions Claim Moral High Ground, Kick Off Sleazy Smear Campaign
UNITE-HERE, the nation’s largest hospitality union, has assembled a new coalition of pro-union organizations to target Hyatt hotels with the goal of organizing the chain’s…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
85 new regulations, from prairie dogs to corporate jets.
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Update On TSA’s Lawlessness Over Body Scanners
As I noted previously, the Transportation Security Administration has failed to comply with a court order demanding that they initiate a notice-and-comment rulemaking regarding…
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Who’s Really Responsible For Making Sure Teens Don’t Smoke?
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CEI Podcast For August 2, 2012: Cybersecurity Bill Fails
Today the Senate shot down a controversial cybersecurity bill that Associate Director of Technology Policy Studies Ryan Radia believes would have been a disaster.
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Obama’s jobs council a total flop
The Washington Times When President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness last gathered in January, he boasted, “This has not been a show council. This…
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The Great Hollywood Swindle
When is a market not a real market? When it trades in fake goods — products or services that could not exist if government didn’t…
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Maryland’s Public Pension Debacle Is Likely to Repeat Itself
The Maryland public employee pension system announced this week that it had achieved a dismal return rate on its investments of 0.36 percent — a…
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Postal Service Set To Default On Multi-Billion Dollar Retiree Payment
Openmarket.org Today, the United States Postal Service (USPS) takes one step closer toward a taxpayer bailout. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of…
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Why Stop At Assault Weapons?
After the horrific events of the shooting in Aurora, countless pundits are calling for the reinstatement of the federal assault weapons ban. I agree with…
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Today’s Links: August 1, 2012
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Postal Service Set To Default On Multi-Billion Dollar Retiree Payment
Today, the United States Postal Service (USPS) takes one step closer toward a taxpayer bailout. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the current…
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EPA Attack On Asthmatics Coming To An End?
CEI warned policy makers a couple decades ago that an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) phase out of over-the-counter sales of CFC containing asthma inhalers…
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Milton Friedman Turns 100
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Regulation Of The Day 225: Boobie Pillows
Kern County, California's government takes morality very seriously. Chapter 9.12.010 of the County Code states that “No vendor shall vend stuffed articles depicting the female…
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Unruly Lead Paint Rule
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform recently released an interesting report on regulatory impediments to job creation. Among the…