Why Is There So Much Government Waste? | Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary

Why Is There So Much Government Waste? | Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The one thing that these ridiculous expenditures all have in common is that they are a direct result of people being able to spend other people’s money. In Congress’s case, we have 535 people with trillions of other people’s dollars to spend. That they’re content to fritter billions away on toys for special interests shouldn’t be shocking."

"There’s also a good chance that while they’re upset with a particular expenditure, they’re okay with the general mission of the program responsible for the waste."

"First, so long as the federal government can spend money on anything it wants, politicians are going to spend money on anything they want. Second, contrary to what we’re taught in school, policymakers generally allocate money on the basis of political and parochial concerns — not on the basis of sound economics or even the so-called “public interest.”"

Beware the ‘lesser-of-two-evils’ trap

Beware the ‘lesser-of-two-evils’ trap: "The founders chose the lesser of two evils – because it led to the greater good. For them, the greater evil, worse than allowing slavery – which they realized would come to an end before too many decades – would have been to allow the disintegration of the United States of America to continue, to permit history’s greatest birth of liberty to be smothered in the cradle."

Good point. But there were also other options (i.e. North USA and South USA). Also, I don't think anyone can complain about the poor choices if they didn't first work to improve those choices (i.e. vote in primary, support their candidate, support good lower candidates that may one day be presidential candidates, etc).

Court OKs warrantless use of hidden surveillance cameras | Politics and Law - CNET News

Court OKs warrantless use of hidden surveillance cameras | Politics and Law - CNET News: "Police are allowed to install hidden surveillance cameras on private property without obtaining a search warrant, a federal judge said yesterday."

"Callahan based his reasoning on a 1984 Supreme Court case called Oliver v. United States, in which a majority of the justices said that "open fields" could be searched without warrants because they're not covered by the Fourth Amendment. What lawyers call "curtilage," on the other hand, meaning the land immediately surrounding a residence, still has greater privacy protections."

The Current Wisdom: Public Misperception of Climate Change | Patrick J. Michaels and Paul C. "Chip" Knappenberger | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Current Wisdom: Public Misperception of Climate Change | Patrick J. Michaels and Paul C. "Chip" Knappenberger | Cato Institute: Commentary: "We constantly hear the meme that this "96 per cent of climate scientists surveyed say global warming is real". That's based on Doran's survey, and is an artifact of the way the question was asked, which was, "when compared with pre-1800 levels do you think that mean global temperatures have generally risen, fallen, or remained relatively constant?" Actually, 100% should have answered "risen". It's irrefutable that the 17th century was colder than the 20th. The subsequent question, on human attribution, was also worded in such a way that also guaranteed a lot of agreement. If properly designed, the survey would have asked how much was related to human activity, not just whether humans were involved in the temperature change."

"In reality, the amount of weather related to natural variability dramatically exceeds what is "added on" by global warming."

"The largest number of statewide temperature records were set in the 1920s and 30s, and, warming or not, they have yet to be exceeded. In fact, what is peculiar about these state records is the lack of them during the relatively warm recent 15 years."

Legal and Moral Dilemmas of Drone Strikes in a Free Society | Campaign for Liberty

Legal and Moral Dilemmas of Drone Strikes in a Free Society | Campaign for Liberty: "When asked about how it was possible that 16 –year-old Al-Awlaki could have been targeted, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, “I would suggest that you should have a far more responsible father if they are truly concerned about the wellbeing of their children.”  This sort of talk from high level Obama officials is disgraceful and shows a lack of respect for innocent human life."

Drones in Djibouti | Campaign for Liberty

Drones in Djibouti | Campaign for Liberty: "In March 2011, a Predator parked at the camp started its engine without any human direction, even though the ignition had been turned off and the fuel lines closed. Technicians concluded that a software bug had infected the “brains” of the drone, but never pinpointed the problem.

“After that whole starting-itself incident, we were fairly wary of the aircraft and watched it pretty closely,” an unnamed Air Force squadron commander testified to an investigative board, according to a transcript. “Right now, I still think the software is not good.”

The article goes on to note that in 2011, the Djibouti base experienced a number of crashes with the drones, having at one point lost four drones in four months. That should be particularly disturbing to readers when one considers the Federal Aviation Administration estimates that by 2020, there could be 30,000 drones flying over America."

Ohio student punished for growing his hair for charity, school says it violates dress code | Fox News

Ohio student punished for growing his hair for charity, school says it violates dress code | Fox News: "He's been growing out his hair for Locks of Love, which uses donated hair to make hairpieces for kids who have lost their own due to disease.

Aufderheide had told the school of his intentions, but on Monday was told he would be suspended. His hair is only an inch away from the 10 inches needed to donate to the charity.

Canton Local School Board President John Martin tells WJW-TV (http://bit.ly/P2g1Ch) that while he respects the student's efforts, rules are rules."

They can't see the forest for the trees!

U.N. calls for 'anti-terror' Internet surveillance | Politics and Law - CNET News

U.N. calls for 'anti-terror' Internet surveillance | Politics and Law - CNET News: "one of the major problems confronting all law enforcement agencies is the lack of an internationally agreed framework for retention of data held by ISPs."

Privacy rights do make it harder for law enforcement. But some people do value privacy too. :-/

Police: Fiance of pregnant NYC woman who was stabbed to death has a wife in NJ | Fox News

Police: Fiance of pregnant NYC woman who was stabbed to death has a wife in NJ | Fox News: "The fetus did not survive."

That sure is a contorted sentence!

Tax-Raisers Lack Compassion | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Tax-Raisers Lack Compassion | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "even though nearly all agree that involuntary unemployment is harmful to the individual and society, many policymakers are willing to accept it rather than focus on what can be done to prevent it."

"President Obama and his Democratic allies like to say they want to return to the Clinton-era tax rates (actually, they are proposing higher rates, given the additional taxes from Obamacare), but they leave out the fact that federal spending during the second Clinton administration was just 18 percent of GDP, not the current 23 percent. The empirical evidence (contrary to left-wing dogma) shows that economic growth and job creation slow as government gets bigger.

Those who support politicians whose policies are almost certain to produce low growth at best and then claim they care about the physical and mental well-being of the unemployed are either ignoring the historical evidence or are hypocrites. They are not compassionate."

Why Partisans Can’t Explain Their Views - NYTimes.com

Why Partisans Can’t Explain Their Views - NYTimes.com: "The real surprise is what happens after these same individuals are asked to explain how these policy ideas work: they become more moderate in their political views — either in support of such policies or against them. In fact, not only do their attitudes change, but so does their behavior. In one of our experiments, for example, after attempting to explain how various policy ideas would actually work, people became less likely to donate to organizations that supported the positions they had initially favored.

Interestingly, asking people to justify their position — rather than asking them to explain the mechanisms by which a policy would work — doesn’t tend to soften their political views. When we asked participants to state the reasons they were for or against a policy position, their initial attitudes held firm."

Facebook photos of undercover cop get woman arrested | Technically Incorrect - CNET News

Facebook photos of undercover cop get woman arrested | Technically Incorrect - CNET News: "You might pause to consider that -- were you an undercover cop -- you might be careful about your Facebook profile. You might wonder whether you should have one at all. You might certainly be intimately au fait with Facebook's vast array of privacy controls."

The Malala moment: Tens of thousands rally in Pakistan for girl shot by Taliban - CSMonitor.com

The Malala moment: Tens of thousands rally in Pakistan for girl shot by Taliban - CSMonitor.com: "Tens of thousands rallied in Pakistan's largest city Sunday in the biggest show of support yet for a 14-year-old girl who was shot and seriously wounded by the Taliban for promoting girls' education and criticizing the militant group."

The Real Problem with Helicopter Parents: There Aren't Enough of Them | Brink Lindsey | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Real Problem with Helicopter Parents: There Aren't Enough of Them | Brink Lindsey | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Prior to 1995, college-educated moms averaged about 12 hours a week with their kids, compared to about 11 hours for less-educated moms. By 2007, though, the figure for less-educated moms had risen to nearly 16 hours while that for college-educated moms had soared all the way to 21 hours. Similar trends were observed for fathers: The time that college-educated dads spent with their kids rose from 5 to 10 hours, while for less-educated dads the increase was from around 4 hours to around 8 hours.

So while the time parents spend with children living at home has increased across the board, the trend has been especially pronounced among highly-educated households. The parental attention gap is growing."

"since the '70s, divorce rates among the highly educated have fallen significantly; among non-college grads, by contrast, they have stayed high."

"by the time they reach age three, children of professional parents have heard some 45 million words addressed to them — as opposed to only 26 million words for working-class kids, and a mere 13 million words in the case of kids on welfare. By the time kids start school, kids of well-educated parents are much better prepared than their classmates. Consequently, they're much more likely to receive praise and encouragement from their teachers, which means their attitudes about being in school are much more likely to be positive. Even relatively small advantages conferred early in life can thus snowball over time.

The deliberate practice that is going on constantly in well-educated homes extends beyond purely intellectual pursuits. As they march their kids through the weekly gauntlet of organized activities, the practitioners of concerted cultivation are drilling their kids in a host of skills critical to academic and economic success. Skills like managing one's time by making and keeping schedules, getting along with other people from different backgrounds on the basis of common interests, and deferring gratification in order to maximize rewards down the road."

If You Love Public Broadcasting, Set It Free | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary

If You Love Public Broadcasting, Set It Free | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The case for defunding public broadcasting is very simple. First, public broadcasting does not need federal money. "

"Second, our media-rich environment has obviated the need for public broadcasting."

"public broadcasters dangle at the end of a politicized tether, and they are constantly wary that they will offend the wrong people."

A World without Income Taxes | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

A World without Income Taxes | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Why should the federal government bother to impose taxes when it can use the Federal Reserve to "print" all the money it needs to pay its bills? Last year, the Fed bought 77 percent of all of the government's new debt, which is the equivalent of printing money. The government borrowed almost 40 cents for each dollar it spent, with the Fed printing 30 cents of each dollar spent through its bond purchases (creating new money)"

"if the Fed increased the money supply by roughly 3.5 percent per year, the economy could have close to perpetual price stability, with the productivity gains being used to fund government spending.

Currently, the federal government is spending about 23 percent of GDP, and so you are probably thinking it is impossible to have a world where the federal government only spends 3.5 percent of GDP. However, up until World War I (before the income tax), the federal government only spent about 2.5 percent of GDP. In the 1920s, it was spending less than 4.5 percent of GDP."

Obama's Advisers Favor Romney's Tax Reform | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary

Obama's Advisers Favor Romney's Tax Reform | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary: "When it comes to tax policy, the main difference between Romney's and Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and Bipartisan Policy Center's Debt Reduction Task Force advisers is that Romney proposes 1) a slightly lower corporate tax rate, and 2) a much lower bottom rate of 8 percent rather than 12 percent."

"Romney's plan is even tougher than a proposal from economist Martin Feldstein, which would limit deductions as a percentage of adjusted gross income (AGI). Romney instead proposes a very tight lid on the total of itemized deductions — during the first presidential debate, he suggested a cap no higher than $25,000 to $50,000."

"Unlike the Obama plan, the Romney plan would collect huge revenues from many "millionaires and billionaires" such as Warren Buffet and Mitt Romney"

The Great Cigarette-Tax Lie | Patrick Basham and John Luik | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Great Cigarette-Tax Lie | Patrick Basham and John Luik | Cato Institute: Commentary: "First, higher taxes promote illicit trade in cigarettes (both smuggling and counterfeiting), especially among the poor. And, second, a good many lower-income smokers respond to higher butt taxes by cutting back elsewhere — as the New York study demonstrates yet again.

In other words, lower-income smokers don't respond the way the elite public-health establishment thinks they should."

Confusion | John Mueller | Cato Institute: Commentary

Confusion | John Mueller | Cato Institute: Commentary: "DHS has "struggled" to identify a clear example in which a fusion center provided intelligence that helped disrupt a terrorist plot. And, when investigators looked at the four "success stories" touted by DHS, they were "unable to confirm" that the fusion centers' contributions were "as significant as DHS portrayed them; were unique to the intelligence and analytical work expected of fusion centers; or would not have occurred absent a fusion center.""

What the Critics of Won't Back Down Don't Understand | Andrew J. Coulson | Cato Institute: Commentary

What the Critics of Won't Back Down Don't Understand | Andrew J. Coulson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "do a brilliant job teaching kids to read at your local public school and … the system treats you pretty much the same way as it does your least motivated, least effective colleague. Consequently, many of our brightest educational stars burn out and others leave the profession. Some are even pushed out.

Jaime Escalante, the brilliant public school math teacher celebrated by the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver, fell victim to a union-backed putsch. His offense? He couldn't bear to turn away kids, so his classes grew to 55 students. But the union had negotiated a 35-student limit, and Escalante's astonishing success undermined their bargaining position. So the union successfully campaigned to take away his chairmanship of Garfield High's math department.

Demoted and besieged by union opposition, Escalante left Garfield. At the height of his tenure, one out of every four Mexican Americans who passed Advanced Placement calculus nationwide attended Garfield High. After he left, the math program declined and has never recovered.

It's not surprising that the union found enough votes to oust Escalante. He expected excellence, and rising to meet his standards meant extra work for his colleagues — work for which the system offered none of the recognition or compensation that would accompany it in any other field. As Won't Back Down faithfully recounts, virtually all teachers do care about their students, but they're also human beings, and incentives matter.

Any system that ignores the performance of its workers and denies freedom of choice to its consumers is doomed to fail."

Book Bans Just Part of Issue | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

Book Bans Just Part of Issue | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The real issue isn't protecting books from those who would banish them for eternity. It is that public institutions select books in the first place. The instant such a selection is made freedom is already compromised."

"it is, indeed, a fundamental threat to liberty when a government entity — either a school district or public library — decides what is or is not "acceptable" content.

The problem is, the school or library makes just such a discriminatory determination when it decides which books to buy, or to make required reading, in the first place."

"it compels taxpayers to support speech that, often, they find abhorrent"

Colleges Keep Suppressing Free Speech | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

Colleges Keep Suppressing Free Speech | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: "“Among the college seniors in the survey sample, only 30.3 percent answered that they strongly agreed that ‘it is safe to hold unpopular views on campus.’”"

" “Even more alarmingly, the study showed that students’ sense of the safety of expressing unpopular views steadily declines from freshman year (starting at 40.3 percent) to senior year... But the students were downright optimistic compared to the 9,000 ‘campus professionals’ surveyed, including faculty, student affairs personnel, and academic administrators. Only 18.8 percent strongly agreed it was safe to have unpopular views on campus.

“Faculty members, who are often the longest-serving members of the college community and presumably know it best,” adds Lukianoff, “scored the lowest of any group — a miserable 16.7 percent!” "

The IRS Has Gone Rogue | Michael F. Cannon and Jonathan H. Adler | Cato Institute: Commentary

The IRS Has Gone Rogue | Michael F. Cannon and Jonathan H. Adler | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The mere fact that a taxpayer is eligible for a tax credit can trigger tax liabilities against both the taxpayer (under the act’s “individual mandate”) and her employer (under the “employer mandate”). In 2016, these tax credits will trigger a tax of $2,085 on many families of four earning as little as $24,000. An employer with 100 workers could face a tax of $140,000 if even one of his workers is eligible for a tax credit."

"During a September 23, 2009, committee markup of his bill, Baucus acknowledged that restricting tax credits to policies purchased through state-created exchanges was the reason the Finance Committee had jurisdiction to direct states to establish exchanges, making this language an essential part of the bill."

MARTA Hardly Indispensable | Randal O'Toole | Cato Institute: Commentary

MARTA Hardly Indispensable | Randal O'Toole | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Before MARTA took over the transit system, nearly 11 percent of Atlanta-area commuters took transit to work. Now, thanks to MARTA’s investment in high-cost rail at the expense of low-cost bus improvements, transit’s share of commuting has fallen to slightly more than 4 percent. That hardly helps to reduce congestion, air pollution, and all the other things transit is claimed to do."

Stop Demonizing Job Creators | Daniel J. Ikenson | Cato Institute: Commentary

Stop Demonizing Job Creators | Daniel J. Ikenson | Cato Institute: Commentary: " the highest corporate income tax rate among all of the world's industrialized countries and the unusual requirement that profits earned abroad by U.S. multinationals are subject to U.S. taxation upon repatriation. No other major economy does that. Who in their right minds would not expect those incentives to encourage moving production off shore and keeping profits there?"

"If Levin is concerned about diminishing federal tax collections from corporations (which, of course, reduces his power), the solution is to change the incentives — to change the convoluted artifice of backroom politics that is our present tax code."

English for All, Freedom for None - Danny Hieber - Mises Daily

English for All, Freedom for None - Danny Hieber - Mises Daily: "The colonial statist Benjamin Franklin penned in 1753,

They come in droves.… Few of their children in the country learn English.… Advertisements intended for to be general are now printed in Dutch and English, the signs in Our Streets have inscriptions in both languages, and in some places only German, they began of late all their bonds and other legal writings in their own language, which (tho' I think it ought not to be) are allowed good in Our Courts.[3]"

"93.6 percent of all children of immigrants spoke English well or very well.[6] As I detailed in my Mises Daily "Why Languages Die," this is the standard process of language shift. By the third generation, all trace of the heritage language is gone. If this were not the case, it would be difficult to explain why Dutch, German, Italian, or other major immigrant languages in the States haven't spawned lasting communities of monolingual speakers. Even places like Chinatown in New York City only retain a persistent heritage language presence because they are continually resupplied by new immigrants. But the children of those immigrants continue to learn English, and their children continue to never learn the heritage language in the first place, making them English monolinguals."

"this is precisely the case for Puerto Rican immigrants in New York City, who because their parents were told by school administrators not to speak Spanish to their kids at home, grew up unable to socialize well in either English or Spanish, and are now at a distinct social and economic disadvantage in both.[13] Today, this segment of the immigrant population remains statistically among the most impoverished in the country, for largely this reason. Yet no one predicted this pernicious and unseen effect of such language policies."

Means Testing Your Social Security Payments - Gary North - Mises Daily

Means Testing Your Social Security Payments - Gary North - Mises Daily: "If Medicare's age of eligibility were raised, the premiums of all health-insurance policy owners would rise. This will be fought by the insurance industry. It will also be fought by the geezer lobbies. "

"The budget killer is Medicare. This is because the subsidy is the largest: almost $12,000 a year."

"At some point, there will be means-testing. The politicians will decide that anyone with an income above a certain rate will have his payments reduced. The more his income, the greater the reductions. At first, this cap will apply to earned income. Then it will be applied to all income."

"When it is clear that rich people who have paid into Social Security are costing the taxpayers billions of dollars, there will be bills introduced into Congress similar to the ones introduced on unemployment insurance payments to millionaires."

Giving Florida Firms First Dibs on Bids Stifles Competition, Quality | Daniel J. Ikenson | Cato Institute: Commentary

Giving Florida Firms First Dibs on Bids Stifles Competition, Quality | Daniel J. Ikenson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "As of July 1, Tallahassee is required to grant preferences to in-state companies when considering bids to procure commodities and finished goods."

"when we artificially reduce the size of markets by law or regulation or some arbitrary boundary, we reduce the scope for specialization, competition and economies of scale, which are the ingredients of value and wealth creation, economic growth and increased living standards."

"contracts denied numerous other companies because the state's resources have been stretched and depleted to satisfy the in-state preference rules."

Advocates Need to Make the Important Case for Free Trade | Simon Lester | Cato Institute: Commentary

Advocates Need to Make the Important Case for Free Trade | Simon Lester | Cato Institute: Commentary: "There is no doubt that exports are good for domestic producers, but imports are just as beneficial, if not more so, to domestic consumers. Import competition leads to lower prices, higher quality and a greater variety of goods and services to choose from. "

"Being for "free and fair" trade is kind of like being for both war and peace. While the terms are used flexibly, under most definitions "free trade" is not really compatible with "fair trade." For those who advocate fair trade (there are a number of versions, but all are similar), free trade is not fair. And for those who support free trade (at its core, this means not using protectionism), fair trade is not free."

The Afghan Surge: Operation Disarray? | Malou Innocent | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Afghan Surge: Operation Disarray? | Malou Innocent | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The US military has been tireless in its efforts, and yet Afghanistan, as a whole, is no more law-abiding, democratic or stable than it was before the surge."

"the coalition’s kill and capture campaign against mid-level commanders has weakened the leadership’s grip on the chain of command. Some of these higher-ups, however, were more open to peace talks. Younger insurgents opposed to a political settlement are now moving into leadership positions and are increasingly influenced by Al Qaeda’s worldview."

The Afghan Surge: Operation Disarray? | Malou Innocent | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Afghan Surge: Operation Disarray? | Malou Innocent | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The US military has been tireless in its efforts, and yet Afghanistan, as a whole, is no more law-abiding, democratic or stable than it was before the surge."

"the coalition’s kill and capture campaign against mid-level commanders has weakened the leadership’s grip on the chain of command. Some of these higher-ups, however, were more open to peace talks. Younger insurgents opposed to a political settlement are now moving into leadership positions and are increasingly influenced by Al Qaeda’s worldview."

America's Vanishing Economic Freedom | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

America's Vanishing Economic Freedom | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "For 20 years the U.S. had consistently ranked as one of the world’s three freest economies, along with Hong Kong and Singapore. By the end of the Bush presidency, we were barely in the top ten."

"As recently as 2005, the U.S. ranked 45th in size of government among the 144 nations surveyed. That was bad enough, but it still had us in the top third of the 144 countries surveyed. Today, government has grown dramatically, and our ranking has fallen to 61st place."

No Way to Run an Economy | Daniel J. Mitchell | Cato Institute: Commentary

No Way to Run an Economy | Daniel J. Mitchell | Cato Institute: Commentary: "In the GM/Chrysler bailout, Washington intervened in the bankruptcy process and arbitrarily tilted the playing field to help politically powerful creditors at the expense of others. Not only did this put taxpayers on the hook for big losses, it also created a precedent for future interventions.

This precedent makes it more difficult to feel confident that the rule of law will be respected in the future when companies get in trouble. It also means investors will be less willing to put money into weak firms. That's not good for workers, and not good for the economy."

The Federal Reserve: From Central Bank to Central Planner | John H. Cochrane | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Federal Reserve: From Central Bank to Central Planner | John H. Cochrane | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Open-market operations do not have direct fiscal consequences, or directly allocate credit. That was the price of the Fed's independence, allowing it to do one thing—conduct monetary policy—without short-term political pressure. But an agency that allocates credit to specific markets and institutions, or buys assets that expose taxpayers to risks, cannot stay independent of elected, and accountable, officials.

In addition, the Fed is now a gargantuan financial regulator. Its inspectors examine too-big-to-fail banks, come up with creative "stress tests" for them to pass, and haggle over thousands of pages of regulation. When we think of the Fed 10 years from now, on current trends, we're likely to think of it as financial czar first, with monetary policy the boring backwater."

"Using its bank-regulation authority, the Fed declared that the banks that had robo-signed foreclosure documents were guilty of "unsafe and unsound processes and practices"—though robo-signing has nothing to do with the banks taking too much risk.

The Fed then commanded that the banks provide $25 billion in "mortgage relief," a simple transfer from bank shareholders to mortgage borrowers—though none of these borrowers was a victim of robo-signing.

The Fed even commanded that the banks give money to "nonprofit housing counseling organizations, approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development." "

Correction: Guns-Public Health story | Fox News

Correction: Guns-Public Health story | Fox News: "Is a gun like a virus, a car, tobacco or alcohol? Yes, say public health experts, who in the wake of recent mass shootings are calling for a fresh look at gun violence as a social disease."

"Gun-carrying — a precursor to gun violence"

Birth is a precursor to being a murder also...

ACLU sues city over claims Christian church being banned from passing out fliers near Mormon temple | Fox News

ACLU sues city over claims Christian church being banned from passing out fliers near Mormon temple | Fox News: "The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah is suing Brigham City, claiming the town is squelching a non-denominational Christian church's free speech by limiting flier distribution near a Mormon temple."

Army's secret chemical testing in St. Louis neighborhoods during Cold War raising new concerns | Fox News

Army's secret chemical testing in St. Louis neighborhoods during Cold War raising new concerns | Fox News: "In the mid-1950s, and again a decade later, the Army used motorized blowers atop a low-income housing high-rise, at schools and from the backs of station wagons to send a potentially dangerous compound into the already-hazy air in predominantly black areas of St. Louis.

Local officials were told at the time that the government was testing a smoke screen that could shield St. Louis from aerial observation in case the Russians attacked.

But in 1994, the government said the tests were part of a biological weapons program and St. Louis was chosen because it bore some resemblance to Russian cities that the U.S. might attack. The material being sprayed was zinc cadmium sulfide, a fine fluorescent powder."

"The area of the secret testing is described by the Army in documents obtained by Martino-Taylor through a Freedom of Information Act request as "a densely populated slum district." About three-quarters of the residents were black."

" "The idea that thousands of Missourians were unwillingly exposed to harmful materials in order to determine their health effects is absolutely shocking," the senator wrote."

The Anti-dissing Strike | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Anti-dissing Strike | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: "That reality is made clear by the regular refrain of Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, of which the CTU is an affiliate. As she wrote in this morning's USA Today, "no one wants to strike ... this strike comes on the heels of numerous steps that left teachers feeling disrespected."

That teachers have been the victims of brutal dissing has been the complaint of their unions for years, a mantra that's coincided especially with efforts to assess teachers' performance using, at least partially, the achievement of their students."

"Of course government schooling doesn't really serve democracy; it serves the people employed by the system. It's a simple matter of incentives: On any given issue politicians will tend to respond to the groups most active on that issue, and no one has greater incentive to be involved in education politics than those who draw their livelihoods from it. And what will they demand? What we'd all like: as much money as possible and no accountability for performance."

CBO Demands a Leap of Faith on the Fiscal Cliff | John H. Cochrane | Cato Institute: Commentary

CBO Demands a Leap of Faith on the Fiscal Cliff | John H. Cochrane | Cato Institute: Commentary: "If the government borrows $1 billion and spends it, the CBO will project that this action raises gross domestic product by $1.5 billion. Government workers are counted as “producing” what they cost, so borrowing money to keep them employed generates the same GDP as building a bridge. If the government just gives the money to people, this also raises the CBO’s GDP estimate. Reducing government spending and transfers has the opposite effect."

"What will be the effect of curtailing 99 weeks of unemployment insurance? To the CBO, it will reduce GDP because would-be beneficiaries will consume less. A standard economic analysis predicts that it will have the opposite effect, increasing GDP and bringing down unemployment. That’s because unemployment insurance means some people choose to stay unemployed rather than take lower-paying jobs, or jobs that require them to move."

"To the CBO, tax increases and spending cuts have about the same effect. In my analysis, higher tax rates are more damaging than spending cuts. To me, a revenue-neutral tax reform that took in the same amount of money at much lower marginal rates would be a boon. It would have little effect at all in the CBO’s analysis."

2 mortars found at old WWII site in Alabama | Fox News

2 mortars found at old WWII site in Alabama | Fox News: "Workers plan to detonate the mortars, which contain an unknown liquid.

The 37,000-acre camp is near Gadsden. It was a live-fire training area for chemical weapons during the war."

That doesn't sound wise. :-/

Bipartisan Bloat | Christopher Preble | Cato Institute: Commentary

Bipartisan Bloat | Christopher Preble | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The party that opposes nearly all other forms of federal spending happily embraces the military variety. Republicans assert that military spending cuts will result in massive job losses, even as they argue that cuts in other federal spending would grow the economy and create jobs in the private sector. They are skeptical that the federal government should engage in nation-building at home, but celebrate it abroad. Republican candidate Mitt Romney accuses Obama of fostering a "culture of dependency" in the United States, yet ignores that U.S. security guarantees have created an entire class of affluent countries around the world that now rely upon U.S. tax dollars to pay for their defense."

Romney's Taxes and the Liberal Mindset | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Romney's Taxes and the Liberal Mindset | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "One endlessly repeated commercial points out that Romney paid only 13.9 percent of his income in taxes in 2010, "probably less than you."

"unless your household was earning more than $189,400 per year, it is unlikely that you are paying a higher federal income-tax rate than Romney. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the average middle-income American pays an effective federal income-tax rate of 1.3 percent. Recall that half of Americans pay no federal income tax at all."

Was their ad directed at the rich?

"Democrats were quick to dismiss [Romney's charity donations] as substantively different from and less important than paying taxes. In fact, some suggested that such large charitable contributions might actually be a form of tax evasion, since they were tax-deductible. By helping people on his own, Romney was undermining government charity. "Charity is not democracy," complained Garrett Gruener, who helped found Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength, a pro-tax group"

"according to a recent Gallup poll, Americans who described themselves as "very conservative" gave 4.5 percent of their income to charity, on average; self-described "conservatives" gave 3.6 percent; and "moderates" gave 3 percent; while "liberals" gave just 1.5 percent; and "very liberal" Americans gave barely 1.2 percent.

Those who voluntarily give the least are the same people who will spend the next few nights in Charlotte telling us how much they care, while demanding that the government take more from the rest of us by force through higher taxes."

"It is reflected in a belief that government jobs are especially ennobling, while people who work in the private sector are necessarily "greedy" and "corrupt." "

"It is government, the president believes, that makes all else possible. That is why the president repeatedly expresses concern over cutbacks in government spending, while observing that "the private sector is doing just fine." "

California mom jailed for kids’ truancy | Fox News

California mom jailed for kids’ truancy | Fox News: "A California mom was sentenced to 180 days in jail after she pleaded guilty to allowing her kids to miss more than 10 percent of the of the school last year"

How China got businesses to pay taxes: scratch-n-win tickets - CSMonitor.com

How China got businesses to pay taxes: scratch-n-win tickets - CSMonitor.com: "Businesses purchase special machines that print special receipts known as fapiao in addition to regular receipts, called shouju, that cash registers provide. Every time a receipt is printed, a transaction is recorded and taxes must then be paid on it. To ensure owners actually use the machines, the government got creative: The fapiao that the machines print out are essentially scratch-and-win tickets with prizes ranging from 5- to 50,000 yuan ($.75 to $8,333). For perspective: A subway ticket in China is 2 yuan, and a monthly phone bill is about 60 to 127 yuan for an iPhone.

Following the implementation of the program, the frequency of customers asking for receipts increased dramatically, according to a 2009 survey conducted by Mr. Wan. Those who had never requested receipts began asking for them one out of every two transactions. The frequency of those who requested receipts before the fapiao program was implemented increased by 30 percent after hearing about the program."

Voting for President: The Lesser Evil Is Still Rather Evil | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

Voting for President: The Lesser Evil Is Still Rather Evil | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "After a quarter century, the Republican Party default option has resulted in a government which is vastly more expensive and expansive. It didn't matter whether the Democrat or Republican actually was elected. Government was bigger after every president left office. So much for the claim that the latest GOP presidential candidate would "stop the expansion of government and give the marketplace an opportunity to repair our nation.""

"voting for the lesser of two evils irrespective of how evil they are should be the definition of futility. As long as Americans vote for big-spending war-mongers, America's leaders will be big-spending war-mongers. A libertarian wouldn't have to be elected to exert influence. Perennial Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs transformed American politics because both major parties ended up adopting much of his agenda. A philosophical libertarian candidate, whatever his party, could do the same if he demonstrated increasing political support for liberty.

As for November, the best outcome would be divided government. The Republican Congress worked overtime to constrain President Bill Clinton. In contrast, the same legislative body gave President George W. Bush every outlay and war that he wanted. The Democratic Congress worked to limit President Bush before later joining with President Obama to greatly expand government. The Republican House has battled the Democratic president."

Fixing Medicare Requires Seniors to Pay Quite a Bit More | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary

Fixing Medicare Requires Seniors to Pay Quite a Bit More | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary: "It makes no sense to buy insurance against the "risk" of routine medical care, such as annual checkups, or against the risk of moderate expenses, such as many medication regimes, minor surgeries or treatments. Homeowners insurance does not cover broken toilets or snow removal, only major events such as a fire. These expenditures may well be worthwhile. For example, annual checkups might help avoid larger medical expenses in future. But most consumers can afford these without insurance.

In addition, insurance can make the healthcare market less efficient by reducing consumer incentive to economize on health costs. This "moral hazard" is a major reason behind escalating costs. When consumers are not paying for their care, the incentives for excessive utilization are huge: unnecessary tests, too much surgery rather than watchful waiting, doctor visits with minimal value, brand name versus generic drugs and more."

President Obama's Alleged "War on Coal" - Climate Change Edition | Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary

President Obama's Alleged "War on Coal" - Climate Change Edition | Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The regulation at issue proposes an emissions target of 1,000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour of generation — something impossible for coal-fired power plants to meet without expensive carbon capture technology — but it applies only to brand-spanking-new, non-peaking natural gas power plants and coal-fired power plants that might be built some day in the future. Not to existing power plants. Not to existing power plants that undertake extensive upgrades that might deem them a "new source" for regulatory purposes under the Clean Air Act. And not to peaking gas-fired power generators.

That's the key to understanding this regulation because — as the EPA points out (and as CEOs in the utility sector confirm) — there are no new coal-fired power plants in the pipeline that this rule might cover and no prospect of the same unless natural gas prices hit at least $9.60 per million BTU (in 2007 dollars) on a sustained basis. Moreover, almost all of the gas-fired power plants that will be built will meet these standards without any additional costs.

Hence the regulation will impose negligible costs and, as the EPA itself confesses, negligible benefits."

"They could have gone after existing coal-fired generation, but didn't. They could have gone after coal-fired power plants that upgraded into "new source" status, but didn't. They could have imposed steep requirements on old and/or new gas-fired generators, but didn't. They essentially ... did nothing: And this from an administration that had long argued that political opponents better come to the negotiating table and sign-on to a cap-and-trade bill lest the administration grow tired of talk and ram something through unilaterally."