In a year-end message to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff, the agency praised itself for a “very good year” in airline security, despite repeated security failures. But, as ABC News notes,
The message made no mention of TSA snafus during 2009, including several highly critical reports by the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security and the inadvertent posting on the Internet of confidential documents revealing airport security procedures.
Recently, a Nigerian terrorist nearly managed to blow up an airliner, after being allowed…
Read the full story
Louisiana drivers pay the third highest expenditures for auto insurance in the country (with N.J. taking second and D.C. taking the top honor). On average, consumers pay $1,096 a year for their insurance. This Friday it will get even more expensive as the new minimum coverage mandate is adjusted. The reason for the increase, among other things is due to the rising costs for medical care and accidents.
While the actual amount of increase is likely to be minimal (an additional $71 per year…
Read the full story
It used to be that mostly Landfill operations and chemical plants were subject to the so-called NIMBY (which is short for “not in my backyard”) syndrome. Homeowners and even renters have fought siting of such facilities for decades–making it nearly impossible to open valuable businesses no matter how well-designed and unobtrusive the facilities were.
But NIMBY is now used to attack a wide range of private property uses. And some of the latest victims are not even human. Pet hotels and…
Read the full story
Today’s Washington Times contains my review of Joel Waldfogel’s book Scroogenomics: Why You shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays.
Here’s a taste:
“‘A cribbage board? You shouldn’t have,’ we tell our mothers-in-law. Indeed.” In those three short sentences, Joel Waldfogel describes the origin of what retailers call “return season” and what consumers call “the week after Christmas.”
Mr. Waldfogel has a point here. By his calculations, such gifts cost the U.S. economy about $85 billion in waste. That’s more than 124 countries’ entire gross…
Read the full story
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is questioning whether it is constitutional to force people to buy health insurance, as the health care bills backed by the Obama administration require. This “individual mandate” is unprecedented and appears to exceed Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.
As the Congressional Budget Office noted in 1994“,
A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as…
Read the full story
In Oregon, it is illegal to set up a tent at most beaches.
A beach would not be my first choice for a place to spend the night. It would be cold and wet, especially in Oregon. Sand would get into all kinds of places I’d rather it wouldn’t.
But is a law necessary? Before the tent ban, was there an epidemic of cold, wet, and sandy people on Oregon’s beaches, who would gladly turn to safer, more comfortable accommodations if only…
Read the full story
With a massive amount of data indicating swine flu is vastly milder than seasonal flu, a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine also puts the kibosh on the claims that it spreads like gangbusters.
Researchers found that in households in which one person had swine flu it spread to 10 percent of other household members. During the flu pandemics of 1957 and 1968, 14 percent to 20 percent of household members were infected while normal seasonal flu spreads to 5…
Read the full story
If you’re getting a headache from spending to much time on your cell phone, it’s probably from yakking too much. But it’s not from brain cancer. Not from the phone, anyway, as yet another shows. No, this wasn’t one of those “let’s put some mouse brain cells in a Petri dish and stimulate it with magnetic waves and see if it makes them do anything unusual” tests. This was an epidemiological study of lots and lots of Scandinavian cell phone…
Read the full story
The Michigan Senate recessed last week without passing the proposed insurance reforms that would, among other things, prevent insurers from using factors such as education level, occupation, credit scores, and would prevent them from setting rates without approval from the state’s insurance commissioner. The proposal which was passed in the House hopes to reduce Michigan’s exorbitant premiums which rank among the highest in the nation.
Of course, simply suppressing rates insurers charge has never really worked in the long-run, usually causing more problems…
Read the full story
An environmental group is suing to cancel an upcoming AC/DC concert in Austria because they think loud music poses a threat to birds.
No further comment is necessary, or will be offered.
Read the full story
As horses age, their teeth often wear down into points. This can cause the animals great pain if they bite into their tongue or cheeks. Chewing can also become problematic. A horse floater’s job is to keep that from happening. They are a kind of equine dental specialist. Floaters anesthetize the animal then grind its teeth into smoother shapes.
But regulators are clamping down on horse floaters. Many states want to require them to be licensed veterinarians. This would throw a…
Read the full story
The cover of Al Gore’s new book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, features a satellite image of the globe showing four major hurricanes - results, we’re meant to believe, of man-made global warming. All four were photoshopped. Which is nice symbolism, because in a sense the whole hurricane aspect of warming has been photoshopped.
As I note in my article in Forbes, it was all really based on just two data points - with the names “Katrina”…
Read the full story
The health care bills backed by the President require that individuals buy health insurance if it is not provided by their employer. Is that unconstitutional? It may well exceed Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause and other constitutional provisions. But would the courts strike that down as unconstitutional? Probably not, if Obama gets to replace one of the five moderate or conservative justices on the Supreme Court with a more liberal appointee. This is just one of several potential constitutional…
Read the full story
The first calendar year of the Obama administration draws to a close with organized labor not achieving its top legislative priority: the horribly misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Given the amount of palm-greasing that was required to get reluctant moderate Democratic senators to vote to end debate on Obamacare, it’s unlikely that those same moderate Democrats — especially Arkansas’ Blanche Lincoln — would be eager to expose themselves even more to the criticism that they are shifting to their…
Read the full story
Richard Morrison, William Yeatman and Ryan Young join forces to bring you Episode 74 of the LibertyWeek podcast. We investigate the Department of Homeland Security’s antiterrorism efforts, China’s climate change conundrum and California’s chance at closing her budget gap. We finish with some dangerous snowballing in the streets and the last echoes in the Ballad of Kwame Kilpatrick.
Read the full story
by Kevin Hilferty
December 29, 2009 @ 2:24 pm
Many liberals rejoiced to hear the news of the Senate’s passing of Reid’s health reform bill last week. Many more progressives, however, began to speak out against the bill. Unfortunately, their main concerns are not that the legislation harms the market and restricts individual choice, but that it doesn’t do enough of those things.
One of the main problems that progressives cite with the bill is that it leaves out the repeal of the longstanding antitrust exemption for insurers. Some feel…
Read the full story
Having solved all the nation’s other problems, the federal government has a National Poultry Improvement Plan. Run in conjunction with state governments, “The main objective of this program is to use new diagnostic technology to effectively improve poultry and poultry products throughout the United States.”
Because the government puts so much time and attention into issues like chicken health, it is neglecting its core duty: protecting citizens from attack. Last week’s terrorist attack should be a wake-up call for the government to…
Read the full story
1965, Medicare health insurance authorized for all Americans over age 65 along with Medicaid that covers both seniors and the poor. Somehow for 190 years Americans were able to make do without it.
2006, Largest expansion of Medicare since origin in also covering prescription drugs but only to and beyond a certain point, leaving what’s referred to as a “doughnut hole.”
2009, With the nation running a historic deficit that’s skyrocketing and having just passed a budget-busting health care bill…
Read the full story
by Charles Huang
December 28, 2009 @ 2:46 pm
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blog posts from CEI’s fellows and associates sent out via e-mail every Friday. Also included in the Weekly newsletter is a brief description of CEI’s weekly podcast and a feature on a major CEI breakthrough made during the week. To sign up for CEI Weekly, go to http://cei.org/newsletters.
CEI Weekly
December 25, 2009
>>[Video] CEI Invites Al Gore to Debate with Additional $200 in Pledges
CEI upped the ante this week by throwing $200 in promised pledges…
Read the full story
In a preview to the 2010 census, Michigan learned this week that it was one of only three states to lose members of its population. Of course, since the state has seen a steady decline in population over the past four years this doesn’t exactly come as a shock.
Michigan lost 32,759 people between July 1, 2008, and July 1, 2009, a decline of 0.3%, while the nation’s population grew 0.9% to 307,006,550. Maine and Rhode Island also lost population.
By the…
Read the full story
