FreedomTalks

Today, in the first state supreme court decisions since the US Supreme Court’s reviled Kelo decision, Ohio’s supreme court rejected the city of Norwood’s bid to use eminent domain to confiscate properties in a “deteriorating” neighborhood and give them to private developers. The court unanimously ruled that the economic development rationale which the U.S. [...]

Heritage presents a few good reasons to oppose the minimum wage on its website, the chief one being that it lowers income. But wait, you ask, how can a law that mandates that businesses pay more per hour reduce the income of workers? Shouldn’t it raise income? These questions reflect a mindset [...]

In November Maine taxpayers will get a chance to vote to limit government spending through TABOR reform.  The question “Do you want to limit increases in state and local government spending to the rate of inflation plus population growth and to require voter approval for all tax and fee increases?” will be asked to taxpayers.  [...]

The Castle Coalition has a crowded map showing locations of eminent domain abuse across the nation.   According to the site
In just one five-year period (1998-2002), there were more than 10,000 actual or threatened condemnations for private use
all of which are included on the map.  On the Coalition’s Legislative Center page there is another map, showing [...]

Yesterday the Democratic Leadership Council unveiled a plan for higher education that will cost taxpayers $150billion and will hold schools and students accountable to Washington. As Neil McCluskey of explains in an article posted at Cato, politicians want votes, professors and administrators want more money and prestige, and students want to pay less [...]

Sikha Dalmia at Reason Foundation has an interesting commentary on comprehensive 450 plus page study by CNW Marketing Research that finds that the dust-to-dust energy costs of Hummers are lower than those of gas-electric hybrid automobiles.  Although many environmentalists will likely blink their incredulous eyes, after two years of looking into all the minutiae that [...]

Andrew Coulson has an excellent post at Cato’s blog explaining how a National Center for Education Statistics study that shows little testing advantage of private schools only over public schools to casts no doubt on the value of vouchers, because the value of vouchers lies in creating a competitive education marketplace.  He explains that
A vigorous [...]

In a debate yesterday between professor David Farber, called the “grandfather” of the Internet for his pioneering work which provided much of the groundwork for later innovators, and Vinton Cerf, “father” of the Internet and chief Internet Evangelist at Google, Farber expressed a healthy dose of skepticism towards government involvement in the Internet, fearing that [...]

The Philadelphia Inquirer has an article about an interesting lawsuit in New Jersey.  12 parents have sued 25 failing school districts in New Jersey and the state commissioner of education for failing to provide the “thorough and efficient education” guaranteed in the state’s constitution.  Multiple lawsuits in other states against have been filed in the [...]

The National Taxpayers Union reports the results of its analysis of the voting records of Congressman and found that for the fifth year in a row no one in either chamber voted overall to cut federal spending.  In fact, for every 5 cents of spending cuts the average member of the House voted for one [...]