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CEI Weekly: CEI Releases 2011 Edition of Ten Thousand Commandments
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Super-sized Convention Centers: The Boondoggles that Refuse to Die
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Paul Ryan Attacked Because His Father Died Early, Resulting in Survivor Benefits
At the age of 16, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) suffered the death of his 55-year-old father. Because of his father’s early death, the government made…
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Biofuels Policy — Death and Disease Follow
The inestimable Indur Goklany has an important new report on biofuels and developing countries. “Could Biofuel Policies Increase Death and Disease in Developing Countries?”…
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Laura Ingraham on Protecting Email from Unwarranted Governmental Access
On Wednesday, I appeared on the Laura Ingraham Show to discuss the Obama administration's stance on reforming the 1986 law that governs law enforcement access…
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CEI Podcast for April 21, 2011: The Male-Female Pay Gap
Carrie Lukas, Managing Director of the Independent Women's Forum, argues that the pay gap between men and women isn't due to discrimination.
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Education Department Financial Aid Rules Backfire, Harming Students
The Education Department tried to restrict the use of financial aid by for-profit colleges by barring them from getting more than 90 percent of their…
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UN Embarrassed as “Climate Refugees” Fail to Show
It’s hardly novel to compare global warming alarmism to a doomsday cult, but it’s hard to avoid the comparison whenever yet another doomsday scenario is…
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Cobell v. Salazar
Today the Center for Class Action Fairness filed an objection to the $3.4 billion taxpayer-funded Cobell Indian trust settlement on behalf of Sisseton-Wahpeton Ovate…
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Icemakers: Mankind’s Doom
An article at Time explains "How the Ice in Your Drink is Imperiling the Planet," and what regulators are doing about it.
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Morning Media Summary
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There is No More Fat to Trim from Government Budgets
Workforce Central Florida, a government agency, is spending $73,000 to give away 6,000 capes and some cardboard cutouts.
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Stated Housing Preferences vs. Revealed Housing Reality
In March, the National Association of Realtors released the 2011 Community Preference Survey. Some greeniac urbanists are touting the survey results…
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A Market Failure in Air Traffic Control?
Air traffic control is simply too important an issue to leave to the free market. It is time to put the government in charge of…
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Local Union to City: Hands Off Our Trash!
Labor unions of late have been fighting an uphill battle in public perception, attempting to justify the significance of unions for the middle class and…
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Debt Warning Should Force Decision on America’s Future
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April 18 press release
CENTER FOR CLASS ACTION FAIRNESS ANNOUNCES MULTIPLE VICTORIES WASHINGTON, DC – Today the Center for Class Action Fairness LLC announced multiple…
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Happy Tax Day
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Ten Thousand Commandments
The 2011 edition of Wayne Crews’ “Ten Thousand Commandments” was released today. The annual study gives a big-picture view of the regulatory state. You can…
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Babies “R” Us baby products antitrust class action settlement: McDonough v. Toys “R” Us
A class action against Babies “R” Us and manufacturers of upscale baby products—BabyBjorns, Britax car seats, Kids Line and Peg Perego products, Maclaren strollers, Medela…
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YouTube Introduces “Copyright School” to Educate Infringing Users
In the ongoing copyright debates, areas of common ground are seemingly few and far between. It's easy to forget that not all approaches to…
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Objectors and fee requests
We recently had two victories in two cases in front of the same judge; the question then becomes whether to submit a fee request. There’s…
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Defending Nature via Property Rights
Elizabeth Brubaker describes why the institutions of private property are needed to defend nature, and why modern control policies that undermine them contribute to pollution…
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Peter Diamond’s Nomination to Fed Benefits from Double Standard
Liberal economist Peter Diamond is likely to be confirmed to a powerful position, despite issues far more severe than those that blocked the confirmations of…
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Political Correctness Roundup: School Officials Attack Easter, Thanksgiving, and “White Privilege”
A Minnesota school district is "laying off 94 teachers” even while spending thousands of dollars to send "a delegation" of teachers to an annual “White Privilege Conference”…
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EA Sports Litigation (Pecover v. Electronic Arts Inc.)
Class members getting a notice for this case have been writing me. Dudes: I made my name in the Grand Theft Auto class action,…
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Internet Poker Shut Down in United States
Today the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York released criminal charges against a number of online poker websites operating in the United…
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Senator Jim Webb Flunks Legislation 101: Says Congress Can’t Change the Law
Congress can always change the law if it chooses. For example, it passed the 1991 Civil Rights Act, which overturned many Supreme Court decisions interpreting…
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Dulles Rail Union Giveaway to Increase Costs
An expensive rail line for passengers traveling in and out of the Washington, D.C. region's Dulles International Airport never struck me as a good use…
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CEI Weekly: Taxpayers Are Footing Bill for Government Employee Union Activity
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A Definition of Classical Liberalism?
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Morning Media Summary
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In Politics, Inertia Always Wins
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CEI Podcast for April 14, 2011: Avoiding a Government Shutdown
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Education Department Undermines Due Process and Accuracy in Campus Sexual Harassment Cases
On April 4, the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent the nation’s school officials a letter urging them to water down…
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“We Are One” Unless You’re New
Openmarket.org Alert to non-unionized workers out there, be wary of joining a union during contract negotiations. Recent news has shown a plethora of contract negotiations…
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“We Are One” Unless You’re New
Alert to non-unionized workers out there, be wary of joining a union during contract negotiations. Recent news has shown a plethora of contract negotiations where…
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Los Angeles (City) Won’t Refuse Permits for Condomless Porn
After years of fighting and failed attempts to force Los Angeles County to require condom-usage on adult film sets, AIDS activists were finally successfully…
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Morning Media Summary
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Happy Tax Freedom Day
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China Bans Time Travel
In further proof that communists never won the culture war in China, they merely shut down culture altogether, the Chinese government decided this week to…
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Obama Tax Plan “Machetes” Small Business and Entrepreneurs
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Democrats Fight over Power, not Economics
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STB Should Ignore Calls to Re-regulate Railroads
Yesterday, I filed a comment letter with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) on behalf of CEI regarding the board's request for comments prior to…
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TSA Gropes 6-Year-Old Girl
Sometimes people wonder why I favor abolishing the TSA outright. Here's one reason.
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Morning Media Summary
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Much Ado about Nothing: Budget Cut Edition
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The Environmental-Industrial Complex
Sometimes the green part of green regulations isn't the environment. It's money.
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Should Helicopter Parents Stop Hovering Over Their Kids?
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School Forces Kids to Eat Cafeteria Lunch or Go Hungry
A public elementary school in Chicago has banned brown bag lunches. Little Village Academy Principal Elsa Carmona says the purpose of the ban is to…
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China Had a Quarterly Trade Deficit — And it was Hardly Noticed
Here’s a bit of news that didn’t get too much attention — China had a first quarter 2011 trade deficit. It’s the country’s first quarterly…
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Morning Media Summary
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Education Department Changes Burden of Proof in Sexual Harassment Cases Under Title IX
The Education Department is trying to change the burden of proof that many colleges and universities use in disciplinary proceedings over sexual harassment, despite court…
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Court reduces fees after CCAF objection to HP settlement
In January, we discussed a Center for Class Action Fairness objection to a coupon settlement involving HP inkjet printers. That settlement turned out to…
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Cuts in Agricultural Subsidies Gain Support
“Farm Subsidies: Sacred Cows No More” is the headline of the WSJ April 9 article. Agricultural subsidies, in a period where budget cuts are…
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U.S. Swipes at Colombia’s Sovereignty with Onerous Labor Requirements
AEI’s Claude Barfield posted an insightful comment on the new labor requirements the U.S. foisted on Colombia in connection with the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade…
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Morning Media Summary
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Education Department “Dear Colleague” Letter Shreds Presumption of Innocence in Harassment Cases, Ignoring Supreme Court
To promote due process, some college disciplinary systems recognize a strong presumption of innocence, requiring clear-and-convincing evidence of guilt for discipline. That practice is now…
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Constipated Colombia Pact
Pres. Obama has made expanding U.S. exports a centerpiece of his economic plan. In his January State of the Union Address, he noted that "95%…
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CEI Weekly: Paul Ryan’s Budget Will Cut Spending But Won’t Reform Washington
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Morning Media Summary
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My Response to Simon Johnson’s Defense of Price Controls Benefiting Big Retailers
Two weeks ago, I wrote a post blasting 17 Republican senators who voted last year for Dodd-Frank's Durbin Amendment, which puts below-cost price controls…
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WaPo Freaks the Heck Out Over Gov’t Shutdown
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Morning Media Summary
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Elitist WaPo Rant Against “Extreme Couponing,” Affordable Food
A Washington Post reporter today heaped scorn on "Extreme Couponing," a TLC show about people who go to great extremes to clip and use coupons. …
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ReasonTV video on Protectionism at the Smithsonian
ReasonTV just produced an eye-opening video regarding how easily politicians can utilize rhetoric to create economically absurd policies. In the video below, Bernie Sanders works…
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: April 6, 2011
Nation: Wine shipping is once again being threatened by federal legislation threatening to overturn Supreme Court decisions that clearly made it illegal for states…
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Michigan Demonstrates Clean Energy “Success”
In what should be a satirical piece from The Onion, Reuters has an exclusive interview with former Michigan Governor Granholm who boldly proclaims that…
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Morning Media Summary
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Unions Use Civil Rights for Own Ends
Openmarket.org Yesterday, AFL-CIO held nationwide events to promote the solidarity between the union protests over collective bargaining and the rights Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,…
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Paul Ryan’s Budget Proposal is Half the Answer
This morning, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) unveiled a bold proposal to trim trillions off America’s bloated budget. It represents the only serious proposal out there…
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Unions Use Civil Rights for Own Ends
Yesterday, AFL-CIO held nationwide events to promote the solidarity between the union protests over collective bargaining and the rights Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and…
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A Smoke-Free Backroom Deal
In their March 11 article, “Tobacco Money,” discussing the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), the Tulsa World editorial writers asked the question, “so what’s…
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Entrepreneurship Dips: The New York Times Admits Small Business is Important
Yesterday's NYT cautions that "jobs are scarce" in small business as American entrepreneurship declines: Here's the explanation the NYT includes from the pessimistic chart's…
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3 Numbers: Why a U.S. Economic Meltdown is Inevitable
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CEI Podcast for April 5, 2011: Reforming the Railway Labor Act
Russ Brown, a vice president at the Labor Relations Institute and a CEI Adjunct Analyst, talks about recent changes made to the Railway Labor Act…
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Morning Media Summary
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Saving for Retirement? Mission: Impossible
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Health Department Lives By Its Own Rules?
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Union Officials Exploit Tragedy to Increase Membership and Dues
Openmarket.com Union officials have a long history of propagating tragedy to enforce their pro-union agenda. Big Labor is able to accomplish this effect as efficiently…
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Union Officials Exploit Tragedy to Increase Membership and Dues
Union officials have a long history of propagating tragedy to enforce their pro-union agenda. Big Labor is able to accomplish this effect as efficiently and…
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Morning Media Summary
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House Rejects Obama-Backed, Pro-Union Amendment to FAA Reauthorization Bill
This afternoon, the House passed the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011. Perhaps the most contentious issue debated was a provision of the legislation that…
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Morning Media Summary
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April Fools Day and the New York Times
I recently treated myself to the new iPad, which arrived this week, and was looking forward to reading the NY Times this morning with that…
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Meritless, Massive Class Action Lawsuit Against Wal-Mart Should Be Dismissed
As a lawyer who used to bring class-action discrimination lawsuits for a living, I am puzzled by press sympathy for the massive, meritless class-action lawsuit…
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Gail Giggles at Consumer Choice in the NYT
Gail Collins has a truly inane opinion piece in the NYT today, in which she excoriates those people -- Tea Partiers and libertarians --…
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Morning Media Summary
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Food Inflation is Here!
Next time someone tells you that only the left side of the aisle cares about feeding hungry Americans, remind them that it's green special interests…
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Rep. Levin Wants to Stall Trade Pact — Colombia Needs to Change its Laws, He Says
Okay -- another big roadblock for the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and not surprisingly, it’s coming from Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), ranking member on the…
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Stop the Sweet Deal for Sugar, Says Senator Lugar
There's a great op-ed by Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) in The Washington Times today telling how Big Sugar’s sweet deal harms consumers, leads to job…
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Speaking at University of Cincinnati April 1
I’m apparently a “leading advocate for class action reform.” An impressive roster of speakers is going to have to sit through my lunchtime…
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Morning Media Summary
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Six Pages of Legislation, 1,000 Pages of Regulation
HHS is about to issue over 1,000 pages of new regulations stemming from a 6-page section of last year's health care bill.
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Virginia Sells Naming Rights to Highway Rest Stops
Faced with budget shortfalls and a steep $20 million annual operating cost, this week Virginia decided to sell naming rights to its 42 highway…
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: March 29, 2011
With April Fool's Day just around the corner, you might think that I'm pulling one over on my readers with the some of the laws…
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Delaware DOT Removes a Public Menace
One wonders just how many regulations this rogue basketball hoop violated in the 60 years it spent terrorizing an unsuspecting Delaware neighborhood.
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NVIDIA hearing held March 28
As I discussed on our Facebook page yesterday, I wasn’t given our full ten minutes to argue in the hearing, while Milberg and NVIDIA took…
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Dilbert on Green Technology!
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