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Today’s Links: October 23, 2012
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Police (Union) Brutality: Montgomery County Police “Effects” Bargaining Bludgeons Public Safety
This November, voters in Montgomery County, Maryland, will decide whether the police chief or union boss should determine public safety policy. The voter initiative, which will appear…
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PolitiFact Smears Supreme Court, Provides False Political Talking Point For Democratic Party
Earlier, the left-leaning "fact-checker" PolitiFact made the false claim the Supreme Court had declared employees are barred from suing over pay discrimination even…
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Devolve Infrastructure Decision-Making To Promote Efficiency, Foster Innovation
Last week, Walter Russell Mead had an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal arguing that traditional infrastructure spending will no longer provide the services…
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Today’s Links: October 22, 2012
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
71 new regulations, from gas mileage to certifying seafarers.
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: October 19, 2012
The only real change of late seems to be happening to leaves on trees. But on the alcohol regulatory reform front, the following states have…
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Free Education? Not In My State!
Coursera is a California-based startup that partners with top-tier universities to provide free online courses to people around the world. Sounds like a pretty great service,…
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Today’s Links: October 19, 2012
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A Rational View Of The Presidency
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Welfare Nation
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CEI Podcast For October 18, 2012: The Limits of Free Speech
The best remedy for hateful speech, Senior Attorney Hans Bader argues, is not to silence it with laws and courts. It is to rebut it…
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Of Mice, Mushrooms, And Formaldehyde
According to New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof, the chemical industry is engaged in a grand conspiracy to hide the fact your kitchen cabinets…
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New Study Questions Link Between Alcohol And Breast Cancer Risk
Every day, we make decisions about what to eat and drink that can affect our long-term health. Each individual is ultimately responsible for determining the…
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The True Cost Of The Auto Bailout
By Matt Patterson and Crissy Brown, Openmarket.org Once upon a time, there was a company called General Motors. It made cars. But the company…
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Southern European Bailouts Must Focus On Reform
As European leaders meet in Brussels this week for a summit on the future of European integration, bailouts for the south will be heavy on…
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Culinary Workers Union Behind Sin City Setback
As of July 2012, the unemployment rate of greater Clark County, Nevada, which includes the desert oasis of Las Vegas, is at 12.9 percent,…
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Today’s Links: October 18, 2012
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Greece Fire: Unions Hold Up Negotiations On Austerity Measures
This week, Greek officials and monetary lenders continued negotiations over the austerity measures the country must implement to save itself from economic collapse. Greece must…
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The True Cost Of The Auto Bailout
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Obama Makes False Claim About Supreme Court Decision; Fact-Checkers Parrot It
Reading a Supreme Court decision is so hard! If you are a fact-checker, it's much easier just to let President Obama, a critic of a…
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Not All Jobs Are Created Equal
By Matt Patterson & Crissy Brown, American Thinker Once upon a time, there was a company called General Motors. It made cars. But the company was…
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UNITE HERE President John Wilhelm To Step Down Following Turbulent Tenure
John Wilhelm, the long-time president of the union UNITE HERE, has just announced he plans to step down. Union leadership changes are not often…
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During Debates, The Only Good Businesses Are Small Businesses
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China’s High-Speed Rail Disaster Is Not A Model For The U.S.
After taking office in 2009, President Obama aggressively marketed high-speed rail in the United States. (I noted at the time that most of what…
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Today’s Links: October 17, 2012
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PATTERSON AND BROWN: Greece’s grim future portends Western decline
By Matt Patterson and Chrissy Brown, The Washington Times In 490 B.C., the brand-new democracy at Athens faced its first existential challenge: a vast …
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Dodd-Frank’s Democratic Dissenters — From Brian Schweitzer To Debbie Wasserman Schultz
"For some reason, some Republicans in Congress are still waging an all-out battle to delay, defund and dismantle these commonsense new rules." That was, in…
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Today’s Links: October 16, 2012
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Canadian Government Official Calls Anti-Abortion Speech Illegal “Bullying”
Bullying has been defined by opportunistic politicians to include a broad range of speech, including core political speech. The latest example is anti-abortion advocacy:…
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Mother Nature And Good Luck, Not Big Government, Saved General Motors… For Now
There are lots of claims that the federal government saved the American auto industry by bailing it out. (Never mind that Ford didn't get…
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The CDC Thinks You Drink Too Much
If you’ve had twelve alcoholic drinks in the past year, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) considers you a “regular drinker.” That’s right: twelve…
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Today’s Links: October 15, 2012
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
38 new regulations, from amateur rocket operations to the definition of “night.”…
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Obama Administration Imposes Racial Quotas On School Discipline In Oakland
Under pressure from the Education Department, which investigated it over "racial disparities" and "disparate impact," the Oakland, California, school system has agreed…
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Today’s Links: October 12, 2012
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The Missing Transparency: Where’s The Unified Agenda?
When it comes to government transparency, it is essential to throw at least some sunlight on the problem. Over at the Daily Caller, Wayne Crews…
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Jobless Youth: Southern Europe’s Ticking Time Bomb
Forget austerity and bailouts. Southern Europe has an even bigger problem: a glut of unemployed young people. If this trend continues, workforces will regress in…
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CEI Podcast For October 11, 2012: More Americans
Policy Analyst David Bier thinks the world could use more Americans. And an easy way make happen is through increasing legal immigration. America's superior economic…
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Printing Money Is Not A Main Street Policy
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Today’s Links: October 11, 2012
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At Brookings, Susan Crawford Fostering Internet Competition
Yesterday, the Brookings Institute held a panel that purported to discuss “Fostering Internet Competition”. But who is to do the fostering? Federal regulators, of course.
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FCC Broadband Test May Enable Warrantless Snooping, Coalition Warns
Consumers who test their broadband connections on a government website may be turning over information that could allow law enforcement agencies to review their Internet activity…
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New York Times And The Price Of Hypocrisy
Prompted by the Newspaper Guild, New York Times union employees carried out a brief walkout on Tuesday. At 3:35 pm, as many as 400 employees…
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Liberal Lawmakers To Rethink California “Green Chemistry”
California's Green Chemistry regulations have proven so unruly even the state's liberal lawmakers have begun to question the cost. The state legislature passed the…
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University Of Texas Violates Court Decisions On Use Of Race In Admissions
When journalists and commentators discuss the Fisher v. University of Texas case, they seem to grapple only with whether the University of Texas's race-conscious admissions…
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RIP Prince Roy of Sealand, Seasteading Pioneer
For as long as there have been states, there have been people seeking to escape state authority. Throughout most of history, such escape has meant…
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Where Is Obama’s Unified Agenda Of Federal Regulations?
Two primary federal documents by which we judge the regulatory record of the administration are missing in action this year. We at least can say,…
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Today’s Links: October 10, 2012
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
88 new regulations, from background checks for volunteers to silky sharks .
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Today’s Links: October 9, 2012
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Deficit Exceeds $1 Trillion For Fourth Straight Year
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Today’s Links: October 5, 2012
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Unemployment Falls As Part-Time Work Expands
Unemployment fell from 8.1% to 7.8%, aided by an increase in part-time employment: "Some 582,000 Americans took part-time positions because of slack business conditions…
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Regulations For Thee, But Not For Me
To liberals, regulations are great -- until they ensnare a liberal politician. Then, suddenly there needs to be an exception to the regulation. An example of…
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CEI Podcast For October 4, 2012: What’s Old Is New Again
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New Chicago School Teacher Contract Nothing To Celebrate
Although Chicago public school teachers returned to their classrooms on Sept. 19, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) today officially ratified the contract to…
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Suffocating Athena: Public Sector Unions Kill Greek Salvation — Again
On October 1, the Greek government unveiled an austerity package that aims to reduce public spending by $15 billion (11.5 billion euros) for 2013-2014,…
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Today’s Links: October 4, 2012
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Obama Administration Shirks Legal Obligation To Protect Military Voters
“Military absentee ballot requests” are “down 92% in key battleground state Virginia,” notes Cornell Law Professor William Jacobson. “The government has become quite efficient…
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Medical Junk Science: Canned Veggies May Make Kids Fat
Can feeding your child canned soup and vegetables make her fat? According to study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA),…
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Columbus Day Edition
Alcohol has a long and complex history in the USA. In fact, it’s probable that the Scandinavian Vikings that tried to conquer North America…
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Obama Administration Promotes Dependence On Welfare And Food Stamps: A Bigger Priority Than Public Safety?
While the Obama administration left the Mexican government completely in the dark about Operation Fast and Furious (which sent guns to Mexican drug cartels), …
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Today’s Links: October 3, 2012
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Celebrate National Cybersecurity Month!
The summer may be over, but don’t put the barbecue away yet -- the president just declared this October “National Cybersecurity Month.” It’s the…
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Obama Imposes Billions In Costs On Taxpayers In Order To Prevent Legally Required Disclosures
Yesterday, ABC News reported that "Defense contractor Lockheed Martin heeded a request from the White House . . . one with political overtones – and announced…
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Good Men Don’t Become President
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Regulating Outside The Rules
The federal regulatory process is a complicated thing. As with any complex body of law, there are loopholes that agencies can exploit.
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Lose The Helmet Already
So now we’re down to safe v. healthy. The “safe” approach to riding a bike is to wear a helmet, according to the Nanny Statists…
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Undergraduates: Enter The Douglas B. Rogers Memorial Essay Contest
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Today’s Links: October 2, 2012
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Japan’s War On Copyright Infringment
Japan is one-upping the U.S. when it comes to draconian copyright enforcement. The BBC reports that an amendment to Japan’s copyright law approved…
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Obama Administration Sent Guns To Drug Cartels
The Obama administration's botched Operation Fast and Furious, which provided weapons used in hundreds of crimes and killing sprees in Mexico, was broader than…
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Teachers Union Fights School Choice With Discredited Study In Washington State
Right now, Washington is one of nine states that does not allow charter schools to compete with the public school system. That could change this…
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September doings
Groupon settlement rejected on cy pres grounds last week after our objection. The attorneys would have received $2.125 million, the class maybe a twentieth of that.
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LOST Washing Up To Our Shores Once Again
The United National Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. Simultaneously, there has been a push for…
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Today’s Links: October 1, 2012
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Omens Of Another Recession? Durable Goods Orders Drop Sharply
In a bad omen for the economy, "durable-goods orders" sank "13.2% in August," far more than economists "had expected." “Bookings also fell for machinery,…
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The Real Spanish Bank Bailout Cost: 113 Billion Euro
Don’t be fooled by the optimism overflowing from the stress test of Spain’s banking system released on Friday. American Consultancy Oliver Wyman, which performed the…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
71 new regulations, from prune insurance to Colombian tariffs.
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Fifty Years Later: Rachel Carson Is Still Wrong
Back in 1996, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Jonathan Tolman authored an article entitled "Rachel Was Wrong,” in which he explained why biologist Rachel…
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Big Labor’s Midwest Offensive
Yesterday in the St. Paul, Minnesota, Pioneer Press, my colleague Russ Pohl and I detail the current militant tactics used by Midwest public-sector unions that…
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Free Checking Nearly Extinct Thanks To Dodd-Frank; Will Credit Card Rewards Follow?
One year ago on October 1, Dodd-Frank's Durbin Amendment price controls went into effect, causing consumers to lose free checking and be soaked with other…
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Unions Outgunning Opposition In Michigan
Organized labor is driving hard to enshrine collective bargaining right in Michigan State constitution. If Proposal 2 passes this November, they will have done…
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TRUST Act Is An Important Stand Against Federal Immigration Policy
In a CNN column today, Jose Antonio Vargas calls California’s TRUST Act “the most important piece of legislation for immigrant communities this year.” Vargas…
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Massive Payoff To City For Dropping Challenge To Tool Used To Impose Racial Quotas In Lending
The Obama administration declined to pursue a fraud claim worth up to $180 million against a city to get it to drop its pending…
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Collective bargaining and government: A toxic brew
By Trey Kovacs and Russ Pohl, Pioneer Press What happens when special interests gain control of the public purse? Some recent events provide a…
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Today’s Links: September 28, 2012
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Big Labor’s Midwest Offensive
Openmarket.org Yesterday in the St. Paul, Minnesota, Pioneer Press, my colleague Russ Pohl and I detail the current militant tactics used by Midwest public-sector unions…
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Scapegoating Free Speech
In the aftermath of a terrorist attack in Libya that killed our ambassador and three other Americans, the Obama administration was quick to scapegoat a…
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Old Hat
Is the Chevy Volt really new technology? General Motors justifies its profit losses on the automobile by claiming it’s a long-term investment in a brand…
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Google Fiber Project: A Product Of The Free Market Or Government Interference?
Google will soon launch Google Fiber service to select residents in Kansas City. Fred Campbell, Director of CEI’s Communications Liberty and Innovation Project, lauded…
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Study Finds Diisononyl Phthalate Safe For Toys
While news sources, greens, and U.S. lawmakers hype the risks about children’s exposure to the chemicals found in a host of plastic…
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Saving The Game: Botched Calls And Legitimacy In The NFL
As a Seattle Seahawks fan living in Washington, D.C., I was excited for my team’s nationally televised Monday night game against the Green Bay Packers.
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Today’s Links: September 27, 2012
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Today’s Links: September 26, 2012
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In Rejecting EPIC’s Petition On TSA’s Strip-Search Machines, Court Effectively Orders Rulemaking Timetable
This afternoon, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s (EPIC) petition for writ of mandamus, which called on the court…
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Driverless Cars Legalized In California
Just after 1pm PDT, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 1298, which explicitly legalizes the use and testing of driverless cars in the…
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Work ‘til You Drop: Is This The Next European “Welfare?”
As Europe’s population ages, its widespread entitlement commitments will generate huge burdens on governments’ budgets. The economic consequences are easy to foresee: just think of…
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