tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101825042008-02-27T21:19:23.610-05:00John Lott's WebsiteJohn LottBlogger2927125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-90585762278169719482008-02-27T17:05:00.004-05:002008-02-27T17:10:59.782-05:00Illinois House Panel Passes Two New Gun Control Laws in Wake of Northern Illinois University killingIt is not clear how either of these <a href="http://www.pjstar.com/php/index.php?/news/comments/springfield_two_gun_control_proposals_clear_illinois_house_committee/">pieces of legislation </a>would have had anything to do with stopping the attack at Northern Illinois University. But I suppose that is not unusual.<br /><br /><blockquote>SPRINGFIELD - Proposals that would ban semi-automatic assault weapons and outlaw the purchase of more than one handgun a month cleared an Illinois House committee on Wednesday.<br /><br />But both measures have won committee approval in the past, only to stall later in the legislative process. It isn’t clear how the bills will fare in the current session of the General Assembly.<br /><br />House Bill 4393, sponsored by Chicago Democratic Rep. Luis Arroyo, would limit handgun purchases to one every 30 days.<br /><br />Rep. Edward Acevedo, a Chicago Democrat, sponsored House Bill 4357, which would would ban the sale or purchase of semi-automatic assault weapons, assault weapon attachments, .50-caliber rifles or .50-caliber cartridges. . . .</blockquote><br /><br />Who knows what they are defining "assault weapons" as here. There were just standard pistols. Given that the attack didn't use these very heavy, large, and expensive .50-caliber guns, it seems obvious to include them here.<br /><br />Thanks to Tony Troglio for sending me this link.John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-17791296513393499252008-02-27T16:27:00.004-05:002008-02-27T16:30:41.921-05:00Apparently Fedex bans permitted concealed handguns in its facilities<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2SW2_lbrxgY/R8XV71V9gwI/AAAAAAAAAHM/n_1BrCLkX5g/s1600-h/Fedex0002.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2SW2_lbrxgY/R8XV71V9gwI/AAAAAAAAAHM/n_1BrCLkX5g/s400/Fedex0002.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171774971013071618" /></a><br />Well, I believe that Fedex doesn't have this sign in many states that they can't restrict permitted concealed handguns (Virginia and Pennsylvania), and I assume that they have had no problems in any of those locations. It is not clear why they should ban permitted concealed handguns in Florida.<br /><br />Thanks to William Ewans for sending this to me.John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-15261185407202007792008-02-27T14:08:00.001-05:002008-02-27T14:10:13.895-05:00Animal Rights Activists Attack Researcher at HomeThe Chronicle of Higher Education has <a href="http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/02/1868n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en">the story</a> about this attack:<br /><br /><blockquote>Wearing bandanas around their faces, several assailants believed to be students from the University of California at Santa Cruz on Sunday attacked the home of a researcher who uses mice to study breast cancer. . . .</blockquote>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-9504283350569844292008-02-27T12:34:00.002-05:002008-02-27T12:38:11.906-05:00Turnpike Toll Takers in Massachusetts Have Been Carrying Guns For Decades with No Training and No ProblemsEven though there appears to have been no problems over decades, <a href="http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1076234">you can't risk a "wild west" shootout</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>Gun-toting toll collectors have been stripped of their sidearms by Mass Pike brass after secretly carrying them for decades without formal training, the Herald has learned.<br /><br />“I didn’t want to have a wild west show out there,” said Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Executive Director Alan LeBovidge, who ordered the practice stopped. “I could find nothing to show that the employees had state police training that would make them qualified to carry guns.”<br /><br />But union officials said they are going to fight to allow the toll collectors to keep their weapons, even though a Pike review found the guns were not being properly maintained, with firing pins misaligned and other problems. . . .</blockquote>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-10264775602749692152008-02-27T12:28:00.000-05:002008-02-27T12:29:23.324-05:00John Stossel on Gun ControlYou can read all of Stossel's piece <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/guns_save_lives.html">here</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>It's all too predictable. A day after a gunman killed six people and wounded 18 others at Northern Illinois University, The New York Times criticized the U.S. Interior Department for preparing to rethink its ban on guns in national parks.<br /><br />The editorial board wants "the 51 senators who like the thought of guns in the parks -- and everywhere else, it seems -- to realize that the innocence of Americans is better protected by carefully controlling guns than it is by arming everyone to the teeth."<br /><br />As usual, the Times editors seem unaware of how silly their argument is. To them, the choice is between "carefully controlling guns" and "arming everyone to the teeth." But no one favors "arming everyone to the teeth" (whatever that means). Instead, gun advocates favor freedom, choice and self-responsibility. If someone wishes to be prepared to defend himself, he should be free to do so. No one has the right to deprive others of the means of effective self-defense, like a handgun. . . .</blockquote>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-80306396399179735222008-02-27T12:05:00.000-05:002008-02-27T16:49:23.940-05:00Kirkwood City Council Murder Used a Gun Stolen in the mid1990sI am not sure what gun law would have prevented <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/0DAFF1361F126BEF862573FC00710990?OpenDocument">this</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>was stolen in the mid-1990s from Franklin County, police said Wednesday. St. Louis County police spokeswoman Tracy Panus said the investigation into the gun's history since 1994 or 1995 is ongoing, and she could not provide any further details. . . .</blockquote><br /><br />Thanks to Anthony Troglio for sending me this link.John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-4201346575501343742008-02-27T11:39:00.003-05:002008-02-27T12:27:20.342-05:00Ammunition Coding Campaign Picks Up in StatesAlan Gottlieb with the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has <a href="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/ccrkba-suggests-investigation-of-ammunition-coding-campaign,291194.shtml">discovered something</a> interesting about this campaign:<br /><br /><blockquote>"Sponsors of bills that would require coding of cartridge casings and bullets in their respective states have neglected to mention that there is only one company in the country with the technology, and that company has been working with a 'hired-gun' consulting firm that offers its help to lawmakers drafting the legislation," Gottlieb said. "Essentially, you have state legislators working as promoters for a company called Ammunition Coding System, pushing measures in at least ten states that would mandate the use of this proprietary technology at the expense of gun owners.<br /><br />"Even if the technology were licensed to various ammunition manufacturers," he continued, "it still puts one company in a monopoly position. On its own website, the company even acknowledges that legislation would be required to implement what many gun owners believe is a back-door gun registry, by forcing dealers to keep records on who purchases ammunition.<br /><br />"Creating a technology, and applying for a patent while hiring a consulting firm to push legislation that requires this technology is horribly self-serving," Gottlieb added. "The fact that in every state these measures are being pushed, the sponsors are anti-gun lawmakers, simply adds to the suspicion.<br /><br />"Giving one company a legislated monopoly in any other area would bring down a media firestorm," Gottlieb stated. "The government would never allow it. State senators, representatives or assemblymen who get involved with this effort should ask themselves just what it's worth to essentially be lobbyists for a monopoly."</blockquote>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-34442182901972149002008-02-27T11:29:00.001-05:002008-02-27T11:30:55.650-05:00William F. Buckley Jr. Dead at 82Obviously, Buckley had a big impact on the United States. He will be missed.John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-84472203292468360642008-02-27T10:56:00.004-05:002008-02-27T16:44:59.133-05:00Global Warming Predictions 50 Years AgoThere is only one little problem with this entertaining film: temperatures had started falling in the late 1930s and continued falling until the late 1970s. This film at least has the amusing title of "The Unchained Goddess." Possibly the problem isn't that they aren't right at the margin, but that the impact from man is so small that it doesn't really alter these overall patterns very much. I am pretty sure that I have seen this before, possibly as a kid in the late 1960s.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/0lgzz-L7GFg&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="https://www.youtube.com/v/0lgzz-L7GFg&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-25199848878942587282008-02-26T18:26:00.002-05:002008-02-26T18:46:48.170-05:00The National Weather Service: One major source of delays for AirlinesLast year I had an op-ed entitled: <a href="https://johnrlott.tripod.com/op-eds/FoxNewsWeatherPred082007.html">"Does Government Weather Forecasting Endanger Lives?"</a> Well, some new reports are out and they don't make the National Weather Service look very good. Here is a <a href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08258.pdf">new GAO report</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>Although interagency agreements between NWS and FAA state that both agencies have responsibilities for assuring and controlling the quality of aviation weather observations, neither agency consistently does so for weather products and services produced at the en route centers. Specifically, neither agency has developed performance measures and metrics, regularly evaluated weather service unit performance, or provided feedback to improve these aviation weather products and services. Because of this lack of performance tracking and oversight, NWS cannot demonstrate the quality or value of its services, and FAA cannot ensure the quality of the services it funds. Until both agencies are able to measure and ensure the quality of the aviation weather products at the en route centers, FAA may not be getting the information it needs to effectively manage air traffic.</blockquote><br /><br />Private weather services have said that they would be happy to provide weather service predictions <a href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08491t.pdf">"at a lower cost than currently provided"</a> by the NWS.John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-86802317202722022582008-02-26T17:59:00.003-05:002008-02-26T18:16:24.034-05:00Massive Global Cooling Over last Year<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2SW2_lbrxgY/R8SdnFV9gvI/AAAAAAAAAHA/rDkU27VtQYA/s1600-h/7390_large_hadcrut.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2SW2_lbrxgY/R8SdnFV9gvI/AAAAAAAAAHA/rDkU27VtQYA/s320/7390_large_hadcrut.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171431566902919922" /></a><br />Global temperatures had stopped rising over the last decade, and now they <a href="http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monitors+Report+Worldwide+Global+Cooling/article10866.htm">may be falling</a>. <br /><br /><blockquote>Twelve-month long drop in world temperatures wipes out a century of warming . . . .<br /><br />Meteorologist Anthony Watts compiled the results of all the sources. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to erase nearly all the global warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year time. For all sources, it's the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down. . . . .</blockquote>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-27919749097837372912008-02-26T15:57:00.002-05:002008-02-26T16:00:10.373-05:00RasmussenReports.com starts daily tracking of Electoral VotesFor those obsessing on this already, you can find the information <a href="http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/balance_of_power_history">here</a>. Right now McCain is slightly ahead in terms of the <a href="http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/daily_presidential_tracking_poll">popular vote</a>, but behind 284 to 216 in terms of the electoral vote.John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-73384860218821680702008-02-26T13:23:00.005-05:002008-02-26T14:11:41.801-05:00Simple "common-sense" approaches to handling Compact Fluorescent Light BulbsThe <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/02/25/high_efficient_lightbulbs_come_with_mercury_risk/">Boston Globe has a piece</a> saying that environmentalists love these compact fluorescent bulbs and that you just need a few minor commonsense approaches to dealing with them:<br /><br /><blockquote>The Maine study, which shattered 65 bulbs to test air quality and clean-up methods made these recommendations: If a bulb breaks, get children and pets out of the room. Ventilate the room. Never use a vacuum -- even on a rug -- to clean up a compact fluorescent light. Instead, while wearing rubber gloves, use stiff paper such as index cards and tape to pick up pieces, then wipe the area with a wet wipe or damp paper towel. If there are young children or pregnant woman in the house, consider cutting out the piece of carpet where the bulb broke. Use a glass jar with a screw top to contain the shards and clean-up debris.<br /><br />“We found some very high levels (of mercury), even after we tried a number of clean-up techniques," said Mark Hyland, Maine director of the Bureau of Remediation and Waste Management. During several of the experiments, for example, he said mercury in the air was more than 100 times levels considered safe even after a floor was cleaned. He said such levels would quickly decline if the room were ventilated and people followed their tips.</blockquote><br /><br />This is one of the parts of the story that I love:<br /><blockquote>They said most danger could be avoided if people exercised common-sense caution, such as not using the bulbs in table lamps that could be knocked over by children or pets and properly cleaning up broken bulbs.</blockquote><br />Here are a couple of questions: How do the pennies that you save with these bulbs compare to the time and health costs of dealing with them? Remember you have to keep these bulbs on for at least 15 minutes once you turn them on (rather inconvenient if you ask me). So what bulbs are we supposed to use in table lamps or those lamps that can be knocked over? <br /><br />Of course, in other posts I have mentioned some of the <a href="http://johnrlott.blogspot.com/2007/12/compact-fluorescent-lights-likely-to.html">other costs</a> from these "efficient" bulbs.John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-52643631490621719762008-02-26T13:03:00.003-05:002008-02-26T13:07:38.090-05:00Another case where a criminal begs to avoid the death penaltyIt is hard to understand how death penalty opponents can see all these <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/25/cutts.trial/?iref=mpstoryview">murders begging not to be executed</a> and not believe that the death penalty serves as a deterrent. This from <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/25/cutts.trial/?iref=mpstoryview">CNN</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>A former police officer convicted of murdering his girlfriend and their unborn child tearfully apologized to her family Monday in front of the jury that will decide whether he lives or dies.<br /><br />Bobby Cutts Jr. weeps openly as his mother describes his childhood during a sentencing hearing.<br />1 of 2<br /><br />"It was a nightmare that will continue to haunt me for the rest of my days," said Bobby Cutts, Jr., 30, reading from a prepared statement at the penalty phase of his murder trial.<br /><br />"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I'm asking you to spare my life." . . .</blockquote>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-558374225302615222008-02-26T00:49:00.002-05:002008-02-26T11:54:10.138-05:00"Columbine To Va. Tech To NIU: Gun-Free Zones Or Killing Fields?"I have a new op-ed at <a href="https://johnrlott.tripod.com/op-eds/IBDNIUGunFreeZone022508.html">Investors Business Daily</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>As Northern Illinois University restarts classes this week, one thing is clear: Six minutes proved too long. It took six minutes before the police were able to enter the classroom that horrible Thursday, and in that short time five people were murdered, 16 wounded.<br /><br />Six minutes is actually record-breaking speed for the police arriving at such an attack, but it was simply not fast enough. Still, the police were much faster than at the Virginia Tech attack last year.<br /><br />The previous Thursday, five people were killed in the city council chambers in Kirkwood, Mo. There was even a police officer already there when the attack occurred. . . .</blockquote><br /><br />UPDATE: <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332655,00.html">Fox News is reporting</a> a gun threat at at small Ferrum College (1,000 students). I guess I would like to know if this is a concealed handgun permit holder. If it is the school's president is threatening suspension as a first initial response. The president obviously doesn't understand the notion of deterrence. From Fox News: <blockquote>Ferrum College canceled classes and went on lockdown Tuesday as police searched for a suspicious person on campus.<br /><br />A Franklin County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman said college President Jennifer Braaten activated an alert system and ordered the lockdown after receiving reports of a suspicious male on the campus. Classes were canceled for the day. . . .<br /><br />No shots have been fired and there have been no injuries.</blockquote>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-86512058777278445892008-02-26T00:35:00.002-05:002008-02-26T02:24:12.785-05:00Sienna Miller "Loves" GunsOK, the fact that <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/video2/player06.html?022508/022508_1poptarts_vlog&Pop%20Tarts&Pop%20Tarts%20Talks%3A%202/25&Pop%20Tarts%20Talks%3A%202/25&Pop%20Tarts&-1&Entertainment&74&&&new">Sienna Miller "loves" guns</a> may do more to make gun ownership "cool" than any thousand columns that I could write. Sienna <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332213,00.html">says</a>: "But the best bit is that I'm doing that gun-twisting stuff. I'm learning how to shoot properly, and it's all cool and a lot of fun."John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-19326442116841130252008-02-26T00:04:00.000-05:002008-02-26T01:06:55.047-05:00Alex Tabarrok on Gun BuybacksAlex's piece was published in the <a href="http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2128">Oakland Tribune</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>On Feb. 9, Oakland police, led by state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, offered to buy handguns and assault weapons for $250 each, “no questions asked, no ID required.” The “One Less Gun” buy-back program attracted so many eager sellers that the money quickly ran out. But instead of closing up shop, the police handed out IOUs good for a future buy back. The Oakland police are now stuck with a bill for $170,000.<br /><br />The buy back has been criticized as a poorly organized fiasco, but even the critics say it was “the right idea” and “a step in the right direction.”<br /><br />On the contrary, the buy back was a bad idea from the beginning. Gun buy backs have been tried before, in cities from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and they simply don’t work. . . .</blockquote>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-75605026161123033372008-02-26T00:02:00.000-05:002008-02-26T13:03:40.360-05:00It looks like global warming will actually doom us all<a href="http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13369-hope-dims-that-earth-will-survive-suns-death.html">NewScientist.com</a> lets us know that the earth will indeed burn up in a ball of fire, just not due to increased carbon dioxide.<br /><br /><blockquote>In a few billion years, the Sun will fuse the last of its hydrogen into helium, turn into a red giant and expand to 250 times its current size. At first, the Sun’s loss of mass will loosen its gravitational pull on Earth, which will allow the planet to migrate to a wider orbit about 7.6 billion years from now.<br /><br />This process has led some to speculate that the Earth might escape destruction – but survival now seems impossible, says Peter Schröder of the University of Guanajuato in Mexico and Robert Smith of the University of Sussex in the UK.<br /><br />They created the most detailed model to date of the Sun’s transition to a red giant, based on observations of six nearby red giant stars. Sure enough, they found that Earth’s orbit will widen at first. But Earth will also induce a “tidal bulge” on the Sun’s surface, with its own gravitational pull. The bulge will lag just behind the Earth in its orbit, slowing it down enough to drag it to a fiery demise.<br /><br />There is one last hope for anybody still living on Earth, the researchers say. In the past, some have suggested that Earth’s orbit could be tweaked by arranging the fly-by of a nearby asteroid to tug at it. This method could potentially maintain Earth’s speed enough to keep it in a widening orbit, they say. . . .</blockquote>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-32557439532138344162008-02-26T00:01:00.000-05:002008-02-26T16:09:08.287-05:00SNL's take on media coverage of Obama's campaign<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/JdpPj6UMG6A&rel=1&border=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="https://www.youtube.com/v/JdpPj6UMG6A&rel=1&border=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"width="425" height="355"></embed></object>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-84267817517638731592008-02-25T21:49:00.008-05:002008-02-26T11:14:05.794-05:00Is the "high price" of everything from coffee in restaurants to popcorn in movie theaters due to monopoly power?A <a href="http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/text.asp?pid=1972">new paper by Richard Gil and Wesley Hartmann</a> provides an explanation for the "high price" of popcorn in movie theaters:<br /><br /><blockquote>Prices for goods such as blades for razors, ink for printers and concessions at movies are often set well above cost. This paper empirically analyzes concession sales data from a chain of Spanish theaters to demonstrate that high prices on concessions reflect a profitable price discrimination strategy often referred to as metering price discrimination. Concessions are found to be purchased in greater amounts by customers that place greater value on attending the theater. In other words, the intensity of demand for admission is metered by concession sales. This implies that while some consumers' surplus may be reduced by the high concession prices, surplus of other consumers on the margin of attending may increase from theaters' decisions to shift their margins away from movies and toward concessions.</blockquote><br /><br />First as a side note, most theaters, at least in the US, do not prevent people from bringing in concessions with them to the theater (I don't know about Spain), and that is at least inconsistent with the monopoly type story. It is also interesting to note that these claims about above marginal cost pricing are made for many similar product such as wine in restaurants or coffee or the differences between lunch and dinner prices, and it is hard to believe that monopoly power actually explains the "high prices" in all these cases. Russell Roberts and I provided a cost based explanation for all the phenomenon back in 1991 <a href="https://johnrlott.tripod.com/Roberts.pdf">here</a>. I guess that my biggest question is what else would one expect relating the log(concession revenue) with log(attendance) and Box Office revenue per attendee. Concession revenue goes up with attendance (though at a lower rate than attendance revenue -- congestion) and it goes up with box office revenue per attendee (presumably picking up the fact that higher revenue per attendee means fewer old people and very young people). What is the problem here and why is price discrimination the only answer here? By the way, when they run a regression that includes information on the number of screens and seats per screen (Table 2, specification 2), those two variables really explain all the variation in popcorn prices (something akin to the hypothesis that Russell and I advanced). I am also not clear why logs are used for concession revenue and attendance, but not box office revenue per attendee.John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-82928695341321226552008-02-25T13:41:00.001-05:002008-02-25T13:45:42.318-05:00January an extremely cold month historically, Snow cover highest in over 40 yearsCanada's <a href="http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=332289">National Post today</a> notes:<br /><br /><blockquote>Snow cover over North America and much of Siberia, Mongolia and China is greater than at any time since 1966.<br /><br />The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that many American cities and towns suffered record cold temperatures in January and early February. According to the NCDC, the average temperature in January "was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average."<br /><br />China is surviving its most brutal winter in a century. Temperatures in the normally balmy south were so low for so long that some middle-sized cities went days and even weeks without electricity because once power lines had toppled it was too cold or too icy to repair them. . . .</blockquote>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-75085829269462396012008-02-25T13:29:00.002-05:002008-02-25T13:33:56.295-05:00Kentucky Considers Letting Permitted Concealed Handguns on University Campuses<a href="http://www.kentucky.com/454/story/288884.html">This article</a> is from the middle of January, but it continues to show how the debate is slowly changing on this issue:<br /><br /><blockquote>As the rhetoric in Frankfort rolled to a boil, Kentucky's public universities expressed solid opposition Wednesday to a bill that would allow people to bring firearms onto campuses as long as the weapons remained in vehicles.<br /><br />In Frankfort, state Rep. Kathy Stein, chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the bill amounts to "micromanaging" institutions of higher education, and the legislation is unlikely to get out of her committee for a vote in the full House. "Meddling in the affairs of the universities and community and technical colleges is not high on our list of priority issues," Stein said.<br /><br />That infuriated the bill's sponsor, Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, who said he plans to step up his work to force the bill past Stein, whom he labeled a "gun-control Sally."<br /><br />Damron said he thinks he now has more than 50 co-sponsors and could win if Stein doesn't block House Bill 114.<br /><br />The Jessamine County lawmaker, who is not on the Judiciary Committee, predicted his bill could get approved by 10 of the 15 committee members and would pass on the House floor 85-15. He declined to identify the members who would vote for the bill but said the list of co-sponsors gives a clear indication of overwhelming bipartisan support. . . .</blockquote>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-30761728632235219422008-02-25T12:14:00.002-05:002008-02-25T12:22:46.445-05:00Weird Delegate Allocation Rules for DemocratsMichael Barone has a <a href="http://www.usnews.com/blogs/barone/2008/02/25/delegate-counting-in-texas-and-ohio.html">very interesting article</a> today on how Democrats allocate delegates. What I found most interesting is how districts have an equal number of delegates and the number isn't large so that even if one of the candidates wins the district by a significant percentage both candidates still win the same number of delegates. You can win all the congressional districts and not pick up any more delegates from those allocated by congressional district. Barone's suggestion is to at least have an odd number of delegates so that a winning candidate at least picks up a net gain of one delegate.John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-65578646645259761012008-02-25T12:02:00.000-05:002008-02-25T15:24:01.979-05:00Students Suspended for wearing CrucifixesThe school might be enforcing some rules that they have, but schools <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332333,00.html">seem impervious</a> to using an reason when evaluating these rules:<br /><br /><blockquote>ALBANY, Ore. — A pair of Albany teenagers suspended for "gang-related behavior" because they were wearing crucifixes say they were only wearing gifts from their mothers.<br /><br />Jaime Salazar, 14, his friend Marco Castro, 16, were suspended from South Albany High School recently after they refused to put away the crucifixes they were wearing around their necks. . . .</blockquote>John Lotttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10182504.post-24911348313711010392008-02-25T00:44:00.002-05:002008-02-25T13:04:15.559-05:00Fewer 16 Year Olds DrivingI suppose what caught my notice in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/business/25drive.html?_r=1&ex=1361595600&en=c68ae21848aa2558&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&oref=slogin">this New York Times piece</a> is that kids had become terrified of driving. The caption under the picture reads: "Kelsey Sheffer, 16, of Bethlehem, Ga., says she lost the motivation to pursue a full license after she saw accident sites with a police officer. For now, her mother is happy to shuttle her around." It is true that youth have had higher accident rates, but you get some rough idea of the risk from the higher insurance premiums: "it now costs 80 percent to 100 percent more to add a 16-year-old to a family’s auto policy." The lack of subsidies for Driver's Ed training (with many schools no longer subsidizing the training) is also mentioned as a reason for the drop. I think that what bothers me most about the tone of the piece is the lack of understanding of trade-offs. Surely, reducing accidental car deaths is good, but it is not the only consideration. There are benefits to teenagers driving, just as there are benefits to adults driving. What is the cost in parent's time driving their kids around? What are the forgone opportunities of the kids because they can't be involved in certain activities? This seems like one topic that could benefit from some rigorous research.John Lott