Why on earth are we surprised that the government’s handling of the Katrina recovery is inept?

Some proposed TSA rule changes make even less sense than the current rules do.

There are a lot of interesting stories in last week's small-plane-over-Washington kerfuffle. The most interesting, possibly, is the reaction of a Fox News commentator and studio audience.

Philadelphia's plan for a free or low-cost city-wide wireless network is a nice one, but not the sort of things that governments can do well. Why does everyone think it's such a good idea?

More of China’s glittering market-driven future, and the wonders of ‘reform’ there.

Montgomery County, MD, uses zoning laws to exclude Wal-Mart, and they don't even bother to attempt to justify their move as having anything to do with what the zoning laws are for.

The Washington Post writes:
Kwasi G. Holman, president of the Prince George's County Economic Development Corp., said he thinks African American entrepreneurs think they may have more opportunities in the black majority county. "The county executive places a priority on minority investors participating in the renaissance of the county," Holman said.

Of course, no federal investigation into this racist practice is forthcoming.

A story about the police in Richmond Heights, Missouri, inspired by today’s Dr. Gridlock column in the Washington Post.

John Kerry proposes to force high-schoolers to work for the state for free, and to generously allow high-school graduates to work for the state for half the minimum wage.

Computer-mediated elections are the road to hell. Robert X. Cringely agrees with Tino.

Hey Kids! Look out for the police state!

Montgomery County, Maryland moves closer to its goal of completely outlawing poverty.

Real-estate market distortions result in a suburban county having essentially no housing that the county's employees can afford the live in. The solution? Why, more distortion, of course!

Virginia does an about-face on EZ-Pass

Fannie Mae is allowing people to buy tract houses in the suburbs for higher prices, on the reasoning that they're 'transit friendly'. At the same time, they complain that housing prices are too high.

John Conyers and Howard Berman want to impose penalties on unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material that would result in more money in fines for one day's activity than the recording industry has made throughout its history.

So many people are improperly arrested for things that others have done that the Commomwealth of Virginia is issuing Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free cards to victims of 'identity theft'.

The EU's plan for compensating airline passengers when the airlines screw up will not work. Tino, drawing on something he said in February, suggests a system that might actually work to everyone's benefit.

Increasing use of 'non-lethal force' by police might ultimately result in more violence, not less.

Despite budget cuts, Fairfax County still has enough money to prosecute people picked up in an extremely questionable December operation the goal of which was to arrest people who were allegedly drunk in bars.

The Washington, D.C. government is startlingly inefficient.

The Virginia Department of Corrections plans to cut its budget by as much as 0.04% by feeding inmates only two meals a day on weekends and holidays.

Mayor Bloomberg seems to not know, or care, that New York competes in a free market. If he makes the city too inhospitable, people will leave.

Neo-prohibitionism, and what constitutes 'drunk' in Virginia.

The Virginia DMV attempts to save money by making things less convenient for customers, while making no real sacrifice itself.

Hate-crime laws are being used to harass people with merely unpopular, rather than hateful, opinions.

Why do we insist on a high-tech solution when a low-tech one actually yields better results?

Well-meaning policies meant to reduce 'poverty' actually just outlaw the outward signs of poverty and result in the poor being materially worse-off than they would be in a more laisez-faire environment.

Vintage Tino! Not actually about campaign finance reform, but rather about how the seeming need for campaign finance reform is a symptom of the federal government not being very representative.

Vintage Tino! Rejiggering federal taxes for residents of the District of Columbia would bring about a renaissance in that city.

Vintage Tino! Sugar prices in the U.S.

Vintage Tino! Figures about the change in the rate of representation in the U.S. Congress following the 2000 census.