The Service Employees International Union takes the top prize as President Obama’s favorite labor union. President Andy Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger have visited the White House nearly 60 times, including 11 meetings with Obama and another with Vice President Biden. The White House yesterday released more than 25,000 visitor records from Sept. 16-30. Included in the release were nearly 2,000 pre-Sept. 16 records based on specific requests. The records are publicly available on WhiteHouse.gov. SEIU’s Stern and Burger visited the White House three times in September; a fourth meeting …
As Iran’s Islamist dictatorship escalates its brutal repression of its own people, growing numbers of Middle East experts have called for a harder line against Iran. Writing in today’s Washington Post, Ray Takeyh, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, recommended that: “The Obama administration should take a cue from Ronald Reagan and persistently challenge the legitimacy of the theocratic state and highlight its human rights abuses.” It is refreshing that the Council, which is far from a bastion of conservatism, has recognized the value of Ronald Reagan’s …
If President Barack Obama’s New Year’s resolution was for the federal government to stop taking majority ownership in private corporations, he’s off to a bad start (or he decided to get one more in before 2010). Yesterday, the government indicated it will provide $3.8 billion in additional aid to GMAC and increase its stake in the company from 35% to a whopping 56%. As The Washington Post reports, the federal government now has ownership stakes in GMAC, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, General Motors, and American International Group – and holds …
The death tax will expire tonight as soon as the ball drops and 2010 officially begins. This is good news for the businesses and families the tax plagues. Unfortunately, this triumph may be short-lived as Congressional leaders have pledged to revive the death tax in the new year and make it retroactive so anyone that passes away during the period the tax is repealed will still have to pay. This could be difficult legally and will undoubtedly lead to many lawsuits that will play out for years. Not to mention …
Because it works. Military.com’s Jamie McIntyre reports: Skeptics of missile defense should take note of Russia’s paranoia about the U.S. missile defense in Europe. There’s a reason for Russia’s unreasonable stand: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin believes something many in the U.S. scoff at, namely that the anti-??missile system probably works, and Russia has nothing like it. President Barack Obama’s desire to reduce the number of nukes is welcome. But he should not sacrifice U.S. missile defense capabilities in order to achieve that goal. Unfortunately, by prioritizing nuclear reductions over …
The Heritage Foundation’s 2009 Federal Revenue and Spending Book of Charts is one of the most heavily trafficked features on our homepage. Here, by traffic, are the Top Ten Charts of 2009: 10. Federal Spending per Household Is Skyrocketing
As if the Obama Administration and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano didn’t have enough tough issues to handle with the total failure of the post-9/11 system to keep a terrorist with a bomb off our airplanes, the LA Times reports that the Obama Administration is more committed than ever to push for amnesty in 2010. That is madness. Let’s take a step back and consider where things stand. First, the economy remains on very fragile ground with millions of Americans out of work, the next pack of home foreclosures to hit, …
Last night the Nebraska Cornhuskers routed the Arizona Wildcats 33-0 in the Holiday Bowl. Most years college football bowl games do not have much to do with health care legislation in Washington. But last night, Husker fans throughout Nebraska were subjected to a 30-second television ad from Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE). Politicians usually don’t run ads a month after November, and almost never more than two years before they are up for re-election. But after a new poll showed Nelson with a 55% unfavorable rating and down 30 points to …
Most Americans do not know Abdurrahman Wahid (more affectionately known as Gus Dur) – Indonesia’s fourth President. To American eyes, his appearance alone could be a bit disorienting and difficult to rationalize with his towering influence. Even as President of one of the world’s largest, most consequential countries, Gus Dur dressed in casual clothes and often slipped his sandals off in conversations with visiting dignitaries. At the time, 1999-2001, his informality was slightly absurd – a symbol for what seemed like a chaotic presidential administration. Certainly President Wahid made some …
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has made it clear that he plans for Russia to respond to the fielding of missile defense systems by the United States by modernizing Russia’s nuclear force in order to overcome the defense. This is not surprising because Russian officials have been stating for some time that they plan to seek offensive nuclear capabilities to counter U.S. non-nuclear defenses and have been actively pursuing a nuclear modernization program. The Russian offensive nuclear response to the U.S. non-nuclear defensive program is grounded in Prime Minister Putin’s …
