Today’s Links: September 1, 2011
NEWS
ENERGY – In 10 Years, [Pennsylvania] Will Produce 25% of America’s Natural Gas
“According to a study commissioned by the Marcellus Shale Commission (MSC), by 2020, the Marcellus alone could produce 17.5 Bcf/d. That would be 25 percent of all the natural gas produced in the country. What’s more, it could support 256,420 jobs and pump an additional $20 billion into the Pennsylvania economy.”
PHYSICIANS’ RIGHTS – Judge Blocks Parts of Texas Abortion Law on Sonograms
“A federal judge temporarily blocked key provisions of a Texas abortion law on Tuesday that would require women seeking the procedure to view a sonogram and listen to the heartbeat of their fetus. […] ‘The act compels physicians to advance an ideological agenda with which they may not agree, regardless of any medical necessity, and irrespective of whether the pregnant women wish to listen,’ U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks said in the ruling.”
OVERCRIMINALIZATION – Man Faces 75 Years for Recording Police
“42-year-old Michael Allison of Illinois could spend the rest of his life in prison for recording police in public. He faces five counts of eavesdropping, a class one felony. Of course, the police are allowed to video people in public with impunity. The Illinois Assistant Attorney General has joined the case and told the judge that citizens do not have the constitutional right to record police.”
OPINION
Bob Barr: “Gibson Guitar to Uncle Sam – ‘From My Cold, Dead Hands‘”
“Last week, heavily armed federal agents raided two guitar manufacturing facilities in Tennessee owned by Gibson — one in Nashville, another in Memphis. […] The raids were carried out because the Department of Justice and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service claim that parts of the iconic guitars manufactured in the plants contained the wrong kind of imported wood.”
George F. Will: “Colorado’s Fresh Brew”
“[John] Hickenlooper is a double rarity, the first brewer to become a governor (well, if you don’t count Sam Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the amateur), and, in this time of political dyspepsia, he is a happy man whose constituents seem reasonably happy with him. People may be happier here because sunlight is filtered through less — a mile less — of the atmosphere. And because, Hickenlooper says, Colorado has become ‘the Napa Valley of Beer,’ and Denver is ‘the Munich of the West.’ He deserves some credit for this state having 142 licensed breweries.”
Scott Helfstein: “To Defeat Terrorists, Start Using the Library”
“The revolution in information technology has opened a new vein of intelligence collection and analysis that in many instances can prove more useful than traditional forms of spycraft. In the world of espionage, information and the clandestine means of gathering it are both treasured. ‘Open source’ intelligence, by contrast, is a commodity with little inherent value. Instead, the capacity to organize and analyze these public streams of information becomes a key asset. This represents a drastic shift, with far-reaching implications for intelligence agencies. ”
Matt Levine: “DoJ Tries to Block AT&T/T-Mobile Merger; Not Yet Taking Competition From LightSquared Seriously”
“LightSquared, the wireless-broadband company owned mostly by Harbinger and its disgruntled former investors has had a good run recently, announcing a spectrum deal with Sprint, helping with Hurricane Irene, and not actually killing anyone yet (that we know of). You might think that it’s well on its way to fulfilling its mission of increasing competition in the wireless broadband industry. But it’s not enough for the Department of Justice, which today sued to block the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger. The DoJ’s suit relies on the conclusion that wireless is basically a 4-party national game (among T, VZ, S, and T-Mobile), and gives short shrift to the notion that smaller regional wireless companies can be counted on to provide competition and limit price gouging by an engorged AT&T. “