EXCELLENT! WELL DONE NHLA AND ALL WHO OPPOSED THIS INSANE BILL!

Here is the report, by John DiStaso, of the NH Union Leader:

Concord – The state Senate late this afternoon rejected mandatory seat belts for all ages, voting 16-8 against passage of House Bill 802.

The vote kept New Hampshire the only state in the country without such a requirement.

The bill had passed the House 153-140 on April 4.

Gov. John Lynch had not given his opinion of the bill, and the Senate vote today saved him from being forced to do so, at least for now.

Six of the 24-member Senate’s 14 Democrats joined all 10 Republicans in rejecting the bill.

As reported late yesterday by the Union Leader, health insurance price controls have been stopped in NH. They should never have been proposed. No free society can afford such irrational and destructive thinking to make its way into a governing body.

Here is the article:

(THANKS Joel Winters!)

IN AN astonishingly clear-headed report, the House Commerce Committee last week recommended killing Senate Bill 220, a bill to establish a committee to decide whether the state should create a commission to impose price controls on health insurance rates.

In a free nation, businesses are FREE to hire whom they wish.

Coming soon to the Conspiracy, historical facts that support the thesis that there is no constitutional federal role for controlling immigration, that it was designed by the founders to be a state purview. We will also provide a systematic look at why state control of immigration would give us a better economy.

Here is the opening of the Journal piece:

The Legal Visa Crunch
The Senate bill is worse than current law for skilled immigrants.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

The Senate immigration bill continues to take lumps from all political sides, with some criticisms more deserving than others. The vote last week to halve the size of a guest-worker program for low-skilled workers is a big step in the wrong direction; skimping on visas will only lead to more illicit border crossings. But the bill's handling of high-skilled immigration is even more troubling: The proposed changes are worse than current law.

This is one of the most incredible examples of government oppression and backwards thinking in years.

The Bush Administration is actually trying to PREVENT a private beef provider from testing all his herd for Mad Cow Disease. The USDA is taking the man to court, and wants no more than the 1% that it tests!

The USDA is, prima face, absurd, unconstitutional according to a strict reading of the interstate commerce clause (which was designed to stop tariffs by one state on the products of others, not to give the federal government power over all interstate trade), and has often been shown to suppress the incentives for people to be vigilant for their own well-being. There has never been a more obvious example of why the USDA is not only bureaucratic and slothful, but counterproductive and dangerous.

Hazardous to Our Health? FDA Regulation of Health Care Products (Independent Studies in Political Ec

Great Britain will soon initiate a test program for tracking and charging drivers on certain high-traffic routes in England.

While some will worry about the privacy concerns raised by such a system, others may believe that this "pay-as-you-go" system is at least a step closer to a user fee, thus eliminating the subsidization that occurs in most government-run road systems (i.e. drivers and people who rarely, if ever, use a particular system are paying in taxes for that system, and subsidizing those who use it frequently.)

This is true, but must be considered with this caveat: while we agree that the drivers using the roads or train systems that are run by the government are often subsidized by those who do not use them, those costs are already higher than what the free market would charge, so everyone is getting burned. In addition, initiating this "pay-as-you-go" system will merely inspire the government planners to hire more bureaucrats, not decrease costs. Spending will RISE with more money coming into the program run by the government until spending exceeds income, and higher taxes and higher user fees are imposed.

While the federal government continues to decrease the value of the money we make -- to such an extent that now pennies and nickels are worth less in their coin form than if we melt them down for their constituent metals -- Marvel Comics had a great idea: change some US quarters prior to the release of "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" to make them collectible!

Ixnay on that, says the gub-ment. Only WE can mess with money!

Here is the story...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,275655,00.html

There is an old adage, "when you see one cockroach, there are a hundred more that are unseen."

Here is the roach:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18886391/

Dispensing with the Constitutional questions arising from a federal ban on state and local internet taxation (see cases such as the NY "Miln" case from the 19th century for an example of the byzantine nature of some commerce issues), the Conspiracy needs to draw your attention to the simple economic threat of possible state and local taxation on the internet and wireless devices. In NH, we are no longer immune to big spenders in our state capital. Note this article from CNET for more information, and then tell your US reps and senators what you think!!

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Politicians weigh renewal of Net access tax ban

We shall let our friends at Advocacy Ink say it this time.
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What To Do About Gasoline Prices?

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her liberal cohorts’ solution to high gasoline prices is to take us back to the fuel shortages and long lines at the pump of the 1970s. As Ronald Reagan said to Jimmy Carter, “There you go again!”

Pelosi Lieutenant, Representative Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) is pushing a bill that provides for the implementation of price controls on gasoline and other hydrocarbon products in the guise of protecting consumers against “price gouging.”

The bill uses the phrase “unconscionably excessive” in relation to a fuel pricing. What is “unconscionably excessive” one may ask? Heaven only knows because the term is defined nowhere in the legislation.

Texas Congressman and Republican Presidential Candidate Ron Paul has received a great deal of criticism from fellow Republicans for suggesting that our continuted US presence in the Middle East has given terrorists like bin Laden fuel to recruit supporters.

Of all websites, Slate has a good commentary on it. Check it out and look at the links to which Republicans are circulating petitions to keep Paul out of future debates, by clicking this link:

http://www.slate.com/id/2165673/?GT1=10034

Yes. She was in New Orleans!

Isn't there something sweet about a presidential candidate who makes absolutely no pretense about even checking the Constitution before she shoots off with utter drivel?

Here is the link to the story:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070519/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_new_orleans

And don't forget Ray Nagin's delightful candy bar!

http://odeo.com/audio/12643023/view

The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy's Dossier on Hillary Clinton

The Foundation for Economic Education has just published Gard's newest piece on the economic miscalculations caused by federal energy intervention! Check it out at this link!

http://www.fee.org/in_brief/default.asp?id=1308

As you will see in this link to his "speech" at the Rose Garden on Monday, President Bush announced plans to sign an executive order to make the EPA mandate 35 billion more gallons of ethanol be put into the refining system for US domestic use by 2017.

This is not only an injustice to economics and freedom, pushing the market in a direction which free participants have not chosen, and, by definition, sending capital into less efficient areas, it is an insult to the Founding Fathers.

Watch www.fee.org for Gardner's article about the ethanol boom, and why, of all people Fidel Castro was on the right track when he criticized the US government for manipulating the market in favor of bio fuels.

Not only is ethanol a net energy LOSER, requiring more energy in the process of collection of corn, storage, transport, refinement, and shipping than it provides to internal combustion engines, it does not dissipate at low temperatures, causing increases in smog at low atmospheric levels. It is also derived from corn, which will cause the prices of corn, beef, milk, cheese, chicken, and many other products, to increase. Here is a report from the AP outlining some of the environmentalist-backed idiocy in Congress (um, can anyone, ANYONE, actually abide by the original intent of the interstate commerce clause?)... Following that, please check out the information about how the price of milk products will go up 40 Cents per gallon, at the OUTSET. It is estimated that the price will rise even more, perhaps 20 additional Cents.

Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming

Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming (and Environmentalism)

We will let Glenn say it as only he can:

" In case some of you haven’t heard or seen me gently mentioning my global warming TV special—“Exposed: The Climate of Fear”—it’s on tonight! Okay, so maybe I wasn’t so gentle and I’ve mentioned it over and over and over again like I’m doing one of those never-ending PBS pledge drives. Whatever—I’ve been so persistent in promoting this special because I believe in the message so intensely.

The truth is, I’m really not a science guy. I mean, I’m interested in it but I’m not some “climate change” groupie who watches the Weather Channel for fun—it’s not my pet project and I don’t talk about it over dinner with friends. But here’s what I am passionate about—getting at the truth…peeling away the layers of hypocrisy and letting the best information available inform, educate and enlighten me. And on the issue of global warming, that hasn’t been happening.

Thanks once more to the von Mises Institute for their excellent handling of Gard's large piece, "Beautiful Chaos", which was originally designed to be the final chapter a book he is finishing. Go here to read his argument that a market system is more ethical and more efficient than even government under a Lockean "negative" system:

http://www.mises.org/story/2546

As we have been able to expect from the team at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, they have come through once more, not only covering matters of economic importance, but also keeping an eye on constitutional matters. The latest piece on Congress ceding its control over habeas corpus is a good example of their diligence. Read El G's piece there, by hitting this link:

http://www.mises.org/story/2545

Sir Richard Branson has been "given conditional approval" by the federal government to begin operations of his new low-cost airline, Virgin America. How nice of the bureaucrats... Feel free to read this piece, which offers more detail, thanks to Sheldon Richman and the wonder-workers at the Foundation for Economic Education!

http://www.fee.org/in_brief/default.asp?id=1263

Many thanks to Jed Babbin and Eagle Publishing for their attention and interest in this important subject. The paradigm of federal control of the airways is something that ought to be questioned more often!

Here is the linkola:

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=20226

Governor Lynch’s Education Amendment Says Goodbye to Local Control
March 30, 2007
P. Gardner Goldsmith

When attending Governor John Lynch’s press conference announcing the “education adequacy” amendment he would like to insinuate into the NH Constitution, one was struck by two salient characteristics.
The first was how the verbiage of Governor Lynch’s announcement did not jibe with the content of his pet amendment. The second was that his amendment not only destroys local control of education, it stands in contravention of two long-held clauses of the NH Constitution that are already on the books.