At Heartland’s Celebration of Milton Friedman’s 99th Birthday

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week I attended a great talk given by University of Chicago economics professor Allen Sanderson in celebration of economics giant Milton Friedman’s 99th birthday. The talk was sponsored by the Chicago-based Heartland Institute.

We are humbled by the fact that in his life and long career at the University of Chicago, Friedman declared himself a friend and fan of our organization, calling us “a highly effective libertarian institute.” Today’s luncheon address was delivered by University of Chicago economics professor Allen Sanderson, who was a colleague of one of the brightest minds of the 20th century. We’ll have video of Sanderson’s entertaining and enlightening presentation up on our website next week.

Professor Sanderson was a colleague and friend of the great economist and related several funny and interesting stories about his days with the Friedman’s.

The Free Lunch Myth

Reason Magazine Celebrates Friedman

Ronald Reagan on Milton Friedman

Visit The Heartland Institute for more interesting and edifying videos and information.
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At Heartland’s Celebration of Milton Friedman’s 99th Birthday”


My Latest for School Reform News: 2011 Looks Good for Reformers

-By Dan Proft

In political terms 2010 may have been the year of the Tea Party movement, but in policy terms it was the year of school choice. And with courageous reformers at the helm of several states, 2011 could be even better.

Last year, school choice moved beyond the think tanks and policy journals and squarely into popular culture.

The first annual National School Choice Week in late January was a fitting recognition that the issue has been successfully entered the zeitgeist even as education remains mainly (and appropriately) a state and local issue.
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My Latest for School Reform News: 2011 Looks Good for Reformers”


EPA Delivers Holiday ‘Sucker Punch’ to U.S. Economy

From the Heartland Institute…

While we were all preparing to see family and friends over the Thanksgiving, Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency was exploiting the holiday lull to sneak through new regulatory “guidance” that threatens to inflict further damage to the U.S. economy. The Heartland Institute has been on the case since the EPA gave the public just 15 days (with a long holiday weekend smack dab in the middle) to weigh in on the process. You can see all of Heartland’s coverage at this link.

A post at Heartland’s policy blog, Somewhat Reasonable, also outlines the situation. I pass this information along in case you want to share with your readers this attempt to get “cap” without the “trade” implemented by bureaucratic fiat, after the real bill flopped in Congress. You can also get a sense of what’s happening by reading below my signature.
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EPA Delivers Holiday ‘Sucker Punch’ to U.S. Economy”


Unions’ Preferred Rating for Teachers: NR

-By Dan Proft, for the Illinois Policy Institute

Amid the contentious debate as to how we improve public education in America, there is one reality to which all parties subscribe: there is no substitute for a quality teacher in the classroom.

The scholarship on teacher quality is clear. It is the most important school-related factor in student achievement. Some studies suggest the difference between having a good teacher and having a bad one can exceed one grade-level equivalent in annual achievement growth.

Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Success Academy charter school in New York City, has said a great teacher is like a great artist and should be recognized as such.

So why are the teachers’ unions fighting that recognition?
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Unions’ Preferred Rating for Teachers: NR”


My Nominee for Pay Czar: David Stern

-By Dan Proft, for the Illinois Policy Institute

I do not think government functionaries should set private sector salaries or that U.S. policymakers should be adorned with the appellation properly reserved for Russian autocrats.

But, if I did not believe in free markets and free minds, NBA Commissioner David Stern would be my choice for “Pay Czar.”

Stern is in the midst of a negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for the four hundred some odd millionaires in the NBA. Stern’s position is that the league needs to reduce player salaries by one third (some $750 million) and consider contraction, which would close down a franchise or two in order for the NBA to be a self-sustaining business model.
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My Nominee for Pay Czar: David Stern”


Heartland Institute: A Night With P.J. O’Rourke

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Oct. 20 I had the please of sitting in an intimate audience in downtown Chicago, Illinois invited to listen to one of America’s great wits, P.J. O’Rourke and what a fun night it was. The evening was sponsored by Chicago’s Heartland Institute, a free market policy group.

O’Rourke’s latest book is titled Don’t Vote It Just Encourages the Bastards. I was lucky enough to get my copy signed by the author that evening.

Don’t Vote is a brilliant, disturbing, hilarious, and ultimately sobering look at why politics and politicians are a necessary evil – but only just barely necessary.
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Heartland Institute: A Night With P.J. O’Rourke”


Obama Failed the ‘Education Nation’ Test

-By Dan Proft, for The Heartland Institute

NBC dedicated a week of programming at the end of September to spotlighting the good, the bad, and the ugly of K-12 education in America under the rubric “Education Nation.”

Part of NBC’s “curriculum” included an interview with President Obama by Today Show host Matt Lauer. The president inadvertently offered an insight into why calling America the “education nation” is like calling a diminutive person “stretch.”
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Obama Failed the ‘Education Nation’ Test”


Heartland Institute’s 26th Anniversary Benefit Dinner

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last night I had the pleasure to attend the 26th anniversary dinner for the Chicago-based Heartland Institute held in the resplendent Grand Ball Room of the Hilton Hotel in downtown Chicago.

The Heartland Institute is one of the premiere think tanks in the country and has some great resources on the fallacies of Global Warming, free markets, healthcare, technology, taxes and education among others. If you are a blogger Heartland’s work on all sorts of conservative issues is a gold mine of information that can help you intelligently elucidate your points. If you are just an interested citizen, you should also check out Heartland’s great work. And the legislative work the institute has done these many years has been highly important for the conservative, free market side of the aisle. Please do check out Heartland’s extensive website and do donate if you can to help keep it all going.

In any case, the night started with some socializing, a well stocked open bar, and the opportunity to bid on all sorts of interesting auction items.

During the socializing I had the opportunity to talk to Steve Kim, the Republican candidate for Illinois Attorney General and Ed Rutledge the candidate for Lt. Governor from the Libertarian Party.
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Heartland Institute’s 26th Anniversary Benefit Dinner”


Teacher Quality Focus of ‘Rhee-form’ for DC Schools

From Dan Proft for the Heartland Institute…

Programming Note: Join Bruce Wolf and me every Saturday from 12noon-2pm on WLS-AM 890 (wlsam.com) for our perspicacious perspectives on the pressing issues of the day.

Teacher Quality Focus of ‘Rhee-form’ for DC Schools

Washington, DC public schools have an acute problem with juvenile delinquency.

Trouble is, the problem isn’t with the students but rather the supposed grown-ups in charge of the Washington Teachers Union (WTU).

Once thought to be an unlikely laboratory for school reform, the District’s success with school vouchers, begrudgingly recognized even by the Obama administration, its high incidence of children attending charter schools (35 percent) and its outspoken Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee have made Washington, DC a bellwether for K-12 reform.

But none of these gains have come without incident. And the latest battle between Rhee and the WTU over the firing of bad teachers is no exception.
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Teacher Quality Focus of ‘Rhee-form’ for DC Schools”


Heartland Institute’s Bruno Behrend On WLS Radio Tonight, 6PM Central

Bruno Behrend – Heartland’s Director for the Center for School Reform, liberal Robert Creamer and Tea Party activist Tim Krulidis will be the guests on Bruce DuMont’s Beyond the Beltway. A wide range of issues relating to America’s deficit, taxation, and spending will be discussed.

Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at 6:00 PM CST
WLS Radio – 890 AM in Chicago (see link below for syndicated stations)

If you want to enjoy a great radio show with one of America’s best show hosts, you can’t do better than taking 2 hours to listen to Bruce DuMont’s “Beyond the Beltway.”
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Heartland Institute’s Bruno Behrend On WLS Radio Tonight, 6PM Central”


Heartland Institute Luncheon: This Recession Caused By Over-Regulation Not Market Failure

-By Warner Todd Huston

I just returned from a nice little luncheon given by the Heartland Institute (www.heartland.org) in beautiful downtown Chicago, Illinois. The purpose of the gathering of free-market supporters and like-minded individuals was to celebrate the life’s work of famed economist and Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman.

The principal speaker was Richard H. Timberlake*, student and friend of the celebrated economist and an accomplished free-market economist in his own right.

I’ve done several such events for some of the conservative think tanks and state policy groups in the Windy City and I enjoy these events in Chicago because I always get the uneasy feeling that our little conclave of right-thinking fellows well met is the last vestige of civilization and that we are putting on the timbers to secure the gates as the barbarians mount their attack. The barbarians of which I speak are, of course, the city full of Democrats and socialists that looms on all sides surrounding our little events.
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Heartland Institute Luncheon: This Recession Caused By Over-Regulation Not Market Failure”