The Loudest Cricket

Didn’t the cultists of global warming predict that hurricanes would get deadlier and more frequent?  Not so much this season:
By all measures, the season was below average and far tamer than some of the hyperactive seasons in the past five years, when an average of 16 named storms formed each season.
Nine named storms and only [...]

The Michigan Education Association is balking at the requirements for a share of the $4.3 billion in stimulus ear-marked for failing schools.  The unions aren’t happy with any of the necessary reforms – alternative teacher certification, reviews tied to student performance, and worst of all, more charter schools:
The MEA has historically opposed the expansion of [...]

With the state parks in need of $341 million for repairs, an additional $6 million won’t help.  Even if every motorist opted into the surcharge, the parks would get $24 million a year.  Or maybe it’s $52 million, I’m not sure.  The op-ed claims that if a quarter of car owners pay the surcharge, the [...]

I’m glad to see that the one Detroit automaker that didn’t require a government bailout is doing well.  Ford may have more debt than their domestic counterparts, but their creditors seem to be happy to extend the payments by a couple of years.  Hopefully, they can string together a few more successful quarters and take [...]

The more I read about the debacle that is the Detroit Public Schools, the more I wonder where the press was while all of this was going on:
With a half-billion dollars about to flow into the Detroit Public Schools for new buildings and renovations, it’s past time to tell the truth about what really happened [...]

Economists and securities analysts who follow the industry say wholesale prices of brand-name prescription drugs jumped nearly 9% in the last year, even as the Consumer Price Index fell by 1.3%.
So it’s okay for the government spending to increase while we’re in a recession, but not for drug prices?  Not too worry, if ObamaCare passes, [...]

Excellent analysis of the effect of the Clinton Administration’s Vaccines for Children program.  Those evil vaccine manufacturers were making a profit off of sick kids!  Clinton put the hammer down, but:
The federal government was ill-prepared to manage something as complex as vaccine distribution.
No kidding.  So what happened?
Between late 2000 and the spring of 2003, the [...]

Keep voting for unions:
Boeing’s decision to open a second assembly line for its 787 jetliner in South Carolina is another blow for organized labor, experts say, signaling that major manufacturers are increasingly willing to look for non-union workforces during a time of economic stress.
Many manufacturing plants have relocated from Detroit to Dixie due to a [...]

After infusing $50 billion of taxpayer money, GM has emerged from a quickie bankruptcy and still lost $1.5 billion last quarter.  If that’s ’solid’ I can’t wait to see what they look like when they have a rough quarter.  Last year, they lost $2.5 in the third quarter, so our $50 billion saved them from [...]

State parks should be self-sustaining.  You can call this a surcharge, but it’s another tax:
A plan to replace state park entry fees with a $10 surcharge on vehicle registrations sailed through the Senate on Thursday, amid concerns that it may not raise as much money to fix up parks as its backers claim.
If this actually [...]