The Open Market Blog

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/21/2007

While Columbia University and its president, the pompous Lee Bollinger, were giving a big welcome to Iranian despot (and former hostage-taker) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/20/2007

The House has just passed a bill to increase the size and expense of the federal Food and Drug Administration. The bill would impose…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/20/2007

The Santa Cruz, California, City Council is waiving its ban on smoking in public parks on September 29 so that marijuana can be smoked…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/14/2007

Saudi Arabia continues to demand that American tobacco companies pay it billions of dollars for its smokers’ health care costs. Saudi Arabia is demanding…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/14/2007

The Dominican Republic has joined Nicaragua in objecting to a proposed increase in the tax on some premium cigars from 5 cents…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/13/2007

I'm baffled by Eli's contention that Mark Warner, as governor of Virginia, controlled government spending. Warner became a champion big spender after initially practicing fiscal…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/13/2007

The Washington Post has more coverage and commentary on the unconstitutional D.C. voting rights bill, which would give the District a Congressman even…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/12/2007

In The Washington Post, several Congressmen argue that although the Constitution says that Congressmen and Senators must represent “states,” it does not really mean…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/12/2007

A federal judge has struck down a bossy New York City regulation that ordered restaurants to list calorie-counts on their menus for each menu…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/12/2007

Swedish-style snus, a smokeless tobacco product, are much less hazardous to your health than cigarettes. Yet in most of Europe, they are banned, supposedly on…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/12/2007

The Wall Street Journal has an editorial today about how “low green card quotas have left the U.S. with an undersupply of nurses that…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/11/2007

The FDA tobacco regulation bill poised to pass Congress may trigger a trade dispute with Indonesia, according to the Asia Times. Indonesia objects to…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/10/2007

The New York Times has a story today on how a woman with breast cancer is dying in agony without any pain relief because…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/10/2007

A teenager’s lawyer falsely claims he raped and killed his sister because he was high on marijuana. Amazingly enough, his gullible mother believes this…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/10/2007

Washington, D.C.'s subway and bus system, Metro, is weighing a 29-percent fare increase for its riders, to overcome a multimillion-dollar operating deficit. Part of…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/07/2007

Very often, people think that if something offends them, it must be unconstitutional. Exhibit A is the Washington Post's editorial today on the Town…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/07/2007

Even if a Supreme Court decision is correct and well-reasoned, it can still be overturned if the plaintiff's bar comes up with good soundbites…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/06/2007

Thousands of children have committed suicide after federal regulators discouraged taking drugs that combat depression, such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil, by hyping health risks associated…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/06/2007

Judging from a bizarre Washington Post story today on the closing of a government-subsidized day-laborer center, a constitutional right to welfare must just have…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/06/2007

Endorsing a bill of dubious constitutionality, The Washington Post urges the Senate to join the House in passing a bill that would give Washington,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/05/2007

The British government continues to steal newborns from their mothers, including a rape victim, according to the London Telegraph.  Hexham Children's Services in Northumberland…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/04/2007

Cigarette taxes could be reformed in a way that discourages underage people from starting to smoke, while also relieving the financial burden on poor people…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/04/2007

Two weeks ago, I wrote “about convicted felon Teressa Turner-Schaefer, who spent a mere 11 months in jail for killing her husband after an…

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/04/2007

The District of Columbia has filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking review of a federal appeals court decision striking down the District’s…

• By: Hans Bader
• 08/30/2007

Indonesia is protesting that the bill to subject the tobacco industry to FDA regulation would violate an international trade treaty. The Jakarta Post…

• By: Hans Bader
• 08/27/2007

The Washington Post reports that the man responsible for the Virginia Tech massacre had mental problems known to his high school, but that the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 08/24/2007

Even in the midst of a budget deficit, Virginia governor Tim Kaine is pushing for a massive and costly expansion of state-funded preschool programs. A…