Opinion
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Heartland Institute Vice President: Senate Flood Proposal a Step Forward
Opinion -Eli Lehrer, Heartland Institute vice president for DC operations and director of its Center on Finance, Insurance and Real Estate, says the flood insurance bill scheduled for mark-up in the U.S. -
Obama Hints at New Mortgage Refinance Program; Expect More Failure
Opinion -President Obama apparently has noticed home mortgage interest rates are at or near record lows. Hints from the White House suggest he may soon announce a new mortgage refinancing program for people who owe more on their loans than their houses are worth. -
Consumer Power Report – Scarlet Letter Governance
Opinion -The central conceit of the Obama administration’s approach to health care policy has been that a strongly worded chiding or a public shaming is all that is needed to keep insurance rates low. -
NIPCC Releases Interim Climate Report
Opinion -Legacy Climate Change Weekly -Climate Change Weekly #18The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), already under severe criticism for violating the requirements of academic peer review and relying on secondary sources, comes under question again in a new -
Illinois Smart Meters May Save Customers $2.8 Billion
Opinion -A third-party analysis commissioned by the Illinois-based Commonwealth Edison Company estimates the company’s 5.4 million Illinois utility customers could save $2.8 billion on electric bills over a 20-year period if smart meters are implemented. -
Heartland Institute Responds to Illinois Gov. Quinn’s Proposed Layoffs
Opinion -Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) announced Monday that the state’s budget deficit may require him to lay off thousands of state workers by the end of this week. -
BRIEF: Chicago Mayor Introduces Merit Pay for Principals
Opinion -Performance evaluations and merit pay for teachers have changed school systems across the nation, but Chicago is the first district to initiate them for hiring and firing principals. -
One-Fifth of Pennsylvania Schools Join Teacher Evaluation Pilot
Opinion -One-fifth of Pennsylvania’s public schools will participate in a pilot teacher evaluation program, part of an effort to reduce the state’s 99 percent “satisfactory” teacher rating belied by test scores showing 27 percent of its fourth graders can barely -
They Snooze, Clients Lose
Opinion -In a classic case of lawyers protecting their own, a federal circuit court of appeals ruled recently a lawyer who takes a catnap in court isn’t “ineffective” unless he sleeps through “a substantial portion” of the trial. -
Let Peak-Road Pricing Regulate Illinois Tollway
Opinion -Letter to the editor sent to the Chicago Tribune on September 1, 2011:The Illinois Tollway Board voted 7-1 on August 25, 2011 to increase the basic I-Pass toll rates from 40 cents to 75 cents and to increase the basic cash price from 80 cents to $1.50. -
Colleges Forced to Redefine Speech and Assault Codes, Destroy Civil Liberties
Opinion -As parents send their children to college this fall, they have reason to worry where their tuition dollars are going. -
Are We Doomed?
Opinion -This issue of FIRE Policy News once again chronicles the descent of America from a land of freedom and opportunity into a second-rate country dominated by government regulators, politicians, and rent-seekers. -
Rookie Mistake
Opinion -“After conquering Silicon Valley” during a 15-year high-tech career, a former software engineer went to law school and took a job with a big New York City firm. He lasted less than a year. -
Intellectual Property: Silly or Sinister?
Opinion -Imagine that some lobbyists have staked out part of Antarctica and brought suit in federal court against tourists who trespassed on “their” land. Fine, you say: After all, the lobbyists got there first. -
North Carolina Legislature Targets Children’s Waistlines
Opinion -North Carolina Democratic and Republican lawmakers who agree government should actively control children’ diets have introduced two bills this legislative session directed at schoolchildren’s waistlines. -
Heartland Institute Reacts to Obama Administration Shelving Smog Regulations
Opinion -The White House on Friday instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to cancel a planned rule to tighten the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards that regulate smog. -
Uncle Warren’s Demands for Uncle Sam to Raise Taxes Ring Hollow
Opinion -Avuncular billionaire investor Warren Buffett on Monday wrote a screed in The New York Times in which he calls for higher taxes on the wealthy because they pay so little in comparison to the little people he professes to want to help. http://www.nytimes. -
Online Education Expands in Oklahoma and Nationwide
Opinion -It’s back to school for Oklahoma students. But for a growing number, “back to school” looks very different from a few years ago. That’s because in Oklahoma—and across the United States—school options are increasing. -
New Global Warming Report Contradicts UN’s IPCC
Opinion -The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), already under severe criticism for violating the requirements of academic peer review and relying on secondary sources, comes under question again in a new report coproduced by three -
Is Our Hurricane Drought Still Intact?
Opinion -Yesterday in my weekly Forbes.com column, I wrote, “When Hurricane Irene made landfall in North Carolina, it marked the first time in over 1,000 days – just shy of three years – that a hurricane struck the contiguous United States. -
Parents Know Best How to Fix Schools
Opinion -As moms and dads across America enter the education reform arena by the thousands through parent unions, capitol demonstrations, and expanded school-choice measures, some defenders of the current system have piped up against "parent power. -
Texas and Massachusetts: A Health Care Contrast
Opinion -As the 2012 Republican presidential nomination race heats up, there are many readily apparent contrasts between former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and the nation’s longest-serving governor, Rick Perry of Texas. -
Mich. Legislature Caps Employee Benefits; ‘Fiscal Terrorism’ Accusations Fly
Opinion -Michigan lawmakers have taken another step to curb public-sector employee spending, passing a bill giving municipalities, local governments, and school districts a choice: cap your employee healthcare benefits or forfeit 10 percent of your state funding. -
Cooler Runnings
Opinion -An Australian court had to grapple with a weighty legal issue recently: Is a homemade motorized beer cooler a “motor vehicle?”A 23-year-old Australian man was caught driving his motorized beer cooler while drunk.