Matt Holzmann: Our Growing Police State

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

VIDEO: Andrew Napolitano - When Presidents Go Bad

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

VIDEO: Understanding The American Federal Debt Limit

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

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

VIDEO: How To Save a Treehouse from a Zoning Board

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

VIDEO: Paul Harvey - You Can't Come Inside

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

VIDEO: John Stossel - In Defense Of Free Speech

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

VIDEO: The Unbelievable Truth About Sweatshops

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

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

VIDEO: A Moment of Epic Proportions

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

VIDEO: Death to Pennies

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

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - The Money Of Fools

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

VIDEO: America's Fourth Greatest President

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