"The USDA is mulling buying 400,000 tons of sugar to prevent defaults by sugar processors. Sugar prices have fallen dramatically since the USDA began a government price-support program, and loaned $862 million to the processors, reports WSJ." Continue reading →
"The Boston School Committee announced last week that it will finally end almost 40 years of forced busing — long after the policy effectively wrecked local schools. In May 1974, Boston residents voted 15 to 1 against busing schoolchildren to achieve racial integration. A month later, U.S. District Judge Arthur Garrity ignored the popular vote and made himself czar of Boston schools. Even though there are only 13 percent white students remaining in local schools, almost two-thirds of students last year were bused away from their neighborhoods. Students were dragged out of bed before 6:05 a.m. for the glory of a long-dead judge’s vision." Continue reading →
"A popular Irish bar in Florida has been banned from flying the Irish flag just days before St Patrick's Day. The owners of Culhane's Irish Pub in Atlantic Beach, northeast Florida, have been told they are no longer allowed to fly the flag because of a local rule banning the commercial display of non-U.S. flags despite displaying it for eight years. The four sisters who own the bar said they would apply for a temporary permit to at least fly the green, white and orange flag on St. Patrick's Day but are shocked by the ruling." Continue reading →
"The program’s approach becomes a bit suspect when one reads the Gloria Steinem quote on the top of its webpage: 'The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.' The webpage also offers a series of suggestions for high schools students to become more racially sensitive. They include: Wear a white wristband as a reminder about your privilege, and as a personal commitment to explain why you wear the wristband. Set aside sections of the day to critically examine how privilege is working. Put a note on your mirror or computer screen as a reminder to think about privilege." Continue reading →
"'Only to bureaucrats can the idea occur that establishing new offices, promulgating new decrees, and increasing the number of government employees alone can be described as positive and beneficial measures.' - Ludwig von Mises" Continue reading →
"The nanny state mentality is becoming more institutionalized in America as evidenced by the recent decision to ban the age-old gym class game of 'Dodgeball' in one New Hampshire school - though trust me, others will follow suit. In an incredible four to one decision, the five-member school board panel at Windham School voted to ban the 'classic gym class game' which 'has been a rite of passage for years' for kids - not to mention a whole lot of fun - according to CBSBoston." Continue reading →
"Over the past decade, thousands of Haitians have died from exposure to a rare and aggressive strain of cholera that had been imported by Nepalese troops participating in a UN 'peacekeeping' mission. Jonathan Katz, author of a new book on Haiti’s humanitarian disaster, reports that since the beginning out the outbreak UN officials 'chose to lie, dissemble, destroy evidence, persuade allies to change the topic, and cajole critics.' Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, responding to a civil action filed on behalf of 8,000 victims of the UN-abetted plague asserted total immunity from liability." Continue reading →
"Animal activists have dismissed as 'absurd' and 'cruel' the American government’s plans to bombard Guam from the air with poisoned dead mice in a bid to curtail the spread of invasive snakes. The US air drop over the the Pacific island is due to commence in the spring, and is aimed at addressing the problems caused by non-native brown tree snakes. Having hitched a ride to the island some 60 years ago on military ships, the colony of reptiles have been deemed responsible for killing off native bird species, biting human inhabitants and knocking out electricity by slithering onto power lines." Continue reading →
"Opposition to bottled water seem to be the trend nowadays, in order to prove one's devotion to the environment. Just recently, Concord, MA banned the sale of single-serving water bottles from vending machines, restaurants, and stores. True, bottled water sales are up, and it should be celebrated that the sugar-addicted masses are turning away from the poisons churned out by Big Beverage and they are instead going back to drinking life-sustaining, healthy water. Why is it that the bottled water haters aren't raging against the commercial beverages that line the shelves of every store and gas station and vending machine in America, in the same eco-unfriendly plastic bottles?" Continue reading →
"Without the Army Corps of Engineers' dredging and building, the cane growers wouldn't have the soil or the irrigation they need. Without Washington's decades of rigging the labor market, the companies wouldn't have had the workers they needed before mechanization. Now the industry says it deserves to be protected from foreign competition. And the growers are putting their profits behind the fight." Continue reading →