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CEI Weekly

March 5, 2010 

>>FOIA Requests Reveal the Department of Energy Turned to Lobbyists to Inflate Value of Wind Energy Proposals

CEI's Chris Horner on March 3rd revealed findings from a FOIA request to the Department of Energy on Pajamas Media. His findings suggest that the DOE turned to George Soros and other wind industry lobbyists to discredit studies suggesting that wind energy programs in Spain and Denmark were a bust. Read the article here.

>>This Land Ain't your Land - CEI Releases Eminent Domain Study

CEI's Marc Scribner published a study this week on eminent domain's adverse affects on entrepreneurship. Read about it here.

>>Bureaucrash Activists Protest Egyptian Government to Free Kareem

Activists from the Bureaucrash social network gathered in front of the Egyptian embassy here in DC to protest the imprisoning of Abdul Kareem, better known as Kareem Amer, over expressing his opinions on his own blog. Watch the footage here.

>>Shaping the Debate

The EU Searches for a Monopolist, Finds Google

Alberto Mingardi and Wayne Crews' article in the Wall Street Journal

Climategate: This Time it's NASA

Iain Murray and Roger Abbott's article in the American Spectator

Questions Swirl Around Wind-Jobs Studies

Chris Horner's citation in the Chicago Tribune

>>Best of the Blogs

Debunking the Smear Campaign Against the Murkowski Resolution

by Marlo Lewis

In recent weeks I have penned four columns debunking the smear campaign against Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval to stop EPA from dealing itself into a position to make climate and energy policy for the nation — a power Congress never delegated to EPA when it enacted the Clean Air Act.

Regulation of the Day 123: Donating Blood

by Ryan Young

If you’re gay, you can’t donate blood. It’s illegal. The ban was put in place in 1983, during the early days of the HIV/AIDS scare. It may have made some sense in those days, when HIV testing was less than trustworthy. But it sure doesn’t now, with modern screening technology. 

Light it Up: Earth Hour 2010

by Michelle Minton

Last year the Competitive Enterprise Institute cheekily declared that anyone not sitting in the dark, naked in the woods was by default celebrating Human Achievement Hour–a holiday we created to highlight the innovations and discoveries made by human beings that improve the quality of our everyday lives and highlight the necessity of free thought. This year we’re doing it again! For the second annual celebration of Human Achievement Hour we are highlighting some of the best innovations, discoveries, and improvements humans have made.
>>LibertyWeek Podcast

Episode 82: Lessons from Chile

Richard Morrison, Jeremy Lott and Brooke Oberwetter unite to bring you episode 82. We cover lessons from Chile, healthcare legislation on life support, a perfect storm for the IPCC, underage iPod assemblers and Charlie Rangel’s fairy godmother.





CEI Weekly

February 26, 2010 

>>CEI Studios First Hit Music Video

CEI's Marlo Lewis performs on his guitar, "How I was not Al Gored into Submission." It's made its way onto the web pages of Townhall.com and the American Spectator.

>>Shaping the Debate

Environmental Protection Agency Takes Heat on Climate Rule

Sam Kazman's citation in the Politico 

FCC Aims to Haul Digital Have-Nots Across the Divide

Ryan Radia's citation in TechNewsWorld

Barack Obama's Climate Change Policy in Crisis

Myron Ebell's citation in the Telegraph

FCC Calls for Faster Internet in the U.S.

Michelle Minton's article in Opposing Views

>>Best of the Blogs

Credit CARD Act Penalizes Thrift and Entrepreneurship

by John Berlau

Today, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 goes into effect. While the law, passed last May, is being hailed as a boon for consumers, it’s already causing a slew of unintended consequences. Congress should carefully consider how the CARD Act will harm consumers and entrepreneurs and revise the law’s flawed provisions.

Dangerous Green Hysteria May Impact Food Safety

by Angela Logomasini

According to a story in the Washington Post of Feb. 23, food and packaging companies are having a difficult time trying to find and employ alternatives to the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA). Companies use BPA to make hard clear plastics and epoxy resins used in a wide range of applications. Yet companies are now spending millions trying to rid the world of this innocuous and valuable chemical all because of green activist hype about its risks.

Regulation of the Day 119: Bake Sale

by Ryan Young

New York City’s public schools spent $18,365 per student in the 2007-2008 school year. That spending has been growing at more than double the rate of inflation over the last decade. Instead of firing teachers for incompetence (and sometimes worse), the district re-assigns bad teachers to “rubber rooms,” where they do nothing except receive their full salary. Maybe play Scrabble or surf the Internet. But mainly sit around and get paid.

>>LibertyWeek Podcast

Episode 81: CPAC 2010 in Review

Richard Morrison, Jeremy Lott and Marc Scribner collaborate to give you episode 81. We cover the political adventures of CPAC 2010, Toyota’s chilly reception in Washington, the crackdown on credit cards, rising uncertainty about sea levels and the peeping laptops of high school officials. 



CEI Weekly

February 19, 2010 

>>CEI and Allies Challenge EPA Global Warming Regulations

This week, CEI's Sam Kazman and other allies filed a lawsuit challenging the EPA's plan to regulate emissions under the Clean Air Act and filed a petition with the EPA, asking it to reconsider its decision. Read the full story at CEI.org.

>>CEI Co-Sponsors CPAC 2010

This year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is taking place this weekend in Washington DC. CEI's Fred Smith and other policy analysts will be speaking and participating in forums during the whole weekend. To see where to catch them and get more information on CPAC, click here.

>>Shaping the Debate

Texas, Skeptics Seek Court Review of EPA's 'Endangerment' Finding

Sam Kazman's quote in the New York Times

Big Firms Drop Support for US Climate Bill

Myron Ebell's quote in the Guardian

Tom ‘I, Me, Mine’ Friedman Responds to the Global Warming Deniers, Hilarity Ensues

Christopher Horner's op-ed in Big Journalism

>>Best of the Blogs

Obama Defends Misguided Spending Stimulus on One-Year Anniversary

by Wayne Crews

Today on the anniversary of Porkulus, President Barack Obama and his staff are defending the massive spending stimulus and sweeping financial, health care, energy efficiency, “green job” and other interventions. We have called instead for a major “Deregulatory Stimulus” to reject endless political stimulus and liberalize the economy. Meanwhile, alongside trillions in spending, regulations now exceed $1.2 trillion a year and are growing at the rate of over 3,000 new rules a year. 

Of Snow, Shovels, and Property Rights

by Michelle Minton

Imagine that you brave the cold to complete the laborious task of carving out a parking space on some snow encrusted street. How pissed off would you be if you come home from work to discover that some other motorist decided to take advantage of your effort and park their car in the space you created? Does the labor you put into “creating” the space in the snow give you a right to that stretch of public parking? In some cities like Boston, MA you have a legal right to reserve cleared parking spots with lawn chairs or cones, but in DC it isn’t so

Scientist at Center of Email Scandal Admits No Recent Warming

by Michael Fumento

I noted that Kevin Trenberth, a lead author of the warmist bible, the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report—told Congress two years ago that evidence for manmade warming is “unequivocal.” He claimed “the planet is running a ’fever’ and the prognosis is that it is apt to get much worse.” Yet in one of the released emails he admitted that data showed there was no warming “at the moment.” Now Professor Phil Jones, director the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Center and the central figure in the ‘Climategate’ affair, has conceded there’s been no ‘statistically significant’ warming. Naturally he said it was a “blip” and not a trend

>>LibertyWeek Podcast

Episode 80: Say Bayh Bayh

Host Richard Morrison and co-hosts William Yeatman and Marc Scribner sort through the political fallout from Sen. Evan Bayh’s surprise retirement. They also pick through the mess that is the U.S. Senate, finding both good and bad. Also coming under the microscope are the latest developments in the ever-growing Climategate scandal, and Kevin Smith’s troubles with Southwest Airlines.

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