Opinion
-
Sierra Club Head Warns Group Is Attracting ‘Racists’
Opinion -This spring, the Sierra Club will hold elections to fill five open seats on its 15-member board of directors. What should be a celebration of democratic principles has instead turned into a divisive and potentially ugly situation. -
Sound Science for the [Overly] Concerned Public
Opinion -The Progress Paradox : How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse by Gregg Easterbrook ($24.95, 376 pages, Random House Publishers, 2003, ISBN: 0679463038) There have been some excellent environmental science books written in recent years. -
Mercury: Grain of Truth, Gram of Nonsense
Opinion -You have probably heard or read the oft-repeated statement, “One gram of mercury can contaminate an entire 20-acre lake. -
Scientists Expose Fishy Warnings about Farmed Salmon
Opinion -An article in the January 9 issue of Science magazine warned readers against eating more than one serving of farm-raised salmon a month, claiming the fish present a cancer risk. -
Al Gore’s Untimely Global Warming Speech
Opinion -Former Vice President Al Gore unwittingly marked the 20th anniversary of 1984, the anti-utopia described in George Orwell’s 1949 novel, by delivering a twenty-first century version of Orwell’s feared “newspeak. -
Oregon Voters Soundly Reject Tax Hike
Opinion -Although most press attention focused on the seven Presidential primary elections taking place on February 3, the biggest political win on that date did not belong to John Kerry. -
Bush Pushes for Permanent Tax Cuts
Opinion -In his January 20 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush called on Congress to make permanent the tax reductions passed since he took office. The President remains confident his economic policies--tax cuts totaling some $1. -
108th Congress to Address State Issues
Opinion -According to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), at least four “critical state tax issues” will be debated this year in Congress. -
Presidential Candidates Would Raise Federal Budget Deficit
Opinion -If any of the Democratic Presidential candidates ultimately has his way, the federal budget deficit will grow dramatically, according to a study released January 19 by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF). -
Oklahoma Teacher Salaries Compare Favorably to Other States
Opinion -In May 2003 the National Education Association reported Oklahoma is “47th in the nation in public school teacher pay.” According to the NEA, “Oklahoma’s average teacher salary ($34,744) is just 78 percent of the national average ($44,683). -
Kansas Senator Challenges Judge’s Billion Dollar Tax Increase
Opinion -On January 26, Kansas State Sen. Kay O’Connor announced her intention to work with “like-minded legislators” to block implementation of District Court Judge Terry Bullock’s proposed billion-dollar tax increase. -
Nebraska Governor Recommends No Increase in State Taxes
Opinion -Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns (R) delivered his State of the State address on January 15. While he recommended no increase in state taxes, Johanns opened the door wide for higher property taxes. -
Schwarzenegger Discusses Outsourcing Opportunities
Opinion -In his January 6, 2004 State of the State speech, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) had some great lines, like, “If I can sell movies like ‘Red Sonja’ and ‘Last Action Hero,’ I can sell California. -
California Study Says Public Housing Costs More Than Private
Opinion -“The road to state-subsidized housing may be paved with good intentions, but it’s marked by an unavoidable fact: It actually costs more to build housing that costs less,” reported the Bakersfield Californian in a January 25 story addressing a University -
What Is the FairTax?
Opinion -The FairTax, pending in Congress as HR 25 and S 1493, is a non-partisan proposal that would abolish all federal income taxes, including payroll, self-employment, alternative minimum, income, capital gains, corporate, and death taxes, replacing them with -
Taxpayer Group Seeks to Save Feds $12.6 Million
Opinion -February 5, 2004 The Honorable Tommy Thompson Secretary Department of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Avenue SW Washington, DC 20201 Dear Secretary Thompson: On behalf of the 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I write to -
A Timely Reference Book for Tax-Filers
Opinion -The IRS Problem Solver: From Audits to Assessments--How to Solve Your Tax Problems and Keep the IRS Off Your Back Forever Daniel J. Pilla Regan Books, 2003, $15. -
Tax Fairness versus Tax Morality
Opinion -Politicians talk about “tax fairness,” but never about tax morality. That’s because their notion of a fair tax is really an immoral tax, for it is based on theft (some people taking money from other people for themselves). -
A Free-Market National Broadband Policy
Opinion -Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, recently sent a letter to President Bush casting aspersions on the need for a national broadband policy. -
Michigan’s Telecom Regs Raise Costs, Kill Jobs
Opinion -MIDLAND, MI -- A new analysis of telecom data by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has revealed that the vast majority of wireline telephone companies in Michigan are simply reselling the network services they purchase at below-cost from SBC Michigan. -
Measure H and the War Against Biotech
Opinion -Voters in Mendocino County, about a hundred miles north of the San Francisco Bay, are being asked to turn back the clock with a ban on one of the most useful environmental tools available to farmers: biotechnology. -
Congress Returns to Challenges Old and New
Opinion -January marked the second anniversary of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). President George W. -
‘No Child Left Behind’ Fuels Fierce Debate
Opinion -The bouquets and brickbats No Child Left Behind (NCLB) received on its second birthday in early January intensified a debate over the federal education law that is likely to last throughout this Presidential election year. -
03/2004 Friedman Report Profile: Indiana State Senator Teresa Lubbers
Opinion -In 2001, a small group of educational choice proponents met with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office to celebrate the 10th anniversary of charter school legislation.
