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Obama Seeks to Mandate More Risky, Low-Income Loans by Banks, in New Financial Rules
The President has just announced proposals for a major overhaul of the financial system. The proposals would force banks to make even…
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HHS Secretary: Health Insurance Industry Needs Competition… With Government
In an AP interview on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called for competition in the health insurance market. No, not between…
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Wasteful Regulation
The issue of “e-waste” has been receiving a lot of attention recently, mostly from critics concerned about discarded electronics being shipped off to developing…
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In re Bluetooth Headset Product Liability Litigation
“If you bought a Bluetooth headset between June 30, 2002 and February 19, 2009, the settlement of a class action lawsuit may affect your…
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Welcome
This is the blog for the Center for Class Action Fairness, a non-profit project founded by Ted Frank to provide pro bono…
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Tourism Bill to Be Combined With Anti-Civil-Liberties Hate Crimes Bill
If you were a tourist, would you like to come to a country where you could be tried twice for the same crime — even…
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Earmarks By Another Name
During the 2008 presidential campaign and even in the months following President Barack Obama’s election, Democrats in Congress and the administration have said…
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Regulation of the Day: Clean Air in Columbus, OH
Today’s Regulation of the Day comes to us from the EPA. One would think that regulators, seeing heartening results, would pat themselves on the back…
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Obama’s Speech to AMA on Healthcare Misses the Point
In a speech before the American Medical Association on Monday, June 15, President Obama pitched his plan for heathcare reform. The main thrust of the…
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One Policy, One System, Universal Service
Under that Orwellian slogan, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, or “Ma Bell,” operated its telephone monopoly for the better part of the 20th century.
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Dinner Movie: It’s a Wonderful Institute
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Motoring around the World on Motor City Workers’ Dime
Detroit can astound even the most seasoned political cynic, and now it’s done it again. As the Detroit Free Press reports, the trustees…
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Langer: Consumer Safety at Risk
Check out Andrew Langer’s excellent piece in today’s Roll Call addressing challenges for the potential new chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
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LibertyWeek 47: Persian Powder Keg
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Danger: Reusable Grocery Bags
Writer Michael Shaw recently produced a very interesting blog post and article on reusable grocery bags. Most of us might think the only…
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Misinformation Won’t Save Species
If we want to help save species, we need to start getting the facts right about what problems we need to address. Unfortunately, the press…
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More Government Waste, Corruption, and Corporate Welfare, Thanks to the Obama Administration
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In Cover-Up, Obama Fires Inspector General to Shield Crony and Waste Taxpayer Money
Obama is firing an inspector general, Gerald Walpin, who uncovered wrongdoing by a prominent Obama supporter and opposed letting him off the hook. Ironically,…
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Senate Passes FDA Tobacco Regulation Bill; Obama Will Sign It
The Senate has just passed the FDA tobacco regulation bill by a 79-to-17 vote. The bill now goes to President Obama, who has…
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Barney Frank Asked about Executive Pay Curbs; Throws Tantrum
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) appears to be working in tandem with the Obama administration on making executive pay subject to shareholder votes. That seems…
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Steve Forbes celebrates CEI’s 25th year
Steve Forbes in the Washington Times today has a very nice tribute to CEI on its 25th Anniversary. Forbes points out some of CEI’s…
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FDA Poised to Regulate Tobacco, Which May Backfire
Congress is about to enact a bill to subject tobacco to FDA regulation. Mark Berlind notes one anomalous feature of the bill: it…
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Confiscating wealth in the name of fairness
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Eleventh Circuit Grants Rehearing in Reeves v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Which Gutted Statutory Limits on Sexual Harassment Claims
Can you sue your employer because your co-workers listen to raunchy radio programs? A federal appeals court is reconsidering its 2008 ruling…
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Public Wants Wasteful Stimulus Package Canceled
By a margin of 45% to 36%, the American people want to cancel the $787 billion stimulus package, reports pollster Rasmussen Reports. Economist…
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Regulation of the Day: Saving the Children
On June 26, the National Commission on Children and Disasters is having a meeting. They will be talking about another meeting from the day before.
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Supreme Court Vacates Stay Order in Chrysler Case, Refuses to Rule on Legal Challenges At This Time
The full Supreme Court just vacated the stay that Justice Ginsburg earlier entered that had temporarily blocked the government’s plan for Chrysler. Why it…
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Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Illegal Chrysler Giveaway to UAW
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg yesterday granted a stay temporarily blocking the government’s plan for Chrysler, which would give effectively give most of…
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LibertyWeek 46: The Great Porn Wall of China
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Sinful Proposition
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Going on 20: The Big Dig Disaster Continues
Remember Boston’s “Big Dig?” If not, here’s a brief recap: It’s the highway project/death trap originally budgeted for $2.6 billion that ended up…
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Stimulus Package Kills Jobs, Drives Up Unemployment
Unemployment is now even higher than the Obama Administration said it would be if there were no stimulus package. At least 1.5 million…
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Greider: Democrats Not Stalinist Enough
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Danson in the Dark
Actor and noted intellectual Ted Danson has a piece on CNN.com entitled "World's Biggest Fish Are Dying." To his credit, it is not about whales.
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Save a Tree Hug a Capitalist.
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Illegal Takeover of Chrysler: Pension Funds Have Standing in Indiana State Police Pension Trust v. Chrysler, LLC
Earlier, I wrote about the Indiana pension funds’ challenge to the Obama Administration’s plan to effectively give Chrysler to the UAW Union, while cheating…
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Schumer and Cantwell’s deceptive advertising on shareholder “rights.”
If deceptive labeling of bills in Congess were punishable by regulatory agencies, Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) would be paying a hefty…
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Regulation of the Day: Drawbridge Schedules in Sturgeon Bay, WI
Today’s Regulation of the Day comes to us from the Department of Homeland Security (208,000 employees, $52 billion 2009 budget).
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Court Rebuffs Challenge to Illegal Chrysler Bailout and Takeover; Pension Funds Will Appeal to Supreme Court
A federal appeals court has refused to block the Administration’s illegal auto bailout, which rips off taxpayers and pension funds to enrich…
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Regulation of the Day: Taxpayer-Funded Advertising for Mushrooms
This is the first installment of an occasional series that shines a little light on what the regulatory state is up to. Today’s Regulation of…
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LibertyWeek 45: Save the Beer Barns!
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Public Utility Land Grab Hits a Snag
In Springfield, Missouri, the city-owned utility provider–City Utilities–recently attempted to seize a parcel of downtown property in order to build a bus terminal. The owner,…
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Green Power Collides with Endangered Species
The greens are getting a taste of their own medicine. For years, they have used the Endangered Species Act to regulate use of private and…
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Twenty Years since Tiananmen Square
China is a very different place than it was twenty years ago. It was on this day in 1989 that one anonymous, brave soul halted…
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Illegal, Unfair Auto Bailout That Harms Retirees and Taxpayers Challenged in Chrysler Bankruptcy
The Indiana State Teachers’ Retirement Fund is rightly challenging the diversion of tens of billions of dollars of federal TARP bank bailout money to…
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Cheers for Indiana Treasurer’s halt to Chrysler Bankruptcy
The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock stand up against the Obama administration’s nationalization scheme.
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Can EPA ban gasoline? Can Obama enact Kyoto II without Senate ratification?
A recent report by New York University school of Law’s Institute for Policy Integrity suggests as much. See my commentary on Masterresource.Org.
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NYT: “Buy American” angers allies, loses jobs
The New York Times opined today that the so-called stimulus bill’s “Buy American” provisions are having some unintended consequences –…
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Feinstein Withdraws Support for EFCA (for now)
California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein is withdrawing her support for the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), organized labor’s top legislative priority, reports a…
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Union Keeps Special Privileges Through Taxpayer Bailout of General Motors
The federal government is spending more than $50 billion to bail out General Motors, with no end in sight. But the UAW union…