I’m currently planning my next book in which I intend to discuss how shockingly anti-science the MSM has become when it comes to pet policy issues that involve science, technology and the environment. My proposition is that MSM journalists are so bad at reporting on these issues not so much because of their left-leaning biases, but because they are largely ignorant and lazy when it comes to covering these complex concepts. Thanks to guys like Paul Krugman at The New York Times I’m sure that I’ll never have any shortage of material to illustrate the point.
Jim Rust handily deconstructed Krugman’s arguments regarding mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in his excellent post of January 5. Admittedly, Rust had an unfair advantage in that discussion: he used actual data. Somehow I think that the average Joe would find actually data showing that mercury emissions from coal fired power plants represent of a pittance compared to natural and overseas sources a bit more persuasive than Krugman’s approach which was essentially “mercury bad – EPA good”. Perhaps that’s nice messaging, but it leaves a lot to be desired from the scientist’s point of view.
[click to continue…]
Robert Fernandes, a New Jersey father, proved the “power of one” in the past month, when he dubbed Saturday, August 20, as “Lemonade Freedom Day.”
Now parents in California, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Washington, D.C. are joining in. Here’s how Fernandes describes the origin of the event and what it means for him and his children: [click to continue…]
United States Senator Dick Durbin has introduced legislation that could essentially slaughter the entire dietary supplement industry.
Durbin presented S. 1310, “The Dietary Supplement Labeling Act,” under the pretenses of improving the “safety of dietary supplements.”
However, the bill actually grants the FDA overreaching authority over the approval and disapproval of dietary supplements and supplement ingredients. [click to continue…]
Like many of the EPA’s regulatory forays, the Clean Air Act of 1963 is fundamentally well intentioned, but has been subject to so many amendments and new rules through the years that distort original purpose. Two such changes are the newly proposed Clean Air Transport Rule and the Utility Air Toxics Rule, were recently the subject of a hearing organized by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Clean Air and Nuclear Safety subpanel.
The Utility Air Toxics Rule aims to cut back on mercury emission from coal-powered electricity generators, while the Clean Air Transport Rule ventures to reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by thousands of tons.
[click to continue…]
With the deluge of negative media coverage that has surrounded the tobacco industry for the last several decades, anyone exposed to tobacco advertising has undoubtedly seen the ubiquitous black warning box “Caution: Cigarette Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health.”
The media campaign’s overarching purpose is to get people to stop smoking, through the imagery and tactics of commercials, billboards and other media. These efforts have been slowly increasing in their morbidity and depictions of smokers’ abject desolation and pain. But the FDA nonetheless has recently proposed to ramp up its “anti-smoking” efforts.
On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration announced its largest overhaul in cigarette packaging laws in 25 years, in which a complete redesign of cigarette packs now includes graphic images of tobacco related deaths and dramatic illustrations of smoking-related diseases, as well as anti-tobacco slogans like “smoking can kill you” and “cigarettes cause cancer.”
More importantly is new mandate concerning the amount of space allotted for the anti-tobacco propaganda. According to the Associated Press:
[click to continue…]
With sleek award-winning design, near-flawless engineering, and an amazing business model Apple has built an empire of control over what’s cool. Over the last few weeks the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice have begun efforts to tear it down.
Following the federal government’s new model “if it works, regulate it and tax it… if it’s broke, bail it out,” these institutions seem hell-bent on taking down Apple. [click to continue…]
It’s tough to top the Chicago City Council’s draconian ordinances that attempts to over-regulate everything from food trucks to music venues. It appears, however, that Evanston, IL, home to Northwestern University and the city directly north of Chicago, is giving them a run for their money:
The Northwestern administration will not ask Evanston to reconsider its “brothel law,” a zoning ordinance that will cause hundreds of students to be evicted next year from off-campus housing, a University official told THE DAILY on Monday.
The law, which prevents more than three unrelated people from living together, has not been enforced for years. But on July 1, Evanston will begin enforcing it, which will force landlords to evict some of the hundreds — or thousands — of NU students who live in off-campus houses or apartments with more than two roommates, city officials confirmed to THE DAILY on Monday.
Starting any new business is tough. It’s even tougher in Chicago. And it’s even tougher if you’re starting a business that includes interest groups trying to keep you from succeeding. Such is the case with the burgeoning food truck scene. The problems faced by these entrepreneurs have been well documented, both inside and outside of Chicago.
You could assume that some restaurant owners may feel threatened by this new form of business, but I never would have guessed they would so brazenly attempt to stifle commerce and the free-market by playing politics. It’s something straight out of Atlas Shrugged. From the Chicago Sun-Times:
The Chicago Sun-Times reported last month that Chicago restaurant owners were mobilizing to try and block City Hall from creating an “unlevel playing field” for their brick-and-mortar businesses — by legalizing mobile food trucks with cooking on the premises.
[click to continue…]
Over at Heartland’s Health Care News, Ben Domenech has a great article on the increasing role government is taking in our lives, particularly in what we eat:
Unfortunately, as Schweikart details, the government-knows-best dietary program has included massive mistakes based on junk science — faulty recommendations which, paired with equally ill-conceived food subsidies, ultimately sped the rise in obesity. This total failure didn’t stop those committed bureaucrats, whose passion for government managing the lives of citizens has become a matter of sanity-killing devotion.
George W. Bush administration Surgeon General Richard Carmona, for example, once said that putting a 20-ounce bottle of sugary soda in the hands of a child is as dangerous as giving him or her car keys. I don’t suggest you test that thesis.
