by Paul Alan Levy Several bloggers, including redoubtable free speech blogger Marc Randazza, have addressed a defamation case that is being pursued by Cody Saltsman, a high school student in Steubenville, Ohio, and his parents against a crime blogger and several anonymous commenters on her blog, over statements accusing him of involvement in the gang […]
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Student loan debt in this country is now north of $1 trillion. As we have reported many times (go, for instance, here and here), a lot of student loan debtors are behind on their payments. A large percentage of this debt — and over 90% of new loans — is owed to the federal government. […]
With all the rhetoric swirling around the debate over the fiscal cliff and the consequences of "going over," I found this interactive feature from the Washington Post quite enlightening — it enables the user to calculate how the outcome of the fiscal cliff negotiations will affect particular households based on household composition and income. An […]
by Paul Alan Levy The following was noted on the site of someone who posted comments on my article about Patrick Henry College: Comments: As the Doorbell Queen, I’d like to welcome all commenters. Here are a few rules: Anonymity: I allow anonymous commenting because I have friends in the interwebs who’d rather not be […]
by Paul Alan Levy Michael Farris, the chancellor of Patrick Henry College, which markets itself as a Christian college with strong ties to the home-schooling movement, recently threatened to sue gay students at the school for creating a blog and Facebook page about the difficulties they face at this institution. Farris, who at one time […]
In this column, Mike Jacobson, head of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, describes the efforts of sugared-soda manufacturers to make their products sound healthy even though they are often a straight shot toward obesity. How does a manufacturer do this? It sells pretty much the same sugar-laden product, but, for example, adds some […]
By Brian Wolfman In 2009, the Supreme Court held 6-3 in Wyeth v. Levine that, in general, FDA approval of a brand-name prescription drug and its labeling does not preempt a state-law damages claim premised on the drug manufacturer's failure to warn of the drug's hazards. I wrote an article on the implications of that […]
As you assess whether some or all of the Bush tax cuts should be allowed to expire, bear in mind that the popular notion that Americans are suffering under a high and ever-increasing tax burden is nonsense. That's right: It's just not true. To the contrary, taxes are at historical lows. We have covered this […]
Ralph Nader explains in this op-ed that Congress should impose a small tax on trades of stocks and other financial products, such as derivatives. The tax would never exceed 1/2 of 1 percent of the value of the traded product, with the hardest hit on short-term investments. Here's an excerpt: In the debate over the […]
We've covered the issue of the nation's huge student loan debt many times before. Many people are way behind on their payments and nearly all of the loans are made by or guaranteed by the federal government. This Wall Street Journal article explains the current situation. Here's an excerpt that describes differences between student loan debt […]