On Choice, Coverage, and Contraception

I’ve been watching this story for a few days. For those who haven’t been keeping up with the news, the Obama administration is proposing rules that would require all employers to provide coverage for contraception in their health care plans. Catholics are in an uproar over this. The White House has responded (HT: Unsettled [...]

On Externalities and Libertarianism

I’ve often wanted to write something about externalities, but I’ve never gotten the time. Specifically, I’m interested in how these relate to regulations and in turn to economic freedom.

I lean libertarian, and many people  who know that are surprised that I’m not always opposed to environmental regulations. Why is that?

Well, Ed Brayton [...]

Romney and Baptizing the Dead

It appears he had his atheist father-in-law baptized after death. Interesting!

I think we should respect people’s decisions as they made them while they could still communicate with us. On the other hand, it suggests Mitt Romney really does believe what he claims–about his faith at least.

Democrats Running Anti-Romney, Pro-Gingrich Ads in Florida?

From what I’ve found I’m not sure if these are largely against Romney, which could at this point be explained as getting a head start on the general election (though I doubt that), or actually pro-Gingrich. (Report in the Boston Globe, hat tips Stones Cry Out and American Thinker.)

I pointed out in a [...]

Correction on GPS Devices and Warrants

Jeremy Pierce corrected an error in my original post on this topic via a comment. I’m linking here to a clarification at The Volokh conspiracy, which I think makes the difference clearer.

The original argument that this wasn’t a search was, in fact, quite ridiculous in my view, but I incorrectly reported that a [...]

Search Warrants Required for GPS Devices

… that police put on your vehicle, according to the Washington Post. I welcome this ruling, and am very pleased to see it was unanimous.

In fact, I think the government agencies who thought they could get by with this should be ashamed of themselves, and the a unanimous court ruling shows how far [...]

Blackout on Wikipedia Tomorrow

I’m not going to be blacked out here, but I thought I’d just mention that I also oppose the bills (PIPA, SOPA) that are going through congress. Our representatives simply have no idea whatever what a reasonable burden is. Their view is that if a multi-billion dollar corporation or a large government agency could [...]

Badly Written Laws Badly Applied

I sometimes watch Law and Order on TV (not faithfully), and I’ve often thought “how creative!” as one prosecutor or another invents a way to apply the law to something they’d like to “get” someone for. (Quite a sentence, but I’m going to leave it.) At the same time I’ve hoped real prosecutors in [...]

When Campaign Finance Reform Has the Reverse Effect

Radley Balko (The Agitator) has an interesting article on actions of the Institute for Justice, which is helping some folks in Mississippi challenge the laws on spending to advocate for a political cause. The idea of such laws, of course, is to provide for openness and accountability in politics. In this case, however, it [...]

A Note to Politicians This Election Season

I’m reading about direct mail in the campaign, and soon it will come to Florida. I just want all politicians to know that no piece of direct mail has ever increased my chance of voting for the candidate who sponsored it. Concealing your sponsorship behind a supposedly independent organization (I think they should be [...]