I am always looking for new and exciting ways to increase the size of my carbon footprint. For example, I actively seek to buy products that originate in far-flung corners of the world, such as New Zealand, China, Chile, California or Japan. I resolutely boycott all modes of transport that do not involve the burning of fossil fuels and, during the bleak British midwinter, I loll around the house in a T-shirt and shorts with…
When Perry referred to the recent comments of US Presidential hopeful Barak Obama, we had another example in the ensuing comment thread of how people lazily refer to the idea that healthcare should be 'free'. Of course, unless Obama is a total idiot - and I doubt that - he realises that health care, like roads, clean water, defence or food is not free in any sense at all that matters in a world of…
This is the best news I’ve seen in a long time. In a comment to Doug’s post about Presidential candidates, Steve Dasbach brought up a site called gambling911.com, which has been laying odds on Ron Paul and has continuously lowered his odds, meaning there’s enough action behind him that people think he’s got a […]
John Stossel, who very well may be the best advocate for free markets since Adam Smith, has a great column at RealClearPolitics explaining just why the free market may be the greatest invention in human history:
How many times have you paid $1 for a cup of coffee and after the clerk said, “thank you,” […]
It’s days like today that I’m glad the UN has very little real power.
WHO urges smoking ban in public places
The U.N. health agency on Tuesday issued its strongest policy recommendations yet for controlling tobacco use, urging all countries to ban smoking at indoor workplaces and in public buildings.
“The evidence is clear. There is no safe […]
Reason’s June issue has an article looking over the major and minor contenders for the White House in 2008. And it’s not a pretty picture:
If the 2008 presidential election is a baseball season, we’re still in that early, delusional phase when even Tampa Bay Devil Rays fans can dream of a World Series ring. The […]
Ahh, the Chavez apologists said it was just RCTV, it was only because of their participation in the coup… But now he’s got Globovision in his sights:
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez resurfaced on Tuesday, two days after the end of broadcasts of private television station RCTV and, in a mandatory nationwide radio and TV broadcast, […]
In an attempt to combat the regulatory monster that is DC, CEI has a new viral concept out there that’s somewhat interesting. Here’s the Washington Post take on it:
It was inevitable. In the Internet age, interest groups seeking influence in Washington are joining presidential candidates in discovering a new electronic tool to press their agenda: YouTube.
“Send your underwear to the undersecretary'’ urges the actress in the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s stinging 66-second anti-regulatory video posted on YouTube, a free video-sharing site that is a subsidiary of Google. The video blames a 2001 Energy Department rule for an energy-efficiency standard that it says has made new models of washing machines more expensive while getting laundry less clean.
The underwear video illustrates what other advocacy groups are finding out: YouTube is a cheap, creative way to get a message to a potentially vast audience. This slow migration is in addition to more traditional lobbying approaches, such as direct mail, Web sites and scripted phone calls to federal officials.
Government mandates for higher efficiency are almost always accompanied by claims that the higher prices they cause will be more than offset by their alleged savings from lower energy costs. But that raises a fundamental question—if these new technologies are so good, then why do we need laws to force consumers to buy them?
And of course, here’s the YouTube video in question:
In today’s New York Daily News, the Cato Institute’s David Boaz points out the many reasons those who value liberty should be wary of Rudy Giuliani:
Throughout his career, Giuliani has displayed an authoritarian streak that would be all the more problematic in a man who would assume executive powers vastly expanded by President Bush.
As a […]
John Lott’s new book, Freedomnomics, is getting some good reviews. It’s about, as Robert Lucas said, the economic frontier issues. Mercantilism and government intervention versus laissez faire and free markets.
The technical version of just what was happening in that cyber-attack on Estonia.
Quite correct, if we are the dextrosphere then they are indeed the sinistersphere.
It’s always easy enough to advocate utopian policies if you don’t actually have to pay for them.
A politician with principles finds there is no room for him or his principles in politics. Surprised?
Iain Dale finds Greenpeace declining to debate the science of climate change.
And finally, will we see the bollards come down again in our lifetimes?
