Today’s Links: December 27, 2011

OPINION

DOUG BANDOW: “The Top Ten Things Santa Claus Forgot to Give Me”
“Top of my list is for Americans to stop confusing Uncle Sam with Santa Claus. The idea of some rich guy from far away showing up to fulfill one’s most devout desires is really quite attractive. When people expect the government to do the same things quickly get ugly—and quite expensive. No wonder economist Lawrence Kotlikoff figures that we face total debts and unfunded liabilities totaling some $211 trillion, 14 times America’s annual GDP. We’ve been racking up the red ink in the belief that someone else would pay the bill.”

TIMOTHY B. LEE: “Conservatives Lining Up in Opposition to SOPA”
“[A] growing number of right-leaning individuals and organizations have come out against SOPA. Last Wednesday, the Heritage Foundation, one of the nation’s largest and most influential conservative think tanks, published an article by senior research fellow James Gattuso warning about the ‘unintended consequences’ of SOPA. And on Thursday, he was joined in opposing SOPA by Erick Erickson, editor of the popular conservative blog RedState.”

JACOB SULLUM: “Executive Kill Switch”
“President Barack Obama’s policy regarding people linked to terrorism is clear: They are to be treated like criminal defendants with constitutional rights, except when they are treated like enemy soldiers in the heat of battle, subject to death dealt from a distance. Although this flexibility has obvious advantages in waging the never-ending war on terrorism, it threatens to transform the elected executive of a republic into a dictator with summary execution power.”

NEWS

HUMAN RIGHTS – China Jails Dissident Chen Xi for Ten Years
“A Chinese court has handed down a 10-year jail sentence to Chen Xi, the second dissident in four days to be convicted of inciting subversion through online essays.”

IMMIGRATION – California to Ban Police From Towing Cars of Unlicensed Drivers
“Delfino Aldama was fixing a customer’s brakes this month when his smartphone chimed with a text message that tipped him to a police checkpoint more than an hour before officers began stopping motorists. The self-employed auto mechanic frantically called friends with the location and drove an alternate route home.”

LEGAL – Federal Judge Blocks Arizona’s Anti-Abortion Law
“The law, House Bill 2384, excludes organizations that ‘provide pay for, promote, provide coverage of or provide referrals for abortions’ in the Working Poor Tax Credit Program and was scheduled to go in effect on January 1. But Judge Roslyn Silver felt in her ruling that the law was infringing on free speech.”