And the Lion Shall Lie Down With … the Chicken?

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

It’s proverbially difficult for some species to get along. This Wall Street Journal article (which is available for free, this time; my apologies to those who tried to read the gated article I linked to the other day) details the conflicts that have developed between chickens and humans, the humans being neighbors of the chickens’ owners.

Some people want chicken ownership to be illegal in cities and suburbs because they associate chickens with rural areas. Chickens don’t mesh with their idea of what should go on in a city. As one person quoted in the article put it, “Get a farm.”

The thing is, city ordinances are supposed to protect citizens’ property and safety, not to uphold a particular lifestyle.

Arguments that chickens attract predators, or that they get loose and cause trouble, are legitimate. I didn’t know that the city of Miami has pulled more than 6,000 chickens off its streets since 2003. That’s an outrageously high number of chickens. However, those problems could be prevented simply by enforcing limits on the number of chickens people keep and requirements that chickens be secured in their owners’ yards. The complaints are the fault of irresponsible pet owners, and have nothing to do with keeping chickens per se. There’s no reason to think chicken owners are less likely to care for their pets properly than dog owners or cat owners.

If you’d like to read more about chickens, here are some previous blog posts on the subject.

Testing the Homeschooling System

Posted on by Caitlin Hartsell

Many homeschooling proponents consider Missouri to be one of the best states in which to homeschool children, because state regulations do not require mandatory testing or teaching credentials. This has brought to the state many independent-minded people, who want to exercise their right to school choice freely.

The state’s homeschooling system is now being tested in divorce court. The wife in this case has homeschooled her children for eight years, having become disillusioned with the public school system after spending a year on the school board. Homeschooling parents have leapt to her support. She has given her kids standardized testing, even though this was not mandatory, and engaged them in activities like co-ops and scouting to help ensure they are socialized and well-rounded. Her husband, however, now wants to enroll the children in a private school.

Without speculating about the details of this particular case, this highlights the potential for vulnerabilities in the system. Parents should have the right to determine how their children are educated, and it is unfortunate that these particular parents cannot agree about what is best for their children. If the children are thriving in a homeschool situation, should the court take that into account when trying to arbitrate between their parents’ contrary wishes?

Another Great “You Paid For It” Segment on Eminent Domain Abuse

Posted on by David Stokes

A few nights ago, Fox 2 in St. Louis broadcast a “You Paid For It” story about eminent domain. Featuring Elliott Davis, the piece documents the Missouri Municipal League‘s rather horrible decision to file a lawsuit challenging the petition process being used by supporters of eminent domain reform in Missouri. This is a perfect example of elected officials who think they know what is best for us and that we are too stupid to think for ourselves. It’s as though they’re telling Missourians: “If you only really knew what this petition did, and all the good eminent domain has done for you, then you would support eminent domain use for private developments.”

Check the whole thing out.

Beer Ads Around the World

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

This Wall Street Journal article made me think of my blog post earlier this month about North Korea’s first beer ad. (I didn’t have a video of that ad when I wrote the post, but I’ve since found it online here.)

It’s easy to make fun of North Korea’s state television station, but reading about advertising regulations in Russia makes the North Korean ad seem like a paragon of free expression. At least the North Korean ad had people in it — people you can see. The people even pick up glasses of beer during the course of the commercial and move them around. None of that would be permitted on Russian television.

A Russian regulator explains why people speaking or clinking beer glasses off screen is also unacceptable:

“It creates the impression that someone is present,” says Andrei Kashevarov, deputy head of the FAS. “We don’t want this trend to continue.”

You wouldn’t want viewers to get the impression that live people drink the beer being advertised!

In the United States, we enjoy a freedom to communicate and share ideas that people in other countries can only dream of. Clink clink.

More Setbacks for Limits to Eminent Domain

Posted on by Caitlin Hartsell

As I posted earlier on this blog, Missouri Citizens for Property Rights are trying to get two new constitutional amendments passed that would more strictly limit eminent domain in Missouri. Last month, a judge ruled that the submitted ballot summary was ruled inadequate, and both the secretary of state and the Missouri Municipal League have appealed this week.

Missouri Citizens for Property Rights was happy with the original ruling, which only made a minor change to a single bullet point. These new appeals, however, will serve delay the signature-gathering process still further. From a press release issued by the group:

“News of the appeal by the Municipal League is no surprise, but it’s incredible to think that the Secretary of State would further muddy the water with an appeal of her own.”, said Ron Calzone, chairman of MO-CPR. “They successfully defended all but a minor detail of the ballot title she wrote, so why not accept the judge’s decision and let the people exercise their constitutional right to the initiative process?”

Depending on how long the appeals process lasts, it could delay approval of the final ballot summary until it is too late for proponents to undertake an effective petition campaign. Hopefully, these legal setbacks will be quickly settled.

Tour of Missouri Losing Funding

Posted on by Caitlin Hartsell

The Tour of Missouri bicycle race is facing a $1.5-million budget cut from the Department of Economic Development. The race has a $3.3 million budget, so this reduction may be substantial enough to cancel the race, which is set to start on September 7.

Previous blog entries here at Show-Me Daily have questioned the value of endeavors such as this that require substantial government funding without providing much economic benefit. Cities have to pay extra to set up the race and provide security, an amount of subsidy that almost certainly eclipses the added tourism benefit.

As Show-Me Institute scholars have pointed out many times in the past, government officials don’t have the ability to spend taxpayers’ money in any better or more efficient way than do the taxpayers themselves. Especially considering current budget problems, spending $1.5 million on the Tour of Missouri is unlikely to better meet the widespread and differing needs of the people of Missouri than if officials were to let those taxpayers keep the money in their own wallets in the first place.

It would have been better to make this decision earlier, before contracts were signed and plans were made, granted. But budget cuts like this one are wise for the state, because current economic constrictions make it more difficult than ever for Missourians to make ends meet.

School All Year

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

The Chicago Tribune reports that more than 90 public schools in Chicago will switch to a year-round schedule. This won’t involve more time in class, because the usual summer break will be split up into shorter breaks at intervals throughout the year.

It’s a step in the right direction when districts experiment with new ways of doing things. It would be even better if they gave parents a choice between year-round school and a long summer break. Making the year-round schedule optional would prevent conflicts with parents who liked the old schedule better.

When a district gives parents a choice, it has an opportunity to learn about parents’ preferences. Do they value long vacations? Do they think year-round school helps students retain the material? It’s more pleasant for everyone if these preferences are expressed through enrollment decisions, rather than through angry phone calls after the district puts all families on a new schedule, whether they like it or not.

Missouri Will Likely Be Spared Cap-and-Trade Pain

Posted on by Abhi Sivasailam

David Catanese blogs over at ky3 political notebook that Sen. Claire McCaskill is highly unlikely to cast a yes vote for the cap-and-trade legislation that recently passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives (link via Combest):

“If there is going to be enough support for the bill, it will be a very gradual implementation as we move toward changing to wind and solar and other kinds of energy,” McCaskill told conservative Missouri talk radio host Mike Ferguson. “I’m going to be one of those trying to craft it in a way that is very gradual, that is not going to hurt a state like Missouri that is so coal dependent.”

McCaskill also said she’s in no rush on cap-and-trade because other world powers haven’t agreed to do their share.

“We need to be a leader in the world but we don’t want to be a sucker. And if we go too far with this, all we’re going to do is chase more jobs to China and India, where they’ve been putting up coal-fired plants every 10 minutes,” she said.

It is good that the Senate recognizes the harms that Missouri would incur upon passage of the cap-and-trade legislation as it is currently structured. We’ve been blogging about this often recently.  Cap and trade would significantly diminish the competitive ability of the state of Missouri. And I say this not as a global warming skeptic; I’m pro-environment. Still, this is not the way to go.

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