California to Ban Trans Fats, Needs Schwarzenegger Signature

California will become the first state in the Union to ban trans fats in restaurants and other public food facilities if Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signs into into law a bill passed by the state legislature Monday. Schwarzenegger has yet to announce his position publicly but he did sign a ban on trans fats in public school cafeterias last year. Michelle Malkin ...

The De Menezes Killing

A little over two years ago I blogged about the Jean Charles De Menezes shooting by the Metropolitan Police (the Met) in the London underground. The Met believed, mistakenly, that De Menezes was a terrorist and shot him in the head in a crowded subway train. Well now it turns out that a court has ruled that the ...

Libertarians Rising?

Michael Kinsley argues that the intellectual positions of the two major parties are incoherent and concludes that libertarians "are going to be an increasingly powerful force in politics." Many people feel that neither party offers a coherent set of principles that they can agree with. For them, the choice is whether you believe in Big Government or you don't. And if ...

Bush Ruining Conservatism?

Steve Bainbridge, guesting for Andrew Sullivan, has a longish post claiming that George W. Bush has "set back the conservative movement for years, if not decades, by betraying conservative principles," most notably by a lack of fiscal discipline and a wasteful war in Iraq. Interestingly, the vehicle he chooses for this is a Russell Kirk speech about George H.W. ...

Questions Your Broker Can’t Answer

It's illegal for Manhattan real estate brokers to tell people that a given building or neighborhood is "family friendly" or, indeed, to give any sort of demographic information that might help steer people to a place they might like, Vivian Toy explains. WHAT kind of people live in this building?” That is often the first question brokers are asked ...

Moralistic Busybodies

Today many of our "leaders" take on the character of bing a moralistic busybody. Take for example, Senator Hillary Clinton's view on television and video games. And so we know that left to their own devices, you have to keep upping the ante on violence because people do get desensitized and children are going to want more and more stimulation. ...

Sarkozy Wins, America Wins, Socialism Loses

Nicolas Sarkozy has won the French presidency, which is good news for the United States and bad news for European socialism. The NYT: Nicolas Sarkozy, the passionate, pugnacious son of a Hungarian immigrant, was elected president of France on Sunday, promising a break with the past, a new style of leadership, and a renewal of relations with the United ...

Girls Go Wild - Not Their Fault?

Garance Franke-Ruta, a senior editor at the liberal American Prospect, takes to the conservative editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal to decry the "Girls Gone Wild" problem and call for a nanny state solution: "It is time to raise the age of consent from 18 to 21 -- consent, in this case, referring not to sexual relations but to ...

Break a Compact Flourescent Bulb and Spend $2,000

No, really. Here is a really, really good reason NOT to buy compact flourescent bulbs (CFLs). On that Tuesday, Bridges was installing one of the spiral-shaped light bulbs in her 7-year-old daughter’s bedroom. Suddenly, the bulb plummeted to the floor, breaking on the shag carpet. Bridges, who was wary of the dangers of cleaning up a fluorescent bulb, called The Home ...

Mandatory Health Insurance in California

Do you live in California and don't have insurance? Well, if one part of Gov. Schwarzenegger's plan is put in place you'll be tracked down by either the state or a contractor, signed up to a plan and then fined until you start paying for the insurance plan they signed you up with. People who refuse to obtain health insurance ...