Why Many Young People Will Opt Out Of ObamaCare

by Kelli Kennedy.     Dan Lopez rarely gets sick and hasn't been to a doctor in 10 years, so buying health insurance feels like a waste of money. Even after the federal health overhaul takes full effect next year, the 24-year-old said he will probably decide to pay the $100 penalty for those who skirt the law's requirement that all Americans purchase     ... MORE

Roads Have Become Revenue Generating Surveillance Grid

by Michael Snyder.   What do speed traps, parking tickets, toll roads, speed cameras and red light cameras all have in common?  They are all major revenue sources for state and local governments.  All over America today there are state and local governments that are drowning in debt. Many have chosen to use "traffic enforcement" as a way to raise  ... MORE

Julia Marsh: NYC's $60,000 Fine For A Cigarette Lighter

Tourist shop fights silly toy gun ban.   The owner of a Midtown tourist shop is firing back at Mayor Bloomberg’s crusade against toy guns, filing papers to block a $60,000 fine from the city for selling lighters shaped like small pistols. “We don’t have the money,” said Fred Shayes, 49, who owns US Camera & Computer Inc. near Penn    ... MORE

Cops Sued For Illegally Ticketing Alerting Drivers

There is no law against warning others of speed traps.   The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the Ellisville Police Department Wednesday morning. The lawsuit claims the Ellisville police have been illegally ticketing drivers that flash their high beams to other drivers to warn them about speed traps. ACLU legal Director Tony   ... MORE

Eric Frankson: Sobriety Checkpoints Violate Our Rights

The gutting of the Fourth Amendment.    Until 1990, sobriety checkpoints were illegal in California and the United States. But a Supreme Court decision overturned 200 years of protection from illegal search-and-seizure. The Supreme Court case Michigan Department of State Police vs. Sitz changed how we party and how we view the police.     ... MORE

Jackee Coe: Arizona Police State Is A Danger To Drivers

4,371 arrested in a month; more than 30,000 citations.  Nearly 4,400 people statewide were arrested on suspicion of DUI between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve by officers participating in regional saturation enforcements, according to the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. Officers arrested 4,371 people between Nov. 24  ... MORE

DC Traffic Cameras To Double Amid Record Revenues

Politicians exploit another cash cow.     Traffic camera fines are poised to dip in the District, but one aspect of the controversial program is set to surge in 2013: the number of the devices that generate tickets for common traffic offenses like speeding and running stoplights. Over the course of 2013, the District government will add 134 traffic       ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Is Price Gouging Bad?

A. Barton Hinkle: The $4,000 Trash Can

$56.6 billion in compliance costs imposed since Jan 1. According to conventional progressive wisdom, regulation is the means by which a compassionate government protects the weak and innocent from the strong and malevolent. Try telling that to Brad Jones. Jones is one of the owners of Buckingham Slate, a Virginia business a little over an hour’s drive   ... MORE

John Fund: When Political Speech Comes Under Fire

What if the truth is politically incorrect?   This month an unnamed private family foundation, apparently concerned with the integrity of elections, paid for 145 billboards in Ohio and Wisconsin. The boards featured a picture of a judge’s gavel and a simple message: “Voter Fraud Is a Felony — up to 3½ years and a $10,000 fine.” That’s it.        ... MORE

Bob Weir: Speed Traps Are Not Proper Enforcement

Deploying cops to squeeze money out of citizens. Let me begin by saying something I learned a long time ago as a cop in New York City; you will never make someone happy by giving him/her a traffic ticket. It doesn’t matter if you catch someone driving 20 miles over the speed limit, or you stop someone for driving an unregistered and uninspected vehicle.  ... MORE

Walter E Williams: Tyrants And Human Nature

There are no known exceptions to the law of demand. The agendas of liberals, progressives and assorted tyrants desperately depend on the aspects of human nature they often condemn, such as acquisitiveness, profit motive, self-interestedness and greed. This crossed my mind while reading "How Departures From Economic Freedom ... MORE

S.F. GATE: Cops Pose As Bunnies To Write Seat Belt Tickets

And you thought bunnies were not in the rodent family? Officers in West Palm Beach, Fla., have come up with a diabolical new use for a giant bunny costume. According to the Palm Beach Post, a cop dressed in the costume Wednesday stood in a median with a sign that read “Have a safe, hoppy holiday. Buckle up!” While bemused motorists waved  ... MORE & VIDEO