First there was Hurricane Katrina, then there was the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal now says that the newest threat to the economy of his state is President Barack Obama’s moratorium on deepwater drilling. Jindal today joined in support of oil service companies who are suing to halt the six-month ban on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, issued by the Minerals Management Service on May 30. A federal district court judge is hearing arguments on the lawsuit today and will rule no later than Wednesday. In an …
We all know how bad the federal government is at controlling our border, but we face the same problem in the system set up to handle immigration cases. Many people do not realize that illegal aliens who are caught end up in immigration courts that are part of the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. These courts are presided over by administrative judges; they are not Article III federal courts. On Thursday, as BP’s CEO was being pummeled on Capitol Hill, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, …
In a June 5 communiqué, G-20 Finance Ministers collectively recognized that, recent events highlight the importance of sustainable public finances and the need for our countries to put in place credible, growth-friendly measures, to deliver fiscal sustainability, differentiated for and tailored to national circumstances. The words “differentiated for and tailored to national circumstances” are a welcome relief from the more typical “harmonization” (from the EU) or “balance” (from the U.S.) that often dominates G-20 conclusions. While cooperation can be a healthy thing, we need to remember that it is competition, …
At a Washington, DC, press conference held by Members of Congress in support of Israel, Turkey received its taste of changing attitudes on Capitol Hill after sponsoring a flotilla to breach Israel’s blockade of the terrorist organization Hamas-run Gaza strip. Congressmen warned that Turkey’s break from its traditionally warm relations with Israel in exchange for cozying up with the United States’ public enemy number one – Iran – could result in a chill in its relations with the American government, according to The Jerusalem Post. At the same time, Turkey …
Nobody likes wasteful government spending, whether it’s $500 hammers at the Pentagon or federal employees using Uncle Sam’s credit cards to buy personal cameras, laptop computers and iPods. So the military should set a goal: Find ways to trim the fat in its budget, then reinvest the savings in combat missions. One area in which the United States military can operate more efficiently, possibly providing large-scale dollar savings, is in logistics. For example, if the maintenance costs incurred for the support of existing weapons can be reduced, the savings can …
Last year, GM CEO Rick Wagoner “voluntarily” stepped aside when Washington took over his company. BP is “voluntarily” setting up a $20 billion escrow account. And now, states are being pushed to “voluntarily” adopt national education standards and tests. It all began when the Obama administration used its $4.35 billion Race to the Top competitive grant fund as an incentive for states to adopt standards under development by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers (one of the “education blob” groups that protects the status …
Earlier this month, we told you about the decision to place a bust of the brutal dictator Joseph Stalin in an installation commemorating D-Day. Despite the controversy that this decision has caused, the National D-Day Memorial Foundation—the organization responsible the memorial—has steadfastly refused to remove the offending sculpture. A new website, StalinStatue.com, has been launched in an effort to force the removal of the statue from the memorial. Visitors can visit the site and sign a petition which reads:
Beijing finally made a move on exchange rates, probably. Assuming there is some action to go with the People’s Bank of China’s stilted language, two critical errors are being made in the international response. The first concerns the nature of the change. The one-line summary, in China and elsewhere, is that the PRC has broken the peg of the yuan to the U.S. dollar. Or re-broken it, since the peg is said to have been broken in July 2005, then reestablished in July 2008. This view is badly mistaken. The …
You can’t argue with success – or can you? Newly released international opinion polls of the image of the United States bring the good news that global publics continue to view the American president and United States as a country in a favorable light. The question that has to be asked, though, is whether this improved image is a result of a perceived new direction in American foreign policy – the Obama Doctrine –which could end up weakening American leadership as the sole remaining superpower and American national security. According …
Despite differences and variations, fathers often represent a formative influence in our personal development. These days, though, it has become increasingly common for a child to be fathered by a man who isn’t married to the child’s mother – and may never get to know his son or daughter. Robert Rector, Heritage’s senior research fellow for domestic policy studies, steps up to the microphone for a special Father’s Day conversation on this hidden cause of childhood poverty in America. In the resulting audio podcast, Rector talks about the need for …
