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Afternoon Links: January 6, 2011
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More News on Ohio Bedbugs
Bed Bugs have become such a problem in Ohio — as CEI noted earlier this week — that the state is now using Medicaid funds…
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Declining Access to Non-Ethanol Fuel
Via EENews ($ubscription required), and a letter (PDF) from Senator Inhofe and Senator Snow to the EPA on the declining availability of pure…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: HHS is Paying Google with Taxpayer Money to Alter ‘Obamacare’ Search Results (Updated): “The brazenness of the Obama administration never ceases to…
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Oral argument scheduled in the Bluetooth case
The Ninth Circuit has scheduled oral argument in the Bluetooth case for Monday, February 7, 9 a.m., in the federal courthouse in Pasadena. (Five other…
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D.C. Bag Tax Falls Short of Stated Revenue Goals
Last New Year’s saw the beginning of D.C.’s infamous bag tax, a 5-cent tax on each plastic shopping bag consumers take away from stores. In…
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New York Snow Debacle Shows: It’s Government Unions vs. Taxpayers
The longstanding alliance between Democratic politicians and government employee unions has come under increasing strain, as I recently noted in a Washington Times op…
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Afternoon Links: January 5, 2011
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Media Continue Spreading High-Speed Rail Misinformation
Following the Obama administration’s decision to revoke Ohio and Wisconsin’s High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) Program funding that was included in the American Recovery…
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The Market for Responsible Drinking
The alleged reason for many alcohol regulations — such as labeling mandates — is that consumers lack resources or ability to monitor and control…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: CES 2011 Predictions: 7 Trends To Watch At The World’s Biggest Tech Show: “Las Vegas is currently gearing up for the Consumer…
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EPA Bed Bug Protection for Elderly “Not Enough”
Outgoing Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland says EPA’s response for help in the state’s battle against bed bugs is simply “not enough.” He petitioned the…
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Afternoon Links: January 4, 2011
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Update on D.C. Metro Bag Inspections
Last night, a crowded audience gathered at the WMATA headquarters to discuss the recent decision to begin randomly screening passengers bags for potential explosives. It…
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Freedom of Speech on Alcohol Labeling
After posting my Washington Times op-ed on wine-labeling mandates yesterday, I came across Diageo’s — the premium drinks company — press release that highlights…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Court OKs searches of cell phones without warrant: “The California Supreme Court allowed police Monday to search arrestees’ cell phones without a…
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Highway Trust Fund’s Funding Guarantees are the Problem
Streetsblog laments incoming Republicans’ alleged attempt to “hoard” Highway Trust Fund dollars as a budget gimmick. At issue is a proposed change to…
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New Jersey Trying to Seize Unused Gift Card Balances
That's one way to fix a busted budget. Here's another: spend less.
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Afternoon Links: January 3, 2011
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CEI Weekly: The EPA Wants YOU to Lose Weight
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: January 3, 2011
A brand new year with brand new wacky regulations on alcohol consumption: Alabama: Is there such a thing as too much beer? While I…
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TSA’s High Failure Rate Is the Least of its Problems
If policymakers were rational, they would give twenty times more attention to lightning strike prevention than to terrorism. But they aren't, and they don't.
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: The 10 best Android hacks: “The web’s massed fanboy armies will debate the relative merits of iOS and Android until the apocalypse,…
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In re HP Inkjet Printer Litigation class action settlement objection
If I were to buy a three-pack of color ink for my inkjet printer today, it would cost me $42.99 at HP.com and $36.99 at…
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Afternoon Links: December 30, 2010
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New Year’s Musings: My WSJ Arts Piece on “Cry Me a River” and More on Debit Card Interchange Price Controls
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Union Snow Cleanup
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Union Holds New York Hostage
Public anger over New York City’s botched snow plowing effort this week has turned to the city’s sanitation workers union — for good reason.
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Paris Contemplates SUV Ban
Paris is looking to potentially ban “gas-guzzling” vehicles from city limits. The proposal, still in its infancy, lacks important details but nonetheless appears to…
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2010 Federal Register is Third-Largest Ever
The final unadjusted page count is 82,589 pages. That's the third highest ever.
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Apple Sued Over Apps Privacy Issues; Google May Be Next: “Two separate groups of iPhone and iPad users have…
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The College Diploma Fraud and Its Consequences
Retired professor Robert Weissberg has a fascinating article at The American Thinker called “The College Diploma Fraud.” It describes how worthless many college degrees have…
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Afternoon Links: December 29, 2010
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Driver Monitoring Increases Accuracy, Lowers Insurance Costs
Believe it or not, insurance companies do not want to overcharge you. They want to charge just the right amount — as little as possible…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Earth project aims to ‘simulate everything’: “An international group of scientists are aiming to create a simulator that can replicate everything happening…
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New CEI Podcast — December 28, 2010: IRS as Tax Preparer?
Fellow in Regulatory Studies Ryan Young looks at the IRS' proposal to save you time by doing your taxes for you.
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: December 28
Much a like a family that you don’t get to choose, let’s make a quick holiday visit to the states around the nation and their…
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Alfred E. Kahn, 1917-2010
The man behind airline deregulation passed away yesterday at age 93. Let us learn from his example of a life well lived.
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Top Chinese blogger shuts down country’s first pvt magazine: “China’s first private magazine, which was launched by famous blogger Han Han in…
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Potato Diet Improves Man’s Health; Obama Administration Bans Potatoes from WIC Program
Chris Voigt lost 21 pounds and improved his health by living on a potato-only diet for 60 days. Potatoes are more nutritious…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Top 10 Tech Disasters That Haven’t Happened… Yet: “Congratulations: You’ve survived another year, and 2010 was quite an eventful one. For…
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Time for Big Cuts in Education Spending?
America spends far more on education than countries like Germany, Japan, Australia, Ireland, and Italy, both as a percentage of its economy, and in absolute…
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CEI Weekly: Public Employee Unions Are Bankrupting States
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U.S. Blows Hard at Chinese Wind Power Subsidies
Well, the U.S. has taken it one step further — it has gone to the World Trade Organization for “consultations” about China’s green energy…
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Environmental Working Group Should Win Annual Junk-Science Award
If there ever was a year-end, junk-science award, it should go to the Environmental Working Group — every year. Perhaps more than any group,…
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Ethanol and NASCAR
The ethanol industry earlier this year teamed up with NASCAR in order to better promote expensive, highly subsidized, not so environmentally friendly…
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The Streetcar Delusion: Minneapolis Receives Funding to Bolster Wasteful Rail Transit
Delusional Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood continues to flush taxpayer dollars down the toilet on increasingly idiotic rail programs. The latest example of LaHood’s anti-mobility…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Skype Outage hits users worldwide: “Millions of Skype Internet phone users worldwide couldn’t make calls — or were dropped in mid-conversation —…
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NPR Covers Corn Ethanol Boondoggle
NPR’s “Morning Edition” has finally caught on to the ethanol boondoggle. It’s doing a three-part series on ethanol that started yesterday. And it gets…
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FCC Net Neutrality: Some Networks are More Neutral than Others
Today’s decision [by FCC bureaucrats] will help preserve the free and open nature of the Internet [as defined by the government] while encouraging innovation [as…
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The Colombia FTA Deserves a Speedy Vote
President Obama needs to look beyond pushing only the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement to standing behind ratification of the other pending trade agreements with…
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The Obama Administration’s Misguided War on For-Profit Colleges
In Forbes, economist Richard Vedder of Ohio University documents the blunders behind the Obama administration’s war on for-profit colleges that wiped out $8 billion…
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Will Net Neutrality Save the Internet?
Reason.TV created an excellent video explaining Net Neutrality and arguing against it. I’ve heard too many people irrationally claim that big corporations are going to…
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Confusion about “Conflict of Interest”
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Compare and Contrast Biofuel Predictions
From the Ethanol Producer Magazine: For years, cellulosic ethanol has been five years away from commercial viability. With several companies making significant progress in…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: E-Mail Gets an Instant Makeover: “Signs you’re an old fogey: You still watch movies on a VCR, listen to vinyl records and…
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Alcohol Regulatory Roundup: December 21st
Maryland: Lawmakers will likely pass a measure next year allowing direct shipping of wine to Maryland residents. Vineyards, especially smaller wine makers, claim that…
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Afternoon Links: December 21, 2010
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Obamacare Makes State Budget Problems Worse
Obamacare is making state budget problems much worse, as governors now lament. Earlier, CEI filed an amicus brief in Florida v. HHS on…
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CEI Podcast — December 21, 2010: What’s Next for Immigration Reform?
CEI Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh goes over the good and the bad of the DREAM Act, which recently stalled in the Senate, and offers his…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: FCC to Vote on Internet Regulation Plan Despite Economic Warnings: “Lawmakers are on high alert as the Federal Communications Commission prepares…
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New York Energy Drink Ban Hearing at 2:30 on Tuesday
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Alcohol Regulatory Roundup: December 20, 2010
While most lawmakers have checked out for the holiday vacation already (mentally and/or physically), there are still some movers and shakers out there getting frothed…
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Update on D.C. Metro Bag Checks
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New Hayekian Anthem
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Afternoon Links: December 20, 2010
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Congress Set to Fail Online Poker Players
As I have written about before, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) introduced a bill earlier this month that would legalize a limited form of online…
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Food Safety Modernization Act Passes; Unconstitutional Provision Supposedly Removed
The Food Safety Modernization Act was passed again by Congress on Sunday, apparently without a provision that earlier drew criticism for violating the Constitution by having a…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Chavez defends plan for Internet regulations: “Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez defended plans for a law that would impose broadcast-type regulations on the…
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Rip-Off: College Tuition Bubble and Debt Burdens Grow Worse
Forbes magazine recently blew the whistle on how skyrocketing college tuition is ripping off the public. Thanks to some colleges’ greed, and the federal and state financial…
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Judicial Hellholes Kill Jobs and Redistribute Wealth
The most recent list of judicial hellholes has just been released by the American Tort Reform Association. It lists “courts in Philadelphia; California’s Los Angeles…
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CEI Weekly: Obamacare Ruled Unconstitutional
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Pennsylvania State Lottery Commission Opposes Internet Gambling
When a government agency is threatened, it will inevitably lash out in efforts to keep the government jobs safe and the tax money flowing. This…
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Afternoon Links: December 17, 2010
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Online Poker is Not Illegal: U.S. Courts
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff of New York sentenced convicted felon Anurag Dikshit, the co-founder of PartyGaming.com, to a meager year of probation and indicated his…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: FCC’s net neutrality plan faces growing chorus of bipartisan opposition: “As the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prepares to vote next week on…
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Nanny-Statist CSPI Sues to Ban Happy Meals at McDonald’s
An ill-informed left-wing group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, is suing McDonald’s in California to ban toys from Happy…
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Afternoon Links: December 16, 2010
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“Odd Couple!” Nader/Public Citizen Attorney and Richard Epstein Urge Supreme Court to Hear CEI’s Tobacco Case
“Odd couple.” That’s how a Forbes report just described a pairing of former Nader/Public Citizen attorney Alan Morrison and University of Chicago Law School Prof.
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Should Obamacare Be Struck Down In Its Entirety Rather Than Just Having Its Unconstitutional Parts Severed?
In his ruling striking down Obamacare’s individual mandate (requirement that people buy health insurance), Judge Hudson in Richmond declined to strike down the rest…
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Security Theater, D.C. Metro Edition
Everyone wants our transportation systems to be safe. But safety must also be balanced with respecting the privacy of citizens, and not wasting money on…
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High-Speed Rail as the New Political Football?
Over at National Journal‘s Transportation Experts blog, Fawn Johnson asks whether or not high-speed rail has become a new political football in the United…
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Live Blogging: “Fixing The World Economy: Stresses And Solutions”
This is a Live Blog of a Thomson Reuters Event on “Fixing the World Economy.” The speakers are Dominique Strauss-Kahn, International Monetary Fund and Chrystia…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Approval of Internet traffic rules likely-analysis: “Contentious Internet traffic rules facing a vote next week are likely to be adopted without radically…
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Once Again, the Terrorists Win
All it takes to turn the tables is a bit of common sense. Unfortunately, that may be asking too much.
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Interchange Price Controls: Gift to Big Merchants, Lump of Coal for Consumers and Community Financial Institutions
On Thursday, the Federal Reserve — at the direction of Congress in the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank financial “reform” bill — will give…
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An Update on State Alcohol Regulations
Here is another installment in the roundup of news regarding the weird and wacky state of alcohol regulation in the U.S.: California: The “sangria…
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CEI Podcast — December 15, 2010: Alcohol Regulations Across the Country
Michelle Minton, CEI's Director of Insurance Studies, takes a whirlwind tour of alcohol regulations across the country.
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Useless College Degrees Proliferate; Millions Waste Lives in Academic Bubble
“Do we need more college grads?,” asks John Leo in Minding the Campus. The answer is surely no: a study highlighted in the Chronicle…
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Afternoon Links: December 15, 2010
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Air Force Blocks Media Sites: “The U.S. Air Force is blocking its personnel from using work computers to view the websites of…
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Is Obamacare’s Government Healthcare Takeover a “Civil Right”?
Doug Powers takes aim at the silly argument by the Obama administration that opposing Obamacare is analogous to opposing basic civil rights. As he…
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In Offense of Ben Bernanke, Part III: Bernanke, Blinder, and Underpants Gnomes
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In Offense of Ben Bernanke, Part II: The Natural Rate of Unemployment
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In Offense of Ben Bernanke, Part I: The Fed is Competent?
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Unemployment Benefits Keep People from Working
Wintery Knight has an interesting discussion of how unemployment benefits keep people from working, drawing on coverage from The New York Times and academic…
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Afternoon Links: December 14, 2010
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Reactions to Court Ruling Striking Down Part of Obamacare in Virginia v. Sebelius
Yesterday, a federal judge in Richmond struck down Obamacare’s requirement that individuals buy health insurance. Cato Institute’s Ilya Shapiro reacts to the decision…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Gawker Media Hacked, Warns Users to Change Passwords: “E-mail addresses and password details for 200,000 registered users of Gawker…
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The Day Four Loko Died
Last month, when Phusion Projects announced they were removing caffeine from their popular alcoholic-energy drink Four Loko, they told the FDA that “original recipe”…