Secretary Clinton indicated in a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace on Wednesday that the Administration’s efforts have been increasingly directed toward an arms control and non-proliferation agenda. The Administration is hastily pursuing the ratification of a START follow-on treaty with Russia and, in addition, Secretary Clinton announced on Wednesday that the U.S. will reaffirm the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and commit to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and negotiate a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT). Clinton criticized the view held …
In mid-February, President Obama signed the massive $787 billion stimulus bill into law. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a net of 3.6 million jobs have been lost since Obama was sworn in. In addition, the numbers show that the unemployment rate has risen from 7.6 percent to 9.8 percent … a 26-year record high. Now, the latest news on the impact of the stimulus bill is that 49 out of 50 states have seen more job losses. That’s right. In a recent report from the House Ways & …
As citizens in Maine and Washington state near votes on measures to protect traditional marriage, a subtheme of the debate on this issue is being raised anew: the harassment and intimidation of advocates of traditional marriage by their opponents on the issue. On Wednesday of this week, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 8-1 to preserve a stay on Washington state’s planned publishing of the names of citizens who signed the petition that put marriage-equivalent benefits for same-sex couples on the November 3 ballot. Washington’s law SB 5688 is controversial because …
Yesterday the United States Department of the Treasury Special Master of Compensation Kenneth Feinberg announced a wage control scheme for the 175 executives of the seven companies that have received the most funds from the taxpayer funded Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). At first the Obama administration denied any involvement in Feinberg’s decision. Politico reports: In fact, sources within the administration say the decision to cap corporate pay was Kenneth Feinberg’s, and his alone. A senior administration official tells POLITICO that Obama did not sign off on the pay master’s …
The tentative nuclear deal that the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany) reportedly has reached with Iran has been widely hailed as a success for the Obama Administration’s engagement policy. For example, today a Washington Post article described the deal as “providing a major boost for the Obama administration as it seeks to engage the Islamic republic.” But a closer look at the negotiations gives strong reasons for concern. First of all, the focus on helping Iran to refuel its research reactor in Tehran …
On November 9th, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments challenging the constitutionality of juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) sentences. In preparation for oral arguments, JLWOP: Faces & Cases will be an on-going series on The Foundry that will tell real stories about juvenile offenders who are currently serving LWOP sentences. Defendant: Eric Hancock (15) Victim: Jamal Mouzafar Crimes: Criminal homicide and other charges Crime date: August 26, 2007 in Pittsburgh, Penn. Summary Eric Hancock shot and killed a clerk while robbing a local convenience store. Facts Jamal Mouzafar …
Nearly every report, newspaper article, editorial, and court brief on this topic states that there are 2,225 juvenile offenders serving life-without-parole sentences in the United States. Both the origin of that number and the way it has been used raise great concerns about the veracity of the facts supplied by activists seeking to put an end to the sentence. Most sources cite the number to a 2005 Amnesty International/Human Rights Watch report. (One exception is the University of San Francisco Law School’s 2007 report, which states categorically that there are …
Our Tuesday rendition of Cap and Trade Calamities discussed how only the EPA was given the semi-draft form of the Boxer-Kerry cap and trade bill to model the economic effects. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis, along with several other organizations (including other government organizations) that modeled the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill, do not have access. We have another call for transparency – this time from the House side. On October 2, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Henry Waxman sent a letter to Heritage’s David …
Last week President Barack Obama announced he wants to give every Social Security recipient a $250 payment to make up for the fact that they will not get a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). The Washington Post describes this as a one-time payment. They are wrong. George Will explains: “This is the second continent-wide shower of $250 checks. The first came from the $787 billion stimulus package enacted in February. There will not be another such shower, until the next one.” Heritage fellow David John explains why these payments are undermining the …
At Marginal Revolution George Mason University economics professor Alex Tabarrok comments on Obama administration’s pay czar Kenneth Feinberg’s decision to cut bailed out firm executive pay by an average of about 90 percent from last year: There is no way this will work as advertised. If the administration actually follows through, most of these executives will quit and get higher paying jobs elsewhere. Executives not directly affected by the pay cuts will also quit when they see their prospects for future salary gains have been cut. Chaos will be created …
