Obama solicitor general: If you don't like mandate, earn less money | Philip Klein | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner

Obama solicitor general: If you don't like mandate, earn less money | Philip Klein | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner: "President Obama's solicitor general, defending the national health care law on Wednesday, told a federal appeals court that Americans who didn't like the individual mandate could always avoid it by choosing to earn less money."

Federal Court Rules New York City Can Ban Schools From Churches - FoxNews.com

Federal Court Rules New York City Can Ban Schools From Churches - FoxNews.com: "The justices said that it could unconstitutionally convert schools into state-sponsored Christian churches on weekends."

“Jews and Muslims generally cannot use school facilities for their services because the facilities are often unavailable on the days that their religions principally prescribe for services,”

Does that mean that school should be held on Sundays to not show favoritism to religions that meet on Sundays (Saturdays also)?

Everything you've heard about fossil fuels may be wrong - War Room - Salon.com

Everything you've heard about fossil fuels may be wrong - War Room - Salon.com: "If gas hydrates as well as shale gas, tight oil, oil sands and other unconventional sources can be tapped at reasonable cost, then the global energy picture looks radically different than it did only a few years ago. Suddenly it appears that there may be enough accessible hydrocarbons to power industrial civilization for centuries, if not millennia, to come."

Is Immigration Really the Problem? - Stefano R. Mugnaini - Mises Daily

Is Immigration Really the Problem? - Stefano R. Mugnaini - Mises Daily: "Assuming that illegal immigrants are absolutely guilty of all the above charges, attempt to answer this question: How will legislation that denies jobs and housing to individuals already in our communities lighten the burden they place on society?"

How the Experts Are Wrecking Healthcare - Andrew Foy, MD - Mises Daily

How the Experts Are Wrecking Healthcare - Andrew Foy, MD - Mises Daily: "The data regarding the Medicaid population is similarly abysmal. The bottom line regarding these expertly designed programs is that they have done tremendous damage to the medical marketplace, and the minor benefits they bestow on target populations could have probably occurred in their absence given the direction of developments in private medical insurance prior to their passage. But here is the best part: in 1965 the government estimated that in 1990 Medicare expenses would total $12 billion; instead actual spending turned out be $110 billion — a 1,200 percent increase!"

Represent constituents

How does an elected official represent constituents well?
* Makes known his views before the election and don't radically change them. After all, the election is the most widespread poll.
* Make decisions based on feedback. If most feedback is for one thing, should he always do that? Even when there is a ton of feedback, that is much less than the number of people who voted so how much weight should be given to feedback?

Transportation: From the Top Down or Bottom Up? | Randal O'Toole | Cato Institute: Commentary

Transportation: From the Top Down or Bottom Up? | Randal O'Toole | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Fifty years ago, America's transportation system was almost entirely funded from the bottom up. Airlines, railroads and most transit systems were private and funded out of fares and fees. Airports and highways were public but funded out of user fees such as ticket fees and gas taxes; highway managers knew bridges to nowhere would not generate any fees, so they had no incentive to waste money on unnecessary projects."

"No matter how well intentioned, top-down transportation planning quickly turns into a combination of social engineering and pork barrel. It is time to return to a bottom-up funding system that rewards transport agencies and companies for reducing costs and increasing mobility."

Illegal War? Congress Doesn't Care | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Illegal War? Congress Doesn't Care | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Remember when President Obama assured us his Libyan adventure would be over in 'days, not weeks'? To employ a Clinton-era euphemism, 'That statement is no longer operative.' (Translation: I lied.)

On Friday the 60-day clock ran out, leaving Obama in clear violation of the War Powers Resolution, passed in 1973 to 'fulfill the intent of the framers of the Constitution ... [and] insure that the collective judgment of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities.'

Instead of withdrawing U.S. forces, the president sent a letter to congressional leaders insisting — bizarrely — that drone attacks and 'suppression and destruction of air defenses' don't qualify as 'hostilities' under the resolution."

What Drives Higher Unemployment? - Patrick Barron - Mises Daily

What Drives Higher Unemployment? - Patrick Barron - Mises Daily: "Mises explains that machinery replaces men only when the market is driving the cost of labor higher. Labor costs are rising because capital investment is making labor more productive. To remain in business, the businessman must invest in capital goods to boost the productivity of labor in his industry, too. He will do that when capital is sufficiently available."

"What would all those labor lawyers, judges, advocates, investigators, insurance providers, and record-keepers do if the country scrapped all labor laws? And what would happen to all the welfare administrators and caseworkers if all men were forced to be responsible and self-reliant, because government refused to enslave their fellow citizens to provide for their upkeep?"

The Good Krugman - James E. Miller - Mises Daily

The Good Krugman - James E. Miller - Mises Daily: "the complaints about the 'decline in U.S. manufacturing' are really a somewhat-misguided acknowledgment of the global shift in production that has taken place since we entered the Information Age with the commercial introduction of the microchip in 1971 and gradually left the Machine Age behind. When we complain that 'nothing is made here anymore,' it's not so much that somebody else is making the stuff we used to make as it is the case that we (and others around the world) just don't need as much 'stuff' any more in relation to the overall size of the economy."