Following up on EPA administrator Lisa Jackson’s statement that “what this country needs is a one single national road map that tells automakers who are trying to become solvent again what kind of car it is they need to be designing and building for the American people,” the Washington Post‘s Charles Lane reports on the practicality of one of the Obama administration’s preferred models, the electric car: Though Obama promised to have 1 million plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015, the dream of a mass-market electric car remains implausible …
Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) came out strongly in favor of a vehicle mileage tax (VMT) yesterday. Just two months ago Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood floated a similar idea, but was quickly shot down by the Obama Administration. The VMT was a bad idea in February and it’s a bad idea now. Below is what we wrote when the idea was initially suggested. The analysis is as applicable today as it was then: The VMT would fund transportation projects and increase conservation by increasing the cost of driving. It is unnecessary, …
The Associated Press’s Spin Meter feature reports today that: “Politicians announcing stimulus jobs faster than stimulus can (maybe) create them.” How true. President Barack Obama’s Organizing for America website claims to show jusr how many jobs have been “Created or Saved” by Obama’s stimulus package already. This despite the fact that the American economy has shed 1.3 million jobs since Obama was inaugurated. How can President Obama claim to be creating jobs when Americans know unemployment is rising under his regime? The AP explains: For economists, it’s far too early …
Heritage’s Conservative Bloggers’ Briefing was host to a cheeky Irish couple yesterday who have started a website as a home for their new feature- length documentary, Not Evil Just Wrong. Producer and director Ann McElhinney hopes the documentary will show “how extreme environmentalism is damaging the lives of the most vulnerable populations in the developed and developing world.” The spirited McElhinney, joined by husband Phelim McAleer, spoke almost non-stop for 45 minutes and posed some interesting dilemmas for global warming enthusiasts. She also made some memorable remarks on Bill Gates, Bono, Al Gore, NASA scientists …
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano is tentatively scheduled to testify before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee about DHS immigration enforcement policies on May 6, 2009. Given Secretary Napolitano’s novel interpretations of federal law, the Heritage Foundation will be posting a series of questions (and suggested answers) for the Secretary. Past questions can be found here, here, here, here, and here. What are the challenges currently facing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and what changes does the Obama Administration plan to make to tackle these problems? Reforming U.S. immigration policy …
Last week, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling presented the budget for 2009-10. The news for Britain’s hard-pressed armed forces was grim. Labour’s record is already a terrible one. Under the guidance of Gordon Brown, first as Chancellor of the Exchequer and now as Prime Minister, the forces have been consistently starved of money and manpower. The most recent budget ensures that this lamentable failure will only become more glaring in the years to come. For 2009-10, the budget of the Ministry of Defense (MoD) will rise by 850 …
Previewing the Obama administration’s upcoming “sweeping” environmental regulatory agenda, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told NPR‘s Michelle Norris yesterday: “The President has said, and I couldn’t agree more, that what this country needs is a one single national road map that tells automakers who are trying to become solvent again what kind of car it is they need to be designing and building for the American people.” Norris then asked: “Is that the role of Government though? That doesn’t sound like free enterprise.” Jackson responded: “Well it is free enterprise in …
It’s not 5 million jobs, but they are real, well-paying jobs, and they’re not going anywhere: “Toshiba America Nuclear Energy will add 194 jobs in Mecklenburg County after receiving a grant from state officials this morning worth as much as $4.88 million over nine years. The company will open a national project management and engineering center in Charlotte, according to a release from the office of N.C. Gov. Beverly Perdue. The jobs, expected to be created over five years, will pay average salaries of $122,037 a year. Toshiba America Nuclear …
Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the longest serving Senator in Pennsylvania history, has made some history today by switching from the Republican to the Democrat Party. Specter’s switch will have policy ramifications for conservatives. As of today, 59 Senators caucus with the Democrats, including Specter, socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Independent Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman. One Senate race is still in dispute, but comedian Al Franken seems to be close to securing the disputed Senate seat in Minnesota. If Franken is seated, then a caucus of Democrats would …
Today’s confirmation hearing for Harold Koh, President Obama’s nominee as Legal Adviser for the State Department, is an important hurdle, but it’s not the last one. As a transnationalist, Koh is not normally respectful of the Senate’s “advice and consent” role in making treaties. The full Senate can therefore be expected to take a lively interest in his nomination. It’s this question of ‘what next’ that sums up part of the problem. For example, according to Koh, the U.S. was wrong not to participate in the 2001 Durban Conference. The …
