As crime rates drop, police powers grow at alarming rate. Last week, the FBI released its preliminary crime statistics for the first half of 2011, and across the nation violent crimes dropped 6.7% while property crimes dropped 3.7%. This continues a downward trend that dates back to the 1970's. Many of the violent crimes reported this year have been ... MORE
Larry Gabriel: War On The War On Drugs
One trillion dollars wasted and counting. When I started writing this column a little more than a year ago, I thought medical marijuana was a thinly veiled cover for folks who wanted to legalize the substance. Not that I opposed the notion, nor did I doubt that marijuana has medical value — I've seen it stop nausea in people who couldn't keep any food down and ... MORE
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crime,
drug war,
law enforcement,
legalize,
medical marijuana,
minorities,
police,
race,
waste
NY Post: How The Feds Are Tracking Your Kid
The prying eyes of big government. Would it bother you to know that the federal Centers for Disease Control had been shown your daughter’s health records to see how she responded to an STD/teen-pregnancy-prevention program? How about if the federal Department of Education and Department of Labor scrutinized your son’s academic performance ... MORE
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bureaucracy,
database,
education,
government,
politicians,
regulation,
statism,
surveillance
Tim Cavanaugh: I, Panel
Solyndra's story, with apologies to Leon Read. I am a solar panel—not the ordinary flat solar panel familiar to all boys and girls and adults who hope for greener energy sources. I’m actually much more sophisticated and much less useful than those. I’m a cylindrical-tube panel manufactured by Fremont, California-based Solyndra LLC. According to my creators ... MORE
John Stossel: A Libertarian Year Ahead?
As 2011 draws to a close, I wonder: Is freedom winning? Did America become freer this year? Less free? How about the rest of the world? I'm a pessimist. I fear Thomas Jefferson was right when he said, "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." That's what's happened. Bush and Obama doubled spending and ... MORE
Andrew B. Wilson: Freedom Vs. Fairness
Will America succumb to the politics of envy? As the third of seven children, I grew up in a family where fairness issues were constantly bubbling to the surface. It did us no good. Each of us pleaded in vain for relief from the unequal division of household chores and duties. And complain though we would, we couldn't stop the sometimes uneven ... MORE
M. Brownfield: How Would Americans Help The Economy?
The answer is less government. Throughout his presidency — and especially over the last year — Barack Obama has turned toward a bigger federal government as the answer for fixing the U.S. economy. According to a new poll, though, that’s the last thing Americans want. Rather, they want to see the government cut deficits, spending, and taxes. Rasmussen ... MORE
The Unintended Consequences Of Internet Regulation
by Rob Bluey. Would you be outraged if the Department of Justice shut down The Foundry without any warning and blocked access for more than a year? That’s exactly what happened to a hip-hop blog called Dajaz1.com, which was falsely accused of criminal copyright infringement. The blog posted music from artists promoting their work. But federal ... MORE
William McGurn: Taxing Kim Kardashian
Progressives want to spend more of her money. Poor Kim Kardashian. Well, poor may not be the right word. By all accounts—especially those she televises for her reality shows—Ms. Kardashian manages quite comfortably on her income. According to the New York Post, that includes as much as $17.9 million that she raked in for her well-publicized August ... MORE
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class warfare,
Democrats,
envy,
government,
income,
redistribution,
rich,
spending,
tax,
wealth
Tim Mak: Internet Censor Bill To Target Political Websites
SOPA is the end of us, say bloggers. The conservative and liberal blogospheres are unifying behind opposition to Congress’s Stop Online Piracy Act, with right-leaning bloggers aruging their very existence could be wiped out if the anti-piracy bill passes. “If either the U.S. Senate’s Protect IP Act (PIPA) & the U.S. House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) ... MORE
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Congress,
conservative,
government,
Internet,
law,
legislation,
liberal,
regulation,
surveillance
Walter E Williams: The Camel's Nose In The Tent
Gullible Americans keep believing the political lies. National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman has called for states to mandate a total ban on cellphone usage while driving. She has also encouraged electronics manufacturers — via recommendations to the CTIA-The Wireless Association and the Consumer Electronics Association .. MORE
Chuck Goudie: Have A Politically Correct Holiday Season!
Field days for the grievance industry. Here we are, uncomfortably sandwiched between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, which, according to top officials at PC Police Headquarters, are the two most politically incorrect holidays on the calendar. One celebrates the birthday of a child born out of wedlock, promotes exorbitant gift giving and contributes to ... MORE
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discrimination,
guns,
law enforcement,
police,
political correctness,
regulation,
society,
vice
New 2012 Laws: No Caffeine In Beer, No Shark Fins In Soup
You can't do that ! Starting Jan. 1, getting shark fins, caffeinated beer, cough syrup or a tan is going to be tougher than it was in 2011. The National Conference of State Legislatures issued Monday its annual list of laws set to take effect in 2012, and there was nothing but bad news for connoisseurs of shark-fin soup. Oregon and California passed laws prohibiting the sale ... MORE
Tim Worstall: Minimum Wage Proven To Be Too High
Youth unemployment proves it. The argument about minimum wages sadly usually consists of two groups of people entirely talking past each other. On the one, wrong, side those who insist that any minimum wage at all is going to mean immediate mass unemployment. On the other, wrong again, side, those who insist that a minimum wage has no effect on ... MORE
Doctors Agree ObamaCare Is No Remedy For Health Woes
by Sally Piper, Pacific Research Institute. America’s doctors have conducted a full examination of the president’s health reform law — and their diagnosis of its effects on our healthcare system isn’t good. Nearly two-thirds of doctors expect the quality of care in this country to decline, according to a new survey from consulting giant Deloitte. Just 27 ... MORE
Jim Cardoza: Ron Paul & The 100 MPH Train
LibertyPen's endorsement of Ron Paul. GOP leaders prefer Mitt Romney to be their party's nominee. They see him as the most electable, in part because he is the most moderate. The media prefers Newt Gingrich. As big government devotees, they want more Obama and believe the nomination of Newt best serves that purpose. The tea party movement, which ... MORE
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crime,
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economics,
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Mitt Romney,
Newt Gingrich,
primary,
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Ron Paul,
search and seizure,
spending,
terrorism,
war
LA Times: TSA Screenings Not Just For Airports Anymore
Terror checkpoints doing more inflicting than detecting. Rick Vetter was rushing to board the Amtrak train in Charlotte, N.C., on a recent Sunday afternoon when a canine officer suddenly blocked the way. Three federal air marshals in bulletproof vests and two officers trained to spot suspicious behavior watched closely as Seiko, a German shepherd ... MORE
Emily Miller: Firing Back At Gun Control
Congress muzzles funds to weaken 2nd Amendment. The Obama administration’s anti-gun agenda, which has been sneaking into the federal bureaucracy in recent years, was blasted by Congress last week. Republicans used the $1 trillion omnibus bill for 2012 to shoot back at the sneaky use of federal funds for gun control. One sentence in the 2,100-page ... MORE
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bureaucracy,
Constitution,
gun control,
individual liberty,
Obama,
regulation,
rights,
taxpayer
Eric Peters: Here Comes Santa's Last Run
Right down Nanny State Lane. Santa's been running late because of all the speed traps and sobriety checks out there. Not to mention the endless meetings with his legal team to make sure the factory's in compliance with the latest workplace safety rules -- and the elves happy with the terms of their latest contract. Thank God the sleigh doesn't have to have a catalytic ... MORE
Barry Farber: Occupiers Are Not Heroes, Just Marxists
Mice striving to be rats. How dare Time magazine link real freedom fighters of the Middle East with the sorry bunch of American "protesters" who shared Time's Person-of-the-Year honors? Whatever happened to the Time magazine that emblazoned its cover in 1956 with the genuinely heroic anti-Communist Hungarian freedom fighters? Protesters in Syria daily... MORE
New Ideas Or Fidelity To Old Principles?
by Andrew Napolitano. If you've been watching cable television regularly, you've heard from many analysts who know Newt Gingrich personally. They either call him the smartest man in the room or they tell us Gingrich believes he's the smartest man in the room. Gingrich has always been a government ideas man, and whenever he says something odd ... MORE
Conko & Miller: The FDA Vs. Commercial Speech
Agency puts doctors and patients at risk. The ability of physicians to prescribe approved medicines for purposes not sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is one of the most important elements of medical care in the United States. These “off-label” uses are perfectly legal, and doctors rely on them extensively. But the agency views ... MORE
Taxpayers Cough Up $250K Per Vehicle For Chevy Volt
Department of Energy uses tax dollars to fuel idiocy again. Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it – a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Hohman looked at total state and federal ... MORE
50 Facts About The U.S. Economy That Will Shock You
The situation is bad -- very bad. “Even though most Americans have become very frustrated with this economy, the reality is that the vast majority of them still have no idea just how bad our economic decline has been or how much trouble we are going to be in if we don’t make dramatic changes immediately,” writes The Economic Collapse (TEC). ... MORE
VIDEO: Free Speech vs. Government Tyranny
Local government makes public display of contempt for individual liberty.
John Stossel: Job Creators Fighting Back
Some politicians claim that politicians create jobs. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says, "My job is to create jobs." What hubris! Government has no money of its own. All it does is take from some people and give to others. That may create some jobs, but only by leaving less money in the private sector for job creation. Actually, it's worse than that. Since government ... MORE
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business,
crisis,
government,
invest,
jobs,
law,
libertarian,
loans,
politicians,
regulation
Jeffrey Folks: The EPA's Unconscionable War On Fracking
Government agency runs roughshod over the law. The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution guarantees that "no person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law." For government to harm investors in a private business by bringing false charges against that business is most certainly a violation of the Fifth ... MORE
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business,
Constitution,
energy,
environment,
EPA,
fracking,
government,
oil,
regulation,
rights
VIDEO: Andrew Napolitano - The Case For Austerity
Denial is should not be an economic policy.
"We must swallow the bitter pill of austerity now on our own terms, while we are still the undisputed leader of the free world and while we still have a Constitution."
Why Ron Paul's Surge Is Making Them Nervous
by Jacob Horneberger. While big government statists in both the Republican and Democrat parties remain mystified over Ron Paul's surge in the polls in Iowa, the ones who seem most confounded by this phenomenon are members of the mainstream media, who themselves are statist to the core. They just can't figure out how it's possible that increasing numbers of ... MORE
Walter E Williams: China Trade -- Myths vs. Reality
Congress, not China, is causing our unemployment. Republicans and Democrats, liberals as well as conservatives, have bought into anti-Chinese trade demagoguery. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that tariffs against China are a "key part of our 'Make It in America' agenda." During his 2010 campaign, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. ... MORE
Andrew Napolitano: Restraining Orders
Unconstitutional restrictions on our freedom to travel. Steve Bierfeldt, director of development for Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty, thought he was having a good day. At a regional Campaign for Liberty event in Missouri, Bierfeldt had sold thousands of dollars worth of conference tickets, bumper stickers, T-shirts, and books, and was now in the security line at ... MORE
Feds Want Medical Marijuana Patients To Lose Rights
AFT wants to prohibit patients from protecting themselves. If you are a medical marijuana patient in one of the 16 states (plus the District of Columbia) that allow for it, you’ve got reason to believe lately that the government has it in for you. You’ve got federal raids on the places where you can conveniently buy your medicine, the governor of Arizona ... MORE
Jeb Bush: Capitalism And The Right To Rise
The risk of failure vs. the certainty of stagnation. Congressman Paul Ryan recently coined a smart phrase to describe the core concept of economic freedom: "The right to rise." Think about it. We talk about the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, the right to assembly. The right to rise doesn't seem like something we should have to protect. But we do. ... MORE
AFP: Attorney General Holder Tied To OKC Bombers
He provided the explosives to Nichols and McVeigh. Eric Holder, current attorney general of the United States, managed an FBI operation that provided explosives to Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols just prior to the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, according to official documents released during the ongoing ... MORE
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