Less than two months after the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, another Hemispheric neighbor has fallen victim to the ravages of nature. The earthquake that struck Chile in the early hours of February 27 measured 8.8 on the Richter scale and was one of the most powerful quakes in a century. Again as they did in response to the massive Haiti earthquake, the American people stand with President Barack Obama in expressing condolences and in offering support to the Chilean people in face of such a horrific natural disaster. Chile …
Last week’s bipartisan summit on health care reform seems to have done little, if anything, to build support for the President’s vision of health care reform. Strong opposition to the Democrats’ proposals remains the position of a majority of Americans. And now, even the President’s biggest fans are following suit. In an interview‘ with CNBC, Warren Buffett, a Democrat and supporter of President Obama, advised the President to follow the wishes of the American people to scrap the current health care legislation and start over. Buffett highlighted the failure of …
In a highly publicized decision last week, the Vermont Senate voted to potentially close the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, the state’s only nuclear plant. The non-binding vote marked the culmination of a year-long debate in Vermont as to whether the state should renew the operating license of Vermont Yankee, a 37-year old plant that is seeking a 20-year operating extension. Unfortunately, this decision was more about perception than fact. The tide had been turning against Vermont Yankee as news emerged that the plant had been leaking tritium, a weakly …
Switching from fossil fuels to allegedly cleaner fuels may not be as good for the environment as advertised says the United Kingdom’s Times. Similar to the renewable fuels mandate in the United States, the UK has a Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation that requires 3.25% of fuel sold to come from crops – increasing to 13 percent by 2020. A new government study suggests that biofuels may actually be worse for the environment: The findings show that the Department for Transport’s target for raising the level of biofuel in all fuel …
Now, not only are we engaged in a War on Terror, but according to the U.S. State Department, apparently a Global War on Censorship. As President Barack Obama extends the hand of reconciliation to distasteful regimes, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is simultaneously declaring open war on many of these same states’ control of private-media access. Addressing the issue of media censorship in the wake of Google’s well-publicized row with China, Secretary Clinton asserted that, although “new technologies do not take sides in the struggle for freedom and progress, the …
Last month, Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis cleared the names of former Department of Justice lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee. Disparagingly labeled the “Torture Lawyers” by the New York Times, Yoo and Bybee wrote the now-infamous memos offering legal advice to the Bush administration that authorized the use of enhanced interrogation techniques in questioning high-level terrorists. Overruling the Office of Professional Responsibility’s (OPR) finding of “professional misconduct,” Margolis found that Yoo and Bybee acted in good faith, ethically serving their clients in the Executive Branch in time of …
…they don’t even have a plan on how to get them! Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) insisted this weekend that she “will be able to get the votes needed to pass sweeping health care legislation in the House.” What this really means is that she does not have those votes right now. And if you were watching the television yesterday it quickly became apparent that the leadership in the House has no idea how they are going to get them. First Speaker Pelosi on This Week: VARGAS: If — but the …
This afternoon, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Skilling v. U.S. Most media coverage so far seems to be focusing on former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling’s request for an entirely new trial based on claims that the District Court where he was convicted failed to ensure an impartial jury when they refused to transfer the trial out of Houston. While every American’s Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury is important, many limited government conservatives (and civil libertarian liberals) are much more concerned with the fate of Skilling’s …
After last week’s disastrous health care summit for the President and his supporters, the left has been scrambling to save face and sell the public not on their plan, but on using the reconciliation process to jam it past the American people. They’ve simply given up on earning any form of widespread public support for the plan, which America has loudly rejected. In fact, the only bipartisan effort in Washington these days is against the Obama-Reid-Pelosi health care agenda. Large numbers of Democrats have joined Republicans doing everything they can …
Having failed to convince the country that we should reorder one-sixth of our economy (health care) in one fell swoop, liberals in the Administration and Congress are now doubling down and moving on to the next big thing. This time it’s the transformation of everything, through climate legislation. One could almost stand agape, admiring the boldness of the overreach, were not so much prosperity at stake. The latest attempt to force the U.S. economy to turn away from readily available, affordable fuels and leaving it to the tender mercies of …
