You would think the bureaucrats who run government schools would want to focus on the basics, such as teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. After all, no nation spends more per pupil on education than the United States. And based on some Cato Institute research, I suspect the OECD estimate of about $15,000 per student is […]

Last year, I showed an image of evolutionary stages that was so accurate that it would earn approval even from many strict creationists. Here’s a new image of evolutionary stages that sets the stage for today’s discussion. Simply stated, Americans are becoming bigger. In some cases, a lot bigger. Is this trend toward greater obesity […]

Whether they’re banning bake sales, federalizing school lunch menus, or criminalizing Big Gulps, the nanny-staters feel they have some special wisdom that gives them the right to tell other people how to live their lives. This irks libertarians since we value human liberty, even if it means people sometimes make foolish choices. But so long […]

Back in 2009, I wrote about various schemes to impose taxes on unhealthy food. At the time, I was primarily concerned about the risks of giving politicians a new source of revenue that would be used to increase the burden of government spending. The folks at Reason TV look at the issue from a different […]

I’ve written about the government’s war on consumer-friendly light bulbs (and also similar attacks on working toilets and washing machines that actually clean), so I’m generally not surprised by bureaucratic nonsense. But even I’m shocked the federal government gave an affordability award for a light bulb that costs $50. I’m not making this up. Here’s […]

In June of last year, I posted several examples of idiotic government policy from both the United States and United Kingdom and asked which nation had the dumbest bureaucrats and politicians. Since then, we have found new examples of brain-dead government and jaw-dropping political correctness from England, including an effort to stop children from watching […]

New York Times columnist Mark Bittman is having a jolly good time contemplating ways to control other people. “It’s fun — inspiring, even — to think about implementing a program like this,” he declares. And what kind of program is he talking about? One which directs people away from their own preferences and toward making […]

Or is it another example of the “wussification of America?” I don’t know how to classify this story, other than it is a sad commentary on what is happening to America. Bureaucrats in Maryland, who obviously have too much time on their hands, are issuing rules governing sunscreen on summer camps. Have we really reached […]

Life is filled with risk. We can deal with that two ways. The first option is to allow people to make educated choices, thus promoting individual responsibility. The second option is to have politicians micro-manage our decisions, thus promoting passivity. Not surprisingly, America is drifting in the wrong direction, allowing busybodies to regulate every aspect […]

Somebody just sent me a story from the UK-based Daily Telegraph about two little boys who got in trouble for playing army at school. You may think I’m joking, but here’s a blurb from the report. Staff at Nathaniel Newton Infant School in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, reprimanded the two boys after they were seen making pistol […]