This afternoon, the Department of Defense will conduct detailed briefs on the FY 2010 defense budget request. While much of what Secretary Gates’ has proposed for the military budget in FY 2010 and in the coming years has already been made public, today’s proceedings should provide a much clearer picture. Here is what we already know: The FY 2010 total defense budget will represent a $5.5 billion real reduction from FY 2009. President Obama’s 10-year defense spending plans fall well short of what the nation needs to spend and what …
The Washington Post published another excellent editorial highlighting yesterday’s school choice rally in D.C. and the news that the Obama administration now supports allowing students currently in the scholarship program to continue in their provide schools: Powerful evidence of the worth of the D.C. school voucher program was on display at yesterday’s rally in support of the program. Hundreds of children, outfitted in the uniforms of the private schools they attend through vouchers, sat in rapt attention as one of their own read a poem he had written:
The BBC reports: An expedition team which set sail from Plymouth on a 5,000-mile carbon emission-free trip to Greenland have been rescued by an oil tanker. … The team, which left Mount Batten Marina in Plymouth on 19 April in a boat named the Fleur, aimed to rely on sail, solar and man power on a 580-mile (933km/h) journey to and from the highest point of the Greenland ice cap. The expedition was followed by up to 40 schools across the UK to promote climate change awareness. So an environmentalist …
Russia’s increasingly authoritarian system, with the vast majority of the media under government-control, discourages the free flow of information. It partially bars reporting on corruption or exposing ill-conceived policies—that could contribute to Russia weathering this economic storm. The information dams are hindering those in the Russian government who are trying to get the message across that the present economic system, which is based on centralized government control of commodity exports and credit, needs to be reformed. As the economic crisis is deepening in Russia, the 64 billion ruble question whether …
Earlier this week, we pointed out that, under President Barack Obama, the dependency of the states on the federal government has reached a threatening and historic high. As USA Today sums it up, “In a historic first, Uncle Sam has supplanted sales, property and income taxes as the biggest source of revenue for state and local governments.” There are lots of reasons to oppose this, ranging from its inevitable inefficiency to the unaccountability it fosters. But the most basic reason of all was one President Reagan understood well: the U.S. …
As state recognition of same-sex marriage spreads, awareness is rising about the threat it poses to religious liberty. On Wednesday, the governor of Maine signed a bill creating government recognition of same-sex relationships. Lawmakers in New Hampshire have also moved forward on legislation that would redefine marriage, though it is not certain whether the governor of that state will sign the proposed law. In April, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman is impermissible discrimination under the Iowa Constitution. This …
A memorial service will be held for the Honorable Jack Kemp on Friday, May 8, at 2 pm at Washington National Cathedral. The service is open to family, friends and former colleagues. Seating for the service begins at 1 pm, and attendees should plan on arriving as close to 1 pm as possible. Wednesday, the House passed H. Res. 401, a resolution honoring the life and recognizing the far-reaching accomplishments of the Honorable Jack Kemp. A bipartisan delegation headed by Representative Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) and U. S. House of …
On October 7, long after Lehman Brothers collapsed and the extent of our economic downturn was known, Teresa Finch of Nashville, Tennessee, asked both presidential candidates: “How can we trust either of you with our money when both parties got — got us into this global economic crisis?” Then-candidate Barack Obama replied: “What I’ve proposed, you’ll hear Sen. McCain say, well, he’s proposing a whole bunch of new spending, but actually I’m cutting more than I’m spending so that it will be a net spending cut.” A “net spending cut.” …
Today in Washington, DC there was a rally for School Choice organized by DC Children F1rst. From Marion Berry to concerned parents to popular R&B recording artists, the message to lawmakers was clear – Put Kids First! What is also clear, is that by effectively killing the Opportunity Scholarship Program will put kids last. The rally overall was very postive because the kids and parents were happy with their education. Why take that away from them? Heritage expert Dan Lips has more about this event on The Corner.
Summer is coming and homeowners know that it costs a few dollars more to crank up the air-conditioning by setting the thermostat a degree or two cooler. Well, Washington is about to try a similar thing, only it wants to spend trillions of dollars of our money to reduce the earth’s future temperature by one or two tenths of a degree C by the end of the century. The Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill seeks to combat global warming by forcing down emissions of greenhouse gases, chiefly carbon dioxide emitted …
