One of the biggest annoyances to the Left in recent years has been the Constitutional right of states to prohibit felons from voting. They have filed lawsuit after lawsuit (unsuccessfully) under the Voting Rights Act trying to overturn these laws. Fortunately, except for the Ninth Circuit (as usual), other circuit courts of appeal have properly recognized the constitutional authority of the states and have also held that the legislative history shows that Congress obviously did not consider such state laws to be subject to the prohibitions in the Voting Rights …
Walter Olson recently expressed some discontent over the hullabaloo raised by his conservative allies concerning the now infamous Sotomayor “where policy is made” YouTube video. He states: Some conservatives keep publicizing a YouTube clip where she confides to a panel-discussion audience that appeals courts are “where policy is made.” Sorry, but that’s a standard observation among legal commentators these days—by no means limited to liberals—and, by my subjective measure, she actually comes off pretty well on that tape. While it is certainly true that conservatives have often observed (and lamented) …
After furious diplomatic exchanges between the French and British governments, reports are emerging that Queen Elizabeth II — the only reigning monarch to have actively served in World War II — has finally been invited to commemorate the D-Day Landings in Normandy, France next week together with other heads of state, including Presidents Obama, Sarkozy and Prime Minister Brown. The late and somewhat begrudging invitation by the French Government should be delivered by President Sarkozy himself, together with an apology for the incredible lapse in judgment by the Quai d’Orsay. …
According to an analysis by USA Today, American taxpayers “are on the hook for an extra $55,000 a household to cover rising federal commitments made just in the past year for retirement benefits, the national debt and other government promises.” Federal obligations now stand ata record $546,668 per household, quadruple what the average U.S. household owes for all mortgages, car loans, credit cards and other debt combined. Fortunately for Americans, President Barack Obama recognizes that the federal government has a spending problem. He told CSPAN this weekend: “We are out …
Do you host a regular get-together with friends to watch your favorite college sports team? (Go Jackets!) What about a ladies dessert pot-luck or a monthly poker night with a small group of co-workers? If you are in the habit of such gatherings, you may want to hear how your rights to host friends at your house are under fire from out of control government interference. In San Diego County, California, Pastor David Jones, is in the midst of a throw-down with the County who has demanded that the Jones family obtain a …
A group of individual investors with strong ties to Chinese companies wants to buy into the Cleveland Cavaliers. This isn’t the first or the largest Chinese investment in the U.S. but it could be an important signal. Up till now, Chinese investment here has been dominated by large state-owned companies interested in finance and technology. The offer for part of the Cavs is quite different and may herald a new, much broader Chinese spending pattern. There’s certainly enough money on the other side of the Pacific – the PRC’s government …
President Obama recently said, One hundred days ago, in the midst of the worst economic crisis in half a century, we passed the most sweeping economic recovery act in history…One hundred days later, we are already seeing results.” President Obama is right: In the last one hundred days, the U.S. economy has lost over 2 million jobs. The President inherited a recession and a huge budget deficit. Finding the deficit not yet huge enough, he argued for a lot more, pushing the total toward $2 trillion and putting the United …
Yesterday’s USA Today brought the not so surprising news that federal tax revenue has fallen drastically due to the struggling economy. The 34% decrease represents the largest plunge since the last major recession in 1981. Although revenue is down, the main driver of deficits is spending. Over the long term these deficits will become increasingly difficult to control because of escalating entitlement spending on Social Security and Medicare. As the article notes, The other deficit driver is government spending, which, the [American Institute for Economic Research] report says, is the …
Dana Milbank has dubbed them Sotomayor’s “32 words.” And apparently White House press secretary Bob Gibbs “wasn’t prepared” to explain them. Which words are those: I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life. Repeatedly press to explain what Sotomayor meant, all Gibbs could reply was: “I think — I — I have confidence in Americans reading not just part of, but the whole statement.” That’s a …
At National Review Institute’s Media Malpractice, Heritage senior fellow James Carafano takes the Washington Post to task for their sloppy reporting reporting on missile defense: Where the Washington Post’s Joby Warrick and R. Jeffrey Smith are not flat out wrong in their May 19 article “U.S.-Russian Team Deems Missile Shield in Europe Ineffective”, they are flat out lazy. First the facts. The EastWest Institute recently released a report titled “Iran’s Nuclear and Missile Potential: A Joint Assessment by U.S. and Russian Technical Experts.” The report concludes that a ballistic missile …
