In Washington, money talks and political paybacks are the order of the day. And if Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) recent maneuver is any indication, then his choice to slash aviation security funding in favor of fire grant dollars to union buddies speaks volumes about the homeland security priorities of liberals in Congress. In a recent Washington Examiner article, it was revealed that Sen. Dodd, along with other colleagues in the Senate, diverted critical funds that were supposed to be used to detect explosives at airports to pet fire grant projects …
There was a “systemic failure” declared the president yesterday (implying the system set up under George W. Bush). That declaration gets Obama off the hook. It also shows the White House doesn’t understand the problem and doesn’t know how to address it. When these things happen the “system” will always be the problem. That’s because enemies are dynamic…they adopt, innovate, and improvise. If the system just chugs along eventually they will find a way to beat it. As the crotch bomber did a Christmas Day Detroit bound flight. Still, politicians …
Obamacare is not yet law, but the battle over which elements of it should be repealed has already begun with both sides believing they will have the upper hand. Key to this debate will be which elements of Obamacare phase in when. Heritage Foundation scholar Robert Book has pored through the Senate bill and produced the following chart (pdf) detailing how the Senate version of Obamacare is scheduled to be implemented between 2010 and 2017. Highlights from each year include: 2010: Physician Medicare payments decrease 21% effective March 1, 2010 …
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s recent rant regarding missile defense and arms control shows that U.S. and Russian negotiators failed to meet the December 5th deadline to sign a new arms control treaty to replace the now-expired START Treaty, not because of technical difficulties, but because of a fundamental question: what both sides see as necessary to “reset” U.S.-Russian relations. The START follow-on negotiations were to result in a treaty reducing strategic nuclear arms that also would serve as the cornerstone of the new bilateral relationship. Putin has made it …
The chorus of concern that an individual mandate forcing Americans to purchase health insurance is at a crescendo. The Attorney General of Florida, Bill McCollum, yesterday requested, in a letter, that other state Attorney Generals join him in “a full review of the individual mandate.” McCollum writes “serious doubts have been voiced whether the individual mandate is grounded in one of Congress’ enumerated powers. For example, if the individual mandate is treated as a fine on a person for conducting no activity at all, it may not fall within the …
Refusing to interrupt his Hawaiian golf vacation for almost three full days after the Flight 253 attack, President Barack Obama finally emerged on December 28th to assure the American people that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was “an isolated extremist” and that he had already “been charged with attempting to destroy an aircraft.” Continuing to treat the incident like a common law-enforcement problem Obama referred to Abdulmutallab as the “suspect” five times and promised he would “not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable.” Perhaps Obama should …
The foiled bomb plot to destroy a Northwest Airlines flight as it descended over Detroit on Christmas day has focused new attention on the al-Qaeda franchise based in Yemen. The radicalized Nigerian Muslim who failed to destroy the airliner, Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, reportedly has told the FBI that he was equipped and trained by al-Qaeda operatives while he lived in Yemen from August to early December. News of this Yemeni connection has spawned a spate of media reports about a “new front” in the war against terrorism. But those who …
The Washington Times is reporting today that the career chief of the Voting Section at the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, Christopher Coates, is being removed and sent to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Charleston, South Carolina, for 18 months. This is significant for many reasons, but specifically because he was the chief of the Voting Section when it investigated the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party and because he has been subpoenaed by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The Justice Department is …
Conservatives are retaking the momentum in Washington and around the country, Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner explains in the video below. And with your help, we can build on this momentum in the new year.
While most of us were at home waiting for Santa and his reindeer to arrive, a gift arrived for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as the Obama Administration lifted caps on how much bailout money they can receive from the U.S. Treasury. The old limits for the firms, both of which are under federal conservatorship, had been set at $200 billion each, though all concerned understood these were fictions. The new limits are… well, there are no new limits (which might be scored as a gain for transparency, …
