Free Trade Has Enriched the World with More than Diverse Goods | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary

Free Trade Has Enriched the World with More than Diverse Goods | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary: "No consumers benefit proportionally more from trade than the poor, and nobody suffers more from existing trade barriers. The imported fresh fruit and vegetables, T-shirts and discounted sneakers sold at big-box retailers loom especially large in the budgets of poor and middle-class families.

Perversely, the highest remaining US trade barriers are aimed at products that are disproportionately made by poor people abroad and consumed by poor people at home. The $25 billion the US government collects each year through import tariffs is the most regressive tax in the federal arsenal. According to a study by the Progressive Policy Institute, a single mother earning $20,000 a year pays a much higher share of her income for import duties than a manager earning $100,000 a year. Labor unions and other groups that oppose tariff-lowering trade agreements are unwittingly serving a status quo that is punishing the poor."

"Since the early 1990s, the US economy has lost more than 3 million manufacturing jobs, but during that same period the economy has added 18 million service-sector jobs that are typically better paying. In fact, since 1991, two-thirds of the net new jobs created in US economy are in sectors such as health care, education, and business and professional service where the average pay is higher than in manufacturing."

"Between 1981 and 2005, the share of the world's population living on the equivalent of $1.25 a day dropped by half, from 52 to 25 percent, according to the World Bank. In China alone, the number in absolute poverty fell by 600 million. During this same period, real gains have been made in life expectancy, infant survival, nutrition, and literacy. Child labor rates have fallen by more than half. It is not a coincidence that the most dramatic gains against poverty have occurred in those countries that have most aggressively opened themselves to the global economy."

"Trade has spread tools of communication and spurred the growth of civil society as an alternative to centralized government. As a result, the share of the world's population living in countries that respect civil liberties and the right to vote has climbed from 35 percent in 1973 to 46 percent today, according to Freedom House.

Fewer people are dying in wars today than in past decades, in large part because commerce has replaced military competition. Global commerce has allowed nations to gain access to resources through trade rather than conquest, while deeper economic integration has brought former enemies together and raised the cost of war."

Time to Start Over | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Time to Start Over | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "If you're going the wrong way down a road, the answer isn't to step on the gas, but to turn around.

It is not that the U.S. doesn't need health care reform, but it needs the right type of reform. Problematic as our system often is, it is possible to make things worse."

"Government regulations add more than $169 billion annually to the cost of health care. Other regulations limit competition between insurers and providers by, for instance, prohibiting people from buying insurance across state lines. Government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid are trillions of dollars in debt and are models of waste, fraud and inefficiency.

And our current tax laws penalize people who don't receive insurance through their work, meaning that if you lose your job, you lose your insurance."

Windows 7 US Online Store - Student Registration

Windows 7 US Online Store - Student Registration: "Enter your college/university email address to see if you qualify."
If you qualify you can get Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade for $30.

Firing up the newest Tasers | Crave - CNET

Firing up the newest Tasers | Crave - CNET: "You can't go to your local sporting goods store and buy these Tasers--unlike the smaller, consumer-grade C2 devices, the X3 and XREP lines are only sold to police, military, and sometimes animal-control professionals."

If lethal defensive devices are available to the public (i.e. guns) why not (usually) non-lethal defensive devices?

Amtrak Raises Objections to Measure Allowing Guns on Trains - Political News - FOXNews.com

Amtrak Raises Objections to Measure Allowing Guns on Trains - Political News - FOXNews.com: "'There is no screening now as there is at airports,' he said. 'Someone wishing to do ill could bring a firearm on a train right now.'�

He said that anyone 'up to no good' would probably not store their firearm in checked baggage in the first place."

Administration Loses Bid to Exclude Fox News From Pay Czar Interview - Political News - FOXNews.com

Administration Loses Bid to Exclude Fox News From Pay Czar Interview - Political News - FOXNews.com: "'What it's really about to me is the Executive Branch of the government trying to tell the press how it should behave. I mean, this democracy -- we know this -- only works with a free and unfettered press to provide information,' he said.�

Several top White House advisers have appeared on other news channels to criticize Fox News' coverage of the administration, dismiss the network as the mouthpiece of the Republican Party and urge other news organizations not to treat Fox News as a legitimate news network.�"

Colorado Offering $42,000 Tax Break to Tesla Buyers - Auto - FOXNews.com

Colorado Offering $42,000 Tax Break to Tesla Buyers - Auto - FOXNews.com: "It sounds too good to be true, but here it is: You can buy a 2009 Tesla Roadster, with a list price of $109,900, and pay just $67,800 for it.

At least, you can if you live in Colorado and buy it before December 31.

That's when a special Colorado tax credit, designed to encourage the purchase of low-emission cars, is due to end."

Civilian Use of Force Continuum By Michael VanBlaricum

Civilian Use of Force Continuum By Michael VanBlaricum: "I love the fact that a large majority of Americans live in states where they can exercise their rights to self-defense, while at the same time being very concerned that many people’s training in self-defense is an all or nothing approach, being trained only in the “use of deadly force” while having little or no exposure to less-lethal weapons training and force options. I feel through training and utilization of a “Civilian Use of Force Continuum” we can provide the CCW permit holder with options for use of force that they are currently unprepared for when deadly force is not legally an option, but some degree of force is."

UseofForce.us: Introduction

UseofForce.us: Introduction: "A killing is a killing; an eye-poking is an eye-poking; a stabbing is a stabbing, and so forth. If the evidence supports that you did such a thing, and you’re prosecuted for it, and you don’t deny it, then it’s a crime. You can, however, make the case that you were legally justified in your actions, and if you can prove that, then you’re clear. But while establishing that you did the eye-poking is the prosecution’s problem, establishing justification is yours—your burden of proof."

Woman at Center of Brutal W. Va. Torture Case Now Says She Lied - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

Woman at Center of Brutal W. Va. Torture Case Now Says She Lied - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com: "The office of Columbus, Ohio, attorney Byron L. Potts says Megan Williams will attend a news conference there Wednesday saying she lied about being assaulted by a gang of whites.

Seven people pleaded guilty in the 2007 case. All but one were sentenced to long jail terms.

The former Logan County prosecutor who oversaw those cases calls Williams' new claim absurd. Brian Abraham tells The Associated Press the seven were convicted on physical evidence and their own statements."

One of the eyewitnesses is wrong -- so you can't always trust an eyewitness 100%.