Constitutionally Dangerous
It was bad enough when states began locking people up because of crimes they might commit in the future. Then in 2006 Congress copied the idea, enacting a law that allows the indefinite civil...
View ArticleAnd the Enlightened Tyrants Will Lead Us
In a recent interview with a Spanish newspaper, famed director Woody Allen reportedly declared himself "pleased" with President Barack Obama's presidency."I think he's brilliant. The Republican Party...
View ArticleWatch Out, Facebook
Facebook thinks I'm into graffiti. A few weeks ago, when the social media network overhauled itself for the umpty-hundredth time, it transformed the information page in my profile into a list of links...
View ArticlePre-Crime Policing
To hear them tell it, the five police agencies who apprehended 39-year-old Oregonian David Pyles early on the morning of March 8 thwarted another lone wolf mass murderer. The police "were able to...
View ArticleHow Should Justices Judge?
In the confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan, Americans will hear a debate over how to interpret the Constitution. On one hand are conservatives who preach strict adherence to the framers' intent. On...
View ArticleConfiscating Your Property
In America, we're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Life, liberty, and property can't be taken from you unless you're convicted of a crime.Your life and liberty may still be safe, but have...
View ArticleEverybody Loves Rand
In what Politicocalled“the first clear statewide victory by the disparate national tea party movement," Rand Paul, a Bowling Green ophthalmologist and the son of libertarian-leaning Rep. Ron Paul...
View ArticleWhats a Diploma Worth?
Every schoolboy knows that education leads to worldly success and material reward. “If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him,” Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard...
View ArticleHonolulu's Solution to Government Corruption? Regulate Private Contractors
The City of Honolulu contracts out its parking garages to private operators. Usually, that's a good thing, as long as the contracting is on the up-and-up. That's apparently not the case in...
View ArticleLeave Them Tubes Alone
As there is no real problem with the Internet, it's not surprising that some of our top minds have been working diligently on a solution.In a 2001 interview (one that only recently has gone viral and...
View ArticleHOT Lanes and Toll Tunnel Could Alleviate Congestion in Honolulu
Honolulu congestion ranks among the highest in the nation, with a travel time index higher than many metropolitan areas much larger. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, the Honolulu...
View ArticleThe Faltering Euro
The Euro keeps tumbling as international investors are loosing faith in the Eurozone. The currency has so far fallen 14 percent against the dollar this year.There is fear that contagion could trigger...
View ArticleFed Monetary Dissident Thomas Hoenig
Thomas Hoenig, a voting member of the Fed’s interest rate decision body, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), has on several occasions expressed concerns about the direction of U.S. monetary...
View ArticleThe Subversive Vending Machine
In 1819 the English publisher, bookseller, and radical Richard Carlisle was sentenced to three years in prison for blasphemy and seditious libel. Carlisle’s imprisonment was partly due to his...
View ArticleHead Start Fail: Enrollment Fraud Edition
While Head Start employees get up to 8.5 percent salary increases this year thanks to the federal stimulus and a $1 billion increase in funding from the feds for 2011, a federal random assignment...
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The Underlying Desperation at the FCC
In what might just be the most audacious bureaucratic punt in recent memory, the Federal Communications Commission said yesterday that the U.S. wireless market was so complicated that it was impossible...
View ArticleLouisiana Legislature Considering Anti-Privatization Bills that Would Grow...
For a state facing an ongoing fiscal crisis—and one that may very well be exacerbated in the near term by the expected economic impacts of the oil spill—you’d think that state legislators would be...
View ArticleU.S. DOT's Convoluted "Livability" Agenda
Transportation policy observer and analyst Ken Orski has a valuable commentary on the U.S. Department of Transportation's recent strategic plan and it's emphasis on "livability." Rather than comment...
View ArticleStephen Roach Calls for New Monetary Policy
Stephen Roach, Chief Economist of Morgan Stanley, have been a critic of the Fed for many years. In a Financial Times op-ed he makes the case for exiting the current monetary policy regime once and for...
View ArticleThe Return of British Stagflation
The UK inflation rate jumped to 3.7 percent last month, way above the Bank of England’s 2 percent target. This comes as a surprise to both the monetary policymakers of the BoE and to the newly formed...
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