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Can the Blogosphere Be Regulated?
The Federal Trade Commission seems to think so. A fresh set of proposed Federal Trade Commission guidelines, if approved this summer, would…
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To Hell in a Handbasket
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More Risky, Low-Income Loans: Obama Asks Congress to Create a Harmful Consumer Financial Protection Agency
Banks will now be pressured to make even more risky, low-income loans. Obama has sent to Congress his proposal to create a politically-correct Consumer…
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“If you like public housing, you will love public health care”
Best line this week — should be a slogan for health care debate: “If you like public housing, you will love public health care.” Read…
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More Welfare and Marriage Penalties from Obama and Liberal Congressmen
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Obama’s Call for Light Bulb Regulation Not a New or Bright Idea
Eager to sustain his regulatory whirlwind, President Obama is now calling for efficiency standards for household and business lighting. As if the climate-themed…
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Obama Silences Science: Is This the Change We Were Promised?
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Obama Backs Dictatorship in Honduras
Honduras removed its bullying, autocratic President after he began behaving as a dictator, and its Congress replaced him with a less power-hungry member of…
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Regulation of the Day: Cap and Trade
The Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill that passed the House last week contains 397 new regulations.
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Goodbye, Mary Lou: Tribute to a great journalist and editor
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LibertyWeek 49: Censoring Science at the EPA
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Strange Bedfellows? Maybe Not
Many lawmakers support policies that provide concentrated benefits to their constituents while dispersing the costs among the populace, and insurance policy is no exception. When…
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“Treason on the House floor,” says Krugman
Noted atmospheric scientist and Nobel Prize winner in Physics, Paul Krugman, has a rant in the New York Times today saying that…
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“Saving the world?”
So many people declare that they want to “save the world!” A candidate for Miss Universe declared that to be the main purpose of her…
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Obama Blunders in Honduras and Afghanistan
The U.S. is meddling in Honduras to prop up an anti-American ruler backed by Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. After Honduran president Manuel Zelaya attempted…
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Supreme Court Rules in Favor of White and Hispanic Firefighters in Ricci v. DeStefano
The Court reversed a decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, including Judge Sonia Sotomayor. . . The Supreme Court held that this was…
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Regulation of the Day: School Buses
Because of overwhelmingly negative comments, DOT has decided not to go forward with a proposed change to federal school bus policy (isn’t education supposed to…
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Bluetooth Reply Brief
This morning we filed this reply brief in the Bluetooth Headset Products Liability Litigation. The hearing is July 6, a week from today. If…
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Compare and contrast: Costco renewal settlement
Not all class action settlements are anti-consumer, and CCAF does not reflexively oppose settlements. I had two people independently approach me about a class action…
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Krugman Undermines Waxman-Markey Job Creation Claims
Today, National Public Radio held a pep rally for the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, with Paul Krugman as head cheerleader. No critic of the bill…
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Ameritrade Stock Spam Settlement
In 2007, plaintiffs brought a class action lawsuit against Ameritrade, alleging that Ameritrade was somehow behind the plaintiffs’ receiving spam pushing the purchase of certain…
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Companies to China: Don’t profit-block us bro
An article in this morning’s wall street journal commends a coalition of business associations and councils that sent a letter to China’s Premier…
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WTO-UNEP report gives the nod — sort of — to carbon border taxes
Today, the World Trade Organization, together with the UN Environment Programme posted a report on trade and climate change that outlines…
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“Take My Voice with You”
Thus tells an Iranian woman to a journalist passing through her town, in the new film, The Stoning of Soraya M., which opens…
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Green Pork and (Davis) Bacon
The alliance between organized labor and leftist environmentalists remains as strong as ever. As Carter Wood at Shopfloor.org notes, the Waxman-Markey climate change bill…
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“Leveling the playing field” with border taxes (read “bring down the economy”)
In Washington, beware any proposal that attempts to “level the playing field.” What is usually meant is hobbling competition with restrictive rules and regulations…
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Regulation of the Day: Solid Waste
When an agency screws up really badly, political leaders will sometimes change the agency's name. The EPA’s Office of Solid Waste is now called the…
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Obama’s Job-Killing Stimulus Package Replaced Investments With Welfare, Out of Political Correctness
Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package was purged of most investments in roads and bridges, and filled instead with welfare and social spending,…
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Regulation of the Day: Rice Inspection Certificates
Our rice is in crisis. Inspection certificates currently contain some data in the grade line section that better belongs in the results section. Fortunately, the…
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LibertyWeek 48: Total Privacy Awareness
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Obama Backs Corrupt Status Quo in Financial Rules Overhaul
The mortgage crisis was caused largely by the reckless government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and by federal affordable-housing…
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Minneapolis Drops $75k to Defend Stinky Tap Water
Cities around the nation are spending thousands in taxpayer dollars to promote tap water because of the alleged environmental problems with bottled water. But…
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Cap and Trade Round-Up
Word has it that the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade/energy tax bill is finally hitting the floor of the House, probably this Friday. CEI is decidedly in the…
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Opposition briefing in Bluetooth
The plaintiffs and defendants each filed their briefs yesterday in the $0-for-the-class and $800k-for-the-attorneys settlement. Note that defendants were required to pay $1M in notice…
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Hearings Open on Coercive and Counterproductively Costly Health Care Bill
Congressional Democrats are pushing hard to complete their health care bill before next week’s recess, but their hopes for a quick passage and the…
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FDA Tobacco Regulation May Harm Public Health By Blocking Healthy Alternatives
FDA regulation may actually undermine public health by making it harder to market to smokers other tobacco products, like snus, that are not as lethal…
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Commission Asks Justice Department Why Pro-Obama Thugs Got Away With Menacing White Voters
Members of the NBPP were caught on film blocking access to the polls and physically and verbally intimidating voters. . . When the defendants did…
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FTC to Monitor Blogs for Undisclosed Compensation
So much for the idyllic “free information” model of the internet. The Federal Trade Commission is drafting new rules that would extend its authority to encompass bloggers who…
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Obama Administration’s Anti-Travel Policies Hit New Low
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the new passport requirements implemented at the U.S.-Canada border. As I noted at the time, most Americans–including…
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Supreme Court Limits Voting Rights Act, But Declines to Strike Down Key Section of the Act
The Supreme Court expanded the ability of local governments to “bail out” of a draconian provision of the Voting Rights Act, which requires them…
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The Irony of the Liberty Bill
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U.S. Senate Investigates Mobile Phone Exclusivity Deals
A group of US Senators has sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission expressing their concern that the exclusive arrangements that are common between wireless…
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E-Cigarette Smokers Could Be Left Out in the Cold
The “smokes” may be different, but the Food and Drug Administration’s ever-vigilant watch to keep us safe from ourselves in its quest to quantify…
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Stimulus = Welfare + Quotas + Corruption
Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package is now being used to force states to adopt racial quotas in government contracts, even if their state constitution…
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Obama Administration Gives Miranda Warnings to Enemy Combatants in Afghanistan, Even Though They Are Not Legally Required
The Obama Administration is now requiring investigators to give Miranda warnings to some “captured foreign fighters” in Afghanistan, advising them that they…
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Senators Act on Clean Water Restoration Act
Yesterday, in a mere one hour and seventeen minutes, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee sailed through S. 787—the Clean Water Restoration Act…
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Privacy Declared Public Good
Bruce Schneier, eminent cryptographer, has declared market failure. He points to what he calls a meta-problem: Those entrusted with our privacy often…
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The $60,000 Obama Health-Care Plan: It’s “Eye-Poppingly” Expensive on a Per-Person Basis
Obama’s health-care proposals will cost well over a trillion dollars, without providing universal coverage. They are so “eye-poppingly” expensive that even Congressional Democrats have…
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Taxes without Borders
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Regulation of the Day: The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission
The State Department has renewed its membership in the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. This will cost taxpayers more than $2 million in annual membership dues.