No Obamacare Exchanges | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary

No Obamacare Exchanges | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The Obama administration has indicated that it might try to tax employers and hand out those subsidies anyway — even in states that don't create an exchange, and even though neither Obamacare nor any other federal law gives it the power to do so. If that happens, the fact that a state has refused to create an exchange would give every large employer in the state — including the state government itself — the ability to go to court to block the administration's attempt to usurp Congress's legislative powers."

"States that opt to create an exchange can expect to pay anywhere from $10 million to $100 million per year to run it. But if states refuse, Obamacare says the federal government must pay to create one."

"Obamacare does not and cannot mandate that states create exchanges. Moreover, state-run exchanges do not preserve local control. They will do Washington's bidding, or else they will be commandeered or swept aside."

We Can't Hide from the National Security Agency | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

We Can't Hide from the National Security Agency | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'How many Americans know that as of September 2013, all of us engaged in any form of communication will be subject — with the approval of President Barack Obama and the silence of Congress — to continuous tracking and databasing by the National Security Agency?'

'I’ve already asked if any of you are at all worried about inexorably losing what’s left of your privacy outside of our rule of law. You won’t be able to go to a judge to get the government to justify how it now suspects you of being associated with an enemy of the U.S. or some other evildoer.

And where are the protests of those in Congress and around the country as James Bamford demonstrates that “there is no doubt that (the NSA) has transformed itself into the largest, most covert, and potentially most intrusive intelligence agency ever created”?

There’s more: “For the first time since Watergate and the other scandals of the Nixon administration, the NSA has turned its surveillance apparatus on the U.S. and its citizens.”

We now live in a country — the former land of the free and the home of the brave — where the NSA “has established listening posts throughout the nation to collect and sift through billions of email messages and phone calls, whether they originate within the country or overseas.'

Why the Washington Post Is Wrong about Stand Your Ground Laws | Walter Olson | Cato Institute: Commentary

Why the Washington Post Is Wrong about Stand Your Ground Laws | Walter Olson | Cato Institute: Commentary: They represent not a rise in the rate at which some group is getting killed — as mentioned, homicide rates per capita in Florida are down from 2005, not up, and violent crime rates in the state are sharply down — but rather successful assertions of self-defense, in other words, a shift from one category of homicide to another. Of course the whole idea of the law was to make the self-defense justification more available where a homicide had occurred. Many casual Post readers will assume that dozens of persons a year now die in Florida who would have lived otherwise, but they will be wrong in that assumption.'

'Their opening paragraphs tell of a youth who innocently “knocked at the wrong door” and was greeted by an irate homeowner who, seemingly without reason or provocation, blasted him in the chest, only to be set free by the police, since in Florida, the victim’s father sorrowfully avers, it seems “the shooter’s word is the law.”'
'it was 4 a.m. and the youth, bipolar and “blitzed” on alcohol that night, was ignoring repeated pleas to leave a property with a young mother and baby inside; the husband/shooter (whom the Post never managed to reach for his side of the story) told police that he had asked his wife to call 911, which hadn’t shown up; that he had warned the intruder many times, and fired only after being “lurched” at; he was then arrested, “but Assistant State Attorney Manny Garcia concluded that his actions were ‘justified.’”'

A Consumerist, Not "All of the Above" Energy Policy | Robert L. Bradley Jr. | Cato Institute: Commentary

A Consumerist, Not "All of the Above" Energy Policy | Robert L. Bradley Jr. | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'A smarter approach would be to avoid playing favorites. No one in the energy market should be given preferential treatment. Unless the government has good reason to deny a new project, it should be approved and allowed to compete on the open market. Remove government to let customers and private investors decide what’s worth pursuing in energy subject, of course, to the hundreds of pages of existing regulation and protocol.'

President of the Twilight Zone | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

President of the Twilight Zone | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'For instance, the president denounces the Ryan budget as “thinly veiled Social Darwinism.” One would think that Social Darwinism would mean actually cutting the budget. But in reality, Ryan’s budget increases federal spending by more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years.'

'The president suggests that this means that children could no longer go to college, the weather service would be abolished, and roads and bridges would crumble into dust. In reality, the largest gap between the president’s spending plans and Ryan’s would occur in 2016, when Ryan would spend $43 billion less on domestic discretionary programs than the president. That amounts to roughly 1.1 percent of projected total federal spending that year.'

'And, of course, what presidential speech would be complete without a denunciation of Ryan for wanting to “end Medicare as we know it.”'

'The president manages to leave out his own proposal for Medicare, which is to have an unelected 15-member board further reduce payments to physicians. Even Medicare’s own actuaries warn that those cutbacks could lead to hospital closures and reductions in access to care or the quality of care.'

'the president claims, “I’ve eliminated dozens of programs that weren’t working.” Well, maybe. But the total savings from those cuts amounts to less than $100 million. That’s million with an “M,” out of a $3.7 trillion budget. That’s trillion with a “T.”'

'Actually, the Buffett Rule would raise less than $3.2 billion per year on average according to the Congressional Budget Office, enough to pay for eight hours of federal spending. '

Detroit students suspended for demanding education — RT

Detroit students suspended for demanding education — RT: "Pupils from the boys’ school Frederick Douglass Academy abandoned their classrooms over teacher shortages and a lack of resources on Friday.
They gathered outside the building amid cries of "We want… education! When do we want it? Now!"
Parents reportedly organized the march after the consistent absence of a number of teachers and the dismissal of the principal. Students had allegedly been out of lessons for weeks due to a shortage of staff."

DNA collection bill proposed

DNA collection bill proposed: "And I can tell you that if you know that these lives can be saved and you choose not to do it, that in the weeks, the months, the years to come, there will be a list of Wisconsin residents that could have been saved"

It's not a simple as spending some money to prevent future crimes. If we removed all of the Bill of Rights then it would be easier for police to protect us but most people wouldn't consider that a good trade. Why not require all people in WI to submit DNA samples? Just being charged with a crime doesn't mean you should be treated differently for issues not related to that charge. SB 214 would be an unreasonable search because the info isn't needed for the charged crime.

Hunger Games Doesn't Fit TSA's Dystopian Vision | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Hunger Games Doesn't Fit TSA's Dystopian Vision | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Last week on his blog, security expert Bruce Schneier recounted his recent Economist.com debate with a former TSA administrator: "He wants us to trust that a 400-ml bottle of liquid is dangerous, but transferring it to four 100-ml bottles magically makes it safe..."; that "butter knives given to first-class passengers are nevertheless too dangerous to be taken through a security checkpoint"; and that "there's a reason to confiscate a cupcake (Las Vegas), a 3-inch plastic toy gun (London Gatwick)... and a plastic lightsaber that's really a flashlight with a long cone on top (Dallas/Fort Worth).""

"What's worse, the TSA is increasingly taking this show on the road with roving VIPR, or Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response, teams that conducted over 9,300 random searches in 2011 — on cruise ships, at NASCAR races, on buses and at train stations."

Indy Transit Task Force Misses the Mark | Randal O'Toole | Cato Institute: Commentary

Indy Transit Task Force Misses the Mark | Randal O'Toole | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Commuter rail lines in cities comparable to Indianapolis, including Albuquerque, Dallas, Ft. Lauderdale, Nashville, Portland and Seattle, are so expensive and carry so few people it would cost less (and be better for the environment) to give every daily round-trip rider a brand-new Toyota Prius every other year for the rest of their lives."

A Global Assault on Religious Liberty | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

A Global Assault on Religious Liberty | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Dictators have been falling in the Middle East, but that doesn’t mean freedom is inevitably expanding. Unfortunately, the Arab Spring has turned into something far different than hoped. Especially for religious minorities."

"If people are oppressed because of their religious faith, they are likely to be victimized for holding other unpopular beliefs."