Today’s Links: September 28, 2011

OPINION

RICHARD EPSTEIN: “Obama’s Jobs Bill: Read It and Weep”
“The dim news about the current economic situation has prompted the Obama administration to put forward its latest, desperate effort to reverse the tide by urging passage of The American Jobs Act (AJA), a turgid 155-page bill. The AJA’s only certain effect is to make everything worse than it already is by asking Congress to tighten the stranglehold that government regulation has already placed on the economy.”

NICK GILLESPIE: “Do Budgets Kill People? Or Do People Kill People?”
“The plain fact is that federal government spending on virtually everything is way, way up since, say 2000. Whether you slice it as percentage of GDP, inflation-adjusted dollars, amount per targeted recipient, you name it, we’re spending tons more than we were only a decade or so ago. If people are going to drop dead if that amount of dough gets trimmed at all, it’s not really about money. As with many things, maybe most things, especially when it comes to government, it’s the people and the organizational structure that is the problem.”

ADAM SORENSON: “The GOP’s Fraught Relationship with Federalism”
“Republican primary voters don’t seem too keen on accepting a federalist defense of policies that are antithetical to their worldview. Dave Weigel talked to state party delegates in Florida about Perry’s immigration record, and came away with quotes like this: “Stop. Giving. To the illegals.” Romney has only avoided an extreme pile-on over CommonwealthCare so far because he made it old news, and thanks to Perry’s hulking frame, which caught the lion’s share of intra-party debate flak during Perry’s initial surge in national polls.”

NEWS

TECHNOLOGY – Google to Government: Let Us Build a Faster Net
“Governments are eager for the benefits of high-speed Internet access, but if they really want it, they need to reform regulations to help those who would build it, a Google executive argued today.”

COPYRIGHT – Judge: Righthaven Lacked Standing, Abused Copyright Act
“Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas lacked standing to file copyright infringement lawsuits in Colorado under its lawsuit contract with the Denver Post and abused the Copyright Act in doing so, a federal judge ruled Tuesday”