The welfare-regulatory state is the problem. Newsmax.com reports: Illegal immigration costs Arizona $1.6 billion a year – a staggering 19 percent of the state’s budget – Gov. Jan Brewer said in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, adding that the Obama administration is turning a blind eye to it since migrants will help register Democratic voters. “It’s unfortunate ... MORE
To promote the welfare state. Have you noticed how government takes sides against the little guy? Street vending has been a path out of poverty for Americans. And like other such paths (say, driving a taxi), this one is increasingly difficult to navigate. Why? Because entrenched interests don't like competition. So they lobby their powerful friends to erect high ... MORE
Government's favorite air freshener also works for individuals. In late September, a New York cop started spritzing Occupy Wall Street protestors with the predatory zeal of a Macy’s fragrance demonstrator dispensing free samples of Kim Kardashian’s latest perfume. Then, Seattle’s finest chemically neutralized an 84-year-old grannie. Next there was Lt. John Pike in ... MORE
by George Will. The Supreme Court faces a discomfiting decision. If it chooses, as it should, to hear a case concerning racial preferences in admissions at the University of Texas, the court will confront evidence of its complicity in harming the supposed beneficiaries of preferences the court has enabled and encouraged. In the 1978 Bakke case concerning preferences in a ... MORE
The heavy hand of the state strikes again. One of the long-term legacies of expanding the powers of federal prosecutors is that they now are able to criminalize just about everything, including legal behavior. The latest outrage is in New York City, where the feds have charged Julian P. Heicklen, a 79-year-old retired chemistry professor from Penn State University ... MORE
Bad science pushes busybody federal effort forward. "Put down the salt shaker and back away from the table. And don't even think about going for the chips." Those are lines you may hear on a TV police drama of the future, when the federal drive to curb salt consumption reaches cruising speed. Last year, the government's Institute of Medicine urged the Food and Drug ... MORE
Constitution entitles American citizens to civilian trial. James Madison, father of the Constitution, warned, “The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become instruments of tyranny at home.” Abraham Lincoln had similar thoughts, saying, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be ... MORE
A question for Paul Krugman. Benefiting from a hint from an article titled "Is Harry Potter Making You Poorer?", written by my colleague Dr. John Goodman, president of the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis, I've come up with an explanation and a way to end income inequality in America, possibly around the world. Joanne Rowling was a welfare mother in ... MORE