CEI Daily - Small Business, Video Games, and Kareem Amer

Small Business

Today the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship is holding a hearing on “Assessing the Regulatory and Administrative Burdens on America’s Small Businesses.”

CEI Director of Technology Studies Wayne Crews urges Congress to recognize and remove regulatory impediments to small business growth.

"There is plenty which the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and Congress can do to energize small businesses in America—and large ones, too. The approach needed is an extensive campaign to 'Liberate to Stimulate.' Congress doesn’t have to tell the grass to grow, but it does have to remove the rocks on top. In addition to cutting taxes and reducing the paperwork that paralyzes business and job creation, a good starting point is to inventory all the regulations that impact a small business as it grows, and systematically set about rolling them back. Hiring more workers and gaining more customers should not incur penalties in the form of onerous new rules."

Video Games The Supreme Court recently heard arguments in a case challenging a California law banning the sale of violent video games to minors.  Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia says the court should overturn the California law. "Backers of California's law claim that violent video games cause children to suffer harmful psychological effects. The evidence suggests otherwise. A comprehensive survey of the major scientific literature by psychologist Jonathan Freedman found no established link between exposure to media violence and aggressive feelings in children. According to research by the Mercatus Center's cyber-policy scholar Adam Thierer, juvenile violent crime fell 36 percent from 1995 to 2008, even as the popularity of video games skyrocketed. Even if some video games may be harmful to some kids, however, the responsibility for making that determination is an individual judgment that should rest with parents, not with government."

Kareem Amer

Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer was released from prison this week. He spent four years behind bars for internet articles he wrote criticizing the Egyptian government.

Policy Analyst Michelle Minton says Americans should see what happened to Kareem as evidence of the value of freedom of the press.

"They silenced Kareem because he said things they didn’t like. There are ways even in the 'liberal West' in which one group can use the government to silence or limit the speech of another group or individual, simply because they don’t like what they hear (for example, the recent discussions about reviving the Fairness Doctrine.) That is why, while we celebrate one man’s freedom, we must remember that the fight is ongoing and that the best way we 

NRN - The Daily Wrap-Up

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Good Thursday Afternoon -

The Senate has just passed the cloture vote on the Financial Takeover Bill in the Senate with a 60-40 vote. 3 Republicans voted with 57 Democrats. The Republicans were Scott Brown, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. A final vote could come as soon as tonight, but will likely be tomorrow.

On the heels of this vote, Durbin and Dodd admit that Fannie and Freddie are to blame. Robert Romano of Americans for Limited Government writes, "Yesterday, after the Dodd financial takeover bill failed to achieve the 60 votes necessary to end debate, Senator Dick Durbin appeared on the floor to impugn the motives of Republicans. 'It's not surprising that the Republicans are reluctant to be a part of Wall Street reform… We're trying to change the way Wall Street does business so we never have to face a recession like this again. The Republicans in the Senate, with only a few exceptions, have resisted our efforts to pass this bill.'"

The SEIU has stormed the house of a Bank of America exec and terrorized their family, according to a post on BigGovernment.com.

Jobless claims rise today. This is the largest rise in 3 months.

Obama's head regulator advocates imposing an internet Fairness Doctrine. Cass Sunstein said in a 2001 radio interview that he believes that political websites should advocate both sides of the spectrum.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett has subpoenaed Twitter in connection with some critical tweets. Read the story here.

Time Magazine writes that Jim DeMint has moved the Republican brand to the right. According to Jay Newton-Small, "Senator Jim DeMint knows when a brand's gone bad and what to do to fix it. The South Carolina Republican spent more than 25 years in advertising before going into politics, and his demeanor — from the pin stripe suit to his salesman pitch delivered with a smile — has a Mad Men quality to it, almost as if Don Draper had been thrown forward 50 years and his only client was the Tea Party movement."

Brian Doherty wonders if a single Senate candidate can the savior of the small-government movement at Reason.com.

The cavalry has arrived to defend Richard Blumenthal over what he claims has been statements taken out of context in reference to his service in Vietnam. According to the Daily Caller: "n the full video Blumenthal never attempted to clearly state he was not in Vietnam and most casual listeners likely heard him say he served 'during the Vietnam era' and later explicitly state he had been to the country. To say this constitutes Blumenthal 'accurately describing his service' seems to be bending over backwards to put this scandal in a less negative light for the beleaguered Senate hopeful."

World stocks tumble as debt woes mount. The European Debt crisis is being cited as the main fear causing stocks to fall dramatically.



NetRight Daily: Health Insurance Mandates

Health Insurance Mandates Could Leave Many Worse Off:  Americans seem to like the idea of broadening health insurance coverage, but they may not want to be forced to buy it. With health care costs high and rising, such government mandates would make many people worse off.

A Clear-Eyed View of the Obama Regime:  Whether by ignorance or design, the first ten months of the Obama Administration have put the very security and prosperity of America in grave jeopardy. This is not mere hyperbole, nor is this conclusion reached lightly. Rather, it comes from an in-depth analysis of those policies implemented by what can only be described upon a thoughtful inquiry as a regime.

VIDEO:  Tom Coburn talks Health Care.

The Real Plot Against Conservative Speech:  Rush Limbaugh, at least for now, will not fulfill his dream of owning an NFL team. That great arbiter of acceptable public discourse, Al Sharpton, claims at least partial responsibility. Accusations that Limbaugh had made racially charged remarks, such as that slavery was not all bad, sealed his fate.

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NetRight Daily: No One to Blame, President Obama

No One to Blame, President Obama:  Since his election last November, even before taking office in January, Barack Obama has reshaped the office of the Presidency into the image he envisioned when beginning his quest for the Oval Office.

A "True American?":  Sometimes it's tough to tell who plays for America and who plays for … well, the other guys. Take Mark Lloyd – the Federal Communications Commission "diversity czar" who has expressed starstruck support for Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, and yet utter contempt for the U.S. First Amendment. (H/T FitsNews)

The "Fairness Police":  Imagine a world in which government-owned newspapers delivered sanitized, pro-bureaucratic talking points approved by government censors for "fairness." Now, imagine a world in which talk radio and the new media -- two outlets that Americans have been turning to in record numbers to escape the barrage of sanitized, pro-bureaucratic "news" -- were also under Big Brother's "regulatory" thumb.

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Daily Grind: Bringing the Dollar to its Knees

Into the Abyss
With the world threatening to dump its dollar assets, has America reached the tipping point of decline?

The "Fairness" Police
Imagine a world in which all of these news outlets faced fines and the threat of being shut down if they failed to subscribe to the government's definition of "balanced" coverage.

Too Hot Not To Note: The Cost of Corporate Communism
A host from a morning show on MSNBC, Dylan Ratigan, comments on the current health care takeover and how it looks more like something that would have been created by the former Soviet Union.