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Senator Grassley Supports Selective Tax Increases
A press release from Senator Grassley (R-Iowa), “U.S. Sen Grassley: Tax revenue doesn’t grow on Christmas trees”: The mid-term elections delivered a clear message. Americans…
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The Censuring of Charles Rangel
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Bob Barr Still Supports Ethanol Subsidies
In a piece on The Hill’s Congressional Blog, former Republican congressman and the 2008 Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr expresses support for the…
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Obama’s Federal Pay Freeze That Wasn’t
No one seems happy with President Obama’s announcement that he plans to freeze pay rates of the federal work force. The right claims that…
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Unions Still Hampering Free Trade
Watching politicians stammer on in attempts to justify short-sighted policy never gets boring. The interview referenced by Wall Street Journal columnist Mary Anastasia O’Grady…
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A New Course for Wild Tigers
A New York Times editorial highlights a struggle faced by the wild tiger, noting its population is down to approximately 3,200 from a high…
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Al Gore Backtracks on Corn Ethanol
Whoops. Turns out Gore thinks he made a mistake; it wasn’t such a good policy in the first place. Who would have known that politicians,…
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Obesity Letters Assume Parents Can’t See Their Children
A school district in Arizona is implementing a controversial program that has the world talking: they will be weighing students and sending notes home…
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TSA Regulations Likely Increase Travel Deaths
As air travel becomes increasingly expensive or more inconvenient, travelers on the margin will choose driving rather than flying. For example, the TSA began requiring…
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Charles Rangel: Swamp Still Full
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Last Call for Ethanol: Biofuel Lobby Out in Full Force
With 2011 a month and a half away, the ethanol industry is pushing full steam ahead for a renewal of the tax credit and tariff…
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Spitzer, Seoul, and Wall Street
Eliot Spitzer, who occasionally publishes over at Slate, wrote yesterday about President Obama’s “disastrous Asia trip” and decried America’s fall from grace as a world leader.
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TSA versus America
The TSA doesn’t have very many friends these days. Do they deserve any? In an interview (halfway down on the left sidebar), John…
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Confessions of a Gasoline Call Girl
Marc J. Rauch, Executive Vice President/Co-Publisher of The Auto Channel, posted a lengthy diatribe on the American Petroleum Institute’s recent lawsuit on the EPA’s approval…
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A New Face for High-Fructose Corn Syrup
Via The Huffington Post, an update on Big Corn’s quest to continue fueling our tasty beverages: The makers of high fructose corn syrup want…
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Hillary Clinton Angers Greens
A number of environmental groups asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to remove herself from the decision process in whether or not the TransCanada oil-sands…
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Ethanol Mandates Meet Reality
The EPA again lowered its projection in meeting the 2011 “mandate” on cellulosic ethanol. (Is it really a mandate when the end result meets 1.5…
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Willfull Ignorance from Ethanol Proponents
A study soon to be released by the Department of Energy, titled “Empirical Data and Decomposition Analysis of U.S. Corn Use for Ethanol Production…
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Billboard to Nowhere
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Marlo Lewis on Hyundai’s Zero Emission Advertisment
Hyundai’s newest advertisement features their attempts at producing a “green” commercial. One of Hyundai’s slogans is “Prepare to want one,” yet as Marlo Lewis notes…
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Ethanol Shills Never Tire
This time it’s retired general Wesley Clark. The language is anything but honest, and unfortunately very convincing to the average reader. It’s an $821-million-a-day…
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Ethanol in The Wall Street Journal
The editorial staff at The Wall Street Journal have not been kind to ethanol over the past months. They ran two editorials (one in July…
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The Chevy Volt: Just Another Hybrid
It turns out GM wasn’t being completely honest when they touted the Chevy Volt as an all electric vehicle. From Edmunds: GM Lied: Chevy…
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Ethanol and Energy Efficiency
The U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke today at the National Press Club on the future of biofuels in the United States. His…
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China Might Halt Rare Earth Exports
The New York Times reports: “China Said to Halt Some Mineral Shipments.” HONG KONG — China, which has been blocking shipments of crucial minerals…
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China Mocks U.S. Over Subsidy Investigation
An update to Friday’s post: Bloomberg (and the The New York Times) reported this weekend on China’s response to U.S. accusations…
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“Illegal” Green Energy Subsidies
In a move that surprised no one, The New York Times reported today that the U.S. agreed to go ahead and formally investigate…
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Food vs. Fuel? Part Deux
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered its estimate on yields from 2010 corn crops to 12.7 billion bushels for 2010…
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Ethanol: Following the E10 to E15 Debate
The ethanol industry was patiently waiting for the EPA to approve an increase from 10 percent ethanol blends to 15 percent in gasoline. They…
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An Unpaid Internship at the White House
@whitehouse on Twitter alerted me this morning that applications for internships at the White House are due by October 3. I couldn’t help but look…
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Bob Barr, [un]Principled Supporter of Ethanol
Bob Barr, the 2008 Libertarian Party presidential nominee, had a piece in yesterday’s Huffington Post titled Extending Ethanol Tax Credit Makes Sense. It’s…
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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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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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America’s Failed Domestic Ethanol Policy
I had a piece in yesterday’s Washington Times critiquing U.S. ethanol policy. My main points: Price subsidies are generally bad–they encourage overconsumption and distort…
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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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Higgs and the Expanding State
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States Expand Gambling as Feds Attack It
Last week the Tax Foundation called attention to state initiatives to expand the lottery system. To cover lost revenues from the recession many states…
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Biden announces retirement (savings program)
Vice President Joe Biden announces retirement (savings program). If only we were so lucky. (In reality, it doesn’t matter. As he recently said,…
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Obama Targets Kyl’s (Nanny State) Obstructionism
In his 2010 State of the Union address, President Obama blasted colleagues for placing holds on political appointees and other obstructive tactics: Neither party should…
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TSA Security Playset
The Playmobil Security Check Point has experienced a new surge in popularity (so much so that it is currently out of stock) on Amazon in…