President Obama has declared January 2010 National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Human trafficking is a horrific reality of our world today. Millions of people are victimized worldwide, including thousands of people within America’s borders. Human trafficking is one of the issues explored in a brand new resource from The Heritage Foundation called Seek Social Justice: Transforming Lives in Need. This six-lesson small group DVD study guide profiles real-world examples of effective approaches to overcoming poverty, social breakdown and injustice. These problems are serious and complex. They require different …
As the Taliban assaulted Kabul, Defense Secretary Gates made an important visit to India, the South Asian giant whose partnership is critical to stabilizing the region and checking terrorism trends that jeopardize world security. In an op-ed that ran in today’s Times of India, Gates emphasizes the helpful role Indian economic aid to Afghanistan plays in achieving NATO goals there, while calling the U.S. relationship with India “indispensable.” Following on the heels of the Indian Prime Minister’s successful visit to Washington last November, Gates’ visit will sustain the momentum in …
Scott Brown’s shocking victory in Massachusetts on Tuesday was a shot across the bow of the liberal ruling class in Washington and declared one clear message: Americans do not like the direction the country is heading, and they’re not going to stand for it, even in the solidly-blue Bay State. The United States’ direction today is a dangerous one, even when compared to the country’s state of affairs just one year ago, as revealed in the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom, which we are releasing this morning in a joint …
Scott Brown’s remarkable victory in the Massachusetts Senate election speaks loud and clear: Americans across the political spectrum are unhappy with the scale and cost of the congressional health reform legislation, and the lack of transparency in the process. Congress would be wise to see this outcome as a referendum on health care reform. The proper conclusion? It’s time to hit the reset button and scrap the doomed bills in both chambers. Then President Obama should bring together the key leaders of both parties, and craft a far more modest …
When it comes to the Himalayan glaciers, climatologists were making a melting mountain out of a global warming molehill. But now it appears they’re backtracking: An influential United Nations panel is facing growing criticism about its practices after acknowledging doubts about a 2007 statement that Himalayan glaciers were retreating faster than those anywhere else and would entirely disappear by 2035, if not sooner. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, said Monday that the U.N. body was studying how the 2007 report “derived” the information …
Each time a new study or report sheds light on the Obamacare’s true effects on Americans’ health care, the left fights back with tiresome accusations that the source is disreputable, partisan or “sides” with the insurance companies, ad nauseum. How many professional experts are going to have to find fault with the House and Senate health bills before the Left and their allies in Congress stop repeating the age-old adage: “Everyone else is crazy, I alone am sane”? The terrible truth, of course, is that these reports are right. In …
When President Obama was inaugurated one year ago, the US economy was struggling. In his address he noted: “The state of our economy calls for action, bold and swift. And we will act, not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth…All this we can do. All this we will do.” So how did he do? Badly. First, he boldly and swiftly went on a spending spree, bailing out US auto companies and passing a $787 “stimulus” bill that promised to create 3.5 million jobs. …
President Barack Obama’s Russia policy is defined by the Administration’s view that America is overstretched globally, and that without assistance from a major power, such as Russia or China, Washington cannot achieve its goals. Some in the Administration believe that America is in decline and their job is to manage it. The policy of “outstretched hand” toward Russia (as well as other unfriendly powers) follows from this notion. So far, President Obama has failed to achieve any impressive results. The Administration did not succeed in gaining Russian concessions on issues …
The National Security Council is priding itself on a successful first year for President Barack Obama in terms of strategic communications. In a blog posting on the White House Web site, Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes gave President Obama credit for his “steady diplomacy” and renewing America’s moral authority on the world stage. It is of course not surprising that the administration should want to spin its achievements at the first year mile-stone, yet for others it is hard to see the justification for the chest-pounding. …
President Obama has lavished time and attention on Europe in spades. He made Europe his first foreign port of call after his inauguration and since then has visited at least eight European countries (plus Russia). His popularity ratings in most of Europe, especially in Western Europe, would make the average Hollywood A-lister blush. He has even been referred to in some quarters as “the first European President of America.” And some in Europe – the utopian European elites and chattering intellectual classes of Brussels – are pretty pleased. President Obama …
