FreedomTalks

Remember Initiative 884 - The attempt to raise the sales tax by a billion dollars a year to fund education that we soundly defeated on the ballot?
That initiative was run by the League of Education Voters. This group also ran the successful I-732 and I-728 initiatives that increased classroom spending and gave COLAs to teachers. […]

Join us for a Grassroots Seminar on Feb. 7th and Lobby for Telecom Reform on Feb. 8th in Indianapolis
The grassroots seminar is Tuesday, and we will be lobbying at the capitol on Wednesday. Lunch will be provided both days. Find out how you can make a difference in Indiana!
As you know, telecom reform has […]

A nice little bit of muckracking from the Boston Globe on how government giveaways are the real cause of cronyism. The only way to end corruption is through earmark reform, not laws that chill political speech.
A Globe review of Senate records shows that the secretive earmark process has also become a boon for lobbyists, […]

From the Los Angeles Times, we learn:

Many seniors have yet to sign up for Medicare drug coverage because they are confused by the array of plans — each with its own premiums, co-pays, deductibles and lists of covered drugs and participating drugstores. But others are making a calculated choice to opt out — and […]

Critics of tax relief often allege, incorrectly, that deficits will increase when taxes are lowered. In support of this claim they often point to the deficits of the Reagan and Bush II administrations. But notice how they ignore a key point: tax relief can contribute to deficits only if revenues decrease. But if revenues don’t […]

So reports the San Antonio Business Journal:

The Texas Cable and Telecommunications Association filed a lawsuit — this time in state district court — to challenge a state telecommunications law that allows telephone companies to apply for a statewide franchise license to offer television services.
Why, you might ask, is the cable monopoly asking the […]

Read the article here.
Pay $50, wait 10 days and your company, too, can be a new video competitor in South Carolina.
Those are among the statewide franchising details included in parallel bills filed in South Carolina, the latest state to take up cable franchising.
While debate on that bill gets going, pro-state franchising forces […]

David Boaz at the Cato Institute has done some interesting research on media coverage of the Ginsburg Supreme Court nomination as compared to the Alito nomination.
Remember all those news stories in 1993 about how the nomination of former ACLU lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsburg to replace conservative Justice Byron White on the United States […]

The Washington Times editorial page asked the three Republican candidates for House majority leader to submit a series of floor votes that distinguished each of the candidates from the other two. The result are interesting, informative, and here.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports increasing calls for the three candidates to appear together to […]

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Massachusetts Senator John Kerry is calling on his Democrat colleagues to filibuster the Alito Supreme Court nomination–while he kicks with his base back in Davos, Switzerland.
According to CNN, Senator John Kerry announced yesterday that he will attempt to rally his fellow Democrats to stage a filibuster to […]