Microsoft, Google to sue over FISA gag order | Politics and Law - CNET News

Microsoft, Google to sue over FISA gag order | Politics and Law - CNET News: "Stonewalling by the Department of Justice has led Google and Microsoft to decide to file a lawsuit so that they can publicly discuss Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court-approved surveillance orders."

Microsoft and Google working together for a good cause!

Mom of peanut allergy victim: Her last words were 'I'm sorry' | Sacramento News - KCRA Home

Mom of peanut allergy victim: Her last words were 'I'm sorry' | Sacramento News - KCRA Home: " "We had denied our daughter birthday treats in the classrooms. We read every food label looking for peanuts. This is not helicopter parenting. This was us trying to keep our children alive," Joanne Giorgi said."

Why Wal-Mart Will Never Pay Like Costco - Bloomberg

Why Wal-Mart Will Never Pay Like Costco - Bloomberg: "Costco really is a store where affluent, high-socioeconomic status households occasionally buy huge quantities of goods on the cheap: That’s Costco's business strategy (which is why its stores are pretty much found in affluent near-in suburbs). Wal-Mart, however, is mostly a store where low-income people do their everyday shopping."

Glenn Jacobs: Defunding ObamaCare is serious business - Campaign for Liberty

Glenn Jacobs: Defunding ObamaCare is serious business - Campaign for Liberty: "Unlike our personal dealings, in which compromise usually means both sides get something positive out of the deal, political compromises often benefit politicians at the expense of the rest of us. Whatever political favors the Democratic and Republican establishments get out of Obamacare will leave a majority of middle-class Americans holding the bag."

The NSA and Its “Compliance Problems” - Ben O'Neill - Mises Daily

The NSA and Its “Compliance Problems” - Ben O'Neill - Mises Daily: "For ordinary citizens, “compliance problems” with the law are better known as “crimes” (or possibly civil wrongs) and these lead to judgment debts, fines, and possibly even jail time, depending on the severity of the lack-of-compliance. But for government officials such notions are irrelevant — legal compliance problems are just something you file a report about, and send to another bureaucrat higher up in the government chain, so that he can bury it on his desk."

"[The NSA] has claimed that it may collect any and all information it wishes without any warrant or restriction, and that this does not constitute real “collection” of data unless the database is later queried. In other words, collection of data is not really collection of data, so long as the data sits idle and is not accessed. It has then claimed that querying of its databases is only ever done under warrant and only under circumstances where there are specific facts to yield a reasonable suspicion of terrorist activity."

"The agency then operates above the law, in the sense that its agents are pre-emptively acquitted of lawbreaking, on the grounds that some degree of non-compliance with the law is expected."

Are chemical weapons particularly heinous? - CSMonitor.com

Are chemical weapons particularly heinous? - CSMonitor.com: "a common but rarely examined assumption: That among the vast ranks of tools for man to kill man invented down the ages, chemical weapons are particularly heinous.

But is it true?"

"The alleged number of dead from the alleged chemical attack is about 350 people – less than 0.35 percent of the total number deaths in the Syrian war, which is now well over 100,000. In over two years of fighting children have been tortured to death, area fire weapons like mortars and rockets have rained down on crowded civilian neighborhoods (a war crime), suicide bombs from rebels have killed civilians and soldiers alike on the streets of Damascus (ditto), and both sides have executed captives with a liberal hand."

"It is hard to understand what moral good could be accomplished by a few cruise missiles lobbed at Syria by the Obama administration in retaliation for a presumed chemical weapons attack there at this point. The message would seem to be "Kill if you must, but kill by other means." "

The WMD Excuse, Again | Cato Institute

The WMD Excuse, Again | Cato Institute: "Video shared online shows graphic images of dozens of dead people, including women and a large number of young children, including babies in diapers, most of whom were said to have suffocated.” Note that suffocation is not a primary symptom of sarin (which causes convulsions and vomiting) or mustard (which causes blistering). Suffocation instead points to “a weaker agent in a confined space,” such as a toxic industrial chemical or chlorine, perhaps in schools or buses. The conspicuous absence of vomit on the floors or clothing makes sarin or any other nerve gas an extremely unlikely culprit."

"Contact with sarin-contaminated clothing or unwashed skin would have seriously threatened the health of medical personnel. Photos and films from opposition activists, however, show the injured and dead wearing presumably contaminated street clothing and being treated by people without gloves, protective clothing, or gas masks. That would be foolhardy, if not suicidal — which makes the scenes suspect."

Sheldon Richman: Delete the Fed - Campaign for Liberty

Sheldon Richman: Delete the Fed - Campaign for Liberty: "we find the following: (1) The Fed’s full history (1914 to present) has been characterized by more rather than fewer symptoms of monetary and macroeconomic instability than the decades leading to the Fed’s establishment. (2) While the Fed’s performance has undoubtedly improved since World War II, even its postwar performance has not clearly surpassed that of its undoubtedly flawed predecessor, the National Banking system, before World War I."

"On inflation: “Far from achieving long-run price stability, [the Fed] has allowed the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar, which was hardly different on the eve of the Fed‘s creation from what it had been at the time of the dollar’s establishment as the official U.S. monetary unit, to fall dramatically” — by 95 percent."

Deputy's gun goes off at Deerfield Township Sheriff's Offices | Warren County - WLWT Home

Deputy's gun goes off at Deerfield Township Sheriff's Offices | Warren County - WLWT Home: "Investigators said the deputy was alone at the office Monday morning and cleaning his gun when it went off"

It doesn't sound like the gun should be blamed...

Police History: Was U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves the real Lone Ranger?

Police History: Was U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves the real Lone Ranger?: "The first black lawman west of the Mississippi, Reeves cut a striking figure on his large gray (almost white) horse, while wearing his trademark black hat and twin .45 Colt Peacemakers cross-draw style.

He gave out silver dollars as a calling card.

The “Indomitable Marshal”
Reeves became famous among criminals for his skills and relentless pursuit. Although shot at many times, he remained untouched by a single bullet, and because of this he was called “The Indomitable Marshal,” so tough he could “spit on a brick and bust it.”"

Middle of the Road in Healthcare Leads to Socialism - Campaign for Liberty

Middle of the Road in Healthcare Leads to Socialism - Campaign for Liberty: "Contrary to the claims of some of its opponents, Obamacare is not socialized medicine. It is corporatized medicine. After all, the central feature of Obamacare is the mandate that all Americans buy health insurance from private health insurance companies. And, as with previous government interventions in the marketplace, Obamacare is not only failing to correct the problems caused by prior federal laws, it is creating new problems."

"I fully expect the implosion of Obamacare to continue, and the supporters of nationalized health care to use Obamacare’s failures to push for a Canadian-style “single payer” health care system. Unfortunately, some Obamacare opponents fail to see that the problem is not just Obamacare, but all government interference with health care. These Obamacare opponents advocate replacing Obamacare with “Obamacare lite.” But economic law teaches us that “Obamacare lite” will be no more successful than Obamacare."

Dave Meslin: The antidote to apathy | Video on TED.com

Dave Meslin: The antidote to apathy | Video on TED.com: "Dave Meslin talks about how societies are falling apart because people are failing to act and participate in community activities. This is because of many reasons, such as the fact that communities are not clear enough in what they really want you to do"

Saving Consumers from Lower Prices | Cato Institute

Saving Consumers from Lower Prices | Cato Institute: "Why does the Obama administration claim it wants you to pay less for your airline ticket, but more for the shrimp you buy?"

"When I took my first course in antitrust economics, the concern at the time was that GM would monopolize the automobile market, that IBM would monopolize the computer market, and that U.S. Steel would monopolize the steel industry. The antitrust whizzes at Justice missed the possibility that Japanese, South Korean and many other automobile producers would grab a major share of both the U.S. and global markets, and that GM would end up in bankruptcy with a government bailout. After decades of trying to break up IBM, even the folks at Justice finally realized that because of the rapidity of technological change, no computer company was likely to remain on top for very long. Many millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted because too many in government had a static view of the world. Finally, U.S. Steel has been losing money and market share for years."

"Many Americans eat shrimp, but very few Americans catch shrimp, so the Obama administration would prefer that most consumers have their real incomes reduced by higher shrimp prices in order to benefit a relatively few producers. If you want to buy American shrimp and pay more, it should be your choice."

North Korea's Latest American Hostage | Cato Institute

North Korea's Latest American Hostage | Cato Institute: " the more the U.S. invests in releasing prisoners in foreign lands, the more valuable they will come to be seen — thus creating a greater incentive to grab Americans in the future."

The Man Who Was Treated for $17,000 Less | Cato Institute

The Man Who Was Treated for $17,000 Less | Cato Institute: "The insurance policy, the clerk said, would pay up to $2,500 for the surgeon—more than enough—and up to $2,500 for the hospital’s charges for the operating room, nursing, recovery room, etc. The estimated hospital charge was $23,000. She asked him to pay roughly $20,000 upfront to cover the estimated balance."

"We contacted a different hospital and they quoted him a reasonable upfront cash price for the outpatient surgical/nursing services. He underwent his operation the very next day, with a total bill of just a little over $3,000, including doctor and hospital fees. He ended up saving $17,000 by not using insurance"

Cash price was 88% cheaper than the normal price!

Welfare: A Better Deal than Work | Cato Institute

Welfare: A Better Deal than Work | Cato Institute: "welfare currently pays more than a minimum-wage job in 34 states and the District of Columbia. In Hawaii, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., welfare pays more than a $20-an-hour job, and in five additional states it yields more than a $15-per-hour job.

Consider this: In ten states and the District of Columbia, welfare pays more than the entry-level salary for a teacher in that state. In 38 states and the District of Columbia, welfare is more generous than the average starting salary for a secretary. And in the three most generous states, welfare pays more than the wages for an entry-level computer programmer. In eight states, welfare recipients receive benefits worth more than the median salary there."

"despite the work requirements put in place by the Nineties welfare reform, fewer than 42 percent of recipients are participating in broadly defined “work activities.” In some states, such as Missouri and Massachusetts, less than one out of five welfare recipients are “working.” Moreover, work activity frequently means not a job but only looking for work or participating in a job-training program. In fact, fewer than one-fifth of welfare recipients are working in unsubsidized private-sector jobs."

"Nor does our study suggest that people on welfare are lazy. Indeed, survey after survey suggests that they would prefer to be working. By not working, welfare recipients are simply responding rationally to the incentive systems our public-policy makers have established for them."

German Politicians Demand to See Gold in US Federal Reserve - SPIEGEL ONLINE

German Politicians Demand to See Gold in US Federal Reserve - SPIEGEL ONLINE: "The report also noted that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York refuses to allow the gold's owners to view their own reserves."

"Finally, in 2007, "following numerous enquiries," Bundesbank staff members were allowed to see the facility, but they reportedly only made it to the anteroom of the German reserves.

In fact, auditors from the Bundesbank made a second visit in May 2011. This time one of the nine compartments was also opened, in which the German gold bars are densely stacked."

Campus officer's misfire sends bullet flying through classroom window at Savannah State in Ga. | Fox News

Campus officer's misfire sends bullet flying through classroom window at Savannah State in Ga. | Fox News: "the officer's weapon misfired during either a training exercise or a demonstration Wednesday morning"

Was the problem with the user or the tool?

Get the Mortgage Industry out of Taxpayers' Pockets | Cato Institute

Get the Mortgage Industry out of Taxpayers' Pockets | Cato Institute: "If we simply let Fannie and Freddie disappear, we will still lead the world in mortgage subsidies."

"By 1969, the national home ownership rate reached 64.3 percent. At this time, the percent of mortgages securitized was in the low single-digits and the secondary market was irrelevant. Since the growth of Fannie and Freddie, the long run home ownership rate has been unchanged. The cost of the 30-year mortgage relative to Treasuries has actually increased as their market presence grew."

"Ultimately, Fannie and Freddie are vehicles for banks to dump their bad bets onto to the taxpayer."

WOULD BANNING FIREARMS REDUCE MURDER AND SUICIDE?

WOULD BANNING FIREARMS REDUCE MURDER AND SUICIDE?

"where firearms are most dense violent crime rates are lowest, and where guns are least dense violent crime rates are highest"

"In 2004, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences released its evaluation from a review of 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some original empirical research. It failed to identify any gun control that had reduced violent crime, suicide, or gun accidents. The same conclusion was reached in 2003 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s review of then-extant studies."

"The vast majority of persons involved in life‐threatening violence have a long criminal record with many prior
contacts with the justice system."

"Although there are many domestic homicides, such murders do not occur frequently in ordinary families, nor are the murderers ordinary, law‐abiding adults. “The day‐to‐day reality is that most family murders are prefaced by a long history of assaults.” One study of such murders found that “a history of domestic violence was present in 95.8%” of cases."

" “the most common victim‐offender relationship” was “where both parties . . . knew one another because of priorillegal transactions.” "

"the National Institute of Justice surveys among prison inmates find that large percentages report that their fear that a victim might be armed deterred them from confrontation crimes. “[T]he felons most frightened ‘about confronting an armed victim’ were those from states with the greatest relative number of privately owned firearms.” Conversely, robbery is highest in states that most restrict gun ownership."

"in nations that have experienced high and rising violent crime rates, the legislative reaction has generally been to enact increasingly severe anti-gun laws. This is futile, for reducing gun ownership by the law‐abiding citizenry—the only ones who obey gun laws—does not reduce violence or murder. The result is that high crime nations that ban guns to reduce crime end up having both high crime and stringent gun
laws, while it appears that low crime nations that do not significantly restrict guns continue to have low violence rates."

"it cannot be shown consistently that a reduction in the number of guns available to the general population has led to fewer deaths"

"Per capita, rural African‐Americans are much more likely to own firearms than are urban African‐Americans.94 Yet, despite their greater access to guns, the firearm murder rate of young rural black males is a small fraction of the firearm murder rate of young urban black males."

"There is simply no relationship evident between the extent of suicide and the extent of gun ownership. People do not commit suicide because they have guns available. In the absence of firearms, people who are inclined to commit suicide kill themselves some other way."

Feds: More Americans selling their food stamps for cash | Fox News

Feds: More Americans selling their food stamps for cash | Fox News: "About 10.5 percent of all authorized SNAP stores engaged in trafficking, the study found, compared 8.2 percent in the 2006-2008 review."

"Small grocery or convenience stores, for example, accounted for about 15 percent of all redemptions but 85 percent of trafficking redemptions.

In addition, trafficking was more likely to occur in privately owned stores compared to publicly owned shops and was more likely among retailers in neighborhoods with higher poverty rates."

New rule bans Georgia drivers from paying toll of next driver | Fox News

New rule bans Georgia drivers from paying toll of next driver | Fox News: "A new rule from the State Road and Tollway Authority bans drivers from paying the toll for the person behind them in line.

That became something of a local tradition over the last 20 years. But The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that some drivers had recently complained that cashiers were pocketing the extra 50 cents when they didn't see their money being tossed into the coin basket for the driver behind them.

The deputy executive director of the State Road and Tollway Authority, Bert Brantley, says a driver might not see the extra money being thrown into the change basket because the next motorist sometimes declined the money, allowing it to be passed to another driver."

So ban something good because there were some issues?!?

Update: The ban has been reversed.

Obama: I Had To Violate The Constitution Because Republicans Are Such Partisan Hacks (Or Something) - Downtrend.com

Obama: I Had To Violate The Constitution Because Republicans Are Such Partisan Hacks (Or Something) - Downtrend.com: "No, he didn’t have the authority to change the law by executive authority. The fact that he even discussed changing it by the normal legislative process if the “political environment” was more favorable demonstrates that even he believed that Congressional involvement was necessary to change the law."

Obamacare as Big Brother | Cato Institute

Obamacare as Big Brother | Cato Institute: " a new government bureaucracy will be in possession of these people’s financial, employment, and health information — everything from their income last year to the prescription drugs they take. What could possibly go wrong?"

"If you are among the millions of Americans forced to purchase insurance through an exchange, these navigators will have access to such sensitive information as your Social Security number, date of birth, bank account number, place of employment, and medical history. Some of the funds needed to hire and train the workers aren’t expected to be released until the end of August. This means that, in the 34 states where the federal government is running the exchanges, there will be just a month to hire and train thousands of workers. In a rush to have sufficient numbers of navigators in place by the October 1 deadline, the administration has reduced the amount of training required from 30 hours to just 20. Three training courses will be conducted online."

"late last month, HHS’s Office of the Inspector General reported that the Obama administration has missed repeated deadlines for testing, reporting, and correcting security risks for the hub. HHS does not even expect a final security-control assessment until ten days before the hub is scheduled to begin operations, and it won’t certify the program’s security until September 30 — the day before it goes into effect."

Welfare Can Make More Sense than Work | Cato Institute

Welfare Can Make More Sense than Work | Cato Institute: "a mother with two children in Connecticut would have to earn $21.33 per hour for her family to be better off than they would be on welfare. That’s more than the average entry-level salary for a teacher or secretary. In fact, it is more than 107 percent of Connecticut’s median salary."

Why Are We At War In Yemen? - Campaign for Liberty

Why Are We At War In Yemen? - Campaign for Liberty: "The US claims that everyone killed was a “suspected militant,”"

Only "suspected"?!?!?

Family films as lightning strikes car, recharges phones | Technically Incorrect - CNET News

Family films as lightning strikes car, recharges phones | Technically Incorrect - CNET News: "they also had a number of gadgets in the car that had dead batteries.
However, after the strike, all these cell phones and gaming devices were fully charged."

Fighting Dirty to Save Affirmative Action | Cato Institute

Fighting Dirty to Save Affirmative Action | Cato Institute: "its�Top-Ten Percent Plan�— by which the top 10% (since changed to eight) of graduates in every high school in the state are guaranteed admission — had already created a campus with some of the highest “diversity” in nation"

SAFE Act an Expensive Boondoggle | Cato Institute

SAFE Act an Expensive Boondoggle | Cato Institute: "Since 1933, the federal government has deported over 5.5 million people. Twenty-nine percent of those deportations, or 1.5 million, occurred during the first term of the Obama administration. George W. Bush’s two full terms netted just over 2 million deportations, or 36 percent of all deportations since 1933."

"For American citizens, .2 percent of job applicants run through E-Verify are falsely flagged as unauthorized to work. That may sound small, but it means that hundreds of thousands of Americans will be initially labeled as illegal workers. The appeals process can then be relatively easy in most cases but for some it can take weeks or months.

Embarrassingly, error rates for permanent residents and visa holders have increased from 1.5 percent to 2 percent over the last few years. Nobody should have to ask government permission to work."

"The Legal Workforce Act punishes E-Verify violations with a $5000 fine per violation that can climb to $25,000 for each repeated violation and jail time up to ten years — which is comparable to manslaughter or second-degree murder penalties in some states"

"E-Verify will be far more costly — an average of $141 per check"

OK Preschool Study Provides No Evidence of Lasting Benefits from Preschool | Cato @ Liberty

OK Preschool Study Provides No Evidence of Lasting Benefits from Preschool | Cato @ Liberty: "There is little evidence in the research that these kinds of preschool programs impart lasting gains to low-income students and no evidence that they benefit middle-class kids. The real-world evidence demonstrates that the test scores of children in Oklahoma have eroded significantly, as have our nation’s performance on international tests, at the same time that preschool programs have massively expanded and the quality of those programs has supposedly improved."

Spending by Wisconsin unions on lobbyists plummets, records show

Spending by Wisconsin unions on lobbyists plummets, records show: "In just two years, spending by the state's public employee unions on lobbyists has plummeted from the summit of Wisconsin politics, a new report shows.

The figures show the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state's largest teacher union, spent nearly $2.1 million in the first six months of 2011 and $1 million in the first half of 2009, but a mere $84,000 in the first six months of this year.

The new leaders in lobbying spending at the Capitol are large business groups, which are more numerous than large unions.

That means their total spending adds up, though they spend less individually than the largest unions once did. In fact, the top five lobbying groups in the capital for the first half of 2013 spent less combined than what WEAC spent in the first half of 2011."

House narrowly rejects bid to curb NSA domestic surveillance | Politics and Law - CNET News

House narrowly rejects bid to curb NSA domestic surveillance | Politics and Law - CNET News: "In an indication that Edward Snowden's disclosures about broad government surveillances are having a political impact, the U.S. House of Representatives came within seven votes on Wednesday of curbing a program that vacuums up the logs of all Americans' phone calls.
An amendment that would have ended the National Security Agency's use of the Patriot Act to conduct mass surveillance of Americans' phone call metadata failed by a vote of 205 to 217."

Oregon woman wins $18.6 million over credit report mistakes | Fox News

Oregon woman wins $18.6 million over credit report mistakes | Fox News: "A Federal Trade Commission study earlier this year of 1,001 consumers who reviewed 2,968 of their credit reports found 21 percent contained errors. The survey found that 5 percent of the errors represented issues that would lead consumers to be denied credit."

Red State Socialism makes you sick - Campaign for Liberty

Red State Socialism makes you sick - Campaign for Liberty: "Taxpayers spent $84.4 billion on corn production, $8.1 billion of which funded production of corn starch and sweeteners. Of the total domestic corn produced, 9.6 percent ended up in junk food and beverages as sweeteners or thickeners.

Apples, the only fruit or vegetable to receive significant federal subsidies, garnered $689 million during the same period.

By contrast, nutritionists point to the “Twinkie subsidy.” Of 37 ingredients in the fattening, empty-calorie confection, taxpayers subsidize at least 17, including corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, vegetable shortening and corn starch."

Congress's Obamacare Waiver | Cato Institute

Congress's Obamacare Waiver | Cato Institute: "Supporters say President Obama merely held Congress harmless. Exactly. Kevin Pace and countless others like him aren’t being held harmless, because they’re not members of Congress."

"Things would be unseemly enough if Congress’s Obamacare waiver were legal. But experts say the president had no authority to grant it.

That didn’t stop even Republicans from praising him, however. Tin-eared Representative Chris Stewart (R., Utah) gushed: “There’s no question it was the right thing to do. Not just for me, but for my staff. Heavens, I have staff who don’t make much money. This would be a really big bite for them.”

Congressman, you also have constituents who don’t make much money, and who can’t make it appear out of thin air. Enjoy your waiver."

"Obamacare actually kicked members of Congress out of their current health plans and imposed that $5,000 to $11,000 pay cut immediately upon enactment in 2010. But President Obama just ignored that part of the law. He let members and staff stay in their current health plans and kept the taxpayer money flowing in their direction."

"A significant share of congressional Democrats just voted to delay the individual mandate. With once-loyal Democrats now upset over how the law hurts them personally, who knows what else Congress would discard?

President Obama circumvented a potential legislative defeat by giving each member and staffer thousands of taxpayer dollars he had no authority to touch. He’s buying votes from members of Congress — with stolen money, no less."

SWAT Teams Make Cops Look More Like Special Forces than Peace Officers | Cato Institute

SWAT Teams Make Cops Look More Like Special Forces than Peace Officers | Cato Institute: "Where Special Weapons and Tactics raids occurred only a few hundred times a year nationwide in the 1970s, they’d risen to over 50,000 annually by the mid-2000s, the bulk served “to enforce laws against consensual crimes.”"

"D-list action star Steven Seagal has a cameo in Chapter 9, a “ride-along” guest when an Arizona SWAT team smashed into a private home with a tank and shot the owner’s dog (he was suspected of violating animal cruelty laws). In a wrong-door child-pornography raid in Virginia in 2006, the terrified homeowner looked up to see NBA star (and law-enforcement buff) Shaquille O’Neal among the semiautomatic-toting officers. (How often is it, exactly, that a suspected Internet creep greets the police with a hail of bullets and a cry of “You’ll never take me alive, coppers!!”?)

Another section tells the story of the Martins, a Brooklyn couple who suffered some 50 wrong-door raids from 2002 to 2010, ostensibly because someone at NYPD programmed their address into the computer system as a placeholder."

FBI let informants commit more than 5,000 crimes in a single year, documents show | Fox News

FBI let informants commit more than 5,000 crimes in a single year, documents show | Fox News: "agents signed off on 5,658 crimes that year, but did not reveal specifics."

Aetna exits Maryland Obamacare exchange | WashingtonExaminer.com

Aetna exits Maryland Obamacare exchange | WashingtonExaminer.com: "pulling out of Maryland’s health insurance exchange after regulators demanded that it slash premiums the company had proposed by 29 percent"

Current Wisdom: We Calculate, You Decide: A Handy-Dandy Carbon Tax Temperature-Savings Calculator | Cato @ Liberty

Current Wisdom: We Calculate, You Decide: A Handy-Dandy Carbon Tax Temperature-Savings Calculator | Cato @ Liberty: "Assuming the IPCC’s value for climate sensitivity (i.e. disregarding the recent scientific literature) and completely stopping all carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. between now and the year 2050 and keeping them at zero, will only reduce the amount of global warming by just over a tenth of a degree (out of a total projected rise of 2.619°C between 2010 and 2100).

If you think that a rise of 2.482°C is vastly preferable to a rise of 2.619°C then all you have to do is set the carbon tax large enough to drive U.S. emissions to zero by mid-century"

Stephen Coleman: The moral dangers of non-lethal weapons | Video on TED.com

Stephen Coleman: The moral dangers of non-lethal weapons | Video on TED.com: "ethicist Stephen Coleman explores the unexpected consequences of [the introduction of non-lethal weapons] and asks some challenging questions"



Non-lethal weapons were introduced as an alternative to lethal force but they are used many, many times that were unjustified.

Grapevine: Hawaii saying goodbye to homeless? | Political Grapevine | Special Report | Bret Baier | Fox News Channel

Grapevine: Hawaii saying goodbye to homeless? | Political Grapevine | Special Report | Bret Baier | Fox News Channel: "The 50th state has budgeted $100,000 to buy the homeless one-way tickets to the mainland.

The Honolulu Civil Beat reports the state's 17,000 homeless are overburdening the system and the cost of getting rid of them is a worthwhile investment.

The Department of Human Services tells Hawaii News Now it is concerned people will buy a ticket to Hawaii knowing they'll get a free trip home."

Concord: Half of Affordable Care Act call center jobs will be part-time - ContraCostaTimes.com

Concord: Half of Affordable Care Act call center jobs will be part-time - ContraCostaTimes.com: "Contra Costa County won the right to run a health care call center, where workers will answer questions to help implement the president's Affordable Care Act"

"about half the jobs are part-time, with no health benefits"