At Reason Hit & Run, Michael C. Moynihan looks at the Service Employees Internatinoal Union’s harassing of broadcasters who air ads opposing the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

According to this letter obtained by TPM, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is threatening television stations broadcasting this anti-card check advertisement produced by the…

Honduran church leaders, and 17 U.S. Senators, are now opposing outside pressure on Honduras to reinstate the corrupt president that it ousted last Sunday for seeking to eliminate constitutional term limits and become a dictator. The Obama Administration has joined Cuban dictator Castro, the anti-American Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, and the Organization of American States in demanding that Honduras put ex-president Mel Zelaya back in power.

“Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, and a Cardinal, strongly warned against Zelaya’s return to Honduras, which could lead to a ‘blood bath.’ Rodriguez, in a televised speech on July 4, asked the Organization of American States (OAS), which has demanded Zelaya’s restoration, to examine the ‘illegal deeds’ under Zelaya’s regime:’” “‘The Honduras people are also asking why…

Italy’s Senate has overturned a 1987 ban on nuclear power, passed in panic after Chernobyl.  This is good news for Italians, as they face some of the highest electricity rates in Europe.  Of course, this being Europe, the plants will probably be built with significant government subsidy, so there won’t be…

There has been some chatter recently that the economy needs another stimulus package. The Brookings Institution’s Martin N. Baily cautions against one — unless growth remains sharply negative through the end of the year. Then he’d like to see a stimulus in the form of tax rebate checks, such as President…

Regina Herzlinger, chair of Harvard Business School, in National Review takes on health care and the Obama Administration’s arguments that a government-run plan would increase competition, provide more choice, and lead to greater cost efficiencies:

But before we get swept away, let us remember that these health-insurance markets would be monopolies run by government, two characteristics that normally do not enhance consumer welfare. Picture the efficiency of your Division of Motor Vehicles, for example.

Also consider government-run monopoly liquor stores. Despite their ability as the single payer to extract better volume discounts from wholesalers than private liquor chains can, their prices are not lower than private stores’. Additionally, they slight consumers through shorter operating hours, inconvenient locations, limited brand availability, and inadequate…

The fourteenth in an occasional series that shines a bit of light on the regulatory state.

Today’s Regulation of the Day comes to us from the Environmental Protection Agency ($7.3 billion 2007 budget, 17,964 employees).

EPA is proposing national emission standards for asphalt processing and asphalt roofing manufacturing.

Read all about it on pages…