To Do List

to do listIf you’re mad as hell and you’re not going to take it anymore…

The Soapbox

soapbox-r

Come on. Don’t hold back. Tell us what you really think!

  • Clunking (No Comments)
    Even government economists, including the ones who promoted the 'Cash for Clunkers' scheme a year ago, cannot possibly be so ignorant of the history and fundamentals of their own profession [More...]

  • Government, God and Glock (No Comments)
    Events in Arizona and right here in Michigan suggest that, perhaps, it's time for libertarian reformers to adopt a new strategy. We have spent decades pointing out the failures and boondoggles [More...]

  • Right decision. Wrong amendment. (No Comments)
    "Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license," wrote U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker [More...]

  • Detroit dream of a “light-rail system” boon doggled by reality (No Comments)
    Advocates of a half-billion dollar, ”light-rail” train to run along Woodward Avenue from Hart Plaza to 8 Mile Road have been unusually candid about the anticipated demand for this government-subsidized [More...]

  • The importunate issue — even in unfortunate times (No Comments)
    It is a testament to the passion over the issue  that in the midst of Michigan’s Depression-wracked economy, when Lansing leadership has reached such unprecedented heights (depths?) of incompetence and [More...]

  • Constitutional Crisis: Where liberty lives and dies (4 Comments)
    The coming showdown between the United States of America and the State of Arizona over the jurisdiction and authority of each with respect to enforcement of immigration law actually signifies [More...]

  • To the 200 million passengers aboard the S.S. Ponzi… (No Comments)
    Message from the lookout: "Iceberg -- dead ahead!" The "Investor Nightmare" headline story in today's edition of the Detroit Free Press, describing the plight of a retired, Livonia couple who lost [More...]

  • Keeping the government running like Clockwork (No Comments)
    Implications of a proposal to remove the question "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?" from City of Detroit job applications are more than a little disquieting.  But you [More...]

  • Close the floodgates on Insurance-Bank scam (No Comments)
    Everyone who has a mortgaged property in any area in the country designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a "floodplain" is required to purchase [More...]

  • “Not a dime’s worth of difference” (1 Comment)
    In his first bid for the presidency back in 1968 former Alabama governor, George Wallace, repudiated both of the old parties as the conjoined twins they are.  Attempting to break [More...]

  • Seize the carp day (1 Comment)
    Being a libertarian and an environmentalist (passionate though not a zealot about either) makes me -- within my customary, political circles -- something of a stranger in a strange [More...]

  • Governing in secret (No Comments)
    The US Supreme Court ruled in a Washington State case last week that voters who wish to  initiate a new law, or call for a referendum on one enacted by [More...]

  • “Gotcha!” (No Comments)
    Punditry musings about federal income tax charges against former Detroit mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick -- specifically, the ease with which authorities can secure both indictment and conviction -- bring to mind [More...]

  • Detroit’s Got Talent? (No Comments)
    The latest chapter in the Kwame Kilpatrick epic -- a 19-count federal indictment charging the former Detroit mayor with profiting from his non-profit -- brought the usual refrain from the [More...]

  • Meet the new boss… (2 Comments)
    ... Same as the old boss. With the sun now fully risen on the Obama era both liberal dreams and conservative nightmares have dissolved in the cold light of reality. It is [More...]

  • Police Policy: A couple of quick questions (1 Comment)
    Recent news stories prompt two, simple, straightforward questions about law enforcement and public policy: #1. The victim of an armed carjacking, who turned out to be armed himself (a significant, new, [More...]

  • Dricks vs. Dibicks — Round 2 (No Comments)
    In an effort to bolster flagging support for a plan to use billions of tax dollars -- both U.S. and Canadian -- to build a new Detroit River International Crossing [More...]

  • Feds dogged by ‘Rules of Engagement’ (No Comments)
    It's difficult to imagine a greater minutia on which to focus than whether or not the FBI's attack dog actually bit Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah before he shot it (as [More...]

  • Do-gooders: Smoke gets in their eyes (No Comments)
    "Nothing so needs reforming as other people's bad habits." -- Mark Twain It took all of six weeks for the reality of the state's smoking ban to demolish official promises and [More...]

  • The California “Top Two” Step (No Comments)
    Shockwaves from the passage of Prop 14 in California are reverberating across the entire country, shaking political foundations and threatening to topple long-standing structures. Called "Top Two," the election reform creates [More...]

  • BP muck run amok (No Comments)
    Share price for stock in the oil production giant responsible for the ecological catastrophe spreading across the Gulf of Mexico has already plunged by more than a third.  No surprise.  [More...]

  • Let’s make Michigan the Hong Kong of Cyberspace (No Comments)
    The political leaders and wonkers currently meeting on Mackinac Island have finally come to appreciate (though, perhaps, not rising to the level of conscious awareness) that it is "Great Society" [More...]

  • The villainous cast of the Deepwater Disaster (1 Comment)
    While it's a safe bet that no one will take responsibility for the environmental catastrophe oiling its way across the Gulf of Mexico (expect the now ubiquitous, passive-voice: "Mistakes were [More...]

  • Dricks vs. Dibicks (2 Comments)
    The conflict between the coalition forces of the Detroit River International Crossing and businessman Matty Moroun's Detroit International Bridge Company over where and by whom a new bridge to Canada [More...]

  • At-risk education (No Comments)
    The story  "A DPS class gets serious about sex : Pilot program aims to reduce teen pregnancy" in today's Detroit Free Press trumpets a program educators titled: "At-Risk [More...]

  • Contexting the texting-while-driving ban (2 Comments)
    Buried in the middle of the story Cop gets probation for misconduct: Detroit officer trumped up gun, drug case in today's edition of the Detroit Free Press is validation of [More...]

  • Sabrin Rattling: A cautionary tale for the Rand Paul campaign (No Comments)
    The conflicts and contradictions the inevitably arise from the uneasy alliance of libertarians and conservatives -- currently testing the Tea Party movement -- when either attempts to use the customary [More...]

  • Rand Paul plans campaign shake-up after gaffes (No Comments)
    ...according to an Associated Press story.  And it couldn't come a moment too soon. Being a libertarian candidate for public office has always meant having to clear three hurdles before you [More...]

  • Desperate MSM throwing racist mud at Rand Paul (1 Comment)
    The trouncing Dr. Rand Paul gave his Republican Party establishment-blessed rival in the US Senate primary in Kentucky on Tuesday has the media in an uproar. The idea that [More...]

  • Oil’s Well in DC (No Comments)
    To "death and taxes" Ben Franklin might have added "politicians' crisis response" to his list of inevitabilities as these are invariably: More bureaucracy More spending Note the most recent federal tack through the [More...]

  • “But not Miranda…” (No Comments)
    Calling all lawyers. I must be missing something WRT the push by the Obama administration to revise the rules about providing the "Miranda" warning to terrorism suspects.  I'm hoping someone can [More...]

  • Nanny State smokes out a double-header victory (No Comments)
    ...over both personal freedom and private property. As the ban on cigarette smoking took effect this weekend the MSM did everything but sponsor parades and fireworks displays. Meanwhile, libertarians can only [More...]

  • Yeah, but what about reducing health care costs? (1 Comment)
    Expect the tempest over "ObamaCare" to continue brewing in tea parties across the country.  The one-party party in Washington, ostensibly to reduce the cost of health care services, ought to [More...]

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