Kimberly Strassel’s column in today’s WSJ details several provisions of the Baucus health care reform bill outline that give special treatment to certain states to reduce the impact of health care reform. A central feature of the Baucus bill is the vast expansion of state Medicaid programs. This is necessary, we are told, to cover […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Who Sent You that Book? Did You Pay for It?
The Federal Trade Commission’s new rules guidelines requiring bloggers (and others) to disclose freebies the have received from those they blog about have generated lots of comment, mostly negative. Walter Olson comments and rounds up some other reactions from the blogosphere. UPDATE: Slate‘s Jack Shafer on “The FTC’s Mad Power Grab.”
Scoring a Bill that Does Not Exist
The papers are filled with stories (like this one) about the Congressional Budget Office’s conclusion that the Baucus health care reform bill will cost some $829 billion but not increase the federal deficit over the next ten years due to a combination of taxes, fees, and medicare cuts. Only there’s a catch. As the CBO […]
Galston on McChrystal
William Galston, writing on TNR’s The Plank, argues Bruce Ackerman and others are wrong to suggest that General Stanley McChrystal’s public comments somehow threaten the principle of civilian control of the military. Liberal pundits, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and National Security Advisor James Jones are in agreement: General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO […]
More Ackerman on Politicizing the Military
Bruce Ackerman’s weekend Washington Post article criticizing General Stanley McChrystal was not the first time he has raised concerns about the involvement of currently serving military leaders in political debates about national security policy. In 2007, he wrote this article for the Financial Times criticizing comments by Major General Rick Lynch and President Bush’s use […]
What to Expect from Sotomayor’s First Term
The Washington Post asked several folks (including two conspirators) to opine briefly on what we should expect from Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s first term on the Supreme Court. The results are here.
Conference on Food Security, Precaution and Pesticides
On Tuesday, I’ll be in Washington, D.C. to speak at the AEI Conference “Science and Technology in the Balance? Food Security, Precaution, and the Pesticide Debate.” I’ll be discussing the problems with the precautionary principle. The full conference agenda and registration info are here.
The Red Mass
Today is the annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., an annual mass for those in the legal profession. Several Supreme Court justices attend, which is causing some folks some consternation. CNN reports on the “controversy” over the mass. “The truth is, this was set up as a […]
Is McChrystal Another MacArthur?
Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman argues in the Washington Post that it was inappropriate for General Stanley McChrystal to announce his preferred Afghanistan strategy and publicly disagree with Vice President Joe Biden. Such statements, Ackerman said, were “a plain violation of the principle of civilian control.” The New America Foundation’s Michael Cohen makes a similar […]
Sunday Song Lyric
Crooner Andy Williams made some press last week for attacking President Obama. He accused the President of “following Marxist theory” and said Obama “wants the country to fail.” Yet in the long run, Williams will not be remembered for his own words, but the words of others. Among his most famous songs was “Moon River,” […]
Hayward on the State of Conservatism:
Steven Hayward, author of the two-volume history The Age of Reagan (The Fall of the Old Liberal Order 1964-1980 and The Conseervative Counterrevolution 1980-1989), has a very interesting article in the Washington Post on the state of the cosnervative movement, “Is Conservatism Brain Dead?” Here’s a brief taste: During the glory days of the conservative […]
Is Gov. Perry Covering Up the Execution of an Innocent Man?
The Texas Forensic Science Commission was preparing to review the evidence that led to the conviction of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for the alleged arson and murder of his own children. This New Yorker article makes a persuasive case that Wilingham was innocent, and convicted on the basis of highly questionable […]
The Climate Policy Climate Warms Up
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a new rule requiring large emitters of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) to monitor and report their annual GHG emissions. Yesterday, the EPA released a proposed rule to regulate GHG emissions from major sources of GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act. If finalized, this […]
Indians vs. Environmentalists
The AP has an interesting story on growing conflict between some Western tribes and environmental groups over coal-fired power plants.
Does Government Spending Stimulate?
Robert Barro and Charles Redlick argue there is little evidence that government “stimulus” does much to stimulate the economy. They conclude: The available empirical evidence does not support the idea that spending multipliers typically exceed one, and thus spending stimulus programs will likely raise GDP by less than the increase in government spending. Defense-spending multipliers […]