Author Archive | Ilya Somin

While sales of the Dixie Chicks new album remain strong, ticket sales for their concert tour have been quite disappointing, Bilboard reports. Initial ticket sales for the Dixie Chicks’ upcoming tour are far below expectations and several dates will likely be canceled or postoned. Ticket counts for the 20-plus arena shows that went on sale […]

USA Today reports that the big cigarette companies are introducing smokeless tobacco products in response to the proliferation of smoking restrictions around the country. One new product, similar to some already developed by smokeless tobacco companies, is a tobacco pouch users tuck under their cheek — just like traditional smokeless tobacco — that does not […]

The brouhaha over the latest iteration of the Federal Marriage Amendment has stimulated interest in the relationship between federalism and gay rights. Strikingly, gays seem to be an unpopular minority that benefits more from decentralized federalism than from the concentration of power in Washington. Historically, most scholars and commentators have tended to believe that the […]

Co-blogger Tyler Cowen asks: Did you know about the new summer Superman film? Let’s say we had an altruistic and incorruptible Superman, how should he allocate his efforts to improve the macroeconomy? He is really strong, he can fly very fast, leap tall buildings at a single bound, has incredible vision, and somehow he is […]

That was one of the questions in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday at which Deputy U.S. Attorney Matthew W. Friedrich testified. The Washington Post reports: Friedrich, in his opening statement, confirmed that the Justice Department was prepared to investigate and prosecute leaks, but referred to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales’s recent statement that the […]

One criticism of nuclear power is that new facilities are too expensive to build. While heavily regulated, and fiercely opposed in the permitting process, nuclear facilities are also heavily subsidized. A new study also suggests nuclear power plants could be too costly to close. From today’s New York Times: Closing the Indian Point nuclear reactors […]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defends his Rolling Stone article, and Salon‘s Farhad Manjoo responds here. Also Salon‘s Joan Walsh answers those who’ve criticized the magazine for publishing Manjoo’s article in the first place. Meanwhile, Democratic pollster Mark Blumenthal dissects Kennedy’s reliance upon exit poll data here, and finds it wanting. While it covers many topics […]

Notre Dame property law professor Nicole Garnett has an interesting post on the town-gown conflict over neighborhood redevelopment in her home base of South Bend, Indiana. Unlike Columbia, Notre Dame (as far as I know) is not threatening to use eminent domain. Nonetheless, the dispute illustrates the ways in which efforts by universities to transform […]

No, according to this post by Michael Covington. (LvSA)

Both Columbia President Lee Bollinger and some of the commenters to my previous post defend the use of eminent domain to transfer property to universities on the ground that universities create “public benefits.” While universities do provide important benefits to society, this does not justify allowing them to condemn property. Most of the benefits provided […]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has turned his attention from the environment to the 2004 election, with predictable results. In this Rolling Stone article, Kennedy argues that Republicans used dirty tricks to steal the 2004 presidential election. The article cites a wide variety of sources, but Kennedy’s claim ultimately rests on the discrepancy between exit polls […]

Part of the Friday evening entertainment at this weekend’s “Environmental Wars” conference was California-based political satirist Roy Zimmerman, who specializes in “funny songs abot war, ignorance, and greed.” Although I don’t share all of Zimmerman’s political views, I found some of his songs to be quite funny. Despite the risk that the printed lyrics won’t […]

My blog posts on the Skeptics Society’s “Environmental Wars” conference are now posted on The Commons Blog and indexed here. UPDATE: DeSmog Blog also blogged on the conference (albeit from a different perspective) here.

As this New York Times Magazine article explains, Columbia University may be planning to use eminent domain to acquire property from unwilling owners in a Harlem neighborhood where the University would like to build new facilities (hat tip to Propertyprof Blog). Like most private organizations, Columbia lacks the power to condemn property on its own. […]

My pictures from Argentina and Brazil have now been developed, and there are some interesting shots of coatis, the raccoon-like animals I described in my previous post. In this sequence, brought to you by the crack staff at the VC Photography Department, a Brazilian coati demonstrates its climbing skills: For more info on coatis, see […]