This past weekend the American public learned that not only was the Obama administration briefed about the bombing technique attempted on Flight 253, not only did the United States have information that a Nigerian was being prepared for a terrorist attack by al Qaeda in Yemen, but our government also knew that an “Umar Farouk” was involved. Following these revelations, the Obama administration again took to the Sunday shows to defend their national security record. Last week Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano tried to convince Americans that “the system worked”. …
Today, TSA announced a new round of security checks for international flights. Extra security in the wake of the failed underwear bound bomb for Detroit made sense as a measure of over abundance of caution. A rash of new permanent procedures, however, appears more like a knee-jerk response than anything else. Requiring one hundred percent inspections on travelers from 14 “terrorist” countries is a kind of feel good, but useless idea. Terrorists route their attacks through the international air hubs that are not the most suspicious. Nor is geography an indicator …
According to the LA Times, John Brennan, the senior Obama counterterrorism official, declared there was “no smoking gun” in the Christmas Day Detroit bound bombing. Putting aside the frantic phone calls from the father — pardon me, Mr. Brennan, but that’s a big deal. There was no smoking gun found after Pearl Harbor or 9/11. There is almost never a smoking gun. There was no smoking gun in 26 of the 28 terrorist attacks foiled by the US since 9/11 (Abdulmutallab and Richard Reid were stopped by dumb luck). We …
On New Year’s Eve, the White House received the preliminary assessment from federal agencies detailing the shortfalls of a terrorist bomber got on a plane bound for Detroit. The president admitted the government had more than enough information to justify keeping Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab off the aircraft. Obama concluded the system failed. Here is what the president did not explain: This is the same system that stopped the London-based terrorist plot in 2006. On that occasion, intelligence connected the dots; counterterrorism agents penetrated the conspiracy; Homeland Security developed countermeasures; and …
We’ve already shared The Heritage Foundation’s Top Ten WebMemo’s of 2009 and Top Ten pages from The Heritage Foundation’s 2009 Federal Revenue and Spending Book of Charts. Below are the top ten 2009 Foundry posts ranked by traffic. Which are your favorites? 10. 10 Surprising Facts about American Health Care 9. New Heritage Video: Cap & Tax Won’t Save the Earth 8. True Cost of Stimulus: $3.27 Trillion 7. Obama’s Team Crosses the Rhetorical Line 6. Morning Bell: The People Spreading “Disinformation” About Obamacare 5. Stimulus 101: The Pelosi-Reid-Obama Debt …
On New Year’s Eve, the House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) sent a letter to President Barack Obama reading in part: I understand that there were failures across the government and the international community that quite frankly, eight years after the attacks on 9-11, should not have happened. Failures, to include proper information sharing across all agencies, continue to challenge our ability to identify potential extremists poised to strike. Given the technologies available and the high quality personnel serving in our government, there is no excuse for the …
In his recent Bradley Lecture at the American Enterprise Institute, civil society expert Bill Schambra charged conservatives who say “that’s a job for civil society” to “be able to name and demonstrate immediate acquaintance with at least a dozen actual examples of civil society doing the job, in the form of grassroots groups personally visited and funded.” That’s a good New Year’s Resolution, and one that should also lead to greater alliance between conservatives and faith-based grassroots leaders and community healers who are putting conservative principles of human dignity and …
Milton Friedman spent his adult life advocating for choice and competition in a free market system. Schools were no different. In this video Milt advocates the use of School Vouchers because he assumes that competition is a way in which both public and private schools can be required to satisfy their customers. Why does he assume that? Because, as he states at the end of the video, “Competition is better than monopoly.”
A million here, a million there, and pretty soon we’ve got real money. So said Illinois’s Sen. Everett Dirksen, the long-time Minority Leader during the 1960s. who often reminded his colleagues about how quickly a million here and there added up to enormous sums of public spending. Today, of course, its billions, and Members of Congress spend that denomination with the ease they used to spend millions. However, do Members or most of the general public have a solid grasp of how large a number a billion actually is? To …
While millions of Americans are more than ready to put 2009 behind them, they should know that Congress failed to reauthorize dozens of tax breaks for individuals and businesses before the Members scurried home for the Holidays. These “expiring provisions” affect every American in one way or another as individuals or businesses. By allowing them to lapse, Congress has enacted tax increases at time when these taxpayers can least afford it. The House has passed legislation (H.R. 4213) that would have extended 63 current tax provisions, but the Senate failed …
