Senate votes to bar indefinite detention of US citizens suspected of terrorism | Fox News

Senate votes to bar indefinite detention of US citizens suspected of terrorism | Fox News: "A coalition of liberal Democrats and libertarian Republicans backed an amendment to a sweeping defense bill that said the government cannot detain a U.S. citizen or legal resident indefinitely without charge or trial even with the authorization to use military force or a declaration of war."

29 people voted against that?!?

"Current law denies suspected terrorists, including U.S. citizens seized within the nation's borders, the right to trial and subjects them to the possibility they would be held indefinitely."

Adapting to Climate Change Is Less Costly than Spending Trillions on Emission Targets | Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar | Cato Institute: Commentary

Adapting to Climate Change Is Less Costly than Spending Trillions on Emission Targets | Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Since global warming will raise sea levels and increase hurricane damage, the future of beachfront property and coastal cities should be bleak. People should be withdrawing to safety inland. But, people are rushing into coastal areas."

"their belief in global warming is quite shallow, more political correctness than deep conviction. Yes, they see some danger. But they do not see it as dangerous enough to change their lifestyle and investment style.

In effect, they expect some adaptation to solve the problem, avoiding any drastic sacrifices. The world has always faced a hundred problems, and has often mitigated these through new technology and other forms of adaptation without necessarily solving them. Eco-fundamentalists are opposed to adaptation to global warming: they want prevention. But prevention is costly, and lacks political will in key emitting countries. People are rushing into coastal cities: their wallets suggest they think adaptation will be enough even without drastic carbon cuts."

"Much of Holland is below sea level but it has adapted to cope. Pat Michaels of the Cato Institute shows that the sea level at Atlantic City has risen 16 inches in the last 100 years, more than the predicted rise in the next century by IPCC. Yet, Atlantic City has adapted so well that residents are scarcely aware of it."

No Good Excuses | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

No Good Excuses | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "No president had won reelection with unemployment above 7 percent since Franklin Roosevelt; it is now 7.9 percent. Three-quarters of voters thought the economy's performance is poor or just fair. Throw in a health-care law that voters opposed 49 percent to 43, turmoil overseas, and assorted scandals, and an observer from Mars would have said that there was no way Romney could lose."

"Tea-party voters would do well to realize that simply being anti-establishment is not enough for a candidate. Supporting a candidate with the charisma and talents of a Ted Cruz or a Jeff Flake makes sense. Supporting a Richard Mourdock simply because he shares similar political views doesn't work as well."

"nearly all Republicans who voted for the Ryan budget were reelected"

"It's not just that Republicans oppose abortion or gay marriage, but that they often sound intolerant and self-righteous in doing so."

Continuing Devastating U.S. War Crimes | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

Continuing Devastating U.S. War Crimes | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Parents are afraid to send their children to school. Women are afraid to meet in markets. Families are afraid to gather at funerals for people wrongly killed in earlier strikes ...

What makes this situation even worse is that no one can tell people in these communities what they can do to make themselves safe. No one knows who is on the American kill list, no one knows how they got there and no one knows what they can do to get themselves off."

"The Bush Administration paid enormous bounties ... in areas rife with tribal and familial rivalries ... hundreds of innocent people were wrongly fingered (by Afghan informants) as Taliban or al-Qaida, many of whom (then) spent years at Guantanamo or other American prisons overseas."

Romney, as Reagan Did, Has It Right on Cutting Taxes | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary

Romney, as Reagan Did, Has It Right on Cutting Taxes | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Presidential candidate Mitt Romney wants to cut all marginal tax rates by 20%. Vice President Joe Biden, in the debate with Paul Ryan, emphatically repeated that, "it has never been done before."

Yet President Kennedy cut all tax rates by 22% in 1964, and President Reagan cut them by another 19% to 22% by mid-1983. The 1986 Tax Reform Act then cut the top rate to 28% in 1988-90."

"Aside from booms and busts, the individual income tax always brought in about 8% of GDP regardless whether the top tax rate was 91% or 28%."

"The reason individual tax revenues remained above 8% of GDP as top tax rates fell from 91% to 28% is that high-income taxpayers earn and report more income when marginal tax rates come down. Economists call this the "elasticity of taxable income," and the response is powerful in high tax brackets."

Election 2012: Let's Hear It for Cynicism | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Election 2012: Let's Hear It for Cynicism | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "As political scientist Colleen Shogan explains, all two-term presidents in the modem era have been plagued by some form of the "Sixth-Year Curse," characterized by "scandals, weakened political coalitions, and midterm electoral defeat.""

Of Kids and�Christmas - Desiring God

Of Kids and�Christmas - Desiring God: "It wasn’t like that first Christmas was a time of quiet reflection. Mary and Joseph were on a huge last-minute trip. And she’s big pregnant on a donkey? Think of it. It sounds like the worst travel experience of all time. No room. No bed. No privacy. Baby coming. Not just any baby either — one Mary knew was the Messiah. Angels? Shepherds dropping in? You think she felt dressed for that? I doubt Mary had time to throw together a cheese platter. She was in a barn, forced to place the King of kings — her Lord — in a trough. And I doubt her livestock roommates were quite as cute as they look in the storybooks."

Obamanomics Explained | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary

Obamanomics Explained | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Obama suggests that raising the top two tax rates will turn deficits into surpluses, which would now be good for our economy. Isn’t he the one who used to say huge deficits were a “stimulus”?"

"The Obama Treasury estimates that taxing long-term capital gains at 20 percent “for upper-income taxpayers” (not counting the Obamacare surtax) would raise $5.8 billion in 2013, but lose $5.9 billion in the following two years. That adds up to less than zero."

Lies, Damned Lies, And Defense-Job Statistics | Christopher Preble | Cato Institute: Commentary

Lies, Damned Lies, And Defense-Job Statistics | Christopher Preble | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The Pentagon might be a jobs program, but it isn't a very efficient one. It creates the kinds of jobs that politicians like to claim credit for, but military spending doesn't produce more growth in the economy or generate more innovation than a comparable level of spending by private individuals, businesses, and entrepreneurs."

"no more than 3.53 million jobs — direct, indirect, and induced — are sustained by the defense industry, so it is barely credible that a 10 percent reduction in Pentagon spending would result in the loss of one-third of all defense-related jobs."

"it is appropriate for resources to shift out of the military sector and into private sector as wars end and threats diminish."

Congressional Control as Important as White House | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Congressional Control as Important as White House | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Again, it is obvious that big increases in government spending do not lead to higher growth rates and lower unemployment. To be considered valid, an economic model needs to be reasonably accurate in its predictions. The Keynesian models have failed this test time and time again over the past 100 years and, most recently, during the past four years. Unemployment was supposed to be less than 6 percent, but it is higher, at 7.9 percent, than it was when the president took office. (Note: The real unemployment rate is 14.6 percent because many have stopped looking for work.)

The Austrian and classical economists who have argued for lower spending and tax rates have proved again to be correct."

Survey shows more drugged drivers than drunken drivers in California on weekends | Fox News

Survey shows more drugged drivers than drunken drivers in California on weekends | Fox News: "The California Office of Traffic Safety said Monday that 14 percent of drivers surveyed tested positive for driving under the influence of illegal or prescription drugs.

A little more than 7 percent of drivers were driving with alcohol in their system."

"Marijuana was most prevalent with 7.4 percent of drivers having it in their system."

The Twinkie Manifesto - NYTimes.com

The Twinkie Manifesto - NYTimes.com: "nothing before or since has matched the doubling of median family income between 1947 and 1973."

When you start from the great depression and the largest war, I sure hope things improve a lot!

What the world doesn't know about health care in America | Fox News

What the world doesn't know about health care in America | Fox News: "A growing list of European countries, including Denmark, England, Finland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden, have been forced by public outcry and laws to address unacceptable waits for care.

Meanwhile, it is understood that “waiting lists are not a feature in the United States,” as stated in a 2007 study and separately underscored by the OECD (“[the US is] a country where waiting time is not a policy concern”)."

"England’s 2010 “NHS Constitution” declared that no patient should wait beyond 18 weeks for treatment (after GP referral). Even given this long leash, the number of patients not being treated within that time soared by 43% to almost 30,000 in January."

"Royal College of Surgeons President Norman Williams, calling this “outrageous,” charged that hospitals are cutting their waiting lists by simply raising thresholds."

"Confirming OECD studies, Howard in 2009 reported the US had superior screening rates to all 10 European countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland) for all cancers. And Americans are more likely to be screened younger, when the expected benefit is greatest. Not surprising, for almost all cancers, US patients have less advanced disease at diagnosis than in Europe."

"treatment of diagnosed high blood pressure, the focus of preventing heart failure and stroke, was highest in the US"

"in 2007, 88.1% of US patients received medication to control it, compared to only 62.4% in the ten European nations."

"Swedes waited a median of 55 days, even though 75% were “imperative” or “urgent.” Canada’s heart surgery patients wait more than 10 weeks after seeing the doctor, and two months for CABG even after cardiologist appointments.
“Most United States patients face little or no wait for elective cardiac care,” "

"Americans enjoy unrivalled access to health care— whether defined by access to screening; wait-times for diagnosis, treatment, or specialists; timeliness of surgery; or availability of technology and drugs. And, gradually, Europeans are circumventing their systems. Half a million Swedes now use private insurance, up from 100,000 a decade ago. Almost two-thirds of Brits earning more than $78,700 have done the same."

FEMA's Top-Down Approach to Disaster Relief Is Fundamentally Flawed | Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary

FEMA's Top-Down Approach to Disaster Relief Is Fundamentally Flawed | Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Federal efforts suffer from excessive bureaucratic red tape and an inherent inability to effectively coordinate the dispersion of relief supplies. State and local officials, on the other hand, are naturally closest to those affected and thus better appreciate the needs of their communities.

Another problem is that, like all federal aid, it is manipulated by policymakers for political gain. Studies have shown that presidents issue the most "major disaster" declarations in years they are up for re-election. Indeed, policymakers have apparently decided that handing out disaster relief funds is a good way to curry favor with voters as the average annual number of total disaster declarations has more than tripled since the mid-1990s."

Staten Islanders offer to school FEMA after Sandy's wrath | Fox News

Staten Islanders offer to school FEMA after Sandy's wrath | Fox News: "She said small businesses, neighbors and local leaders teamed up to ensure people had clothes, food, water, blankets and hot meals, as well as other survival basics."

The U.S. Should Be Wary of Arming Syrian Rebels | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary

The U.S. Should Be Wary of Arming Syrian Rebels | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Washington has a dreadful track record of being manipulated by thugs and charlatans in other countries masquerading as committed democrats. The decision to aid the Afghan mujahideen during the 1980s ended up strengthening radical Islamic forces."

Sanctuary: Florida church invites fugitives to surrender | Fox News

Sanctuary: Florida church invites fugitives to surrender | Fox News: "A Florida church wants to help flocks of fugitives get right with the law, and will even host their court appearances via a closed-circuit TV system that links the house of worship to the local judge."

"This is the third time the church has partnered with law enforcement and the courts to hold the event. Durham said the event netted about 38 fugitives when it was held last year."

Beyond Allies and Adversaries | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary

Beyond Allies and Adversaries | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The binary approach to global affairs had unfortunate policy consequences in other respects. The inability of U.S. policy makers to accept the reality that a nation might wish to be neither friend nor foe led to CIA-orchestrated coups against the left-leaning but independent nationalist governments in Iran and Guatemala. Instead of tolerating such ideological ambiguity, the Eisenhower administration viewed those regimes as nothing more than Soviet puppets and reacted accordingly.

Unfortunately, the binary attitude persisted long after the 1950s. It was a major factor that prevented the United States from recognizing that North Vietnam's communist regime was primarily nationalist and was not going to be a surrogate of either the Soviet Union or China. A similar blind spot impelled Washington to embrace such corrupt and thuggish "friends" as South Korea's Park Chung-hee, Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Nicaragua's Anastasio Somoza and Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko."

U.S. Targeted Kill Lists for Next Generations? | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

U.S. Targeted Kill Lists for Next Generations? | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: Romney: "Well, I believe we should use any and all means necessary to take out people who are a threat to us and our friends around the world. And it's widely reported that drones are being used in drone strikes, and I support that and entirely, and feel the president was right to up the usage of that technology and believe that we should continue to use it, to continue to go after the people that represent a threat to this nation and to our friends."

Four Months Later, I'm Still Not over the Obamacare Ruling | Ilya Shapiro | Cato Institute: Commentary

Four Months Later, I'm Still Not over the Obamacare Ruling | Ilya Shapiro | Cato Institute: Commentary: "by letting Obamacare survive in such a dubious manner — I call it a "unicorn tax," a creature of no known constitutional provenance that will never be seen again — Roberts undermined the trust people have that courts are impartial arbiters rather than political actors."

"What had I (and everyone else) missed? The possibility that the ruling would be based on something other than competing legal theories. That is, eight justices decided the health care caseson the law — four finding that the Constitution limits federal power, four that constitutional structure must yield to "Congress' capacity to meet the new problems arising constantly in our ever-developing modern economy" — and one had other concerns on his mind."

"the whole reason we care about the Court's independence and integrity is so it can make the tough calls while letting the political chips fall where they may. Had the Court struck down Obamacare, it would have "merely" been a high-profile legal ruling, just the sort of thing for which the Court needs all that accrued respect and gravitas. Instead, we have a strategic decision dressed up in legal robes, judicially enacting a new law."

Romney's Other 47% Problem | Harvey Sapolsky and Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: Commentary

Romney's Other 47% Problem | Harvey Sapolsky and Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: Commentary: "But if he still wants to attack those who freeload off of U.S. taxpayers, there is a better target: Our wealthy overseas allies.

Forty-seven percent is also roughly the U.S. share of global military spending. Our annual $700 billion-plus military budget exceeds the next 10 biggest military budgets combined. Much of that money buys forces needed to defend allies against threats they could afford to meet themselves. Alliances that once served the U.S. national interest have become a subsidy to rich allies."

"while Americans spend about $2,700 per capita annually on the military, NATO allies average around $500.

More than 20 years after the end of the Cold War, Europeans sit in cafes while over 80,000 American service personnel still help guard Europe against Russia, which now has a GDP around the size of Spain and Portugal combined."

Big Bird's Fuzzy Defenders March on Washington | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary

Big Bird's Fuzzy Defenders March on Washington | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Big Bird, All Things Considered, or NOVA. Those things will almost assuredly continue to exist if federal funding, which is only 15% of public broadcasting's budget, is taken away."

"Nevertheless, if we cannot cut funding from something that doesn't even need federal funds to exist, then we are truly unprepared to meet the serious budget challenges that lie ahead."

"Each side has its sacred cows and, between the two, it seems that nearly all the federal government's budget is off-limits from serious cutting."

"Before the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, non-commercial broadcasting thrived. Because it took no federal money, National Educational Television was able to run hard-hitting documentaries that challenged the status quo with titles such as Who Invited US?, The Poor Pay More, Black Like Me and Inside North Vietnam."

"What would remain is a fully independent, non-commercial entity that depends on the generosity of people to keep going, which, save 15%, is essentially what we have now."

Drone-War Double-Think | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Drone-War Double-Think | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "as the death toll from drone warfare over Pakistan approaches 3,000, "the number of 'high-level' targets killed as a percentage of total casualties is extremely low — estimated at just 2 percent." "

"What's happening is that we're using the technology to target people we never would have bothered to capture."

The Coming Regulatory Tsunami | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Coming Regulatory Tsunami | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "During the 13 quarters after the bottom of the recession Reagan inherited, the economy grew at an average annual rate of 5.7 percent. In the 13 quarters since the bottom of the recession Mr. Obama inherited, the economy has grown at just an average rate of 2.2 percent, or just a little more than a third of the Reagan recovery. Could it be that their different attitudes and actions toward regulatory burdens had anything to do with this difference in performance?"

Price Gouging Saves Lives in a Hurricane - David M. Brown - Mises Daily

Price Gouging Saves Lives in a Hurricane - David M. Brown - Mises Daily: "If we expect customers to be able to get what they need in an emergency, when demand zooms vendors must be allowed and encouraged to increase their prices. Supplies are then more likely to be sustained, and the people who most urgently need a particular good will more likely be able to get it. That is especially important during an emergency. Price gouging saves lives."

"If the price is kept at $4.39 a bag because the drugstore owner fears the wrath of State Attorney General Charlie Crist and the finger wagging of local news anchors, the first five people who want to buy ice might obtain the entire stock."

"Indeed, under this second scenario—the market scenario—vendors are scrambling to make ice available and to advertise that availability by whatever means available to them given the lack of power. Vendors who would have stayed home until power was generally restored might now go to heroic lengths to keep their stores open and make their surviving stocks available to consumers."

"Rationing of price-controlled ice would still maintain an artificially low price for ice, so the day after the storm hits there would still be no economic incentive for ice vendors to scramble to keep ice available given limited supplies that cannot be immediately replenished. And while it is true that rationing might prevent the person casually purchasing four bags of ice from obtaining all four of those bags (at least from one store with a particularly diligent clerk), the rationing would also prevent the person who desperately needs four bags of ice from getting it."

Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama: Hawk vs. Hawk | Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: Commentary

Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama: Hawk vs. Hawk | Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Obama, as Dick Cheney gleefully notes, has mostly continued the Bush administration's counterterrorism policies. That goes for National Security Agency surveillance (legalized with Senator Obama's vote); the Guantanamo Bay prison (congressional opposition killed his efforts to close it and end the military tribunals); the PATRIOT Act; the state secrets doctrine; unwillingness to prosecute anyone for killing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan seemingly with unsanctioned interrogation methods; and more."

"drone strikes, which this administration has massively increased."

"On the Iraq War, Obama reminded us in the debate that he opposed the war and he withdrew U.S. troops from Iraq (on a schedule negotiated by the Bush administration)."

Why Do We Fear the Harmless While Irrationally Putting Ourselves in Harm's Way? | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary

Why Do We Fear the Harmless While Irrationally Putting Ourselves in Harm's Way? | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary: "It doesn't help that our science journals appear to be increasingly lax about peer review. Andrew Wakefield's completely fraudulent study—since withdrawn by The Lancet—claimed (with a remarkably small sample size) that thiomersal-containing vaccines for measles cause autism. In retrospect, it should never have seen the light of day, and the potential harm it has caused is yet unknown."

"Yet BPA is now blamed—via the most primitive associational analysis—for obesity, impotence, early puberty, and you-name-it. In fact, fat people do have more BPA in their blood, perhaps because they eat more, which is why they weigh more.

Here the story gets better. Many plants produce estrogen-like substances that do the same thing as BPA, only the amount ingested is orders of magnitude greater than BPA."

"R-22, a chlorofluorocarbon that will probably leak out, taking to the sky, with the very slight chance that it will be wafted upward by a thunderstorm so powerful that it penetrates the stratosphere, depositing it where catalyzes the destruction of springtime ozone, especially over Antarctica." "Which creates a greater risk—a few percent of increasing ultraviolet radiation (that is equivalent to moving from Washington DC to Richmond, Virginia) or removing (at least) 90% of your clothes and lying in the sun on purpose?"

Disappointing Debates | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Disappointing Debates | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "His decision to impose tariff penalties on Chinese tires may or may not have saved 1,000 jobs in the tire-manufacturing industry, as the president claims, but it also cost American consumers more than $1.1 billion in higher tire prices — Americans ended up paying more than $1 million for each tire-factory worker's job saved. Further, because Americans had to pay more for tires, they had less to spend on other goods and services, meaning fewer jobs in other industries. Studies suggest that on net, the president's tire protectionism actually resulted in a loss of more than 2,500 jobs. And if that wasn't bad enough, the Chinese retaliated by imposing penalties on U.S. chicken products, costing that industry at least $1 billion in sales. "

Unsafe at Any Blood Pressure - Christopher Westley - Mises Daily

Unsafe at Any Blood Pressure - Christopher Westley - Mises Daily: "new round of unintended consequences. Just three that come to mind are

an upward pressure on prices for all other hospital services to compensate hospitals for readmittance fines,
the outright rejection of patients that hospitals consider likely readmittance threats, and
increased tendencies to simply let patients die when healing them is likely to result in readmittance fines."

Details of Dianne Feinstein's Upcoming Assault Weapons Ban Proposal Begin Leaking | The Truth About Guns

Details of Dianne Feinstein's Upcoming Assault Weapons Ban Proposal Begin Leaking | The Truth About Guns: "In short, while its scary, Senator Feinstein’s assault weapons ban proposal is probably going to be a wet squib in terms of gun control. However (and this is what I LOVE about this situation) the mere specter of an assault weapons ban will do more for “assault weapons” sales in the United States and ammunition sales than any other force known to man. Her efforts to ban guns will put them in the hands of more Americans than ever.
Dianne Feinstein: Firearms saleswoman extraordinaire."

CSR: A Cloak for Crooks | Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar | Cato Institute: Commentary

CSR: A Cloak for Crooks | Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar | Cato Institute: Commentary: "If a company cheats its stakeholders, fiddles its accounts and ignores hazards, then it is grossly irresponsible whether or not it spends 2% of profits on some list of government-approved social activities."

"Raju was India's biggest self-confessed crook. Yet he was much celebrated for CSR and won several awards."

Mom guilty of disorderly conduct; berated TSA officers for daughter's Tenn. airport pat-down | Fox News

Mom guilty of disorderly conduct; berated TSA officers for daughter's Tenn. airport pat-down | Fox News: "A woman was found guilty Tuesday of disorderly conduct for berating security officers trying to pat down her teenage daughter and then refusing to submit to the procedure herself at a Tennessee airport."

"The prosecution said Abbott's behavior "prevented others from carrying out their lawful activities," which is part of the definition of disorderly conduct under state law. Abbott testified during the first day of the trial on Monday that she was not unruly but did yell at officers. She said she was "irritated, but not arguing." "

Ohio woman accused of breaking into home, cleaning it and leaving $75 bill pleads guilty | Fox News

Ohio woman accused of breaking into home, cleaning it and leaving $75 bill pleads guilty | Fox News: "The 53-year-old Warren told authorities that she was driving by the house and "wanted something to do." She broke in, washed some coffee cups, took out the trash, vacuumed and dusted inside the house. Then she left a bill written on a napkin that included her phone number.

Warren says that she owns a cleaning business and sometimes enters homes, cleans them and leaves a bill."

Scoring Romney & Obama's Disappointing Energy Debate | Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary

Scoring Romney & Obama's Disappointing Energy Debate | Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary: "While it's true that oil production on federal lands was down last year, that's largely due to the fallout from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf. Even so, oil production on federal lands is 11 percent greater this year than it was during the last year of the Bush administration. Permitting is down under Obama, but it's not because the administration has been rejecting permit applications. Over the entire course of the Obama administration, 93 percent of all permit applications have been approved. During the entire course of the Bush administration, 75 percent were approved. The drop in applications to drill on federal land is mainly driven by the fact that shale oil and gas is primarily found on private and state lands, not federal lands, and that's where all the action is at present."

"While his campaign documents claim that finishing the Keystone Pipeline would create 100,000 jobs, the only independent analysis of job creation persuasively finds that the actual totals are 4,650 temporary jobs and 50 permanent ones."

Strategic Insolvency on Defense | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary

Strategic Insolvency on Defense | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Is the program important enough, Romney asked, to borrow money from China to fund it?"

"No American should want the U.S. government to be in a position where it must defer to Beijing on an important issue merely because it is imprudent to annoy one's banker."

"Unfortunately, Romney does not apply his own standard to a crucial part of the federal budget: military spending. That is not a trivial matter, since military spending makes up some 20 percent of federal spending."

Romney's Economic Plan Has the Edge | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary

Romney's Economic Plan Has the Edge | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Obama errs in believing that federal expenditure is mainly "investment." In reality, huge chunks — such as drug prohibition, the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, NASA, earmarks, the Postal Service, Amtrak, foreign aid, agricultural subsidies, the Small Business Administration, along with bridges to nowhere, the Big Dig, and high-speed rail — are wasteful.

Romney makes a similar mistake for military spending. Many defense and national security activities, such as the ongoing war in Afghanistan, provision of national security for nations in Western Europe and other parts of the globe, not to mention unnecessary weapons systems, redundant military bases, and more, are difficult to justify."

"Both approaches, therefore, aim to "save Medicare," but in fundamentally different ways: The IPAB relies on government to decide what health care is valuable, while the voucher approach lets individuals make those choices."

Does Puerto Rico really want to become the 51st US state? - CSMonitor.com

Does Puerto Rico really want to become the 51st US state? - CSMonitor.com: "However, one third of the voters who answered the first question didn't bother answering the second question, meaning none of the options reached a majority."

Soak the Rich? - Henry Hazlitt - Mises Daily

Soak the Rich? - Henry Hazlitt - Mises Daily: "The legal requirement of time-and-a-half wage rates for overtime is based on the assumption that progressive incentives are necessary to get people to work longer and that progressive rewards are justified as the workload increases. But the present income tax is based on precisely the opposite principle of decreasing rewards for increasing work."

"The progressive income tax skims off precisely the funds most likely to go into new investment — into building the new tools and equipment that increase the productivity of the country and lift the living standards of the workers. It slows down the rate of economic progress."

After Obama win, say goodbye to neocons - CSMonitor.com

After Obama win, say goodbye to neocons - CSMonitor.com: "But while there will be fewer boots on the ground, that doesn't mean Obama doesn't have an aggressive foreign policy of his own. It's just of a different style. The president seems as fond of using drones to kill America's alleged enemies abroad as ever, for instance. Obama has ordered alleged Al Qaeda-style militants killed by the hundreds on his watch in Pakistan and Yemen.

This undeclared drone war probably won't abate, with reports from Washington that Obama officials have been working on ways to justify the killings as legal, even when they involve the assassination of American citizens. "

The Myth of "Surgical Strikes" on Iran | David Isenberg | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Myth of "Surgical Strikes" on Iran | David Isenberg | Cato Institute: Commentary: "between 3,500 and 5,500 people would be present at the time of the strikes, most of whom would be killed or injured"

"Iran has built its nuclear facilities in major urban centers making it impossible to carry out surgical strikes without killing large number of civilians."

"attacks at Isfahan and Natanz would release existing stocks of fluorine and fluorine compounds which would turn into hydrofluoric acid"
"these toxic plumes could kill virtually all life forms in their path."

"If we assume a conservative casualty rate of 5 to 20% among these populations, we can expect casualties in the range of 12,000-70,000 people."

Class Warfare: The Mortal Enemy of Economic Growth and Jobs | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary

Class Warfare: The Mortal Enemy of Economic Growth and Jobs | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary: "regardless how smart politicians and bureaucrats might be, they have only a miniscule fraction of the total knowledge in a society. Politicians and bureaucrats tend to have book learning that's related to academic credentials, whereas specific, practical knowledge needed to make an economy work is dispersed among multitudes of ordinary people. "

"Private individuals not only have such knowledge, they have stronger incentives than politicians or bureaucrats to use the knowledge effectively."

"progressive taxation has contributed to hideous complexity in the tax code. This is because the higher tax rates go, the stronger the incentives various interest groups have to lobby for special treatment, and since politicians always need more campaign contributions, they're eager to oblige lobbyists. The more complex the tax code, the more arbitrary and capricious enforcement is sure to be. With high top rates, progressive taxation promotes an illusion of "fairness," while causing considerable unfairness."

Tensions boil over at gas stations as pumps run dry in wake of Sandy | Fox News

Tensions boil over at gas stations as pumps run dry in wake of Sandy | Fox News: "more than half of all gasoline service stations in the New York City area and New Jersey have been shut down because they are either out of fuel or don’t have power to operate pumps."

Why don't they get generators? Surely many people with generators would be willing to trade some generator time for gasoline!

"New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie moved to increase supplies of gasoline and diesel by waiving requirements that make it harder for stations to buy from out-of-state suppliers."

Why should there be requirements like that even in normal times?

"Rivaling the demand for gas was the scarcity of D batteries, the kind most flashlights use."

Are LED flashlights illegal there? Where they left behind when many switched?

It's All or Nothing. I Prefer Nothing | Arnold Kling | Cato Institute: Commentary

It's All or Nothing. I Prefer Nothing | Arnold Kling | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Apart from consumer protection against predatory practices, the condition of the mortgage market need not merit government concern. If mortgage interest rates are higher than rock-bottom, then so be it. Above all, if businesses involved in mortgage lending become insolvent and have to go through bankruptcy, then so be it."

"Over time, through nimble financial innovation and effective lobbying, the private firms will manipulate any such system so that the profits become privatized and the risks become socialized. No matter how hard they try, policy wonks and regulatory staff cannot prevent this inevitable outcome."

Have Faith in the American Voter | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary

Have Faith in the American Voter | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Of course, the ads are expectedly political — heavy on rhetoric, and relatively light on substance — but Americans know this. Political speech is like any other form of advertising, and Americans, flooded as they are with advertisements of all kinds, thus already know to take political advertisement with a grain of salt.

Political ads have little to no effect on the ideologically committed. A life-long Democrat will assume a Romney-Ryan ad is making misleading and inaccurate claims, and a committed Republican will think the same about ads supporting President Obama.

Both partisans will roll their eyes and ask, "Who would be convinced by this stuff?" They will then imagine that hypothetical person, someone hypnotized by campaign rhetoric and beguiled by mellifluous narrators."

"Studies show that political ads increase both voter engagement and knowledge.

Strong ads are often criticized for "negative" messages that sully politics. But forceful, critical political speech works — it informs, it excites and causes people to perk up and listen — and that is what makes it valuable campaign rhetoric."

"Allowing the government to regulate misleading, inaccurate or negative speech not only puts too much trust in government officials who have a vested interested in curtailing speech directed against them, it puts too little trust in the American people."