There is a scary bill working its way through Congress right now: H.R. 1981 – the Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011 While this sounds like a worthy goal, the bill features a repressive data retention requirement that would open ordinary Americans to abuse from government as well as cyber-criminals. Specifically, the bill [...]

…but California is living proof that a supermajority requirement doesn’t “make it virtually impossible to raise revenue,” it only encourages stupid politician tricks.

From Megan McArdle, a list of reasons why the Federal Government is too big to fail (or even pause): The nation’s nuclear arsenal is no longer being watched or maintained The doors of federal prisons have been thrown open, because none of the guards will work without being paid, and the vendors will not deliver [...]

I have a saying: “When everyone around you seems crazy, it’s probably you.” Useful advice, to be sure. Well, everyone around Paul Krugman seems to be misinformed: Well, here’s a little secret: most voters don’t sit around reading Clive Crook columns or debating the Bowles-Simpson plan. They have a gut sense — things are getting [...]

Following along the lines of Glenn Reynolds’ proposal of a 50% surtax on the earnings of former government officials, here’s my modest proposal for our elected officials: For 10 years after leaving office, each elected official shall pay the highest income tax rate for which he cast a “yes” vote. Same goes for a president [...]

In making the case for open and obvious centralized rationing, advocates claim that “we” must ration with “our” eyes open. From Beth Haynes at PJM: That’s why Medicare needs the Independent Payment Advisory Board. Setting a cap on spending is the first step of rationing. The next is deciding who gets what medical care. “Limited [...]

Were it not for our federalist system, the debate over Real ID would have been over long ago. Fortunately, it’s still going: The political problem for the GOP committee chairmen is that the 2005 Real ID Act has proven to be anything but popular: legislatures of two dozen states have voted to reject its requirements, [...]

Apparently, a member of the Denver teachers union thinks she knows what work is: That’s your problem. You’re an entrepreneur, so you don’t work. You don’t know what work is until you get into an educational area. Warren over at Coyote Blog replies: Yep, some day I will have to stop loafing around and take [...]

Even with all the crowing from the authoritarian left about violent rhetoric, I have yet to see a call to violence as clear as this one from leftist Sociologist Frances Fox Piven: So where are the angry crowds, the demonstrations, sit-ins and unruly mobs? [...] Second, before people can mobilize for collective action, they have [...]

On Boxing Day, our self-styled intellectual overlords at the New York Times gave us a gift of epic proportions: a gob-stoppingly vapid and shallow editorial on the principal of federalism. Let the fun begin! With public attention focused on taxes, the deficit, gays in the military and nuclear arms reduction, little attention has been paid, [...]

Strip and grope to come to boats, trains, and more? “[Terrorists] are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through,” Napolitano said in an interview that aired Monday night on “Charlie Rose.” “I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going [...]

By now, readers of this blog are well aware of the new search regime being enacted by the TSA: digital strip searches coupled with “enhanced” pat downs that include fondling of the genitalia. This has prompted more public outcry about the TSA than I have ever witnessed, everything from “If you touch my junk, I’ll [...]

That’s roughly $86,000 a job. Just how many more jobs would this $26 billion giveaway to spendthrift states and special interests have created in the private economy?

Nancy Folbre, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, opens her article “The Art of Tax War” (via the Tax Lawyer’s Blog via Instapundit) with a truism: As Sun Tzu observed about 2,500 years ago, “All warfare is based on deception.” Then, the deception begins.

Tonight’s Obamacare vote was a victory for the Democratic Party. That much cannot be questioned. Was it just a victory over heathen Republicans who have yet to see the light? No. It was so much more… It was a victory over ethics: “When the deal goes down… All this talk about rules… we make ‘em [...]

From tonight’s State of the Union address: “Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections,” Obama said. “Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by [...]

Virgina Senator Jim Webb offers up one of the best perspectives on Scott Brown’s win tonight: Calling the race “a referendum not only on health care reform but also on the openness and integrity of our government process” Webb said Democrats need to hold off on further action until Brown is formally sworn in to [...]

Democrats are addicted to saying that there is a right to health care, and subsequently hammering anyone who opposes their disastrous reform bill as opposing that right. The truth is, there is a right to health care, and it is consistently opposed by the left, not the right. Put simply, each person has the right [...]

When you hear Democrats celebrating their victory in getting 60 votes, remember that it’s not just a victory over those evil Republicans. It’s a victory over logic; it’s a victory over responsibility; It’s a victory over the Constitution; and it’s a victory over the people. That’s quite a thing to celebrate, aint’ it, Harry?

In the lead up to the vote on H.R. 3962, the “Affordable Health Care for America” Act (scare quotes intentional), Barack Obama offered this encouragement to legislators to vote for the bill: “This is their moment, this is our moment, to live up to the trust that the American people have placed in us,” Obama [...]