Teacher tenure is considered holy gospel in most of America’s public schools. But this policy does nothing for children, and tends to protect teachers who don’t necessarily deserve job security. Why is it we never hear stories about tenure protecting “good” teachers instead of helping “bad” ones? One bad teacher was former band instructor-turned convict Matt Lang, who is now sitting in an Illinois state penitentiary. .... MOREKyle Olson: Dance of the Tenured Lemons
Teacher tenure is considered holy gospel in most of America’s public schools. But this policy does nothing for children, and tends to protect teachers who don’t necessarily deserve job security. Why is it we never hear stories about tenure protecting “good” teachers instead of helping “bad” ones? One bad teacher was former band instructor-turned convict Matt Lang, who is now sitting in an Illinois state penitentiary. .... MOREObama Energy Policy: More Change Than Hope
Gas prices are up 67 percent since Obama became president.Ah, January of 2009. Hope was in the air, but more importantly, gas was under two dollars a gallon. Since then gas prices, have gone up 67 percent and it's an ominously upward trend. Interestingly enough, the Heritage Foundation also took a look at the first 26 months of Bush's presidency -- gas only rose 7 percent during that time frame. ... MORE
VIDEO: Ayn Rand - Collectivized Rights
Individual rights are protected by the Constitution. But what about collectivized rights?
Handouts Make Up One Third Of U.S. Wages
Government payouts—including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance—make up more than a third of total wages and salaries of the U.S. population, a record figure that will only increase if action isn’t taken before the majority of Baby Boomers enter retirement. Even as the economy has recovered ... MOREVictor Davis Hanson: Postpone & Procrastinate Generation
The Obama administration figures that it has read the national mood well. This therapeutic generation of Americans loves to talk and worry about problems and then assumes that either someone else will solve them or they will go away on their own. And why not, since we have had periodic "energy crises" since 1974, have run budget deficits in most years since World War II, and have been warned about a looming ... MOREJacob Sullum: Tiny Cuts, Big Complaints
Republicans and Democrats squabble over crumbs.
In the context of federal spending that will total something like $3.8 trillion this year, $61 billion is a rounding error. Yet the Democrats resisting that amount in House-approved cuts say it will wreck the economy while leaving children unschooled, taking food from ... MOREThomas Sowell: Union Myths
The biggest myth about labor unions is that unions are for the workers. Unions are for unions, just as corporations are for corporations and politicians are for politicians. Nothing shows the utter cynicism of the unions and the politicians who do their bidding like the so-called "Employee Free Choice Act" that the Obama administration tried to push through Congress. Employees' free choice as to whether or not to join ... MORE
Walter E Williams: Handouts, Morality and Common Sense
Whether Americans realize it or not, the last decade's path of congressional spending is unsustainable. Spending must be reined in, but what spending should be cut? The Republican majority in the House of Representatives fear being booted out of office and are understandably timid. Their rule for whom to cut appears to be: Look around to see who are the politically weak handout recipients. ... MOREShikha Dalmia: Global Warming By Another Name
Obama's clean energy boondoggle will be expensive for America. President Barack Obama uttered not a peep about global warming in his State of Union this year. No dire warnings about climate apocalypse. No calls for cap-and-trade. Has this cold winter convinced him to put his global warming agenda on ice? Hardly. Indeed, even in this age of deficits and debt, the president’s budget is chock full of ... MOREStar Parker: Union Power - Symptom Of What Ailes Us
Unionized government workers who have taken to the streets to protest moves in Wisconsin and Ohio to limit their power are doing us all a favor. How? Our great nation today is sick and badly in need of therapy. The screams and protests of these government union workers should help all Americans identify these public unions as a major symptom of the sickness that is dragging us down and what we need to do ... MOREVIDEO: Thomas Sowell - What Are They Buying?
Sowell explains the real reason why politicians have spent tax dollars like drunken sailors.
Homeland Security Sought Covert Body Scans
Tax money spent for clandestine digital strip search technology.The Homeland Security Department paid contractors millions of dollars to develop and study surveillance systems that could covertly track pedestrians and check under people's clothing with airport-style body scanners as they enter train stations, bus depots or major events, newly released documents show. ... MORE
Michael Barone: Government Shutdown Not a Train Wreck
Sometimes you get an idea of the way opinion is headed by the phrases you don't hear. Case in point: In all the discussion and debate these past weeks about a possible government shutdown if Congress and President Obama fail to agree on funding bills, I don't recall having heard the phrase "train wreck." I think that's significant, because back in the 1990s, when then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich's ... MOREHerman Cain: In Defense of American Exceptionalism
There is no denying it: America is the greatest country in the world. We are blessed with unparalleled freedoms and boundless prosperity that for generations have inspired an innovative and industrious people. America is exceptional. American Exceptionalism is the standard that our laws reflect the understanding that we are afforded certain God-given rights that can never be taken away. ... MORE
Jacob Sullum: Mitch Daniel's Pot Luck
Experience taught him the importance of being tough on drug users.Last week Mitch Daniels, Indiana's governor, told The Daily Princetonian that "justice was served" when he was arrested for marijuana possession during his junior year at Princeton. But like many pot smokers who became politicians, Daniels, a potential contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination ... MORE
Steve Chapman: Zero Hour For Public Broadcasting
It's time for the government subsidies to end.I am an American and a male, so you can easily guess the first thing I do when I arrive in a hotel room: pick up the TV remote and turn on ESPN. The second thing may not be so universal: tune the clock radio to the local public radio station. I have been happily addicted to the medium since 1979, when National Public Radio l ... MORE
Thomas Sowell: Is Democracy Viable?
Those who see hope in the Middle East uprisings seem to assume that they will lead in the direction of freedom or democracy. There is already talk about the "liberation" of Egypt, even though the biggest change there has been that a one-man dictatorship has been replaced by a military dictatorship that has suspended the constitution. Perhaps the military dictatorship will be temporary, as its leaders say, but we have heard that song ... MOREMichelle Malkin: Teachers Unions 101
If public school teachers spent more time teaching in classrooms and less time community-organizing in political war rooms, maybe taxpayers wouldn't feel as ripped off as they do. Before the Big Labor bosses start complaining about "teacher-bashing," let's be clear: An increasing number of rank-and-file teachers feel exactly the same way. Retired New York teacher Vinne Cusimano, who was required to pay forced ... MOREMichael Barone: Why Middle America Is Rejecting Big Govt
It's a question that puzzles most liberals and bothers some conservatives. Why are so many modest-income white voters rejecting the Obama Democrats' policies of economic redistribution and embracing the small-government policies of the tea party movement? It's not supposed to work out that way, say the political scientists and New Deal historians. Politics is supposed to be ... MOREWalter E Williams: Public Employee Unions
With all of the union strife in Wisconsin, Indiana and New Jersey, and indications of more to come, it might be time to shed a bit of light on unions as an economic unit. First, let's get one important matter out of the way. I value freedom of association, and non-association, even in ways that are not always popular and often deemed despicable. I support a person's right to be a member or not be a member ... MOREVIDEO: Mark Thornton - Hard Drugs for Little Kids
A look at the real world effects of drug legalization on little children.
Veronique De Rugy: The Truth About Obama's 2012 Budget
Separating economic myth from economic fact.Fact 1: Debt and spending will continue to grow and deficits will continue to persist under the president’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Request. ... MORE
Robert Tracinski: Public Unions & The Socialist Eutopia
The Democratic lawmakers who have gone on the lam in Wisconsin and Indiana-and who knows where else next-are exhibiting a literal fight-or-flight response, the reaction of an animal facing a threat to its very existence. Why? Because it is a threat to their existence. The battle of Wisconsin is about the viability of the Democratic Party, and more: it is about the viability of the basic social ideal of the left. ... MORERepublicans Seek Repeal of Incandescent Bulb Ban
CFLs are more expensive, contain mercury and made in China.Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) has announced that he plans to introduce legislation to reverse the ban on incandescent light bulbs which is scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2014. The ban was included in a comprehensive energy bill that President George W. Bush signed into law in 2007 as an amendment, and was intended as a means ... MORE
Obama Completes The Trifecta
Or, how to jump that pesky separation of powers obstacle.With a bold political announcement, President Baarack Obama has completed the trifecta -- de facto coups which bring into his White House the powers and functions of the other two branches, as outlined in our Constitution. That document assigns the legislative function to Congress, but the Executive Branch blithely and routinely ... MORE
Steve Chapman: The Politicians Are The Real Problem
How public employees and taxpayers got scammed.Public employees have been cramming the Wisconsin state Capitol to protest the governor's plan to cut their take-home pay and gut their collective bargaining rights. You can't blame them for objecting when the state reneges on a deal. But they should have been protesting years ago, when politicians and union leaders ... MORE
VIDEO: CAGW's Porker of the Month for Feb. 2011!
Citizens Against Government Waste have their February winner.
Douglas French: Banking Turnaround?
The headline is that the U.S. banking industry turned around in a big way in 2010 earning $87.5 billion, the highest since 2007. That’s a huge jump from 2009′s industry loss of $10.6 billion. Unemployment is still high at 9% according to the government, commercial real estate values are still in the dumps and home values according to Case-Shiller are still declining. Banks in the aggregate even charged off roughly the same ... MOREVeronique De Rugy: Losing The Brains Race
America is spending more on education while producing worse outcomes.In November the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released its Program for International Student Assessment scores, measuring educational achievement in 65 countries. The results are depressingly familiar: While students in many developed nations have been learning more and more over time, ... MORE
Thomas Sowell: Reckless Spending - High Speed Rail
Nothing more clearly illustrates the utter irresponsibility of Barack Obama than his advocacy of "high-speed rail." The man is not stupid. He knows how to use words that will sound wonderful to people who do not bother to stop and think. High-speed rail may be feasible in parts of Europe or Japan, where the population density is much higher than in the United States. But, without enough people packed into a given space, ... MOREJohn Stossel: Why Does Government Suppress Information
Sunday night is Oscar night! Think you know who's going to win? Want to make a bet? The Hollywood Stock Exchange allows people to bet on which movies, actors, directors, etc. will take home Academy Awards. You can also bet on how much money a movie might make. It's called a prediction market ... except unlike other prediction markets, bettors can't use real money. What fun is that? ... MORERadley Balko: The Mind Of A Police Dog
How misconceptions about dogs can lead to abuse of humans.For the first few years I had her, I was impressed by my late dog Harper's uncanny ability to assess people's character. She hated every crappy landlord and bad roommate. Barked at them. Snarled at them. Wouldn't go near them. But if I brought home a date I liked, Harper, a Shar Pei/Labrador mix, would curl up right next to ... MORE
Walter E Williams: Democracy Versus Liberty
It is truly disgusting for me to hear politicians, national and international talking heads and pseudo-academics praising the Middle East stirrings as democracy movements. We also hear democracy as the description of our own political system. Like the founders of our nation, I find democracy and majority rule a contemptible form of government. You say, "Whoa, Williams, you really have to explain yourself this time!" ... MOREMichael Pento: Geithner's Failed Makeover
The plan does not address the Fed's role in making interest rates arbitrarily low.To counter the increasing demands that government reduce its micromanagement of the economy, last week the Obama Administration offered a fig leaf in the form of a white paper entitled "Reforming America's Housing Finance Market." In addition to marking the official end of the Bush era "ownership society," ... MORE
Steve Chapman: Police Cameras and Crime
Can a surveillance state make us safer?If you want to be on TV, don't go to Los Angeles or New York. Come to Chicago, where your wish is certain to be fulfilled. In fact, you couldn't avoid it if you wanted to, thanks to the nation's most extensive network of police surveillance cameras. Anytime you walk out your door, you may find an audience. ... MORE
VIDEO: Ayn Rand - In Defense of Capitalism
Ayn Rand explains the necessity of capitalism to a free society.
S. Fred Singer - The Sad State Of The State Of California
Many must be wondering whether the state of California is beyond repair.This is particularly true after the November 2010 elections when its citizens voted for the same politicians that have brought them the same failed policies. As deficits mount and taxes increase, productive people and enterprises are leaving California for more hospitable states. Inevitably, there will be a tipping point when ... MORE
David Harsanyi: An Assault On Taxpayers
The more we grow the government's education monopoly, the worse it will get.When Dan Nerad, the superintendent of schools in Madison, Wis., was informed that 40 percent of the teachers union was calling in sick this week (evidently, something's going around), he shut down the entire operation. "At this ratio," he explained, "we have serious concerns about our ability to maintain safe and secure school environments." ... MORE
FCC Commish For Government Intervention in Journalism
Success of FOX News pits government official against First Amendment.Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps decried the decline of “real journalism” and called for the government to intervene during a speech to the FCBA on Tuesday. According to The Hill, Copps told the audience that he was disappointed in the commission’s inability to act. Copps went on to say that the decline ... MORE
Tom Bowden: 1 in 4 Americans Needs Permission To Work
In a fascinating article, the Wall Street Journal reports that the percentage of workers who need a state license to do their jobs is growing steadily. That percentage was 5% in the 1950s. In 2008, it was 23%. Think about it: one of every four workers is not permitted to work without begging permission from a bureaucrat. While I don’t agree with the article’s assumption that licensure is an acceptable government activity ... MOREThomas Sowell: Rocky and Republicans
Rocky Marciano was the only heavyweight champion who never lost a single fight in his whole career— and, at the time, he seemed the least likely fighter to do that. In many a boxing match, he was battered, bruised and bleeding. One of the reasons Marciano took so much punishment in the ring was that he had shorter arms than most other heavyweights. It was easier for others to hit him than for him to hit them. ... MOREVIDEO: John Stossel - Economic Freedom in Free Fall
John Stossel interview guests Dr. Kim Holmes (Heritage Foundation) and David Henderson (Hoover Institution) about America's decline in economic freedom.
John Stossel: Is Seasteading the Future?
Escape the suffocating chains of intrusive government by starting your own country! That's Patri Friedman's idea. He comes from an impressive line of libertarian thinkers. Milton Friedman, the Nobel-prize-winning free-market economist, was his grandfather. His father is David Friedman, author of the libertarian classic "The Machinery of Freedom." Milton Friedman advocated severely limited government. ... MORE
Michael Boldin: California -- A Nullifier's Paradise?
Nullification. The word evokes images of white-haired men with tri-fold hats, holding up signs about the "evils" of Obamacare and socialism. States around the country are considering laws to reject federal laws on health care, guns, the Environmental Protection Agency regulations and more. The pundits scream "racism," the legal experts cite the "supremacy clause," and the entire country - left to right - ... MOREWalter E Williams: Self-Inflicted Poverty
Why is it that Egyptians do well in the U.S. but not Egypt? We could make that same observation and pose that same question about Nigerians, Cambodians, Jamaicans and others of the underdeveloped world who migrate to the U.S. Until recently, we could make the same observation about Indians in India, and the Chinese citizens of the People's Republic of China, but not Chinese citizens of Hong Kong ... MOREDan Walters: California Drivers Targeted As Cash Cows
Debt-creating politicians look to transfer misdeeds to the backs of motorists. California has 30-plus million motor vehicles and 24-plus million licensed drivers and auto travel is, like it or not, fundamental to life as we Californians know it. That's why we motorists are captive cash cows. Politicians know we must drive to live and therefore assume that no matter how hard they hit us, we'll pay up. MORE
The CLASS Act Is No Class Act
Another big government tax is poised to assault your pocketbook.In the coming months, the Department of Health and Human Services will be ironing out the details of the CLASS Act and submitting information to employers in preparation for enrolling their employees into the voluntary program in 2012. It will probably catch most businesses off guard, for it’s a provision of ObamaCare ... MORE
VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Varieties of Nothing
How politicians often disguise nothing as something to assuage public opinion.
Terry Paulson: Choice, Not Compromise
Individual rights were to supersede any government power. Rep. Paul Ryan’s response to President Obama’s State of the Union provides a clue to the political battle that is coming: “The principles that guide us; they are anchored in the wisdom of the founders in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence and in the words of the American Constitution. They have to do with the importance of ... MORE
Amy Sullivan: Stay Classy, TSA
MALE TSA AGENT: "Hey, I thought she was mine! I was gonna do her!"Ever since the TSA started putting back-scatter devices into use at selected airports last fall, I've been waiting to have the chance to opt out and register a one-woman protest against the machines. (Jeff Goldberg doesn't get to have all the fun.) However, most of my recent air travel has been with a tiny traveling companion, ... MORE
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