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Hugo Chavez Plans to Steal Golf Courses
I wrote recently how Hugo Chavez is stealing productive sectors of the Venezuela economy on its ‘Road to Serfdom.’ Now, Chavez has developed a…
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Should Geoengineering be Banned?
Since one day the sun will expand into a red-giant star, humans in the distant multi-millennial future will either have to leave the Earth, geoengineer…
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Regulation of the Day 155: Miniskirts
Police officers would be tasked with paying close attention to women’s hemlines; no doubt many already do. Women who catch an officer’s eye could be…
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Beach House Bummer: State-Run Insurance Fuels Risky Coastal Development
Wouldn’t we all like to have a beach house? A large number of Americans have a dream of living near the sea, but few of…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Captcha adverts capture your attention: “IT IS an online advertiser’s dream. Some ads on the websites you visit could soon be impossible…
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Harvard’s Jeffrey Miron Explains Why the Stimulus Package Failed
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Civil Rights Commission: Administration Lied About Who Dropped Voter Intimidation Case
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has found that political appointees, not career Justice Department lawyers, made the decision to drop a voter intimidation…
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Washington State Ballot: Cracking Open the Wine and Spirits Market
This election day, Washington State voters will have to decide on two different ballot initiatives dealing with alcohol regulation (#1100 and #1105). The first will…
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On Google: If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It!
Scores.org has a post suggesting that Google is a monopoly because its “tentacles tap into sizable market shares” referring to the search engine, map services,…
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The Rise of Negative Campaigning?
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Afternoon Links: October 29, 2010
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Hospital Cost-Shifting Leads to More Expensive Car Insurance
Lawmakers’ policies are making your car insurance higher than it should be. Rather than solving the problems that government intervention is causing, however, politicians would…
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Obamacare to Wipe Out 800,000 Jobs Through Work Disincentives
Obamacare is going to wipe out 800,000 jobs through its disincentives to work. That contrasts sharply with false claims by House Speaker Nancy…
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The Stealthy Public Pension Time Bomb
As state and local government budgets have come under increasing stress, greater public attention has come to focus on government employees’ compensation. This greater scrutiny…
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Angela Logomasini On The Risk of BPA
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Ignorant Food Snobbery: Judge Orders McDonald’s to Pay Obese Employee $17,500
From The New York Times: A Brazilian court ruled this week that McDonald’s must pay a former franchise manager $17,500 because he gained 65…
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CEI Weekly: The Free Checking Restoration Act
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Butcher’s Bill for Texting While Driving
In my LA Times piece “Texters, You’d Be Better off Driving Drunk,” Oct. 3, I stated “There are no reliable studies regarding deaths associated…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Privacy Commissioner slams data retention: “The Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim has slammed the Federal Government’s proposed data retention law and called…
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D.C. Minimum Wage Contributes to Decade of Heightened Unemployment
In a daring new approach to employment analysis, a report out today from the DC Fiscal Policy Institute advises implementing a higher minimum…
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Washington Subway Terrorist Bomb Plot Leads to Arrest
Federal authorities arrested Farooque Ahmed for plotting to bomb the Washington Metro subway system. Ahmed, who immigrated from Pakistan, “conspired with people he thought…
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2010’s Record Election Spending Is Surprisingly Small
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Rare Earths — Not So Rare?
What do yttrium, ytterbium, erbium and terbium have in common? They are rare earth elements first found in the Swedish town of Ytterby between 1828…
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Afternoon Links: October 28, 2010
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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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Common Sense Fact of the Day: Only 5 Countries Have Pension Systems That Can Survive (Hint: Not the USA)
This issue keeps showing up over the Internet, so it makes it an easy story to address: Most government pension programs are unsustainable. As…
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Great Letter in Today’s Wall Street Journal
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An Alcohol-Caffeine Ban Won’t Work
The genie is out of the bottle. Mixing energy drinks and distilled spirits has become a popular trend in the U.S., particularly, among college age…
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Obama Pumps More Money into “High-Speed Rail” Boondoggles
The Department of Transportation announced today that another $2.4 billion is being doled out to high-speed rail projects around the country. This is on…
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Sen. Grassley’s Selective Crusade Against Conflicts of Interest
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Ia.) has been on a tear lately, badgering the Food and Drug Administration about whether it's doing enough to crack down on…
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CBO: Obamacare Discourages Work
Even the Congressional Budget Office, which allowed supporters of Obamacare to hide its costs through gimmicks and dodges, admitted last “Friday that…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Are texting and Facebook worse for teens than TV?: “Which raises an interesting question: Is Facebook really worse for teenagers’ brains than…
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Supreme Court Case May Wipe Out Vaccine Industry
Back when Congress knew how to pass good legislation, in this case in the mid-1980s, it took most cases involving vaccine liability out of the…
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Increase in American Corruption May Have Been Understated
Earlier, I wrote about how America had slipped to a historic low on the Global Corruption Index, becoming more corrupt. In retrospect, I think…
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Afternoon Links: October 27, 2010
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My Role Model, Jenna Jameson
As a self-made business mogul, a mother and wife, and a cancer survivor, there are many aspects of Jenna Jameson to admire and emulate.
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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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Clarity Regarding What the Left Believes
Recently, I wrote about french protesters shutting down France and destroying Paris. This is all due to the fact that Sarkozy is asking citizens…
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Foreclosure Moratorium Would Impose Huge Losses on Taxpayers
“Taxpayers and the federal government would be among the biggest losers if officials heed calls from some legislators and homeowners rights groups to stop millions…
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“Cy Pres: A Not So Charitable Contribution to Class Action Practice”
I’m honored that Skadden’s John Beisner, one of the world’s leading class action attorneys, Jessica Miller, and Jordan Schwartz today released a new paper…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Free E-Books, With a Catch – Advertising: “Barnes & Noble may kick off a fresh price war today…
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Dear Mr. Biden: Vice Presidents Were Meant to Be Seen, Not Heard
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U.S. Slips to Historic Low in Global Corruption Index
America has slipped to a historic low in the global corruption index, Reuters reports, and it is no longer one of the 20 least…
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Afternoon Links: October 26, 2010
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Soda Regulations for Everyone!
2010 hasn’t been a good year for soda. As Americans tune in to reality TV shows like The Biggest Loser and Too Fat for Fifteen,…
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Global Food Crisis Forecast; Aggravated by Biofuels and Global Warming Legislation
A global food crisis is “forecast as prices reach record highs.” “Rising food prices and shortages could cause instability in many countries as the…
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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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Hugo Chavez Steals More Productive Sectors of the Venezuelan Economy
CBS is reporting today that Hugo Chavez “ordered the expropriation of U.S.-based glass maker Owens-Illinois Inc.’s unit in the South American country.” This is…
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Stalled Korea FTA May Get a Boost
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk is scheduled to meet today with Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon in San Francisco to discuss the pending U.S.-Korea…
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Something (Useful) for the FTC to Do
I took a class at George Mason University with economist Tyler Cowen on industrial organization (IO).1 My apologies to Dr. Cowen…